Mark Welch
@markwelch.bsky.social
9.4K followers 370 following 960 posts
• ex-reporter ex-teacher ex-attorney, he/him • law, journalism, education, security, privacy, surveillance tech, AI fairness, bias, face recognition, Blue Dot • Springfield MO <NorCal <NH <MA <WI • UC Berkeley JD '89; UMass Amherst BA '83
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
markwelch.bsky.social
I am anti-fascist. If there really is an Antifa organization, please send me details so I can join and donate. In its absence, try 5051 or Indivisible. I'll see all of you at the "No Kings - We Love America" protests next Saturday on October 18.
www.fiftyfifty.one
indivisible.org
www.nokings.org
Reposted by Mark Welch
markwelch.bsky.social
I am anti-fascist. If there really is an Antifa organization, please send me details so I can join and donate. In its absence, try 5051 or Indivisible. I'll see all of you at the "No Kings - We Love America" protests next Saturday on October 18.
www.fiftyfifty.one
indivisible.org
www.nokings.org
Reposted by Mark Welch
markwelch.bsky.social
I wish! But my prediction remains: even if the evidence turns up Super-8 and VHS videos of 47 having sex with a 10-year-old girl, it will NOT disqualify him in the eyes of his supporters or THE GOP. Nor would a notarized contract selling his soul to the devil.
@ericswalwell.bsky.social
pawbaby2.bsky.social
Eric Swallwell (D-CA) says it’s coming to an end and House Republicans are privately breaking, that a “jailbreak” is brewing the moment the Epstein files hit the floor, and that Trump’s aura of fear is finally cracking.

#ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles
#USDemocracy
#Pinks

open.substack.com/pub/deanblun...
SWALWELL’S BOMBSHELL EPSTEIN TWEET: "The Epstein Files Are Coming And The GOP Are Getting Ready To Abandon Trump"
218 or chaos: Inside the House moment that could shatter Trump’s grip
open.substack.com
Reposted by Mark Welch
madycast.com
how does one accidentally fire hundreds of people?

characterizing this as a mistake because that's what the administration says feels just about as naive as the journalists who "fact checked" people who warned Trump was going to enact Project 2025, because he said he wouldn't lol.
apoorvanyt.bsky.social
The Trump administration on Saturday scrambled to rescind layoffs of hundreds of CDC scientists who were mistakenly fired on Friday night in what appeared to be a substantial procedural lapse.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...
Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error
www.nytimes.com
markwelch.bsky.social
I wonder about this box on a downtown city street. Why would a sane person mark it this way? How many cameras are aimed at this spot? #infrastructure #security
Metal box on a downtown city street, marked as "uninterruptible power supply." #infrastructure #security
Reposted by Mark Welch
carnage4life.bsky.social
The scale of this week’s crypto crash is stunning. $16.6B in losses due to margin calls on 1.6M accounts averages to $10,000 lost per person betting on crypto always going up.

A lesson for many on the downside of borrowing money to gamble.
Reposted by Mark Welch
clarajeffery.bsky.social
We will need Nuremberg-like trials
longtimehistory.bsky.social
ICE secretly kidnap autistic boy during bathroom break—never notify parents.

Mother reported him missing a week ago—turns out ICE had him detained the whole time.

He was helping sell fruit and asked to go to the restroom—by the time she was done helping a customer he was gone.

Houston, Texas
Reposted by Mark Welch
sifill.bsky.social
We have the timidity of countless corporate and university GCs to thank for the fact DEI is treated as though it were illegal.
itsafronomics.bsky.social
lol gentle reminder that DEI is not illegal. Supporting marginalized groups is not illegal. Anyone reneging on support is making a CHOICE to do so.
Reposted by Mark Welch
vortexegg.com
I don’t know about a world cyberwar but there is definitely an ongoing world information war and the US government, in collusion with US businesses and under the direction of US billionaires, are the ones waging it
skiles.blue
I don't know if there's such a thing as a "world cyberwar" but I think we are in one? and the US is determined to lose it. 🧵

Today the admin is mass-firing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the nation's cybersecurity protection across all levels of government.
Reposted by Mark Welch
marisakabas.bsky.social
New — Video shared with me shows ICE officers in DC detaining a man on Friday.

