Spring brought three fresh flip phones from Motorola, and one rises above the rest in every measurable way.The Motorola RAZR Ultra 2026 takes the basic flip phone design and adds some completely sensible features that make carrying it around a joy.

From the time you pick it up, the RAZR Ultra 2026 has a very quality feel to it. There are various finishes available, including one in a stunning Pantone Orient Blue with a slight texture that catches the light, and the cloth is even imported from Italy. Another option is a natural wood veneer in a warm Pantone Cocoa tone, which gives the overall look a very unique, earthy feel. But whichever finish you choose, it’s all kept together by a pretty robust titanium-reinforced hinge designed to resist years of opening and closing. Don’t get me started on the glass, which has built-in drop protection and meets some major military standards for heat, cold, and humidity.

Sale

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Unlocked Android Smartphone, 256GB, Privacy Display, Galaxy AI, AI Camera…

• PRIVACY DISPLAY: Automatically hide your screen from those beside you. The built-in privacy display can be preset¹ to turn on when receiving…
• TYPE IT IN. TRANSFORM IT FAST: Enhance any shot in seconds on your smartphone by using Photo Assist² with Galaxy AI.³ Add objects, restore details…
• NIGHTS, CAPTURED CLEARLY: From gigs to city lights, record and capture moments after dark with clarity using Nightography so your photos and videos…

The screens on both sides are the real deal, with the brightness and speed you’d expect from a high-end smartphone. When you open it, you’ll see a stunning seven-inch screen that just lights up with color and brightness and is silky smooth to scroll around. To top it all off, it’s bright enough to be read in direct sunshine. Close it, and the four-inch exterior display takes over, which is more than enough to keep track of messages, notifications, and even whole apps without having to unlock the phone. Simply hover your palm over the top and the screen will come to life, or fall to sleep if you like. If you need to accomplish something quickly, simply give the phone a voice command and it will take care of it.

Under the hood, the RAZR Ultra 2026 is extremely well-specced, with a strong Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 16GB of RAM, and a whopping 512GB of storage, allowing you to jump between programs in the blink of an eye while still having enough of memory for all your games and videos. The battery life is the best in class, with 5,000mAh and over 36 hours of mixed use from a single charge. If you need a charge, simply plug it into the 68w charger for a full day’s worth of juice in eight minutes, or leave it on the 30w wireless charger overnight and it will take care of itself.

Finally, there are three fifty-megapixel lenses to play with, so whether you’re attempting to record a bright sunset or a dark room, they’ll still catch all of the detail, plus there’s a super-wide shot for landscapes and a macro mode for microscopic subjects up close. The front camera is also impressive, with automatic framing adjustments to ensure you always get the perfect group image. Then there’s the AI, which helps out without complicating matters. Want to zoom in on a specific subject in a video? Simply rotate the phone as if it were an antique video camera. Want a group shot in which everyone looks their best? Just let the AI handle it. If you consistently utilize the same editing styles, the system will learn your tendencies and automatically apply them to new photographs.

Preorders begin on May 14th for $1,499.99 at all major retailers and on the Motorola website, with unlocked phones available on May 21st. In other regions of the world, the device is called as the Razr 70 Ultra with similar timing.
[Source]

This post is brought to you in paid partnership with SKG

Buying a meaningful Mother’s Day gift is harder than it sounds, and most of the usual options don’t hold up beyond the day itself. The SKG G7 Pro Fold 3.0 neck massager and the SKG W9 Ultra 2.0 lower back massager, engineered for daily, intelligent recovery, are a different kind of gift. Both are 15% off from April 25th to May 8th, both are built around daily use rather than novelty, and both address the kind of neck and back discomfort that tends to build up quietly over years of desk work, commuting, and everything in between.

Mother’s Day gifts at a glance:

SKG G7 Pro Fold 3.0 Neck Massager: $199.99 $169.99

The SKG G7 Pro Fold 3.0 is the definitive upgrade for daily neck care. The nine independent floating massage heads are coated with TiN-treated 316L stainless steel, which gives them a matte gold finish and a durability advantage over plastic-headed competitors, while remaining hypoallergenic and incredibly gentle on the skin. The heads move independently to maintain contact across different neck shapes, delivering a targeted, human-like massage.

