I’ve now sent a personal letter to the Speaker, Minority Leader, Senate Leaders and each member of the Senate Rules Committee, begging them to intervene.

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My Bureau, The LCB, has provided clips, W-9s, proof of payments, etc. — yet nothing has been good enough to appease Senate Radio-TV Gallery Director Mike Mastrian and Executive Committee Chair Nate Reed of Scripps (a streaming service).

Please, someone, help!

- Laslo

PS - below find a link to some of what I cite in the video.

ICYMI — something’s off at RTCA

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WASHINGTON — Congress is explicit: Only “bona fide journalists” are allowed press credentials — and the special access and privileges that accompany a government-issued hard pass — to the US Capitol.

But the Senate Radio-Television Correspondents’ Association has been approving credentials for press secretaries, activists and corporate special interests.

Below, find raw research of questionable credentials the RTCA Executive Committee approved for their own news outlets.

The elected leadership of the RTCA Executive Committee has refused numerous attempts to clarify or correct our list. We’re especially curious about which membership tiers RTCA is currently offering.

Only one of the group’s four websites — RTCA Senate, RTCA House, RTCA Cap Hill and RTCA Capitol Hill — lists an “Honorary” member tier for “those persons, who in the opinion of the majority of the Executive Committee have rendered outstanding service to the objects of this Association.”

The cost of regular, Associate-level admission to RTCA is $40 per credential. RTCA does not publicly declare the cost for admission to its other tiers, though RTCA bylaws are clear that the Executive Committee sets the price for admission.

ICYMI — RTCA credentialed a convicted pedophile

Just the Facts

Latest available raw RTCA credentialing data

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ABC — 118th Congress

*17 of 141 credentialed (research assisted by Perplexity)

1. James Meek — credentialed after he resigned when FBI raided his home in 2022 (NBC)

a. “Man Arrested for Transporting Images of Child Sexual Abuse,” DOJ release Feb. 2023

2. Mina Kaji — public affairs, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

a. Left journalism in 2022 (LinkedIn)

3. Kenneth Moton — ABC anchor role ended December 2022

a. Not active ABC staff during 118th Congress (LinkedIn)

4. Matthew Mosk — former ABC News investigative producer; joined CBS January 2022

a. Not active ABC staff during 118th Congress (LinkedIn)

5. Terrance Smith — former digital news associate; moved to Yahoo Sports May 2022

a. Not active ABC staff during 118th Congress (LinkedIn)

6. Megan Cunningham — left ABC in 2022; RTCA credentialed for 2023-2024

a. Missouri statehouse reporter, The Beacon (started 2022; Linkedin)

7. Carmen Currie — not journalist; hairstylist Meghan McCain/ The View (Business Insider)

a. Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

8. Jackie Lyn Walker — not a journalist; makeup artist (LinkedIn)

a. Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

ABC — not based in DC, per RTCA rules

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

9. Almin Karamehmedovic — New York-based since 2008; President, ABC News (LinkedIn)

10. Elizabeth Alesse — New York-based since 2020; former VP of ABC Audio

a. Now Vice President and General Manager of Axios Local (LinkedIn)

11. Andrew Dymburt — New York-based Anchor/Correspondent since May 2021 (LinkedIn)

12. Conor Finnegan — Mexico City-based from May 2022 to July 2025 (LinkedIn)

13. David Muir — no DC address; anchor of World News Tonight broadcast from New York

14. Siobhan Fisher — Brooklyn-based since 2022; Good Morning America (LinkedIn)

15. John Santucci — Executive Editorial Producer who left DC for NYC in 2022 (LinkedIn)

16. James Smith — Good Morning America Editor based in Brooklyn, NY (LinkedIn)

17. Armando Torres-Garcia — New York-based; no record they ever lived in DC (LinkedIn)

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CBS — 118th Congress

*14 of 206 people credentialed seem to skirt RTCA Constitution

1) Caitlin Conant — left journalism in 2022; RTCA credentialed in 2023-2024 (LinkedIn)

a. VP of Public Affairs & Policy Communications, The Walt Disney Company

2) Timothy Perry — left media to do PR for Disney; Los Angeles, CA-based

a. Corporate Communications Manager, The Walt Disney Company (LinkedIn)

3) Michael Peyton — left CBS / Atlanta-based non-Journalist

a. Partnerships and Communications, IGN & Warner Bros (LinkedIn)

4) Brooke Lorenz — Director of Communications, Artemis Strategies

a. Left media for PR/lobbying firm in 2022 (LinkedIn)

CBS — not based in DC, per RTCA rules

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

5) John Dickerson — no DC address; New York-based

a. Anchor and Chief Political Analyst (LinkedIn)

6) Benjamin Tracy — no DC address; LA-based

a. Senior national and environmental correspondent (LinkedIn)

7) Kristopher Van Cleave — no DC address; Phoenix, AZ-based (LinkedIn)

a. Senior transportation and national correspondent

8) Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews — no DC address; relocated to New York HQ (LinkedIn)

a. President, CBS News

9) Laura Doan — no DC address; relocated to New York in early 2024 (LinkedIn)

a. Fact Checker / Visual Verification Journalist

10) Mark Mazariegos — no DC address; relocated to Doral, Florida (LinkedIn)

a. Photojournalist

11) LaCrai Mitchell (Scott) — no DC address; relocated to New York (LinkedIn)

a. Producer, CBS Evening News

12) Camilo Montoya-Galvez — no DC address; relocated to New York (LinkedIn)

a. Immigration Correspondent

13) Brian Nalesnik — no DC address; New Jersey / New York City metro (LinkedIn)

a. Television Director

14) Bartholomew (Bryan) Noonan — no DC address; New York-based (LinkedIn)

a. Senior Financial Analyst / Finance Manager

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CNN — 118th Congress

*31 of 317 credentialed appear to be out of compliance

1. Jason Hoffman — went to Bloomberg in 2021; credentialed CNN by RTCA in 2023-2024

a. Moved out of DC in 2022; Brunswick Group PR (started May 2024; LinkedIn)

2. Nathalie Jimenez — left CNN for BBC in 2022

a. New York-based (LinkedIn)

3. Noah Broder — left CNN for CNBC in 2022; credentialed by RTCA in 2023-2024

a. Left DC in 2021; now New York City-based Field Producer at CNBC (LinkedIn)

4. Maeve Reston — left CNN Feb. 2023; Los Angeles-based (LinkedIn)

a. RTCA re-credentialed her in April 2023 after she went to The Washington Post

5. Heather Fulbright Grambergs — left CNN in 2022; credentialed under CNN in 2023

a. Atlanta-based Photographer (LinkedIn)

6. Etolia Stinson — left CNN in 2022; credentialed under CNN by RTCA 2023-2024

a. Dallas-based Marketing Coordinator (LinkedIn)

CNN — not based in DC, per RTCA rules

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

7. Adrian Reyes — no DC address

a. Miami-based since starting with CNN in 2014 (LinkedIn)

8. Mary Moloney — No DC address

a. left DC in 2022; Atlanta, Georgia (Linkedin)

9. Bonney Kapp — appears to have never lived in DC

a. New York-based (LinkedIn)

10. Mark Biello — left DC in 1987

a. Atlanta-based Senior Photojournalist (LinkedIn)

11. Frank Bivona — never appears to have lived in DC

a. Atlanta-based Photojournalist (LinkedIn)

12. Robert Crowley — never appears to have lived in DC

a. Boston-based Senior Photojournalist (LinkedIn)

13. Tami Luhby — never appears to have lived in DC

a. Bronx, New York-based (LinkedIn)

14. Catherine Carter — never appears to have lived in DC

a. New York City-based Senior Editorial Producer (LinkedIn)

15. McKenna Ewen — left DC in 2020

a. Minneapolis, Minnesota (LinkedIn)

16. Melissa Frydman — left DC in 2022

a. New York-based Director, Integrated Content Development (LinkedIn)

17. Christopher Turner — no DC address

a. Jackson, Mississippi (LinkedIn)

18. Julia Vargas Jones — no DC address

a. Los Angeles / São Paulo / New York (LinkedIn)

19. Michelle Velez — left DC in 2022 (LinkedIn)

1. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Multiplatform Producer, Connect the World

20. Walter Imparato — no DC address

a. New York-based Photojournalist (LinkedIn)

21. Thomas Jurek — no DC address

1. New York-based Photojournalist (LinkedIn)

22. Jeffrey Simon — left DC in 2014

a. New York-based (LinkedIn)

23. Emily Welch — left DC in 2022

a. New York-based Senior Editorial Producer, Fareed Zakaria GPS (LinkedIn)

24. Gregory Krieg — left CNN / appears to have never lived in DC

a. New York-based; has since left CNN (LinkedIn)

25. Jamie Zahn-Liebes — no DC address

a. New York-based Director, Booking-Morning Programing (LinkedIn)

26. Sydney Walton — left DC in 2022

a. New York-based Associate Producer (LinkedIn)

27. Jamie Wiener — no DC address

a. Great Neck, New York; Photojournalist (retired April 2025; LinkedIn)

28. Monica Serrano Quintero — appears to have never lived in DC

a. New York, New York (LinkedIn)

29. Kitty O’Keefe — left DC in 2021

a. New York-based (LinkedIn)

30. Christopher Perry — never appears to have lived in DC. Atlanta-based (LinkedIn)

31. Oren Liebermann — Jerusalem Bureau Chief

a. Israel-based; family has northern Virginia home (LinkedIn)

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Fox News — 118th Congress

*11 of 252 credentials appear to run afoul of RTCA Constitution

1. Marina Minas — Chief Marketing Officer, Turning Point USA; Phoenix-based (LinkedIn)

a. Fox producer until 2022; RTCA credentialed her in 2023-24

2. Lauren Blanchard — media consultant (2024-Present)

a. Left Fox in 2023; Charlotte, North Carolina-based since 2023 (LinkedIn)

3. Grace Richardson — left Fox in 2017, credentialed by RTCA 2023-24

a. Freelance Video Editor / Videographer (LinkedIn)

4. Kelly Dixon — left Fox NYC Bureau in 2022; RTCA credentialed in 2023-2024

a. Fmr. Production Manager; now Inizio Engage XD FILM in Philadelphia (LinkedIn)

5. Jillian Mele — left Fox News in 2021-2022; credentialed 2023-2024

a. Local Philadelphia anchor (2022-23); founded Jillian Mele Communications (2023)

6. Isabelle Beyda — left Fox in 2022; credentialed by RTCA for 2023-2024

a. Fmr. Assignment Editor, Fox Business; now Miami-based (LinkedIn)

7. Tucker Carlson — RTCA approved credential after Fox argued he’s all ‘rhetorical hyperbole’

a. 2020: Fox lawyers got a defamation suit dismissed after arguing he’s just a commentator, not a journalist (McDougal v. Fox News Network)

Fox News — not based in DC, per RTCA rules

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

8. Nicholas Conca — no DC address

a. New York-based Production Assistant (LinkedIn)

9. Matthew Leach — left DC in 2021

a. Tampa, Florida-based Senior Producer, Fox Digital (LinkedIn)

10. Kevin Scimecca — no record ever lived in DC

a. New York-based Producer, The Five (LinkedIn)

11. Rachel Rea — hasn’t lived in DC since 2015

1. New York-based Executive Producer, Will Cain Show (LinkedIn)

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Fox Business — 118th Congress

*2 of 16 credentials issued to NYC residents

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

1. Daniel Hillsdon — Senior Field Producer

a. New York-based (LinkedIn)

2. Brooke Haliscak — Line Producer

a. Brooklyn, New York-based (LinkedIn)

Fox Radio — 118th Congress

*8 of 15 credentials issued to non-DC area residents

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

1. Jason Austin — Manager of News & Editorial, Fox Radio SiriusXM

a. New York-based (LinkedIn)

2. Wyatt Dobrovich-Fago — Associate Producer

a. Spring Lake, New Jersey-based (LinkedIn)

3. Thomas Graham — Anchor

a. Brooklyn, New York-based; moved away from DC in 2015 (LinkedIn)

4. Devon Kelly — Podcast Producer

a. New York-based (LinkedIn)

5. Maria Donovan — Director of Talk Programming

a. New York-based (LinkedIn)

6. Gurnal Scott — National Correspondent

a. New York-based (LinkedIn)

7. John Sylvester Jr. — Senior Vice President Fox News Media Audio

a. Jersey City, NJ-based (LinkedIn)

8. Tonya Williams — Podcast Producer

a. Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based (LinkedIn)

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Gray Television — 118th Congress

*1 of 24 credentialed (should) raise red RTCA flags

1. Jillian Angeline — Public affairs, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

   1. Left Gray DC bureau in 2021; left journalism May 2024 (LinkedIn)

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Lilly Broadcasting — 118th Congress

*1 of 2 credentialed left journalism in 2021 to become Comms Director for Rep. Mike Kelly & mouthpiece of panel investigating assassination attempts on President Trump

1. Matthew Knoedler — press secretary, Rep. Mike Kelly

   1. Left journalism in 2021; RTCA credentialed him 2023-2024

   2. Current: Communications Director, Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump (Majority Staff) | Chairman Mike Kelly (R-PA)

“National Public Radio” — NPR — 118th Congress

*2 of 94 credentialed appear to live outside of DC, per RTCA bylaws

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

1. Tom Dreisbach — no DC address

   1. Los Angeles-based Investigative Correspondent (LinkedIn)

2. Chloee Weiner — no DC address

   1. New York-based (LinkedIn)

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NBC News — 118th Congress

*15 of 265 credentials appear to run afoul of RTCA Constitution

1. Heidi Przybyla — left NBC in 2022; RTCA credentialed her in 2023-24

a. September 2022: POLITICO announced she joined its permanent staff (LinkedIn)

2. Lauren Egan — left NBC 2022; credentialed by RTCA 2023-2024

a. December 2022: Went to Politico; February 2025: Started with The Bulwark (LinkedIn)

3. Kasie Hunt — not NBC staff during the 118th Congress

a. Signed with CNN in July 2021 (Deadline)

4. Brendan Gaffney — now a law student, not active NBC staff during 2023-2024 (LinkedIn)

a. LinkedIn shows NBC production-assistant and desk-assistant roles ending in July 2021

5. Caroline Vakil — Campaign reporter, The Hill

a. Left NBC in 2021; not NBC staff during 118th Congress (LinkedIn)

6. Geoffrey Bennett — PBS NewsHour anchor since January 2023

a. Named PBS Newshour chief Washington Correspondent in Jan. 2023 (Wiki)

7. Lawrence Bartley — Publisher, The Marshall Project Inside

a. Contributor to NBC, CNN & PBS (Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed)

8. Rachel Maddow — no record of DC address; owns homes in NYC & in Massachusetts

b. In 2021, MSNBC lawyers defeated defamation suit by arguing Maddow’s a commentator

9. Richard Hudock — not a journalist; Senior VP of Communications, MSNBC / MS NOW

a. New York-based; left Washington 2018 (LinkedIn)

NBC — not based in DC, per RTCA rules

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

10. Kailani Koenig-Muenster — no DC address

a. Left DC in 2018; Chicago-based (LinkedI)

11. Fallon Gallagher — left DC in 2021

1. New York-based Producer, NBC Nightly New (LinkedIn)

12. Ellison Barber — no DC address

a Brooklyn, New York-based (LinkedIn)

13. Savannah Guthrie — hasn’t lived in DC since 2011

a. Owns $11.35 million townhouse in Brooklyn Heights, NY (Women.com)

14. Lester Holt — no DC address; New York-based

a. Previous: Chicago and Los Angeles (National Association of Broadcasters)

15. Brett Holey — no DC address

1. Greater New York City-based Senior Director (LinkedIn)

Newsmax TV — 118th Congress

*4 of 11 credentials flagged for RTCA review

1. Stephanie Cassidy — left Newsmax April 2023; RTCA credentialed 2023-24

a. Current: Talent Agency owner (2023-Present)

b. VP of Booking, Casting and Talent (2019-2023)

c. Left DC in 2019; Mount Laurel, NJ (LinkedIn)

Newsmax — not based in DC, per RTCA rules

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

2. Gary Kanofsky — no record he’s ever lived in DC

1. New York-based Senior VP of News and Operations (LinkedIn)

3. Christopher Knowles — no record he’s ever lived in DC

1. New York-based Vice President of Programming (LinkedIn)

4. Haley Gillman — no record she’s ever lived in DC

1. New York-based Vice President of Booking (LinkedIn)

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One America News (OAN) — 118th Congress

*6 of 22 credentialed seem to run afoul of RTCA bylaws

1. Christina Bobb — RNC, head of election integrity program (2024)

1. Left OAN in 2022, but RTCA still issued OAN credential for 118th Congress

2. Activism while credentialed

   1. Personal nonprofit spent $600,000 to influence 2020 election (New Republic)

   2. Author: ‘Stealing Your Vote: The Inside Story of the 2020 Election and What It Means for 2024’

3. Named RNC/DJT attorney March 2024; RTCA member list due April 25, 2024

2. Caitlin Sinclair — credentialed RTCA while TPUSA spokeswoman (2024)

a. Left OAN Dec. 2023; social media manager MAGA INC. Super-PAC (April-Aug. 2024)

c. Spokeswoman Turning Point USA (May 2024 - Dec. 2024) (LinkedIn)

3. Jennifer Pellegrino — America First Policy Institute; left OAN 2021 (LinkedIn)

1. Credentialed OAN by RTCA 2023 - 2024, while a Newsmax anchor (2021-24)

2. 2024 advocacy:

   1. America First Policy Institute, Media Affairs & Chief Spokesperson

      1. Appears to have been credentialed by RTCA during this period

3. 2025 advocacy:

   1. Defend Forgotten America, President & CEO

      1. Unclear if her RTCA credential was extended in 119th Congress

4. John Posobiec — Turning Point USA (TPUSA)

a. Left OAN May 2021; credentialed by RTCA for the 118th Congress (2023-2024)

5. Girish Gaur — “...considers himself ‘kind of an activist’ rather than a reporter”

a. Told New York Post he’s an activist, not a reporter (NY Post)

b. Not a DC resident: “...the New York resident,” according to NY Post

6. Charles Herring — President of OAN; Herring Networks HQ in San Diego (LinkedIn)

b. Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

7. Chanel Rion — activist (not included in tally because current White House anchor)

1. Personal nonprofit spent $600,000 to influence 2020 election (New Republic)

Scripps News — 118th Congress

*6 of 49 credentialed appear outside RTCA residency requirements

1. Ellen Rolfes — left Scripps in 2021; RTCA credentialed in 2023-2024

a. Marketplace employee from Jan. 2022 - May 2025 (LinkedIn)

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Scripps — not based in DC, per RTCA rules

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

2. Matthew Anzur — no record of DC address

a. Golden, Colorado based (Scripps)

3. Carrie Cochran — left DC in 2022; RTCA credentialed for 2023-2024

a. Cincinnati, Ohio-based since 2022 (LinkedIn)

4. Alexandra Miller — non-DC Resident

a. New York City-based (LinkedIn)

5. Maira Nolasco-Carranza — non-DC Resident (Queens, NYC)

a. “Transitioning from Washington, DC bureau to New York City as a senior producer” (2021 Scripps press release)

6. Megan Liz Smith — non-DC Resident

a. Brooklyn, NYC-based (LinkedIn)

Spectrum News — 118th Congress

*2 of 29 credentialed don’t appear to meet RTCA residency requirement

Could be Associate Member; not clearly listed as such, though

1. Benjamin Gordon — no record of DC address; Maplewood, NJ-based (LinkedIn)

   1. Graphic Systems Engineer out of Chelsea Market NY1 facility

2. Zoe Slemmons — no public record of DC address

   1. New York-based Producer (LinkedIn)

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What’d we miss? Let us know!

