Spencer Cole
@spencercole.bsky.social
Formerly an environment reporter in the West. Currently tired.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
SCOOP — A former staffer for Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Natalie Green, 26, was charged today for falsely reporting she was attacked by 3 men who wrote "TRUMP WHORE" on her stomach bc of her job. It was staged by her + a friend.
Van Drew isn't named in the complaint but I've confirmed w/ his office.
Van Drew isn't named in the complaint but I've confirmed w/ his office.
Employee of a Federal Official Charged with Conspiracy to Falsely Report Violent Attack and Giving False Statements to Law Enforcement
A New Jersey woman was charged with conspiring and falsely reporting to law enforcement that she had been violently assaulted with a firearm due to her employment with a federal official.
www.justice.gov
November 19, 2025 at 11:22 PM
SCOOP — A former staffer for Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Natalie Green, 26, was charged today for falsely reporting she was attacked by 3 men who wrote "TRUMP WHORE" on her stomach bc of her job. It was staged by her + a friend.
Van Drew isn't named in the complaint but I've confirmed w/ his office.
Van Drew isn't named in the complaint but I've confirmed w/ his office.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
“Coed adult cheerleading” sent a chill down my spine. What do they cheer for, mortgages?
Bill Belichick attended a cheerleading competition in Raleigh, where he supported his girlfriend Jordon, a member of a coed adult cheerleading team. #BillBelichick #CollegeFootball #football
November 19, 2025 at 4:33 PM
“Coed adult cheerleading” sent a chill down my spine. What do they cheer for, mortgages?
Reposted by Spencer Cole
I thought it was just me 😭
November 19, 2025 at 2:40 PM
I thought it was just me 😭
Reposted by Spencer Cole
the podcast-as-mass-media boom has always been fascinating to me because it doesn’t seem like anyone involved actually likes podcasts?
November 19, 2025 at 12:36 PM
the podcast-as-mass-media boom has always been fascinating to me because it doesn’t seem like anyone involved actually likes podcasts?
Reposted by Spencer Cole
We saw on Friday elite solidarity rather than professional solidarity when Trump called a female reporter “piggy” and not a single one of her colleagues came to her defense—presumably because they didn’t want to threaten their own proximity to power.
Moral rot in elite journalism is killing the whole field
The Nuzzi/RFK Jr. mess and the revelation of Esptein's journo pals lay bare a profound moral absence at the heart of our free press.
www.thehandbasket.co
November 18, 2025 at 11:45 PM
We saw on Friday elite solidarity rather than professional solidarity when Trump called a female reporter “piggy” and not a single one of her colleagues came to her defense—presumably because they didn’t want to threaten their own proximity to power.
"It was an accident that we brutally murdered and bone sawed that guy in an embassy while his fiancée waited outside."
MBS claims the murder of Khashoggi was "a huge mistake and we're our doing our best that this doesn't happen again."
November 18, 2025 at 6:02 PM
"It was an accident that we brutally murdered and bone sawed that guy in an embassy while his fiancée waited outside."
Reposted by Spencer Cole
I love her so much. She's just the best.
Love it when Jasmine is on🔥
“Mike Johnson is full of shit. We know that he didn't even bring the House back in because he was trying to avoid us dealing with Epstein. He would not even swear in a duly elected member of Congress to avoid this. So miss me on pretending that this is about the victims.”
“Mike Johnson is full of shit. We know that he didn't even bring the House back in because he was trying to avoid us dealing with Epstein. He would not even swear in a duly elected member of Congress to avoid this. So miss me on pretending that this is about the victims.”
November 18, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I love her so much. She's just the best.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
i'd like to invite this man to a steel cage match with me in the steel cage. i would like some chairs and tables, maybe a handful of thumbtacks, some wooden skewers, and a 2x4
November 18, 2025 at 4:54 PM
i'd like to invite this man to a steel cage match with me in the steel cage. i would like some chairs and tables, maybe a handful of thumbtacks, some wooden skewers, and a 2x4
Reposted by Spencer Cole
A NY University project is tracking lawsuits of low merit filed by the rich and powerful to punish citizens and the press for exercising their 1A rights. They’re called SLAPP claims – Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. This is a growing threat from Trump and other foes of free speech.
www.nyu.edu
November 18, 2025 at 3:28 PM
A NY University project is tracking lawsuits of low merit filed by the rich and powerful to punish citizens and the press for exercising their 1A rights. They’re called SLAPP claims – Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. This is a growing threat from Trump and other foes of free speech.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
This is how CBS News’s Jennifer Jacobs, who used to work for Bloomberg, reported on Trump calling a Bloomberg reporter—likely Catherine Lucey, unless Bloomberg had two reporter on AF1–“piggy”
Lots of news outlets follow Jacobs. She’s part of WH pool. They just all decided to ignore this.
