Podcasts about x corp

In today's episode, we cover X Corp's legal battle in India, the AI-driven future of Global Capability Centres, and fresh funding rounds for fintech startup Scapia, storytelling platform Pratilipi, and South Indian snack brand Sweet Karam Coffee. Plus, Lenskart's Peyush Bansal shares his insights on “omni-customer” retail. Tune in for the latest in tech and startups!

There's a new one-stop-shop for all things arts-related at the City of Austin this week, after Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced the creation of a new Office of Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment that will focus on “sustaining and growing Austin's creative sector.” On today's Friday news roundup, host Nikki DaVaughn, KUT reporter Lauren McGaughy, and executive producer Eva Ruth Moravec break down just what this new office will do. Plus, what it means to Bastrop County to be home to Elon Musk's headquarters for X Corp. and The Boring Co., and we have a fantastic list of weekend activities for you to check out.  Hey, want to join our team? We're hiring a producer, and you can apply here. Learn more about the sponsor of this February 21st episode: Tecovas Babbel - Get up to 60% off at Babbel.com/CITYCAST Want some more Austin news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Austin newsletter.  Follow us @citycastaustin You can also text us or leave a voicemail at (512) 200-2227 Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE 

S&P futures are up +0.08% as of now, pointing to a marginally higher open as markets weigh the upcoming FOMC meeting minutes and the potential impact of new U.S. tariffs on autos, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals. Asian markets delivered a mixed performance on Wednesday. The Hang Seng fell slightly but saw continued gains in its tech index. European markets are mixed in early trading. Companies Mentioned: HP Inc, Shift4, Colgate-Palmolive, X Corp (formerly Twitter)

This Day in Legal History: Wyoming Territory SuffrageOn December 10, 1869, the Wyoming Territory made history by enacting the first law in the United States to grant women the right to vote. Signed into law by Governor John A. Campbell, the legislation represented a bold step toward gender equality in a country where voting rights for women were otherwise non-existent. This groundbreaking decision was influenced by a mix of progressive ideals and pragmatic concerns. Some lawmakers supported the measure as a genuine effort to recognize women's rights, while others believed it might attract settlers to the sparsely populated territory.The law not only granted women the right to vote but also allowed them to hold public office, a rarity even in international contexts at the time. The first woman to serve on a jury in the U.S. would soon do so in Wyoming, and Esther Hobart Morris became the first female justice of the peace in 1870, further cementing Wyoming's legacy as a leader in women's rights.Although Wyoming's population was small and its territorial status meant it didn't have full representation in Congress, the move set a precedent that fueled the broader suffrage movement. When Wyoming sought statehood in 1890, it faced pressure to revoke women's voting rights, but the state stood firm, famously declaring it would remain out of the Union rather than sacrifice women's suffrage. This early commitment earned Wyoming its nickname, the "Equality State."By taking this step in 1869, Wyoming paved the way for the eventual passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which extended voting rights to women across the United States. Wyoming's decision remains a landmark moment in the history of democracy and gender equality in America.President-elect Donald Trump's administration is expected to target diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in businesses and universities, arguing that such policies violate anti-discrimination laws. The Justice Department under Trump plans to investigate and potentially litigate against these practices, framing them as unlawful discrimination. Trump's nominee to lead the Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, has a record of opposing "woke" corporate policies. The administration may leverage Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to challenge federally funded programs that consider race in decision-making, including university admissions and healthcare equity initiatives. Legal challenges to DEI efforts could also arise from private lawsuits, some of which have already been dismissed due to lack of standing. Conservative groups, such as America First Legal, have intensified pressure on corporations to dismantle diversity initiatives, often citing laws historically intended to protect marginalized communities. Critics argue this approach undermines the mission of civil rights laws, which were designed to address systemic inequities affecting underrepresented groups. Proponents of DEI programs contend they are crucial for addressing structural racism and promoting equitable opportunities. However, the threat of government scrutiny may prompt some companies to scale back their diversity commitments, as seen recently with Walmart and JPMorgan Chase. Legal experts note that while many DEI policies may withstand legal challenges, the broader campaign against them reflects a contentious debate over equity, merit, and the role of government in addressing societal disparities.DOJ v. DEI: Trump's Justice Department likely to target diversity programs | ReutersThe bankruptcy court hearing over Alex Jones' Infowars platform began with heated accusations, including claims of "voodoo economics" from Jones' attorney. The trustee overseeing the bankruptcy has chosen The Onion's corporate parent, Global Tetrahedron LLC, as the preferred bidder with a $7 million offer, which includes waived claims by Sandy Hook families against sale proceeds. Competing bidder First United American Cos., offering $3.5 million in cash and plans to keep Infowars operational, argues its bid is more substantial, calling The Onion's bid inflated and misleading.The sale aims to liquidate Jones' assets to address $1.3 billion in judgments related to his false claims about the Sandy Hook shooting. The Onion plans to replace Infowars with a new platform by January 2025, in collaboration with Everytown for Gun Safety. The Sandy Hook families' participation in boosting The Onion's bid has been criticized by Jones' team as manipulative.Meanwhile, social media accounts associated with Infowars on X (formerly Twitter) were excluded from the sale after X Corp. asserted ownership of the handles. The court has yet to decide who will take control of Infowars, with testimony expected to continue.Alex Jones Lawyer Accuses Onion of ‘Voodoo Economics' in CourtNew York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione, 26, with murder in the shooting of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson, concluding a five-day manhunt. Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being spotted at a McDonald's. Upon his capture, police found a "ghost gun" matching the weapon used in the crime, along with masks, cash, false IDs, and a handwritten manifesto expressing hostility toward corporate America. Mangione is also facing forgery and gun charges in Pennsylvania, where prosecutors successfully argued to deny him bail.Thompson, 50, was killed outside a Manhattan hotel, in what authorities believe was a targeted attack. Surveillance footage showed the suspect fleeing on a bike, later boarding a bus out of the city. Investigators are probing whether others were also targeted. Shell casings at the scene were inscribed with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose," referencing a book critical of the insurance industry.Mangione, a Maryland native and Ivy League graduate, had a documented history of academic excellence but harbored grievances against corporate entities. Thompson's murder has fueled public frustration over the insurance industry, though officials, including Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, have condemned any glorification of the act. Thompson, a longtime UnitedHealth executive and father of two, was in New York for an investor conference at the time of his death.Suspect in killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson charged with murder | ReutersTexas exemplifies the need to condition federal aid on state tax reform, especially as federal debt grows and economic inequities deepen. While Texas touts its business-friendly, low-tax environment, this model relies heavily on regressive taxes that disproportionately burden lower- and middle-income residents. The state's avoidance of personal and corporate income taxes forces reliance on property taxes—among the nation's highest—and sales taxes, both of which hit poorer Texans hardest. Compounding the inequity, Texas receives significant federal funding, partly financed by taxpayers in higher-tax states like California. This dynamic effectively subsidizes Texas' low-tax model at a national cost. The state's tax policies create a paradox: wealthy individuals and corporations enjoy the benefits of Texas' infrastructure and services while avoiding proportional contributions, with federal taxpayers covering the shortfall. This system also distorts interstate competition, incentivizing migrations to low-tax states and exacerbating national fiscal inequities. As population growth and climate challenges strain Texas' regressive tax system, federal policymakers may need to condition aid—such as disaster relief or infrastructure grants—on reforms that promote equity and fiscal sustainability.Texas Shows Why Federal Aid Should Be Tied to State Tax Reform This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

