The tenants just wanted to talk to their landlord.

Dozens of residents from across the country gathered Monday at the Capital Realty Group offices in Spring Valley, New York, hoping to set up a meeting with the real estate company’s president, Moshe Eichler.

These individuals were part of a first-of-its-kind nationwide tenants union, representing residents of more than 1,500 affordable housing units across nine properties in six states, including Colorado. But the landlord, they say, won’t recognize their union or negotiate.

As the group of 70 began a news conference outside the office, they were met by a strange sight: Dozens of people arrived to counter their protest, video provided by union organizers shows. These men, most of whom appeared to be Hispanic, carried Israeli flags and signs about combating antisemitism. They admitted to an interpreter that they didn’t know why they were there, the translator told The Denver Post.

A Denver building for elderly and disabled residents wanted to unionize. The private-equity landlord had other ideas.

Residents involved in the tenants union say they want a voice to help them improve living conditions.

^{Sam Tabachnik (The Denver Post)}

https://apnews.com/article/eurovision-song-contest-nemo-israel-c84aef492683ecbf417065ff7bc0eb16

A top FBI official toed the White House line about antifa as a major domestic terror threat at a House hearing on Thursday — but he struggled to answer questions about the leaderless movement.

Pressed repeatedly by a top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee about antifa’s size and location, the operations director of the FBI’s national security division didn’t have answers.

At one point, the FBI’s Michael Glasheen fumbled with his hands as he tried to find an answer for the question from Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

“Well, the investigations are active,” Glasheen said.

How Many Members Does Antifa Have? Where Is Its Headquarters? The FBI Has No Answers.

Despite saying that antifa is the biggest U.S. domestic threat, the FBI couldn’t explain how the movement is a “terror organization” — or an organization at all.

^{Matt Sledge (The Intercept)}

With support from Microsoft, Stripe, and Shopify, Running Tide billed itself as on the cutting edge of carbon removal. In the end, it resorted to dumping thousands of tons of wood chips in the sea.

Archived copies of the article:
* archive.today

https://www.wired.com/story/how-the-next-big-thing-in-carbon-removal-sunk-without-a-trace/

The development suggests that the White House is planning a broader campaign against Venezuela’s oil exports. The U.S. seized a tanker on Wednesday that had allegedly transported oil from Venezuela to Iran.

The oil market has been focused on Ukraine peace talks and so far is not indicating a risk of a major supply disruption. U.S. crude oil was last down $1.04, 1.78%, to $57.42 a barrel. Global benchmark Brent was at $61.11, down $1.10, or 1.77%.

U.S. preparing to seize more oil tankers off Venezuela coast: Report

^{Spencer Kimball (CNBC)}

Linus Tips Tech ha fatto questo esperimentino l’altro giorno… chissà se per puro sfizio personale, o per una ritrovata nostalgia per i tempi in cui si stava meglio quando si stava peggio, visto che almeno, quando lui era ragazzino, ed Internet in casa era al massimo 56k, certamente non c’era una crisi sul mercato delle […]

octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…

minioctt

2025-12-11 18:49:20

(LTT) “How Bad is Dialup Internet in 2025?”

youtube.com/watch?v=T-qyNFjZaQ…

Linus Tips Tech ha fatto questo esperimentino l’altro giorno… chissà se per puro sfizio personale, o per una ritrovata nostalgia per i tempi in cui si stava meglio quando si stava peggio, visto che almeno, quando lui era ragazzino, ed Internet in casa era al massimo 56k, certamente non c’era una crisi sul mercato delle RAM dovuta allo schifo che fanno gli AI-bro… ma sto divagando un botto, ops; meglio vedere che ha combinato… o, in altri termini, cos’ha da dire uno che, comunque, nonostante la mia eternità, è più vecchio di me. 🌐

Allora, “quanto fa schifo usare Internet via modem telefonico nel 2025???” è la domanda che egli si pone con questo video… e, la risposta è: molto… e c’è per caso gente stupita di ciò? Però insomma, diciamo che in realtà dipende, perché dire “Internet” è dire un po’ tutto e niente. Se si intendono le e-mail (attraverso client nativi classici), e roba di quel tipo, allora OK, la dialuppa funziona… e, addirittura, è possibile pure fare un pochino di esotico gaming, altro ché! (Oddio, sempre ammesso che gli astri permettano, che non sempre è il caso….) Purtroppo, però, il web, che effettivamente ad oggi è praticamente il 98% di Internet mi sa, è un vero disastro, a dire poco… è assolutamente inutilizzabile, a dire meglio. 👻

