Audrey Stienon
banner
astienon.bsky.social
Audrey Stienon
@astienon.bsky.social
industrial policy at the Open Markets Institute • fascinated about how we shape industries and markets to serve the public interest • book nerd & recovering globe trotter • views are my own • 🇧🇪🇺🇸
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
As you plan your travel for the holiday season, just a reminder that the Trump DOT is making it harder for you to receive compensation when airlines mess up your flight.

"There’s not a regulation that they don’t either want to weaken or eliminate," @wjm-air.bsky.social told @nytimes.com
December 1, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
When this criminal was jailed, the judge told David Gentile and America: ‘This is a warning to would-be fraudsters that seeking to get rich by taking advantage of investors gets you only a one-way ticket to jail.’ I guess not
November 30, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
For the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, I spoke with advocates about how this law is crucial–and the ways in which disability education can be made better as its under attack from the Trump administration at @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
This disability education law turned 50 today. Disability advocates want more.
"Our civil rights are not up for negotiations," Rep. Lateefah Simon said.
www.motherjones.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Europe’s antitrust chief Teresa Ribera has unleashed a blistering attack on Trump administration, accusing Washington of using “blackmail” to strong-arm the EU into watering down its tech rules

“It is blackmail,” the Spanish commissioner told POLITICO
Top EU official accuses US of ‘blackmail’ in trade talks
Renewed U.S. pressure for the EU to recalibrate its digital rules is unacceptable, says Teresa Ribera.
www.politico.eu
November 27, 2025 at 9:05 AM
would like to nominate this NYT editorial for the Understatement of the Century Award
November 25, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
🚨 Starting a new thread here because I think there may still be more attempts to delay ranked-choice voting in D.C.

It is currently set to be implemented for next June's primary, but some back and forth today makes me think two councilmembers could try to derail that.
Interesting: In testimony to the D.C. Council about implementing ranked-choice voting next year, elections board director Monica Evans says reporting results will take longer, up to 10 days after the election. That's because all mail ballots need to be received before counting.
November 24, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Trump's weaponization of antitrust is about more than his falling short on campaign promises:

"the government is cynically wielding its antitrust authority...as a means of punishing its enemies, rewarding its friends and consolidating Trump’s political authority."

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/o...
Opinion | Trump Falls Short of His Populist Rhetoric
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Bird flu has killed 8.7 million turkeys, chickens, and ducks in the U.S. since September, alone. Outbreaks on turkey farms earlier this year plunged the U.S. turkey flock to its lowest size in 40 years. As a result, wholesale prices for whole turkeys surged 75% between October 2024 and October 2025.
November 25, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Europe in dangerous territory. Putting democratic protections on the chopping blocks for trade concessions invites a slippery slope. Increasingly tariff negotiations cuts at the heart of European national security.
www.ft.com/content/5820...
November 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Ahem. "You can pry the end dash—which AI risks ruining—out of my cold, dead hands."
November 22, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
This didn’t happen overnight. Citizens United opened the floodgates to unlimited spending, and 15 years later, we’re living with the consequences—more polarization, less accountability, and policymaking tilted towards the ultra-rich.

Reform is still possible: rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
Citizens United and the Decline of US Democracy: Assessing the Decision’s Impact 15 Years Later - Roosevelt Institute
In a new analysis, Rachel Funk Fordham examines the 15-year legacy of Citizens United, assessing its impact on democracy through new evidence and political science research and offering recommendation...
rooseveltinstitute.org
November 21, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
NEW from me: the proposed executive order to block states from regulating AI is indicative of the purchase of our government by tech overlords, & likely to spread to shield any business able to persuade Trump that because they use an algorithm or a computer, they're part of the AI revolution too.
Big Tech Poised to Win Immunity Shield From State AI Regulation - The American Prospect
The Trump administration is readying an executive order preempting constraints on AI. It could become a much more wide-ranging deregulatory tool.
prospect.org
November 20, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Extremely upset that a throw-away XKCD joke somehow became the organizing principle for the Internet.
November 20, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
NEW: As Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick drives billions of dollars in foreign payments to help build AI data centers in the US, his sons help run a company earning tens of millions in fees helping finance AI data centers. A NYT investigation. (Free link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
Family Affair: Commerce Secretary’s Sons Cash In on A.I. Frenzy
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
We teamed up with a range of public interest groups to urge state AGs to appeal the incredibly weak, insufficient remedies to address Google's monopoly over search.

www.economicliberties.us/press-releas...
States Must Appeal Judge Mehta’s Feckless Remedies Decision in Google Search Case, Advocates Urge - States Must Appeal Judge Mehta’s Feckless Remedies Decision in Google Search Case, Advocates Urge
Following Judge Amit Mehta's decision in September on remedies in U.S. v. Google search, in which he declined to terminate the tech giant's monopoly despite finding last year that Google illegally mai...
www.economicliberties.us
November 19, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Last week: vote with the far-right to concede to Trump's demands for deregulation of climate policy.

This week: weaken data privacy and AI rules to the benefit of Trump's Big Tech backers.

Does the EU really want to be joining us under techno-oligarchal rule?
What the Commission calls “simplification” is in fact a sweeping rollback of core digital rights. Daniel Leufer of Access Now unpacks what the European Commission is really proposing — and what it means for digital rights in the EU and beyond.
Digital Rights Are on the Chopping Block in the European Commission’s Omnibus | TechPolicy.Press
Changes proposed under the Digital Omnibus point to a shift away from empowering people and towards granting discretion to business, writes Daniel Leufer.
www.techpolicy.press
November 19, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
President Trump is in the process of sending millions of dollars in taxpayer money directly to his political allies — and himself.

One of the biggest beneficiaries may be Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor.
Grand theft government
President Trump is in the process of sending millions of dollars in taxpayer money directly to his political allies — and himself.
popular.info
November 18, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
it is extraordinary that gov. hochul's response to seeing a war on clean energy from washington dc is to capitulate in advance, and that she thinks that's somehow evidence of good, commonsense politics

www.canarymedia.com/articles/car...
New York pauses its landmark gas ban in new buildings
The state will delay enforcement until a legal dispute is settled, the latest in a string of moves from Gov. Hochul to “govern in reality” around energy.
www.canarymedia.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Fun fact: the US sells more higher ed to China than soybeans
Trump's campaign to kill an industry where America runs a massive trade surplus is succeeding
New foreign student enrollment in the US fell 17% this fall www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
November 17, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
In 2024, Tesla reported a profit of $7.1B but paid no corporate income tax—and it's legal. Corporations are forever telling the IRS their profits are low, even as they tell Wall Street that their profits are high

Both Trump terms have been one business tax cut after another. trib.al/qRro3dA
November 17, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Not a good look for the Governor, as she approves a new natural gas pipeline as well as gas for a crypto-mining operation. Both decisions fly in the face of NY's climate law.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/n...
@doreenharris.bsky.social @governor.ny.gov
Hochul Approved Permits That Could Help Clients of Her Husband’s Firm
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Audrey Stienon
Senator Menendez is sitting in his cell at Allenwood right now because he took a 1kg gold bar from the Egyptians, among other forms of “lobbying.”
"It was tough to beat Apple, but the Swiss did it." said one administration official.

How the Swiss convinced Trump to drop tariffs with gifts of a Rolex desk clock and a 1 kg gold bar.

www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How to lobby Trump with Swiss precision: gifts, gold and gab
How the Swiss broke a diplomatic logjam on tariffs by arriving with tributes fit for a king.
www.axios.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:31 PM