This Day in Legal History: Florida Recount StayedOn December 9, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision to stay the recount of presidential election votes in Florida, a pivotal moment in one of the most controversial elections in American history. The recount had been ordered by the Florida Supreme Court after a contentious election between George W. Bush and Al Gore left the outcome hinging on Florida's 25 electoral votes. The Supreme Court's stay temporarily halted efforts to resolve disputes over "hanging chads" and other ballot irregularities in a highly scrutinized manual recount process. This pause set the stage for the landmark decision in Bush v. Gore three days later. On December 12, the Court ruled that the recount violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, effectively ending the process and cementing George W. Bush's victory. The Court's majority held that varying standards for counting votes across Florida counties were inherently unequal, and there was insufficient time to establish uniform procedures before the Electoral College deadline.The decision was deeply divisive, with the dissenting justices arguing that halting the recount undermined public confidence in the democratic process. Critics of the ruling contended that it set a dangerous precedent by involving the judiciary in the electoral process, while supporters claimed it ensured a timely resolution in an unprecedented situation. Ultimately, the ruling awarded Bush the presidency by a margin of just 537 votes in Florida.The case has since been a flashpoint for debates about judicial impartiality and election integrity. It underscored the significance of state-level election laws and highlighted vulnerabilities in the U.S. electoral system that continue to shape legal and political discourse today.A legal showdown involving Alex Jones' Infowars, Elon Musk's X Corp., and The Onion centers on the ownership and transfer of social media accounts in bankruptcy proceedings. Infowars is being sold to The Onion's parent company, Global Tetrahedron LLC, as part of Jones' bankruptcy to cover $1.4 billion in defamation judgments owed to Sandy Hook families. However, X Corp. has filed objections, asserting that it owns Infowars' accounts under its terms of service and has the right to control their transfer or use.The Onion's winning bid, supported by some Sandy Hook families who agreed to defer payments, is under scrutiny for its structure and fairness. Judge Christopher Lopez will decide whether X's claim to ownership under its terms of service—which prohibits account transfers without consent—supersedes the bankruptcy estate's right to sell interests in the accounts. X's lawyers argue that the accounts are licenses, not assets, and therefore cannot be transferred. This legal stance aligns with prior cases that emphasized the authority of social media companies' terms of use.This dispute highlights X's aggressive stance under Musk's leadership in asserting control over account transfers, even as it risks alienating users. The case also raises broader questions about the transferability of accounts on other platforms, like Gab and Truth Social, which may have similar restrictions. The outcome could set precedent in determining how social media accounts are treated in bankruptcy, a legal area still in its infancy.US judge weighs fate of the Onion's buyout of Infowars | ReutersMusk Flexes Muscle to Stop Infowars' X Account Sale to The OnionByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, and the app itself have requested a temporary halt to a U.S. law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19, 2025, or face a ban. The companies filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, seeking relief while they petition for a review by the U.S. Supreme Court. They argue that the law would force TikTok, a major platform with over 170 million monthly U.S. users, to shut down just before a presidential inauguration.The divestment law, passed earlier in 2024, reflects ongoing concerns over national security risks linked to TikTok's ownership by a Chinese company. ByteDance contends the law undermines free speech and harms millions of American users and creators who rely on the platform for communication and income. The court's decision will determine whether the app remains operational during the Supreme Court review process.ByteDance, TikTok seek temporary halt to US crackdown law pending Supreme Court review | ReutersThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has asserted supervisory authority over Google Payment Corp., a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., as part of expanding oversight of nonbank financial platforms. This decision could lead to regulatory exams, though it does not imply any misconduct by Google. The CFPB stated that Google Payment Corp. meets the legal criteria for supervision, citing potential consumer risks linked to remaining balances in discontinued Google Pay accounts.Google quickly filed a lawsuit challenging the CFPB's authority, calling the move an example of government overreach. The company argues that the U.S. version of its Google Pay peer-to-peer payment service no longer exists and has posed no risks to consumers. Google contends that the CFPB's decision is legally flawed and lacks justification. The case reflects ongoing tensions between tech companies and financial regulators as agencies like the CFPB increasingly focus on nonbank platforms. While the CFPB has been criticized for underusing its authority in this area, Google's response highlights concerns about regulatory overreach and its impact on innovation.CFPB Claims Supervision Over Google Unit, Which Promptly Sues This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Xerox Corp. v. X Corp.

This week we talk about Mastodon, Threads, and twttr.We also discuss social platform clones, user exoduses, and communication fractures.Recommended Book: Invisible Rulers by Renée DiRestaTranscriptIn 2006, a prototype of a software project called twttr, t-w-t-t-r, was developed by Jack Dorsey and Florian Weber, that name used because the full twitter.com domain, the word with all its vowels, was already owned and in use, and because the vowel-less version of the word only had five letters, which aligned with SMS short codes for the US, which were basically shorthand versions of telephone numbers that were used in lieu of such numbers by mobile network operators at the time.Going without vowels was also super trendy in Silicon Valley back then, due to the flourishing of online success stories like Flickr.Twitter, in that early incarnation, was meant to be a one-to-many SMS service, which means sending text messages from one phone to multiple phones, rather than one to one, which was the default.This early prototype was used internally at Odeo, which was an early-2000s web-based media directory, founded by some of the same people who eventually founded Twitter as a company, and random fun fact, Kevin Systrom who eventually cofounded Instagram, was an intern at Odeo one summer, back in 2005, before the company was sold in 2007.Twitter was spun out as its own company the same year Odeo was sold, and by 2009 it had become the hot new thing in the burgeoning world of the web—folks were sending tens of thousands of tweets, messages that were shared one-to-many, though online, on the web, instead of via SMS, by the end of 2007, and that was up to 50 million a day by early 2010.The whole concept of Twitter, then, from its name, which was initially predicated on SMS short codes, to its famous 140-character limit, was based on earlier technology, that of text messages, and that sort of limitation—which has in the years since been messed with a bit, the company slowly adding more capabilities, including the sharing of images and videos and other media types—but those limitations have in part helped define this platform from its peers, as while Facebook expanded and expanded and expanded to gobble up all of its general-purpose social networking competitors, Instagram dominated the photo-posting space, and YouTube has locked down the long-form video world for more than a decade, twitter held its own as a less-sprawling, less successful by most metrics, but arguably more influential network because it was a place that was optimized for concision and up-to-the-minute conversation, as opposed to every other possible thing it could be.This meant that while it didn't have the same billion-plus user base, and it didn't have the ever-growing ad-revenue that Meta's platforms could claim, it was almost always the more culturally relevant network, its users sharing more up-to-date information, its communities generating more memes, which were then spread to other networks days or weeks later, and it became a hotbed of debate and exclusive information from journalists, politicians, and business owners.A lot changed when Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk bought the network in October of 2022, changing the name to X in mid-2023, and pivoting the company dramatically in basically every way: removing a lot of those earlier limitations, cutting the number of employees by something like 80%, and losing a lot of advertisers because of his many ideological statements and political stances—including his backing of former president and now president-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election.What I'd like to talk about today are the twitter clones that have popped up in recent years, and one in particular that, despite its still-small size and arguable underdog status, is being heralded as the possible successor of Twitter—in that original, influential and scrappy sense—and what makes this network, Bluesky, different from other would-be successors in this space.—The leadership at X, including owner Musk, recently promoted a new feature on the app that refocuses attention away from buttons like likes and shares in favor of views—a metric of engagement that some analysts have claimed is meant to conceal the fact that the network is seeing a lot less actual, human engagement, and because it feeds people posts it wants them to see, this change allows them to artificially inflate the seeming activity on these posts for advertising purposes: they can say, hey look how much attention these posts are getting, please buy some ads, and that allows them to charge a higher price than if they were using those more conventional engagement metrics, which are apparently collapsing.As a company, X has been hemorrhaging money since Musk took over, its ad revenue, which makes up the majority of its income, dropping by nearly half from 2022 to 2023, and it lost another 24% from the first half of 2023 to the first half of 2024.One estimate released in November of 2024 suggests that X may have missed out on nearly $6 billion in lost ad revenue since Musk took over in 2022, mostly because of all the decisions he's made—including basically going to war with many of the company's top advertisers, publicly criticizing and threatening them for not paying more and buying more ads—but also his many foot-in-mouth statements and, at times, support of extremist causes and characters.He's attempted to bring some of those advertisers back, with mixed success, as the ones that have returned after boycotts have usually invested far less than in the past, and most of the ad-buyers that have filled the gaps are paying a lot less per ad unit than before, and are generally of a lower quality: a lot of cheaply products from low-grade Chinese factories, scams of various sorts, and/or products sold by companies that are politically conservative culture-warriors, aimed at the network's increasingly right-leaning and far-right audience; a bit like what we've seen on Fox News over the past decade or so, following waves of sexual assault and other scandals on that network, which led to similar advertiser exoduses.It's also been estimated that the network lost a substantial portion of its total user-base following Musk's takeover, including something like a third of all users in the UK and around a fifth in the United States, all just in 2024, up till the month of September.That loss of revenue and users was enough to cause Fidelity, which owns a multi-million-dollar stake in X, to write down the value of its investment by more than 75%; in July of 2024, it estimated the company, which was purchased for about $44 billion by Musk was only worth about $9.4 billion; a substantial loss for them and their investment, but also for all other shareholders.All of which leads up to what happened in the wake of the US's most recent presidential election, during which Musk shelled out more than $100 million to support Trump's campaign, while also pulling out all the stops to promote the former president on X—something that many users weren't too keen on, as the owners of other social networks have been criticized and threatened in the past for showing any hint of political bias in their business decisions or personal life, and this was incredibly overt.This heavy-handed biasing of the network toward Trump, and that very public support of the candidate by X's owner, sparked a new exodus from the platform, some people simply quitting social media entirely, at least for a while, but others looking for something of the same, and thus checking out the twitter-clones that have popped up over the past handful of years; the majority of which only actually gained real momentum in the wake of Musk's takeover and rebranding of the network a few years ago.One of those twitter-alternatives, Mastodon, attracted a lot of early attention because of what it offered that twitter, and other mainstream social networks, did not: an open source platform based on the ActivityPub protocol, which means it can connected to other ActivityPub-capable social networks.So in theory at least, you can have a profile on a Mastodon instance—which a self-hosted Mastodon network, a social platform island of sorts that is connected to other such islands, the totality of the social network made up of a huge number of such instances, all interconnected in various ways, and each offering different rules and focuses—you can have that profile on that island function on other networks beyond Mastodon, as well.And that's interesting because it means your work, your posts and conversations, are all more portable, allowing you to move to different networks if you choose, without losing your history and connections and credibility, because it's all compatible with other networks.So it's almost like having a Facebook profile that you can also use on Twitter and Instagram and YouTube, if all those networks played well together and shared information and post types between each other; that's the promise of a protocol like ActivityPub and a network like Mastodon.Mastodon was made public in 2016 as a nonprofit, has basically the same feature-set as pre-Musk twitter, and while it had already gained a steady stream of users from previous upsets at networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, among other more mainstream networks, it attained a huge number of new users in 2022 on the news that Musk would be taking over Twitter, hitting around 2.5 million monthly active users by the end of that year.That number has since dropped to just under a million as of September 2024, suggesting that the initial wave of enthusiasm has crested; though the platform continues to see a lot of support within some online communities, and its interactivity with other networks, including Meta's Threads, which has also added ActivityPub functionality, means that its numbers will always be a little weird, as folks can read Mastodon content and interact with Mastodon users from other, connected networks.Speaking of which, Threads is a twitter-clone that was released by Facebook and Instagram parent-company Meta in July of 2023, and it attained more than 100 million users in just five days, which set a new record for the rate of user-attainment.It took a little while for the network to be released beyond the US, especially in the EU, due to regulatory concerns, and an earlier version of the app was more of a Snapchat-clone, but that one did badly enough with users that the company pulled it from app stores and reused the brand for this new app a few years after that failed experiment.Threads was able to achieve that high adoption rate in part because it promoted the app heavily on Instagram and Facebook, and in part because of Musk's takeover of, and changes to Twitter. Folks looking for a Twitter-alternative, but who didn't want to deal with the comparable complexity of something like Mastodon flooded into this new network, and Meta's decision to push politics and other serious discussions to the algorithmic back-burner made it a friendly space for brands and influencers who didn't want to be associated with the chaotic forces that were swirling around the newly rebranded X.So Threads is similar to Twitter, but it supports ActivityPub, like Mastodon, and has similar community guidelines to other Meta products—which means there's a lot less nudity, and fewer references to illegal things, like drugs.It was recently announced that Threads has surpassed 275 million monthly active users, which puts it within spitting distance of independent assessments of X's monthly active user figure, which Musk recently said was around 600 million, but Sensor Tower says is closer to 318 million, as of October of 2024.There's been some hubbub about the possibility that Threads might be seeing losses in activity on the network, though, including a drop in how much time users spend on it. This is potentially the result of that decision to keep controversial stuff more or less hidden, and to heavy handedly, compared to other networks, at least, curate the feeds of users, who have very limited power over what they see in their feeds.The company announced they would be adjusting the algorithm significantly in the near-future, in order to allow more breaking news and other such posts to rise to the forefront, and it's thought that this might be a response to the recent success of another twitter-clone called Bluesky.Bluesky was founded in 2021, and it was originally, back in 2019, an initiative by Twitter to see if decentralizing the network might be possible—making Twitter just one network in a fediverse of networks, basically. As a result, it's perched atop an open communication protocol it developed called the AT Protocol, which is distinct from, but similar in utility to ActivityPub, in that it allows social platforms to link up and interact with each other, despite being different networks.Bluesky is superficially similar to pre-Musk twitter, but one of its killer apps, one of the things that distinguishes it from most other options in this space right now, alongside the AT Protocol, is the ability to choose your own algorithm, so that rather than having Meta decide what you see in your feed, and rather than just seeing a chronological list of posts from people you follow, you can also choose to follow curated lists of people, to tweak the word and content filters you use, the way posts are arranged, and an abundance of other options; it's pretty versatile, and you can easily flip between different filters to peruse different sorts of content filtered in different ways.The network launched on an invite-only basis in 2023, and was fully opened to the public in February of 2024, at which point it had already attracted more than 3 million users.Shortly after that launch, Jack Dorsey—the co-founder of Twitter and Bluesky—left Bluesky's board, saying that the company was making all the mistakes Twitter made and that he was stepping aside to focus on another decentralized social network he founded, Nostr, instead.Bluesky continued to gain users though, relatively slowly most of the time, though whenever Musk did something controversial they would typically see a larger influx, as was the case for all twitter-clones.In October of 2024, several changes to Twitter, including one that basically rendered its block feature useless, and another that said the company could use all posted content for AI training purposes, led to a surge in Bluesky adoption, bringing in more than 1.2 million users in just two days.That paled in comparison to what happened in November, following the election, though, when Bluesky started to grow by about a million users a day, catapulting its user base to more than 20 people million as of November 20—a surge that rocketed the app to the top of the app charts. And for context, the company only has about 20 employees, as of late-November, so that's a huge employee-to-user ratio.Bluesky is not without controversy, as the company's leadership has already been criticized for taking investment money from Blockchain Capitol, which could change its incentives, and though it's approaching 25 million users as of the day I'm recording this, up from a small fraction of that just a month ago, that's less than 10% of what Threads and X have, and that growth is almost certain to slow sometime soon, once the post-election flight from X has subsided; so it's possible this surge could be similar to what Mastodon saw not too long ago—a big surge in users, followed by a ebb in activity as people stop using the network for various reasons.The company has also been experiencing growing pains, in terms of tech, because of that sudden, much larger scale, but also in terms of culture.All those newbies joining the network all at once are changing the platform's makeup, accidentally trampling Bluesky's traditions and folkways, while also changing the conversational mores and topics and trends from how they were, pre-user-flood.Bluesky is currently the one the beat in terms of growth rate, in other words, and it seems to have achieved significant cultural resonance following the election, especially for people on the left of the political spectrum who no longer feel welcome or comfortable on X.But both Mastodon and Threads have represented the same in recent years, too, though their growth largely the consequence of X's failure, not necessarily the result of their own accolades and advantages.It's possible what we're seeing here, then, is not a struggle to become the next Twitter, but rather the emergence of a fractured text-based social media ecosystem, each platform offering something the others don't, or favoring some groups and their needs over those of others, and that, in turn, leading to a more fractured communication ecosystem, and maybe reinforced filter bubbles, as well.Show Noteshttps://www.fastcompany.com/91230935/the-website-tracks-how-fast-bluesky-is-growing-in-near-real-timehttps://techcrunch.com/2024/10/18/bluesky-surges-into-the-top-5-as-x-changes-blocks-permits-ai-training-on-its-data/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_(social_network)https://news.sky.com/story/the-x-exodus-could-bluesky-spike-spark-end-of-elon-musks-social-media-platform-13254722https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-hides-x-engagement-figures-user-exodus-1990065https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/31/metas-threads-app-now-has-275-million-users-zuckerberg-says.htmlhttps://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/21747/2024-08-27/ad-revenue-freefall-continues-at-x.htmlhttps://www.warc.com/content/paywall/article/warc-curated-datapoints/counting-the-cost-xs-59bn-in-lost-ad-revenue-since-its-2022-takeover/en-gb/157583https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/11/21/are-users-leaving-elon-musks-x-en-masse-and-where-are-they-headinghttps://www.euronews.com/next/2024/10/01/x-has-lost-75-of-its-value-since-elon-musk-took-overhttps://www.cnn.com/2024/11/06/business/elon-musk-election-bet/index.htmlhttps://anderegg.ca/2024/11/15/maybe-bluesky-has-wonhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/technology/bluesky-growing-pains.htmlhttps://thenextweb.com/twitter/2011/07/15/5-years-ago-today-twitter-launched-to-the-public/https://www.businessinsider.com/how-twitter-was-founded-2011-4?op=1https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/technology/31ev.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Corp. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