The heating system pairs 640nm red light with 850nm near-infrared across four heat levels, covering the kind of deep tissue warmth that superficial heat pads don’t reach. Beyond surface-level relief, the device integrates a dual-pulse system that combines TENS and EMS technologies. By delivering 4-7 kHz mid-frequency pulses, it actively bypasses the skin to stimulate deeper muscle layers, effectively blocking pain signals and accelerating real recovery. These technologies power eleven distinct massage modes, all seamlessly managed through intuitive app control. Rather than fumbling for buttons behind her neck, she can easily adjust heat levels, fine-tune pulse intensity, or select the app-exclusive “Dopamine Tech” mode directly from her smartphone, while the 2,400mAh battery delivers up to 140 minutes of use between charges.

What makes the SKG G7 Pro Fold 3.0 neck massager particularly well-suited as a gift is the foldable design. Weighing just 0.6 pounds and folding down smaller than popular over-ear headphones like the AirPods Max, it slips easily into a daily tote or carry-on, making recovery accessible on a long flight, at the office, or on the sofa. Its first generation won the German iF Design Award in 2024, which speaks to the care in the industrial design as much as the functionality. As a bonus, it also arrives in packaging that reads like a considered present rather than a last-minute purchase.

SKG W9 Ultra 2.0 Lower Back Massager: $199.99 $169.99

Where the G7 Pro Fold 3.0 targets the neck, the SKG W9 Ultra 2.0 addresses the lower back with the same commitment to intelligent recovery. The wearable belt wraps around the lumbar region and delivers kneading through eight TiN-coated titanium heads, each mimicking the layered pressure of a hand massage rather than the flat vibration that cheaper belts rely on. A mid-frequency pulse combines TENS and EMS technologies to bypass the surface and stimulate deeper muscle layers, effectively blocking pain signals and accelerating lumbar recovery.

The dual-spectrum light system runs 11 near-infrared emitters alongside 31 red light sources across a 20,000mm² heating zone, which is a meaningfully larger coverage area than most competing back massagers offer. Three temperature levels can run independently or in combination with the kneading function, and eight independently controlled zones let you focus on exactly where the discomfort sits rather than treating the entire back as a single area.

The W9 Ultra 2.0 runs cordlessly for up to 100 minutes on a single charge and comes equipped with a dedicated remote control. It also has a 30cm extension strap so it can comfortably fit different waists. This thoughtful design makes it genuinely wearable during everyday activity. It charges via USB-C and can be worn discreetly under clothing, which makes it as practical during a workday as it is during a recovery session after exercise. Plus, whether she uses the included remote or the companion app on her phone, she can fine-tune settings instantly—no reaching for hidden buttons required.

Why they make good Mother’s Day gifts

Both the SKG G7 Pro Fold 3.0 neck massager and the W9 Ultra 2.0 lower back massager are designed to be used daily. That’s what separates a useful gift from one that ends up in a cupboard after a few weeks. Neck and back tension are among the most common physical complaints for people who spend significant time at a desk or on their feet, and both devices address those complaints with technology that goes beyond what a heating pad or standard massage cushion can offer.

At $169.99 each during the Mother’s Day sale, they hit that sweet spot of high-end tech and profound personal care. Choose one for targeted relief, or bundle both for the ultimate wellness package. (Make sure to grab the 15% discount before the promotion ends on May 8th.)

The gift that gets it right

If you’re looking for a Mother’s Day gift that holds up well past the occasion itself, the SKG G7 Pro Fold 3.0 neck massager and the SKG W9 Ultra 2.0 lower back massager are both worth serious consideration. The neck massager covers travel and desk use with a foldable design and deep tissue heat, while the back massager wraps around the lumbar region with targeted kneading and infrared therapy. Either one makes a considered gift; both together make a complete one.

If you’re looking to introduce her to intelligent active recovery at a different price point, SKG offers a complete ecosystem of wellness devices. They deliver the brand’s signature targeted relief and smart features, ensuring you can find the perfect, thoughtful gift no matter your budget.

During Microsoft’s latest earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Satya Nadella perhaps unintentionally summed up the current state of the company’s massive agentic AI push.

“It sort of didn’t work until it started working,” Nadella said, referencing the Agent Mode feature in Microsoft Excel, “and that’s just because the model showed up.”

