Spencer Ackerman
@attackerman.bsky.social
Journalist & author of REIGN OF TERROR: HOW THE 9/11 ERA DESTABILIZED AMERICA & PRODUCED TRUMP, contributor to Zeteo. Sometimes I write comics too. Subscribe to FOREVER WARS for ‘natsec’ journalism: https://www.forever-wars.com
Signal: attackerman.81
Signal: attackerman.81
I’ve been hearing Adam talk through this piece in stages for a year but didn’t understand it because I don’t understand gaming or the history of D&D. The last time we had dinner he went through the whole thing and it blew my mind
The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons and Dragons to Be Racist
The fantastical roots of “scientific racism”
www.theatlantic.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:48 PM
I’ve been hearing Adam talk through this piece in stages for a year but didn’t understand it because I don’t understand gaming or the history of D&D. The last time we had dinner he went through the whole thing and it blew my mind
If the War on Terror were Orwell's Animal Farm, today we come to the last page.
Al-Qaeda in Syria's Ex-Commander Enlists in The War on Terror
They always said al-Qaeda would one day make its way to the White House. Turns out it's not for a suicide bombing but a handshake
www.forever-wars.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:36 PM
If the War on Terror were Orwell's Animal Farm, today we come to the last page.
They’re wearing masks so they can’t be prosecuted later. As long as they think they can’t be prosecuted, their crimes will intensify. They will torture, starve and kill, as they have already, on greater and greater scale.
Signed, someone who’s covered the unaccountable War on Terror for 23 years.
Signed, someone who’s covered the unaccountable War on Terror for 23 years.
I’ve come to believe that we need to gather considerable forces and a campaign to demand the removal of face masks by ICE, Border Patrol, FBI and police.
It is a practice in conflict with the principles of transparency & accountability that are central to the concept of democracy.
It is a practice in conflict with the principles of transparency & accountability that are central to the concept of democracy.
Video on social media shows an immigration agent pulling a gun in Little Village and holding it to the side — which is not an appropriate or safe way to hold a gun. (Among other issues.)
November 9, 2025 at 2:36 PM
They’re wearing masks so they can’t be prosecuted later. As long as they think they can’t be prosecuted, their crimes will intensify. They will torture, starve and kill, as they have already, on greater and greater scale.
Signed, someone who’s covered the unaccountable War on Terror for 23 years.
Signed, someone who’s covered the unaccountable War on Terror for 23 years.
“Biden officials worried that attaching their names to a recommendation to limit American support for Tel Aviv would hinder their future career prospects, the former senior official said, ‘which is in itself appalling.’”
NEW: Inside the Biden administration debates in late 2024 that could have changed the course of the Gaza war
-top intel official sought to cut support for Israel but Brett McGurk pushed back
-talk of "very likely" US liability
-Blinken spoke of "ethnic cleansing"
www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-...
-top intel official sought to cut support for Israel but Brett McGurk pushed back
-talk of "very likely" US liability
-Blinken spoke of "ethnic cleansing"
www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-...
Biden Discussed Potential Israeli War Crimes In Gaza. He Kicked The Can To Trump.
New intelligence shocked officials in late 2024, spurring heightened fear of U.S. liability, HuffPost has learned. The period saw Secretary of State Antony Blinken ask if Israel’s actions constituted ...
www.huffpost.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:27 AM
“Biden officials worried that attaching their names to a recommendation to limit American support for Tel Aviv would hinder their future career prospects, the former senior official said, ‘which is in itself appalling.’”
Reposted by Spencer Ackerman
Hang out with incredible comix folks @attackerman.bsky.social @julioanta.bsky.social @benkahncomics.bsky.social @fredvanlente.bsky.social @wendyxu.bsky.social and me on 11/15 in Brooklyn! Fold zines! Have fun! NO ICE IN NYC!
www.mobilize.us/indivisiblen...
www.mobilize.us/indivisiblen...
November 7, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Hang out with incredible comix folks @attackerman.bsky.social @julioanta.bsky.social @benkahncomics.bsky.social @fredvanlente.bsky.social @wendyxu.bsky.social and me on 11/15 in Brooklyn! Fold zines! Have fun! NO ICE IN NYC!
www.mobilize.us/indivisiblen...
www.mobilize.us/indivisiblen...
Hey, do you like comic books, hate ICE & live in New York? Come out to hang with some of your favorite comics creators, and also me, on Nov. 15 in Crown Heights to raise community awareness about your rights when the Frozen Fascists come around!