The Business Pants Thanksgiving Special Game!Let's take a trip through history:Dark agesWalmart pulls back on DEI efforts, removes some LBGTQ merchandise from websiteThe nation's largest employer, which has about 1.6 million U.S. workers, joined a growing list of companies that have stepped back from diversity, equity and inclusion efforts after feeling the heat from conservative activists.In a statement, Walmart said it is “willing to change alongside our associates and customers who represent all of America.”“We've been on a journey and know we aren't perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers and to be a Walmart for everyone,” the statement said.Among the changes, Walmart will no longer allow third-party sellers to sell some LGBTQ-themed items on Walmart's website, including items marketed to transgender youth like chest binders, company spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said.She said it also recently decided to stop sharing data with the Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit that tracks companies' LGBTQ policies, or with other similar organizations.Additionally, the big-box retailer is winding down the Center for Racial Equity, a nonprofit that Walmart started in 2020 after George Floyd's murder sparked protests across the country. At the time, Walmart and the company's foundation pledged $100 million over five years to fight systemic racism and create the center.Over the past year, the company has phased out supplier diversity programs, which gave preferential financing to some groups, such as women and minorities, after the Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action.It's also moved away from using the term “diversity, equity and inclusion” or DEI in company documents, employee titles and employee resource groups. For example, its former chief diversity officer role is now called the chief belonging officer.Luddites UniteRansomware attack leaves Starbucks using pens and paper to track employee hoursNYC's Underground Steam System May Be Key to a Greener FutureSome 100 miles of steam pipes snake below Manhattan, delivering low-carbon vapor to some big-name customers. More buildings could soon tap in.DrugsKohl's CEO to depart after less than two years at the helmKohl's CEO Tom Kingsbury will step down after less than two years at the helm, paving the way for former Walmart executive Ashley Buchanan to take on the role as the department store chain looks to execute a turnaround.Kohl's said Buchanan improved profitability at Michaels Companies, a specialty retailer of arts and crafts supplies, where he has been the CEO since 2020, and grew its digital business while simplifying its merchandise strategy.Prior to Michaels, Buchanan was at retailer Walmart for 13 years, where he held a number of executive roles including chief merchandising and chief operating officer for Walmart U.S. e-Commerce.‘Drill, baby, drill' is unlikely under Trump, Exxon saysOil and gas producers in the US will not raise output significantly in the coming years despite calls from President-Elect Donald Trump to “drill, baby, drill,” said Exxon Mobil Corp.'s Upstream President Liam Mallon.McDonald's gets into gift-giving with limited-time 2-toy Happy MealThe company said it will sell "Pet Simulator Happy Meals" featuring two toys at participating restaurants across the country beginning Tuesday. One of the toys will be gift-wrapped, the fast-food chain said."We hope this special Happy Meal inspires kids to share during this season of giving," McDonald's executive Jennifer Healan said in a statement. "Whether they choose to give their extra toy to a family member, make a friend smile, or show kindness to a neighbor, it's all about helping kids feel the joy of giving this holiday season."McDonald's to invest more than $100 million to speed up recovery after E. coli outbreakMeta, TikTok, Google slam Australia's under-16 social media banUnder the proposed law, Australians under 16 years of age will be prohibited from setting up accounts on all major social media sites including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Reddit, even if they obtain parental permission. The social media giants will be responsible for policing the ban, under threat of fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($32.5 million).Tech firms urge caution and more research(!):TikTok ANZ's director of public policy Ella Woods-Joyce described the legislation as “rushed”Meta said the social media ban “overlooks the practical reality of age assurance technology.”Both Meta and Google said it was important for Australia to wait until a national trial of age verification technology was completed before passing the bill. “In the absence of such results, neither industry nor Australians will understand the nature or scale of age assurance required by the Bill nor the impact of such measures on Australians,” Meta said in its submission.At the same time, Elon Musk's X Corp said the bill was “alarming,” adding that it had “serious concerns as to the lawfulness of the bill,” potentially setting up a court challenge to the legislation. “There is no evidence that banning young people from social media will work, and to make it law in the form proposed is highly problematic,” X said in a submission to the committee, adding that the bill was “vague.”Almost all tech companies warned that the laws could also damage the mental health of young Australians if they were rushed through, by cutting off vulnerable teenagers from online community support networks.The FutureAirPods that never need charging? These researchers just found a way to use your body as a chargerA new Power-over-Skin technology invented at Carnegie Mellon University could change the way we charge our wearables.The new technology works by transforming the human body into a power delivery medium, using RF (radio frequency) signals to wirelessly transmit electricity across the skin. In simple terms, the system consists of a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is a battery-powered unit that couples RF energy to the user's skin. It could be integrated into existing items like a phone, smartwatch, or a power bank, which could be placed anywhere on the body. The receiver absorbs this RF energy, transforming it into usable power to operate a wearable gadget—like earbuds, rings, or any kind of low-power electronic device—which could be positioned elsewhere on the body.Vegan cheese market expected to grow to nearly $9 billion by 2031MATT1This Week's Portrait in Corporate PatriotismGreg Penner, Chair of WalMart boardWalmart becomes the latest company to walk back DEI initiativesBecause everyone should get their jobs on merit, not from some affirmative action bullshitFor instance, here's what meritocracy is: Penner was meritocratic enough to marry Rob Walton's daughterHe co-owns the most American and patriotic of things, an NFL team, the Denver Broncos… They believe in family - he co-owns it with his wife who bought itHe started the Penner Foundation to give back to the community with his wife's grandfather's money - he strongly believes in education, having donated 45% of the foundations grants in 2023 to Brown University where his kids HAPPEN to goBoth kids are hardworking athletes at Brown who didn't get on the teams because their parents paid for a new athletic facility at Brown, but because of their skillHis daughter earned her internship at her mom and Walton heiress's venture firmThese are the true patriots who celebrate the meritocracy, not DEI initiatives that separate us into white and not white and normal or gay nanciesWalmart has no place selling things to people who don't merit products, and they have no place supporting trainings about anything except merit badgesHonorary patriot:Brian Niccol, CEO of Starbucks and Walmart board memberHe's a DOUBLE patriot, since he's taking on DEI handouts at both Harley Davidson and Walmart, both of whom chose America over DEI