Lots of news outlets follow Jacobs. She’s part of WH pool. They just all decided to ignore this.
November 18, 2025 at 7:24 AM
This is how CBS News’s Jennifer Jacobs, who used to work for Bloomberg, reported on Trump calling a Bloomberg reporter—likely Catherine Lucey, unless Bloomberg had two reporter on AF1–“piggy”
Lots of news outlets follow Jacobs. She’s part of WH pool. They just all decided to ignore this.
Lots of news outlets follow Jacobs. She’s part of WH pool. They just all decided to ignore this.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
This being the same "U.S. Attorney" whom a judge disqualified from serving.
November 17, 2025 at 9:12 PM
This being the same "U.S. Attorney" whom a judge disqualified from serving.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
All I will say about this entire thing is that I'm feeling so much better about my writing now
November 17, 2025 at 5:52 PM
All I will say about this entire thing is that I'm feeling so much better about my writing now
Reposted by Spencer Cole
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
I have to say, I'm tremendously unimpressed that Vanity Fair is trying to help Nuzzi speedrun her rehabilitation. It was unserious when it let her cover a person with whom she was in a romantic relationship and it's even less serious now.
Vanity Fair's West Coast Editor Olivia Nuzzi was a star political correspondent until scandal led her into exile—and to a California up in flames.
In an excerpt from her book, ‘American Canto,’ she takes stock of scorched earth.
In an excerpt from her book, ‘American Canto,’ she takes stock of scorched earth.
Olivia Nuzzi's 'American Canto': Read the Exclusive Excerpt
She flamed out and she faded away. 'Vanity Fair'’s West Coast Editor returns to the written word to survey scorched earth.
www.vanityfair.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:05 PM
I have to say, I'm tremendously unimpressed that Vanity Fair is trying to help Nuzzi speedrun her rehabilitation. It was unserious when it let her cover a person with whom she was in a romantic relationship and it's even less serious now.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
disagree on this point, I think a lot of people - including lawyers - are feeling a sense of both betrayal and purpose that will make them only too happy to get into this fight.
Trump will not just be four years of bad management. The culture of these organizations will be fucked for a long time. The pressure to retaliate and clean house will be strong, and no-one wants to work in a war zone.
November 17, 2025 at 3:07 PM
disagree on this point, I think a lot of people - including lawyers - are feeling a sense of both betrayal and purpose that will make them only too happy to get into this fight.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
this has been the playbook for the human trafficking moral panic for years. big announcements, big shows of force, resulting in zero or near zero charges.
the whole thing is built on the media’s willingness to report cop’s statements as facts without real sourcing.
the whole thing is built on the media’s willingness to report cop’s statements as facts without real sourcing.
Remember the recent middle-of-the-night apartment building raid where children were dragged outside naked & zip-tied in the street while black & Latino residents were _sorted by race_ and piled into separate vans while their apartments were ransacked & robbed? That raid? So it resulted in 0 arrests.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign and be criminally charged, according to critics who seized on a report revealing that zero people who were arrested in a high-profile raid were charged with a crime.
November 16, 2025 at 6:22 PM
this has been the playbook for the human trafficking moral panic for years. big announcements, big shows of force, resulting in zero or near zero charges.
the whole thing is built on the media’s willingness to report cop’s statements as facts without real sourcing.
the whole thing is built on the media’s willingness to report cop’s statements as facts without real sourcing.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
The fact that it divides the GOP is what makes it different from the mueller investigation, which was never going to go anywhere.
made a similar point on the opinions podcast this week in response to the idea that epstein is a dead end. not only are actual voters interested in this but it divides the gop and puts pressure on the president. it would be political malpractice to treat it as a sideshow
The usual suspects are telling Dems that Epstein won’t win elections, get back to “affordability” and I think my head might explode. www.offmessage.net/p/force-a-re...