Almeno usando un browser moderno del calibro di Chromium, testando le home page di vari siti… Google richiede più di una pausa pipì per caricare, Wikipedia almeno quanto una pausa sigaretta veloce, e Reddit è abbastanza pesante da consentire forse una pausa cacca (ma non diarrea eh, attenzione se ci provate). Bloccare il caricamento automatico delle immagini (che neanche sapevo fosse una funzionalità in Chromium!!!) aiuta un pochino, come osserva Linus, e bloccare gli script (dove possibile) pure un po’ in più, aggiungo io… ma il vero problema è che le pagine web ormai son grosse, piene spesso sia di HTML ciccione inutile (e WordPress in questo fa scuola, comunque…), e di tanti script e tracker e robe… ma, sorprendentemente, pure il solo CSS è spesso pesantissimo!!! 🥴

Non ho tantissimo tempo da perdere come Linus, io, ma comunque un po’ di tempo da perdere lo avevo, poco fa… Quindi, ho fatto qualche test al volo con certi miei siti, usando la funzione di Chromium per fare il throttling della rete, con gli stessi parametri che Linus ha usato per simulare accuratamente una linea 56k, dopo aver rinunciato a fare le prove con la vera dial-up, che si è rivelata più merdosa del previsto (perché in realtà ben meno di 56k… non ironicamente, non c’è più la dial-up di una volta): 53 k/s down, 48 k/s up, 250 ms ping, 1.5% packet drop. Se i miei Pignio e Aggregodo, che usano dei grossi framework CSS, impiegano praticamente un fottuto minuto a caricare la home così… Brutkey, il mio client Misskey per web legacy, in meno di 10 secondi ha presentato la timeline, gustoso! Ho in realtà provato anche a caricare la home di un subreddit su Reddit Old, con ovviamente sia immagini che script disattivati, e ci ha messo solo 20 secondi… Quindi, ok, male ma non malissimo. 🙄

Comunque, è veramente assurdo che nel 2025 ci sia ancora la dial-up in giro… cosa a proposito della quale non sono contro eh, perché oh, magari lo sfizio, gnam, evviva poter scegliere… Ma è assolutamente merdoso che in molti posti, per molte persone, sia l’unica opzione davvero accessibile, cioè l’unica con prezzi accettabili o forse anche l’unica fisicamente disponibile… questo non va bene, che schifo. La cosa incredibile però è che, per quello che so (poi magari so male, ma intanto…), solo il Nord America è messo così di merda… porca miseria, pure nei fottuti villaggi dell’Africa hanno delle connessioni wireless accettabili, cioè, che cazzo!!! 🥀

#56k #dialUp #internet #linustechtips #ltt

- YouTube

Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.

^{www.youtube.com}

cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7003237

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1282…

Visiting the US as a tourist could soon become significantly more onerous under a new plan being mulled by the Trump administration.

According to a Tuesday report in the New York Times, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) this week filed a new proposal that would force visitors to submit up to five years' worth of social media posts for inspection before being allowed to enter the country.

In addition to social media history, CPB says it plans to ask prospective tourists to provide them with email addresses they've used over the last decade, as well as "the names, birth dates, places of residence, and birthplaces of parents, spouses, siblings, and children."

The policy would apply even to citizens of countries that have long been US allies, including the UK, Germany, Australia, and Japan, which have long been exempt from visa requirements.

Sophia Cope, a senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the Times that the CBP policy would "exacerbate civil liberties harms."

Cope added that such policies have "not proven effective at finding terrorists and other bad guys" but have instead "chilled the free speech and invaded the privacy of innocent travelers, along with that of their American family, friends and colleagues."

Journalist Bethany Allen, head of China investigations at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, expressed shock that the US would take such drastic measures to scrutinize the social media posts of tourists.

"Wow," she wrote in a post on X, "even China doesn't do this."