Twitter Japan、「X Corp. Japan」に社名変更　ロックバンド“X JAPAN”にはならず。　X（旧Twitter）日本法人のTwitter Japanは11月23日、社名を「X Corp. Japan （エックス コープ ジャパン）」に変更したことを発表した。

Follow-ups: LA schools @2:59 TX Schools @5:04 Ryan Walters @5:13 CNN article @8:22 OK Bibles WY abortion @12:52 Politics: Trump's staff @14:42 Liberal Joe Rogan @30:01 Unprayerful Reflections @43:27 Markwayne Mullin @46:00 General Disorder @51:06 Rand Paul promising to investigate what he calls the “Covid coverup” @52:10 Heritage Foundation “Project Esther.” @53:12 Not really about antisemitism Health/Medicine/Science: WHO and CDC, measles cases hit 10.3M @56:10 Consumer Health Digest @57:22 News: InfoWars now under the management of the The Onion @59:21 Elon Musk's X Corp. files notice in Alex Jones' Infowars bankruptcy case Conspiracies: UAP hearing @1:01:12 Pentagon report

How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth Netflix's Live Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul Fight Battling Sound & Streaming Glitches In Lead-Up To Main Event Biden Asked Microsoft to "Raise the Bar on Cybersecurity." He May Have Helped Create an Illegal Monopoly. CFPB looks to place Google under federal supervision, setting up clash Apple's Tim Cook Has Ways to Cope With the Looming Trump Tariffs Apple Removes Another RFE/RL App At Request Of Russian Regulator Here's Why I Decided To Buy 'InfoWars' Elon Musk's X Corp. files notice in Alex Jones' Infowars bankruptcy case Spotify's Plans For AI Generated Music, Podcasts, and Recommendations, According To Its Co-President, CTO, and CPO Gustav Söderström This 'AI Granny' Bores Scammers to Tears Congress ponders underwater alien civilizations, human hybrids, and other unexplained stuff In Memoriam: Thomas E. Kurtz, 1928–2024 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Alex Kantrowitz, Daniel Rubino, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth Netflix's Live Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul Fight Battling Sound & Streaming Glitches In Lead-Up To Main Event Biden Asked Microsoft to "Raise the Bar on Cybersecurity." He May Have Helped Create an Illegal Monopoly. CFPB looks to place Google under federal supervision, setting up clash Apple's Tim Cook Has Ways to Cope With the Looming Trump Tariffs Apple Removes Another RFE/RL App At Request Of Russian Regulator Here's Why I Decided To Buy 'InfoWars' Elon Musk's X Corp. files notice in Alex Jones' Infowars bankruptcy case Spotify's Plans For AI Generated Music, Podcasts, and Recommendations, According To Its Co-President, CTO, and CPO Gustav Söderström This 'AI Granny' Bores Scammers to Tears Congress ponders underwater alien civilizations, human hybrids, and other unexplained stuff In Memoriam: Thomas E. Kurtz, 1928–2024 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Alex Kantrowitz, Daniel Rubino, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth Netflix's Live Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul Fight Battling Sound & Streaming Glitches In Lead-Up To Main Event Biden Asked Microsoft to "Raise the Bar on Cybersecurity." He May Have Helped Create an Illegal Monopoly. CFPB looks to place Google under federal supervision, setting up clash Apple's Tim Cook Has Ways to Cope With the Looming Trump Tariffs Apple Removes Another RFE/RL App At Request Of Russian Regulator Here's Why I Decided To Buy 'InfoWars' Elon Musk's X Corp. files notice in Alex Jones' Infowars bankruptcy case Spotify's Plans For AI Generated Music, Podcasts, and Recommendations, According To Its Co-President, CTO, and CPO Gustav Söderström This 'AI Granny' Bores Scammers to Tears Congress ponders underwater alien civilizations, human hybrids, and other unexplained stuff In Memoriam: Thomas E. Kurtz, 1928–2024 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Alex Kantrowitz, Daniel Rubino, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth Netflix's Live Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul Fight Battling Sound & Streaming Glitches In Lead-Up To Main Event Biden Asked Microsoft to "Raise the Bar on Cybersecurity." He May Have Helped Create an Illegal Monopoly. CFPB looks to place Google under federal supervision, setting up clash Apple's Tim Cook Has Ways to Cope With the Looming Trump Tariffs Apple Removes Another RFE/RL App At Request Of Russian Regulator Here's Why I Decided To Buy 'InfoWars' Elon Musk's X Corp. files notice in Alex Jones' Infowars bankruptcy case Spotify's Plans For AI Generated Music, Podcasts, and Recommendations, According To Its Co-President, CTO, and CPO Gustav Söderström This 'AI Granny' Bores Scammers to Tears Congress ponders underwater alien civilizations, human hybrids, and other unexplained stuff In Memoriam: Thomas E. Kurtz, 1928–2024 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Alex Kantrowitz, Daniel Rubino, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth Netflix's Live Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul Fight Battling Sound & Streaming Glitches In Lead-Up To Main Event Biden Asked Microsoft to "Raise the Bar on Cybersecurity." He May Have Helped Create an Illegal Monopoly. CFPB looks to place Google under federal supervision, setting up clash Apple's Tim Cook Has Ways to Cope With the Looming Trump Tariffs Apple Removes Another RFE/RL App At Request Of Russian Regulator Here's Why I Decided To Buy 'InfoWars' Elon Musk's X Corp. files notice in Alex Jones' Infowars bankruptcy case Spotify's Plans For AI Generated Music, Podcasts, and Recommendations, According To Its Co-President, CTO, and CPO Gustav Söderström This 'AI Granny' Bores Scammers to Tears Congress ponders underwater alien civilizations, human hybrids, and other unexplained stuff In Memoriam: Thomas E. Kurtz, 1928–2024 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Alex Kantrowitz, Daniel Rubino, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Elon Musk's X Corp. files notice in Alex Jones' Infowars bankruptcy case. Dan Mandis has audio & commentary.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth Netflix's Live Mike Tyson Vs. Jake Paul Fight Battling Sound & Streaming Glitches In Lead-Up To Main Event Biden Asked Microsoft to "Raise the Bar on Cybersecurity." He May Have Helped Create an Illegal Monopoly. CFPB looks to place Google under federal supervision, setting up clash Apple's Tim Cook Has Ways to Cope With the Looming Trump Tariffs Apple Removes Another RFE/RL App At Request Of Russian Regulator Here's Why I Decided To Buy 'InfoWars' Elon Musk's X Corp. files notice in Alex Jones' Infowars bankruptcy case Spotify's Plans For AI Generated Music, Podcasts, and Recommendations, According To Its Co-President, CTO, and CPO Gustav Söderström This 'AI Granny' Bores Scammers to Tears Congress ponders underwater alien civilizations, human hybrids, and other unexplained stuff In Memoriam: Thomas E. Kurtz, 1928–2024 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Alex Kantrowitz, Daniel Rubino, and Iain Thomson Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: expressvpn.com/twit Fundrise.com/TWIT 1password.com/twit canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT NetSuite.com/TWIT

