Karl Bode

https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/karlbode.com

Seattle-based writer focused on tech, media, politics, and consumer rights.

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Last Notes

2026-05-05 14:16:49 UTC

"Never hallucinate or make anything up."
yes, you can just demand that the LLM not make errors
that's definitely how the technology works
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreigxeginuxcetmu4pvkl36qgwo32esnv43arlb3j2egpl25caixpcm

2026-05-04 21:27:11 UTC

I'm utterly fascinated by the modern art of journalistic simulacrum
at no point do this piece's four authors consider wandering anywhere close to the idea of corruption, or that Trump says a lot of things that are utterly meaningless, or that our regulators no longer function in the public interest
[White House Considers Vetting ...](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/technology/trump-ai-models.html )

2026-04-30 21:28:53 UTC

CEO said a....probably accurate thing!
[Reed Hastings says AI will dri...](https://fortune.com/2026/04/27/reed-hastings-netflix-chairman-emotional-skills-ai-revolution/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRgqLNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFUWHdoT0RSTjkxQ0VhY3g1c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHmOFsUzSBRyZ42w6K6th_oDmAWWvNr4dgBMUmJNCT_iCnAD_8m3U-mm8EW7N_aem_Nmg8jcgvvkLLszSfM2qZlQ )

2026-04-20 17:01:46 UTC

like Musk there was no split so there's no need to woo a dim right wing d tier comic who has always liked and supported trump and the fascist project
[How Trump is wooing Joe Rogan ...](https://www.axios.com/2026/04/20/trump-woos-rogan-after-split )

2026-04-14 13:38:16 UTC

So there's still no actual "Trump phone" or release date, all promises of this being "made in the U.S." are gone, and the device has already seen a steep price hike.
Also the phone, should it ever be released, appears to be a lazy rebrand of the two-year old HTC U24 Pro.
Very on brand.
[The new Trump Phone design is ...](https://www.theverge.com/tech/911503/trump-mobile-t1-phone-redesign-new-website )

2026-03-26 13:25:56 UTC

ethical people should not be using right wing propaganda websites owned by white supremacists
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreif4tk7sv2rq4spblhhdskd3xn2xjextw74bfalqmovaue6mmxl2ke

2026-03-16 16:26:54 UTC

the only thing remarkable about our tech billionaires is how unremarkable they are
just a parade of absolute pudding heads who accidently backed ass first into wealth because they were in the right place at the right time
mythologized by a shitty access press as sage philosophers and sociologists
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:tu6c7n74k6qa7tktsdzlmhzp/post/3mh5hgwdb5c27

2026-03-12 19:39:22 UTC

this is a radical position but I believe that if you are a person of integrity you should not be using far right wing propaganda websites owned by sociopaths
[Elon Musk's X Rots Your Brain](https://karlbode.com/data-shows-elon-musks-x-quickly-rots-your-brain/ )

2026-03-02 16:16:30 UTC

If you respect yourself I greatly recommend simply not watching any cable TV news for the foreseeable future. Or ever, really. You'd be better informed binging the muppet show.

2026-02-19 15:28:21 UTC

I'm genuinely annoyed that this whole latest newscycle has forced me to remember to Mike Tracey is
(fun fact! he was one of the first people Subtack executives gave a big fat cash advance to in exchange for being a hateful contrarian engagement troll)
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hbpefio3f5csc44msmbgioxz/post/3mf7vjg3tzs2w

2026-02-13 16:18:03 UTC

*raises hand
because a consolidated ad-based corporate media primarily serves the interests of rich, white, right-wing men who like tax cuts and deregulation, despite ample outlet pretense of firewalls between editorial and ownership?
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:dbup7eyc4m3mgjxm57pojdvu/post/3meqvn2l7wk2p

2026-02-11 17:15:47 UTC

Likely-historic photo by NBC News of all the Epstein victims asked to raise their hands if they've not yet been asked to meet with the DOJ as Bondi testifies in foreground
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreiebiyy4smjickds2qg3g7atqmeuqxtbu72ljkg3727t5xfz4ankda

