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Michael Linhorst

@michaellinhorst.bsky.social
318 followers 423 following 104 posts

First Amendment / media lawyer and a former / sometimes current journalist. Cornell Daily Sun, Bergen Record alum.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Michael Linhorst
Paul Eric @pauleric70.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Walter Cronkite: After liberating execution camps… Germans (who cried) they didn’t know…were as as guilty as Nazis…because they applauded when Hitler shut down (media) and said, ‘We don’t need to know. We trust our government...’ It’s our duty to know.
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The government created a secret courtroom for immigrants and threatened to arrest a reporter who tried to observe the proceedings there.
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
A meek defense of press freedom
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Reposted by Michael Linhorst
Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
if the founders wanted us to have a free press they should’ve written it down somewhere
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A very obvious First Amendment violation
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Reposted by Michael Linhorst
Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
OpenAI and Microsoft admitted LLMs are predatory tech built on “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” and the “largest theft of labor in human history.” An internal Microsoft document said AI has created a “doom loop” that is killing “the entire web.” www.404media.co/doom-loop-op...
404media.co
‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft
"Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions."
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Wow
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Natalie Lung @natalielung.com · 11/09/2026
NEW: Will the Apple Watch’s new always-listening features be illegal in states that require all parties’ consent for recording? Attorneys in CA, MA, PA and WA aren’t convinced that Apple’s privacy protections will sufficiently shield users from legal problems. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Apple’s Always-Listening Watch Features Test Eavesdropping Laws
Apple Inc.’s new always-listening artificial intelligence features for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 could put eavesdropping laws to the test, according to legal experts.
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Bill @bill-of-lefts.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Again it is insane that we have accepted masked secret police.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
They're just coming right out and saying it. When body camera footage makes them look bad, no one sees it. When it serves a proagandistic purpose, everyone sees it.
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Noah Shachtman @noahshachtman.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
As bad as that sounds, it's actually worse. "The mother is a mental health professional with confidential client relationships. One of the two spouses is the general counsel of a major law firm."
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
I've been thinking a lot lately about The Spirit of Liberty, the famous speech from 1944 by Judge Learned Hand about what American freedom means. 1/x
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Our government getting progressively more secretive, hiding more records from the public
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Reposted by Michael Linhorst
Adam A. Marshall @a-marshall-plan.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Across all #FOIA requests processed by agencies in FY25, fewer than 10% were granted in full. More than 9 out of every 10 requests were denied in part or in full 🤯 (5/x)
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Apparently there are still only two votes on the Supreme Court for overturning NYT v. Sullivan. Free speech is safe for another term.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Another one: In January, a guy wrote an angry (but non-threatening) letter to former ICE chief Todd Lyons after the Good, Pretti killings. Last week, ICE agents tracked him down at the NYC hotel where he and his daughter were staying after returning from a vacation in Finland.
syracuse.com
Another ICE threat visit: How did agents track down this critic on his vacation?
The ICE agents who threatened a Syracuse poll worker for an Instagram post warned a Rochester man in an unsettling way.
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Immigrant detainees at Delaney Hall ICE prison in Newark, NJ have been forced to cook, clean, & repair the facility for as little as $1/day and sometimes for free. They are on a hunger & labor strike; protesters outside have been tear-gassed. Here's our report, including a quote from a detainee:
prospect.org
Delaney Hall ICE Detainees Take Aim at GEO Group’s Bottom Line - The American Prospect
Immigrants held at GEO Group’s Delaney Hall in Newark are on a labor strike and a hunger strike, refusing to perform the jobs that keep the place running.
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Adam Klasfeld @klasfeldreports.com · 22/05/2026
Kilmar Abrego Garcia‘s indictment must be DISMISSED for vindictive prosecution, a federal judge just ruled. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
NEW: A former Phoenix PD officer whose company trained an ICE paramilitary unit was involved in six shootings while on duty, four of which resulted in death. @awinston.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/an-ice...
wired.com
An ICE Firearms Trainer Was Involved in At Least 4 Deadly Shootings
David Norman, a former Phoenix police officer who’s described himself as “a f***ing savage,” now runs a company that provided training to Homeland Security’s Special Response Teams.
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NYTimes Communications @nytimespr.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
“Reporting isn’t treason. It’s foundational to a free press and the work that America’s founders wrote the First Amendment to protect. That includes making clear when the claims of government officials and the reality of their actions don’t line up. Our reporters, in this case, have been working carefully to provide the public with the fullest possible understanding of the reality of the military action in Iran. We will continue this important, constitutionally protected work.”

 — Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for The New York Times
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
ICE's new leader, David Venturella, was a longtime executive at the Geo Group, the private prison company that's now ICE's biggest contractor. I profiled the Geo Group, and its many connections to the Trump administration, for @fastcompany.com last year: www.fastcompany.com/91396722/the...
fastcompany.com
The house that ICE built
Geo Group, America's largest for-profit jailer of immigrants, is preparing for a windfall under Trump. Its chairman is an immigrant himself.
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Reposted by Michael Linhorst
New York Focus @nysfocus.com · 03/05/2026
Prison officials have refused to release crucial records on how the agency handles allegations of sexual abuse. New York Focus is suing. #WorldPressFreedomDay nysfocus.com/2026/03/17/l...
nysfocus.com
New York Focus Is Suing the State Prison Agency
Prison officials have refused to release crucial records on how the agency handles allegations of sexual abuse.
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Reposted by Michael Linhorst
ACLU @aclu.org · 11/03/2026
Yes. ICE agents don't get to carve out a First Amendment exception for themselves.
aclu.org
Do I Have the Right to Film ICE?
Despite government attacks against protesters and the press, documenting interactions with law enforcement and federal agents is protected by the First Amendment. Here’s what you need to know.
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
ICE is spending huge amounts of money on private prisons. I profiled the founder of ICE's biggest for-profit prison contractor, Geo Group, for @fastcompany.com last year: www.fastcompany.com/91396722/the...
fastcompany.com
The house that ICE built
Geo Group, America's largest for-profit jailer of immigrants, is preparing for a windfall under Trump. Its chairman is an immigrant himself.
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
An update on my article from November about the private prison company and ICE contractor Geo Group asking the Supreme Court for immunity from lawsuits: the court unanimously said no yesterday. Here's my earlier piece in @newrepublic.com about the case: newrepublic.com/article/2020...
newrepublic.com
The Case That Could Rein in Private Prison Abuses—or Turn Them Loose
One of the biggest firms in the industry wants the Roberts court to grant it sovereign immunity. Even the Trump administration is in opposition—to a point.
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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 18/02/2026
"An Associated Press reporter was beaten by the police and detained along with three other journalists on Tuesday in Cameroon while reporting on a secretive Trump administration program to deport migrants to the Central African country, according to two of the people detained." (gift link)
nytimes.com
Journalists Arrested in Cameroon While Reporting on Trump’s Secretive Deportation Program
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
The Mom-and-Pop Contractors Helping ICE Rapidly Expand — my latest for @newrepublic.com, tracing the small-time firms that are signing up to work with ICE, despite everything newrepublic.com/article/2064...
newrepublic.com
The Mom-and-Pop Contractors Helping ICE Rapidly Expand
Even as ICE sparks rising public horror with its tactics and killings, a raft of companies that have never before worked with the federal government are signing up to work with the agency.
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Reposted by Michael Linhorst
404 Media @404media.co · 18/02/2026
SCOOP: Ring’s controversial, AI-powered “Search Party” feature isn’t intended to be limited only to dogs, the company’s founder, Jamie Siminoff, told Ring employees in an internal email obtained by 404 Media.
404media.co
Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand ‘Search Party’ Surveillance Beyond Dogs
Ring's CEO told staff the feature is “first for finding dogs,” indicating a plan to expand.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
The current person in charge of ICE's procurement for detention is a GEO Group executive who ran the company's immigration detention portfolio. He was granted an "ethics waiver" from DHS allowing him to hand out contracts to GEO in his new role.
Washington Post.