In addition to concerns about civil liberties violations, there are also worries about what the new policy would do to the US tourism industry.

The Times noted in its report that several tourism-dependent businesses last month signed a letter opposing an administration proposal to collect a $250 "visa integrity fee," and one travel industry official told the paper that the CBP's new proposal appears to be "a significant escalation in traveler vetting."

The American tourism industry has already taken a blow during President Donald Trump's second term, even without a policy of forcing tourists to share their social media history.

A report released on Wednesday from Democrats on the Senate's Joint Economic Committee (JEC) found that US businesses that have long depended on tourism from Canada to stay afloat have been getting hit hard, as Canadian tourists stay away in protest of Trump's trade war against their country.

Overall, the report found that "the number of passenger vehicles crossing the US-Canada border declined by nearly 20% compared to the same time period in 2024, with some states seeing declines as large as 27%."

Elizabeth Guerin, owner of New Hampshire-based gift shop Fiddleheads, told the JEC that Canadians used to make up to a quarter of her custom base, but now "I can probably count the number of Canadian visitors on one hand."

Christa Bowdish, owner of the Vermont-based Old Stagecoach Inn, told the JEC that she feared a long-term loss in Canadian customers, even if Trump ended his feud with the nation tomorrow.

"This is long-lasting damage to a relationship and emotional damage takes time to heal," she said. "While people aren’t visiting Vermont, they’ll be finding new places to visit, making new memories, building new family traditions, and we will not recapture all of that."

---

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7003411

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1253…

This article by Luis Hernández Navarro originally appeared in the December 9, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Since 2002, the date of the 47-hour coup against Hugo Chávez, Washington has unsuccessfully sponsored and supported regime change in Venezuela time and again. In the name of human rights, freedom, and democracy, economic sanctions, color revolutions, oil strikes, recognition of illegitimate leaders, theft of foreign currency and infrastructure, assassination attempts, media offensives, military uprisings, and threats of ground invasion have been instigated or combined without interruption.

Many of these attacks, aimed at seizing the largest oil reserves on the planet, are acts of international piracy. They have caused immense damage to the country and enormous suffering to its people. They have resulted in billions of dollars in lost oil revenue. Countless Venezuelans have been forced to migrate to other nations to survive. Meanwhile, a segment of the old, corrupt oligarchy lives the high life in their mansions in Miami and Madrid.

But despite the lethality of the punishments and the harshness of the siege, the Bolivarian Revolution continues. Certainly, some Chavista political leaders have betrayed the cause. A few military and intelligence officers have gone over to the enemy ranks. Intellectuals have succumbed to the siren song of metropolitan power. But, against all odds, the majority of the population draws a line in the sand against gunboat democracy; they remain loyal to a project that allowed them to recover their dignity and advance in popular power.

For 27 years, Bolivarianism has won almost every election. Desperate in the face of this setback, the empire has tried other formulas for regime change. In December 2007, Enrique Krauze laid his cards on the table. “If Hugo Chávez has thought of turning Venezuela into a Cuba with oil, the Venezuelans who oppose him have discovered the antidote. It is the student movement,” he wrote. So the far right latched onto this movement and tested an insurrectionary scheme. However, the reactionary forces clashed with a reality that wasn’t in their playbooks. So they left to make their fortunes abroad.

All imperial attempts at regime change have run up against what, until now, seems insurmountable: the unity of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB). There is not a single indicator showing any internal divisions. Part of the key to this unity is the development of a new military doctrine known as the Comprehensive Defense of the Nation. This doctrine seeks to confront the US military threat based on a set of actions designed to deter a technologically and numerically superior enemy.

This strategy has three central elements: strengthening military power, deepening the civil-military union (between the people and the soldiers), and bolstering popular participation in national defense tasks. Previously, the armed forces were fragmented into divisions and brigades. Commander Chávez organized the country into regions, and each region has a military structure with all its components: Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, militias, and the people.