Most 25th Amendment coverage by the mainstream media is so ignorant it’s misleading.

While pundits and politicians alike regularly rely on the amendment to “sound the alarm,” as they call for the ouster of the President from the opposing party. That surface-level critique misses the culture out of which the amendment came to be.

What critics forget — or never knew… — is the nuclear backdrop of the 25th Amendment, because the legislation itself is a product of the fear-saturated Cold War era.

“We had to make sure there was always somebody who had his finger on the button,” then-Senator Birch Bayh — the only non-Founding Father who helped write two amendments that were added to the US Constitution — said when he was helping craft the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

The Bayh episode is recounted by Dr. Rebecca @DrLubot in her timely history of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, Keeping a Finger on the Button: Presidential Continuity and the Nuclear Age.

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The behind-the-scenes glimpse of negotiations surrounding the 25th Amendment reveals the rare addition to the Constitution was crafted in an age marked by the ever-present fear of nuclear annihilation.

While it’s an academic work, it’s an accessible read for congressional — & nuclear… — geeks. You can order a copy here.

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Original Subheadline:

The News Station’s managing editor is proud to unveil 50 at 50 - a series of essays written by current and former prisoners whose lives were upended by the soon-to-be 51-year-old War on Drugs. But before we move past this year’s historic half-century anniversary, The News Station - in partnership with the CAN-DO Foundation and Prison Journalism Project – is dropping one personal work a day through New Year’s Day. It’s the voices of those who must intimately know the costs and scope of the War on Drugs.

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If you knew me in high school, you’d be surprised learning I’ve skirted prison all these years. Back then — two decades, a stint as a Bible-thumping evangelical, a slew of degrees and accolades ago — my nickname was “Junkie,” which proved prophetic.

As I’ve written about previously, as a teen I was snorting tens of thousands of dollars worth of the emaciating white powder you call “cocaine,” I called it “daddy,” basically or whatever else it demanded of my then-sunken and frail frame. Before winding up homeless (living out of my baby-blue ‘82 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, which I, of course, outfitted with a sound system worth more than the classical whip), I was the goofy one. I didn’t say “No,” only “I’ll take another.”

And I took lots of “others” – all of ‘em I could snort, smoke, dissolve or ingest; often all of ‘em at once, life when I “invested” a few grand in a pound of ‘shrooms and took two weeks off work for fungi- and eight ball-fueled trip. I lived up to my nickname, even once snorting an entire gram of coke before heading to the basketball courts. (I dunked over some cats that day, and thankfully, my heart didn’t give out.)

Near the end of my bondage, my coke dealer sensed I was in trouble; well, financially at least. He encouraged me to get a second job to support my then-vacuum-like nostrils. I took his counsel and entered one of the darkest chapters of my life, as I sauntered into the Abercrombie & Fitch at our local mall and asked for the job they offered my ripped and tan teenage self earlier in the summer.

With their annoying corporate-approved techno blaring, I learned to fold shitty shirts like a motherfucker. I’d snort coke before my shift, during diversionary restroom breakers and for dinner (the 40-oz. Budweiser was the only carbs I consumed). Once done, I’d go straight back to my dealer’s crib to re-up.

Even through my cloudy, drug-fueled state, I knew my second job wasn’t working, because I’d snort my paycheck before earning it. I lasted a mere three shifts.

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Privilege Comes Cloaked In Many Forms

I come from a family of small-business owners, so we know other business owners. Thus, I never had to resort to stealing. While my brief stint in retail hell is embarrassing, they don’t lock you up for having shitty teenage tastes.

The one time I landed in a jail cell, officers didn’t even close it. I was at a rager with my older brother’s friends (and, of course, my dealer), along with a few of his enemies. Around 4 a.m., dude some 10 years my senior and I were in the basement fighting humid coke, trying to chop our shared stash back into powder after the summer’s sticky air basically ruined our bag, rendering it useless clumps of what can best be called “a substance formerly known as cocaine.”

Before hopping downstairs to dance with those nostril-cutting clumps, we saw one of my brother’s buddies being a despicable jackass to some ladies. Some other dudes had an eye on him and his ignorant tongue.

After a few minutes in the basement, a thunderous thud shook the floor. The asshole addicts we were, we quickly finished the substance formerly known as coke before bolting upstairs. That’s when we saw what we heard: My brother’s friend splayed out, getting pummeled by five or six dudes.

After watching him take a few well-deserved licks, we broke in and ushered him toward the suburban McMansion’s expansive foyer. Dude wasn’t just a sexist idiot; he was also a shitfaced masochist. His head had already started morphing into a misshapen pumpkin, yet he wouldn’t stop accosting the girls.

As we got him over the threshold, he yelled more hateful words. The pack of furious fists were eager for round 2. The older cat and I let him get some licks in. Once we feared he’d lose his life — or more of those brain cells he couldn’t afford to lose — we hopped in, yanking amateur boxers off…

Editorial apology:

Because The News Station’s owner deleted its website — taking the works of 260+ contributors with it… — for now, this essay cuts off here.

We’re working with some AI bots (though we’ll eagerly accept any tips, tricks or ideas you got!) on salvaging grainy screengrabs of the entire essay.

Bureau chief / Washington Correspondent

The LCB — Laslo Congressional Bureau (2010 — )

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VICE News (2018 – 2021)

• Regularly broke news: Gun violence, AOC & “The Squad,” cannabis, psilocybin, mental health, Middle East, Big Data, Covid’s impact on venues, etc.

• Consulting/ soundingboard: Helped direct Brooklyn-based newsroom’s political coverage, fact-check, build Election 2020 team, debunk rumors, strategize social media, etc.

• Most relied on, highest paid VICE “freelancer” globally; filed as many as five stories a week

• On-air correspondent for Emmy-winning show VICE News Tonight w/ HBO

Playboy (2019 – 2020)

• Flown to Denver to profile Sen. Cory Gardner for Playboy’s final print magazine (Mar 2020)

Rolling Stone (2017 – 2019)

• Features regularly led homepage; as many as four exclusive enterprise stories a week

• Q&A’s w/ Sens. Elizabeth Warren (pot), Chris Murphy (guns) & Mark Warner (cyber)

• Beats: Drugs, mass shootings, cannabis, female incarceration, opioids, Russiagate, etc.

The Daily Beast (2015 – 2021)

• Covered protests, Jan. 6, shutdowns, profiled Matt Gaetz, campaign trail ‘16, ‘18, ‘20, etc.

• Exclusive features: alt-right, gun-control, criminal justice, marijuana, tech, Roe v. Wade, etc.

WAMU 88.5 News (2010 – 2015)

• Helped direct election and convention coverage; won AP Broadcasters Association awards

Other bylines

• The Atlantic, Billboard, Campaigns & Elections Magazine, Chattanooga Times-Free Press, The Des, Newsweek, Omaha World-Herald, Deadline, The Trace, Euronews, USA Today, Washingtonian, NPR, etc.

Mass shootings & gun violence coverage (2006 — )

• 40+ mass shootings (partial list):

  • Sandy Hook Elementary School (Newtown, Ct), Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, Fla), Rep. Gabby Giffords, Congressional baseball, Pulse Night Club (Orlando), Harvest Music Festival (Vegas), Virginia Tech, Robb Elementary School (Uvalde, Texas), Tops Friendly Markets (Buffalo), Tree of Life Synagogue (Pittsburgh), Navy Yard, Fort Hood, Capital Gazette Newsroom, etc.

• 15 + Capitol lockdowns:

  • Breaking News Award: live reporting during 2013 Capitol shooting; mentally ill mother shot to death w/ infant in back seat (2014; Chesapeake AP Broadcasters Association)

    • A mom died for my 1st “trophy,” so I refuse to call myself “award-winning”

• Other coverage:

  • 4,000 word profile of Sen. Chris Murphy: “How the senator from Sandy Hook beat the NRA by caving to the GOP,” Matt Laslo, Raw Story (June 27, 2022)

  • Gun lobby (Rolling Stone, Daily Beast, WAMU), SCOTUS (WVTF, KNAU), Violence Against Women Act & Native women (National Native News, VICE, NHPR), criminal justice (Playboy, Colorado Public Radio, DigBoston, Guardian, WikiLeaf), gun trafficking (Virginia Public Radio, WHYY), hunting (WKSU, KUHF, Wyo Public Media), assault weapons ban (Capital Public Radio), CDC gun violence research (WIRED), Chicago shootings (VICE), etc.

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Founder / Managing Editor

Ask a Pol (2023 — )

• Interactive political journalism

  • Transparency-focused: Take subscribers’ questions directly to their lawmakers at Capitol

  • Target audience: The unnewsed — aka, the roughly 90 million who sat Election 2024 out

  • ‘I Made $25 for Each Article,’ Dave Levinthal (NOTUS editor; fmr. Business Insider), Your First Byline (Dec. 12, 2024; Ryan Teague Beckwith’s brilliant Substack)

    • “An example: Reporter Matt Laslo, one of the best Capitol Hill beat generalists by day, has developed must-read sub-beats on drugs and UFOs…,” Levinthal writes.

• Substack Bestseller: 36,000+ subscribers, including hundreds of paid subs

  • Launch: June 27, 2023 — Nov. 25, 2025: 882 days, 887 posts

  • Quoted: New York Post, The Hill, Deseret News, Daily Mail, Marijuana Moment, MJBizDaily, Outlaw Report, 420 Magazine, Marijuana Herald, Raw Story, etc.

• Topics: Crypto, Drugs, AI, UAP & Politics

  • 2025 — Asked 95 US Senators whether 50+ year “war on drugs” has worked

  • 2024 — Asked all 100 US Senators about SAFER Banking Act for cannabis

  • 2023 — Asked all 100 US Senators about whistleblower David Grusch’s UAP claims

  • 2022 — “Exclusive: All 50 Senate Republicans weigh in on Jan. 6 hearings – only 8 are watching,” Matt Laslo, Raw Story (July 2022)

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New Media

• AI Show ‘n Tell (AISNT); est. March 13, 2026

  • Founded artificial intelligence meetup for independent journalists

  • Includes alumni of Bulwark, CBS, CNN, Vanity Fair, USA Today, Washington Post, Associated Press, HuffPost, Weekly Standard, NPR, Politico, Kaiser Health News, Meidas Touch, etc.

• X (Twitter) 50k+ followers across various X accounts

  • Jan. 6 Capitol breach video — 43+ million views

  • Found Matt Gaetz Motion to Vacate the Speaker in a Capitol restroom — 3+ million views

    • The View: “I feel like we’ve become a deeply unserious country…”

    • New Republic: Matt Laslo & The Motion

    • Rolling Stone: Late-Night Hosts Roast Republicans

    • Washington Post: In a leaderless House, the ‘clowns’ stumble toward a shutdown

    • New York Magazine: Who Left Motion to Remove Kevin McCarthy in House Bathroom?

  • Finalist 2010 Shorty Awards (lost to The Nation magazine)

• Instagram

  • Photos re-published by ABC, Boston Globe, CNN, NBC, Newsday, NPR, PBS, VICE News, Wall Street Journal, etc. (pre-Jan. 6)

  • Photos & videos from within US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — tens of millions of views

The Johns Hopkins University (MA, Government & Public Policy; Washington, DC)

• Delivered history of new media & politics lecture for visiting MA students (‘19, ‘23, ‘24)

• Courses: Politics & the Media (2016, 2018, 2021); Government & New Media (2017); Independent Studies with two ESL students (2017); Congressional Communications (2018)

• Developed Politics & the Media into online CDM (2020/2021)

• Guests: fmr. Rep. David Jolly, The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs, Buzzfeed’s John Stanton, NPR’s Sue Davis; fmr. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows asked to audit

Boston University (MA & BA; Multimedia & Journalism; Washington, DC)

• Lectured visiting students on evolution of contemporary press corps (2022 & 2023)

• Course: Rhetoric vs. Reality (2016) — explores how rhetoric adapts to new mediums

University of Maryland (BA; Journalism)

• Journalism 201 (2017 & 2019)

• Guests: Tom LoBianco of AP, CNN & Pence biographer (Harper Collins) / Haley Byrd of NOTUS (fmrly. CNN) / Daniel Newhauser of VICE News (fmrly. National Journal)

George Washington University (MA; PR & Communications)

• Media Relations in Digital World (2018, 2019, 2020); Advanced Comms Writing (2019)

  • Reference for President Trump press secretary & Speaker Pelosi aide, etc.

• Guests: CBS Mornings’ executive producer Shawna Thomas, Semafor’s Dave Weigel (fmrly. Washington Post), Sarah Peck (comms Sen. Tim Kaine) & Rachel Holland (Rep. Will Hurd)

Op-Ed Writer (2016 — PRESENT)

Columbia Journalism Review, The Guardian, Reuters, NBC Think, The News Station, Wisconsin State Journal, SALT Weekly & Lights, Cameras, Memes!

• Pen original enterprise op-eds on new media, partisanship, Big Tech, cannabis, elections, etc.

• Live coverage of presidential debates for The Guardian during 2016 election

• Republished: Salt Lake Tribune, Guardian Australia (Weekend print edition), The Standard (Canada), Malay Mail (Malaysia’s oldest newspaper), Cannabis Culture, etc.

• Cited: New York Times, Fox News, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Washington Post, PBS, Forbes, Bangkok Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Daily Mail, USA Today, Cultural Daily, The Hill, Marijuana Moment, Roll Call, Middle East Eye, Politico, WeedWeek, Milwaukee Independent, New York Post, McClatchy, etc.

Craft Beer Columnist

• Explored intersection of booze & politics in the nation’s capital

Public Speaking / WRITINGS

• 60+ Keynotes, Guest Lectures, Panels (2009 — PRESENT)

  • Aspen Ideas Festival, Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, George Mason, NYU, etc.

• 50+ op-eds authored by “Prof” Laslo

  • Columbia Journalism Review, Reuters, Guardian, NBC Think, etc.

Citations / QUOTATIONS

• Data privacy — 25+ law review citations

  • Section 230 features assigned in 5+ syllabi (NYU to UNC)

  • Cited in FCC filing, FTC letter and Freedom House paper (funded by Google…)

• Generative AI — 13+ law review citations*

• Real-time media critic – 25+ citations

  • Including PEW Research, law journals and a seminary study

• Government reform — 20+ (mostly) book citations

  • Including Campaign Legal Center, Oxford Academic, NYU School of Law, etc.

