Joshua Benton
@joshuabenton.com
21st-century media and the 19th-c American South. Founded and ran @niemanlab.org at @harvard.edu for 12 yrs; now the senior writer there. Cajun, dad of two, husband of one. Journalist with a history problem. Also: @theatlantic.com, @washingtonpost.com, etc
Reposted by Joshua Benton
AI satellite factory on the moon? Giant space catapult? Self-sustaining city on the moon? A billion daily active users on X?
Elon Musk made all these predictions in an internal meeting with xAI employees last night. We listened in.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/t...
Elon Musk made all these predictions in an internal meeting with xAI employees last night. We listened in.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/t...
Elon Musk Wants to Build an A.I. Satellite Factory on the Moon
www.nytimes.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:18 PM
AI satellite factory on the moon? Giant space catapult? Self-sustaining city on the moon? A billion daily active users on X?
Elon Musk made all these predictions in an internal meeting with xAI employees last night. We listened in.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/t...
Elon Musk made all these predictions in an internal meeting with xAI employees last night. We listened in.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/t...
In my 30 years in journalism, I don't believe I've seen anyone beclown himself as thoroughly and as profoundly as Will Lewis has. Good riddance.
www.ft.com/content/5fa6...
www.ft.com/content/5fa6...
Will Lewis steps down as Washington Post publisher and CEO after job cuts
British journalist’s tenure was controversial after being appointed by Jeff Bezos to turn around the newspaper
www.ft.com
February 7, 2026 at 11:24 PM
In my 30 years in journalism, I don't believe I've seen anyone beclown himself as thoroughly and as profoundly as Will Lewis has. Good riddance.
www.ft.com/content/5fa6...
www.ft.com/content/5fa6...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is supposed to, among other things, report to Congress if the CIA, for example, is violating our civil liberties.
It is supposed to have 5 members and needs 3 for a quorum.
Right now it has 1 member.
Wyden doing what he can, but we need more light.
It is supposed to have 5 members and needs 3 for a quorum.
Right now it has 1 member.
Wyden doing what he can, but we need more light.
@wyden.senate.gov's record of warning that there is deep and constitutionally-serious dirt being done by the intelligence agencies in secret is unblemished. The vaguer he is, the filthier the dirt is. This is the vaguest I've ever seen him
Ron Wyden Only Talks Like This When The Spies Do Something *Real* Bad
No, I don't know what they did. But I have a lot of experience with the senator
www.forever-wars.com
February 5, 2026 at 10:04 PM
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is supposed to, among other things, report to Congress if the CIA, for example, is violating our civil liberties.
It is supposed to have 5 members and needs 3 for a quorum.
Right now it has 1 member.
Wyden doing what he can, but we need more light.
It is supposed to have 5 members and needs 3 for a quorum.
Right now it has 1 member.
Wyden doing what he can, but we need more light.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Hours after @jmitchellnews.bsky.social's piece appeared at @mississippitoday.org the visitor brochures were returned. Good news.
I am speechless.
"The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a 'racist.'" 🗃️ mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
"The National Park Service has removed visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument. Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a 'racist.'" 🗃️ mississippitoday.org/2026/02/05/m...
Medgar Evers’ killer was a Klansman, but Trump administration says stop calling him a racist - Mississippi Today
Among anticipated changes to a new visitor brochure for the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument is no longer using "racist" to describe the killer of the civil rights leader.
mississippitoday.org
February 5, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Hours after @jmitchellnews.bsky.social's piece appeared at @mississippitoday.org the visitor brochures were returned. Good news.
What a piece of shit
Yale prof David Gelernter defends his letter urging Epstein to hire "v small goodlooking blonde" student by saying that he was "keep[ing] the potential boss's habits in mind."
This creep shouldn't be allowed anywhere near students.
yaledailynews.com/articles/gel...
This creep shouldn't be allowed anywhere near students.
yaledailynews.com/articles/gel...
February 6, 2026 at 10:41 PM
What a piece of shit
I hope Oklahoma enjoyed having smart people with options joining their universities
Breaking, from me: An executive order from Oklahoma's governor directs most of the state's public colleges to "phase out tenure." #AcademicSky #HigherEd @chronicle.com
www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...
www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...