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16th Oct: Blockchain DXB Podcast

This Day in Legal History: Province of Canada CreatedOn July 23, 1840, the British Parliament passed the Act of Union, a pivotal piece of legislation that led to the creation of the Province of Canada. This act merged the colonies of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) and Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) into a single entity. The Act of Union was a response to the political unrest and demands for reform that had been growing in both colonies, particularly after the Rebellions of 1837-1838.The Act of Union aimed to unify the administrative structures of the two colonies, addressing inefficiencies and fostering a more cohesive government. It established a single legislative assembly, with equal representation from both regions, despite significant differences in their populations and cultural backgrounds. This structure was intended to assimilate the French-speaking population of Lower Canada into the English-speaking majority of Upper Canada, though it often led to tension and conflict.Taking effect on February 10, 1841, the Act marked the beginning of a new political era in Canadian history, laying foundational governance structures that would influence future developments leading up to Canadian Confederation in 1867. The Province of Canada would eventually split into the separate provinces of Ontario and Quebec, but the Act of Union remains a significant moment in the evolution of Canada's political landscape.The Ninth Circuit's updated case management system is being used as a model for the federal judiciary's administrative office to modernize its electronic filing program, according to Chief Judge Mary Murguia. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is collaborating with the Administrative Office of the US Courts to replace the CM/ECF system with a new cloud-based system by the end of 2025. This modernization effort aims to enhance the efficiency of filing legal documents and accessing case information.Since October, the Ninth Circuit has processed all new cases through its Appellate Case Management System, with older reopened cases still using the previous system. This development was a joint effort with the Second Circuit. Judge Murguia noted a significant decline in case filings over the past five years, with the Ninth Circuit now having fewer than 7,000 pending cases—a 23% reduction from 2019 and the lowest number in decades.Ninth Circuit's Case Filing System Used as Model for JudiciaryA New York appellate judge has affirmed that individuals who file complaints against attorneys in disciplinary cases have a First Amendment right to attend related hearings, view pertinent documents, and access some final decisions. This ruling emphasizes the importance of public scrutiny in holding judges accountable, particularly those serving fourteen-year terms appointed by elected governors. The decision, issued by Judge Victor Marrero of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, specifically impacts the New York Supreme Court's Second Appellate Department, which disciplines attorneys based on recommendations from the Attorney Grievance Committee.Judge Marrero asserted that transparency is essential for public trust in the judicial process. However, he allowed an exception for dispositions made by the chief attorney, whose role involves preliminary investigations. These do not need to be public to maintain investigation flexibility and protect attorneys from baseless accusations.The case originated from complaints filed in 2021 against attorneys in the Queens County District Attorney's Office. Despite these complaints being publicized online, none resulted in public discipline. The plaintiffs argued that public access was necessary, while New York City's former corporation counsel claimed it was a misuse of the process for political gain.Marrero dismissed Presiding Justice Hector LaSalle's defense of legislative immunity, ruling that withholding information is not considered policymaking. He also refuted the state's claim that providing access to certain records would necessitate a substantial overhaul of court operations, stating that procedural adjustments, even if cumbersome, are not illegal.New York Judge Peels Back Curtain on Attorney Misconduct CasesThe First Circuit appears likely to uphold a noncompete agreement against a former DraftKings executive, Michael Hermalyn, who sought to join rival sports-betting firm Fanatics. During oral arguments, Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson questioned why California's worker-friendly policies should outweigh Massachusetts' business protections. Hermalyn, who relocated to California, argued for the state's ban on noncompete clauses to apply. However, the contract stipulates Massachusetts law, as DraftKings is based there.DraftKings accused Hermalyn of violating the agreement by joining a competitor and stealing company secrets. Hermalyn's legal team contended that California's interest in attracting workers should take precedence. Conversely, DraftKings' counsel argued that state laws are equal and California's stance should not override Massachusetts' policies.A federal district judge previously prohibited Hermalyn from working for competitors, dismissing his reliance on California law. This case arises amid the Federal Trade Commission's broader move to ban most noncompete agreements, although senior executives are currently exempt.Hermalyn's attempts to establish California residency involved leasing an apartment, buying a car, and other actions. Massachusetts law typically enforces contract terms unless they violate public policy. Hermalyn's counsel asserted California has the most substantial interest in this matter, urging respect for its policies. However, Judge William Kayatta expressed concerns about prioritizing one state's laws over others in similar circumstances.DraftKings' attorney warned that ruling in favor of Hermalyn could enable others to evade contractual obligations by relocating to California, stressing the need to protect Massachusetts businesses from such tactics. DraftKings also alleged Hermalyn's residency claim was a ploy and accused him of downloading sensitive files before departing.DraftKings' Noncompete Clause Meets Supportive First CircuitElon Musk's social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), is being sued by the PR firm Multiply for trademark infringement. Filed in a California federal court, the lawsuit claims that X's use of the "X" trademark for social-media marketing services causes consumer confusion and infringes on Multiply's established trademark rights. Multiply's spokesperson accused Musk of stealing their established identity and stated the necessity to protect their mark in court.X rebranded from Twitter to X last year under Musk's ownership. This rebranding has already resulted in confusion among Multiply's clients, who overlap with X Corp's clientele. Multiply, which has worked with brands like Arizona, Corona, and Liquid Death, adopted the "X" branding in 2019 and holds a federal trademark for its "X" logo. Multiply is seeking an injunction to stop X Corp from using the "X" trademark and is asking for monetary damages. This lawsuit is one among several, as other companies, including X Social Media, have also filed infringement claims against Musk's rebranded platform. The case is DB Communications LLC d/b/a Multiply v. X Corp, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:24-cv-04402.X Corp hit with lawsuit from PR firm over 'X' trademark | ReutersIn my column this week, I discuss the pressing need for the IRS to bolster its cryptocurrency compliance measures to close the crypto tax gap and combat illicit activities. Cryptocurrencies are often used for illegal activities, and many tax evaders in the crypto space prefer to remain anonymous to distance themselves from their actions.A recent report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) highlights significant gaps in the IRS's cryptocurrency tax enforcement. By improving compliance, the IRS can enhance transparency in financial transactions, address the crypto tax gap, and reduce illegal activities facilitated by digital currencies.Enforcing cryptocurrency taxes could yield substantial revenue and mitigate black market activities that harm the economy. Despite the potential benefits, the IRS's current efforts are inadequate. The TIGTA report notes that the IRS investigated only 390 cases involving digital currency between 2018 and 2023, with just 224 cases recommended for prosecution. The IRS's broader operation, “Hidden Treasure,” has focused more on training and tool acquisition than on actively pursuing crypto tax evaders.The use of digital currencies has exploded, with over 26,000 different types and a total market value exceeding $1.7 trillion. Estimates suggest that 21% to 40% of US adults have owned some form of virtual currency. Yet, auditing just 390 files is like pulling a few blades of grass from an acre and assuming a complete understanding of the field.Enhanced cryptocurrency compliance can significantly disrupt illicit activities reliant on digital currency anonymity. Cryptocurrencies are linked to crimes such as drug and human trafficking, ransomware, and terrorism. The IRS's $625,000 bounty for cracking the anonymity of Monero underscores the value of identifying cryptocurrency tax cheats.The IRS needs a coordinated approach to data sharing and analysis, leveraging artificial intelligence to handle vast data sets and uncover patterns. Financial or asset tracing, previously unfeasible on a large scale, becomes possible with advanced technology. Form 1040 already asks filers about digital assets; this data should be cross-referenced with information from exchanges and audits, focusing on high-income individuals for maximum audit returns.The TIGTA report emphasizes the urgency for the IRS to develop comprehensive compliance strategies, employing advanced data analytics and collaborating with blockchain analytics firms. The IRS must also work with other agencies to curb illegal cryptocurrency activities. While individual cryptocurrencies may remain untraceable, large transactions leave traces in the traditional banking system, providing crucial data points for analysis.The IRS has ample information on digital currency holders but may lack the context needed to connect taxes owed to individual taxpayers. Contextualizing existing data is key to closing the crypto tax gap and disrupting criminal enterprises reliant on cryptocurrency anonymity.To Improve Crypto Tax Gap, IRS Must Enhance Compliance Efforts This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