• “War on drugs,” race, opioids — 25+ journal & book citations

  • Columbia Law School to Oxford University Press

• Mass shootings, 2nd Amendment — 8+ law reviews, think tanks

  • Citations range from the National Shooting Sports Foundation to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence

• Jan. 6, 2021 attack on US Capitol — 15+ interviews, profiles, quotes

  • “‘They breached the Capitol’: Journalists in D.C. show the world what’s happening,” Kristen Hare, Poynter Institute (Jan. 6, 2021)

References / EXAMPLES

• 20+ Merriam-Webster quotations'

  • Citations include entries for cosponsor, senatorial, partisan & the Senate

• 20+ Wikipedia citations

  • Including entries for US Senate “AI Insight forums,” “gun violence“ & “War on drugs”

Education

Johns Hopkins University — MA, Government & Public Policy (2011)

• Cum laude

• Thesis: “The Trading Game: Why ‘Compromise’ shouldn’t be a Dirty Word in Washington”

• Alumni Advisory Board, JHU Center for Advanced Governmental Studies (2014—)

Covenant College — BA, Philosophy (2006)

• Resident Assistant (RA) as Sophomore; led Bible studies, prayer sessions to hall of 15+

• English tutor, Alton Park Middle School (volunteer)

• Senior Integration Paper: Pedro Almodovar’s representation of male heterosexuals

Awards & extras

• Read 47+ presidential biographies

  • Studied Congress through the White House (and I hate biographies)

• Regional Reporters Association; Board member (2009 — )

• Johns Hopkins University Alumni Advisory Board (June 2014 — )

• Breaking News Award; Chesapeake AP Broadcasters Association (2014)

• Outstanding News Series Award; “Federal Spending and the DC Area” (2013; Chesapeake AP Broadcasters Association)

• Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship (2009-10)

• Journalism Education Association National Student Media Contests; Judge, broadcast news category (2020)

• Society of Professional Journalists; Judge, dateline awards (2020)

• Radio/Television Correspondents Association; Judge Joan S. Barone Award (2010 & 2014)

• Journalism Mentorship; John McCandlish Phillips, fmr. New York Times staff writer (1955-1973)

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Media Consultant

• Generative artificial intelligence:

  • AI ethics adviser to dozens of award-winning editors, journalists & startup founders

  • Train veteran journalists to court AI chatbots w/ GEO, Generative Engine Optimization

  • Counsel dozens of veteran journalists/editors on ever-evolving new media landscape

  • Train dozens of NPR news directors, hosts & station managers on tech’s role in politics

  • AI Show n’ Tell:

    • Founded & lead monthly AI meetup for independent journalists in Washington

    • Substack startup coach: Alumni of CBS to recently laid off Washington Post journos

• Mentor:

  • Advised dozens of public radio reporters through on-air delivery & on-screen presence

  • 200+ broadcast journalists trained:

    • Alaska Public Media, CBS, CNN, Fox News, NBC, Marketplace, WAMU 88.5 News, WBEZ (Chicago), WSKG (Binghamton, NY), WGBH (Boston), WUSA-TV (DC), etc.

• Media survivalist:

  • Help dozens of journalists rebrand themselves as independent contractors

  • Mastered sites like Substack, Patreon, etc.

  • Podcast expert: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Audible, etc.

• Technophile:

  • Study & regularly test state-of-the-art wireless mics, next-gen cameras, LED, etc.

  • Transform at-home offices into professional studios with inviting lighting, pristine sound & eye-catching, yet uncluttered, backdrops

• Details matter:

  • Expert with a steamer; decent with a makeup kit

Notable Panels & Lectures

• Aspen Ideas Festival; Moderator (2019)

  • “CBD: Hype or Hope?” — first cannabis panel in Aspen Ideas Festival history

  • Only sold-out panel

• Public Media Journalists Association; Speaker (NPR HQ; 2024)

  • “Make Politics Boring (Again): Outfoxing AI, deepfakes & nationalization of local politics”

  • Dozens of local public media news directors, editors, producers & reporters

• Guest lectures: Cornell, Northwestern, Georgetown, NYU, George Mason, Loyola, etc.

• TheCapitol.net; Lecturer

  • Government certificate program; 1-3 lectures annually (2017 – )

• Public Radio News Directors Inc; Panelist (2014 & 2012)

  • Political reporting panel w/ NPR hosts Ailsa Chang & Todd Zwillich (2014)

  • Media training webinar (2012)

Previous

The News Station — TNS (Aug. 2020 – Dec. 2021, RIP)

Managing editor

• Flipped unread local cannabis PR blog into culture-focused, national alt-weekly

• Quoted by 100+ outlets; VICE, Politico, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Newsmax, USA Today, etc.

• Redesigned site (SEO, Google News, etc.); wrote original styleguide; Twitter growth 5,300%+

• Managed, coordinated & brainstormed with 12+ editors spread across eight diverse verticals

• Built freelancer network of 260+ contributors in 14 mo., including 30 published book authors

• Contributors included Ben Jacobs, Emma Loop, Chris Moody, Megan Carpentier, etc.

• 900+ news pieces, exclusive features, original fiction, songs, poetry (including musicians), diverse op-eds, videos, visual essays & comics

• Posted 500+ works & weekly newsletter

• Devised & commissioned: 50 at 50 – essays from 50 prisoners impacted by war on drugs

• 20+ collaborations, including The Pitch, Prisoner Journalism Project, National Native News, Inewsource, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Dig Boston, etc.

Chief Correspondent

• Wrote 130+ stories; news, exclusives & in-depth features; most read contributor on site

• Profiles: hemp farmer & Rep. Denver Riggleman; System of a Down’s Shavo turned weed CEO; Calif. AG Rob Bonta; Rep. Madeleine Dean & her post-recovery son, etc.

Other

Capitol News Connection with PRI; Correspondent (2006-10)

• Covered Congress for dozens of local NPR member stations

• Coordinated with news directors & local reporters nationwide; blog most read on site

Metro, Philadelphia Edition; music reporter (2005)

• Interviewed: Sufjan Stevens, System of Down, Citizen Cope, Chocolate Genius, Chris Botti, etc.

Bills and Brews; host & founder (2014 – )

• Raised 36k on Kickstarter

• Executive Producer Kyle Crosby, Drunk History (Comedy Central)

Random

*Grace Community Bible Church (Roselle, Ill.); youth pastor intern (2004)

• Mentored teens; taught theology to adults; delivered sermons to students & full congregation

**Earth Friendly Landscaping (Mainline, Philly); co-founder, head of marketing, etc. (2005)

• Ran boutique landscape firm; trained and led crews comprised of my college buds

***Part-time Nanny (Mainline, Pa); 3-yr-old sis, 5-yr–old bro

• Made dinner, read, played, etc. (something’s got to pay for bad habit of journalism…)

****Office of US Senator Lamar Alexander (Chattanooga, Tenn.); intern (Spring 2006)

• Established reporter but took advantage of senior year to see inside US Senator’s local office

  Download: Searchable PDF of Matt Laslo’s CV

  

  Cv Laslo Gray (may 2026)

  1.45MB ∙ PDF file

  Download

  Download

Academia

50+ op-eds authored by “Prof” Laslo (sample below…)

• “It’s embarrassing being a part of the press corps these days,” Lights, Cameras, Memes! (2023, Laslo’s Substack for op-eds & things)

  • cc: “My First Byline,” Your First Byline (2025, Ryan Teague Beckwith’s Substack)

• “How Obama gave us Donald Trump,” Guardian (2016)

• “Commentary: Is this database a bigger threat than Facebook?” Reuters (2018)

• “The Ghost of Privacy Past Haunts the Senate’s AI Future,” WIRED (2023)

• “Worst job in Washington — being AOC in our digital death threat era,” SALT Weekly (Winter 2025, Nashville print-only alt-quarterly)

• “MTG, margaritas, ‘merica — inside a mythical Trump boat parade,” SALT Weekly (Winter 2025)

• “Right-wing lawmakers are moonlighting as media stars,” Columbia Journalism Review (2024)

• “Inside Ask a Pol — media startup striving for people-powered press corps,” SALT Weekly (2024)

• “The Political Theater Behind the Bipartisan Data Privacy Push,” WIRED (2023)

• “Joe Biden’s Big AI Plan Sounds Scary—but Lacks Bite,” WIRED (2023)

• “Trump’s Fulton County indictment is the most sweeping and dangerous one yet,” Lights, Cameras, Memes! (2023)

• “The US Congress Has Trust Issues. Generative AI Is Making It Worse,” WIRED (2023)

• “Congress Wants to Take Back Power Over Crypto,” WIRED (2023)

• “The US Senate Wants to Rein In AI. Good Luck With That,” WIRED (2023)

• “The Quiet Insurrection the January 6 Committee Missed,” WIRED (2022)

• “Euroviews. The New York Times presidential endorsement shows why newspapers must end the practice,” Euronews/ NBC Think (2020)

• “Coronavirus is revealing why local news is so important. It’s also killing it,” NBC Think (2020)

• “COVID-19 conspiracies get embraced by Trump and right-wing media because reality is painful,” NBC Think (2020)

• “Fox News is key to the 2020 election, whether liberals like it or not. Denying it a debate only hurts Democrats,” NBC Think (2019)

• “The fake Trump shooting video is the result of decades of media demonization by conservatives,” NBC Think (2019)

• “Alex Jones won’t rethink his antics because of a Twitter timeout. Jack Dorsey can’t be that naive,” NBC Think (2018)

• “Sinclair’s ‘fake news’ script put its viewers’ trust in their local news at risk,” NBC Think (2018)

• “Commentary: The right way to run Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS hearing,” Reuters (2018)

• “Trump’s disinterest in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder is a betrayal of the promises of the First Amendment,” NBC Think (2018)

• “Commentary: Here’s one way to help Facebook protect data,” Reuters (2018)

• “The latest front in fake news is streaming on Netflix,” NBC Think (2018)

• “Can Congress Fund a Real Fight Against Opioids?” Rolling Stone

  • Republished: Rep. Donald Norcross’ official Congressional website (2018)

• “The problem with ‘fake news’ comes from trying to prove you’re not it,”NBC Think (2017)

• “A conspiracy-laden blog has no place in the White House press corps,” Guardian (2017)

• “How Congress Could Fix Redistricting -- Without Supreme Court,” Matt Laslo, Ozy (RIP)

  • Republished: Rep. Ro Khanna’s official Congressional site (2017)

  • “What’s Happening in Democracy Today: November Roundup,” Myeisha Boyd, FairVote.org (2017; Fair Vote)

    • “Matt Laslo writes about the Supreme Court considering the Wisconsin case and understanding the problem of gerrymandering, highlights the Fair Representation Act and ranked choice voting”

• “To protect America, skilled policy experts must fill the Trump administration,” Guardian (2016)

• “Obama blamed media for the election outcome. That’s counterproductive,” Guardian (2016)

• “Has Bernie Sanders changed American politics? Reviewing a ‘political revolution’ — Jeffrey W Rubin, Raúl M Grijalva, Keli Goff, Kim Phillips-Fein, Matt Laslo, Barrett Holmes Pitner, Barbara Lee and Maria Cardona,” Guardian (2016)

• “Why the Trump-Clinton matchup is a boon to libertarians,” Guardian (2016)

• “I cheered as protesters clashed with Trump supporters. Then I felt shame,” Guardian (2016)

• “Obama’s post-presidency focus on redistricting is an establishment move,” Guardian (2016)

• “Analyzing the midterms,” Center on Politics & Foreign Relations (2010, George Mason)

• “Pot healed my post-surgery pain. Why’s it banned from pain relief research?” Guardian (2016)

• “Congress Wrestles with How to Help States Combat Heroin Epidemic,” Virginia Public Radio

  • Republished: fmr. Vice Presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine’s official Senate site (2015)

• “Bera Angers Organized Labor Over Fast-Track Trade Vote,” Capital Public Radio

  • Republished: Rep. Henry Cuellar’s official Congressional site (2015)

• “Federal Recognition for VA’s Indian Tribes,” WVTF — Virginia’s Public Radio (2013)

  • Republished by Tulalip Syəcəb News (“syəcəb” means gossip in Lushootseed)

• “Like It or Not, You’re Being Tracked,” Campaigns and Elections Magazine (2011)

  • “Campaigns Tracking Voters Online,” C-SPAN (Dec. 21, 2011, Washington Journal)

Generative AI features — 13+ law review citations

• “Governance in the Absence of Government,” Tracy Hresko Pearl, Social Science Research Network (2025, University of Oklahoma College of Law)

• “Fairness & Privacy in an Age of Generative AI,” Alice Xiang, Columbia Science & Technology Law Review (2024, Columbia University Libraries & Columbia Law School)

• “A Copious Void: Rhetoric as Artificial Intelligence 1.0,” Atilla Hallsb, Rhetoric Society Quarterly (2024, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group)

• “Yelling “Fire” in the Financial Theater: Bank Runs in the Social Media Age and the Threat to Financial Stability,” Eric J. Spitler, North Carolina Banking Institute (2024, UNC School of Law)

• “Misinformed Depositors,” Raj Ashar, University of Miami Business Law Review (2024, University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository)

• “Democracy and Trust: The Troubling Role of Education in Misinformation Belief,” Edward Lee & Andrew Moshirnia, Michigan State Law Review, (2023, Elsevier Inc.)

• “Letter to OpenAI founder Sam Altman,” from Sen. Elizabeth Warren & Rep. Lori Trahan (2024)

  • Cites: “Inside the Senate’s Private AI Meeting with Tech’s Billionaire Elites,” WIRED (2023)

• “Large Language Model Prediction Capabilities: Evidence from a Real-World Forecasting Tournament,” Philipp Schoenegger & Peter Park, arXiv.org (2023, London School of Economics, MIT)

• “What they’re saying about the White House’s executive order on AI,” Drew Pearson, AI in Healthcare (2023, Innovate Healthcare)

• “What Trump Knew and ‘Risky Business’ at 40 — Plus: History Has Its Eyes on Jack Smith,” Jim Swift, The Bulwark (August 4, 2023)

• “Face the Facts, or Is the Face a Fact?: Biometric Privacy in Publicly Available Data,” Daniel Levin, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal (2022, Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History)

• “Could Trade Agreements Help Address the Wicked Problem of Cross-Border Disinformation?” Susan Ariel Aaronson, Centre for International Governance Innovation (2021, CIGI)

• “Deplatforming Misogyny: Report on Platform Liability for Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence,” Cynthia Khoo, LEAF’s Technology-Facilitated Violence — TFV — Project (2021, Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund)

Real-time media critic — 25+ citations

• “Dis-Info Ops and Strategies of Resistance from Another Age of Inflationary Media,” David Castillo & Bradley Nelson, Anti-Disinformation Pedagogy: Tackling the Power of Manipulative Media (Spring 2024; Hispanic Issues On Line Vol. 32, ed.)

• “Right Wing Angered by Calderón’s Debate Questions,” Richard Prince, Journal-isms (2023, National Association of Black Journalists)

• “Combating Fake News with ‘Reasonable Standards,’” Tawanna D. Lee, UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal (2021, UC Law SF Scholarship Repository)

• “Compelling Code: A First Amendment Argument Against Requiring Political Neutrality in Online Content Moderation,” Lily A. Coad, Cornell Law Review (2021, Cornell Law School)

• “Policing the Digital Public Square: The Duty of NonManipulation as an Alternative to Free Speech Restrictions on Social Media,” Ben Kabe, Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal (2021, University of Connecticut School of Law; printed Western Newspaper Publishing Co)

• “Is Truth Hanging on by a Thread?” Thomas Ryan, University of Illinois Chicago Law Review (2021, University of Illinois Chicago)

• “The Virus vs. Journalism,” David Leonhardt, New York Times (2020, Opinion)

• “Targeted Disinformation Warfare: How and Why Foreign Efforts are Effective, and Recommendations for Impactful Government Action,” Ethan Guge, Iowa State Digital Repository (2020, Iowa State University)

• “Web of Lies: Hate Speech, Pseudonyms, the Internet, Impersonator Trolls, and Fake Jews in the Era of Fake News,” Yitzchak Besser, Ohio State Technology Law Journal or OSTLJ (2021, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law)

• “Corporations Under the Bill of Attainder Clause,” Harrison A. Newman, Duke Law Journal (2020, Duke University School of Law)

• Red November: Will the Country Vote Red for Trump or Red for Socialism? Joel B. Pollak (2020, Hachette Nashville)

• “Lapdogs, Attack Dogs, or Watchdogs? News Media’s Role in State Government and Politics,” Jessica Opoien, JScholarship (2020, Johns Hopkins University Advanced Academic Programs)

  • “...Matt Laslo, whose feedback was integral in refining and improving my thesis from draft to finished product.”

• “COVID-19 Has Ravaged American Newsrooms – Here’s Why that Matters,” Damian Radcliffe, The Conversation US (2020; Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University)

  • Quotation: “The business model itself was critically wounded by the internet and then social media even before news outlets were affected by the coronavirus,” notes the journalist Matt Laslo. “The truth is that now, journalism is beyond saving by capitalism alone.”

  • Harvard’s Nieman Lab & Yahoo! (2020, republished under Creative Commons license)

• “The Local News Paradox,” Rosa Elías Najri, Medium (2020, Liberty University)

• “Access Now Comments: In the Matter of Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934,” Eric Null, Isedua Oribhabor & Jennifer Brody, letter to Federal Communications Commission (Sept. 2, 2020)

• Legislative Hardball: The House Freedom Caucus and the Power of Threat-Making in Congress, Matthew Green (2019, Cambridge University Press)

• “Qatar’s Use of Hacking and Mass Media To Assassinate Characters of Rivals and to Shut Down Criticism: Implications for Reputational Management,” Irina Tsukerman, Character Assassination and Reputational Politics Conference (2019, George Mason University)

• “Post-truth Politics: Disinformation Through Alternative Information Streams,” Jillian Donovan, JScholarship (2019, Johns Hopkins University Advanced Academic Programs)

• “US - #WeeklyAddress: February 11 - February 17: BBC cameraman attacked at Trump rally in El Paso, Texas,” RSF.org (2019, Reporters Without Borders)

  • “This was first time any officer put their hands on me or my coworkers in front of me, so it was really disheartening,” Matt Laslo, who has been covering Capitol Hill for 12 years, told Roll Call (in 2019).

