Tag: David Cicilline

GOP Stops Pretending It Ever Actually Cared About ‘Antitrust Reform’

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

GOP Stops Pretending It Ever Actually Cared About ‘Antitrust Reform’

To be clear, despite the press narrative to the contrary, I don’t think either party is particularly serious about antitrust reform. Congress is simply too grotesquely corrupt, and the combined cross-industry lobbying opposition to meaningful reform too great, to currently be overcome without some sort of major policy and cultural trajectory shift and a massive upheaval in Congress.

Related:

Big Tech Antitrust Push in Congress Is Blunted by GOP-Led House

The appointment of Massie, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained inventor who has filed dozens of patents, signals that the Judiciary Committee under Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio will shift its focus away from legislation aimed at curbing the power of the largest tech companies. Jordan has been more focused on free-speech issues, including big tech’s perceived liberal bias.

“We’re all united in wanting to stop the censorship of conservatives and the suppression of free speech,” Jordan said in an interview. “That’s going to be a focus of the full committee work.”

Funny, that’s not what Massie told Breitbert. 🤷🏼‍♀️

House Democrats advance assault weapons ban after mass shootings

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

House Democrats advance assault weapons ban after mass shootings

Dubbed the “Safer America Plan,” senior administration officials told reporters Wednesday that the plan includes funds for 100,000 police officers across the country, $3 billion to clear court backlogs, $15 billion in violence prevention programs and $5 billion for community violence interrupter programs.

Related:

House Democrats Pledge to Ban Guns In Common Use by Law-Abiding Americans

The Bizarre Reaction To Facebook’s Decision To Get Out Of The News Business In Australia

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Bizarre Reaction To Facebook’s Decision To Get Out Of The News Business In Australia

We can argue about whether or not Facebook is “compatible with democracy” but the simple facts of the situation are that Australia — pushed heavily by Rupert Murdoch — has decided to put in place a plan to tax Google and Facebook for any links to news. The bill has all sorts of problems, but there are two huge ones that should concern basically anyone who supports a free and open internet.

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The whole story is absolutely ridiculous. And the most incredible thing is that no matter what Facebook did here it would have gotten yelled at. And the proof is not hard to find. Because just an hour or two before Facebook made this announcement, Google went the other way — coming to an agreement to pay Rupert Murdoch for featuring Murdoch-owned news organizations content on Google. And people freaked out, complaining about Google helping fund Rupert Murdoch’s disinformation empire. Except… that’s the whole point of the law? So it’s a bit bizarre that the same people are mad about both Facebook’s decision to not give free money to Rupert and Google caving to do exactly that: