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For years we had to listen to a bipartisan roster of lawmakers insist that TikTok was one of the greatest national security threats to ever face the nation. In reality, they were mostly just interested in protecting Facebook from a short-form video company it couldn’t out innovate. And ultimately, it was about transferring TikTok ownership and its revenues to Trump’s billionaire buddies so they...
This administration is in the midst of failing the American people in so many ways, of course, but if you need one stark example of that failure then you can find it in measles. When I wrote this post way back in March of this year, it was our first Techdirt post done on the disease in over 11 years. In other words, this is how it started:
And from there we were off and running. It took...
Nothing this administration does is subtle. Nothing about its anti-migrant purge has been anything less than brutish. As if to drive the point home that the bigots were running the shop, Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to justify the stripping of due process from people whose only crime was usually just a civil infraction: being undocumented. Anyone who knows the history of that Act...
Donald Trump has an enemies list. Not a secret one, either. It’s actually been published at the official White House website. But he has plenty of enemies beyond that. And ever since his return to office, he’s been engaged in acts of vengeance. Federal agencies have been purged of anyone who isn’t a MAGA loyalist. Journalistic entities have been threatened, sued, and — most recently — been placed...
Last week, I pointed out that part of the reason for running our current fundraiser (donate $100 or more and you’ll get our first commemorative challenge coin) is to show that it is possible to have a successful media business model that doesn’t involve annoying its community into paying.
Apparently that struck a nerve. A (actually very good) journalist for a billionaire-owned news org complained...
Explore an incredible world of documentaries with a Curiosity Stream Standard Plan. This top-tier streaming service offers unlimited access to thousands of films, series, and shows to satisfy your thirst for knowledge. Discover a vast library of content with Curiosity Stream’s standard plan, spanning science, technology, history, nature, and art. Delve into an array of engaging topics with...
This administration runs on vengeance. If it’s not Donald Trump aiming the DOJ at his personal enemies, it’s the DOJ itself taking a shotgun approach to justice (read: filling it full of holes) by filing as many criminal charges against anti-ICE protesters as possible. The charges have been transparently bogus — an obvious attempt by the administration to intimidate protesters into silence. And...
The Wall Street Journal Applauds Republicans’ Corrupt, Illegal Theft Of Billions In Taxpayer Dollars
I’ve written repeatedly about how Republicans effectively rewrote the 2021 infrastructure bill (they voted against) to ensure that billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded broadband grants (intended to be spent on affordable, next-generation fiber) was stolen from local communities, and instead given to Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos for expensive, congested satellite service.
I’ve also explained in...
This story was originally published by ProPublica. Republished under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license.
For years, Sen. Ron Johnson has been spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19 and the safety of vaccines.
He’s promoted disproven treatments for COVID-19 and claimed, without evidence, that athletes are “dropping dead on the field” after getting the COVID-19 vaccination. Now...
Walled Culture has written a number of times about the true fans approach – the idea that creators can be supported directly and effectively by the people who love their work. As Walled Culture the book explains (available as a free ebook), one of the earliest and best expositions of the concept came from Kevin Kelly, former Executive Editor at Wired magazine, in an essay he wrote originally in...