• “The Power of Local Government: A case study of Rockbridge County’s high school consolidation,” Robert Cook (2019, Johns Hopkins University)

• “Cruel Limbo: DACA’s Shortsightedness Leads to Dim Long View,” John Schmid, Towson University Journal of International Affairs (2017, Towson University)

• “‘The Truth Is Always Relevant’: Race and Economics in Contemporary African American Preaching,” Frank A. Thomas, Nettie Sweeney & Hugh Th. Miller; Homiletic Journal Vol 41, No 1 Special Issue (2016, Christian Theological Seminary)

• “Georgia GOP lawmakers line up behind Donald Trump after first meeting,” Tamar Hallerman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (July 7, 2016)

• “Daily Media Links 4/6: Sanders and Cruz won Wisconsin. That’s unlikely to change the race overall, Wisconsin’s Local Media Aren’t As Trump-Obsessed As National Outlets,” Brian Walsh, www.ifs.org (2016, Institute for Free Speech)

• “The Politics of Worldbuilding Post-Apocalyptic Dystopia,” Laura French Moran, University of Western Australia (2016, MA in Philosophy creative writing thesis)

• “Today’s Washington Press Corps, More Digitized, Specialized,” Amy Mitchell, Jesse Holcomb & Rachel Weisel, PewResearch.org (2015, Pew Research Center)

  • as Regional Reporter Association board member, coordinated Pew interviews

Section 230 (data privacy) — 25+ law review citations

• “Social Media’s Impact on the Adolescent Mental Health Crisis and the Current Legal Landscape to Protect Adolescents Online,” Katharine Sexton, Journal of Law, Technology & Policy (2025, University of Illinois College of Law)

• “Censorship as a Cure for the Youth Mental Health Crisis in the United States: Utah’s Social Media Ban for Minors,” William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice (2025, William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository)

• “The Kids Are Not Alright: A Look into the Absence of Laws Protecting Children in Social Media,” Libby Morehouse, Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review (2024, Loyola Marymount University & Loyola Law School)

• “Data Surveillance and Abortion After Dobbs,” Leila Nasrolahi, Berkeley Technology Law Journal (2023, UC Berkeley School of Law)

• “For My Eyes Only: How to Protect Digital Diaries of Reproductive Data in a World Without Roe,” Carolyn Zaccaro, Boston College Intellectual Property & Technology Forum (2023, Boston College Law)

• “Section 230: A Retrospective,” Christopher Cox, The Center for Growth and Opportunity (2022, Utah State University)

• “Moderated Content,” Evelyn Douek, Stanford Law School podcast (2022, Simplecast)

• “In Antitrust We Trust?: Big Tech Is Not the Problem—It’s Weak Data Privacy Protections,” Olivia T. Creser, Federal Communications Law Journal (2021, Federal Communications Bar Association & George Washington University Law School)

• “Mad about the First Amendment, Our Beacon for Liberty, Equality and Democracy,” Nicholas Allard, BrooklynWorks (2021, Brooklyn Law School)

• “Overview of Section 230: What It Is, Why It Was Created, and What It Has Achieved,” Ashley Johnson & Daniel Castro; www.ITIF.org (2021, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation)

• “How Content Moderation May Expose Social Media Companies to Greater Defamation Liability,” Tanner Bone, Washington University Law Review (2021, Washington University School of Law)

• “Deplatformed: Social Network Censorship, The First Amendment, and the Argument to Amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act,” John A. LoNigro, Touro Law Review (2021, Touro Law Center)

• “Freedom of Thought in the United States: The First Amendment, Marketplaces of Ideas, and the Internet, John G. Francis & Leslie Francis, Utah Law Digital Commons (2021, SJ Quinney College of Law, University of Utah)

• “Changing Counterspeech,” G.S. Hans, Cleveland State Law Review (2021, CSU College of Law Library)

• “The internet of children: Protecting children’s privacy in a hyper-connected world,” Eldar Haber, University of Illinois Law Review (2020, University of Illinois College of Law)

• “Soft Law in U.S. ICT Sectors: Four Case Studies,” Adam Thierer, Jurimetrics (2020, ASU’s Sandra Day O’Conner College of Law)

• “Enjoining Non-Liable Platforms,” Maayan Perel, Harvard Journal of Law & Technology (2020, Harvard Law School)

• “The Internet as a Speech Machine and Other Myths Confounding Section 230 Reform,” Danielle Keats Citron & Mary Anne Franks, University of Chicago Legal Forum (2020, Chicago Unbound)

• “Customer Transparency Can Dampen the Growing Human Trafficking Problem,” Colin Martell, Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law (2020, Caruso School of Law at Pepperdine)

• “Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act: Why California Courts Interpreted It Correctly and What That Says About How We Should Change It,” E. Alex Murcia, Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review (2020, Loyola Marymount University & Loyola Law School)

• “Constraining the Cybermob: Using a Doxing Notice and Takedown Regime to Optimize the Social Security Utility of Online Shaming,” Erik Money, Journal of Law and Technology at Texas (2020, University of Texas School of Law)

• “Section 230: The Valyrian Steel for Website Operators, and Why a Tax Credit is the Best Solution to a Safer Internet,” Noah Hale, Pace Law Review (2020, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University)

• “The Mice that Roar: What Small Countries Can Teach Great Powers About National Cyber-Defense,” Melissa Kate Griffith, www.escholarship.org (2020, University of California, Berkeley)

• “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost: The Pathway towards American Data Privacy Law,” Aaron Shubet, Hofstra Law Review (2020, School of Law at Hofstra University)

• “United States: Freedom on the Net 2019 Country Report (& great booklet summary), Adrian Shahbaz and Allie Funk, Freedom on the Net* (2019, Freedom House)

  • *Fine Print: “This report was made possible by the generous support of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), the New York Community Trust, Google, Internet Society, and Verizon Media.”

Section 230 features assigned in 5+ syllabi

• NYU, UNC (Chapel Hill), DePaul, GW & Johns Hopkins University

• Showcased in UT Austin School of Law’s academic guide

Government reform coverage — 20+ (mostly) book citations

• Fools on the Hill: The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists, and Dunces Who Burned Down the House, Dana Milbank (2024, Little, Brown and Company)

• Global Digital Data Governance: Polycentric perspectives, ed. Carolina Aguerre, Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn & Jan Aart Scholte (2024, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group)

• “The Congressional Ethics Enforcement Gap A Comparative Analysis of Ethics Enforcement in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives,” Roger G. Wieand, CampaignLegal.org (2024, Campaign Legal Center)

• Keeping the Republic, Brief Tenth Edition, Christine Barbour & Gerald C. Wright (2023, SAGE)

• “An Analysis of the Biden Impeachment Inquiry,” Joshua Matz, Norm Eisen, Claudine Schneider & Fern Smith, Just Security (2023, Reiss Center on Law and Security, NYU School of Law)

• “​​GoodRx Concurring Statement of Commissioner Christine Wilson,” then-FTC Commissioner Christine S. Wilson’s letter announcing Federal Trade Commission settled with GoodRX (Feb. 1, 2023)

• Social Media, Freedom of Speech, and the Future of our Democracy, Lee C. Bollinger & Geoffrey R. Stone (2022, Oxford Academic)

• Political Problems and Personalities in Contemporary Maryland, Theodore F. Sheckels & Carl T. Hyden (2022, Bloomsbury Publishing)

• The Long Red Thread: How Democratic Dominance Gave Way to Republican Advantage in US House Elections, Kyle Kondik (2021, Ohio University Press)

• The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our Health--and How We Must Adapt, Sinan Aral (2020, Crown)

• Corporate Citizen: New Perspectives on the Globalized Rule of Law, Oonagh E. Fitzgerald, ed. (2020, McGill-Queen’s University Press)

• Internet Law (Reference Shelf), H.W. Wilson Co. (2020, Grey House Publishing)

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A Biography, Laurie Collier Hallstrom (2020, Bloomsbury)

• “Behavioral Health Politics in Texas: Lessons from Austin and the 86th Legislature,” Alexander Gajewski, University of Texas at Austin Repositories (2020, Lyndon Johnson School of Public Affairs)

• “Unitary Executive Theory: Is it Constitutional?” Sayd Hussain & Robert Marriaga, Undergraduate Law Journal (2019, Florida Atlantic University Libraries)

• “Effect of the Two-party System on Voter Turnout in the United States of America,” Andrey Beregovskiy (2019, Johns Hopkins University)

• 2018 International Existing Building Code Handbook, Chris Kimball, (2019, McGraw Hill)

• Our Best Defense: Shelling the Naval Base, Virginia, Rick Van Noy (2020, University of Georgia Press)

• The King’s New Body, Anne Norton, Theory & Event (2017, JHU Press; Project MUSE)

• Virginia Politics & Government in a New Century: The Price of Power, Jeff Thomas (2016, Arcadia Publishing)

• “Beyond Polarization: Fragmentation, cyberBalkanization and the Politics of Faction,” Andrew Schmidt (2016, Johns Hopkins University)

“Sexism in Politics 2016: What can we learn so far from media portrayals of Hillary Clinton and Latin American female leaders?” Raiesa Frazer, www.COFA.org (2016, Council on Hemispheric Affairs)

Mass shootings, 2nd Amendment — 8+ review, think tank citations

• “When Thoughts and Prayers are Not Enough: Why Age-Based Restrictions on Purchasing Firearms Pass Constitutional Muster,” Madeline P. Fuller, American University Law Review (2021, American University Washington College of Law)

• “Any Safe Harbor in a Storm: Sesta-Fosta and Future of § 230 of the Communications Decency Act,” Charles Matula, Duke Law and Technology Review (2020, Duke University School of Law)

• “Gun Safety Under Threat: How Extremist Judges are undermining Gun Laws,” Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (2020, GiffordsLawCenter.org)

• “Another Shot at Rectifying the District of Columbia v. Heller Ambiguities: The Constitutional Right to Arms, the Nonconstitutional Right to Arms, and the Commerce Clause,” Noah Gaarder-Feingold, San Diego Law Review (2019, University of San Diego School of Law)

• “Misinformation Contagion: A view through an epidemiological lens,” Scott C. Fenton, Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive DSpace Repository (2019, Naval Postgraduate School)

• “Guns and Violence Against Women: America’s Uniquely Lethal Intimate Partner Violence Problem,” Everytown Research & Policy (2019, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund)

• “Rolling Stone Gathers No Credibility,” National Shooting Sports Foundation (2017, NSSF — “The Firearm Industry Trade Association”)

“Next Stage of Police Accountability: Launching Police Body-Worn Camera Program in Washington,” Marielle A. Moore, Seattle Journal for Social Justice(2016, Seattle School of Law)

“War on drugs,” race, opioids — 25+ law review & book citations

• “Bipartisan Solutions to Federal Cannabis Policy Challenges: 2025 National Cannabis Policy Summit,” Brooke Sanders, www.ssdp.org (2025, Students for Sensible Drug Policy)

• A Potent Moment: Building Social Equity into Cannabis Legalization, Jeffrey Moyer, Lexington Books (2023, Bloomsbury Publishing)

• “The Legalization of Cannabis and the Question of Reparations,” Kojo Koram, Journal of International Economic Law (2022, Oxford University Press)

• “Criminalized Students, Reparations, and the Limits of Prospective Reform,” Amber Baylor, Juvenile Law & Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons (2022, Columbia Law School)

• “The Regulatabilization of Cannabis,” Donald J. Kochan, Fordham Urban Law Journal Fordham Urban Law Journal (2022, Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History)

• “Race, Class, and Socioeconomic and Sentencing Laws in Opioid Cases,” Phaedra Denise Jackson, Walden University ScholarWorks (2021, Walden University)

• “Health Equity, Federalism, and Cannabis Policy,” Nicole Huberfeld, Boston University Law Review, (2021, Boston University School of Law)

• WE Matter! Intersectional Anti-Racist Feminist Interventions with Black Girls and Women, Wendi S. Williams (2021, Routledge)

  • Chapter cited in: “Black Women: Then and Now,” Diane M. Adams & Elana H. Lott

• “Retroactive Legality: Marijuana Convictions and Restorative Justice in an Era of Criminal Justice Reform,” Deborah M. Ahrens, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (2020, Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law)

• “Criminal Justice Reform in the Fentanyl Era: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back,” Michael Collins & Sheila P. Vakharia, Prison Policy Initiative (2020, Drug Policy Alliance)

• “Pot, the First Amendment, and Taxes: The IRS’s Denial of 501(C)(6) Tax-Exempt Status to Marijuana Advocacy,” Luke Scheuer, Widener Law Review (2020, Delaware Law School)

• “Black Lives Matter at five: limits and possibilities,” Adam Szetela, Ethnic and Racial Studies Review (2019, University of Surrey).

• Migrating for Medical Marijuana: Pioneers in a New Frontier of Treatment, Tracy Ferrell (2019, McFarland)

• “Cory Booker on Drug Decriminalization,” www.iowaharmreductioncoalition.org (2019, Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition)

• “​​The STATES Act: A Response to the Rescission of the Cole Memo,” Norman M. Vigil, Review of Banking & Financial Law (2019, Boston University School of Law)

• “Matt Laslo: Marijuana-loving former politicians are lining up to profit off the end of their war on drugs,” Marshall Project links to Laslo op-ed (2019)

  • “From John Boehner to Joe Crowley, the same men who could’ve helped end the prohibition on cannabis now aim to make money off it”

• “Taxing Cannabis,” Carl Davis, Misha E. Hill & Richard Phillips; Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy (2019, ITEP)

• Presidents and Mass Incarceration: Choices at the Top, Repercussions at the Bottom, Linda K. Mancillas (2018, Bloomsbury Publishing)

• “New Mexico Tribal Cannabis: Policy, Politics, & Guidance for Government-to-Government Cooperation in State-Tribal Cannabis Compacting,” Matthew Ramírez, Natural Resources Journal (2018, University of New Mexico)

• “Exploring Racism Trauma and Hope Narratives in the 2015 Baltimore City Uprising,” Jessica Haas, The Emerging Professionals and Scholars Conference (2018, Nova Southeastern University)

• “Color-Blind Stancetaking in Racialized Discourse,” Abigail Christine & Tobias-Lauerman, TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange (2017, University of Tennessee)

• “Medical Marijuana: Does cannabis offer health benefits?” Barbara Mantel, CQ Researcher (2017, CQ Press)

• “Chelsea’s in Rolling Stone,” The Greener Side (2017, Eugene, Ore.)

• Introduction to the Practice of African American Preaching, Frank A. Thomas (2016, Abingdon Press)

• Boy @ The Window: A Memoir, Donald Earl Collins (2014, self-published)

• “​News 2012-2013,” National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence (2012-13)

  • “Without Federal Funding, Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence Struggles,” Matt Laslo, WAMU 88.5 (October 7, 2013)

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Jan. 6, 2021 attack on US Capitol — 15+ interviews, profiles, quotes

• “‘How are we going to defend ourselves?’ Inside the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection,” Sarah D. Wire, Los Angeles Times (2024)

• “On Edge: What the US election could mean for journalists and global press freedom,” Katherine Jacobsen, Committee to Protect Journalists (2024, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Press Freedom Center)

• Losing is Democratic: How to Talk to Kids About January 6th, Kitty Felde, Chesapeake Press (2024)

  • “...losing is a part of the DNA of any democracy — or it should be. “Losing is Democratic” by Kitty Felde is a fun, adventure-filled lesson for the next generation about the pitfalls of pride and heroism of humility,” reads Matt Laslo’s review, published alongside Sen. Adam Schiff & Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s endorsements

• “Indictment of a President,” The Debrief, Scripps News (Aug. 4, 2023)

• “The Quiet Insurrection the January 6 Committee Missed,” Matt Laslo, WIRED (Oct. 2022)

• “Social Media and the Weaponization of Free Speech,” Dr. Mary Anne Franks, House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (2022, Statement for the Record)

• “Rep. Bennie Thompson’s Mississippi Colleagues Have No Comment on his Jan. 6 Hearings,” Bobby Harrison, Mississippi Today & Clarke County Tribune (2022)

• “So, So Angry’: Reporters Who Survived the Capitol Riot Are Still Struggling,” Cameron Joseph, VICE News (2021, VICE Media)

• “It Was Terrifying.” Reporter Describes The Attack On The Capitol,” Bob Beck, Wyoming Public Radio (2021, Wyoming Public Media)

• “25 Terrifying Tweets That Members Of Congress And Journalists Actually Had To Send During Trump’s Capitol Riot,” Stephen LaConte, Buzzfeed (Jan. 7, 2021)

• “Congress certifies Biden as next US president – as it happened,” Tom McCarthy, Vivian Ho & Joan E Greve, The Guardian (Jan. 6, 2021)

• “Chaos at Capitol as Trump Supporters Battle Police, Buildings Evacuate Chamber Recess,” Rosa Cartagena, Washingtonian (Jan. 6, 2021)

• “Trump Supporters Storm Capitol in Washington After President Incites Riot, One Person Dies,” Jay Barmann, SFist (Jan. 6, 2021)

• “Trump supporters storm Capitol, breach building to protest election results,” Geoff Herbert, The Post Standard (Jan. 6, 2021, via Syracuse.com)

• “‘They breached the Capitol’: Journalists in D.C. show the world what’s happening,” Kristen Hare, Poynter Institute (Jan. 6, 2021)

• “Lawmakers, Hill staffers, and reporters recount the harrowing experience as a violent pro-Trump mob broke into the Capitol to protest the electoral-vote count,” Business Insider (Jan. 6, 2021)

Reference

Magazine feature writing used in 20+ Merriam-Webster examples:

academia, academic, accurately, attune, cosponsor, clampdown , cramp, daft, drought, forensic, grandkid, in due time, partisan, pore over, private , proverbial, put an end to (something), senatorial, the Senate, tenet, triple, etc.