Agent Mode, a feature that uses AI to create and edit Excel workbooks in tandem with your actions, is now the default mode for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Premium subscribers in Excel, Word and PowerPoint as of last week. He said Microsoft’s investments in its AI infrastructure gave the company the usage capacity to implement the model that worked.

(Nadella used the term Agent Mode, but officially, Microsoft has retired that term, preferring the simpler “edit with Copilot.”)

That capacity played a big role during the earnings call, as Microsoft shifts toward charging customers for how much they use the AI, not just for access licenses. “We have a structural position in knowledge, work, coding [and] security,” he said. “And then you couple that with the right business model… which is user plus usage.”

Nadella said nearly 90% of Fortune 500 companies now have active agents built with “our low-code/no-code tools,” and the company is seeing its Copilot Credit consumption nearly double quarter-over-quarter as customers employ custom agents tailored to their workflows.

There was also a significant milestone, Nadella said: Microsoft Bing, the company’s 17-year-old search service, reached 1 billion active monthly users for the first time.

Usage pricing comes to GitHub

Nadella frequently mentioned GitHub, the software development platform that Microsoft purchased in 2018, as another standout. Starting June 1, GitHub Copilot is moving to a usage-based pricing model.

The number of enterprise subscribers on the platform has nearly tripled year-over-year, he said, with nearly 140,000 organizations now using GitHub Copilot.

Every GitHub Copilot plan will include a monthly allotment of GitHub AI Credits. According to the GitHub blog, “Usage will be calculated based on token consumption, including input, output and cached tokens, using the listed API rates for each model.”

Microsoft announced $82.9 billion in revenue for the quarter, an 18% increase from the previous year’s third quarter, during the period from January to March. Capital expenditures are expected to rise to over $40 billion to build out more capacity for AI tools — including massive data centers.

Waiting in line for a midnight game release or scrambling to find a sold-out gaming headset at your favorite electronics store feels far less appealing in a world where instant digital access is just a click away. Today’s gamers are done chasing physical stock and juggling dozens of store accounts. Instead, they’re seeking out a more streamlined, cost-effective way to buy gear and titles, often without ever leaving their chair.

Digital marketplaces have exploded in popularity among gaming enthusiasts aiming to make every dollar and minute count. For those new to this shift, sites like Eneba.com have made a strong mark by combining everything from rare peripherals to discounted digital game codes in one convenient space. With fierce competition driving prices lower and generous selection on offer, these platforms now rival traditional game shops, yet offer far more flexibility, whether it’s a late-night shopping urge or a flash sale on the latest blockbuster.

While there are plenty of options to buy digital games online, many in-the-know buyers gravitate toward platforms like Eneba for several reasons. Eneba stands out by offering instant access to game keys, which allow players to redeem titles directly on platforms such as PlayStation, with no disc or shipping required. This gives buyers more choice and frequently better prices than traditional platform stores, while an enormous catalog and up-front global or region-locked information make for transparent shopping. Plus, with verified sellers and robust marketplace controls, the risk of counterfeits drops markedly. Beyond game keys, Eneba also features gift cards for services like Xbox, PSN, and Steam, meaning players can top up accounts and snag games or content of their choice, skipping the hunt for specific game keys.

The Big Draws: Price, Speed, and Selection

What drives players to trust digital marketplaces over the tried and tested big-name stores? Savings are a major factor: prices for both hardware and digital game keys can dip well below official retailer listings. Flash sales or limited-time discounts mean buyers can seize deals at odd hours, no camping out, no extra fees for international shipping.

But it’s not just the cost that wins people over. Instant access is non-negotiable for gamers who want a new release the second it drops, or need to replace a mic in time for tonight’s match. Digital codes and direct-to-home shipping let buyers skip wait times entirely. On top of that, curated stock and real-time availability mean less hunting around, which saves effort. Every moment not spent scrolling is one more minute playing.

Security and Transparency Keep Gamers Loyal

Skepticism around digital goods is only natural when you’re entering codes worth fifty or even a hundred dollars. Digital marketplaces have worked hard to build trust by publishing clear security guarantees, requiring third-party merchant verification, and setting strict standards for compliance and sourcing. Buyers know that when issues arise, support teams are ready to step in, a far cry from faceless classified ads or auction sites.

