Author | Lightnews

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 17h

Patel's girlfriend performed at Penn State last weekend. A government jet arrived at State College Regional Airport, according to its FAA registration, with an address listing the FBI HQ. The plane then flew to Nashville, where his girlfriend lives.

All on the taxpayer’s dime.
trib.al/TBvPo7A

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Harlem Toots @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 1d

“In fall 2022, ahead of the midterm elections, Garland opted to freeze both the classified documents and election investigations because of what some officials believed was his overly cautious reading of a DOJ policy not to take any public action close to an election.”

Biden Justice Department slow-walked key decisions in Trump legal probes

The picture of a hesitant Justice Department runs contrary to the GOP allegation that the indictments of Trump were the product of a Democrat-led plot.

www.msnbc.com

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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 2d

My two takeaways on this:

1. CNN's CEO is utterly craven. No surprise there.

2. The White House is getting very nervous about how poorly the demolition of the East Wing is going over with most Americans. Good.

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 1d

What do Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Comcast, Meta, and HP have in common?

They all once pledged to stop donations to anyone who tried to overturn the 2020 election.

And now they're all donors to Trump's White House ballroom. https://popular.info/p/these-corporations-stopped-worrying

These Corporations Stopped Worrying About Democracy and Bought Trump a Ballroom

It has been nearly five years since the 2020 presidential election, but President Trump continues to baselessly insist i

popular.info

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George Pearkes @peark.es · 1d

Dallas Fed services comments are LIT this month

"generally antibusiness policies being championed by Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration"

www.dallasfed.org/research/sur...

Accommodation
The government shutdown and economic malaise are taking a toll on hotel and travel demand.
Administrative and support services
It feels impossible to predict what the hiring and employment market will be in six months. This year has been the most challenging in 15 years of search and staffing. Candidates have failed background checks. Employers have delayed hiring, candidates have accepted counter offers, others have continued interviewing after accepting a new role. These events used to be uncommon and rare. Now they're happening on a regular basis. Revenue swings month to month are drastic. We are trying to budget and forecast, but it is impossible, and I'm on the edge of laying off an employee now. Business has felt recessionary for over a year—no wonder we knew the jobs numbers were off and kept saying there was no way they were as good as reported, and we were correct. These are very tough times for small and midsized businesses.
The level of uncertainty has increased in the face of higher interest rates and borrowing costs. Layoffs in the energy sector are just now being felt, and the federal shutdown will have a compounding impact.
The government shutdown [is an issue impacting our business].
Most of our customers are federal agencies. If there is a shutdown, our business suffers.
Ambulatory health care services
We are seeing major price escalation resistance.
There are numerous factors affecting our outlook and current performance. A general downturn in the economy and economic outlook coupled with increased layoffs and significant increases in prices for day-to-day commodities have reduced demand for those seeking our pediatric urgent care services. Healthcare fatigue is also a factor post-COVID. Couple that with the frankly baseless guidance that the Department of Health and Human Services is providing, there is also a lot of confusion among potential patients of ours of sound medical judgement.
With continued angst over secured overnight fin…

Educational services
Uncertainty about visa approval rates and H1-B visa fees will have a potentially significant negative impact.
Personal and laundry services
I am concerned about the government shutdown.
Pipeline transportation
Lower oil prices impact producer activity and uncertainty.
Professional, scientific and technical services
We're seeing significant uncertainty among our oil and gas service company clients. Commodity prices are down, and there is no real cause to anticipate an upturn in drilling activities.
The residential market has continued its decline due to the uncertainty of the economy. Homebuilders are having a difficult time selling homes, even with the incentives they are offering, and existing homes are just sitting. The commercial market is a little better but is being held up by energy and data center transactions. We need a major adjustment in the pricing of homes or a significant reduction in the interest rate to get this market moving again.
Interest rates are still too high. Reduction in regulations is improving optimism. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act will open new opportunities.
We have seen an upturn in work flowing from clients in October in consulting engineering.
All of our customers are scaling back on technology spending.
I feel like our clients are more apprehensive. We are writing a lot of proposals, but they are just sitting. Projects are still being planned, but the execution is being delayed.
I work globally with international companies, so uncertainty is inherently high, and it will likely increase in the coming months. Four new governments in Latin America will be decided within the next six months, and such political transitions always contribute to greater economic and business uncertainty.
Commodity prices adversely affecting upstream oil and gas companies coupled with potential increased costs from renewed China tariffs creates an uncertain or negative outlook.
We are …