• clampdown — Merriam-Webster (2025)

• partisan — Merriam-Webster (2024)

• private — Merriam-Webster (2023)

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Wikipedia — 20+ citations

• A.I. Insight forums

  • “Inside the Senate’s Private AI Meeting With Tech’s Billionaire Elites,” Laslo, WIRED (Sept. 2023)

• Problem Solvers Caucus

  • “U.S. House Democrats say squabbles are healthy sign as they move past 100 days,” WHYY, Philadelphia NPR (April 2019)

• Gun violence

  • “The CDC could totally study gun violence – It just needs money,” WIRED (Aug. 2019)

• DHS media monitoring services

  • “Commentary: A bigger data threat than Facebook?” Reuters (April 2018)

• Cannabis legislation proposals in the United States

  • “​​Medical Marijuana: How Six Senators Are Leading the Fight,” Rolling Stone (June 2017)

• STATES Act

  • “Elizabeth Warren: Jeff Sessions Acted as “Catalyst” for Weed Legalization,” Rolling Stone (Aug. 2018)

• “War on drugs”

  • “Pot Showdown: How Congress Is Uniting to Stop Jeff Sessions’ War on Drugs,” Rolling Stone (2018)

• Patricia Taft — Educator; granddaughter, US Senator Robert A. Taft; great-granddaughter President William Howard Taft

  • “Patricia Taft is the Black great-granddaughter of a U.S. president — and she’s taking on Washington,” Raw Story (April 2023)

• Comstock Act of 1873 — anti-vice law aimed at new medium of their day: Mail

  • “The Fight Over Section 230—and the Internet as We Know It,” WIRED (Aug. 2019)

• Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections

  • “Russia Is Going To Up Its Game For The 2020 Elections,” WIRED (July 2019)

• David Grusch UFO whistleblower claims

  • “UFO Whistleblower, Meet a Conspiracy-Loving Congress,” WIRED (June 2023)

• Liz Cheney — fmr. Wyoming Congresswoman; Vice Chair Select Jan. 6, 2021 Committee

  • “Cheney Is A Strong Supporter Of Opioid Legislation While Others Aren’t So Sure,” Wyoming Public Media (June 2018)

• Cory Gardner — then-Colorado’s junior US Senator

  • “How a Republican Senator Became the Biggest Cannabis Power Broker in Congress,” Playboy (Spring 2020 issue — RIP, last print edition ever)

• Jim Himes — Ranking Member, US House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI)

  • “EXCLUSIVE: Top Dem on House Intel “skeptical” of UAP whistleblower,” Ask a Pol (June 2023)

• 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries

  • “Fox News is key to the 2020 election, whether liberals like it or not. Denying it a debate only hurts Democrats,” NBC Think (March 2019)

• Shelley Moore Capito — West Virginia’s senior US Senator

  • “Steve King: I’m the Pied Piper of the Anti-Abortion Movement,” The Daily Beast (May 2019)

• Mike Enzi — then-Wyoming’s senior US Senator, RIP

  • “Sen. Enzi Gets A Gavel - The First Accountant Ever To Chair The Budget Committee,” Wyoming Public Radio (Jan. 2015)

• Doug LaMalfa — California Congressman

  • “In Wake Of Gay Marriage Ruling, Sacramento-Area Representatives Ponder Next Steps,” Capital Public Radio, Sacramento NPR (Dec. 2017)

• Jim Moran — then-Virginia Congressman

  • “Jim Moran Recounts Raucous Bipartisan Brawl,” Warren Rojas, Roll Call (Oct. 2014)

• Jennifer Wexton — then-Virginia Congresswoman

  • “New Virginia Democrats Deciding on House Speaker,” WVTF, Virginia Public Radio (Nov. 2018)

• List of presidential trips made by Donald Trump (2017)

  • “Motorcade entered Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia - though the sign falsely reads Washington, DC - at 9:38am. No further POTUS sightings,” White House Pool report #1 (July 2017)

• 2024 United States Senate elections in California

  • “Exclusive: Sen. Dianne Feinstein won’t announce 2024 plans — until 2024,” Raw Story (2023)

• Boycott of Maryland’s 1st congressional district

  • “Anti-Marijuana Congressman Andy Harris: ‘D.C. Made A Bad Decision,’” WAMU (Feb. 2015)

• “Magazine Article With Two Authors,” Chicago (17th ed.) Style Guide (2023, Ralph M. Besse Library, Ursuline College)

  

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60+ Keynotes, Guest Lectures, Panels (2009 — )

• AISNT; “Triple-checking isn’t enough: Era of actively distrusting AI (or we should be)” (April 2026)

• AI Show ’n Tell (AISNT); “Tips, tricks & traps: Adobe Podcast (beta) & 123 Apps are leveling traditional broadcast playing field in real-time,” independent journalist training session; inaugural meetup 8 people, 2 pups (March 2026)

• Washington Press Foundation; trained aspiring journalists on integrating AI into their digital “brand” | veteran feature writer panel moderated by Emmy-winning Shawna Thomas (Feb. 2026)

• American University; lecture on AI, tech & social media; tour of US Capitol (July 2025); PAID

• Covenant College; lectured on convergence of AI, media and hyper-partisanship (May 2025)

• National Cannabis Policy Summit; moderated panel “Polling: Bipartisan Solutions to Federal Cannabis Policy Challenges” (April 2025)

• Sunwater Foundation; senior Air Force officials; CANCELED by DOGE cuts (Mar. 2025); PAID

• Sunwater Foundation; lectured Air Force officers on roots of partisan press (Sept. 2024); PAID

• Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) conference; “Make Politics Boring (Again): Outfoxing AI, deepfakes & the nationalization of local politics” (NPR HQ; June 2024)

• Johns Hopkins University (MA, Government & Public Policy); lecture on hyper-partisan algorithms are a throwback to nation’s partisan press corps in 1800 (Mar. 2024); PAID

• Johns Hopkins University (MA); recorded media lecture for core course (Oct. 2023); PAID

• Boston University; lecture on hyper-partisan printing presses of founding era (Sept. 2023); PAID

• TheCapitol.Net; lectured FAA officials on cameras impact on legislating (Aug. 2023); PAID

• Johns Hopkins University (MA, Government & Public Policy); lecture on historical underpinnings of today’s partisanship as told through lens of the press (Mar. 2023); PAID

• Boston University (Distance Learning Program, Washington); lecture on how today’s press has roots in hyper-partisan printing presses of founding era (Mar. 2023); PAID

• TheCapitol.Net; lectured Air Force “engineers, program managers, logisticians, contracting officers, analysts, and an executive officer” on how US press operate (Mar. 2023); PAID

• TheCapitol.Net; lectured government workers on evolving state of media (Jan. 2023); PAID

• TheCapitol.Net; lectured senior Air Force officials on new media (Mar. 2023); PAID

• TheCapitol.Net; lectured Wright-Patterson Air Force Base officers on press (Sept. 2022); PAID

• TheCapitol.Net; lectured government employees on evolving media (Aug. 2022); PAID

• IREX Georgian Media Partnership Program (GMPP); lectured 7 Republic of Georgia journalists on new media, partisanship & US media; host: Slate ‘s Mark Joseph Stern (2021)

• TheCapitol.Net; lectured senior FAA officials on hyper-partisanship (Dec. 2021); PAID

• Northwestern, Medill School (MS, Journalism); independent media panelist (May 2021)

• Johns Hopkins University (MA); moderated 2nd 2020 presidential debate (Oct. 2020); PAID

• Johns Hopkins University (MA); moderated presidential debate; 75 students (Sept. 2020); PAID

• Leadership Institute, How to be a Pundit w/ Daily Beast’s Matt Lewis; 40+ students (July 2020)

• TheCapitol.Net; media & politics workshop for 29 senior FAA officials (July 2020); PAID

• American University; lectured Comms students on bleak media landscape (May 2020)

• Johns Hopkins University (MA in Government & Public Policy); new media lecture (May 2020)

• Loyola University Maryland; lectured poli-sci students on pandemic coverage (May 2020)

• NYU; lectured BA public policy students on how President Trump – like his predecessors – has exploited weaknesses in the contemporary press corps (April 2020)

• University of Oklahoma; lectured BA in journalism students on how solid reporting is the only antidote to being labeled “fake news” and “the enemy” (March 2020)

• TheCapitol.Net; Capitol Hill workshop for 20 diplomats and federal workers; explored roots of today’s hyper-partisan Congress and media landscape (September 2019); PAID

• TheCapitol.Net; Capitol Hill workshop for 20+ senior acquisition managers at the FAA; explored the history of the media with an eye towards combating charges of “fake news” (Sept. 2019); PAID

• Aspen Ideas Festival; moderated “CBD: Hype or Hope?” panel; explored CBD myths & need for FDA regulations; only sold-out panel (June 2019); FREE TRAVEL & LODGING

• Historic: First-ever cannabis panel in history of Aspen Ideas Fest

• TheCapitol.Net; Capitol Hill workshop for 20+ FAA senior acquisition managers; explored underpinnings of today’s Reality TV Congress and Commander-in-Chief (May 2019); PAID

• Johns Hopkins University (MA, Government & Public Policy); Capitol tour & lecture debunking Golden Age Fallacy too often employed in political and media debates (May 2019); PAID

• TheCapitol.Net; Capitol Hill workshop for 20+ senior acquisition managers at the FAA; lectured on new media’s impact on government (March 2019); PAID

• TheCapitol.Net; Capitol Hill workshop for 20 senior acquisition managers at the FAA; lecture on the state of the contemporary media (Sept. 2018); PAID

• Boston University (Distance Learning Program, Washington); Delivered lecture entitled, Why Be Hysterical When You Can Be Happy? Trump isn’t Anything New (July 2018); PAID

• Cornell University (Cornell in Washington); Delivered lecture entitled, “The Myth of the Enemy: Roots of the Modern Press Corps” (July 2018)

• Institute of Political Journalism (George Mason University); Lectured students on the state of the contemporary press corps, putting today’s reporters in proper historical context (June 2018)

• TheCapitol.Net; Capitol Hill workshop for 25 senior acquisition managers at the FAA; lecture entitled “The Media: Before Trump and After Trump” (May 2018); PAID

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• TheCapitol.Net; 25 senior FAA acquisition managers; lecture: “Evolving Media & How It Covers Big Beats in Washington” on historical underpinnings of contemporary press (Dec. 2017); PAID

• Georgetown University (MA, Journalism); Freelancing for Journalists, panelist (Nov. 2017)

• George Mason University (Institute of Political Journalism); Lectured on how President Trump bypasses press corps w/ social media, much like FDR’s fireside chats (June 2017)

• Boston University; Lectured on President Trump’s first 100 days, with eye towards media’s (de)volving relationship with White House (April 2017); PAID

• Boston University (Distance Learning Program, Washington); Lectured students on the media’s role in Donald Trump’s rise to power (Feb. 2017); PAID

• Johns Hopkins University (MA, Government & Public Policy); co-moderated debate watch party with SAIS professor and former US Senate candidate Robert Guttman (Fall 2016)

• Boston University (Distance Learning Program,Washington); Lectured journalism students on the ins and outs of covering Congress (April 2016); PAID

• Paul Miller Washington Reporters Fellowship (Press Foundation); Capitol tour & history of DC press for 20 journalists; requested by National Press Club President Thomas Burr (Nov. 2015)

• American University (MA, Journalism); On panel with Tracy Jan of The Boston Globe, discussing tips and tricks to covering Congress (Sept. 2015)

• Institute on Political Journalism & U.S. Programs/ The Fund for American Studies (GW University); Lecture debunking calls for a virtual Congress (Summer 2015)

• Paul Miller Washington Reporters Fellowship (Washington Press Foundation); Guest lecture on changing relationship between contemporary press corps and today’s lawmakers (Oct. 2014)

• American University (MA, Journalism); Guest lecture on social media’s impact on Congress for NPR Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving’s course Public Affairs Reporting (Sept. 2014)

• Public Radio News Directors Inc. annual conference; On panel entitled “Covering Congress” with Ailsa Chang of NPR & Todd Zwillich of PRI (June 2014)

• Covenant College; Lecture: “Partisanship: How did we get here and is media complicit?” (2013)

• Leadership for Healthy Communities Conference; new media techniques panel (Fall 2012)

• WAMU 88.5 News; political conventions panel w/popular radio host Kojo Nnamdi (Fall 2012)

• Institute on Political Journalism (Georgetown); Lecture entitled “Contemporary Media Competition: You v. Your Subject” (Summer 2012)

• Eastern University; Lectured on political convergence reporting (Spring 2012)

• Public Radio News Directors Webinar; Lecture entitled “Keeping Watch on Capitol Hill: How to Expand Your Newsroom’s Congressional Coverage” (Spring 2012)

• Eastern Communication Association Convention; “There’s Power in Words” panel – training session to help communications professors become more media savvy (Spring 2011)

• University of North Florida; Lectured students on potential implications for democracy from the decline in Washington press corps over last few decades (Spring 2009)

Lecture delivered by veteran congressional correspondent and Johns Hopkins University Lecturer Matt Laslo at NPR’s Washington HQ on June 7, 2024 at the Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) annual conference, "Local News, Strong Democracy.”

VIDEO: Watch Laslo lecture at NPR HQ

Audio & Video: AnaBelle Elliott

Event coordinator: Caroline Pierce

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ai resources for journalists, from Matt Laslo & The LCB

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Sitter to Speaker

Hannity’s House?

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Sneak peek: Slide I…

“These days, I don't think the problem is hyper-partisanship. We literally have lawmakers living in two different universes,” Laslo — who wrote his MA thesis at Johns Hopkins on hyper-partisanship — tells the local news directors, reporters and producers from across the nation. “They're not disagreeing with each other. They're not talking to each other. And that's what really worries me.”

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Final Slides Make Politics Boring (again) Matt Laslo, The Lcb Pmja Npr June 2024

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“Trust in the media kind of evaporated for at least with half the population. So yeah, I'm not very proud of what has become of this great experiment,” Laslo bluntly tells his peers. “Generative AI, think of it as a mirror, because it's literally just mining our recent past. And I think that's where we're f*****, because hanging out in the Capitol and being there in January 6 — which I'll get into — knowing that generative AI is gonna be a reflection of our society, should terrify us all.”

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“Adapt or die. The herd’s rushing to the slaughter. This is where I think you all can really stand out — enterprise pieces,” Laslo encourages the local journalists assembled in the nation’s capital. “But don't mimic us in the Washington press corps. Do the opposite of what we're doing. Like, we're terrible and a big reason that 50% of the nation doesn't trust [the media] — actually, the polls are better for us [regional outlets] — but the media industrial complex is killing America.”

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Just over a month ago, this July, I asked House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, “Is impeachment now just the way of Washington?”

“If it is, it's because the Democrats impeached Donald Trump twice, and I blame this impeachment craze on the Democrats,” Comer replied, before adding. “So, we're in this situation—talking about impeachment—because the Democrats abused their impeachment power.”

Audio attached. Rough transcript below of Rep. James Comer (R-KY) at the US Capitol on July 20, 2023. Slightly edited for clarity.

Matt Laslo: “How does your party, on impeachments, avoid becoming the party that cried wolf? Because one of your members on Oversight [Committee] had ‘Impeachment Week’—that where every day she announced another member of the cabinet…”

James Comer: "Look, we've got a lot of members that want to impeach, and we've got some members that would probably rather not go down that route for the simple reason that they don't think the Senate’s going to do anything and it gobbles up valuable floor time.

"But, look, [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy’s gonna make that call. I think, you see that in recent days he's taken steps to move forward with impeachment on both [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas and [Attorney General] Merrick Garland. And I think they're waiting to see what more evidence we come up with in the Oversight Committee with respects to Biden."

Laslo: “Is impeachment now just the way of Washington?”

Comer: “Well, you know—if it is, it's because the Democrats impeached Donald Trump twice, and I blame this impeachment craze on the Democrats. And, I think, a lot of Republican voters are like, ‘you know, they impeached Trump twice, we should impeach Biden.’ And, again, that's irresponsibility on the Democrats' part. I think that Biden's committed a lot more suspicious activity than Donald Trump ever did. So, we're in this situation—talking about impeachment—because the Democrats abused their impeachment power.”

Laslo: “What about the idea of trying to make Congress better? And not being the lowest common denominator and doing what they did?”

Comer: “We represent the people and there are a lot of people out there that want impeachment.”

Laslo: “Yup. Preciate ya sir!”

NOTE: My wire service, The LCB, sold exclusive first publication rights of this interview to Raw Story, which published it on the day of the interview, July 20, 2023.

ME: Congressional reporter since 2006 for many outlets, but Lights, Cameras, Memes! is more WIRED magazine contributor me.

Since 2016, I’ve lectured on new media’s impact on government at Johns Hopkins University (MA in Gov’t). I’ve also been an op-ed contributor with Reuters, the Guardian, NBC Think and On Tap (craft beer). @MattLaslo on most social media.

Call me old school, but I don’t like how social media posts are being used to build the case against former-President Donald Trump in Fulton County, Ga.

I also don’t like how local District Attorney Fani T. Willis has transformed extraordinary RICO—or anti-racketeering—statutes into the mundane, using them to go after artists, teachers and now political operations.

Meticulous investigations and aggressive prosecutions are one thing. Experimental legal theories are another, whether deployed by Trump on Jan. 6, 2021 or argued by Willis today. Like Trump, Willis isn’t listening to critics. 

“I’m a fan of RICO,” Willis told reporters last year. 