Transparency is a dealbreaker for many. Region-locked codes? Out-of-stock hardware? Sites that label everything clearly and show purchase history on demand find it easier to retain picky shoppers. Gamers remember who wasted their time and who made the experience simple.

Flexibility for Modern Gaming Lifestyles

Physical games and hardware still have a place, but the digital approach caters to how gamers actually live and play. Swapping consoles with friends, jumping from PC to mobile, and redeeming codes while traveling all become easier with digital ownership. The global reach of digital marketplaces makes it possible to find rare or region-specific gear and content not available locally.

With the cycle of new releases and old favorites never ending, staying ahead of the next hot thing is less stressful when your shopping list can be satisfied in one place. Digital marketplaces like Eneba, offering deals on all things digital, continue to reshape how players discover, buy, and enjoy what they love most.

Healthcare, as we’ve known it for decades, has largely been built around a simple premise: you seek help when something goes wrong. Symptoms appear, you visit a doctor, you run tests, and then you treat the issue. But that model is increasingly being challenged by a new category of companies – platforms that aim to predict, prevent, and optimize health before disease ever sets in.

At the center of this shift is a rapidly growing industry often referred to as preventive health, longevity tech, or health optimization platforms. And within this space, Superpower is positioning itself as one of the most comprehensive solutions available today.

This article breaks down what this industry is, why it matters, who it’s for, and how Superpower compares to its closest competitors.

What Industry Does Superpower Belong To?

Superpower operates in the preventive healthcare and longevity technology space – a sector that brings together advanced biomarker testing, AI-driven health insights, continuous monitoring, and personalized medical guidance into a unified system. Rather than treating these as separate services, this industry merges them into a cohesive experience designed to give users a deeper and more ongoing understanding of their health.

Unlike traditional healthcare systems, which are reactive, this industry focuses on early detection, long-term optimization, and data-driven decision-making. The underlying philosophy is straightforward but transformative: if you can measure your body deeply and consistently, you can identify risks years before they develop into full-blown diseases.

This space has grown rapidly in recent years as consumers have become more proactive about their well-being, wearable technology has entered the mainstream, and artificial intelligence has made it possible to interpret complex biological data in a way that was previously inaccessible.

Why This Industry Is Suddenly So Important

Modern lifestyles have created a paradox. We have access to better medical technology than ever before, yet chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hormonal imbalances continue to rise at an alarming rate.

The issue is not the availability of treatment but the timing of intervention. Most conditions are diagnosed only after symptoms become visible, at which point treatment becomes more complicated, more expensive, and often less effective.

Preventive platforms like Superpower are designed to address three interconnected challenges. The first is the lack of visibility into one’s own body, as most individuals rely on infrequent and limited testing that fails to capture early warning signs. The second is the fragmentation of health data, where medical records, fitness metrics, and lab results exist in isolation without a unified view. The third is the complexity of medical information, which makes it difficult for individuals to interpret results and take meaningful action without expert support.

By bringing these elements together, Superpower creates a system that continuously tracks, analyzes, and guides health decisions, effectively turning scattered data into a coherent and actionable narrative.

What Superpower Does Differently

At its core, Superpower combines multiple layers into a comprehensive health ecosystem that goes well beyond traditional testing platforms.

Deep Diagnostics

Users undergo testing across more than a hundred biomarkers, spanning 13 distinct health categories that collectively map the body’s internal state. These include key systems such as metabolic health, hormonal balance, inflammation, nutrient status, and long-term disease risk. This level of depth allows Superpower to establish a meaningful baseline for every user, turning what would otherwise be a generic health check into a highly personalized starting point.

This baseline membership experience is critical because it defines the user’s entry into the platform. Rather than offering fragmented insights, Superpower builds a structured understanding of the body from day one, enabling early detection of imbalances long before they manifest as symptoms.

The Superpower Baseline Panel is a comprehensive entry-level diagnostic test designed to give users a detailed snapshot of their health through the analysis of over 100 biomarkers across key systems like metabolism, hormones, inflammation, and disease risk. It serves as the starting point for Superpower’s broader preventive health platform, establishing a personalized baseline that can be tracked over time. The blood draw can be completed in a lab visit or an optional at-home appointment, with results typically delivered within a week. These insights are then used to generate tailored health recommendations and ongoing guidance within the Superpower ecosystem.