If someone attacks a region, that region has the capacity to defend itself. It doesn’t need to move units from elsewhere. On February 23, 2019, under the pretext of bringing in humanitarian aid from Colombia, the Contras and Washington attempted to establish a beachhead in Táchira that would give the illegitimate Juan Guaidó control of a strip of Venezuelan territory to establish a “seat of government.” For 17 hours, fierce clashes erupted between Chavistas and Venezuelan paramilitaries and guarimberos, who operated mostly from the Colombian side. The skirmish ended with the opposition’s defeat.

Diosdado Cabello

There, amidst the events, at the military installation beside the Simón Bolívar Bridge, I spoke with Diosdado Cabello, then president of the National Constituent Assembly. Most of the FANB (National Bolivarian Armed Forces) chiefs were also present, whom he introduced to me as his friends and as longtime collaborators of Hugo Chávez. I asked him about the resolve of his troops. In good spirits, he explained: “President Maduro has visited every barracks. He shows up in the early morning.”

He arrives, runs with them, shares, does military exercises with them. We have total contact with them. We are like brothers. Many of us have been in this movement since we were children. We support each other and follow each other. We are a family. They will not break us…” Regarding the role of the militias, he told me: “For the friends of the State, they are a diamond. For the enemies of the State, they are the worst news.” A military intervention by a foreign country in Venezuela is very complicated, and not only because of the civil-military alliance.

Caracas has modernized its weaponry by acquiring it from Russia, China, and Iran, with whom it also maintains an alliance. Furthermore, it covers an area of ​​almost one million square kilometers. Its topography is highly diverse: the Andes mountain range, the Coastal Range, and the Guiana Shield, along with the extensive Orinoco River basin. It boasts 4,208 kilometers of coastline and dense rainforests. The poor neighborhoods of cities like Caracas are dangerous. It shares a 2,341-kilometer border with Colombia, a 2,199-kilometer border with Brazil, and a 789-kilometer border with Guyana.

No neighboring country desires armed conflict on its borders. Venezuela possesses the men, weapons, determination, and territory capable of sustaining a prolonged popular resistance, turning any attempt to occupy the country into a quagmire for whoever tries it. Regardless of what might happen on the day of the occupation, the true military challenge for an invading force lies in what to do in the days that follow. However, beyond what may happen in the future, in Venezuela, today is the time for peace.

Luis Hernández Navarro is the Opinion editor of La Jornada*, and the author of numerous books, including* Chiapas: La nueva lucha india and Self-Defense in Mexico: Indigenous Community Policing and the New Dirty Wars.

---

From Mexico Solidarity Media via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7003282

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1281…

Hussam Badran, of Hamas’ political bureau, stated on Tuesday, December, 9 that the movement demands the cessation of Israel’s violations of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal before proceeding to phase two.

Badran added that any discussion on the second phase of the deal must be preceded by real pressure by the mediators and guarantors, above all the United States, to ensure that all terms of phase one were implemented.

The terms of the first phase included a prisoners-for-captives exchange, ending the fighting, and aid entry to the besieged enclave. However, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) committed 738 violations of the deal since phase one took effect on October 10, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

At least 386 civilians were killed, 980 others were wounded, and 43 were unlawfully arrested as a result of these violations. Death toll estimates of Palestinians killed by Israel since October 2023 vary. While the official death toll of the Gaza Government Media Office surpasses 70,000, independent calculations have the number much higher.

Disarming Palestinians equals taking their soul; says Khaled Meshaal

Amid uncertainties of the direction of the ceasefire, the Head of Hamas political bureau abroad, Khaled Meshaal, told Al Jazeera during an interview aired on Tuesday, that the Palestinian resistance is bringing forward “realistic and practical approaches”, which would guarantee no military escalation against Israel from the Gaza Strip, but without disarmament.

“For Palestinians, disarmament equals taking the soul,” Meshaal insisted.

The senior Hamas official also asserted that the movement rejects a non-Palestinian authority to rule Gaza, in response to the US-led “board of peace” proposed by President Donald Trump.

Meshaal further emphasized the importance of providing aid to Gaza as a prerequisite for negotiations on phase two of the deal.

The post No discussions on phase two of the ceasefire as long as Israel continues attacks, says Hamas appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

---

From Peoples Dispatch via This RSS Feed.