While Georgia’s stats are lower than the national average, state prosecutors still plea out upwards of half their cases, and the key to these sweeping RICO indictments is getting low level folks to flip on those at the top in exchange for a plea bargain. 

That’s the game Trump and his 18 co-defendants are now wrapped up in. 

“Their indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result,” Willis said as she unveiled the charges last week.

America’s a political powder keg. It exploded after the last presidential election and has been smoldering since. 

And, in a hyper partisan-era within a two-party system, treating top Republican officials like they’re members of a street gang seems destined to divide Americans further. 

But by the grace of God, there tweet I 

Broadly, in terms of social media being used to build legal cases, my fear is, basically: But by the grace of God, there tweet I.

Like most reporters, I spend too much time on social media. Like all people on social media, I regret some past posts. But more so, like all familiar with social media know, my fear stems from the ease with which social media posts can be taken out of context before being transformed into memes more memorable than reality. 

Now, specifically, when it comes to the 12 Trump tweets included in the Fulton County indictment, some strike me as dangerously odd, especially Acts 22 and 101. 

Act 22: “On or about the 3rd day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump, "Georgia hearings now on @OANN. Amazing!" This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy,” reads the indictment.

Act 101: “On or about the 30th day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be  tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump, "Hearings from Atlanta on the Georgia Election overturn now being broadcast LIVE via @RSBNetwork! https://t.co/ogBvaKfqG." This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy,” the indictment reads.

Now, I’ve never been accused of being lawyerly—in knowledge or demeanor—but, to me, those tweets from the former president are more reminiscent of the TV Guide than they are a blueprint for “a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” as the introduction to the indictment reads.

Those tweets hit close to home, because, as a political journalist, I explicitly do not vouch for 100% of the events I cover. That includes my coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol—my office of the last 17 years—the ensuing Senate impeachment trial or last summer’s select Jan. 6 committee proceedings. I covered them all via tweet—along with camera, mic and pen—yet not one as an endorsement. 

I regularly alert my followers to a lot of regular ole Washington BS, including—as a media professor—to what I see on, say, Fox, which has included an alarming real-time Tucker Carlson cam. 

Sure, some of Trump’s tweets included in the indictment seem indefensible—and I’m not here defending his use of the digital bully pulpit—but others from the then-president actually seem to be accurate statements. 

Act 128: “On or about the 5th day of January 2021, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump, "The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors." This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy,” the indictment reads. 

By including that tweet as evidence, is the district attorney arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris is duty bound to certify fraudulently chosen electors sent to Congress after next year’s presidential election? I’d surely hope not.   

Or what about Trump’s own social media summation of his tawdry phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger? 

Act 114: “On or about the 3rd day of January 2021,DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump, "I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Rafiensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table' scam, ballot destruction, out of state 'voters', dead voters, and more. He has no clue!" This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy,” reads the indictment.

Here I thought Raffensperger was unwilling to answer those baseless claims? And, constitutionally-speaking, he was unable to do what Trump was allegedly asking him, no?  

Yes, details do matter. And Willis and her team will set out to paint a full portrait at trial. But, from where I tweet—or X?—these days, I’d be outraged-to-litigious if a prosecutor built a case against me, my colleagues or students with similar social media posts. 

More than 2,000 people vetted, yet no jury

Some have praised Willis for her “ingenious” use of Georgia’s RICO—the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations—law, which attempts to put all of the disparate charges facing Trump and the other defendants under one sprawling umbrella prosecutors plan to present as a coherent and compelling narrative. 

Bringing RICO charges may tidy things up and be easier for jurors to grasp, but the case is far from a slam dunk. 

The federal RICO Act was initially used to dismantle the Mafia as America knew it in the 1980s, but Georgia legislators embellished on the federal measure and lowered the barrier for RICO prosecutions. 

“In order to be tried under RICO,” Tamar Hallerman and Christian Boone wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution back when Willis launched her investigation in 2021, “two offenses—such as theft, bribery, murder, false statements under oath, or witness tampering—must occur. Those crimes must have been committed by two or more persons seeking to control or protect an institution, property or interest.” 

Willis—who was elected Fulton County district attorney in 2020—has surely seen some RICO victories. She first started making a name for herself as a part of the team who used Georgia’s statute to prosecute or punish Atlanta-area educators and administrators accused of falsifying standardized tests back in 2011. 

Publicly, Willis—who’s up for reelection next year—has voiced pride in how her office has sharpened RICO in recent years. 

“I have right now more RICO indictments in the last 18 months, 20 months, than were probably done in the last 10 years out of this office,” Willis told the Washington Post last year. 

There’s more to the story than that though. Just ask Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug who, as noted in my Raw Story coverage of the case, “has performed on Saturday Night Live and collaborated with the likes of Elton John, Nicki Minaj and Camilla Cabello” only to now find himself imprisoned for more than a year at the hand of Willis. 

Wielding Georgia’s RICO statute like a sword, Willis accused the artist group of “murder, assault and threats of violence”  

Initially, in May 2022, Willis and her team dropped a 58-count indictment—which turns the rapper’s lyrics, videos and social media posts against them—on Young Thug and 27 others, including Gunna who since copped a plea and was released on house arrest. He wasn’t alone. The initial group—or “gang” to Willis—of 28 defendants is down to just 10. 

There’s a major problem for Willis though: Jury selection in the star-studded case has now stretched past eight months in a case that, once it starts, is expected to last between six and nine months. 

More than 2,000 potential jurors have been vetted, yet there’s still no jury. Even so, at the end of July, an Atlanta judge denied Young Thug bond—the fourth time the superstar’s plea for freedom was rejected, even as the wheels of justice have yet to even start turning.  

The sweeping RICO case against Young Thug—which alleges his record label, YSL, is a front for violent street gang Young Slime Life, even as the artist claims it stands for Young Stoner Life—brought by Willis is stretching Atlanta’s judicial system to the brink. 

Refer a friend

That’s right. Willis was testing the limits of Georgia’s own statute long before alleging Trump and 18 others comprise a “criminal organization” collectively staring down 41 charges connected through one RICO statute.

In Fulton County, one would-be-blockbuster of a trial has already devolved into a quagmire, yet last week Willis once again came out swinging on the national—international, really—stage.

As someone trapped in the Capitol Jan. 6, 2021, I don’t defend anyone who perpetrated a crime that day—whether enthroned in the White House or not—but more than justice, I long for healing. Healing for us all.

While it’s surely novel to accuse the former president and 18 other Republicans of engaging in a "criminal enterprise" from the White House, the nation is in dire need of normality—whatever our collective new, new normal is once we (or is it, ‘if we’?) get to the other side of these four historic post-presidency indictments. 

Before the nation can get through Trump’s upcoming trials, tomorrow, the former president first must do what thousands of minorities do monthly and surrender himself to the Fulton County Jail—a prison system under investigation by the Department of Justice over alleged civil rights violations among its 87% Black population.  

Like most white folks who check into the Fulton County Jail, on Thursday, barring an epic meltdown, Trump will walk in and out of the complex. Unshackled. Free, if haunted by the specter of his RICO future.

A jury of his fellow citizens will decide Trump’s fate in the coming months or, possibly, years, but in the meantime he’ll be jet setting, golfing or battling to retake the White House—the starkest of contrasts to Young Thug, a 32-year-old father of six. 

While both are facing off against DA Fani Willis and her expansive use of RICO, one has been locked up for more than a year, shackled like his forebears; the other seems to still be doing whatever he wants. For now, at least. 

I’m a WIRED magazine correspondent, et. Since 2016, I’ve lectured on new media’s impact on government at Johns Hopkins University (MA in Gov’t). I’ve been an op-ed contributor with Reuters, the Guardian, NBC Think and On Tap (craft beer). @MattLaslo on most social media.

The US Capitol is one big game of telephone — and the press corps plays the cables, as you’ll hear in my interview with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) where he reacts to my description of the AI positions of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL).*

Hawley comes out swinging, but not so much at his fellow Republicans — he’s dumbfounded by the notion of anyone trusting Silicon Valley firms to be good actors after years and years of them breaking their promises to policymakers as they trade our private data as if it’s stock.

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*Rebuttal: Hawley is reacting to what Rubio told me in Ep. 2 of Laslo Lecturing Lawmakers, which is here. That Rubio interview turned into this feature for WIRED magazine, The Ghost of Privacy Past Haunts the Senate’s AI Future.

I’m a WIRED magazine congressional correspondent. Since 2016, I’ve lectured on new media’s impact on government at Johns Hopkins University (MA in Gov’t). @MattLaslo on most social media.

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This exchange in the basement of the Senate with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was the lightbulb that transformed into my latest WIRED magazine feature, The Ghost of Privacy Past Haunts the Senate’s AI Future.

My job, as a journalist, is to listen. So I do. But I guess I can’t stay totally mum at this pivotal AI moment.

“AI is going to take all of our personal data that they have in Silicon Valley right now, because y’all haven’t acted,” I had to inform the senator.

The exchange occurred during the first classified all-Senators AI briefing in American history, according to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Both Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) left partway through — which was noticed by their colleagues — and both came out sounding a similar tune.

A tune that, as you hear in the podcast, their fellow Republican, Sen. Josh Hawley, literally laughs out loud upon hearing.

In WIRED we delve into how Silicon Valley is now everywhere. Hell, they all but replaced NASA. A mere trophy.

Upon hearing his fellow Republican’s positions, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) literally laughed out loud, as I reported and as you can hear for yourself in our next episode of LLL.

WIRED magazine congressional correspondent. Since 2016, I’ve lectured on new media’s impact on government at Johns Hopkins University (MA in Gov’t). @MattLaslo on most social media.

Just before Congress left Washington for lawmaker’s monthlong August recess, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) was being interviewed by Bloomberg Government journalist Jonathan Tamari (who only recently served with me on the board of the Regional Reporters Association).

I waited in the wings — while eavesdropping, of course — until they wrapped. Then I politely pounced.

“I’ve got a random one for you,” I tell Cramer.

“You never do have a random one,” Cramer laughs. “He’s always never random. Weirder than a three dollar bill.”

“This guy always does!” Tamari quips.

“That’s professor! Take one of my courses,” I reply.

“I'd like to take one of your courses,” Cramer says.

“Mark Meadows told me that,” I recount of my last conversation with Meadows in the Speaker’s Lobby — as a wood burning fireplace crackled and the hours ticked down to a government shutdown Meadows helped orchestrate — weeks before former President Donald Trump tapped him to be his chief of staff. “I was like, ‘If you come to my course, you’re going to have to speak a little bit, sir.’”

I’m a veteran congressional correspondent. Since 2016, I’ve been a Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University (MA in Gov’t). On most social media I’m @MattLaslo.

Take typos up with Congress (and ping me ASAP, please!).

It’s embarrassing being a part of the once-iconic Washington press corps these days. We’re failures parading about as conquerors. It’s a bit much. Just ask most Americans who have tuned us out or the half of the public who think we’re intentionally out to mislead them. 

“Fifty percent of Americans feel most national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public,” Gallup and the Knight Foundation reported earlier this year. 

That happened on our watch. What are we doing about it? Nothing, it seems. We’re focused on follower counts, likes, TV hits, book deals and promotions—all while perpetuating a broken system that has alarmingly alienated half of our neighbors. It’s a crisis. 

It’s front and center, whether we recognize it or not. And it seems most political reporters have muted their critics, otherwise we’re all just tone deaf. Couldn’t come at a worse moment, as AI is well-positioned to replace tens of thousands of our jobs in the next couple years. 

In the midst of—or, maybe, because of—the political and technological revolutions witnessed over the past few election cycles, we’ve continued business as usual. Americans have rejected our increasingly selfie-oriented personas, self-righteous tones and empty pop political coverage. Our sensational, herd-like reporting is easily replicated by bots, so now is the time—potentially our last chance—to try something new: we should make politics boring again.  

Even as Americans are crying out to be heard, seen and reflected in Washington reporting, today’s press corps is unthinkingly reactive. We’ve become meme machines, as we reward congressional outliers with the spotlight they crave. 

Americans seem to know we’re selling a myth. 

And, sadly, many are fine living big little lies.

A few years back, a CNN White House correspondent told me and others in the Senate Radio-TV Gallery that he coaches his mom to only watch the network when he’s on at the top of the hour to protect her from the misleading punditry that fills the rest of the hour.  

It’s not just going along to get on TV, a house, cars or whatever TV folks do with their “Trump bucks,” as at least one CNN executive called the network’s influx of cash in 2016 (according to what one of the best political reporters around told my students).

A flaw in the press—one that makes us stand out from our predecessors—is that few journalists know history these days. It shows. 

I was so intimidated when I arrived in Washington, I bought the Complete Idiot's Guide to American Government! After quickly realizing I knew all that, I moved on to The House: The History of the House of Representatives by former House Historian Robert V. Remini. 

There are few great works on Congress, but I wanted to know more. Every president has had to deal with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, so I then started reading a biography on every president before starting my MA in Government and Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University (where I’ve taught since 2016). While in the midst of the study, Josh Rogin and David Weigel asked me about my study within earshot of other reporters. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever read a biography,” a writer for an online outlet with tens and tens of thousands of Twitter followers said, half to herself. 

She’s now an editor. I have no idea if she ever felt guilt-tripped into reading a biography (and I don’t even like biographies! I just love Congress, hence the study), but lack of historical knowledge is regularly on display here in Washington. 

In the lead-up to last summer’s select Jan. 6 committee proceedings, Watergate comparisons dominated the headlines. Even as the analogy was everywhere, it seemed off.  

So I tested it by interviewing all 50 Senate Republicans in the 117th Congress and found there was no Watergate comparison. Turns out, only eight of Senate Republicans reported even tuning in, and 58 is far short of the 2/3rds needed to impeach. History matters. At least it used to. 

Politics is people—and no, not AOC or MTG—or at least it used to be.  

March 19, 1979 is a day that lives in infamy—it’s the day C-SPAN’s cameras first rolled live coverage of the US House of Representatives. Before then, few lawmakers even needed press secretaries, because few lawmakers mattered to a national audience. With precious little air-time, there was little noteworthy about one rank-and-file politician plucked from a sea of 535 of them. 

After TV killed the radio star, 24-hour news came to town and made day-time television stars out of congressional backbenchers who the networks parade about as representatives of their parties, even as many barely even speak for their districts anymore, now that all politics is national. 

When I arrived in Washington in 2006, CNN had two producers at the Capitol. They’ve now got at least three on-camera reporters—often accompanied by a producer and camera operator—roving the marble halls on most days. Hell, TMZ is now at the Capitol. 

In 2016, reality TV star Donald Trump rewrote the rules, stripping press credentials from the likes of Univision, Buzzfeed, CNN, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Des Moines Register, Politico, etc. 

Back then, I tried to spearhead an effort for news outlets to band together and boycott Trump rallies until he reinstated each outlet. Leaders at the National Press Club went a different route; writing respectable letters, seemingly, from a bygone era. And it was one of the few ideas I ever had rejected by The Guardian, where I penned op-eds at the time (under my professor cap), which likely didn’t want its own reporter’s credentials to be yanked.  

Trump then became president and it was too late: He’d already been allowed to rewrite the rules, and he’s continued to do so, using the bully pulpit of the White House and his social media feeds to redefine the nation’s press corps to millions.  

In 2018, we sold Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and The Squad to viewers, while these days we’re chasing Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), George Santos (R-NY) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO). They’re not representatives of the House of Representatives; they’re brands and we, it seems, their greatest brand ambassadors, as we regularly sell them to our respective audience. 

Heading into 2024, it seems many news organizations are tripling down on their failed 2016 playbooks, even as there’s one sweeping change they’ve failed to account for: We’ve lost the American people. 

With trust in the media at historic lows and with AI here—likely already working on a command to rewrite all our similar headlines quicker and cleaner than our collective groupthink will ever be—it’s time to try something new, if vintage: leading with reality; not reality TV. 

We’ve evolved into predictable, thus replaceable, memes. 

We need to retire our self-righteous tones, in the realization that we’ve been tuned out. If anything, we should come from a place of humility, apologizing and begging forgiveness of the millions we’ve alienated. 

An obvious way to do that is to go where our audience is. They’re not in the nation’s Capital. In fact, they’re barely even afterthoughts in today’s Washington. We can help change that by regularly reminding the nation’s politicians of the people they were elected to serve; not the interests they bow to. 

There are now two Americas. Silicon Valley’s finest algorithms now view our work like the American people do: as left or right. We keep fitting their molds.  

It’s time to break out of the molds we’ve made for ourselves and rethink Washington coverage, unless we’re content being the tropes we’re now dismissed as.  

About me: I’ve been covering Congress since 2006 and teaching political communications at the Johns Hopkins University (MA in Gov’t) since 2016. I’ve previously been an op-ed contributor with The Guardian, Reuters, NBC Think and On Tap Magazine. 

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While researching internet privacy laws, I stumbled on my name. As a lapsed narcissist, I Googled down the rabbit hole and stumbled on a trend.

Turns out my tech coverage for WIRED magazine is cited in 20+ law reviews, including Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, Duke Law and Technology Review, University of Chicago Legal Forum, etc.

Guess, it’s also referenced in letters to the FCC, Congress, quoted in books and assigned at UNC, NYU, DePaul, etc.

Most scholars cite my coverage of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which remains a shield for tech firms. Here’s how I described it in WIRED:

Through inaction, our contemporary Congress has transformed our private data into the hottest commodity around. On Capitol Hill, many continue walling AI off from the internet as we fund it, with our personal data.

