Josh Spickler
@joshspickler.bsky.social
Tennessean, instigator, Memphis' "leading disseminator of false information" but don't believe it, former public defender, ED at @justcity901.bsky.social go Grizz
Smash your Ring camera.
Ok, you can stop texting me, I saw the Ring ad. Troubling things about it 🧵:
-The long awaited (much warned about) intro of “AI” recognition. It starts w/ searching for a “brown dog” but means the tech is there for lisence plate reading, face recognition, searching for suspects by description, etc
-The long awaited (much warned about) intro of “AI” recognition. It starts w/ searching for a “brown dog” but means the tech is there for lisence plate reading, face recognition, searching for suspects by description, etc
February 9, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Smash your Ring camera.
"And if using our local police and sheriffs to disappear them from their homes and cars doesn't work, we'll starve them, force them out into the streets, and deny them healthcare."
Tennessee GOP bill would require immigration checks for local government aid, require agencies to turn over names to the state's new "Centralized Immigration Enforcement Division" and make it a crime for public employees that fail to comply
tennesseelookout.com/2026/02/09/t... @tennesseelookout.com
tennesseelookout.com/2026/02/09/t... @tennesseelookout.com
Tennessee GOP bill would require immigration checks for local government aid • Tennessee Lookout
Two Tennessee Republicans are introducing a bill requiring citizenship and legal immigration verification of any applicant for public aid.
tennesseelookout.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:32 PM
"And if using our local police and sheriffs to disappear them from their homes and cars doesn't work, we'll starve them, force them out into the streets, and deny them healthcare."
This failure of imagination and vision severely afflicts criminal justice policy as well. Believe it or not; we can have both safety AND justice.
Far too many U.S. drivers are simply unable to conceive of a world without widespread traffic deaths. They think it's impossible, and so much discourse reflects that. People just shoot down left and right ideas that have been proven to work in other places.
February 9, 2026 at 7:17 PM
This failure of imagination and vision severely afflicts criminal justice policy as well. Believe it or not; we can have both safety AND justice.
Reposted by Josh Spickler
Benito is a threat b/c he makes art so alluring and enjoyable you want to understand everything about it and then you end up learning about sugar and slavery and colonialism and the Taínos and Hawaii and then you probably have some thoughts of your own, and that's why art is powerful and dangerous
February 9, 2026 at 1:38 AM
Benito is a threat b/c he makes art so alluring and enjoyable you want to understand everything about it and then you end up learning about sugar and slavery and colonialism and the Taínos and Hawaii and then you probably have some thoughts of your own, and that's why art is powerful and dangerous
Reposted by Josh Spickler
If this halftime show doesn’t make Stephen miller wade into the sea
February 9, 2026 at 1:30 AM
If this halftime show doesn’t make Stephen miller wade into the sea
Reposted by Josh Spickler
"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)
Opinion | This Is Just Who Trump Is
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:49 PM
"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)
Reposted by Josh Spickler
"By the end of the two-year period, 94% of participants reported they were housed."
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
Homeless Oregon youth got $1,000 a month for two years. Most found housing after • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon is the second of its kind in the nation to implement the direct cash transfer program after New York City.
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:12 PM
"By the end of the two-year period, 94% of participants reported they were housed."
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.
Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.
Reposted by Josh Spickler
The problem is that elections rarely change the office over the long-term; they quickly return to the mean. (Hence why I take a defund/ remove powers/ abolish approach)
Jails are run primarily by county sheriffs, who generally have little oversight from other public officials. So who you elect as sheriff matters, and folks should pay more attention to this office because folks like Homan sure do.
This is basically the entire thesis of our book.
This is basically the entire thesis of our book.
Tom Homan, President Trump’s border czar, said he was seeking a deal with officials in Minnesota that would include expanding agents' access to jails. Our reporters explain why that kind of cooperation is so difficult to pull off.
Listen to "The Daily."
Listen to "The Daily."
February 2, 2026 at 7:03 PM
The problem is that elections rarely change the office over the long-term; they quickly return to the mean. (Hence why I take a defund/ remove powers/ abolish approach)
Hey, Tennessee. This is our leadership.
In most states, regulators try to keep lending and betting separate.
But in Tennessee, when a payday lending company wanted to include a sports gambling company at its storefronts, lawmakers stepped aside to let it happen.
➡️ Full story (with @tennesseelookout.com): https://propub.li/4rpUsPA
But in Tennessee, when a payday lending company wanted to include a sports gambling company at its storefronts, lawmakers stepped aside to let it happen.
➡️ Full story (with @tennesseelookout.com): https://propub.li/4rpUsPA
January 31, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Hey, Tennessee. This is our leadership.
Reposted by Josh Spickler
It’s like living in China, but without the trust in science, progress on renewable energy, uptake in EVs, amazing high speed rail network, and great food.
How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 4:48 PM
It’s like living in China, but without the trust in science, progress on renewable energy, uptake in EVs, amazing high speed rail network, and great food.