But the Baseline Panel is called “baseline” for a reason. Superpower offers a suite of advanced add-on panels for users who want to go deeper into specific systems, including expanded hormone, advanced cardiovascular, heavy metals, micronutrient, and toxin panels. These optional tests layer onto the baseline to give users a more granular view of the areas most relevant to their goals, symptoms, or family history.

Unified Health Platform

Superpower integrates lab results, medical records, wearable data, and lifestyle inputs into a single, continuously evolving dashboard. Instead of forcing users to piece together their health story across multiple apps and reports, it presents a unified view that reflects how different systems in the body interact with one another.

This integration extends beyond diagnostics into actionable pathways. Based on biomarker insights, users can access a built-in marketplace that offers curated supplements, often recommended directly in response to their test results. This creates a seamless transition from insight to intervention, removing the guesswork that typically follows health testing. Another important point we would like to mention here is that the marketplace has member-exclusive discounts of up to 25 per cent.

AI + Human Expertise

Superpower’s approach is not limited to data interpretation. It combines artificial intelligence with real medical oversight to deliver guidance that is both scalable and clinically grounded. The platform goes a step further by integrating access to a pharmacy, allowing members to obtain prescription treatments such as GLP-1 therapies, NAD+ support, and testosterone optimization when medically appropriate.

This combination of diagnostics, recommendations, and access to treatment creates a closed-loop system where users are not just informed about their health but are also equipped to act on it immediately.

The Competitive Landscape

Superpower is not alone in this space. Several companies are attempting to redefine preventive healthcare, each approaching the problem from a different angle.

Function Health stands out as one of the closest competitors, offering extensive biomarker testing and detailed reports. While its strength lies in diagnostics, Superpower provides more tools for members to turn their results into action plans.

InsideTracker has built a strong reputation among athletes and fitness enthusiasts by focusing on performance optimization. Its insights are valuable, but they are often centered around fitness outcomes, while Superpower expands the conversation to include long-term health and disease prevention.

Mito Health offers biomarker testing alongside biological age tracking, giving users a sense of how their body is aging. Mito Health offers a more premium experience (such as a 1:1 consultation about results), but at a more expensive price point ($349 vs $199), and does not have an at-home blood draw option as Superpower does.

Empirical Health takes a specialized approach by focusing on cardiovascular biomarkers. This depth is useful within its niche, but it lacks the broader, multi-system perspective that Superpower provides.

Vitals Vault emphasizes the scale of data, offering a larger number of biomarkers. While this appeals to users seeking detailed insights, the platform leans heavily on data collection, whereas Superpower focuses on translating that data into clear and actionable recommendations.

SelfDecode approaches preventive health through DNA analysis, offering insights based on genetic predisposition. While valuable, genetic data is inherently static, and Superpower complements this by focusing on dynamic, real-time biological signals.

SiPhox Health prioritizes convenience through at-home testing kits, making health tracking more accessible. However, it does not offer the same level of integrated care and continuous guidance that defines the Superpower experience, which includes a team of trained medical professionals for blood draws instead of home test kits, so that the results are as reliable as possible. The reason being self-administered at-home test kits are at a higher risk of being contaminated or done incorrectly.

WHOOP brings wearable-based insights into recovery, sleep, and strain. While useful for daily monitoring, it lacks the diagnostic depth and medical-grade analysis that Superpower integrates into its platform. Also, members can also integrate data from Whoop wearables into the Superpower platform.

Why Superpower Stands Out

Across this competitive landscape, most platforms excel in specific areas, whether it is deep diagnostic testing, fitness tracking, genetic insights, or accessibility through at-home solutions. Superpower distinguishes itself by combining these capabilities into a single, unified system that prioritizes both depth and usability.

Its differentiation lies in three core strengths. The first is its ability to pair extensive data collection with meaningful context, ensuring that users are not overwhelmed by numbers but guided by clear explanations of what those numbers mean. The second is its focus on continuous health management, transforming what is typically a one-time testing experience into an ongoing journey that evolves with the user. The third is its integration of artificial intelligence with human medical expertise, creating a system that is both scalable and deeply personalized.

Who Should Use Platforms Like Superpower?

Preventive health is no longer confined to niche audiences such as biohackers or elite athletes. It is becoming increasingly relevant for a wide range of individuals who want greater control over their well-being.