X Corp. v. Bonta, argued before Judges Milan D. Smith, Jr., Mark J. Bennett, and Anthony D. Johnstone in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 17, 2024. Argued by Joel Kurtzburg (on behalf of X Corp.) and Gabrielle D. Boutin, Deputy Attorney General (on behalf of Robert Bonta, Attorney General of the State of California). A Description of the Law, from the Appellant's Opening Brief: California enacted Assembly Bill 587 (“AB 587”)-a state law compelling social media companies to provide the State with semi-annual disclosures about their efforts to moderate certain categories of constitutionally protected speech that the State disfavors-as part of a concerted effort to limit or eliminate those categories of speech on social media platforms. The California Legislature was clear about both its intent and approach: it intentionally picked the most controversial and difficult-to-define categories of “awful but lawful” content-hate speech, racism, extremism, radicalization, disinformation, misinformation, harassment, and foreign political interference. And it imposed an approach requiring the companies to define the categories (or decline to do so) and provide statistics to the Attorney General (“AG”) about moderation of such content on their platforms as part of an effort to “pressure” the social media companies into restricting speech that the government finds objectionable or undesirable. The law also provides nearly unfettered discretion to the AG to impose or threaten to impose substantial costs on social media companies-through costly document and other information requests and threatened or actual enforcement actions-if those companies fail to moderate these categories of content…. Issues Presented, from the Appellant's Opening Brief: I. Did the district court err by refusing to apply strict scrutiny, and instead applying Zauderer—a standard that applies only to compelled commercial disclosures consisting of purely factual, uncontroversial information about the terms under which services will be available—to AB 587, a law with the stated purpose of pressuring social media companies to change their content-moderation policies to limit or remove content that the State disfavors? II. Did the district court err by holding that AB 587's Terms of Service Report survives First Amendment scrutiny, regardless of which level of scrutiny applies? III. Did the district court err by holding that AB 587-which is designed to and does allow the State to pressure X Corp. to change its content-moderation policies if they are not to the State's liking-is not preempted by 47 U.S.C. §230(c)(2), which precludes the State from holding interactive computer service providers liable for good faith efforts to moderate objectionable content? Resources: Appellant's Opening Brief Appellee's Answering Brief Appellant's Reply Brief A summary of (and link to) the Electronic Frontier Foundation's amicus brief The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the political speech rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment. If you're enjoying the Free Speech Arguments podcast, please subscribe and leave a review on your preferred podcast platform. To support the Institute's mission or inquire about legal assistance, please visit our website: www.ifs.org

X Corp. v. Bonta

Unleashed: The Political News Hour with Chris Michaels – In a shocking turn of events, an assassination attempt on former President Trump at a Pennsylvania rally leaves him injured. Sacramento officials clash with major retailers over crime reporting. EU accuses Elon Musk's X Corp. of data access violations. World leaders react to Trump's shooting, while Dr. Joseph P. Farrell discusses current political landscapes and future elections.

Mary Ann was off this week, and Kirsten took the lead with Becca Szkutak and Rebecca Bellan in the co-host seats. This episode is packed with deals, antitrust musings, AI and more, so let's get into it!For our first deal of the week,  one of the many lawsuits Musk faces after firing 6,000 Twitter employees after his 2022 takeover was dismissed. The result may be good news for Musk, but it doesn't eliminate Musk's legal troubles. Musk is facing at least one other lawsuit from CEO Parag Agrawal, who along with three other former Twitter Inc. executives are seeking $128 million in severance payments from X Corp. Next up, Rebecca broke down Microsoft's decision to leave its observer seat on OpenAI's board, after which the AI company will no longer host observers. The legacy tech giant said it has seen enough progress being made at OpenAI and is “confident in its direction,” but we're not exactly buying that Microsoft would give up such a coveted spot so easily. We suspect that the decision was fueled by ongoing antitrust scrutiny of Big Tech's influence over emerging AI players. After that, Becca talked about Duolingo's deal to buy Hobbes, a Detroit-based animation and motion design studio. Hobbes is a company that Duolingo has worked with for years on several features, including Duolingo Music, so it's interesting to see the acquisition happen at this stage. Maybe Hobbes was having money trouble and needed a lifeline? Either way, Duolingo is calling this an acqui-hire deal. While Hobbes isn't an AI company, we make a prediction that we'll see similar acquisitions of smaller AI startups as larger companies scoop up the AI startups they're already working with. We've been noticing a few stories lately that investigate what happens when a company's founder or owner dies. Today, Rebecca went over the story of Unseen Capital, whose founder Kayode Owens passed away in 2021 just after raising $30 million. The VC's mission was to help early-stage healthcare companies started by underrepresented founders. Pharma company Eli Lilly was one of Unseen's LPs, and in a move to protect its own investment while signaling confidence in Unseen's mission, has brokered a deal for Seae Ventures to acquire the unmoored VC. It's a good fit, as Seae Ventures is another diversity-focused VC firm.Meanwhile, a recent TC story on deep tech funding caught the Equity pod's attention. The gist: a recent survey of 30 deep tech VCs from eight countries found that very technical CEOs raise larger rounds. The survey also noted that pre-seed and Series A deep tech hardware rounds were bigger in 2023 than in 2022.While the survey seems to provide a rosy picture for technical CEOs, it does not provide a complete one. For instance, the survey focused on Europe, which got the Equity crew musing about whether those same stats would hold up in North America. And it followed rounds up through Series A. The Equity pod wondered if the results changed in Series B rounds and beyond. Plus, we think the rise of deep tech-focused funds may also play a role here too.Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast. Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

Elon Musk and X Corp. have won a lawsuit demanding $500 million in severance pay for former Twitter employees. The plaintiffs, including Twitter's former global head of compensation and benefits, claimed that about 6,000 laid-off employees received only one month's pay, contrary to promises made under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). However, US District Judge Trina Thompson ruled that the claims were not covered under ERISA, as employees were informed they would receive only cash payouts post-acquisition. This verdict allows Musk and X Corp. to avoid the additional $500 million payout sought by the plaintiffs.

How final is a final offer, really? Does anonymity turn nice people into jerks? And should you tell your crush that you dreamed about marrying them? SOURCES:Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.Deepak Malhotra, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.Elon Musk, owner and C.T.O. of X Corp (formerly Twitter), C.E.O. of Space X, and C.E.O. of Tesla.John Krasinski, actor and filmmaker. RESOURCES:"Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Try to Rehire Some of Its Laid-Off Staff, and That Some of the People He Fired 'Shouldn't Have Been' Cut," by Pete Syme (Business Insider, 2023)."Read the Midnight Email Elon Musk Sent Twitter Staff Telling Them to Work 'Long Hours at High Intensity' – or Quit," by Jyoti Mann (Business Insider, 2022)."When to Use Ultimatums & When to Avoid Them," by Deepak Malhotra (Negotiation Insights Video Series, 2020)."'Take It or Leave It!' A Choice Mindset Leads to Greater Persistence and Better Outcomes in Negotiations," by Anyi Ma, Yu Yang, and Krishna Savani (Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2019)."John Krasinski Was Ready To Quit Acting Before 'The Office'," by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2018)."Models of the Evolution of Fairness in the Ultimatum Game: A Review and Classification," by Stéphane Debove, Nicolas Baumard, and Jean-Baptiste André (Evolution and Human Behavior, 2016)."15 Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer," by Deepak Malhotra (Harvard Business Review, 2014).Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond, by Deepak Malhotra and Max Bazerman (2007)."Fairness Versus Reason in the Ultimatum Game," by Martin A. Nowak, Karen M. Page, and Karl Sigmund (Science, 2000). EXTRAS:"Get Your Share of the Pie," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).Mrs. Miracle, by Debbie Macomber (1996).

The last couple of weeks have been full of online safety news, from eSafety Commissioner v X Corp in the Federal Court to AI to deepfakes. So my guest this time is. Zoe Jay Hawkins, head of policy design at ANU's Tech Policy Design Centre.In this episode we talk about the way AI and deepfakes might include this year's many elections, the polarisation of the online safety debate, free speech, content classification, and much more.This conversation was recorded on 6 June 2024.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00221/Please support this podcast by considering a tip:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

The Government should impose criminal penalties on social media giants that flout Australian law, says News Corp boss Michael Miller.   Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian's app. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Lia Tsamoglou. Original music is composed by Jasper Leak.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In recent weeks the Australian government has opened multiple fronts in its war against the social media giants. So who better to speak with than Justin Warren, “consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme”?In this episode we discuss the MediSecure data breach, Australia's new Digital ID laws, the pilot of online age assurance technology, plans to ban young people from using social media, how socialisation puts a little police officer in your head, the concept of Reward Cheese, the problem of apostrophes, eSafety Commissioner vs X Corp in the Federal Court, censorship more generally, and why farmers are complaining about space weather.This conversation was recorded on 21 May 2024Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00219/Please support this podcast by considering a tip:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

That fire chicken is really seeding their way into the narrative as things HEAT UP in X-Men Forever. Hope's past, present and future are in question - I can barely wait to find out what happens! Wolverine is gearing up for the final battle as character threads get tended to and set up. Giant Size X-Men gives us a unique Angel story that challenges his vision of himself as a hero. Plus the X-Corp have waves of plans! This is only step one!! New comics from May 8, we talk X-Men Forever #3, Wolverine #49 and Giant Size X-Men 01:49 News 12:05 Data is Beautiful 14:48 Personal News 16:16 Polls and General Questions 21:46 X-Men Unlimited 24:40 Giant Size X-Men 37:46 Wolverine 53:31 X-Men Forever Thanks for listening to our forty-first episode of Season 5! We've maybe stopped falling? There's some rise and resurrection happening, but it still doesn't look great. Fighting through? Like, subscribe, follow, email, and @ us all over the internet at thexwifepodcast. If you enjoyed the episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and tell your friends!