Tenure Will Be Eliminated at Most of Oklahoma’s Public Colleges, Governor Says
Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, directed the state’s two-dozen regional universities and community colleges to phase out the practice. Existing faculty members will be grandfathered in.
www.chronicle.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:35 PM
I hope Oklahoma enjoyed having smart people with options joining their universities
Reposted by Joshua Benton
I didn’t get into this but I will say that this comment by Kelly absolutely made me think of the Nazi fixation on “degenerate” are and the classification of such artists as ill or culturally deleterious.
"After playing the clip of [Billie] Eilish [2026 Grammys] Megyn [Kelly] said:
'Let me tell you my number one takeaway from last night. There’s a ton of mental illness in the music industry, that’s one. And number two, not to put too fine a point on it, but I sat there like, sing for me, bitch.'"
'Let me tell you my number one takeaway from last night. There’s a ton of mental illness in the music industry, that’s one. And number two, not to put too fine a point on it, but I sat there like, sing for me, bitch.'"
None More Wonderful Than Man: Art, Artists, and MAGA’s Hollow View of Humanity
MAGA sees art as nothing more than a tool of self-aggrandizement, and artists as less than human.
www.liberalcurrents.com
February 5, 2026 at 6:53 PM
I didn’t get into this but I will say that this comment by Kelly absolutely made me think of the Nazi fixation on “degenerate” are and the classification of such artists as ill or culturally deleterious.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
But not Matt Damon playing Odysseus lol
You should’ve heard me when I was watching the trailer with my spouse. “Matt Fucking Damon?” (Who still owes me a classroom visit tbh)
You should’ve heard me when I was watching the trailer with my spouse. “Matt Fucking Damon?” (Who still owes me a classroom visit tbh)
Charles Murray, famous racist, is very mad that Lupita Nyong’o is going to play Helen of Troy.
www.liberalcurrents.com/none-more-wo...
www.liberalcurrents.com/none-more-wo...
February 6, 2026 at 3:55 AM
But not Matt Damon playing Odysseus lol
You should’ve heard me when I was watching the trailer with my spouse. “Matt Fucking Damon?” (Who still owes me a classroom visit tbh)
You should’ve heard me when I was watching the trailer with my spouse. “Matt Fucking Damon?” (Who still owes me a classroom visit tbh)
Reposted by Joshua Benton
7 days after cancer surgery. I will stand with @postguild.bsky.social til my lungs collapse.
also reunited with @karenattiah.bsky.social
also reunited with @karenattiah.bsky.social
February 5, 2026 at 8:54 PM
7 days after cancer surgery. I will stand with @postguild.bsky.social til my lungs collapse.
also reunited with @karenattiah.bsky.social
also reunited with @karenattiah.bsky.social
Reposted by Joshua Benton
I have zero memory of this piece I wrote 15 years ago about Susan Sontag, New Urbanism, news avoidance, @alexanderchee.bsky.social, and pageviews, but I just stumbled upon it and it was actually pretty good?
www.niemanlab.org/2010/05/food...
www.niemanlab.org/2010/05/food...
Food for thought: Sontag and Chee on shrinking the world
I came across a blog post by the novelist Alexander Chee last night that opened this way:
Lately I keep thinking of a quote of Susan Sontag’s from a posthumous essay referring to the novel as the ant...
www.niemanlab.org
February 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I have zero memory of this piece I wrote 15 years ago about Susan Sontag, New Urbanism, news avoidance, @alexanderchee.bsky.social, and pageviews, but I just stumbled upon it and it was actually pretty good?
www.niemanlab.org/2010/05/food...
www.niemanlab.org/2010/05/food...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
I cannot tell you how much doubt was consistently directed at the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers and how much pressure was put on news organizations to couch those numbers as unreliable.