High-performance professionals, including entrepreneurs and executives, can use these platforms to optimize energy levels, focus, and productivity. Individuals with a family history of chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease can benefit from early detection and proactive risk management. Fitness enthusiasts who already track their activity can gain deeper insights into underlying biological processes, moving beyond surface-level metrics. At the same time, a growing number of people who simply want to understand their bodies better are turning to these platforms as a more informed alternative to reactive healthcare.

Why Preventive Health Will Define The Next Decade

Healthcare is undergoing a fundamental transformation that is reshaping how individuals interact with their own bodies. The shift from episodic care to continuous monitoring is changing expectations around how often and how deeply people engage with their health. Similarly, the move from generalized advice to personalized insights reflects a broader demand for precision and relevance in medical guidance.

This evolution is being driven by advances in diagnostics, the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence, and a cultural shift toward proactive health management. As these forces converge, platforms like Superpower are emerging as central tools in this new ecosystem, acting as the interface through which individuals understand and manage their health.

The Bottom Line

The preventive health industry is no longer a niche category but an essential part of the future of medicine. While competitors such as Function Health, InsideTracker, and WHOOP each offer valuable capabilities, most remain focused on specific aspects of the health journey.

Superpower’s advantage lies in its ability to bring these elements together into a single, cohesive system that prioritizes clarity, continuity, and action. It does not merely present data but transforms it into a guided experience that helps users understand their bodies, make informed decisions, and improve their health over time.

In a world where health is increasingly recognized as the most valuable asset, this shift from information to action is not just meaningful – it is essential.

from the the-seashell-felonies dept

James Comey is not exactly someone we’ve ever been a fan of on Techdirt. He was a terrible FBI director in so many ways. We’ve spent years criticizing the man — for his crusade against encryption, his supporting the FBI’s ridiculously aggressive impersonation of reporters, his embrace of the FBI’s program to coerce and entrap people down on their luck into fake terrorist plots, and much more. And, while the impact has been exaggerated, it is true that he took multiple actions violating DOJ procedures that likely helped get Donald Trump elected in 2016. So it’s not like I’m rushing to support the guy. He’s a bad cop and has been for some time.

But the indictment the Department of Justice handed down against James Comey on Tuesday is a truly embarrassing legal document, and everyone involved in producing it should be professionally radioactive for the rest of their careers. I would have said it’s one of the most embarrassing legal documents that this DOJ has produced, but remember, just a day earlier they filed a legal brief that was indistinguishable from a Truth Social post.

The charge, in its entirety, concerns this Instagram post from May 2025:

If you can’t see that, it’s an Instagram post from Comey showing some shells on some sand with the shells spelling out 8647 and the caption on the post saying:

Cool shell formation on my beach walk

For this — for posting a photo of arranged seashells in a slightly sassy pattern and posting it to Instagram — Comey has been charged with two federal felonies: threatening the President under 18 U.S.C. § 871, and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c). (For what it’s worth Comey has claimed he didn’t arrange the sea shells, but just found them. It’s unclear if that makes much of a difference, it’s protected speech either way).

Ken “Popehat” White, who has perhaps done more than any other lawyer in America to explain First Amendment doctrine to laypeople, didn’t mince words about what this is:

The charge is preposterous and no competent or honest prosecutor would bring it. It represents a betrayal of the professional and ethical obligations of every U.S. Department of Justice attorney involved, and reflects the complete collapse of the Department’s credibility and independence in favor of a cultish and cretinous devotion to Donald Trump.

He’s right, and the way to understand just how right he is requires understanding the path that brought us here.

Because this is the second time the Trump DOJ has tried to indict Comey. The first attempt collapsed in spectacular fashion last year, after Trump — in what was apparently supposed to be a private direct message but accidentally went out as a public Truth Social post — demanded that Pam Bondi install Lindsey Halligan, a former insurance lawyer with no relevant experience, as a U.S. Attorney specifically because she had promised to indict Comey. The problem: Halligan wasn’t legally appointed. The entire indictment got tossed before the court could dismiss it for being ridiculous (which would have happened) because the person who filed it wasn’t allowed to file it.

As we noted at the time, this pattern of procedural self-sabotage is a recurring feature of an administration that treats legal procedure as an inconvenience rather than the actual point of having a justice system.

So how did the DOJ respond to that humiliation? By coming back with something substantively even worse. In theory, they tried fixing the “wrong person filed it” problem by having an actually legally appointed person file something… even if that something has no legal basis whatsoever. Progress! Sort of?

The seashell indictment was filed by W. Ellis Boyle, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew R. Petracca listed as the prosecuting attorney. Remember those names. They put their signatures on this. Boyle is listed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, but he’s serving in an acting capacity — Trump has nominated him multiple times, yet the Senate has still refused to confirm him.

The legal problem with the indictment is pretty easy to spot: to convict someone under either of the threat statutes the DOJ is invoking, the government has to prove the communication constituted a “true threat.” Under controlling Fourth Circuit precedent (this case is in North Carolina), a true threat is something “an ordinary, reasonable recipient who is familiar with the context in which the statement is made would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm.”

As Ken White noted, the Supreme Court established this framework in Watts v. United States, a 1969 case involving an 18-year-old draft protester who said:

They always holler at us to get an education. And now I have already received my draft classification as 1-A and I have got to report for my physical this Monday coming. I am not going. If they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sights is L. B. J.

The Court found this was protected political hyperbole, not a true threat. An explicit statement about wanting a President in your rifle sights — protected.

If Watts isn’t damning enough, there’s United States v. Bagdasarian, a much more recent Ninth Circuit case where a man posted online statements about wanting to shoot then-candidate Barack Obama, including some genuinely vile racially explicit language about hoping Obama would be killed. The court held that even that did not constitute a true threat under the relevant statutes.

I’d be curious to hear from anyone defending this indictment whether they think Bagdasarian was wrongly decided. Or do we change the “true threat” standard when the target is Trump?

So the descending ladder of seriousness looks like this:

• Explicit racial language about wanting a President shot: protected
• Telling a crowd you want LBJ in your rifle sights: protected
• Posting a photo of seashells arranged on a beach to spell “86 47”: two federal felonies

Any first-year law student who’s taken a basic First Amendment course could tell you the seashell post is constitutionally protected. Any prosecutor with five minutes of research time would know that Bagdasarian and Watts exist. But, of course, as we’ve seen over and over and over again in the Trump era, the point is not to bring a good case or a winnable case. The point is just to punish Trump’s enemies with vexatious, vindictive prosecutions in hopes of creating a chilling effect among the populace and stopping them from criticizing the President with the thinnest skin possible.

Now, “86” has had various meanings over the years — to “86” something in restaurant slang means to remove it from the menu or get rid of it. The DOJ’s theory is apparently that when used about a person, it means to kill them. No one else believes that. This is the kind of motivated reading that requires ignoring both the dictionary and how actual humans use language.

But fine, let’s grant the absolute most uncharitable reading and say “86 47” means “get rid of the 47th President through killing.” Even granting that — even doing all the work for the prosecution — it’s still obviously protected political expression, and still obviously not a true threat under the controlling case law.

Which brings us to the part that genuinely cannot be explained by anything other than pure vindictiveness. Here is a tweet from Jack Posobiec, a prominent Trump loyalist/conspiracy theorist, posted in January 2022:

That tweet is still up. I just made that screenshot minutes ago. As of this writing, it has been online for nearly four years. No FBI investigation. No federal indictment. No felony counts. Literally no one thought that was an actual threat. Because it’s not. Apparently the DOJ’s theory of criminal threats has a loyalty-based expiration date — the same numerical expression is a felony when arranged in shells by a Trump critic and a perfectly fine tweet when posted by a Trump supporter about a different President.

Indeed, the fact that Posobiec seems to have no issue keeping this tweet up is itself a sign that the MAGA world knows it’s engaged in purely theatrical vindictive prosecution — and wants you to know they know. To them, once again, nothing here is about justice or the rule of law. It’s just “will this make the people I dislike upset.” That is their only motivating factor.

The DOJ has baked the selective prosecution argument directly into its own theory of the case. Comey’s lawyers will surely refresh the selective prosecution motion they filed in the first, dismissed indictment, and the facial absurdity of this one — combined with the existence of identical, ignored expression by Trump allies — makes that motion approximately as easy to support as such motions ever get.