2026-02-11 13:18:32 UTC

Josh Hawley's entire thing is backing legislation he knows our Congress is too corrupt to pass so he can pretend he's a populist anti-corporatist instead of a useless nazi
[Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawl...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elizabeth-warren-josh-hawley-break-up-big-medicine/ )

2026-02-09 18:06:51 UTC

this is a subject that's near and dear to my heart
1. no you didn't, you retconning fucks
2. your decades of anti-governance "free market" "government never functions" propaganda paved the way for the complete authoritarian decimation of labor, consumer, environmental protections
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreieq5ycjbxbayh5sph3i7g6kffybegovbg4xkvep22xrpcpevkzttq

2026-02-09 15:30:58 UTC

Watching Eric Berger (historically a Musk fanboy) struggle with the revelation that Musk is a fake engineer conman white supremacist never loses its entertainment value
[Why would Elon Musk pivot from...](https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/02/has-elon-musk-given-up-on-mars/ )

2026-02-07 18:49:33 UTC

somebody should inform the Politico/CNN/Axios/NYT brunchlord media establishment that corruption has hollowed out public safety, labor rights, and consumer protection, opening the door to decades of mass suffering and death
I feel like that might be an interesting story
[Under Trump, EPA’s enforcement...](https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/02/under-trump-epas-enforcement-of-environmental-laws-collapses-report-finds/ )

2026-02-03 16:11:54 UTC

news websites made a mistake when they killed on-site comment sections and outsourced all audience interaction to hyper-scaled, badly-run trash fires like Facebook
[Whoops, Websites Realize That ...](https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/03/whoops-websites-realize-that-killing-their-comment-sections-was-a-mistake/ )

2026-01-26 15:35:07 UTC

as Trump's power wanes we're just going to be awash in bigot fuck image rehab tours
[Ye, Formerly Kanye West, Takes...](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/kanye-west-antisemitism-apology-wsj-ad )

2026-01-20 11:13:45 UTC

Republicans have made a documented effort to mislead these communities with well funded, highly localized Spanish language propaganda campaigns in recent years, which, as is usually the case when mainstream reporters try to tease out a segment of the electorate's thinking, simply isn't mentioned
[To Their Shock, Cubans in Flor...](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/us/politics/cubans-florida-deportations-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1A.8D6A.5CkALLy21VK9&smid=url-share )

2026-01-18 03:55:29 UTC

I enjoy these games that don't involve cardiac arrest

2026-01-16 14:25:14 UTC

"I frankly wouldn’t pay any attention to anything that Elon Musk puts on that cesspit of his called X. He was the guy who advocated getting Donald Trump elected," says Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary. "He's an idiot. Very wealthy, but he's still an idiot."
[Elon Musk is an idiot: CEO of ...](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/elon-musk-is-an-idiot-ceo-of-europes-biggest-airline-says-after-dismissing-claims-of-offering-starlink-on-its-flights/articleshow/126568344.cms )

2026-01-02 15:18:18 UTC

so basically our rich oligarchs launched a racist propaganda media campaign to demonize taxpayer-funded childcare, our garbage oligarch press parroted the attack, and now they're going to steal that money to put into their assorted cryptocurrency grifts
[‘Scorched-Earth Attack’: Trump...](https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-freezes-childcare-funds )

2025-12-29 19:45:13 UTC

tell me if you've heard this one before: a billionaire gets upset for being criticized for saying stupid things on social media, then confidentially concludes the problem is most certainly everybody else
[Mark Cuban Says It’s ‘CRAZY’ T...](https://offthefrontpage.com/mark-cuban-says-its-crazy-that-real-conversations-are-easier-on-x-or-threads-than-on-bluesky/ )

2025-12-22 15:08:02 UTC

The Associated Press has an excellent story about how FCC boss Brendan Carr bullied a Bay Area AM radio station for the crime of reporting on local ICE activity.
facing existential collapse it immediately demoted journalists end replaced political coverage with safe public interest cack:
[How an AM radio station in Cal...](https://apnews.com/article/trump-media-fcc-kcbs-5dbed5c466771d53e2c7bcc5da362bf6 )

