Tag: Matt Gaetz

GOP won’t bird-dog defense budget with these hawks at the helm

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Speaker McCarthy may have promised to cut defense spending, but his early actions suggest that he has little interest in rocking the boat.

GOP won’t bird-dog defense budget with these hawks at the helm

Congress’ Best Idea to Save Local Journalism Would Actually Hurt It + Some Temporary Good News

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Congress’ Best Idea to Save Local Journalism Would Actually Hurt It

Meta reported $114.93 million in ad revenue in 2021, whereas Google reported $209 billion. But determining how much of that publishers should get is difficult—and the JCPA doesn’t even try. One version of the JCPA proposed platforms and publishers negotiate an agreed-to payment, and if they couldn’t come to a consensus, they’d enter forced-arbitration with no formula for what is fair. But whether the money would end up being vast or a modest bump to the bottom line, not every publication stands to benefit if the JCPA becomes law. While the JCPA’s alliances allow for partnerships, exclusionary elements of the JCPA would encourage big brands to unite selectively at the expense of smaller ones and shut out niche independent journalistic outlets altogether.

Related:

JCPA Update: The Dangerous Link Tax That Still Won’t Save Local Journalism

The original text of the JCPA already authorized print media companies to form one or several cartels and collectively bargain with the largest online platforms—defined in terms that single out Facebook and Google. Although the bill hinted at these news cartels being able to demand payment for merely linking to their content, or hosting snippets like the results you get from Google News, the mechanism by which they would be paid was left vague. However, the fact that the bill allowed news companies to withhold content strongly suggested a claim to some sort of property right, or ancillary copyright, that the targeted platforms would owe for hosting links and snippets.

Some Temporary Good News: None Of The Really Bad Internet Bills Seem To Have Made It Into The NDAA

This would also hurt independent media and bloggers (you would have to pay a ‘link tax’ to corporate media for linking to their articles—see below image)! So far, it hasn’t passed (it was attached to the NDAA) but there’s still the omnibus spending bill and the next session of Congress!

Source.

10/22/22 Patrick MacFarlane on the Populist Right’s Taiwan Hypocrisy

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Ms. Cat’s Chronicles.

Scott is joined by Patrick MacFarlane, the Justin Raimondo Fellow at the Libertarian Institute, to discuss an article he wrote recently as well as the new direction he’s taking his podcast Vital Dissent. Scott and MacFarlane first dig into the growing tension between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan’s sovereignty. MacFarlane points out that some of the best opposition to both the policies that provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and NATO’s subsequent response is from populist right-wingers. But those very same people throw all their logic out the window when the topic turns from Russia to China.

Discussed on the show:

– Nothing But Welfare Queens: American Aid to Zelensky and Tsai Ing-wen

– Vital Dissent

10/22/22 Patrick MacFarlane on the Populist Right’s Taiwan Hypocrisy

Steve Bannon calls for ‘4,000 shock troops’ to dismantle US government ‘brick by brick’

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Steve Bannon calls for ‘4,000 shock troops’ to dismantle US government ‘brick by brick’

According to Axios, Mr Trump wants to install Maga loyalists in all ranks of the federal bureaucracy in a second administration to “accelerate controversial policy and enforcement changes, but also enable revenge tours against real or perceived enemies, and potentially insulate the president and allies from investigation or prosecution”.