Hands Off NYC Zine and Poster Fun in Brooklyn with local comics creators! · Indivisible Brooklyn
Join New York comic creators to fold zines and make posters to push back against ICE in our city! Stay to fold and color a while or just swing by to pick up zines and posters to distribute in your nei...
www.mobilize.us
November 7, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Hey, do you like comic books, hate ICE & live in New York? Come out to hang with some of your favorite comics creators, and also me, on Nov. 15 in Crown Heights to raise community awareness about your rights when the Frozen Fascists come around!
I keep saying: Tisch cooperated w ICE to arrest Leqaa Kordia. She shouldn’t be commissioner if @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social wants to protect us from ICE.
If there is to be an NYPD — & Zohran repudiated abolition — then its role must be to protect ppl from ICE. If that’s unrealistic whats the point?
If there is to be an NYPD — & Zohran repudiated abolition — then its role must be to protect ppl from ICE. If that’s unrealistic whats the point?
New: NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch got advance notice from the Trump admin that ICE agents were about to conduct their aggressive Canal St. immigration raid — a revelation that could raise complex questions for Mamdani, who wants to as mayor keep her as PC. www.nydailynews.com/2025/11/06/n...
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch got Trump admin heads up before ICE raid on Canal Street
The revelation that Tisch had advance knowledge of the Trump administration’s Canal St. raids could raise a number of complicated questions for Zohran Mamdani, the mayoral-elect who has said …
www.nydailynews.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:11 PM
I keep saying: Tisch cooperated w ICE to arrest Leqaa Kordia. She shouldn’t be commissioner if @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social wants to protect us from ICE.
If there is to be an NYPD — & Zohran repudiated abolition — then its role must be to protect ppl from ICE. If that’s unrealistic whats the point?
If there is to be an NYPD — & Zohran repudiated abolition — then its role must be to protect ppl from ICE. If that’s unrealistic whats the point?
THE TORTURE AND DELIVERANCE OF MAJID KHAN, CHAPTER 5 // PETE’S CANDY STORE // TONIGHT
November 6, 2025 at 8:23 PM
THE TORTURE AND DELIVERANCE OF MAJID KHAN, CHAPTER 5 // PETE’S CANDY STORE // TONIGHT
But more importantly, come out to @petescandystore.bsky.social tomorrow if you want to be the first to hear a chapter from my next book!
November 6, 2025 at 2:14 AM
But more importantly, come out to @petescandystore.bsky.social tomorrow if you want to be the first to hear a chapter from my next book!
Reposted by Spencer Ackerman
GET FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKED
November 5, 2025 at 3:28 AM
GET FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKED
The biggest sell-through in this shitty paper’s history is coming tomorrow
November 5, 2025 at 3:11 AM
The biggest sell-through in this shitty paper’s history is coming tomorrow
I wrote this in June and the disgusting way since then that Cuomo and the oligarchs have been willing to tear the social fabric of the city apart to stop him has only made it more true and Zohran’s victory more thunderous.
Next we stop ICE.
Next we stop ICE.
This Is The Beginning of The End of The 9/11 Era
Capital and nativism will fight even harder against Zohran Mamdani now. But in capital's seat of power, socialism defeated barbarism. I fucking love New York
www.forever-wars.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:58 AM
I wrote this in June and the disgusting way since then that Cuomo and the oligarchs have been willing to tear the social fabric of the city apart to stop him has only made it more true and Zohran’s victory more thunderous.
Next we stop ICE.
Next we stop ICE.
Ohhhhhhh if you thought Bronx Science grads were insufferable before
November 5, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Ohhhhhhh if you thought Bronx Science grads were insufferable before
Just let me get the leak of what the NYPD group chats post about Zohran
November 5, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Just let me get the leak of what the NYPD group chats post about Zohran
If you want more of this, in conversational form, I spoke with my friends @dwdavison.bsky.social & Danny Bessner for a very Dead Cheney episode of @amprestigepod.bsky.social:
November 5, 2025 at 12:12 AM
If you want more of this, in conversational form, I spoke with my friends @dwdavison.bsky.social & Danny Bessner for a very Dead Cheney episode of @amprestigepod.bsky.social:
Reposted by Spencer Ackerman
The Ground Zero Mosque discourse was the moment I snapped. Liberals mostly treated as a small little scandal, nothing much out of the ordinary, and there wasn't even a lot of Democrat pushback. It was clear then that if such Islamophobia would go unchallenged, fascism was inevitable. So it went.
