How To Fix The Internet, 06/18/25
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
“Securing Journalism on the ‘Data-Greedy’ Internet.” (06/18/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/podcast-episode-securing-journalism-data-greedy-internet
TACO, Loco
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Donald Trump is a remarkably weak man. Consider his administration’s constant immigration flip-flopping. Immigration — illegal [sic] immigration most specifically and urgently, but immigration in general, too — is the reason Donald J. Trump, game-show host and cameo performer in porn films, is president of these United States. In a world in which the immigration issue had been treated seriously by Republicans (or — ho, ho! — by Democrats), Trump never would have been the 2016 nominee and never would have been president. Trade has long been Trump’s No. 1 issue, but immigration has been a close No. 2 for about a decade. Ironic, then, that his trade and immigration policies change every 15 minutes.” (06/18/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/trump-illegal-immigration-flip-flop-taco/
Altman says Meta is offering $100 million to poach OpenAI employees
Source: CNN
“Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta offered employees of rival OpenAI signing bonuses of $100 million to switch companies, according to Open AI CEO Sam Altman. ‘They started making giant offers to a lot of people on our team,’ Altman said Tuesday on the ‘Uncapped’ podcast hosted by his brother Jack. ‘You know, like $100 million signing bonuses.’ Altman said that Meta’s attempts to poach his staff have failed, at least so far. ‘None of our best people have decided to take them up on that,’ Altman said. Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. … Last week, Meta announced a $14.3 billion investment for a 49% stake in Scale AI to help Zuckerberg’s ambitions, including the hiring of the 28-year-old founder and CEO Alexandr Wang. Some employees from Scale AI will join Meta as part of the deal.” (06/18/25)
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/18/tech/meta-openai-sam-altman-100-million
My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, 06/17/25
Source: My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
“In 2005, George W. Bush launched a Social Security reform plan, along with a tour of the country. He won an election and he was going to spend political capital he had earned. It didn’t work. We get into it.” (06/17/25)
Putting the “Executive” in “Unitary Executive”
Source: Law & Liberty
by John Yoo
“In ‘Democratic Efficacy and the Unitary Executive,’ James G. Rogers argues that the unitary executive enhances the democratic accountability of the presidency. Rogers defines unitary executive, however, as only extending to the president’s constitutional right to remove inferior officials. But as a matter of theory, we cannot divorce the independence of the executive branch from its substance. While the Framers wanted to restore unity and independence to the executive branch, they also remained focused on the actual powers to be given to the president.” [editor’s note: Naturally Yoo — who wrote the infamous Bush-era memo pretending to make executive branch torture “legal” — interprets those “actual powers” to be far more expansive than the Constitution provides for – TLK] (06/18/25)
https://lawliberty.org/forum/putting-the-executive-in-unitary-executive/
US Jobless Claims Stabilize Near Highest Levels This Year
Source: Bloomberg
“Applications for US unemployment benefits ticked down last week, stabilizing near the highest levels in eight months. Initial claims decreased by 5,000 to 245,000 in the week ended June 14, in line with the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, also fell slightly, to 1.95 million, in the previous week, according to Labor Department data released Wednesday. Data tend to be volatile, especially around holidays or when schools are on summer vacation. Overall, jobless claims have risen in the past two months, reflecting a gradual slowdown in the labor market.” (06/18/25)
Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 06/18/25
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Intel: Iran Not Pursuing Nuclear Bomb, Majority of Americans Oppose War With Iran, and More.” (06/18/25)
What Does It Mean to Build a Country That Was Never Meant for You?
Source: CounterPunch
by Eric Morrison-Smith & Gustavo Lopez
“As of June 2025, ICE agents are storming California farms, mom-and-pop restaurants, and Home Depot parking lots — chasing undocumented workers through blueberry fields in chaotic mass sweeps to meet federal arrest quotas. In Los Angeles, Trump has deployed thousands of National Guard troops and Marines to suppress protests led by immigrant communities and their allies. The headlines may be new, but the playbook remains the same. This country has always criminalized the very people who keep it running.” (06/18/25)
Mike Huckabee Is A Deranged Armageddon Cultist
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“President Trump has shared a text message that was sent to him by Mike Huckabee, the deranged Christian Zionist who serves as the current US ambassador to Israel, and it is one of the creepiest things I have ever seen in my life. … There are so many weird, creepy things about this message. The intensity. The religious fanaticism. The groveling, self-debasing obsequiousness, clearly designed to appeal to Trump’s enormous ego. But by far the most disturbing part was the reference to Truman in 1945 — a nod to the last and only time a national leader used nuclear weapons against an enemy state.” (06/18/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/06/18/mike-huckabee-is-a-deranged-armageddon-cultist/
Judge expands order against Trump regime’s passport gender policy
Source: United Press International
“A federal judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday expanded an order against the State Department’s passport policy to include all applicants who are transgender or nonbinary, saying the ‘passport policy violates their constitutional right to equal protection of the laws.’ Judge Julia Kobick granted a first preliminary injunction in April, which blocked the State Department’s policy for only six of seven people who originally sued. On Tuesday, the judge expanded it to plaintiffs who were added to the suit, and nearly all trans and nonbinary Americans seeking new passports or changes.” (06/17/25)