Hamas says no second phase for Gaza ceasefire until Israel ceases 'violations'

Palestinian militant group Hamas on Tuesday threatened to delay the start of phase two of the Gaza ceasefire agreement until more pressure is put on Israel to cease deadly strikes, open the key Allenby border crossing and allow more aid into the bele…

^{FRANCE 24}

cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7003284

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1280…

At a time when the American public, and especially Democratic voters, express overwhelming distrust of artificial intelligence and Big Tech, the top House Democrat is being accused of failing to meet the moment.

On Tuesday, in preparation for an executive order to be signed this week by President Donald Trump, which would seek to block states from implementing new AI regulations, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) unveiled his own effort to cozy up to the industry, whose major players have set aside more than $200 million to push out anti-AI politicians during the 2026 midterms, according to the New York Times.

Jeffries announced the creation of a “House Democratic Commission on AI and the Innovation Economy,” which will “develop policy expertise in partnership with the innovation community, relevant stakeholders, and committees of jurisdiction.”

What immediately caught the eye of critics was the list of fellow Democrats Jeffries picked to serve on the commission. It will be co-chaired by Reps. Ted Lieu (Calif.), Josh Gottheimer (NJ), and Valerie Foushee (NC), with Reps. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.) and Frank Pallone (NJ) serving as ex officio co-chairs.

As Sludge reported Tuesday: "The panel’s leaders rank among the House Democrats with the deepest ties to Big Tech and AI, from holding millions of dollars in tech stock to the contributions they’ve raised for their campaigns and the Republican-backed deregulation bills they've signed onto."

In July, Gottheimer introduced a bill along with Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) "that would require financial regulators to create 'AI Innovation Labs' where firms could experiment with AI-driven financial products under looser regulations and without the normal threats of enforcement actions."

Gottheimer is also a major stakeholder in Microsoft, which has invested tens of millions of dollars into AI and nearly $7.5 million on lobbying in 2025 so far. Beyond the almost $100,000 in contributions Gottheimer has received from Microsoft, he is also a former executive who received anywhere from $1 million to $5 million last year from his stock holdings in the company, according to financial disclosure forms. He also frequently trades in other AI power players like Amazon, Meta, and Dell.

Lofgren, meanwhile, has accepted more money from the Internet industry over the course of her career than all but one other current House Democrat—including $265,000 from Google, $115,000 from Apple, and $110,000 from Meta, according to data from OpenSecrets.

In September 2024, Lofgren co-sponsored a bill introduced by Rep. Jay Abernolte (R-Calif.) which "would create a federal 'center for AI advancement and reliability' that it would instruct to work closely with private companies and other stakeholders on developing 'voluntary best practices and technical standards for evaluating the reliability, robustness, resilience, security, and safety of artificial intelligence systems.'"

Foushee, a member of the corporate-backed New Democrat Coalition, rode to Congress in 2022 with more than $1 million from the Protect Our Future political action committee, which was backed by former FTX CEO and convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

In response to Trump's industry-friendly "AI Action Plan" in July, Foushee and the New Democrats unveiled their own "Innovation Agenda," which called for federal tax credits to companies that "reskill" workers and perform private research and development as well as federal investments in apprenticeships and "labor market data modernization."

Jeffries has neglected to take a position on Trump's proposal to preempt state regulations. Last Monday, he told reporters, "That conversation hasn't been brought to the leadership level yet."

In his statement announcing the Democratic commission on Tuesday, Jeffries said, "It is important that American companies continue to thrive" in the arena of AI, while "at the same time, Congress must consider what policies are needed to prevent bad actors from exploiting this transformative technology and inflicting harm upon the American people." However, he did not specifically mention Trump's pending block on state regulations.

— (@)

A poll released Friday by the progressive group Demand Progress showed that Americans across the political spectrum are unsettled by AI's influence in Washington: 68% of respondents overall said they were more worried that "the US government will not regulate artificial intelligence enough," as opposed to just 21% who feared too much regulation. While Democrats and independents were somewhat more concerned about underregulation at 71%, Republicans largely shared those fears, with 62% saying they feared the government would not regulate AI enough.

The consensus was even stronger regarding Big Tech's power over AI policy, with 78% of respondents overall saying it had too much influence. This included 81% of Democrats and independents and 74% of Republicans.