November 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
The fact that it divides the GOP is what makes it different from the mueller investigation, which was never going to go anywhere.
Shane Beamer hasn't felt this alive in years
November 15, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Shane Beamer hasn't felt this alive in years
Reposted by Spencer Cole
This is an official BlueSky team response to a CSA victim complaining about BlueSky banning Patton Oswalt for saying "Wood chipper. Feet First' regarding Megyn Kelly's defense of CSA and Jeffrey Epstein.
First I’m sorry that you had such tragic experiences. That’s horrific.
1) if a person on the news, such as a female journalist talks about a topic, does she deserve threats in a joking way?
2) would you believe those acceptable to receive on your account?
1) if a person on the news, such as a female journalist talks about a topic, does she deserve threats in a joking way?
2) would you believe those acceptable to receive on your account?
November 15, 2025 at 4:30 PM
This is an official BlueSky team response to a CSA victim complaining about BlueSky banning Patton Oswalt for saying "Wood chipper. Feet First' regarding Megyn Kelly's defense of CSA and Jeffrey Epstein.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
applying for asylum in the Woke Dictatorship
in the actual real world secret police are disappearing americans on behalf of an openly white nationalist government but george packer’s latest is a novel about a world beset by woke totalitarianism
What Happens When an Empire Falls? This Novel Has Some Ideas.
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:39 PM
applying for asylum in the Woke Dictatorship
Reposted by Spencer Cole
This made me think about Mike Leach's Insurgent Warfare & Football Strategy Course he co-taught at Washington State.
November 15, 2025 at 3:51 PM
This made me think about Mike Leach's Insurgent Warfare & Football Strategy Course he co-taught at Washington State.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
My serious take is that Nuzzi committed a huge ethical breach of standards and should be ashamed, not profiting off a book deal and getting a warm and fuzzy profile in the Times.
There are too many good, hard-working ethical reporters out there for this stuff to be rewarded.
There are too many good, hard-working ethical reporters out there for this stuff to be rewarded.
Welcome to journalism in 2025, when ethics are not longer required and the whole thing feels like a high school lunchroom, complete with the elitist “You can’t sit with us!” nepo babies at legacy outlets who all write stories about how great their pals are.
God, it’s so depressing.
God, it’s so depressing.
November 14, 2025 at 7:04 PM
My serious take is that Nuzzi committed a huge ethical breach of standards and should be ashamed, not profiting off a book deal and getting a warm and fuzzy profile in the Times.
There are too many good, hard-working ethical reporters out there for this stuff to be rewarded.
There are too many good, hard-working ethical reporters out there for this stuff to be rewarded.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
"This is good work, I am doing important journalism here," I think, as I soberly discuss the important differences between sexually assaulting fifteen year-olds and eight year-olds.
November 14, 2025 at 4:02 PM
"This is good work, I am doing important journalism here," I think, as I soberly discuss the important differences between sexually assaulting fifteen year-olds and eight year-olds.
Reposted by Spencer Cole
“you can be disappeared”
this is actually happening to people irl in this country, getting a temporary suspension from Bluesky is not the same thing. grow up
this is actually happening to people irl in this country, getting a temporary suspension from Bluesky is not the same thing. grow up
BlueSky is a bad site used by good people. That describes most social media sites. But BlueSky is egregiously unethical. Any of you can be disappeared for baseless reasons. I've been on social media for 17 years and never been suspended. BlueSky is the first place to do so – over Johnny Cash lyrics.
November 14, 2025 at 4:03 PM
“you can be disappeared”
this is actually happening to people irl in this country, getting a temporary suspension from Bluesky is not the same thing. grow up
this is actually happening to people irl in this country, getting a temporary suspension from Bluesky is not the same thing. grow up
Reposted by Spencer Cole
but have you considered that Joe Biden wasn’t willing to peg the entire American economy to Bitcoin in 2021, so this was the only other available option
YELLEN: “.. businesses feel paralyzed by the uncertainty about policies that represent the strong but really personal whims of a single individual.”
@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
November 14, 2025 at 2:12 PM
but have you considered that Joe Biden wasn’t willing to peg the entire American economy to Bitcoin in 2021, so this was the only other available option