Publishing industries (except internet)
There is significant inflation in regular goods prices.
We continue to be concerned about compounding effects of tariffs, government shutdown, reduced federal spending, wavering consumer confidence and the levels of credit card usage and delinquency (which we expect to increase), as well as the generally antibusiness policies being championed by Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration.
Real estate
The sentiment we see from apartment residents, owners, vendors, employees and others is neither optimism nor excessive worry. Folks are getting by OK, reallocating spending to compensate for high food prices, and they seem resigned to their fate. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to terrify immigrants, and they are keeping their heads down. Few people are moving, changing jobs or expecting more. The economy feels like it's in the doldrums, and all the outrageous politics just feels like noise. Our company is doing well enough to throw a couple of big events and make improvements to properties we own. Being conservative, focusing on fundamentals and conserving cash have paid off for us. Others see us doing well, so more prospects are coming our way.
We are always hopeful things are going to move forward and upward. Our goal is to survive the next six months.
Rental and leasing services
I don't know that any geopolitical or political conditions have changed our business outlook. The fourth quarter is typically when we do 27 percent to 29 percent of our volume. The first two quarters of the year are typically slow due to weather and manufacturers trying to manage their budgets. Tax-incentive buying pulls purchases ahead into fourth quarter 2025.
Repair and maintenance
We are a naturally seasonal business. Our outlook for the future is bright.
Securities, commodity contracts and other financial investments and related activities
Uncertainty remains uncertain.
I wish we would get clarity on tariffs. We have bee…

Specialty trade contractors
Volatility—including interest rates, stock market fluctuations, geopolitical issues and the government shutdown—is creating poor confidence.
Support activities for transportation
With the current administration taking meaningful action to address foreign labor issues, the outlook for the trucking and logistics industry has improved considerably. The decline faced in recent years has been attributable to violations of federal laws, most notably allowing those not legally authorized and without English proficiency to saturate the market and to violate cabotage restrictions. We are encouraged by the renewed emphasis on enforcement and compliance. As these measures take effect and below-market labor practices are curtailed, American motor carriers will once again be able to begin breaking even and then to profit.
Telecommunications
Too much funding (private equity combined with the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program) is flowing into the broadband industry as evident by the number of broadband providers in any given area. While it has naturally increased competition, resulting in lower pricing, it is also driving irrational investment decisions. These decisions will have consequences once the broadband market begins a correction in the next three to five years.
Truck transportation
Our business has died.
Utilities
I feel better about business activity, but the threatened tariffs do not help with the business situation.
Warehousing and storage
General economic conditions appear to be worsening, though it's hard to put a finger on exactly where or why. We're working through 2026 budget and are expecting revenue to either stay flat or dip. We are eliminating a small number of heads, roughly 4 percent of our workforce. We expect inflation to continue to impact the cost to provide services and will be adjusting revenue in response.

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

Pick your favorite qualitative comment from this month’s Dallas Fed survey:

A) “This year has been the most challenging in 15 years ..”

B) “Our goal is to survive the next six months.”

C) “Our business has died.” 🤡

www.dallasfed.org/research/sur...

Texas service sector activity weakens further

Texas service sector activity contracted further in October, according to business executives responding to the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey.

www.dallasfed.org

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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 2d

Republican policy positions are less popular than Democratic ones. Most people don't want religious oligarchy and this makes Republicans have fewer small- and large-dollar donors.

So they stretch the money through advocacy media. Every piece of the Republican ecosystem reinforces each other.