With this in mind, many critics were puzzled by Jeffries' decision to stack his AI commission with some of the industry's top allies.

— (@)

As Aaron Regunberg wrote in the New Republic last month, harnessing anger against the rapid, largely unregulated expansion of expensive, energy-sucking AI data centers was an essential part of Democrats' victories across the board in November's off-year elections:

In New Jersey, Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s closing argument was a pledge to freeze electricity rates, which have soared because of data-center demand.

In Virginia, Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger won after pledging to make data centers “pay their own way,” and many Democrats went even further.

At least one candidate, John McAuliff, flipped a seat in the House of Delegates by focusing on tying his Republican opponent to the “unchecked growth” of data centers, with an ad that asked, “Do you want more of these in your backyard?”

And in Georgia, Democrats won their first nonfederal statewide races in decades, earning 60% of the vote against two Republican members of the Public Service Commission by criticizing Big Tech “sweetheart deals” and campaigning for policies “to ensure that the communities that they’re extracting from” don’t end up with their “water supplies … tapped out or their energy … maxed out.”

"This is the most populist moment of voter rage I've ever seen, and the leading Democrats are absolutely hostile to the idea of doing anything to address Silicon Valley's massive power," said Matt Stoller, an anti-monopoly expert.

"Anticorruption is one of the strongest arguments with the broadest appeal in American politics right now, but the Democratic leadership simply refuses to stop tanking it," added Matt Duss, a former advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

"I have never seen a gulf this wide between Democratic leadership and the party writ large," said author Zachary D. Carter. "The top is corrupt, the base is raging against corruption."

---

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

thelastaxolotl [he/him]

2025-12-10 20:47:50

Hakeem Jeffries Pilloried for Putting Pro-Industry Democrats on AI Policy Task Force, Despite Voter Distrust of Big Tech

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1280…

At a time when the American public, and especially Democratic voters, express overwhelming distrust of artificial intelligence and Big Tech, the top House Democrat is being accused of failing to meet the moment.

On Tuesday, in preparation for an executive order to be signed this week by President Donald Trump, which would seek to block states from implementing new AI regulations, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) unveiled his own effort to cozy up to the industry, whose major players have set aside more than $200 million to push out anti-AI politicians during the 2026 midterms, according to the New York Times.

Jeffries announced the creation of a “House Democratic Commission on AI and the Innovation Economy,” which will “develop policy expertise in partnership with the innovation community, relevant stakeholders, and committees of jurisdiction.”

What immediately caught the eye of critics was the list of fellow Democrats Jeffries picked to serve on the commission. It will be co-chaired by Reps. Ted Lieu (Calif.), Josh Gottheimer (NJ), and Valerie Foushee (NC), with Reps. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.) and Frank Pallone (NJ) serving as ex officio co-chairs.

As Sludge reported Tuesday: "The panel’s leaders rank among the House Democrats with the deepest ties to Big Tech and AI, from holding millions of dollars in tech stock to the contributions they’ve raised for their campaigns and the Republican-backed deregulation bills they've signed onto."

In July, Gottheimer introduced a bill along with Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) "that would require financial regulators to create 'AI Innovation Labs' where firms could experiment with AI-driven financial products under looser regulations and without the normal threats of enforcement actions."

Gottheimer is also a major stakeholder in Microsoft, which has invested tens of millions of dollars into AI and nearly $7.5 million on lobbying in 2025 so far. Beyond the almost $100,000 in contributions Gottheimer has received from Microsoft, he is also a former executive who received anywhere from $1 million to $5 million last year from his stock holdings in the company, according to financial disclosure forms. He also frequently trades in other AI power players like Amazon, Meta, and Dell.

Lofgren, meanwhile, has accepted more money from the Internet industry over the course of her career than all but one other current House Democrat—including $265,000 from Google, $115,000 from Apple, and $110,000 from Meta, according to data from OpenSecrets.

In September 2024, Lofgren co-sponsored a bill introduced by Rep. Jay Abernolte (R-Calif.) which "would create a federal 'center for AI advancement and reliability' that it would instruct to work closely with private companies and other stakeholders on developing 'voluntary best practices and technical standards for evaluating the reliability, robustness, resilience, security, and safety of artificial intelligence systems.'"