Last week, a federal judge granted a motion to dismiss and strike a lawsuit brought by X Corp, formerly known as Twitter, against a nonprofit research outfit called The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). To learn more about why the ruling matters, Justin Hendrix spoke to Alex Abdo, the litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University; Imran Ahmed, the CEO and founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate; and Roberta Kaplan, a partner at the law firm of Kaplan, Hecker, and Fink, which represented CCDH in this matter.

This episode is notable not just for cyberlaw commentary, but for its imminent disappearance from these pages and from podcast playlists everywhere.  Having promised to take stock of the podcast when it reached episode 500, I've decided that I, the podcast, and the listeners all deserve a break.  So I'll be taking one after the next episode.  No final decisions have been made, so don't delete your subscription, but don't expect a new episode any time soon.  It's been a great run, from the dawn of the podcast age, through the ad-fueled podcast boom, which I manfully resisted, to the market correction that's still under way.  It was a pleasure to engage with listeners from all over the world. Yes, even the EU!    As they say, in the podcast age, everyone is famous for fifteen people.  That's certainly been true for me, and I'll always be grateful for your support – not to mention for all the great contributors who've joined the podcast over the years   Back to cyberlaw, there are a surprising number of people arguing that there's no reason to worry about existential and catastrophic risks from proliferating or runaway AI risks.  Some of that is people seeking clever takes; a lot of it is ideological, driven by fear that worrying about the end of the world will distract attention from the dire but unidentified dangers of face recognition.  One useful antidote is the Gladstone Report, written for the State Department's export control agency. David Kris gives an overview of the report for this episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast. The report explains the dynamic, and some of the evidence, behind all the doom-saying, a discussion that is more persuasive than its prescriptions for regulation.   Speaking of the dire but unidentified dangers of face recognition, Paul Stephan and I unpack a New York Times piece saying that Israel is using face recognition in its Gaza conflict. Actually, we don't so much unpack it as turn it over and shake it, only to discover it's largely empty.  Apparently the editors of the NYT thought that tying face recognition to Israel and Gaza was all we needed to understand that the technology is evil.   More interesting is the story arguing that the National Security Agency, traditionally at the forefront of computers and national security, may have to sit out the AI revolution. The reason, David tells us, is that NSA's access to mass quantities of data for training is complicated by rules and traditions against intelligence agencies accessing data about Americans. And there are few training databases not contaminated with data about and by Americans.   While we're feeling sorry for the intelligence community as it struggles with new technology, Paul notes that Yahoo News has assembled a long analysis of all the ways that personalized technology is making undercover operations impossible for CIA and FBI alike.   Michael Ellis weighs in with a review of a report by the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies on the need for a US Cyber Force to man, train, and equip fighting nerds for Cyber Command.  It's a bit of an inside baseball solution, heavy on organizational boxology, but we're both persuaded that the current system for attracting and retaining cyberwarriors is not working. In the spirit of “Yes, Minister,” we must do something, and this is something.   In that same spirit, it's fair to say that the latest Senate Judiciary proposal for a “compromise” 702 renewal bill is nothing much – a largely phony compromise chock full of ideological baggage. David Kris and I are unimpressed, and surprised at how muted the Biden administration has been in trying to wrangle the Democratic Senate into producing a workable bill.   Paul and Michael review the latest trouble for TikTok – a likely FTC lawsuit over privacy. Michael and I puzzle over the stories claiming that Meta may have “wiretapped” Snapchat analytic data.  It comes from a trial lawyer suing Meta, and there are a lot of unanswered questions, such as whether users consented to the collection of the data.  In the end, we can't help thinking that if Meta had 41 of its lawyers review the project, they found a way to avoid wiretapping liability.   The most intriguing story of the week is the complex and surprising three- or four-cornered fight in northern Myanmar over hundreds of thousands of women trapped in call centers to run romance and pig-butchering scams.  Angry that many of the women and many victims are Chinese, China fostered a warlord's attack on the call centers that freed many women, and deeply embarrassed the current Myanmar ruling junta and its warlord allies, who'd been running the scams.  And we thought our southern border was a mess! And  in quick hits: ·         Elon Musk's X Corp has lost lawsuit against the left-wing smear artists at CCDH ·         AT&T has lost millions of customer records in a data breach ·         Utah has passed an:  AI regulation bill ·         The US is still in the cyber sanctions business, tagging several Russian fintech firms and a collection of  Chinese state hackers. ·         The SEC isn't done investigating SolarWinds; now it's investigating companies harmed by the supply chain attack. ·         Apple's reluctant compliance with EU law has attracted the expected EU investigation of its app store policies  App Store changes rejected: Apple could be fined 10% of global turnover ·         And in a story that will send chills through large parts of the financial and tech elite, it turns out that Jeffrey Epstein's visitor records didn't die with him.  Thanks to geolocation adtech, they can be reconstructed.  

This episode is notable not just for cyberlaw commentary, but for its imminent disappearance from these pages and from podcast playlists everywhere.  Having promised to take stock of the podcast when it reached episode 500, I've decided that I, the podcast, and the listeners all deserve a break.  So I'll be taking one after the next episode.  No final decisions have been made, so don't delete your subscription, but don't expect a new episode any time soon.  It's been a great run, from the dawn of the podcast age, through the ad-fueled podcast boom, which I manfully resisted, to the market correction that's still under way.  It was a pleasure to engage with listeners from all over the world. Yes, even the EU!    As they say, in the podcast age, everyone is famous for fifteen people.  That's certainly been true for me, and I'll always be grateful for your support – not to mention for all the great contributors who've joined the podcast over the years   Back to cyberlaw, there are a surprising number of people arguing that there's no reason to worry about existential and catastrophic risks from proliferating or runaway AI risks.  Some of that is people seeking clever takes; a lot of it is ideological, driven by fear that worrying about the end of the world will distract attention from the dire but unidentified dangers of face recognition.  One useful antidote is the Gladstone Report, written for the State Department's export control agency. David Kris gives an overview of the report for this episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast. The report explains the dynamic, and some of the evidence, behind all the doom-saying, a discussion that is more persuasive than its prescriptions for regulation.   Speaking of the dire but unidentified dangers of face recognition, Paul Stephan and I unpack a New York Times piece saying that Israel is using face recognition in its Gaza conflict. Actually, we don't so much unpack it as turn it over and shake it, only to discover it's largely empty.  Apparently the editors of the NYT thought that tying face recognition to Israel and Gaza was all we needed to understand that the technology is evil.   More interesting is the story arguing that the National Security Agency, traditionally at the forefront of computers and national security, may have to sit out the AI revolution. The reason, David tells us, is that NSA's access to mass quantities of data for training is complicated by rules and traditions against intelligence agencies accessing data about Americans. And there are few training databases not contaminated with data about and by Americans.   While we're feeling sorry for the intelligence community as it struggles with new technology, Paul notes that Yahoo News has assembled a long analysis of all the ways that personalized technology is making undercover operations impossible for CIA and FBI alike.   Michael Ellis weighs in with a review of a report by the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies on the need for a US Cyber Force to man, train, and equip fighting nerds for Cyber Command.  It's a bit of an inside baseball solution, heavy on organizational boxology, but we're both persuaded that the current system for attracting and retaining cyberwarriors is not working. In the spirit of “Yes, Minister,” we must do something, and this is something.   In that same spirit, it's fair to say that the latest Senate Judiciary proposal for a “compromise” 702 renewal bill is nothing much – a largely phony compromise chock full of ideological baggage. David Kris and I are unimpressed, and surprised at how muted the Biden administration has been in trying to wrangle the Democratic Senate into producing a workable bill.   Paul and Michael review the latest trouble for TikTok – a likely FTC lawsuit over privacy. Michael and I puzzle over the stories claiming that Meta may have “wiretapped” Snapchat analytic data.  It comes from a trial lawyer suing Meta, and there are a lot of unanswered questions, such as whether users consented to the collection of the data.  In the end, we can't help thinking that if Meta had 41 of its lawyers review the project, they found a way to avoid wiretapping liability.   The most intriguing story of the week is the complex and surprising three- or four-cornered fight in northern Myanmar over hundreds of thousands of women trapped in call centers to run romance and pig-butchering scams.  Angry that many of the women and many victims are Chinese, China fostered a warlord's attack on the call centers that freed many women, and deeply embarrassed the current Myanmar ruling junta and its warlord allies, who'd been running the scams.  And we thought our southern border was a mess! And  in quick hits: ·         Elon Musk's X Corp has lost lawsuit against the left-wing smear artists at CCDH ·         AT&T has lost millions of customer records in a data breach ·         Utah has passed an:  AI regulation bill ·         The US is still in the cyber sanctions business, tagging several Russian fintech firms and a collection of  Chinese state hackers. ·         The SEC isn't done investigating SolarWinds; now it's investigating companies harmed by the supply chain attack. ·         Apple's reluctant compliance with EU law has attracted the expected EU investigation of its app store policies  App Store changes rejected: Apple could be fined 10% of global turnover ·         And in a story that will send chills through large parts of the financial and tech elite, it turns out that Jeffrey Epstein's visitor records didn't die with him.  Thanks to geolocation adtech, they can be reconstructed.  