Graphic titled ‘Republican Ecosystem’ showing a circular flow among four groups: Donors, Campaigns, Advocacy Media, and Activists. Large arrows connect them in a continuous loop: Donors feed into Campaigns, Campaigns feed into Advocacy Media, Advocacy Media feed into Activists, and Activists feed back into Donors. An additional small arrow from Campaigns points outward to a box labeled ‘Mainstream Media.’ The diagram is credited to Matthew Sheffield / flux.community.

Graphic titled ‘Democratic Ecosystem’ showing a circular flow among four groups: Donors, Campaigns, Activists, and Advocacy Media. Large blue arrows form a loop connecting Donors to Campaigns, Campaigns to Activists, and Activists toward Advocacy Media, but the link from Advocacy Media back to Donors is small and incomplete. A large blue arrow extends from Campaigns to a gray box labeled ‘Mainstream Media.’ Below this cycle, a smaller red circle labeled ‘Republican Ecosystem’ interacts with the Mainstream Media box through two black arrows, with text noting media outlets such as Sinclair, Nexstar, TikTok?, CBS, Fox, and X. The diagram is credited to Matthew Sheffield / flux.community.

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Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 2d

Eric is a Missouri congressman.

He is quite literally dependent on the federal government for his paycheck, his housing, and his free healthcare. He’s a tax recipient.

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 1d

BRB, creating my new company "Sloppelganger" that does nothing except read the latest "AI-powered" pitches and then use "vibe-coding" to build even worse AI-powered versions of them.

Current valuation: $300 billion.

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 1d

This is so bleak:

www.404media.co/a16z-is-fund...

Last week, I wrote about Doublespeed, essentially a click farm that sells “synthetic influencers” to astroturf whatever product or service you want across social media, despite it being a clear violation of every social media platform's policy on inauthentic behavior. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

a16z’s Speedrun is also backing:

Creed: An AI company “rooted in Christian Values” which produces Lenny, a “Bible-based AI buddy who's always got your back with wise words, scripture-inspired guidance, and a listening ear whenever you need it.”
Zingroll: The “world’s largest Netflix-quality AI streaming platform,” which is another way of saying it’s a Netflix populated exclusively with AI Slop.
Vega: which is building “AI-powered social orbits.” What does that mean? Not entirely clear, but the company has produced one of the most beautiful Mad Libs paragraphs I’ve ever seen: “We’re building the largest textual data moat on human relationships by gamifying the way people leave notes for each other. For the first time, LLMs can analyze millions of raw, human-written notes at scale and turn them into structured meaning, powering the most annotated social graph ever created.”
Moona Health: an AI-powered Sleep care app the company says is covered by insurance. “Our AI-powered platform automates insurance claims and scheduling and analyzes sleep data – providing personalized session guidelines to therapists,” Moona says.
Jooba: “The world’s first autonomous recruiting firm.”
Margin: “The World’s first AI powered credit card.” Margin says “Customers earn points, with dynamic rewards that adapt to their preferences in real time.”
First Voyage: A wellness app that gives you AI “mythological pets that turn wellness into play.”
Axon Capital: billed as “DeepMind for Finance,” Axon says it has “pioneered brain-inspired, low-latency AI for financial markets.”

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 1d

Only 11 falsehoods?? That's it? A measly 11 lies, not even a dozen??

My goodness, Donald Trump really *is* losing it

George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 1d

www.cnn.com/2025/10/28/p...

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sean kuhn @seankuhn.bsky.social · 1d

NBA media is not built to cover a gambling scandal, but Defector is: defector.com/products

When the FBI arrested Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups, the basketball-watching public turned to sports media to help make sense of the story. What explanations were on offer?

Before disclosing its own BetMGM partnership, The Athletic called “all of sports” complicit in the scandal. Bill Simmons dismissed the episode as ”a couple bad apples,” growing pains typical of a growth industry. Zach Lowe had ESPN's betting guy on his podcast; together they concluded that these issues can be tinkered out of existence by limiting prop bets and changing how teams report injuries. Lowe's podcast, like Simmons's, began with a FanDuel ad.

The takeover of sports media by gambling companies imposes hard boundaries on the domain of these conversations. Most importantly, these captured discussions always obscure the social and political choices that enable the gambling industry to entrench itself.

