Corruption • Democracy • Elections • Financial • Legal • Regulations

Harold Meyerson — American Prospect

Hawaii Just Found a Way to Keep Corporations Out of Politics

A new law makes clear that corporations derive their powers from states, and they don’t necessarily include the right to spend on elections.

Artificial Intelligence • Financial • Legal • Regulations

Lawrence Lessig

The Extortion Presidency

Anthropic in the cross-hairs.

Economy • Financial • Global • Regulations

Thom Hartmann — The Hartmann Report

What Happens When the AI Bubble Blows Up on Main Street?

When this bubble bursts, the collapse won’t hit Google’s coders — it’ll hit the electricians, nurses, teachers, retirees, renters, and low-income families who never got a penny from the boom…

Democracy • Fascism • Financial • Journalism • Legal • Press Freedom • Regulations

Laura Flanders — Laura Flanders Substack

The Paramount Skydance Sale Makes the Case for Public Media

We must radically recommit to public media before every newsroom, every voice, is up for sale to the highest bidder or the ruling party’s favorite mogul. The time is now.

Corruption • Democracy • Financial • Legal • Regulations

Greg Sargent — The New Republic

Trump’s Epstein Fiasco Takes Darker Turn as Dem Senator Drops New Bomb

The Oregon Democrat said that his investigators had discovered that four big banks had flagged to the Treasury Department $1.5 billion in potentially suspicious money transfers involving Epstein, much of which appeared to be related to his massive sex-trafficking network.

Corruption • Cryptocurrency • Executive Power • Financial • Legal • Regulations

Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims — Popular Information

From Truth Social to bitcoin empire: Trump’s $2 billion pivot

Trump has the authority to take actions that will drive the price of bitcoin higher. If recent history is any guide, that is exactly what Trump will do.

Democracy • Elections • Executive Power • Legal • Regulations

Democracy Docket

Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift

Today, rather than standing up for voting access, Trump's DOJ is supporting and defending voter suppression laws and bringing new lawsuits to impose stricter voting rules.

Corruption • Cryptocurrency • Executive Power • Financial • Global • Legal • Regulations • Technology

Jacob Silverman — The Nation

Does Trump’s Biggest Crypto Backer Really Exist?

The strange saga of a shadowy UAE company’s $100 million investment in World Liberty Financial, the Trump-aligned crypto trader.

Health • Human Rights • Legal • Regulations • Threat Management

Kavitha Surana, Lizzie Presser and Andrea Suozzo — ProPublica

After Texas Banned Abortion, More Women Nearly Bled to Death During Miscarriage

A new ProPublica data analysis adds to the mounting evidence that abortion bans have made the common experience of first-trimester miscarriage far more dangerous.

Environment • Legal • Regulations • Safety • Science

Edwin Lyman — Utility Dive

Trump attacks on NRC independence pose health, safety risks

The exodus of key personnel at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will jeopardize its ability to oversee the nuclear power fleet and slow the licensing of new facilities to a crawl.

Democracy • Legal • Regulations • Threat Management

Brett Wilkins — Common Dreams

'Nonprofit Killer' Pulled From GOP Tax Bill—For Now

"Because authoritarians love using censorship to silence opposition, it's likely gonna keep rearing its head," warned one rights group.

Democracy • Journalism • Legal • Regulations

Closer to the Edge

"Nothing to FOIA Here"

How Signal, Silence, and Schedule F Are Killing Government Transparency

Economy • Environment • Regulations • Technology

J. Dylan Sandifer — The New Republic

The Tesla Secret That Exposes Elon Musk’s Whole Game

Musk loves to sneer at working-class people who rely on food stamps or unemployment benefits, claiming they’re lazy or entitled. But what’s more entitled than using regulatory credits to boost your company’s stock price and then leveraging that stock for loans to keep your cash flow steady?

Corruption • Financial • Legal • Regulations

Chris Murphy — Chris Murphy's Substack

Trump’s Biggest Corruption is Flying Under the Radar

It’s all just a shameless scheme for Trump to legalize large scale bribery, and shockingly, very few people seem to have taken notice.

Democracy • Economy • Regulations • Technology

CAROLINE HASKINS AND VITTORIA ELLIOTT — Wired

‘Startup Nation’ Groups Say They’re Meeting Trump Officials to Push for Deregulated ‘Freedom Cities’

Trey Goff, the chief of staff of the startup nation known as Próspera, tells WIRED that he and other Próspera representatives working under an advocacy group called the Freedom Cities Coalition have been meeting with the Trump administration about the idea in recent weeks. He claims the administration has been very receptive. In 2023, Trump floated the idea of creating 10 freedom cities. Now, Goff says that Próspera’s vision is to create “not just 10, but as many as the market can handle.”

Democracy • Legal • Regulations • Technology • Threat Management

ARI PAUL — FAIR

FCC’s Knives Are Out for First Amendment

Brendan Carr, newly appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission, is waging a war on the news media, perhaps the most dangerous front in de jure President Donald Trump and de facto President Elon Musk’s quest to destroy freedom of the press and the First Amendment.

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