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
IDF accepts Gaza Health Ministry death toll of over 71,000 Palestinians killed in the war
Although Many International Experts Have Accepted the Health Ministry's Data as Reliable, and Even Conservative Relative to the True Death Toll, Israel Had Refused to Accept the Health Ministry's Coun...
www.haaretz.com
January 29, 2026 at 3:31 PM
I cannot tell you how much doubt was consistently directed at the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty numbers and how much pressure was put on news organizations to couch those numbers as unreliable.
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Biden himself said they were fabricated!
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
“.. The $35 million for marketing is 10 times what some other high-profile documentaries have received.”
@nytimes.com #$AMZN
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/b...
@nytimes.com #$AMZN
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/b...
January 28, 2026 at 11:11 PM
“.. The $35 million for marketing is 10 times what some other high-profile documentaries have received.”
@nytimes.com #$AMZN
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/b...
@nytimes.com #$AMZN
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/b...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
The amount of money the US government spent on troops in DC in 2025 ($223m) would have been enough to give the city's ~5,100 homeless residents each $43,000. Instead, federal troops destroyed their meager encampments.
"Federal troop deployments to U.S. cities cost a total of $496 million in 2025, CBO estimates. Continuing current deployments will cost $93 million a month; 1,000 Guard personnel deployed to a city will cost at least $18 million a month." www.cbo.gov/publication/...
January 28, 2026 at 10:03 PM
The amount of money the US government spent on troops in DC in 2025 ($223m) would have been enough to give the city's ~5,100 homeless residents each $43,000. Instead, federal troops destroyed their meager encampments.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Mad King demands guards search homes of everyone who said he didn’t have clothes
FBI searching Fulton County elections office, per Reuters
www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi...
www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi...
FBI executing search warrant at Georgia election office related to 2020 vote, law enforcement official says
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is executing a search warrant at a Fulton County election office in Georgia related to the 2020 election, a law enforcement official familiar with the matter said o...
www.reuters.com
January 28, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Mad King demands guards search homes of everyone who said he didn’t have clothes
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Since we published this, Pam Bondi's X account has started posting mugshots of Minnesotans arrested for impeding ICE/CBP. Sharing a defendant's photo publicly in this way is forbidden under DOJ rules
ICE and CBP are at the head of Trump's campaign to terrorize Minnesotans. But the Justice Department is not far behind.
ICE’s No. 1 Ally
The Department of Justice has rushed to shield federal agents from accountability and launched needless criminal investigations into Minnesota officials and residents.
www.theatlantic.com
January 28, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Since we published this, Pam Bondi's X account has started posting mugshots of Minnesotans arrested for impeding ICE/CBP. Sharing a defendant's photo publicly in this way is forbidden under DOJ rules
Reposted by Joshua Benton
this quotation comes to a satisfying conclusion
NEW from @justinrohrlich.bsky.social:
“I’m not surprised this happened,” Ilhan Omar attacker Anthony Kazmierczak’s brother said. “Not at all. Unfortunately, he and my mother are both right-wing extremists.”
"In my mind, he’s a piece of s**t," he added.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
“I’m not surprised this happened,” Ilhan Omar attacker Anthony Kazmierczak’s brother said. “Not at all. Unfortunately, he and my mother are both right-wing extremists.”
"In my mind, he’s a piece of s**t," he added.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Brother calls Ilhan Omar suspect ‘right-wing extremist,’ has hated Somalis for years
Exclusive: ‘In my mind, he’s a piece of s**t,’ Anthony Kazmierczak’s brother told The Independent
www.independent.co.uk
January 28, 2026 at 7:31 PM
this quotation comes to a satisfying conclusion
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Our country is being ruined by people like this. It's long past time we recognized these people as exactly what the perpetrator's brother tells us they are.
NEW from @justinrohrlich.bsky.social:
“I’m not surprised this happened,” Ilhan Omar attacker Anthony Kazmierczak’s brother said. “Not at all. Unfortunately, he and my mother are both right-wing extremists.”
"In my mind, he’s a piece of s**t," he added.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
“I’m not surprised this happened,” Ilhan Omar attacker Anthony Kazmierczak’s brother said. “Not at all. Unfortunately, he and my mother are both right-wing extremists.”