Being seen was one thing—one that sent shivers up many a mind. That’s yesterday. We’re about to be known—our era’s great unknown.

Below are

Me: I’m a Washington-based WIRED contributor, covering the intersection of technology and politics with an eye towards today’s AI revolution. I’m also an adjunct political comms. professor at Johns Hopkins (MA) where I lecture on new media’s—and medium’s—impact on politics.

Apologies: The works are academic and technical, though, hopefully, also illuminating, if deeply unsettling.

Law reviews that cite Laslo’s privacy reporting

1) University of Chicago Legal Forum — The Internet as a Speech Machine and Other Myths Confounding Section 230 Reform, by Danielle Keats Citron Mary Anne Franks

2) Cornell Law Review — COMPELLING CODE: A FIRST AMENDMENT ARGUMENT AGAINST REQUIRING POLITICAL NEUTRALITY IN ONLINE CONTENT MODERATION, by Lily A. Coad

3) Harvard Journal of Law & Technology — ENJOINING NON-LIABLE PLATFORMS, by Maayan Perel

4) Duke Law and Technology Review — ANY SAFE HARBOR IN A STORM: SESTAFOSTA AND THE FUTURE OF § 230 OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT, by Charles Matula

5) University of Illinois Chicago Law Review — Is Truth Hanging on by a Thread?, by Thomas Ryan

i. DEEP FAKE FUTURE NOW: “a fabricated quote from the Broward County

Sheriff…article was completely fake,” writes Thomas Ryan

6) Illinois Law Review — THE INTERNET OF CHILDREN: PROTECTING CHILDREN’S PRIVACY IN A HYPER-CONNECTED WORLD, by Eldar Haber

7) Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law (Caruso School of Law at Pepperdine Univ.) — Customer Transparency Can Dampen the Growing Human Trafficking Problem, by Colin Martell

8) Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal — Policing the Digital Public Square: The Duty of NonManipulation as an Alternative to Free Speech Restrictions on Social Media, by Ben Kabe

9) San Diego Law Review — Another Shot at Rectifying the District of Columbia v. Heller Ambiguities: The Constitutional Right to Arms, the Nonconstitutional Right to Arms, and the Commerce Clause, by NOAH GAARDER-FEINGOLD

10) Brooklyn Law School, BrooklynWorks — Mad about the First Amendment, Our Beacon for Liberty, Equality and Democracy, by Nicholas Allard

11) Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal — Combating Fake News with “Reasonable Standards”, by Tawanna D. Lee

12) Cleveland State Law Review — Changing Counterspeech, by G.S. HAN (Vanderbilt Law)

13) Journal of Law and Technology at Texas — CONSTRAINING THE CYBERMOB: USING A DOXING NOTICE AND TAKEDOWN REGIME TO OPTIMIZE THE SOCIAL UTILITY OF ONLINE SHAMING, by Erik Money

14) JURIMETRICS (Arizona State Univ. Law) — SOFT LAW IN U.S. ICT SECTORS: FOUR CASE STUDIES, by Adam Thierer

15) Pace Law Review — SECTION 230: THE VALYRIAN STEEL FOR WEBSITE OPERATORS, AND WHY A TAX CREDIT IS THE BEST SOLUTION TO A SAFER INTERNET, by Noah Hale 

16) Washington University Law Review — HOW CONTENT MODERATION MAY EXPOSE SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES TO GREATER DEFAMATION LIABILITY, by Tanner Bone (Washington University School of Law)

17) Touro Law Review (Touro Law Center) — Deplatformed: Social Network Censorship, The First Amendment, and the Argument to Amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, by John A. LoNigro

18) GW University Law School — In Antitrust We Trust?: Big Tech Is Not the Problem—It’s Weak Data Privacy Protections, by Olivia T. Creser

19) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION — Overview of Section 230: What It Is, Why It Was Created, and What It Has Achieved, by ASHLEY JOHNSON AND DANIEL CASTRO

20) Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review (Digital Commons; Marymount University Law School) — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act: Why California Courts Interpreted It Correctly and What That Says About How We Should Change It, by E. Alex Murcia

21) SJ Quinney College of Law, University of Utah — Freedom of Thought in the United States: The First Amendment, Marketplaces of Ideas, and the Internet, by John G. Francis Leslie Francis

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Required reading: Syllabi

1) NYU, Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service — The Politics of Public Policy

2) UNC (Chapel Hill), School of Media and Journalism — Introduction to Media Law

3) DePaul — The Internet, Technology, and Politics

4) Johns Hopkins, Advanced Academic Programs — Politics and Media

5) UT Austin School of Law — Tarlton Law Library Jamail Center for Legal Research

i. “This guide provides researchers with a curated selection of resources on Big

Tech and social media regulation.”

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Book citations (partial)

1) Social Media, Freedom of Speech, and the Future of Our Democracy (Oxford Univ. Press, 2022); edited Lee C. Bollinger, Edward H. Levi, Geoffrey R. Stone

2) Corporate Citizen (Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)): edited Oonagh E. Fitzgerald

3) Deplatforming Misogyny: Report on Platform Liability for Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence; by Cynthia Khoo (Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF))

4) Internet Law — Grey House Publishing (2020) Auburn Hills Stacks

5) Decline of Free Speech on the Postmodern Campus: The Troubling Evolution of the Heckler’s Veto; by Kenneth Lasson (Univ. of Baltimore School of Law)

a. Quotes Laslo op-ed: Sinclair’s ‘Fake News’ Script Put Its Viewers’

Trust In Their Local News At Risk

6) What’s New in Publishing; by Damian Radcliffe

a. Quotes Laslo op-ed: Coronavirus revealing why local news is so

important. It’s also killing it

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Laslo cited in policy making

1) Letter to Federal Communications Commission

a. Quoted: Access Now to FCC; by Eric Null, Isedua Oribhabor, &

Jennifer Brody

2) Letter to House Committee on Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce

a. Quoted: Computer & Communications Industry Association (2020)

3) Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)

a. Could Trade Agreements Help Address the Wicked Problem of Cross-Border

Disinformation?, by Susan Ariel Aaronson (2021)

4) Benton Institute for Broadband & Society

a. Links: Section 230 article (2019)                       

5) Federal Communications Law Journal

a. In Antitrust We Trust?: Big Tech Is Not the Problem—It’s Weak Data Privacy

Protections (2021)

6) Ohio State Technology Law Journal

a. WEB OF LIES: HATE SPEECH, PSEUDONYMS, THE INTERNET, IMPERSONATOR

TROLLS, AND FAKE JEWS IN THE ERA OF FAKE NEWS (2021)

b. By YITZCHAK BESSER, “law clerk for Senior US District Judge Glen H.

Davidson of the Northern District of Mississippi”

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Tech-focused media appearances (partial)

1) WritersandEditors.com

a. From Section 230 to The EARN IT Act and still controversial  

2) TECH NEWS WEEKLY

a. Episode 96

3) KERA, Dallas NPR

a. With Roe overturned, are privacy rights over?

ii. Laslo’s: “The Shaky Future of a Post-Roe Federal Privacy Law”

4) !FEXE – Ideas for Execution

a. Link: WIRED Section 230 piece

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Dissertations, thesis’ citations (partial)

1) University of California, Berkeley dissertation (philosophy)

a. The Mice that Roar: What Small Countries Can Teach Great Powers About

National Cyber-Defense

2) Cornell dissertation

a. file:///C:/Users/matt/AppData/Local/Temp/Abebe_cornellgrad_0058F_11821.pdf

3) Johns Hopkins thesis

a. Look inside How Internet Changed Middle East Policy                

4) Walden University dissertation

a. Race, Class, and Socioeconomic and Sentencing Laws in Opioid Cases, by

Phaedra Denise Jackson

5) Brill (paywalled)

a. Freedom of Thought in the United States: The First Amendment, Marketplaces

of Ideas, and the Internet, by John Gregory Francis and Leslie Francis

This is Lights, Cameras, Memes!—a newsletter tracking tech, Big Tech and AI’s influence on today’s politics, pulling the veil back on both politicians and today’s piranha-like press corps.

We’re not the revolutionaries we think we are. Sure, these days, novelties abound—faster, shinier, faster, sleeker, faster—but there’s nothing new under the sun; if Solomon is to be trusted.

Thing is, no one’s trusted today—especially not the self-righteous press. And the Washington press corps, myself included, are the worst. At some point we stopped reading and selfied ourselves to irrelevancy.

If anything, today’s press corps has devolved into a mirror image of our belligerent forebearers. Dripping quills penned sharp barbs before typewriter ink dislodged a president. Video killed the radio star before endorphin-pumping screens killed reality.

‘Debates’ have morphed into dunking. Algorithms turned us all asinine. Duels replaced with doxing.

Who needs bullets when we have memes?

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Not all is bleak, though. Technology is exciting, as I write about in WIRED magazine. Even as it’s scary, as I also write about for WIRED.

At Johns Hopkins University (MA), I lecture on how technology has impacted politics over time, especially with an eye towards how political rhetoric has adapted to new mediums.

I know it often feels like we’re in hyperdrive—with AI already outpacing itself while lapping humanity—but it doesn’t have to.

I hope to—and plan to—make you rest a little easier. History helps us understand things aren’t worse than ever: They’ve always been terrible!

Now, please, come along with me; let me show you behind-the-scenes of how the reality show we call contemporary American politics is produced.

Knowledge is power. And transparency is what I do.

Cheers,

Prof. Laslo

Refer a friend

Big Tech’s cosmetic changes ahead of the 2020 election are mere smokescreens. These Silicon Valley firms remain supersized and divisive actors in contemporary political discourse (if we can even call it ‘discourse’ anymore). These social media firms basically admitted the disservices they’ve knowingly peddled to us through our devices when they overhauled their advertising policies ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election.

But beware: Social media algorithms are still on the prowl. And they, seemingly, won’t stop until they manipulate you into hating family members, friends, or acquaintances who – in reality – are guilty only of clicking on different links than you.

“You start to think, ‘How can those people be so stupid? Look at all this information that I’m constantly seeing, how are they not seeing that same information?’” Justin Rosenstein, the former Facebook entrepreneur who ‘gave’ humanity the ‘like’ button while employed at the bubble that is Menlo Park, says. “And the answer is: they’re not seeing that same information.”

That’s the terrifying contemporary reality: social media has Americans literally consuming two different portrayals of the same world.

Rosenstein left Facebook in 2008, and is now a part of another venture making Wall Street salivate. His quote comes from “The Social Dilemma” — a new Netflix documentary about the pitfalls of social media. The docu-drama, which director Jeff Orlowski dropped earlier this fall, is particularly eye-opening because it’s told through the lens of a now regret-filled cast of former subtle giants of Silicon Valley.

The gist: it’s truly worse than you think.

Most of us have now, even if unwittingly, ceded much of our autonomy to Silicon Valley firms and their meticulously polished and expertly crafted algorithms that do our thinking for us. Sure, that sounds preposterous, but it’s not. It’s the system working. Because once we allow our data to be mined, these algorithms do what they’re designed to do: keep us locked into our screens. To do that Big Tech designed a system that gently guides users – through recommendations’ and the like – into ‘like-minded’ groups, which in practice means syphoning people into insular digital worlds that sometimes bear no resemblance to reality.

Facebook (ie, parent company Meta) works “the same way you would be manipulated by a magician. A magician shows your card tricks, says, “pick a card, any card.” What you don’t realize was that they’ve done a setup, so you pick the card they want you to pick. And that’s how Facebook works,” Roger McNamee, a venture capitalist who was an early investor in Facebook, says in the documentary.

“Facebook sits there and says, they, you pick your friends, you pick the links that you follow.’ But that’s all nice; it’s just like the magician: Facebook is in charge of your newsfeed.”

This is how America, only of late, trapped ourselves in this loop of hyper-partisan idiocracy. It’s not just reality TV; it’s our tech-sugar daddies.

Yet here, even the highly respected (for the moment at least…) PEW Research Center goes out of its way to note this historic anomaly: “Trump approval more polarized than for any other president since Eisenhower,” their headline from this August reads.

You don’t agree with your lovers, like-minded coworkers, or even friends as much as most Americans now innately agree – even in the face of distortions, half-truths, and whole lies – with whatever is being pushed by their chosen party on any given day.

“Since we all are operating on a different set of facts, when that happens at scale you’re no longer able to reconcile with or even consume information that contradicts with that worldview that you’ve created,” Rashida Richardson, director of policy research at A.I. Now Institute and a professor at NYU School of Law, argues. “That means we aren’t actually being objective, constructive individuals.”

The problem stems from these algorithms having almost unfettered access to most all of our data. Unlike our European allies, the American system leaves us seemingly powerless from the moment we boot up a new device for the first time, log-in and then start clicking “Accept” on all the small print. Across the Atlantic, our friends are truly empowered individuals: they get to opt-in to being tracked, while here in the ‘Live Free or Die’-States-of-America, we have to opt-out of becoming commodities – and wholly known, followed, monitored, spied on ones at that – that Silicon Valley’s brightest view as test dummies for their ever-evolving social experiment.

We’re trained to think these algorithms are flawless and understand us better than even we do, but Guillaume Chaslot, a former YouTube engineer, says that’s a convenient myth we’ve sold ourselves (with the help of Silicon Valley algorithms, of course).

“The algorithm is actually trying to find a few rabbit holes that are very powerful and try to find which rabbit hole is the closest to your interests,” Chaslot contends. “And then if you start watching one of those videos it will be recommended over and over again.”

Just four years ago, an online conspiracy led a North Carolina man to trek hundreds of miles to a family-friendly restaurant here in the nation’s capital. Then, while children were playing ping pong, he opened fire on the establishment’s locks with his AR-15. He was doing a righteous deed; at least according to the online conspiracy theories that Facebook directed him and countless hundreds of thousands – and potentially even millions – of people to, as if #Pizzagate was reality.

That whole terrifying fiasco was sponsored by Silicon Valley. While they’re the easiest whipping boy, they’re by no means outliers.

Many of us – this professor included – rolled our eyes around this gloriously round world when we heard NBA star Kyrie Irving had endorsed the flat earth conspiracy, even as NASA has gone out of its way for decades to teach us all that indeed, Galileo was right: the earth is a sphere.

Still, facts don’t matter when your brain is assaulted by Silicon Valley manipulators. Even Irving was caught off guard when he finally realized he’d been duped into going down a purposefully constructed “rabbit hole.” It wasn’t bunnies that constructed that black hole: It was YouTube.

“The flat earth conspiracy theory was recommended hundreds of millions of times based on the algorithm,” Chaslot sympathetically says from a place of knowledge, after helping engineer YouTube’s manipulation machine in a past life. “It’s easy to think that it’s just a few stupid people who get convinced, but the algorithm is getting smarter and smarter every day. So today, they’re convincing the people that the earth is flat, but tomorrow they will be convincing you of something.”

Twitter is also a culprit. For years now their business model – which is enshrined in their deceptively mysterious algorithms – has all but forced users into a false reality of their own making. As former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris points out in “The Social Dilemma,” a MIT study from 2018 revealed ‘fake news’ spreads, on average, some six times faster than real news.

“What is that world gonna look like when one has a six times advantage than the other?” a bewildered Harris asks.

He’s not alone.

“They tilt the floor of human behavior. They make some behavior harder and some easier, and you’re always free to walk up the hill but fewer people do,” Aza Raskin, a co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and Earth Species Project, says.

“We created a system that biases towards false information; not because you want to, but because false information makes the companies more money. And the truth – truth is boring,” Harris says. “It’s a disinformation for profit business model, you make money, the more you allow unregulated messages to reach anyone for the best price.”

Put another way, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google, and the like allegedly make Trillions of dollars off spreading and even force-feeding lies to all of us.

Some politicians have gotten this but not many. Last year Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) unleashed what any good farmer would say as the Senate Commerce Committee heard testimony about Big Tech’s intrusion into people’s minds, tastes, and – of course – their politics.

Watch the hearing on Understanding the Use of Persuasive Technology on Internet Platforms here.

“I’m probably going to be dead and gone – and I’m probably thankful for it – when all of this shit comes to fruition,” Tester told witnesses, including Harris. “This scares me to death.”

It should scare you to death too, especially those of us who have gotten into bitter fights with friends or who have dismissed or banished family members over political disagreements.

I’m a political communications professor and a 14-year veteran of the congressional press corps, so I know politics. And politics – at least its former core – is people. And these algorithms have enabled, even encouraged, many of us to forget about the people right next to us, and instead cling to political tribes that benefit from the vitriol.

Contentious political issues rake in millions for both of today’s dominant political parties, so politicians of all stripes foment them. They’ve been doing that for centuries. But we’re now in the early stages of a vicious, potentially deadly storm as partisan fundraising goals are perfectly aligning with deceptive Silicon Valley software. Sadly, people seem left out of the algorithms, even when employed by well-intentioned politicians.

So in this election season, consider bucking the system and do the opposite of what these multi-billion dollar tech firms want you to do: Please, just listen to someone you disagree with. Reach out to a family member or friend who you’ve lost touch with – or blew up at – over politics run amok. Never forget: their heart is the same as yours and mine. It’s all of our minds that have been distorted by Silicon Valley.

THE U.S. CAPITOL — Call me old-fashioned, but I miss having a sky that’s blue, grass that’s green, even a globe that’s, well, shaped like a globe, not a flat myth. I also miss having a Capitol — my office for the past 15 years — where my colleagues, lawmakers, staffers, workers, interns, and I feel safe. But now that Trump’s reality TV presidency spilled over into reality, the symbolic heart of American democracy will forever remind hundreds of where we huddled, ducked, dodged, cried, barricaded, and ran on the worst Trumpday we’d ever witnessed.