2025-12-20 15:45:17 UTC

It's glowing stories like this that make me feel like I'm living in some surrealistic hellworld
an entire story where the author (a minority woman!) can't be bothered to even lightly hint at the sexist and racist disinformation focus of this "movement"
[Young conservative women find ...](https://apnews.com/article/turning-point-kirk-conservative-women-ae22c4cd81c58bdf666849bc84e74f3a )

2025-12-18 15:31:24 UTC

I love this guy's speedrunning effort to become the biggest dipshit in the league
go hawks
[Puka Nacua stands firm that co...](https://www.reddit.com/r/NFLv2/comments/1ppk5up/puka_nacua_stands_firm_that_concussions_are_not/ )

2025-12-18 12:51:03 UTC

In 2014 during the net neutrality wars, Obama voiced his support for net neutrality. Republicans REPEATEDLY, for YEARS, (falsely) claimed this was an illegal, unethical affront to FCC independence.
11 years later they now insist the FCC has no independence and serves at the whims of our mad king:
[FCC chief Brendan Carr tells S...](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/17/fcc-carr-senate-jimmy-kimmel-kirk.html )

2025-12-15 14:53:58 UTC

Verizon's lobbying the Trump FCC to eliminate phone unlocking rules in a bid to make it harder and more expensive to switch wireless carriers.
This guy fought back in small claims court, and won. Refused a Verizon settlement so he could talk about it openly. Not all heroes wear capes, etc.
[Verizon refused to unlock man’...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/verizon-refused-to-unlock-mans-iphone-so-he-sued-the-carrier-and-won/ )

2025-12-10 13:59:06 UTC

Between this and previous rulings, U.S. corporations have effectively put a bullet in the head of labor protections, consumer protection, public safety, environmental law, and corporate oversight
I wish journalists would go a bit lighter on the legalese and a bit heavier on the real-world impact
[Supreme Court appears likely t...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/supreme-court-appears-likely-to-approve-trumps-firing-of-ftc-democrat/ )

2025-12-08 15:44:22 UTC

Jared Kushner's involvement was "not mentioned in Paramount's press release on Monday morning about its $108 billion bid, nor were participating sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar."
fancy that
[Jared Kushner is part of Param...](https://www.axios.com/2025/12/08/jared-kushner-paramount-warner-bros-netflix )

2025-12-03 21:03:59 UTC

these are all terrible options, and if we lived in a functioning democracy with working regulators we'd think nothing of putting a blanket end to pointless media consolidation
these deals are always terrible for product quality, consumers, art and labor, but this is always downplayed in coverage.
[Paramount throws in more cash ...](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2025-12-02/paramount-warner-bid-saudi-money-comcast-wants-to-combine-with-nbcu )

2025-12-03 14:49:55 UTC

if you still use twitter you support white supremacy
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreiczndyabbfmji5ddky5evfq66rflsqlo5rwegvyvh5z35eaiaadye

2025-11-24 14:42:36 UTC

DOGE was always a very thinly disguised con to dress up data theft and extraction class destruction of federal corporate oversight as innovative, and it's important to remember that part of the reason it worked so well is that the press helped legitimize it
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w/post/3m6ezb4azl22b
#note1cny…0exk

2025-11-24 14:16:11 UTC

hey don't be so hard on yourselves; it delivered oceans of sensitive government and citizen data to billionaires
[Musk’s DOGE Quietly Killed Off...](https://www.thedailybeast.com/musks-doge-quietly-killed-off-after-delivering-almost-nothing/ )

2025-11-07 15:05:01 UTC

The Trump administration's cybersecurity policies are indistinguishable from a foreign attack.
In many ways they're worse, given they're wrapped in layers of phony operational efficiency.
[Trump Cybersecurity Policy Is ...](https://www.techdirt.com/2025/11/07/trump-cybersecurity-policy-is-indistinguishable-from-a-foreign-attack/ )

2025-11-04 17:00:05 UTC

never fails
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ozma3timm5c32fa7bimb4zaj/post/3m4svthwlls2t
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreiejqwa3sdibw5vcyl6fzhjpz57eanay733uzfsbd3u6drxskmxvci

