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sdavidmiller.bsky.social
Stephen David Miller
@sdavidmiller.bsky.social
170 followers 99 following 410 posts
Investor; techie; former founder & product exec; Stanford AI PhD dropout; movie podcaster at The Spoiler Warning; lover of travel, film, writing, snobby beverages. I write at sdavidmiller.com and decodingeverything.com on occasion. He/him.
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sdavidmiller.bsky.social
Stephen David Miller @sdavidmiller.bsky.social · 18d
New piece is live on Decoding Everything! In keeping with tradition, I count down 20 of my favorite films of 2025, grouped into 10 thematic pairs. This exercise always serves as a proxy for me to reflect on the year more broadly. I found this one particularly cathartic to write.
10 Cinematic Pairings That Reflected The Spirit Of 2025
Stephen David Miller explores the year via twenty interconnected films.
www.decodingeverything.com
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
pattymo.com
“Mr. Beast Salesforce ad” - they’re calling it the least appealing phrase ever assembled in any language. They finally did it
February 9, 2026 at 2:32 AM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
themountaingoats.bsky.social
man I’m sorry to be all corny here but when I see a “the city is beautiful! There’s more to it than homeless people!” I gotta say you know who’s also beautiful? People who have no place to live & are trying to get by in a system that has turned its back on them & if you don’t see that that’s on you
February 8, 2026 at 4:42 AM
sdavidmiller.bsky.social
For an invention whose entire pitch was “control your thermostat while you’re away”, it’s mind boggling how terrible Nest’s scheduling UI in their mobile app is.
February 7, 2026 at 7:14 PM
sdavidmiller.bsky.social
I love that every month or so, the editors of Connections wake up and say “What if today, instead of the game people like to play, we just did something really fucking annoying?”
February 7, 2026 at 4:15 PM
sdavidmiller.bsky.social
Two other favorites I didn’t write about, largely because @mattgoldberg.bsky.social already did a great job covering them over the weekend: AMERICAN DOCTOR and LADY
February 3, 2026 at 5:09 PM
sdavidmiller.bsky.social
New Sundance collab with @davechen.bsky.social is now live on Decoding Everything, going through our favorites of the fest! I sing the praises of BURN, IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME, and (going a little against the grain on this one) CAROUSEL. www.decodingeverything.com/best-films-s...
We Watched 26 Films from Sundance 2026. Here Are Our 6 Favorites.
David Chen and Stephen David Miller share some highlights from the online portion of the Sundance Film Festival
www.decodingeverything.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:11 PM
sdavidmiller.bsky.social
Epstein was a social climber who cultivated an aura of “be nice to me and I might fund you.” It doesn’t surprise me in the least that half of Silicon Valley had friendly correspondences with him, long after he was known to be a monster.

But that context isn’t exonerating; it’s damning.
January 31, 2026 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
taylordahlin.com
brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis
January 27, 2026 at 12:22 AM
sdavidmiller.bsky.social
Assuming this story is legit, it’s extremely damning and disappointing
Exclusive | The teenage sex scene that sparked infamous rift between edgy director brothers behind Hollywood’s hottest movies
One of the more enduring riddles that has mystified Hollywood in recent years is what triggered the rift between Josh and Benny Safdie.
pagesix.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
jamellebouie.net
if bovino is out and conservatives are turning on noem then there is a real opportunity to demand that miller resign too.
January 27, 2026 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
nickmiroff.bsky.social
BREAKING Greg Bovino has been removed as Border Patrol "commander at large" and will return to El Centro Calif, where he is expected to retire soon. A stunning turnaround after Pretti killing. Bovino's traveling blue city crackdown is over www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Gregory Bovino Gets Demoted
The Border Patrol chief was the public face of a traveling immigration crackdown on cities governed by Democrats.
www.theatlantic.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
kathleenbelew.bsky.social
"We lived happily during the war," Ilya Kaminsky
January 25, 2026 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
badideas.bsky.social
A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.
January 25, 2026 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
jstanton617.com
@lukeoneil47.bsky.social ‘s verse about this never fails to move me
This is my blood I marvel at the design of our weapons. So sophisticated that they can transform any man woman or child into a terrorist. Writing in their flight between launch and concussion an entire alternate history of a life. Just as the cop's bullet convicts you of a crime. Its presence in your body evidence enough that it always belonged there. A violent transubstantiation.
January 25, 2026 at 2:45 AM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.
1. I am a resident of the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am over 18 years of age. I am a children's entertainer who specializes in face painting. 2. On Saturday, January 24, 2026, at about 8:50 am, I was getting ready to go to work when I heard whistles outside. I knew the whistles meant that ICE agents were in the area, so I decided to check it out on my way to work. I've been involved in observing in my community because it is so important to document what ICE is doing to my neighbors. Connecting to your local community and knowing who your neighbors are is something I profoundly value. 3. I drove to Nicollet Ave. and 26th where I could hear the whistles coming from. I turned south onto Nicollet. There were already several ICE agents there and they'd set up a sort of vehicle convoy on Nicollet and 28th. There were also about 15 observers there, recording and observing ICE. 4. I saw ICE agents surrounding cars and punching car windows. I also saw them stopping vehicles further down Nicollet, so I backed up because I didn't feel safe continuing on. 5. I noticed a man sort of acting to help traffic move more smoothly. He helped me find a place to park. I got out with my whistle and my camera. I went over to him and said something like, "I'm going to film and use my whistle." 6. It seemed like most ICE activity was happening a little farther down the street from us, near 27th. Someone was being thrown to the ground. 7. I started recording. There was an agent by a car across the street. Two observers were a few feet away from the agent, blowing their whistles. One was wearing a backpack. 8. I and the man who was observing and helping direct traffic were standing in the street. There was a phone in the man's hand recording a video. 9. An agent approached and asked us to back up, so I moved slowly back onto the sidewalk. 10. The man stayed in the street, filming as the other observers I mentioned earlier were being forced backward by another ICE agent threatening them with pepper spray. The man went closer to support them as they got threatened, just with his camera out. I didn't see him reach for or hold a gun. 11. Then the ICE agent shoved one of the other observers to the ground. Then he started pepper spraying all three of them directly in the face and all over. The man with the phone put his hands above his head and the agent sprayed him again and pushed him. 12. Then the man tried to help up the woman the ICE agent had shoved to the ground. The ICE agents just kept spraying. More agents came over and grabbed the man who was still trying to help the woman get up. All three of the observers looked to have been badly affected by the pepper spray. I could feel the pepper spray in my eyes. 13. The agents pulled the man on the ground. I didn't see him touch any of them-he wasn't even turned toward them. It didn't look like he was trying to resist, just trying to help the woman up. I didn't see him with a gun. They threw him to the ground. Four or five agents had him on the ground and they just started shooting him. They shot him so many times. 14.1 don't know why they shot him. He was only helping. I was five feet from him and they just shot him. 15. The video I recorded of what happened accurately depicts the events leading up to the agents shooting him and several minutes afterwards. The video is attached as Exhibit 1. 16. I have read the statement from DHS about what happened and it is wrong. The man did not approach the agents with a gun. He approached them with a camera. He was just trying to help a woman get up and they took him to the ground. 17. I feel afraid. Only hours have passed since they shot a man right in front me and I don't feel like I can go home because I heard agents were looking for me. I don't know what the agents will do when they find me. I do know that they're not telling the truth about what happened. I've heard that other witnesses might have been arrested and taken to the Whipple Building. 18. I am disgusted and gutted at how they are treating my neighbors and my state. I keep alternating between crying and feeling determined it is important to remember the value of documenting injustice. We show up for the people who need us to bear witness, because it can't just be one group of people bearing the brunt of their tyranny. This is a struggle to protect our freedom and democracy, those things are on the line. He lost his life for those values. I declare under penalty of perjury that everything I have stated in this document is true and correct. Dated and signed on Jan 24, 2026 in Hennepin County, State of Minnesota.
January 25, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
jeffrueter.bsky.social
Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti.

"Please get the truth out about our son."
Statement from Michael and Susan Pretti Parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti “We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.
January 25, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
themountaingoats.bsky.social
seems fairly clear that the ICE guys have been told by somebody "if you kill somebody, local police aren't allowed to investigate the scene, and you need to obstruct them"
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 17d
Multiple officials of the US federal government are spending their day rather blatantly obstructing Minnesota law enforcement and covering up a murder.
14 minutes ago Mitch Smith Midwest reporter Superintendent Evans said that state investigators had a signed warrant to access the shooting scene, but they were denied access by federal officials. Even though state investigators "were not ave to do really any work at the scene once we had access,"he said, they had been talking to witnesses and seeking videos.
January 24, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
ositanwanevu.com
We have been told for nearly 30 years that America needed to tolerate mass shootings because the broad availability of guns would help us defend ourselves from an overreaching federal government. That day has come. The people who said this are supporting the federal agents. Many have joined them.
January 24, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
blackamazon.bsky.social
Remember when our nurses were heroes.?

Remember when we honored people who took care of vets ?

They just shot someone who probably was there to take care of people

Welcome to America where we “look for the helpers”

To shoot them

I hope he knew how much he was loved
dimitridrekonja.bsky.social Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 17d
Alex from our time working together, while he was in nursing school. Later, he moved to ICU, working as a nurse to support critically ill Veterans. He had such a great attitude. We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now
Alex Pretti from his early days working at the VA
January 24, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
edbott.com
This from @jamellebouie.net is spectacularly clear-eyed and persuasive, with an undercurrent of righteous anger. I highly recommend that you watch and share.
ICE Kills Another American
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
www.youtube.com
January 24, 2026 at 9:00 PM
sdavidmiller.bsky.social
Sincerely hoping that the collective outrage around the latest execution in Minnesota (what a depressing phrase to have to type) leads to actual change. Cynicism has trained me to expect nothing from Democratic leadership, but what use is defeatism? Fuck ICE. Fuck this administration. Keep shouting.
January 24, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
atrupar.com
All of this is fucking senseless. Minnesota did not have an immigration problem. Trump sent his Nazi thugs here because he's racist against Somali people and to own libs like Tim Walz. Now two Minnesotans are dead and Minneapolis is on the verge of going up in flames. None. Of. This. Was. Necessary.
January 24, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
ositanwanevu.com
The last few years have seen the largest wave of immigration in American history. All those images we carry in our heads about people arriving at Ellis Island — we just surpassed that. Crime went down. Real wages went up. This is a fake problem. Enough is enough.
January 24, 2026 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
kashana.blacksky.app
At the end of the day, the Black Lives Matter era was about whether people should be killed in the street, and lots of people decided yeah and put those little blue flags on their cars. It spread to everyone because it stopped for no one.
January 24, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Stephen David Miller
davechen.bsky.social
Today at Decoding Everything: @sdavidmiller.bsky.social counts down 10 cinematic pairings that defined the year 2025. These are always really beautiful and thoughtful and I hope you'll check it out (subscribe for free!) www.decodingeverything.com/10-cinematic...
10 Cinematic Pairings That Reflected The Spirit Of 2025
Stephen David Miller explores the year via twenty interconnected films.
www.decodingeverything.com
January 23, 2026 at 5:20 PM