We’ve all sensed it heating up for years now, and it boiled over. The question facing us all is: Where do we — not your party, but us, the U.S.A. — go from here? If we truly want to take even just some of the Trumpian sensationalism out of politics, along with the mayhem that accompanies it, we all need to do our part. It’s time we make politics boring again.

“All of it is really disturbing and potentially dangerous,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) prophetically told The News Station about an hour or so before the riot erupted in the Capitol.

The Capitol was transformed into something more reminiscent of a warzone yesterday afternoon. Percussion grenades started reverberating through the Capitol…

In the wee hours of the morning Congress was able to do its job and certify Joe Biden as the nation’s next president, along with Kamala Harris as vice president. But we all first had to contend with the devotion and energy Trump commands from his base — a devotion that’s the envy of most every politician in Washington. Even if his populism didn’t net him the four extra years in the White House he so desperately longs for, his followers are loyal — a connection akin to the bond trusted generals have with their troops. No matter the fire they’re under — whether intellectual or even physical — his diehard base will seemingly do anything for him.

That’s why the Capitol was transformed into something more reminiscent of a warzone yesterday afternoon. Percussion grenades started reverberating through the Capitol, as officers battled Trump’s personal army of protestors, spraying clouds of tear gas while also being hit with waves of that painful tear gas and allegedly even bear spray from some of the riotous mob (I witnessed at least six officers keeled over from the pain until their eyes could be flushed).

Like much in the Trump-era, conventional wisdom was no use to this crowd, which soon proceeded to overwhelm the line of baton, tear gas and shield-wielding officers at the base of the expansive Capitol building. They then rushed President-elect Biden’s inauguration platform, making quick work of it before reaching the Capitol itself, where they used timber, sticks, and their Trump flag poles to whack two windows almost directly under soon-to-be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s suite.

Once they shattered, the crowd erupted in adrenaline and conspiracy-fueled glee, and waves of protestors — some donning camouflage, even as many were rocking their #MAGA digs — rushed forward and began storming the first floor of the Capitol.

The Senate was supposed to be voting on the validity of President-elect Biden’s win. Instead, officers corralled any senator who was outside into the sacred Senate chamber, where they were supposed to be safe. But locking the doors didn’t work, and the Senate had to be evacuated. With officers focused on protecting the nation’s lawmakers, the protestors turned the Capitol into Animal House. Some smoked joints, others cigarettes.

On the other side of the Capitol, in the face of a tidal wave of rioters, a few officers were moving barricades, which opened the floodgates, as swarms of MAGA hats and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags swept across the open expanse between the Capitol and the Supreme Court. They then darted for the jewel: The ornate Capitol Rotunda.

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The mob did what mobs do, nothing good. Some overtook Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, even as others battled officers on the first floor. Still more flooded the House side, where lawmakers huddled under their chairs as uniformed Capitol Police officers barricaded the doors with historic furniture and drew their handguns, which ended with a female veteran who breached one makeshift wall bleeding out from her neck until she eventually breathed her last.

Reporters and staffers were ordered to huddle in place and lock doors — in the Radio TV Gallery, knowing full well that we’ve been dubbed “the enemy” by Trump, we hid insignias and covered a wooden “Radio-TV Correspondent’s Gallery” sign with a female reporter’s nice, silky-feeling red sport coat.

After police deployed waves of tear gas in the Rotunda, reporters scrambled to find emergency escape hoods (basically industrial-grade gas masks that can supposedly handle particles from a dirty bomb). When a couple of us ventured from the fourth floor down a level to snag masks for ourselves and others, we quickly retreated because we saw aggressive felons and not a single Capitol Police officer. One of those protestors eventually made it down into the chair reserved for the President of the Senate, the Vice President of the United States.

After a couple hours of trepidation and fear — with one reporter suffering a panic attack — officers alerted us they ‘thought’ they’d regained control of the Senate side, though ATF and FBI agents dressed for combat were going room to room to make sure there were no stragglers or bombs (two of which were found later at both the RNC and DNC headquarters).

Eventually, a couple of us tried to escape by going to the House side. The officer who escorted us was jogging and took us past two rows of what must have been a hundred officers in full Robocop-style riot gear. Groups of five or so officers were battling with protestors through broken windows on the first floor. They were swatting with their batons or shooting streams of liquid fire at Trump’s minions, which left clouds of tear gas hovering in the air.

While Sen. Murphy of Connecticut called the violence disturbing, it wasn’t because he’s a genius. Trump’s latest gambit enflamed passions on all sides of every aisle, thus making skirmishes — or even the full-fledged riot that engulfed our nation — almost inevitable.

“This shit happened, and they’re like, ‘Oh, they broke in. It was unexpected.’ I’m like: ‘maaaaaaan,’” a Capitol Hill food worker remarked later.

The chaos made it evident for most to recognize the binary universe Trump occupies — his view and whatever the rest of us see — is now also home to many rank-and-file Republicans.

“I don’t have a take on it,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) told The News Station when asked about the Capitol being breached.

Other Republicans were also unmoved by the first storming of the Capitol since the British did it back in the War of 1812.

“Didn’t you guys think this was utterly expected?” I asked freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.).

“Do you have a card?” his aide asked.

“Your boss can speak for himself,” I informed her of her boss’ ability to speak for himself. “So you guys don’t feel guilty at all?”

“If you just want to call my office,” he said.

“I get it, I get it,” I tried one last time. “But like, no guilt at all?”

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The black-and-white nature of today’s politics is testing the soul of our nation. And Trump knows it. Even after the riot, with parts of the Capitol still in disarray, the president convinced 146 — the majority of rank-and-file Republicans — to vote to overturn Biden’s legitimate victory. The courts and the Electoral College beat back the direct challenge to democracy, but the exercise unsettled many.

“The entire American experiment rests on the peaceful transfer of power, and this is the first time we’ve had a president essentially refusing to leave office,” Sen. Murphy of Connecticut told The News Station. “It’s extraordinary that it’s taken us 240 years to get to this moment, but we’ve got to find a way to overcome it.”

In the realm of politics precision isn’t prized (unless a politician ends up in the wrong bed…). The lackadaisical nature of politics is largely there because the people — especially a politician’s base — lend their support and, usually, a long, forgiving and often blind leash to their favored candidate.

But policy isn’t always headline-grabbing. Take substances we put in our bodies. Small variations can have far-reaching consequences. When it comes to CBD, if the cannabis contains less than 0.3 percent THC — the compound in marijuana that makes one feel “high” — then it’s truly CBD. Any more than that, it becomes marijuana. And ingesting marijuana can still get many people fired.

Policy is more than fixing potholes and naming post offices. In legislative writing (aka ‘drafting’), sometimes a comma’s just a comma, but other times it’s a $1 million comma. Policy is often mundane, but it’s always important and rarely transfixing.

That’s what was missing from the Capitol yesterday: It wasn’t boring. Sure, it was a mere made-for-TV stunt orchestrated by Trump solely to stroke his own well-fed, though endlessly starved ego. But his ratings went up, because he knows how to enrapture an audience with terrifyingly captivating, if needless, drama. We all need to learn to resist giving oxygen to this or the next Trump-sized dumpster fire that we see flickering on our screens.

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Matt Laslo [was] Managing Editor of The News Station. To learn more about the veteran political reporter and professor -- or to read more of his work -- his bio page is here.

AFTON, Vir. — PROTIP: When a federal lawmaker casually informs you they’re growing three acres of cannabis and then asks you to hop on their doorless off-road vehicle — even in the midst of a raging pandemic — don’t hesitate; just hop on. Once on board the deceptively fast (and did I mention utterly doorless?) adult toy and they then subtly inform you, “it’s like a roller coaster, by the way,” you nonchalantly move your recorder to the same hand as your notebook, hold on to any slippery plastic or cold metal you can grip, and hope the lawmaker can’t see your pale knuckles.

“When you see it, you’re gonna freak out,” Rep. Denver Riggleman tells me of his plot of hemp plants.

Today’s his last day as a congressman, after he lost a drive-thru GOP convention this summer that witnessed a mere 2,537 primary votes cast (by comparison, his opponent, and now congressman-elect Bob Good of Liberty University, netted 210,988 mostly Republican votes in November’s general election).

It’s hard — or maybe foolish — to think about politics for extended periods when you live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, though, which Riggleman exemplified as he whipped past trees in the woods on his family’s 50-acres about 20 minutes west of Charlottesville.

“This is pretty cool,” Riggleman gushes to me about his first experiment with growing cannabis.

The black four-wheeler is now unforgivingly bouncing over downed branches, muddy potholes and whatever else it wants, as the congressman whips around bends, missing tree trunks and errant branches by inches.

He may be leaving Congress after a mere two-year stint, but he’s pretty sure he made history in that one term.

“I think I’m the first, probably, modern-day congressman growing hemp,” Riggleman humbly brags about the three acres of only recently legalized psychoactive plants (contrary to popular opinion, CBD has psychoactive properties, though its cousin, marijuana, surely contains many more) that drink from the perpetually meditative river the family home looks out over.

Riggleman’s in his element here — in this suit, tie and bullshit-free zone. On his property, he kind of reminds me of my 8-year-old nephew on his birthday: Brimming with genuine excitement, as he guides me through a rapid, one-directional round of Show and Tell.

“I’ll show you the bottom field where the hemp is being grown. You have time to hang around?” Riggleman asks (even if he already knows my itinerary).

“Yup,” I reply.

Whatever my itinerary consisted of as the sun was peaking over these hazy mountains, it’s now just one item: Touring a congressman’s cannabis operation.

First, I get the liquid tour. Their property is also home to the family’s main distillery, Silverback. They own another distillery about an hour southeast of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. This new year they plan to break ground on a third about two hours south, in Lancaster, Pa. The distilleries are where his three grown daughters and his wife of more than 30 years, Christine, make award-winning bourbons (she’s in the ABV Network’s Bourbon Hall of Fame), gins (she was named one of the best gin distillers in America in 2014), and vodkas.

They turned the distilleries into impromptu hand sanitizer factories for first responders, children’s hospitals, dentists, scientists and the public when coronavirus struck last spring. Flipping from making whiskey to making medical-grade sanitizer likely cost them $1.2 to $1.6 million, the congressman estimates, but the family made the decision together and only charged the public.

Riggleman shows me the warehouse filled with slowly aging whiskey. It’s expansive. An open and inviting field surrounds the simple structure, and he can’t help but tell me this is where two of his daughters were married.

It seems every inch of this land has a special, previously private memory to Riggleman, but once your feet touch his soil you get the royal treatment and that means his tales.

He’s once again kidlike as he tells me of their four-legged neighbors out here in the country. That includes five or so black bears who live on or near this sprawling property. One of their dogs learned the power of those bears after he chased one up a tree, only to have the bear give up on the tree and go after the pup.

“I heard some, you know, yappin and yappin and crashing, and I ran back to the house, got our .357 and got the four-wheeler. I’m like, ‘My God, I think it’s gonna kill my dog,’” Riggleman says. “He didn’t kill our dog, but yeah, it’s real around here sometimes.”

We bounce up and down as the congressman hits the gas — the only speed he seems to know in this thing is fast — and he’s eager to show off the rich Virginia soil that’s a natural fit for his new hemp operation (just as that soil’s fed tobacco and even hemp plants for centuries now). The giddiness gets the best of this newly minted hemp farmer, and he makes a cannabis-dad-joke.

“Oh man, we’re gonna have some messed-up deer,” Riggleman quips of Bambi munching on his field.

“Heck no, there’s nothing in there,” he says, likely remembering I’m a journalist.

He uses CBD for its “calming properties,” but the field is an experiment. Congress only legalized hemp in 2018, and it’s now a multi-billion-dollar industry. But it’s new, and the federal government — like state and local ones — have delayed regulations on it (even as millions of Americans consume it daily) while also not extending certain programs available to other businesses to this new breed of hemp and CBD-entrepreneurs.

After growing some of their own grains for their distillery (they’re too big of an operation to grow all their own ingredients), Riggleman was curious about hemp and signed up to be a guinea pig. And it made sense. His cannabis field is on a flat patch of land next to the river, nestled between two natural, literally bubbling springs. This nutrient-rich soil is made for this kind of crop, or so Riggleman convinced himself (and his wife).

“We have so much tobacco infrastructure, why don’t we leverage that for hemp?” Riggleman says.

And he wanted to see the regulations — or the lack thereof — firsthand, so he could help the commonwealth’s farmers by walking in their boots. Hence, he became a cannabis congressman, in part cause he’s curious and has lots of energy.

“Being an agribusiness, let’s do it, right? Just see all the issues that farmers got to deal with. What you gotta do with regulations, right? All that stuff,” Riggleman says. “I better know what the hell I’m doing. It’s a lotta work. It’s a lot of work.”

He did have the help of a rotating crew of more than 15 workers from two different companies — Old Virginia Hemp and he gave them access to his land for, he thinks, like $1.00. They cleared thick brush, felled some trees, while also leaving others standing to keep a more natural habitat in place for local “critters.” Then they planted, tended, and harvested pounds and pounds and pounds of green plants that were illegal just a couple years ago.

The libertarian streaks run strong in this one, hence today at noon this ultra-conservative Republican congressman will be replaced by an ultra-ultra-ultra-conservative Republican congressman. Riggleman offended far-right-wing Virginia Republicans — who are more motivated, active and cunning than the sizable number of merely conservative Republicans here — when he officiated the marriage of two young conservative, Republican men who volunteered for his campaign.

That got him smeared, then censured, and eventually booted from office by Republican activists after spending two years racking up a conservative voting record in Washington.

Riggleman doesn’t seem to have any quit in him though. The former Air Force officer planned massive bombing campaigns after 9-11 and then did a stint with the NSA, but in a past-past life, he proved himself scrappy, in more ways than one.

While on a limited ROTC scholarship at the University of Virginia, some days he’d install patio and storm doors, and then some nights he worked as a bouncer for a Charlottesville bar and at his dad’s place — Denver’s Bar and Grille — over the border in Petersburg, West Virginia (“I ended up graduating with distinction,” he wants you to know).

He says he learned a lot about today’s Republican Party from those sticky, sometimes blood-splattered floors. He estimates breaking up some 30 or 40 scrapes and a couple “mob scenes,” but two separate incidents stand out most to this day.

“I knocked two individuals unconscious. One, I ran his head into a car bumper. The other one I piledrived him into a parking lot after he hit a female,” Riggleman says matter-of-factly. “When I had a gun pulled on me, my wife said, ‘You know what, I think we’re good. We have two kids and one on the way. Maybe being a bouncer there’s not the best way to do things.’”

Riggleman likens today’s Republican Party — the party of President Donald Trump (who endorsed Riggleman over his opponent) — to the drunk kids he used to bounce for $150 a night.

“It came to the point that I couldn’t deal with the crazy anymore, because it was taking me down to their level. That’s what’s happening right now is that we honestly don’t have enough bouncers for Congress, and I’m talking about intellectual bouncers,” Riggleman says. “And now you’re seeing a class that I think could be the most extreme class of incoming freshmen ever elected to the United States Congress.”

The 50-year-old has witnessed a lot over the years, and that’s why he says the GOP is best likened to desperate druggies, especially now that a number of elected Republicans are preparing to contest the results of the presidential election without any evidence supporting them (at least according to the numerous judges who have dismissed the slew of Hail Mary lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign).

“They’re mainlining that. That’s just like mainlining drugs, because if you don’t get your fix from Twitter or Facebook, you get your fix from Gab, you get your fix from Parler, [etc.],” Riggleman tells The News Station. “You can go anywhere that validates your beliefs. You can do confirmation bias on steroids all day long. You can radicalize yourself, because you’re afraid to face facts.”

The soon-to-be-former-Congressman is now seen as a turncoat by many Republicans, but he’s unfazed. His Democratic opponent in 2018 and Saturday Night Live accused him of writing Bigfoot erotica, which he not only dismissed in a self-deprecating way but then turned into the book Bigfoot .... It’s Complicated. It’s now #84 on Amazon’s Love, Sex & Marriage Humor Best Seller list.

When life gives Riggleman lemons, he seems to grab vodka to mix in it.

Even though he was booted from Congress by members of his own party, he’s not laying down his gloves. He’s now an adviser to the Network Contagion Research Institute, which studies and tracks extremism — from QAnon to Antifa, and seemingly everything in between — in this hyper-digital age.

“Our job is to rip apart the foundations of fantastical belief on the fringes of both parties,” Riggleman says.

He says he plans to work even harder at doing that than he worked as a congressman — and he worked many 16-hour days as a representative in Washington.

“You know, it’s like the difference between somebody who is inserted with the Taliban, right? Or who was an informant for an enemy combatant, right? Or somebody like me who bombed them from the outside with 2,000 pound jdams,” Riggleman says. “Now I can use my experience and I can come after you, and now I have no handcuffs. The worst thing they could have done is released me into the wild.”

Worse yet, they riled him up before releasing him.

“I have some financial freedom, right? But also, the fact is that I hate bullies. It’s that simple,” Riggleman says. “I’d rather be poor and, you know, trying to make a life with a tent back here in the trees, rather than kowtow to a bunch of people who make their money off misinformation and trying to fix things.”

Even though many establishment Republicans now seem more fixated on maintaining power — by any means necessary — Riggleman says they’d be happier if they remembered the GOP’s liberty-loving roots. He’s even leading by example.

“Maybe I can do the first-ever hemp vodka or something?” Riggleman says. “This is really cool what they’re doing. You know, I gotta put my money where my mouth is, right?”