2025-10-31 16:32:05 UTC

It's cool that the owner of [DSLReports.com](https://DSLReports.com ) (where I first got my start as a reporter covering tech and telecom 25 years ago) just got bored, gave up, and let the site collapse and decay, with zero regard for years of archived writing or a close community that had developed over decades
[DSLReports Home : Broadband IS...](https://DSLReports.com )

2025-10-29 11:59:52 UTC

it's curious how our consolidated corporate media and brunchlord pundit class' only consistent solution for Democrats' problems is to be more right wing
funny how that works

2025-10-29 11:00:28 UTC

U.S. journalism and punditry completely ignores the fact that the U.S. electorate belief system --including their belief of what Democrats stand for -- is shaped predominately by a massive right wing propaganda network across AM radio, broadcast TV, cable news, and the internet.
[Left-wing ideas have wrecked D...](https://www.semafor.com/article/10/27/2025/democrats-urged-to-jettison-progressive-rhetoric-favored-by-highly-educated-and-affluent )

2025-10-29 01:23:33 UTC

It literally took decades of advocacy to pass these reforms, which would have prevented prison phone and teleconferencing companies from ripping off inmates and their families to the tune of hundreds of millions annually
[F.C.C. Changes Course on the P...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/upshot/prisoners-phone-calls-prices.html )

2025-10-28 13:29:45 UTC

I "enjoy" this disconnect between tech titans claiming that AI will have us all eating pastries and working two days a week and the reality of firing people en masse while simultaneously supporting fascists who oppose universal basic income and are actively destroying the social safety net
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreia644yuwx7vozr72x23jnh6zabosylc4bpyd4pra47eivh52p6nqq
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreifmyokgcjmh6wh4xawwgsu3lipddhzogawabcsywtu3upbat7ts5q

2025-10-21 13:29:48 UTC

very exciting
[Bari Weiss Gets To Work ‘Fixin...](https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/21/bari-weiss-gets-to-work-fixing-cbs-bias-by-making-it-more-biased/ )

2025-10-21 12:55:59 UTC

Musk exploited the AWS outage to unfairly slam Signal and promote his own, shittier alternative
and of course the badly automated clickbait aggregation machine that is modern "journalism" got right to work helping him seed doubt about a popular encrypted communications app
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreic6sux3tct7x6bvde4hlndha4q6onygq7czbelgdyckxhaxukbanm

2025-10-10 14:08:04 UTC

The FCC is weakening rules making it easier for broadband monopolies to rip you off with bogus fees.
which is definitely something Trump's base was asking for!
[Trump FCC Is Making It Easier ...](https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/10/trump-fcc-is-making-it-easier-for-your-broadband-isp-to-rip-you-off-with-bogus-fees/ )

2025-10-08 13:44:01 UTC

twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreihuidrm32va5ruoqlzgsusyflj7x4rr3retgoitopc2hgrfnpeqfq

2025-10-07 15:16:23 UTC

The U.S. press isn't capable of admitting this clearly, but Bari Weiss was hired to turn CBS into a right wing propaganda machine and troll operation
[Paramount Formally Hires Bari ...](https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/07/paramount-formally-hires-bari-weiss-to-turn-whats-left-of-cbs-news-into-a-soggy-right-wing-propaganda-and-troll-farm/ )

2025-10-07 13:52:48 UTC

bluesky desperately needs a competent comms team
having random devs fling off the cuff retorts at pissed off trans folk ain't it

2025-10-02 22:46:06 UTC

start telling your friends and family now that CBS is no longer reliable, because I'm still explaining how Newsweek was hollowed out by Republican ghouls and that deal was like a decade ago

2025-10-02 14:23:20 UTC

ABC's doomed capitulation on Jimmy Kimmel was because they want the Trump administration to destroy this country's last remaining restrictions on harmful media consolidation:
[ABC/Disney Gets Rewarded For K...](https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/02/abc-disney-gets-rewarded-for-kissing-trumps-ass-fcc-moves-to-eliminate-any-remaining-media-consolidation-limits/ )

2025-10-02 13:58:07 UTC

Superior, Wisconsin is the latest city to build its own affordable open access fiber broadband network, thanks heavily to broadband grants included in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)
[City of Superior brings a broa...](https://www.wpr.org/news/superior-broadband-success-connectsuperior-northern-wisconsin )