Foushee, a member of the corporate-backed New Democrat Coalition, rode to Congress in 2022 with more than $1 million from the Protect Our Future political action committee, which was backed by former FTX CEO and convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

In response to Trump's industry-friendly "AI Action Plan" in July, Foushee and the New Democrats unveiled their own "Innovation Agenda," which called for federal tax credits to companies that "reskill" workers and perform private research and development as well as federal investments in apprenticeships and "labor market data modernization."

Jeffries has neglected to take a position on Trump's proposal to preempt state regulations. Last Monday, he told reporters, "That conversation hasn't been brought to the leadership level yet."

In his statement announcing the Democratic commission on Tuesday, Jeffries said, "It is important that American companies continue to thrive" in the arena of AI, while "at the same time, Congress must consider what policies are needed to prevent bad actors from exploiting this transformative technology and inflicting harm upon the American people." However, he did not specifically mention Trump's pending block on state regulations.

— (@)

A poll released Friday by the progressive group Demand Progress showed that Americans across the political spectrum are unsettled by AI's influence in Washington: 68% of respondents overall said they were more worried that "the US government will not regulate artificial intelligence enough," as opposed to just 21% who feared too much regulation. While Democrats and independents were somewhat more concerned about underregulation at 71%, Republicans largely shared those fears, with 62% saying they feared the government would not regulate AI enough.

The consensus was even stronger regarding Big Tech's power over AI policy, with 78% of respondents overall saying it had too much influence. This included 81% of Democrats and independents and 74% of Republicans.

With this in mind, many critics were puzzled by Jeffries' decision to stack his AI commission with some of the industry's top allies.

— (@)

As Aaron Regunberg wrote in the New Republic last month, harnessing anger against the rapid, largely unregulated expansion of expensive, energy-sucking AI data centers was an essential part of Democrats' victories across the board in November's off-year elections:

In New Jersey, Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s closing argument was a pledge to freeze electricity rates, which have soared because of data-center demand.

In Virginia, Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger won after pledging to make data centers “pay their own way,” and many Democrats went even further.

At least one candidate, John McAuliff, flipped a seat in the House of Delegates by focusing on tying his Republican opponent to the “unchecked growth” of data centers, with an ad that asked, “Do you want more of these in your backyard?”

And in Georgia, Democrats won their first nonfederal statewide races in decades, earning 60% of the vote against two Republican members of the Public Service Commission by criticizing Big Tech “sweetheart deals” and campaigning for policies “to ensure that the communities that they’re extracting from” don’t end up with their “water supplies … tapped out or their energy … maxed out.”

"This is the most populist moment of voter rage I've ever seen, and the leading Democrats are absolutely hostile to the idea of doing anything to address Silicon Valley's massive power," said Matt Stoller, an anti-monopoly expert.

"Anticorruption is one of the strongest arguments with the broadest appeal in American politics right now, but the Democratic leadership simply refuses to stop tanking it," added Matt Duss, a former advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

"I have never seen a gulf this wide between Democratic leadership and the party writ large," said author Zachary D. Carter. "The top is corrupt, the base is raging against corruption."

---

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

Ga. rate panel election focuses on power bills, data centers

Two seats are up for grabs on the Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities and decides whether power bills increase.

^{Staff (WRDW-TV/WAGT-TV)}

Senior Democratic lawmakers and at least one Republican have condemned Wednesday’s seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker off the nation’s coast, with one saying Donald Trump is “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.

There is growing, at least somewhat bipartisan unease in Washington over the administration’s escalating military posture in the region. Trump has accused Venezuela of facilitating drug trafficking, and increased the US military presence in the Caribbean to a level not seen in decades. The administration has also conducted a campaign of bombings of alleged drug boats, killing more than 80 people so far.

Trump confirmed the tanker seizure shortly after it occurred, telling reporters: “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela – large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually.” When asked what would happen to the oil, Trump responded: “We keep the oil, I guess!”

US lawmakers condemn seizure of Venezuelan oil tanker: ‘Trump is sleepwalking us into a war’

Unease grows in Washington, including among some Republicans, over Trump administration’s escalating military posture in the Caribbean

^{Joseph Gedeon (The Guardian)}