“The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it will appeal the November ruling in favor of Meta in its antitrust case against the social media giant. The FTC said it continues to allege that, for more than a decade, Meta Platforms Inc. has ‘illegally maintained a monopoly’ in social networking through anticompetitive conduct ‘by buying the significant competitive threats it identified in Instagram and WhatsApp.’ Meta had prevailed over the existential challenge to its business that could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp after a judge ruled that the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking.” (01/21/26)
“Superimposing a coherent narrative where none likely exists in order to explain the policies of President Donald J. Trump is an deeply unenviable task, not least because of the famously mercurial nature of the President. In order to make sense of his policies toward Russia and Ukraine it helps to begin with the obvious: President Trump has set for himself the goal of winning a Nobel Peace Prize by the end of his term, as such, he will do almost anything to achieve it. It is the way in which he has gone about doing this that many find so confounding. Depending on your point of view, Trump’s approach has been either highly innovative or highly erratic.” (01/20/26)
“Today marks the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s return to the presidency. We thought it would be the perfect occasion to look back at some of the low-lights of Year 1 of Trump 2.0 and imagine the diagnosis that the self-proclaimed cool heads would have ascribed to us Trump worrywarts if we had predicted even a fraction of what His Orange Eminence and Wannabe Nobel Peace Laureate went on to do. Actually, we know their diagnosis because they were not shy about telling us.” (01/20/26)
“Should we expect a four-year pitched battle? I see one brewing between the new communist mayor of New York City and those judges who respect law and the U.S. Constitution.” (01/20/26)
“Michele Tafoya, a longtime sportscaster and conservative commentator, has officially announced she will run for US Senate in Minnesota, giving the Republican Party a well-known candidate in a state that’s being roiled by the ongoing federal immigration crackdown. In a video announcing her campaign launch on Wednesday morning, Tafoya said: ‘For years, I covered the biggest football games in America,’ adding that ‘it taught me about how leadership really works when leaders are prepared and accountable.’ … The broadcaster’s entry jolts an already dynamic contest set off by Democratic Sen. Tina Smith’s retirement announcement last year. Meanwhile, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is weighing whether to launch a run for governor that could further disrupt the state’s political landscape.” (01/21/26)
“Meta is laying off 331 workers in the Puget Sound region as part of broader cuts to its virtual reality division. The Facebook parent company last week said that it was cutting about 10% of its 15,000-employee Reality Labs division as it shifts resources away from what it called the metaverse to wearables like smart glasses. … Reality Labs has been a key part of Meta’s postpandemic growth in the Seattle area. … Meta’s layoffs are the latest to hit the local tech industry over the past year of cuts, including some made by the company in October that hit its artificial intelligence teams.” (01/20/26)