2025-10-01 13:30:57 UTC

Trump's FCC yesterday voted to kill a program that provided free Wi-Fi to rural school kids at no cost to taxpayers, falsely claiming the program was "illegal" and was being used to "censor Conservative ideology."
[FCC moves to end discounts for...](https://apnews.com/article/fcc-wifi-hotspots-schools-library-bus-rural-c8ecb6e0c60b6a686361f4a96d7b7be4 )

2025-09-26 17:51:50 UTC

They're not even going to pretend to be subtle about turning TikTok into a 24/7 MAGA propaganda machine
[Trump says TikTok should be tw...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/09/trump-says-tiktok-should-be-tweaked-to-become-100-maga/?utm_source=bsky&utm_medium=social )

2025-09-23 14:12:03 UTC

The New York Times does a 24 paragraph story on Larry Ellison buying up new and old media properties and doesn't so much as HINT, anywhere, at the obvious goal of leveraging this properties to conduct right wing information warfare, or that this kind of consolidation is bad for the public
[Larry Ellison, a Media Mogul L...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/technology/larry-ellison-oracle-tiktok.html )

2025-09-20 17:57:54 UTC

While people are suddenly and uncharacteristically paying attention to media regulation, please take a moment to notice all the massive harm Brendan Carr has done to consumer protection and public safety as well
me, back in April:
[Brendan Carr’s FCC is an anti-...](https://www.theverge.com/tech/656653/brendan-carr-fcc-anti-consumer-harassment-dei-trump )

2025-09-19 22:45:15 UTC

scramble you little shits, scramble
[Disney Didn't Expect What Happ...](https://screenrant.com/disney-scrambling-after-jimmy-kimmel-fcc-cancellation-backlash/ )

2025-09-17 22:56:21 UTC

this is quite genuinely insane, and I want to believe the backlash to this will be severe
[ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off Air...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/business/media/abc-jimmy-kimmel.html )

2025-09-13 17:51:48 UTC

this is a controversial take but nobody with any sort of ethical backbone (especially journalists or educators) should be using websites owned and operated by white supremacists actively stoking race war
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:rw2kfkoa7dvxmip5rm4nay7x/post/3lyqdexeu5k2z
#note1fr9…ran3

2025-09-12 14:10:32 UTC

if this shooter winds up being a red-pilled groyper the Kirk newscycle length will be mysteriously cut from two months to two days

2025-09-09 13:57:45 UTC

Media scholars and academics spent the last 50+ years warning about what happens when you let the media consolidate in the hands of rich assholes.
America ignored their warnings every single step of the way:
[With Looming CBS Hire Of Bari ...](https://www.techdirt.com/2025/09/09/with-looming-cbs-hire-of-bari-weiss-two-of-the-four-major-u-s-networks-will-now-be-right-wing-propaganda-mills/ )

2025-09-09 13:13:32 UTC

if an "abundance" person can't acknowledge that grotesque levels of corruption and regulatory capture are THE primary problem in the United States, you should take them about as seriously as machine gun kelly

2025-09-08 14:08:09 UTC

Weiss is being specifically hired by a right wing billionaire nepobaby to turn CBS into another right-wing friendly propaganda mill. but you genuinely wouldn't know that from reading the U.S. media industry's coverage of itself:
[What would a Bari Weiss era at...](https://www.businessinsider.com/bari-weiss-free-press-could-transform-cbs-news-2025-9 )

2025-09-05 15:28:40 UTC

they've created this entire delusional bubble cult and they have no choice but to keep setting cash on fire until it all collapses in a glorious fireball
these are men without ideas building a simulacrum of innovation, all propped up by grifters cashing in on the front end of the hype cycle
[Tesla Offers Unprecedented $1 ...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-05/tsla-tesla-offers-unprecedented-1-trillion-pay-package-to-elon-musk?leadSource=reddit_wall )