The Cheney obituary pairs well with this piece I just published about the final attempts to stop @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social. Read them together and subscribe to @foreverwars.bsky.social:
The Ground Zero Mosqueification of Zohran Mamdani
The politics of 9/11 may not be strong enough to take down the New York mayoral frontrunner. But they'll burn the social fabric of the city they claim to save
www.forever-wars.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:22 PM
The Ground Zero Mosque discourse was the moment I snapped. Liberals mostly treated as a small little scandal, nothing much out of the ordinary, and there wasn't even a lot of Democrat pushback. It was clear then that if such Islamophobia would go unchallenged, fascism was inevitable. So it went.
Reposted by Spencer Ackerman
This graf.
November 4, 2025 at 7:21 PM
This graf.
Reposted by Spencer Ackerman
I just want @attackerman.bsky.social to get to write so many more of these until “blistering review of the life of a socially accepted genocidaire” is a genre of obit
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
His Works Completed, Dick Cheney, Mass Murderer of Iraqis and American Democracy, Dies
As much as the Trumpists claim to disavow the War on Terror, they walk a path paved by the most powerful vice president in U.S. history.
www.thenation.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:31 PM
I just want @attackerman.bsky.social to get to write so many more of these until “blistering review of the life of a socially accepted genocidaire” is a genre of obit
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
The oligarchs can’t stop @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social. But they can try to position the city against his coming mayoralty. And everyone who lived through the manufactured Islamophobic hysteria known as the “Ground Zero Mosque” knows exactly how this venom spreads.
The Ground Zero Mosqueification of Zohran Mamdani
The politics of 9/11 may not be strong enough to take down the New York mayoral frontrunner. But they'll burn the social fabric of the city they claim to save
www.forever-wars.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:50 PM
The oligarchs can’t stop @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social. But they can try to position the city against his coming mayoralty. And everyone who lived through the manufactured Islamophobic hysteria known as the “Ground Zero Mosque” knows exactly how this venom spreads.
Reposted by Spencer Ackerman
Just dagger after dagger
All day, many of you have been asking for a Cheney obituary from me. Get ready:
His Works Completed, Dick Cheney, Mass Murderer of Iraqis and American Democracy, Dies
As much as the Trumpists claim to disavow the War on Terror, they walk a path paved by the most powerful vice president in U.S. history.
www.thenation.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Just dagger after dagger
Reposted by Spencer Ackerman
The great @attackerman.bsky.social on Dick Cheney www.thenation.com/article/poli...
His Works Completed, Dick Cheney, Mass Murderer of Iraqis and American Democracy, Dies
As much as the Trumpists claim to disavow the War on Terror, they walk a path paved by the most powerful vice president in U.S. history.
www.thenation.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:58 PM
The great @attackerman.bsky.social on Dick Cheney www.thenation.com/article/poli...
All day, many of you have been asking for a Cheney obituary from me. Get ready:
His Works Completed, Dick Cheney, Mass Murderer of Iraqis and American Democracy, Dies
As much as the Trumpists claim to disavow the War on Terror, they walk a path paved by the most powerful vice president in U.S. history.
www.thenation.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
All day, many of you have been asking for a Cheney obituary from me. Get ready:
Reposted by Spencer Ackerman
Here is my review of @attackerman.bsky.social's Reign of Terror from when it came out; no book connects these dots better newrepublic.com/article/1631...
How the War on Terror Undermined American Democracy
Spencer Ackerman’s new book argues that the forever wars created the conditions for Trump’s rise.
newrepublic.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Here is my review of @attackerman.bsky.social's Reign of Terror from when it came out; no book connects these dots better newrepublic.com/article/1631...
No one commissioned a Cheney obit from me except a friend who subsequently left his outlet. If you’re an editor and you pay more than $1.50/word, reach out. If I hate your outlet, be prepared to pay more.
If these terms are not acceptable, my book works as a Cheney obituary:
If these terms are not acceptable, my book works as a Cheney obituary:
Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump
How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump
bookshop.org
November 4, 2025 at 1:23 PM
No one commissioned a Cheney obit from me except a friend who subsequently left his outlet. If you’re an editor and you pay more than $1.50/word, reach out. If I hate your outlet, be prepared to pay more.
If these terms are not acceptable, my book works as a Cheney obituary:
If these terms are not acceptable, my book works as a Cheney obituary:
Pay me
and now the timeline braces for the @attackerman.bsky.social obit
BREAKING | Dick Cheney, George W. Bush’s vice president, dead at 84
November 4, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Pay me