Bystander filming asks man for his name. ICE agent lies and says he’s not allowed to speak to him “by law” and another says “We’ve arrested American citizens for being too close…If he gets any closer, put him in cuffs.”
markwelch.bsky.social
"for many recent arrivals from Venezuela — arguably the community most targeted by the Trump administration, and whose country is now bracing for the possibility of a U.S. invasion — leaving has not been as simple as the president has made it sound."
Reposted by Mark Welch
christopherterry.bsky.social
This might be the single best example of the "more speech" concept ever.

And you know it kills the Frank Castle cosplayers in ICE to be ridiculed like this.
aliciavlozano.bsky.social
Someone showed up with a cart of inflatables. The protest is now a dance party outside the PDX ICE facility. Federal police have mostly stood back but did unleash a toxin into the air @nbcnews.com
Reposted by Mark Welch
georgetakei.bsky.social
So “antifa” is really “inflata” and is a bunch of people protesting in blow up costumes.
Tweet from Meidas_Charise Lee: “THIS IS THE COOLEST WAR ZONE EVER! Portland’s strategy… maybe if we act weird enough they’ll leave!”
Attached is a photo of people in colorful inflatable costumes dancing or moving playfully at night.
markwelch.bsky.social
"did you know that cats in heaven do not have sharp claws, or shed hair? come on, that’s f*ing awesome."
jefftiedrich.bsky.social
it's Saturday, and it's time for "this week in stupid: October 11 edition" — Charlie rides it, Donny hides it, and so much more...
thanks for reading, and please sign up for my daily newsletter to keep getting the good stuff —
this week in stupid: October 11 edition
Charlie rides it, Donny hides it, and so much more...
bit.ly
markwelch.bsky.social
Wow, $37 per month allowance? Who wants to adopt me under these terms?
Reposted by Mark Welch
charlesornstein.bsky.social
Sixty-five judges responded to a @nytimes.com questionnaire sent to hundreds of federal judges across the country. Of those, 47 said the Supreme Court had been mishandling its emergency docket since Mr. Trump returned to office.
Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Mark Welch
ezralevin.bsky.social
The fact that this coming 9 days before the largest peaceful protest in modern American history is absolutely intentional. We will not back down. Trump and Miller can lie, smear, and threaten all they want. They will lose. No Kings, No Kings, No Kings. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
markwelch.bsky.social
"I don’t want to sugarcoat the tremendous damage Trump is doing domestically and internationally and the lives that are being destroyed and even lost as a result. And not every backsliding democracy makes a U-turn. But ...."
normeisen.bsky.social
Trump is using unmerited criminal prosecutions & unnecessary National Guard deployments to push autocracy

But the courts are pushing back

I explain why he will fail in my NEW @contrariannews.org Publisher's Roundup 👇 -TN

contrarian.substack.com/p/donald-tru...
Donald Trump’s latest authoritarian moves signal weakness, not strength
Publisher's Roundup 39
contrarian.substack.com
markwelch.bsky.social
Today's reading distraction: "Sharp Force" (2025, Scarpetta #25) by Patricia Cornwell.
amzn.to/4q5Wm83
Book cover: "Sharp Force" (2025, Scarpetta #25) by Patricia Cornwell. 
https://amzn.to/4q5Wm83
Reposted by Mark Welch
markwelch.bsky.social
Remember, ICE teams, when arresting a journalist, be sure to assert that they threw something at another team member (an event which your body cam did not pick up).
Reposted by Mark Welch
texasobserver.org
For the immigrant community in Dallas, the shooting is yet another instance of the violence and fear they have endured under President Donald Trump’s nearly $30 billion “deportation-industrial complex” and a continuation of the lack of transparency and accountability from the government.
In Dallas, Organizers Mourn the Immigrant Victims of Recent ICE Shooting
At a vigil outside city hall last week, advocates gathered to “center the victims” and to condemn the “dehumanization” of migrants by the federal government.
www.texasobserver.org