Matt Hatfield

ARCHIVED ACCOUNT. Executive Director @OpenMediaOrg. @[email protected], @matthtfld.bsky.social. Digital rights, democracy, freedom of expression. Proud 🇨🇦.

[Matt Hatfield @matthtfld]

If you can leave, consider following us.

[OpenMedia @OpenMediaOrg]

We're leaving X. We think you should consider leaving too.

Why we're doing it, and where you can find us moving forward: https://t.co/a19GmDGTbm

[David French @DavidAFrench]

This is absolutely pathetic. A man-child is throwing a temper tantrum and risking America's alliances and American national security for his own ego and vanity. We can already base troops in Greenland. We can already use that land to protect our nation and our allies.

[Christine Van Geyn @cvangeyn]

BREAKING: Federal court of appeal dismisses government's appeal of the emergencies act case. The lower court decision is upheld. The declaration of an emergency was unreasonable. The freezing of bank accounts and the prohibitions of assemblies were unjustified charter violations

[Matt Hatfield @matthtfld]

@billybinion Recognizing the vastly different scale and hoping the US is about to walk back what has started happening, “protesting has no negative consequences in the US” is obviously not necessarily true today.

[Billy Binion @billybinion]

These stories are nauseating. Iranians aren’t asking for much: basic freedoms & a government that doesn’t wreck the economy. For that, many are paying with their lives. Incredible bravery in the face of pure evil.

[Matt Hatfield @matthtfld]

Good piece.

[Josh Dehaas @JoshDehaas]

My argument against banning "globalize the intifada." 👇 Yes, it's usually meant the way Jews hear it. But banning it poses risks to our Western liberal-democratic value of free speech while giving us a false sense of security that we’ve done something. https://t.co/5B62fseXzf

[Claire Lehmann @clairlemon]

The @WSJ has analysed 13 other incidents where ICE agents have fired into civilian vehicles & identify a pattern of agents boxing in running vehicles while engaging in escalatory & intrusive tactics which police are trained to avoid.
https://t.co/BmIAueohzb

[Alec Stapp @AlecStapp]

Wait what

[Jessica Riedl 🧀 🇺🇦 @JessicaBRiedl]

There's a misperception that law enforcement (or ICE) is permitted to use lethal force any time they feel the slightest bit endangered, or whenever some terrified person with a gun pointed at them does not immediately follow (often unclear) orders perfectly.

That's just not true. Lethal force is allowed ONLY when there is literally no possible alternative to preventing other deaths. In this case, that requires that:

1) An officer would surely have been killed by her continuing to drive 2 mph away from them, and
2) There was NO OTHER WAY to save their lives, such as hopping out of the way of a barely moving car, shooting the tires, firing a warning shot, or shooting to just injure.

No rational person can watch the video and conclude that both standards were met.

And, no, there is no "the ICE officer was panicking and didn't have time to think" exception. The law still applies, and if we're going to judge the panicked response of a woman in a car with a gun pointed at her, then we can absolutely judge the panicked response of a ICE official who had unnecessarily pulled a gun in a situation that did not require it.

There are rules of engagement, even for under-trained ICE officials who just saw their training slashed from 5 months to 47 days (because Trump is #47, how cute).

This ICE official clearly failed to follow those rules, and that means a 6-year old had to be told at school today that his mother is gone forever.

[Claire Lehmann @clairlemon]

I thought the whole point of the Constitution was so that Americans didn’t have to live like this.

[Ramez Naam @ramez]

The most dangerous thing about yesterday's ICE shooting isn't the shooting itself: It's the response from Trump, Vance, and Noem that signals to ICE that they can do this again, with impunity. No investigation. No suspension. No talk of training or policies. Just impunity.

[Cassie Pritchard @hecubian_devil]

This is really one of the more galling parts of this discourse every time it pops up; random American civilians are supposed to be calm, disciplined, ice-water in their veins, but armed agents of the state are entitled to take life on the basis of “feelings”

[Matt Hatfield @matthtfld]

Nothing Trump says is a joke. They’re just trial balloons to see if he can proceed with the idea now or later.

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

Several contradictory things are simultaneously true:
1. Maduro was an oppressive, unpopular and illegitimate ruler, disastrous for his country and the region.
2. Using the US to remove him may have been equally illegitimate.
3. Venezuela would be better off with a new government under the opposition's Edmundo Gonzalez (who probably won the presidential election but is now exiled).
4. It's not clear that Maduro will be replaced by Gonzalez. Maduro's VP is still apparently in power, as are other regime figures and the Cubans who back them.
5. As we've seen in Iraq and Libya, it can be easier to topple a leader than to establish a new government; sometimes you get a worse leader, or Somalia-style chaos.

[Frank Graves @VoiceOfFranky]

The Deeper Picture: The State of the Nation and Prospects for the Future https://t.co/O2vg7EGDFw

[Peter Baker @peterbakernyt]

A compelling graphic look at all the ways that Trump and his family and friends have been monetizing the White House in his second term to enrich themselves more than any presidential clan has ever done before. @LazaroGamio @amyswalk
https://t.co/lNnj7yfj9m

[Billy Binion @billybinion]

A SWAT team threw 30+ grenades into an innocent man’s business while chasing a suspect.

L.A. left him with a $60,000 bill. His livelihood was destroyed.

A federal court says he’s entitled to $0. Whatever your politics, that’s a travesty.

[Dr. Mike P. Moffatt 🇨🇦🏅🏅 @MikePMoffatt]

Why North America has a housing crisis, in one tweet.

[Annie Karni @anniekarni]

On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all.

It went up.

https://t.co/M54pgz4bX1

[Mike Nellis @MikeNellis]

Everyone should read this week’s WSJ story on Trump selling pardons. It’s some of the most corrupt shit I’ve ever seen—you can literally corner him at one of his lame parties and walk away with a pardon. How is this not the biggest story in the country?