This is near constant in CJ reform work.
A lot of out of state media are parachuting in and making outrageous demands or requests of organizations doing mutual aid. Asking to connect with or directly observe people working with the vulnerable. Have some fucking respect for the work and realize the stakes are life and death.
January 27, 2026 at 2:19 AM
This is near constant in CJ reform work.
“Faceless officials with guns and body armor are crying about how scared they are of having their names on the internet, while shooting unarmed Americans in the face.”
Why won’t anyone stop ICE from masking?
Why won’t anyone stop ICE from masking?
Americans do not like masked secret police.
buff.ly
January 25, 2026 at 3:31 PM
“Faceless officials with guns and body armor are crying about how scared they are of having their names on the internet, while shooting unarmed Americans in the face.”
Reposted by Josh Spickler
Also, may I say that I don’t agree with people saying ICE and CBP need “more training.” They’re doing exactly what this administration has trained them to—impose a reign of fear in blue cities. They don’t need more training. They need to be ripped up root and branch.
January 24, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Also, may I say that I don’t agree with people saying ICE and CBP need “more training.” They’re doing exactly what this administration has trained them to—impose a reign of fear in blue cities. They don’t need more training. They need to be ripped up root and branch.
Reposted by Josh Spickler
NYT video analysis confirms victim’s gun was removed before he was shot. So he was unarmed. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents-video.html
January 24, 2026 at 8:35 PM
NYT video analysis confirms victim’s gun was removed before he was shot. So he was unarmed. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/us/minneapolis-shooting-federal-agents-video.html
Reposted by Josh Spickler
ICE is now responsible for 66% of the homicides in Minneapolis this year.
January 24, 2026 at 4:51 PM
ICE is now responsible for 66% of the homicides in Minneapolis this year.
Reposted by Josh Spickler
What we are watching is a paramilitary force learning that they can kill with impunity, that the regime will smear the victim and defend them. Unless politicians and the legal system exerts accountability, it will not stop. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...
January 24, 2026 at 4:32 PM
What we are watching is a paramilitary force learning that they can kill with impunity, that the regime will smear the victim and defend them. Unless politicians and the legal system exerts accountability, it will not stop. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...
All of these constraints … compound the well-documented problem of teen loneliness and poor mental health. And they are a reflection of an adult society that resists taking responsibility for, or even tolerating the presence of, children in public.”
www.theatlantic.com/family/2026/...
www.theatlantic.com/family/2026/...
Can We Just Let Teens Exist in Public?
When malls ban unaccompanied minors and when cities enact curfews, they restrict adolescents’ ability to participate in society.
www.theatlantic.com
January 24, 2026 at 4:47 PM
All of these constraints … compound the well-documented problem of teen loneliness and poor mental health. And they are a reflection of an adult society that resists taking responsibility for, or even tolerating the presence of, children in public.”
www.theatlantic.com/family/2026/...
www.theatlantic.com/family/2026/...
A must read for Memphians
In a long, scathing interview, a member of the DC National Guard accuses the Trump administration of "parading [us] around to intimidate people." He talks candidly about what his deployment has been like.
An Anonymous DC National Guardsman Tells All
“This is not what I signed up to do.”
washingtonian.com
January 22, 2026 at 8:27 PM
A must read for Memphians
Reposted by Josh Spickler
This guy says it all! He’s here to stand with and protect his community while ICE is harming and hurting it.
January 15, 2026 at 11:03 PM
This guy says it all! He’s here to stand with and protect his community while ICE is harming and hurting it.
🧵
Almost every academic cost-benefit analysis of policing compares a monetized measure of reduced crime to JUST the fiscal cost of policing:
“$1 on police prevents $1.60 in crime” or such.
The SOCIAL costs of policing do not get included. Our core analyses are inherently dehumanizing in this way.
“$1 on police prevents $1.60 in crime” or such.
The SOCIAL costs of policing do not get included. Our core analyses are inherently dehumanizing in this way.
All the lies they're telling about Renee Good are in service of an even bigger lie: that individual human lives have no intrinsic worth and are therefore theirs to dispose of. publiccomment.blog/p/the-poison...
January 10, 2026 at 8:51 PM
🧵
Excellent.
This week’s Grizz column:
As injuries and losses mount, the Grizzlies season could be taking a turn
dailymemphian.com/subscriber/s...
As injuries and losses mount, the Grizzlies season could be taking a turn
dailymemphian.com/subscriber/s...
Herrington: As injuries and losses mount, the Grizzlies season could be taking a turn
With a losing streak, new injuries to Ja Morant and Cedric Coward and a crowded coming schedule, this Memphis Grizzlies season may be at a crossroads.
dailymemphian.com
January 6, 2026 at 4:55 AM
Excellent.
Reposted by Josh Spickler
Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago
January 4, 2026 at 6:49 PM
Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago
Saturday night situation
November 16, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Saturday night situation