All the countries the U.S. has bombed since WWII. The list represents the nations of approximately 1/3 of the humans on earth. The next largest military spender, China, spends 1/10 what we spend and has bombed no other nations since WWII. A preface: When I was a high schooler, the History Channel flew myself, our … Continue reading How I think about the U.S. military

I think families aren’t coming, or happening once people of child-bearing age are here, because of this: https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/50027 An actual living wage to have one child here is $38.08/hour with two parents and one working, or $41.73 with one parent in the household. That’s annual salaries of $79,206 and $86,798 respectively. The Census’ American Community Survey … Continue reading Kids and families in Hartford

Hi, all! I won the election! It’s a small town I live in, but big by Vermont standards, and I’m so proud to live here. I’ll keep posting my thoughts here. Perhaps I’ll also copy them to the Listserv. What a wonderful tool, the Listserv. (If you’re not on it, sign up at the website … Continue reading A new chapter on the Hartford Selectboard

If you live in Hartford like I do, perhaps you'd like to know specifics about what I'd try to do with a seat on the town board. I've prepared this bullet-point document for those extra-curious folks. Please reach out with any comments or questions, to hey -at- brandonsmith -dot- com. HOUSING The price of housing … Continue reading My platform for Hartford Selectboard

  Hi! I’m Brandon Smith. You may have found yourself here because you heard I'm running for a seat on the Selectboard for Hartford, Vermont, where I've lived since the height of the pandemic. (Presumably you also know Hartford includes its villages: White River Junction, Wilder, Quechee, and West Hartford.) A few paragraphs down details … Continue reading Running for Hartford Selectboard

Image from my 2015 cover story in In These Times magazine about working with whistleblowers. This spring, I was commissioned by Northwestern's Medill journalism school to prepare curriculum for, and come in person to present, a workshop on source security. The resulting workshop's outline was audited by Micah Lee, security researcher and journalist at The Intercept, … Continue reading I teach source security at Northwestern’s Medill journalism school. Here’s my course outline

In case you’re writing a news story and would like to speak with me about these matters, please reach me via phone—I have the encrypted app "Signal"—at 740-505-0038 or via email at hey@brandonsmith.com. Here is the press release my attorneys and I have dropped. In case you don’t know me, I’m the journalist who sued … Continue reading Why I’m asking for a mayoral candidate (and 12 others) to be held in contempt of court

I fought Chicago city government in court in 2015 to release the video of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald being killed by a police officer. After a judge ordered the video released in my case, 405 days after the killing, prosecutors charged the officer, Jason Van Dyke, with murder. A jury convicted Van Dyke October 5. It’s … Continue reading Chicagoans put their police on notice by convicting officer of murder for on-duty actions

William Calloway meets with Lorenzo Davis to talk about police discipline--and lack thereof--in late January 2016. Photo by Brandon Smith. - Editor's note: the following is a lightly-edited press release given to me by William Calloway, who worked with me on the FOIA that resulted in the Laquan McDonald video. Calloway and others are advocating … Continue reading Calloway calls for fired IPRA whistleblower to lead that agency