2025-09-05 13:51:24 UTC

this whole video of tech CEOs kissing authoritarian ass is genuinely one of the most pathetic things I've ever seen in my life
absolute, feckless fawning by a long list of pudding-brained simps who should never be taken seriously on any subject ever again
[Trump hosts top tech CEOs at W...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7LdiDaV9Jk&ab_channel=LiveNOWfromFOX )

2025-09-02 15:53:29 UTC

in case you missed it here's a member of Congress admitting I was right to mock them for normalizing DOGE and trying to bridge with fascists
[Who was more right about DOGE?...](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8B7547r/ )

2025-08-28 13:50:25 UTC

it is I, "this random Karl" (?)
[Fine, We'll Talk About Epstein...](https://youtu.be/jrEQlmLU6OQ?si=8dp4m9XzeLBR_x_S&t=1231 )

2025-08-27 16:26:01 UTC

Over at The Verge I wrote about how the Trump administration destroyed U.S. wireless competition, using a disastrous (and now doomed) plan that involved Dish Network as cover:
[The Trump administration promi...](https://www.theverge.com/tech/766795/dish-echostar-wireless-network-trump )

2025-08-19 17:05:38 UTC

yeah here we go, Elon Musk is now going state by state, whining to Republicans if state leaders try to spend infrastructure bill taxpayer subsidies on fast, affordable fiber instead of his congested, expensive, environmentally problematic satellite broadband service
[SpaceX Wants Louisiana’s BEAD ...](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/spacex-wants-louisianas-bead-plan-reversed/ )

2025-08-13 21:12:30 UTC

I have really really enjoyed watching [@marcmaron.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/marcmaron.bsky.social ) dismantle the fashy apologist Rogan bro comedy omniverse on his new special podcast tour
[Marc Maron, Hero Of Our Time.](https://youtu.be/oFsIzzzeznI?si=ECj3PQZPh6bfBbtG )

2025-08-13 13:35:18 UTC

Trump is a bigoted fascist operating at a third-grade reading level whose policies are completely incoherent. He believes in absolutely nothing but attention, wealth and power.
the closest the NYT can get to explaining this to readers is to proclaim "this isn't your grandpa's republican party"
[Trump Has Made Himself Command...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/technology/trump-chips-nvidia-intel.html?smid=bs-share )

2025-08-13 12:13:56 UTC

👍
[Tesla Diner Drops Most Menu Op...](https://www.jalopnik.com/1938650/tesla-diner-drops-most-menu-options-cuts-hours/ )

2025-07-30 19:39:18 UTC

There was a three week news cycle dedicated to this complete vaporware
[Musk’s America Party can’t get...](https://ca.news.yahoo.com/musk-america-party-t-off-153643196.html )

2025-07-30 19:32:04 UTC

the Republican goal here is to drive more money and power to right wing propaganda companies pretending to be local news broadcasters (like Sinclair broadcasting) but as usual a reader would have absolutely no idea of this reading U.S. journalism coverage of it
[FCC Chair Launches Inquiry Int...](https://deadline.com/2025/07/fcc-comcast-nbc-investigation-affiliates-1236474051/ )

2025-07-28 14:57:39 UTC

this captures the logical and legal incoherence of the Brendan Carr FCC.
It claims all the legal authority in the world to bully companies who aren't racist or feckless enough, yet somehow no authority to police things that actually matter to real people, like broadband affordability
[FCC to eliminate gigabit speed...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/fcc-to-eliminate-gigabit-speed-goal-and-scrap-analysis-of-broadband-prices/ )

2025-07-28 13:17:59 UTC

I spent 20 years listening to Republicans whine about the "fairness doctrine," now they're installing babysitters at a major news network to ensure it fecklessly kisses the president's ass.
[FCC to Appoint a Babysitter to...](https://gizmodo.com/fcc-to-appoint-a-babysitter-to-make-sure-cbs-isnt-anti-trump-2000634566 )

2025-07-21 22:42:33 UTC

"populism" is....making it easier for regional telecom companies to rip off captive customers and hiding all evidence of market failure
[FCC to eliminate gigabit speed...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/07/fcc-to-eliminate-gigabit-speed-goal-and-scrap-analysis-of-broadband-prices/ )