There’s a specific kind of institutional rot in play here, driven entirely by Donald Trump and his minions. Competent authoritarianism is dangerous in obvious ways. Incompetent authoritarianism that keeps trying anyway is dangerous in different ways: it normalizes the use of state power for personal vengeance while demonstrating that the people wielding it will stop at nothing — even on the most facially ridiculous grounds. That’s a chilling effect doubled: a politicized DOJ, staffed by people who can’t pass a First Amendment quiz.

White is right that the indictment is unlikely to survive. Comey’s attorneys can challenge it on its face, arguing that even taking every allegation as true, seashells spelling “86 47” are protected by the First Amendment as a matter of law. The assigned judge was appointed by a Republican but is reportedly not a partisan hack, and the case law here is so clear that it would take extreme judicial bad faith to let this proceed. The selective prosecution motion is also stronger now than it was the first time, with Posobiec’s untouched tweet sitting there as Exhibit A.

But as White notes, surviving the motion to dismiss isn’t actually the point:

The point of the indictment is to demonstrate that the United States Department of Justice is wholly an instrument of Donald Trump’s senescent pique, no more independent of him than a boil on his ass. The point is to show that the administration can, and will, use the Department’s mechanisms to punish enemies. The point is to show that the Department can, and will, punish protected speech. The point is to show that the Department is staffed by committed fanatics willing to do anything, however unethical and unconstitutional, to promote Trump.

The point is to show that in the war between Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Justice, Trump has won. Now they’re on the field slitting the throats of the wounded and looting bodies.

W. Ellis Boyle and Matthew R. Petracca put their names on this indictment. They will, presumably, lose this case the way the previous Comey case was lost — embarrassingly, on grounds that any competent attorney not engaged in cult-like performative fealty to a wannabe authoritarian could have anticipated. And when this is all over, when there is some accounting for what was done to the Department of Justice in these years, the people who signed the seashell indictment should never be trusted with prosecutorial power, a bar membership, or any position requiring professional judgment ever again.

The shells, for what it’s worth, were on a beach. The tide has presumably long since rearranged them. The Instagram post was taken down fairly quickly when the MAGA world lost their minds over it. The federal felony charges, somehow, remain.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, donald trump, ellis boyle, free speech, jack posobiec, james comey, matthew petracca, true threats, vindictive prosecution

Gamers who remember the old days understand why CRT screens are so popular. Instant responsiveness to every command, no screen tearing, and images that feel alive in a way that newer flat screens cannot match. Found Tech has taken that magic and pushed it all the way to nearly 4K on something you wouldn’t expect, a dusty old IBM 275 monitor that’s been around since the turn of the century.

Found Tech began with a vintage IBM 275, which is roughly 20 years old and fairly strong for an office monitor constructed around a cathode ray tube. The problem is that modern graphics cards cannot generate the necessary signal to drive such high resolutions, therefore he relied on the “free” Intel graphics in his system. An RTX 4080 Super handled all the heavy rendering work while the Intel chip generated the final video feed. Custom Resolution Utility software let him dial in a 2880-by-2160 interlaced mode that standard drivers refuse to allow. After testing dozens of driver versions, the combination finally locked in.

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CRTs can support this high-resolution setup because they function differently than modern monitors. Instead of a set grid of pixels, a CRT projects an electron beam across a layer of illuminating phosphors. The beam may draw lines as close together as the signal desires, and at this very high density, interlacing concerns simply vanish. The impression is that the lines mix together so smoothly that it resembles progressive scan. The tube’s analog nature takes care of the rest, providing edges with a softness that digital sharpening cannot imitate.

However, at this resolution, motion truly shines. LCD and OLED screens maintain each frame on the screen for a fraction of a second, resulting in a slight but consistent blur during fast panning and quick character movements, whereas a CRT lights up each phosphor for as long as the beam is over it and then fades away quickly. The result is incredibly crisp action, even with things racing across at full speed, and games feel much more immediate because you can see every frame just as the graphics card created it.

The depth is difficult to understand without seeing it for yourself, as the image looks to be sitting inside the tube rather than on its surface. Dark places remain pitch black, with no light leaking in. Bright highlights are super intense, and when speeding through the large open world of Crimson Desert at this resolution and 60 frames per second, the scenery begins to feel like it has depth and distance to it.
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