AltWatcher
The alt account of @jjoycelynch.bsky.social, where I keep an eye on "Alt" US Govt. accounts, and one account in particular.
For more of my writing on this subject: substack.com/home/post/p-161500621
- An update to this post from earlier today. AltNPS grabbed this screenshot from an Instagram account called "A Mouthful of Cherries," and frankly I'm surprised they didn't crop out the account's name. But both accounts leave out important details, and as small as it seems, it still matters🧵:
- First, A Mouthful of Cherries seems like the exact same kind of engagement farmer as AltNPS. Post after post of "like and share if you agree" type stuff. AltNPS took a post by another engagement farmer and used it to farm engagement. Farming the farmers. FarmersOnly, you could say.
- But the real story is in the numbers. Here on Bluesky, AltNPS's post is sitting at 11k likes. With their 889k total followers, that's 1.2%. On Facebook, this post has *180,000* likes. That's *4%* of their 4.5 million followers. Bluesky is a sideshow to AltNPS. Facebook is where the money is.
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View full threadOkay, I'll cop to being overly simplistic. There ARE rules to nominations, although it's still not clear if The Nation can nominate. Either way, it's not like AltNPS (or Cherries) mentioned that!
- I guess it's nice to see my fellow Minnesotans nominated, but AltNPS's post is, as always, missing a lot of context. They don't mention who nominated Minneapolis (it was progressive outlet The Nation), or whether it's even possible for an entire city to receive the prize.
- Newsweek has a good writeup about the nomination. They note that the Nobel committee doesn't vet nominations, and that their role is "limited to selecting the best candidate from among the entire list." www.newsweek.com/minneapolis-...
- Newsweek also explains that it's not even clear if The Nation (who, again, AltNPS did not name as the source of the nomination) is even eligible to make nominations. The Nation is, at the end of the day, just a news website. As nice as this nomination would be, this all seems pretty performative.
- ICE *is* drawing weapons on observers. That part is true! It makes me wish AltNPS would say WHERE this is happening, or TO WHO, or WHO REPORTED this news. Their audience, especially in the Twin Cities, deserves the details for their own safety. That's the bare minimum.
- Also, it does look like AltNPS's new gag is starting their posts with "ALERT." I wonder if it's their new way of distracting the audience when they don't want to provide links!
- For anyone who still ventures into the cursed lands of Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, I finally bit the bullet and made an AltWatcher FB account. Facebook is home to the biggest chunk of AltNPS's audience, so hopefully I'll get some traction. Wish me luck! www.facebook.com/share/1CuKXr...
- AltNPS carefully did find-and-replace on a few specific words, but they can't hide that this is the opening paragraph of Keroun Demirjian's article in the New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...
- "Some federal workers [employees] have started [are starting] to receive furlough notices, as Washington waits to see if Congress will [as lawmakers IN Washington weigh how to] end a [the] partial government shutdown that began over the weekend."
- AltNPS claimed to know the killer's identity A WEEK AGO. Weird that they're leaving that part out. I've said it before, but I don't want to hear a damn thing from AltNPS about Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Keith Porter, or anyone else killed by ICE. They can't be trusted.
- I know AltNPS doesn't control their replies, but MAN these comments wasted no time getting racist.
- Also, AltNPS claimed to know the identity of the "ICE agent," singular, that murdered Pretti. The article they link names TWO men as the killers, plural. For how much AltNPS lies, you'd think they'd at least be better at it.
- As far as I can tell, this one came from @nateraymond.bsky.social at Reuters, at 4:49 PM CST yesterday. Again, I don't care WHICH source AltNPS provides, I just need them to provide one. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
- This was reported many places, but let's go with CNN. @ethanbencohen.bsky.social reported on Rehmet's victory last night at 11:09 PM CDT, seven hours before AltNPS. AltNPS could have linked to ANY source, and chose not to. www.cnn.com/2026/02/01/p...
- Hi folks! Here's a list of the journalists who have had their work lifted by AltNPS. This list is VERY much incomplete. A lot of the people affected aren't on Bluesky, and I need to update my master list, but this is a decent way to follow (and credit!) some great journalists.
- Here's a link to the master list. As an update, I've highlighted the authors who aren't on Bluesky with PINK cells, and bold text. I haven't updated this sheet in a bit, but I'll work on keeping it current!
- It doesn't get much lazier than this. First, there have been links to this news for several hours, like this one from CNN, which was published BEFORE AltNPS said there were "no links." www.cnn.com/2026/01/30/p...
- AltNPS hasn't updated their post here or on Facebook, but they also didn't even bother to link to the video that THEY MENTIONED! Ms. Fort did post a video to her Facebook page showing agents at her door. AltNPS didn't think it was important for you to see, though www.facebook.com/share/v/18Cg...
- This is also the second of a pair of posts that both start with "ALERT," and I really hope that doesn't become AltNPS's new bit. They don't have "alerts" to share. All they have is other people's work.