2025-07-18 18:11:48 UTC

The NYT story on the Colbert firing doesn't even mention the fact that CBS is now owned by the right wing billionaire Ellison family, a very close political ally to Trump.
Kind of relevant, yeah?
[CBS Canceling ‘Late Show With ...](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/business/stephen-colbert-late-show-ending.html )

2025-07-17 21:08:37 UTC

bad news for Intercept comment section post-leftist rubes suckered by the lie that Trump was anti war
[Revealed: Trump has launched a...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/07/16/trump-airstrike-tally-matches-biden-four-year-total/ )

2025-07-11 18:29:09 UTC

two top reality TV stars debate socially acceptable levels of racist secret police violence and other tales of modern American exceptionalism
[Joe Rogan ‘pushed Trump to bac...](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/joe-rogan-trump-immigration-mass-deportations-b2786713.html?utm_source=reddit.com )

2025-07-11 13:00:20 UTC

Bezos rumored to be buying Condé Nast, which would include Vogue, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, Architectural Digest, and Ars Technica.
Wired and Teen Vogue have done some of the best reporting in the Trump era. Ars Technica one of a handful of good remaining tech pubs.
[Bezos to buy Vogue as a gift t...](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/bezos-to-buy-vogue-as-a-gift-to-new-wife-insiders-link-deal-to-sanchezs-cover-shoot-could-cost-him-billions/articleshow/122321276.cms?from=mdr )

2025-07-09 14:16:59 UTC

today the Trump FTC is taking a break from not protecting consumers to hold a workshop demonizing trans people
just the sort of "extension of the Line Khan antitrust legacy" guys like Matt Stoller predicted, of course
[US FTC workshop criticizing me...](https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-ftc-workshop-criticizing-medical-care-transgender-youth-draws-staff-2025-07-02/ )

2025-07-08 22:02:51 UTC

It's almost as if he's not actually very bright
[Musk Is Struggling to Understa...](https://futurism.com/musk-struggling-tesla )

2025-07-08 17:00:06 UTC

"Corporate media institutions are a key part of the pathologies afflicting our society today," writes the always excellent [@victorpickard.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/victorpickard.bsky.social ). "This latest attack on the press and its foreseeable surrender is exhibit A for why an oligarchic profit-driven media system is bad for democracy."
[The Media’s Profits Trump Demo...](https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/the-medias-profits-trump-democracy-once-again/ )

2025-07-03 14:18:47 UTC

I did not like the era of "musicians and actors should never express political opinions and should quietly exist as ideological homogenized mannequins that happen to make art" and I'll be thrilled if our dance with authoritarianism results in an actual counter-culture with teeth
[Massive Attack urge BBC and me...](https://www.nme.com/news/music/massive-attack-urge-bbc-and-media-to-redirect-their-attention-to-what-is-happening-daily-to-the-people-of-gaza-rather-than-bob-vylan-glastonbury-furore-3875220 )

2025-07-03 14:10:51 UTC

I still haven't gotten over the concentration camp merch

2025-07-01 15:36:08 UTC

for as long as I've been alive the GOP "negotiation" strategy is to offer you a giant mountain of shit you then have to negotiate to a slightly less ridiculous mountain of shit, at which point everybody applauds the fact the giant mountain of shit wasn't even bigger

2025-07-01 14:05:15 UTC

at some point journalism could simply make a choice to stop treating every brain fart this man has as a major story
[Elon Musk Wants to Blow Up the...](https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-wants-to-blow-up-the-u-s-political-system-2000622538 )

2025-06-27 14:43:52 UTC

Well that's a tiny bit of good news.
A Republican fake consumer group had sued to try and make an $8 billion federal subsidy program to help bring phone and broadband services to lower income homes and schools (USF) unconstitutional.
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nwnlnixtjh3qhkwpz2uy5uwv/post/3lslup6gwos2z
#note17wr…gt2u

2025-06-26 13:26:42 UTC

I wrote about how the Trump admin is trying to bully states into avoiding AI oversight by threatening to pull billions in already awarded broadband expansion grants:
[GOP Moves Forward With Plan To...](https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/25/gop-moves-forward-with-plan-to-pull-billions-in-broadband-grants-from-states-that-attempt-any-ai-oversight/ )

