Pinterest fired two engineers accused of writing a custom script that exposed their recently laid-off colleagues. One of those fired workers is going public for the first time, saying Pinterest mischaracterized the events leading up to his firing. (Gift link) www.theverge.com/policy/90612...
The ‘drain the swamp’ president has a lobbyist raking in so much corporate cash for making antitrust problems disappear that he tells @wsj.com on the record he could “retire right now,” just one year into Trump’s term.
The DOJ moved to settle its antitrust case with Live Nation/Ticketmaster while a jury was in court and states were ready to fight.
The deal would let the company keep its stranglehold on nearly every major US concert venue.
The administration's actions will keep ticket costs high for Americans.
DOGE allegedly used ChatGPT to identify 1,400 NEH grants it said were DEI. Grants were terminated April 2025, according to a court filing. E.g.
Film: 1873 Colfax massacre
Film: first female pilots flying for U.S. military in WWII
Film: “Untold Story of Jewish Women Slave Labor in the Holocaust"
We wanted to know how Latino voters felt about Bad Bunny's criticism of ICE. So we talked to three white centrist podcasters at a Le Pain Quotidien in Dupont Ciricle.
I don't mean to seem alarmed, but it appears Google's book search function is, just...gone.
In a sane country it would be a huge deal, front page news, that a privately owned utility that millions researches, from journalists to scholars, rely on every day to advance knowledge can just disappear.
Today, we honor the birthday of Franklin D. Roosevelt—a leader who guided the nation through crisis with bold vision and unwavering resolve.
While it may be his 144th birthday, FDR’s ideas still speak to our current economic and political moment. 1/6 🧵
This week Open AI walked back a call for the govt to backstop financing for its trillion dollar investments in data centers. This was only the tip of the iceberg; a slow bailout for AI firms is already underway. Read more from @ambakak.bsky.social and I in @wsj.com: www.wsj.com/opinion/you-...
Whatever else is in the deal, agreeing to merely have a vote on ACA is a fig leaf. Even if it passes the Senate, it won't in the House, which also makes it an easy yes vote for the Senate Rs who might want to, defusing it as an attack on them.
It is a stupid ask even on Team Schumer's own terms.
Josh Hawley says he supports ending the filibuster
Centrism is not a guaranteed path to victory, which is a strategic dilemma you rarely acknowledge.
Politics changes, and mobilizing the base more effectively has worked well for Republicans for over a decade.
Lina Khan in conversation with @hcrichardson.bsky.social about the history of antitrust and the future of the Democrats. Watch! 📺
substack.com/@linamkhan/n...
Let’s do it.
In the long run it might create more democratic accountability in government and get the Congress back engaged with actually governing.
Anthropic’s partnership with the DOE to keep Claude from building a nuclear weapon makes for good headlines. @heidykhlaaf.bsky.social calls it security theater. The real risk is AI firms gaining access to national security data.
www.wired.com/story/anthro...
This is a big case to watch. We could end up seeing internal DOGE staff discussions about cancelling federal grants, and why.
I'm predicting: foolish, ham-fisted, possibly some AI assisted sloppy decisions using keywords...
That's why they are trying so hard to keep it out of the record.
“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them, and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like. And, you all know Russell Vought. He’s become very popular recently because he can trim the budget to a level that you couldn't do any other way. So they're taking a risk by having a shutdown. Because of the shutdown, we can do things medically and other ways, including benefits. We can cut large numbers of people. We don't want to do that, but we don't want fraud, waste and abuse.”
👀 Just Now -- President Trump in the Oval Office said a government shutdown gives his administration the power to cut benefit programs, which include Social Security and Medicare.
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Lina Khan points out especial risks when monopolies start to control mainstream media. www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/w... h/t @douglasfarrar.bsky.social
They say a prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, but it’s harder to get them to indict…a hero?! 🥪 🤣
What Alford claims is happening at DOJ Antitrust Division is the inverse of economic populism.
Biden antitrust officials sought to shift economic power towards people through legit law enforcement.
Under Trump, economic power is held by a handful of well-connected elites.
His thesis is generally right with respect to tech companies to be fair. He’s a great reporter.
Must watch from the former FTC Chair and "Lebron James of Government" according to a random person on Twitter.
Lot of talk today upon Musk’s departure about how little money he saved us. True but irrelevant.
This was a land grab. Musk is leaving because he got what he came for. This Palantir story is just the beginning. We’ll watch the long tail of this destruction unfold over years to come.
Bad news on that front if it’s anything like what the FTC found under Biden happened after COVID supply chain shocks.
Commissioner Slaughter and I wrote for the @financialtimes.com about the downstream effects of the president’s attempt to fire us. www.ft.com/content/7607...
By illegally firing FTC commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya President Trump moves closer to bringing all economic regulation and monetary policy under his corrupt control.
Dangerous and costly times ahead for American businesses and consumers.
🔥 @ninajankowicz.com: "Mr Taibbi said when he was first searching through the so-called Twitter files he didn't know what he was looking at. Well, he still doesn't. Everything looks like a conspiracy when you don't know how anything works."
When your global business empire takes a tumble thanks to your crazy political views and unpopular public policies, one way to juice your stock is just pay yourself with billions in taxpayer money.
I predict massive corruption incoming.
Here is a problem worth considering:
Republicans say they are the party of workers, and lots of workers believe it and reward them with votes.
Democrats, on policy, are often the pro-business party and businesses don't care, or actively oppose Democrats.
At some point Dems need to wake tf up.
