Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 23/08/2026Incredible paragraph in this obituary. This man lived an A++ life. Rest in peace. highlandscurrent.org/2026/08/19/l... 061
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 31/03/2026I spent six months reporting and writing my latest @wired.com story about a Syracuse man who has become laser-focused on countering ICE—no matter the personal cost.wired.comOpposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your LifeFor months, lone vibe coder Rafael Concepcion has obsessively built tools to counter the federal immigration crackdown—pivoting as he’s been outmatched. He’s also lost his job and become a target. 1105
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 02/01/2026Sometimes the generosity of a fellow human is too beautiful for me to bear. 060
Reposted by Brendan I. KoernerJAAAAAHlle 🖤🦇🦇🦇🦇 @gyttjansfolk.bsky.social · 17/09/2025"It all started when a videoclip from episode 1,308 of The Joe Rogan Experience popped up in Smith’s Instagram feed." We truly live in Hell World www.wired.com/story/22-cel...wired.comOne Vigilante, 22 Cell Tower Fires, and a World of ConspiraciesInside the mind of the most prolific anti-5G arsonist in the world—and the incoherent, very online political violence of our era. 011
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 17/09/2025Sitting on a late-night commuter train, vibing out to the “Tax Problems” section of Paul Hogan’s Wikipedia article. Life can be so magical sometimes. 010
Reposted by Brendan I. KoernerJB Holston @jholston.bsky.social · 16/09/2025“You’ve got Groypers running Department of Homeland Security Twitter accounts” www.wired.com/story/22-cel...wired.comOne Vigilante, 22 Cell Tower Fires, and a World of ConspiraciesInside the mind of the most prolific anti-5G arsonist in the world—and the incoherent, very online political violence of our era. 24718
Reposted by Brendan I. KoernerAngela Watercutter @waterslicer.bsky.social · 16/09/2025"It all started when a videoclip from episode 1,308 of 'The Joe Rogan Experience' popped up in Smith’s Instagram feed..." Great reporting from @brendankoerner.bsky.social here. www.wired.com/story/22-cel...wired.comOne Vigilante, 22 Cell Tower Fires, and a World of ConspiraciesInside the mind of the most prolific anti-5G arsonist in the world—and the incoherent, very online political violence of our era. 052
Reposted by Brendan I. KoernerReyhan Harmanci @harmancipants.bsky.social · 16/09/2025Could not be more timely: @brendankoerner.bsky.social goes inside the world of the most prolific destroyer of US tech infrastructure, a guy whose vague internet 5G brainrot put him in prison-and he still clings to conspiracy. This is the shape of political violence now www.wired.com/story/22-cel...wired.comOne Vigilante, 22 Cell Towers, and a World of ConspiraciesInside the mind of the most prolific anti-5G arsonist in the world—and the incoherent, very online political violence of our era. 12113
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 10/09/2025Another day farther away from my one true dream of watching "Bad Lietutenant" with Darryl Strawberry. 020
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 08/08/2025I have distinct memories of going inside a Naga bamboo hut and being stunned they had a giant tapestry of Jesus holding a lamb on the wall. 010
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/07/2025This YouTube comment from Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" is the best novel I've read this year. 031
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 30/05/2025Takes like this are why I keep using the internet. 030
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 21/05/2025Grateful for this chance to chat about my OnlyFans story, the nuts and bolts of reporting, and my radical pro-puppy agenda.longformprofiles.substack.comLongform Profiles Interview #31: Brendan I. KoernerIn this interview, Brendan I. Koerner reflects on the hidden world of OnlyFans chatters and the ethical and emotional challenges of his undercover reporting. 030
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025Above all, I’m just glad I got to know him—and, as always, constantly humbled to have the opportunity to affect people whose lived experiences are so unlike my own. Rest in peace, Jerry. 120
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025And though I understand McHale might never make the Hall, I contend he deserves at least a small display in which his mighty contribution to the sport is acknowledged. Your favorite player might’ve missed dozens more games without McHale’s ingenuity. 130
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025When we said goodbye, of course, I knew it would be the last time we’d ever speak. He passed away yesterday, surrounded by loved ones. But I’ll always think of him whenever I see a wounded basketball player with their face smooshed behind a face mask. 110
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025With a shaky voice, McHale managed to update me on his Hall of Fame campaign. He said he’d reached out to Isiah Thomas in the hopes he’d lobby for his posthumous candidacy. And he told me a story about a cool prosthetic arm he’d jury-rigged for a soldier in Alaska. 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025Then about two weeks ago, I got an email from McHale’s nephew. Jerry had just entered hospice and he wanted to speak to me on the phone. Of course I said yes. 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025But the Hall wasn’t all we’d discuss. He’d let me know how his family was doing, and he’d inquire after my own. He’d tell me how proud he was of his son who is an accomplished documentary filmmaker. And he’d share yarns about all the artificial limbs he’d designed over his long career. 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025Every so often over the two decades that followed, McHale would drop me a note about his continuing efforts to be elected to the Hall. Using my story as Exhibit A in his case, he managed to make the preliminary ballot a few times. But he could never muster enough votes to break through. 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025Back then I rarely gave my stories a second thought after hitting “send” on the final draft. But this one was different: McHale was quite taken with the idea of making the Hall, and he reached out to express his gratitude for my advocacy. And then we…just kept talking. For years and years and years. 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025I decided to write a brief piece for @slate.com in which I argued that McHale deserved enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Think of how much viewing enjoyment his invention preserved for us peons!slate.comWho Invented the Plastic Basketball Face Mask?During Sunday night’s All-Star Game, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant suffered a broken nose and a concussion thanks to hard foul from Miami’s... 