2025-06-25 22:50:21 UTC

the promise that the Trump phone would be made in America lasted one-one hundredth of a scaramucci
[The Trump Phone no longer prom...](https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/693080/trump-mobile-t1-phone-made-usa )

2025-06-25 13:03:53 UTC

funny how decades of Republican whining about "activist supreme court judges" resulted in a high court full of radical activist zealots
and decades of Republican whining about "liberal media bias" resulted in a cowed media that panders to the right wing and normalizes authoritarianism
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:25cztqjrqfedqg22bpoqjljr/post/3lsgnpr3tuk2z

2025-06-24 13:14:53 UTC

If I pluck a story at random on the Tesla Robotaxi fail, not a single one mentions that the Trump administration and his courts have taken an absolute hatchet to corporate oversight and consumer protection.
Why? It's kind of important context that regulators can't/won't do their jobs anymore?
https://porcini.us-east.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:xtg6uhgsy2j7k2a6qtcood2w&cid=bafkreif5l4pssiehpj3w5ffresqfxf7we7qihim2xkp4plygu3tkysbu3m

2025-06-19 17:32:04 UTC

the only reason CBS hasn't folded and paid Trump his bribery money yet is California threatened an investigation into whether such a deal would violate state bribery laws, which chuck here "forgets" to mention
[Exclusive | Paramount delays $...](https://nypost.com/2025/06/19/media/paramount-delays-35m-settlement-with-trump-sources/ )

2025-06-13 14:33:44 UTC

There's a lot going on so you might have missed the fact that the Chinese hack into most of our major telecom companies was found to be much worse than publicly stated
good thing a bunch of dipshits obliterated whatever was left of functional telecom oversight!
[US agencies assessed Chinese t...](https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2025/06/us-agencies-assessed-chinese-telecom-hackers-likely-hit-data-center-and-residential-internet-providers/405920/ )

2025-06-09 14:52:04 UTC

none of the people whining about "bluesky bubbles" are coming at the complaint in good faith
they're annoyed there aren't more centrist or right wing voices here propping up their bigotry and dumb takes. ironically because they wandered outside their traditional bubble
stupid cack
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qqx7bauacsfwi7yufzfqio32/post/3lr5lh4huw22l

2025-06-09 12:54:37 UTC

I still think it's pretty wild that corrupt oligarchs destroyed the entirety of U.S. consumer protection and corporate oversight and it's barely written about by journalists or policy folks
just not really of any serious interest

2025-06-07 02:50:30 UTC

Republicans really stickin' it to their supposed enemies in "big tech"
[Ted Cruz bill: States that reg...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/06/ted-cruz-bill-states-that-regulate-ai-will-be-cut-out-of-42b-broadband-fund/ )

2025-06-06 19:44:54 UTC

DOGE brutality was the ultimate manifestation of the "free market" libertarian movement's generational quest to portray the destruction of federal governance and corporate oversight as the path to utopia
many of those think tankers should be ostracized almost as intensely as the fascists
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z6rujpf4u56jfie7aqic2nfg/post/3lqx6mj6ck22i

2025-05-30 21:21:18 UTC

*raises hand*
a consolidated corporate media dominated by affluent brunchlords wants to supplant real journalism that challenges wealth and power with hollow, pseudo-journalistic infotainment that better serves and reflects the right wing, corporatist views of ownership
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:r75unbj372lvbim6syioaueo/post/3lqfm2pkse22h
#note1uuk…xf6x

2025-05-19 14:22:20 UTC

The U.S. broadband digital divide got measurably worse last year, thanks in part to Republicans killing a popular federal program that gave low-income Americans a $30 discount off of their monthly broadband bill:
[The Broadband Divide Worsened ...](https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/the-broadband-divide-worsened-in-32-states-in-2024-ookla-reports/ )

2025-05-17 14:15:46 UTC

this was Verizon's reward for buckling under Trump's demands that they be more racist, and sitting on their hands while Elon Musk steals their $2 billion FAA contract
[Verizon wins FCC approval for ...](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2025-05-16/verizon-wins-fcc-approval-for-9-6-billion-frontier-acquisition )