Allowing people to gamble on their phones and allowing sports gambling companies to spend untold sums on lobbying and advertising are choices. These choices, not some law of nature, are why millions of people have started gambling in recent years. Likewise, other sports media companies have chosen to offer up their audiences as prey to gambling outfits.

Defector has chosen something else: We never have and never will take money from gambling companies. Subscribers fund our operations, which allows us to remain independent, critical, and uncompromised. Consider making that choice.

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Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com · 1d

So the president took a dementia test, and then they administered an MRI. Where’s the media on this?

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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 2d

if you think the problem is that the democratic party is too extreme rather than our current media environment privileges right wing bull shit then you have no real business discussing politics in public

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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 2d

Another day, another grave warning about the AI bubble.

Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 2d

Erm, ok.

www.ft.com/content/967b...

OpenAI shunned advisers on $1.5tn of deals

Sam Altman tapped handful of in-house dealmakers over external advisers and lawyers to design huge web of infrastructure agreements

www.ft.com

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 2d

TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME: The official Massachusetts SNAP website now warns that Trump is “choosing not to issue November SNAP benefits that help you and many families put food on the table.” It also warns of cuts due to “Congressional Republicans and President Trump” in the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 2d

The Walton family (who own Walmart) are worth over $400 billion, yet many of their employees are on SNAP.

Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.

The people who need help are not the problem.

It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.

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Ben McAdams Memorial Act. but on BlueSky @purrtah.bsky.social · 3d

You can see how differently the media covers Republicans perfectly in just this post alone

No panicked follow up on his health, no pushback on the batshit 3rd term non-sense.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d

President Trump said he had an MRI earlier this month, telling reporters Monday that the results had been “perfect” but declining to say why his doctors had ordered the scan. He also reiterated that he was interested in serving a third term.

Trump Says a Recent M.R.I. Scan Was ‘Perfect,’ and He’d ‘Love’ a Third Term

President Trump made the comments on the second day of his trip to Asia. The Constitution limits presidents to two terms, but Mr. Trump has suggested he might try to circumvent it.

nyti.ms

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d

One reason “for only small price increases so far is that some firms may operate on a contract .. and locked in their prices for the year. .. If the Supreme Court rules that the IEEPA tariffs may remain in place, we should expect even more price hikes ..”

taxfoundation.org/blog/trump-t...

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 2d

“It is these constitutional obstacles to a tyrannical president that have made America the greatest nation on Earth for almost 250 years, not the fallen America that Trump delusionally thinks he’s going to make great again tomorrow,” J. Michael Luttig wrote in May: https://theatln.tc/nA66l4tT

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David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 2d

Small thread:
We could begin to repair this republic if the Sunday Q&A panels were replaced. The ask-a-question-get-a-lie-ask-another-question formats no longer work in this post-fact hellscape. Instead, I propose a single, one-hour block entitled not Meet The Press or Face The Nation but rather...

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Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 3d

Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.

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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 3d

What is a good American? trib.al/PoDUCJI

It’s simple: One who believes in the Constitution, representative government, the rule of law, and certain inalienable rights for all. That’s it. No Jesus. No God. No Christianity. The title “American” is open to all.

Mike Johnson Understands Nothing About the United States of America

The speaker led a rogues’ gallery of Republicans impugning the patriotism of the No Kings rallygoers. On Saturday, the real Americans had their say.

trib.al

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 4d

This is true—Bessent owns $25 million of farmland in North Dakota—and a reminder of why farm bailouts are nothing more than a giveaway to feudal lords who demand the government grossly distort agricultural economics to make their tax haven "farms" even more valuable to them.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Bessent on American farmers being hurt by tariffs: "Martha, in case you don't know it, I'm actually a soybean farmer, so I have felt this pain too."

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MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 4d

Want to see how far right the Republican Party has gone?

Watch George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan answer a question about illegal immigration during a 1980 debate.

They wouldn’t even be allowed in today’s Republican Party.

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 4d

This is several days old. But amidst so much else id missed it. That’s a stunning number. No wonder they about-faced. Reminder of the power of consumers in oligarch era, not subject to the same kind of targeting.

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