Ed
Martin,
the
improbable
acting
US
Attorney
for
DC,
is
at
it
again.
This
time
he’s
menacing
Wikipedia
for
the
dastardly
crime
of
not
citing
The
Federalist
as
a
reliable
source,
which
is
apparently
a
capital
offense
these
days.
As
first
reported
by
The
Free
Press,
Martin
sent
one
of
his
signature
nastygrams
to
the
Wikimedia
Foundation.
“As
a
nonprofit
corporation,
which
is
incorporated
in
the
District
of
Columbia,
the
Wikimedia
Foundation
is
subject
to
specific
legal
obligations
and
fiduciary
duties
consistent
with
its
tax-exempt
status,”
he
announced.
Which
is
true,
as
far
as
it
goes,
although
his
suggestion
that
“the
public
is
entitled
to
rely
on
a
reasonable
expectation
of
neutrality,
transparency,
and
accountability”
from
the
nonprofit
is
perhaps
straying
outside
his
own
lane.
Martin
never
worked
as
a
prosecutor
before
Trump
tapped
him
to
run
the
biggest
US
Attorney’s
Office
in
the
country,
and
his
main
claim
to
fame
before
coming
into
Trump’s
orbit
was
breaking
Phyllis
Schlafly’s
Eagle
Forum.
But
he
did
represent
a
bunch
of
January
6
rioters,
which
is
more
than
enough
qualification
in
this
administration.
Martin’s
brief
tenure
has
already
been
eventful.
When
he’s
not
threatening
sitting
members
of
Congress,
he’s
dismissing
a
case
against
his
own
former
client.
Or
swearing
fealty
to
DOGE.
Or
putting
experienced
prosecutors
on
the
misdemeanor
docket
to
punish
them
for
their
perfidy
in
the
January
6
cases.
Or
trying
and
failing
to
get
a
grand
jury
to
indict
climate
activists
after
pushing
out
the
experienced
prosecutor
who
said
there
was
no
probable
cause.
He’s
been
busy!
But
Martin
still
made
time
to
harass
the
people
at
Wikipedia.
“Wikipedia’s
operations
are
directed
by
its
board
that
is
composed
primarily
of
foreign
nationals,
subverting
the
interests
of
American
taxpayers,”
he
intoned
ominously,
warning
that
“information
received
by
my
Office
demonstrates
that
Wikipedia’s
informational
management
policies
benefit
foreign
powers.”
Which
foreign
powers
he
did
not
say
—
odd
considering
the
number
of
times
Martin
appeared
on
RT,
the
Kremlin’s
propaganda
network.
Also
odd
is
Martin’s
LARPing
as
head
of
the
IRS,
who
would
normally
be
responsible
for
policing
non-profits.
The
letter
comes
in
the
wake
of
a
series
of
conservative
attacks
on
Wikipedia
for
supposed
pro-Palestinian
and
anti-conservative
bias.
The
New
York
Post’s
editors
called
for
Big
Tech
to
“block
Wikipedia
until
it
stops
censoring
and
pushing
disinformation.”
The
board
professed
to
be
shocked
to
discover
that
“Wikipedia
refuses
its
stamp
of
approval
to
100%
of
right-leaning
media
sources
versus
only
16%
of
left-leaning
ones.”
The
source
for
this
stat
is
the
Media
Research
Center,
an
outfit
which
works
“to
expose
and
counter
the
leftist
bias
of
the
national
news
media.”
MRC
is,
of
course,
a
501(c)(3),
just
like
the
Wikimeda
Foundation.
As
is
his
MO,
Martin
made
a
raft
of
demands
which
are
wholly
antithetical
to
the
First
Amendment.
How
does
Wikipedia
manage
its
content
moderators?
What
does
the
organization
do
to
ensure
“that
content
submissions,
editorial
decisions,
and
article
revisions
reflect
a
broad
spectrum
of
viewpoints,
including
those
that
may
be
in
tension
with
the
views
of
major
financial
or
institutional
backers?”
Shouldn’t
the
website
ban
anonymous
mods
and
editors?
And
he
demanded
“all
documents,
memoranda
of
understanding,
contracts,
or
related
agreements”
pertaining
to
AI
scraping
or
licensing
agreements.
The
letter
was
cordial,
if
ridiculous.
But
on
social
media,
Martin
was
(even)
less
professional.
“Hey
@Wikipedia:
you
can
run
but
you
can’t
hide!”
he
tweeted,
linking
to
a
post
on
his
own
letter.
And
then
he
went
back
to
refreshing
the
Google
search
for
his
own
name
that
is
permanently
running
in
the
background
of
his
computer.
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.