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025McHale never patented the mask he designed for Laimbeer, so he never profited from the proliferation of the device in the NBA in the years to come. But he was delighted to have played a small-yet-vital role in basketball history. 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025A little more digging led me to the inventor of Laimbeer’s mask, a Michigan-based orthotist named Gerald “Jerry” McHale. I called him up and we chatted at length about his work, which had enabled untold hundreds of basketball players to play through grievous facial injuries. 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025James’s triumph over adversity made me curious about the history of plastic face masks in basketball. It turned out that the first player to wear one was Bill Laimbeer, who started doing so after getting his cheek shattered in 1990.youtube.comBill Laimbeer Breaks His Face (ft. Isiah earning some Rec Specs)YouTube video by Ryan Van Dusen 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025But James missed almost zero time, largely thanks to the plastic face mask he started wearing to protect his broken cheekbone. He scored 26 versus the Hornets just days after getting thwacked with an elbow that would’ve killed you or I. 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025I want to tell a little story about the beauty of unexpected human connections. It starts around twenty years ago, when Dikembe Mutombo (intentionally?) fractured LeBron James’s face.youtube.comLeBron James Suffers Broken Cheekbone After Hard Elbow From Dikembe Mutombo (2004)YouTube video by BBall Vault 142
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 29/04/2025The woman who leads the juror orientation session at the Poughkeepsie courthouse is maybe the best public speaker I've ever seen. 040
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 27/03/2025Sad to report that it’s time to put “the golden age of…” on an ice floe. 010
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 26/03/2025Would love to read a book about how and when youth sports became America’s foremost religion. 020
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 14/03/2025So much human misery is attributable to our failure to heed these wise words. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/u... 010
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 04/03/2025Did I just stumble upon a rare 3rd Amendment case in the wild? 030
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 20/02/2025Thanks a million for the kind words—elated to know "The Skies" struck a chord with you. Sometimes I think about the Lloyd's of London actuaries who had to ensure the hijacking insurance was profitable. Really tough to predict how the risks would change over the course of the criminal epidemic. 110
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 19/02/2025I want a doc on the lives of the people who constantly write "Come to Galatasaray!" on footballers' Insta posts. 010
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 10/02/2025Is this actually a thing. Kids renting tanks for prom. 010
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 10/02/2025May we all be this at peace as we near the turning of our last page.downeast.comMy Final Days on the Maine CoastDiagnosed with advanced lung cancer, writer Joseph Monninger meditates on life, death, and beauty from his small seaside cottage down east. 000
Reposted by Brendan I. KoernerAndy Greenberg @agreenberg.bsky.social · 10/02/2025As an IRS agent, Tigran Gambaryan was perhaps the most effective crypto investigator in history. Then last year he was charged in Nigeria with money laundering and thrown in prison. Throughout, he was texting with me from a secret phone. This is his full, untold story. www.wired.com/story/untold...wired.comThe Untold Story of a Crypto Crimefighter’s Descent Into Nigerian PrisonAs a US federal agent, Tigran Gambaryan pioneered modern crypto investigations. Then at Binance, he got trapped between the world’s biggest crypto exchange and a government determined to make it pay. 22956247
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Would love to hear a Texas Ranger read copy for Bombas. 010
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 31/01/2025A certain state government wants to charge me $648 for audio recordings of four police interviews. 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 28/01/2025I remember this game like it was yesterday. Still the single best kicking performance I've ever witnessed. www.nytimes.com/athletic/592... 100
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 21/01/2025An alphabetical list of all 1,208 states that were part of the Holy Roman Empire. Pick your favorite. hrestates.blogspot.com/2008/12/alph...hrestates.blogspot.comAlphabetical List of Holy Roman Empire States"The original boundaries of Charlemagne's empire were never clearly defined, and though much land was subsequently lost, other land was col... 010
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 21/01/2025I mean, this is basically how I feel these days whenever I log on. 180
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 21/01/2025Yeoman's work still being performed by whoever runs this Tumblr. 70sscifiart.tumblr.com 2171
Brendan I. Koerner @brendankoerner.bsky.social · 21/01/2025You haven't really made it as a director until there's a standalone Wikipedia entry about the movies you failed to make. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special...en.wikipedia.orgunrealized projects - Search results - Wikipedia 000
Reposted by Brendan I. KoernerClive Thompson @clivethompson.bsky.social · 14/01/2025A fantastic @wired.com piece by @brendankoerner.bsky.social about the lives of young men doing door-to-door solar-panel sales one just came by my house the other day! Every new industry creates some sort of Glengarry-Glen-Ross boiler-room culture -- this is solar's: www.wired.com/story/specta...wired.comThe Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel SalesmanHe thought he’d make millions of dollars selling solar panels door-to-door. The reality was much darker. 0418
Reposted by Brendan I. KoernerKatie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 13/01/2025"Because literally if I fail, I’m fucked, I’m going to be homeless. And that’s not going to happen. I will knock until I die." The spectacular burnout of a solar bro — from the truly spectacular @brendankoerner.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/specta...wired.comThe Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel SalesmanHe thought he’d make millions of dollars selling solar panels door-to-door. The reality was much darker. 34911