The former private prison exec behind ICE’s immigrant detention surge
David Venturella, a veteran of private prison firm Geo Group, joined the Trump administration to help oversee an expansion of the immigrant detention system that’s benefiting his former employer.
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Seamus Hughes @seamushughes.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
"The collapse of that ethos would be a hell of a story. But AP never replaced me, and after the bloodbath at the Post, I just don’t think anyone’s there any more to report it." www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit...
courtwatch.news
The Rabbit Hole: Covering the Courts from a Windowless Office
For more than a decade, Rachel Weiner, until quite recently a Washington Post journalist, chronicled the news involving the D.C. metropolitan area, which included stints at the Eastern District of Vir...
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Big news for the private prison company GEO Group, ICE's biggest contractor: its CEO is stepping down after little more than a year and company founder George Zoley is replacing him. I profiled Zoley and his for-profit prison firm for @fastcompany.com last year: www.fastcompany.com/91396722/the...
fastcompany.com
The house that ICE built
Geo Group, America's largest for-profit jailer of immigrants, is preparing for a windfall under Trump. Its chairman is an immigrant himself.
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
A for-profit immigrant prison run by the company CoreCivic
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 06/02/2026
The Washington Post just laid off its entire award-winning photo team. They were our eyes in places we'll never see. It's a horrifying loss at a time when lying governments, propaganda and AI slop are on the rise.
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Max Berger @maxberger.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Democracy dies in oligarchy.
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Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 04/02/2026
DHS Secretary says filming ICE is illegal and amounts to doxxing. They’re absolutely wrong. Recording law enforcement in public spaces is protected by the First Amendment — and courts have affirmed that right time and again. Watch @freedom.press’s @trevortimm.bsky.social explain.
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Joseph Menn @joemenn.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
New territory. Must read story from a colleague. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
washingtonpost.com
Homeland Security is targeting Americans with this secretive legal weapon
Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security has weaponized administrative subpoenas to attack free speech, according to privacy and civil rights groups.
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Want to know who the governor is meeting with? How she's spending her workdays? Good luck. Hochul's office won't release any of her calendars from the past 15 months. Great FOIL reporting recently by @nysfocus.bsky.social & @chrisbragg1.bsky.social nysfocus.com/2026/01/20/h...
nysfocus.com
As She Raises Millions, Hochul Isn’t Saying Who She’s Meeting With
The governor’s meeting logs are 15 months out of date, and she won’t release her calendar.
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Matthew Schafer @matthewschafer.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
For the avoidance of doubt, releasing the names of federal officers who shot and killed an American citizen is not in any way shape or form doxing.
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The Intercept @theintercept.com · 17/01/2026
Filming the police isn't a crime.
interc.pt
Federal Agents Keep Invoking Killing of Renee Good to Threaten Protesters in Minnesota
In apparent references to Renee Good, multiple agents have asked protesters: “Have y’all not learned from the past couple of days?”
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Craig Aaron @notaaroncraig.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
"Government invasion into a reporter’s home and the seizure of journalistic materials is exactly the kind of scenario our First Amendment was conceived to protect against."
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Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press @rcfp.org · 15/01/2026
Until this week's FBI raid on Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's house, the Justice Department had “never executed a search warrant at the home of a reporter in a national security leak case,” notes @rcfp.org's Gabe Rottman. [via @cnn.com]
cnn.com
‘Tip of the iceberg’: The FBI search of a reporter’s home has newsrooms bracing for more | CNN Business
Inside The Washington Post, the impact was immediate. Reporters called the search “incredibly disturbing.” Hannah Natanson, whose home was raided, urged her Post colleagues to keep reporting.
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Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press @rcfp.org · 14/01/2026
This morning, the FBI executed a search warrant at a @washingtonpost.com reporter’s home. @rcfp.org President Bruce D. Brown called it “a tremendous escalation in the administration’s intrusions into the independence of the press.” Read his full statement: www.rcfp.org/fbi-search-w...
rcfp.org
RCFP statement on FBI search of Washington Post reporter’s home
“[T]his is a tremendous escalation in the administration’s intrusions into the independence of the press,” said RCFP President Bruce D. Brown.
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
What an excellent response to a government that doesn't respect the First Amendment. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...
“There were cops at my door because of something I said,” Pacheco told The Post on Tuesday. “It felt like such a foreign, alien feeling.”

In the day since the officers’ visit, she has retained an attorney and made public records requests about the situation. Should it escalate, she said she was “prepared to sue.” While she described herself as progressive, she said she is “conservative when it comes to the Constitution,” a document she had come to revere since moving to the United States from Portugal in the 1980s. She said she strongly sees Monday’s interaction at her home as a violation of the rights guaranteed by it.

“I’m not one to stand down,” Pacheco said. “I don’t do well with bullies.”

And the next time she sees a social media post from her mayor, or other elected officials for that matter, Pacheco said she knows what she will do: open the comment section, type her thoughts and hit send.
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Free Press @freepress.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
"Recording law enforcement is not illegal. It is not obstruction. It is a constitutionally-protected activity that district & appellate courts have affirmed." - @attorneynora.bsky.social @timkarr.bsky.social's latest on Pressing Issues on the right to record: pressingissues.org/recording-ic...
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Michael Linhorst @michaellinhorst.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
These were terrible rules aimed at restricting press coverage of NYC government, and their rescission is great news for helping New Yorkers learn what their government is up to
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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 10/01/2026
Also: this happened earlier. Feds apparently pepper sprayed the inside of a journalist's empty car.
Oliya Scootercaster

My car and my baby's toy got pepper sprayed, while car was sitting empty as I filmed this attempted detainment. What did the dinosaur do?
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
New: we've obtained material explaining how an ICE surveillance system, called Webloc, works. Draw shape on a map, see all phones available there, follow them home. All without warrant “This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of an out-of-control agency.” www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
404media.co
Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods
404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work. Webloc can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or t...
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Langdon Grant @langdongrant.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Here's the ICE agent "defending himself" by shooting into the driver's side window of a car that's pulling *away* from him. Put this photo on the front page of every newspaper in America.
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AAUP Texas A&M-College Station Chapter @tamu-aaup.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
From an email to one of our faculty members.... Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
NOTE: This news immediately followed a Supreme Court order this morning denying the paper's shadow-docket efforts to block an injunction issued by the Third Circuit that was enforcing an NLRB unfair labor practices order relating to the paper's health insurance plans.
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