"In my mind, he’s a piece of s**t," he added.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Brother calls Ilhan Omar suspect ‘right-wing extremist,’ has hated Somalis for years
Exclusive: ‘In my mind, he’s a piece of s**t,’ Anthony Kazmierczak’s brother told The Independent
www.independent.co.uk
January 28, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Our country is being ruined by people like this. It's long past time we recognized these people as exactly what the perpetrator's brother tells us they are.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
it's a truly staggering measure of this country's profound cowardice that so many people are afraid of this pathetic loser
The ADL found that Grok was the most anti-semitic chatbot in its testing -- and did its best to minimize that finding, because everyone is afraid of Elon. @miasato.bsky.social runs it down www.theverge.com/news/868925/...
January 28, 2026 at 3:19 PM
it's a truly staggering measure of this country's profound cowardice that so many people are afraid of this pathetic loser
Reposted by Joshua Benton
The ADL found that Grok was the most anti-semitic chatbot in its testing -- and did its best to minimize that finding, because everyone is afraid of Elon. @miasato.bsky.social runs it down www.theverge.com/news/868925/...
January 28, 2026 at 3:17 PM
The ADL found that Grok was the most anti-semitic chatbot in its testing -- and did its best to minimize that finding, because everyone is afraid of Elon. @miasato.bsky.social runs it down www.theverge.com/news/868925/...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
But as well as threatening to prosecute those they claim are “doxing” ICE agents, the Trump administration has pressured tech companies to block any efforts at crowdsourcing the location and activities of those agents.
Read the full article: www.wired.com/story/meta-i...
Read the full article: www.wired.com/story/meta-i...
Meta Is Blocking Links to ICE List on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads
Users of Meta’s social platforms can no longer share links to ICE List, a website listing what it claims are the names of thousands of DHS employees.
www.wired.com
January 28, 2026 at 1:08 PM
But as well as threatening to prosecute those they claim are “doxing” ICE agents, the Trump administration has pressured tech companies to block any efforts at crowdsourcing the location and activities of those agents.
Read the full article: www.wired.com/story/meta-i...
Read the full article: www.wired.com/story/meta-i...
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Thrilled to have galleys of my book in hand! Final corrections & index pending. Please consider preordering, gifting, & teaching. Via the archive, interviews & more I show how the crisis we face now reflects failure to listen & act on the democracy Black folks have envisioned, but we still can.
January 28, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Thrilled to have galleys of my book in hand! Final corrections & index pending. Please consider preordering, gifting, & teaching. Via the archive, interviews & more I show how the crisis we face now reflects failure to listen & act on the democracy Black folks have envisioned, but we still can.
Reposted by Joshua Benton
I guess we’re adding the Vienna Convention to their list of broken international agreements
In videos posted on social media, one employee can be heard saying: “This is the Ecuadorian consulate. You’re not allowed to enter.” The agent responds, “If you touch me, I’ll grab you.”
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...
January 28, 2026 at 1:06 AM
I guess we’re adding the Vienna Convention to their list of broken international agreements
Reposted by Joshua Benton
putain ouais
“The French government announced that it will stop using American video conferencing platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom, and replace them with Visio, a French platform.”
Zoom Is the First Casualty in France's War on American Big Tech
Homebrewed video conferencing may not be a moonshot, but you gotta start somewhere.
gizmodo.com
January 27, 2026 at 9:14 PM
putain ouais
Reposted by Joshua Benton
Journalists have to eat, so the frame for this article plays up "slicing spines" of books &c. But imo this is actually (like Google Books) an inspiring story of people getting their acts together to organize and transform knowledge. I only wish universities could coordinate as effectively.
Anthropic hired the former head of Google Books to oversee its secret "Project Panama," new court docs show — quietly buying millions of used books in bulk, breaking their spines and scanning them to feed into its Claude chatbot. wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
January 27, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Journalists have to eat, so the frame for this article plays up "slicing spines" of books &c. But imo this is actually (like Google Books) an inspiring story of people getting their acts together to organize and transform knowledge. I only wish universities could coordinate as effectively.