Outrage is growing over Former President Trump's social media attacks against the daughter of the Judge in the hush money case, as Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg seeks a broader gag order. Meanwhile, President Biden's blockbuster Radio City Music Hall fundraiser featuring former Presidents Obama and Clinton was a major show of strength as he begins to make the case for his re-election. MSNBC political analyst Fernand Amandi reacts to the event's $25 million haul. And a federal judge tossed out Elon Musk's lawsuit against a hate-speech research group. Attorney Roberta Kaplan and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate Imran Ahmed react to the ruling. Plus, Amanda Nguyen discusses her historic interstellar journey as she becomes the first Vietnamese woman to fly in space. All that and more on “The Katie Phang Show.”

Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive of the owner of Facebook and Instagram finds himself under fire at the US Congress for not protecting children. Rahul Tandon finds out if this will it stop investment in tech companies? The US Central Bank has announced that its keeping interest rates unchanged and still at a 22 year high. But will they come down in March? And we hear why Universal Music Group are threatening to pull their vast music catalogue from social media app TikTok.Rahul will be joined throughout the programme by two guests on opposite sides of the world Michael Malone who's the host of the insider Podcast from California and Zyma Islam, a journalist with Bangladesh's leading English language newspaper the Daily Star. (Picture: Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg looks at X Corp's CEO Linda Yaccarino and TikTok's CEO Shou Zi Chew as they raise their hands to be sworn in during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 31, 2024. Credit: REUTERS)

This Day in Legal History: Shoe Bomber SentencedOn this day, January 30th, in the year 2003, a significant event in the annals of legal and aviation history unfolded when Richard Reid, a British national, received a life sentence in the United States for an act of terrorism that gripped the world. Reid's infamous attempt to destroy an American passenger plane with a bomb concealed in his shoe marked a chilling moment in aviation security.It was on December 21, 2001, when Reid boarded a flight at Miami International Airport, destined for Paris, with a sinister plan. Hidden within his shoe was an explosive device, a fact unknown to fellow passengers and crew as the flight commenced. The calm of the flight was shattered when Reid made his move to ignite the explosive device. However, the narrative took a dramatic turn as alert passengers and crew members quickly intervened. Displaying remarkable courage and presence of mind, they restrained Reid, thwarting what could have been a catastrophic tragedy in mid-air. This act of collective bravery averted potential loss of life and highlighted the importance of vigilance in air travel.Reid's arrest and subsequent trial brought to light the ever-present threats in aviation and the need for stringent security measures. His conviction and life sentence, handed down on this day, served as a stark reminder of the ongoing battle against terrorism and the importance of international cooperation in ensuring the safety of air travel.Richard Reid's case not only transformed airport security protocols worldwide but also became a case study in counter-terrorism strategies. It underscored the reality that threats can come in the most unexpected forms and from seemingly ordinary individuals. Today, as we look back on this day in legal history, we are reminded of the thin line between normalcy and chaos in our interconnected world.Legal malpractice claims against law firms are on the rise, both in frequency and in financial magnitude. This trend is driven by a combination of factors, including large insurance policies held by law firms, client reluctance to pay fees, and the involvement of investors in litigation. As a result, law firms increasingly find themselves as defendants in costly lawsuits.Clients are suing their legal counsel for various alleged missteps, such as conflicts of interest and failure to file documents on time. This has led to a specialty emerging among attorneys in suing law firms. Bethany Kristovich, a litigation partner, observes a growing tendency for clients to view law firms as just another source of financial compensation.A 2023 report by Ames & Gough highlights the escalating scale of these claims, with seven out of ten insurers of top law firms paying claims over $50 million in recent years, and two exceeding $150 million. The most common areas for malpractice claims are trusts and estates, and business and commercial transactions.Law firms' perceived financial backing by substantial insurance policies makes them attractive targets for malpractice suits. Economic pressures further exacerbate this vulnerability, leading clients to dispute fees, especially during tough business conditions. High-profile cases, such as X Corp.'s (owned by Elon Musk) lawsuit against Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz over $90 million fees, illustrate this trend.Attorneys, once reluctant to sue fellow law firms, now pursue these cases more freely, as seen in the success of Reid Collins & Tsai in securing substantial settlements from such lawsuits. The firm's approach often involves a pre-suit process, maintaining discretion and good relations with insurance carriers and law firms.Kristovich predicts an increase in claims related to breaches of fiduciary duties and conflicts of interest. She notes a shift in the nature of allegations, with law firms now more likely to be sued for their association with a client's alleged crimes, rather than just their legal advice. This changing landscape suggests a more challenging environment for legal practices in managing their professional risks.Legal Malpractice Claims Grow in Size as Clients Turn on CounselJustice Sonia Sotomayor, during an appearance at the University of California, Berkeley's law school, expressed that she is feeling the strain of an increasingly demanding workload at the Supreme Court. Sotomayor, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 and is the first Latina justice, mentioned the court's packed schedule, which includes significant cases on abortion, guns, social media, and a Trump ballot issue. She noted the growing number of emergency cases and briefs from outside groups as factors contributing to her exhaustion.Sotomayor remarked that the court's emergency calendar is now active almost weekly, a significant change from when the justices had a substantial summer break. In response to UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky's query about how to address student disillusionment with the Supreme Court and the Constitution, Sotomayor emphasized the importance of continuing to fight for justice. She referenced historical figures like Justice Thurgood Marshall, Rep. John Lewis, and civil rights activists, highlighting their sacrifices and the necessity of persevering against challenges.Sotomayor conveyed her own sense of obligation and commitment, despite the frustrations and emotional toll of her work. She stressed that change requires persistent effort and dedication, underscoring the importance of not yielding to despair in the pursuit of justice.Sotomayor Calls Supreme Court Pace, Workload More Demanding (1)Donald Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, has raised questions about a potential conflict of interest involving U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over E. Jean Carroll's recent defamation trial. Habba's skepticism stems from a New York Post article that highlighted an alleged prior working relationship between Judge Kaplan and Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in the early 1990s. This claim, based on an unnamed source, suggests that Roberta Kaplan sought to stand out as an associate and Judge Kaplan was "like her mentor."Habba finds this relationship "particularly concerning" and suggests it could be grounds for a new trial. She also accuses Judge Kaplan of being "overtly hostile" towards Trump's side and showing "preferential" treatment to Carroll's, which she believes might support her call for a retrial. Trump's team is planning to appeal the recent $83.3 million verdict against him, which was a result of his 2019 denial of raping Carroll in the 1990s.However, skepticism about these claims might be warranted given the lack of immediate response from Judge Kaplan's chambers, spokespeople for Carroll and Roberta Kaplan, and Paul Weiss. Furthermore, Habba's argument primarily relies on a single media report and an unnamed source, which might not provide the most reliable foundation for such serious allegations. The situation is complicated by the large amount of money involved in the verdict and the ongoing appeal of a previous $5 million award against Trump in a similar case, making the context of these allegations particularly charged.Trump lawyer says judge's possible conflict may taint $83 million Carroll verdict | ReutersIn my column on nonprofit hospitals and tax reform, I discuss the significant tax benefits these institutions receive while often contributing less than 1% of their revenue to charity care. This disparity between tax advantages and charitable contributions raises concerns about the societal benefits these hospitals provide. Given that nonprofit hospitals make up a considerable portion of the healthcare system and are known for high executive compensation, it's clear that policy reforms are needed to ensure these institutions fulfill their societal obligations.To address these issues, I propose enhanced financial transparency and real-time reporting. Nonprofit hospitals should be mandated to provide detailed financial data, including compensation for top executives and a breakdown of expenditures on administrative costs, marketing, and consulting fees. This level of transparency will help the public understand where tax expenditures are being allocated and whether they align with the hospitals' charitable mission.I argue that financial transparency should extend to capital projects, property investments, and outsourced service costs. Large-scale transparency is essential to reassess the relationship between tax expenditures and societal returns, especially considering the potential misallocation of funds.To aid in this endeavor, I suggest utilizing AI and other high-tech solutions. These technologies can manage large datasets and help in developing equitable benchmarks for charitable care. They can also assist in continuous financial monitoring, flagging anomalies in spending patterns.Regarding the tax status of nonprofit hospitals, they must meet specific requirements under Section 501(r) of the tax code. This includes conducting a community health needs assessment every three years and adopting financial assistance policies for patients in need. However, the standards governing expenditures on charity care are less stringent compared to those for patient financial assistance.Balancing accountability is crucial. Public awareness and demand are necessary to recalibrate the priorities of the nonprofit hospital sector. Funds allocated to public health should be viewed as investments, with misallocated resources representing both a loss of investment and an opportunity cost.In summary, my column emphasizes the need for policy reforms to ensure nonprofit hospitals align their tax benefits with societal expectations. Enhanced transparency, supported by technology, and stricter regulation are key to achieving this balance.Nonprofit Hospitals Need Novel Policy Solutions for Tax Reform Get full access to Minimum Competence - Daily Legal News Podcast at www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum is back on Gaslit Nation in Part II of a discussion that spans what comes after Putin, why it seems like Russia is behind so much destabilization around the world, and why the Holodomor, Stalin's 1933 genocide famine in Ukraine, matters today. Applebaum is the author of Gulag, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, and Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, which cites survivor testimony that Andrea's grandfather provided the U.S. Congressional investigation of the famine. That interview begins at 32:16 of this week's episode.  While the Israeli government reportedly approved a deal for a limited hostage exchange with Hamas and a temporary pause, the opening commentary includes a look at Russia's nodes in its war against the democratic alliance, including Musk and Thiel, Netanyahu's extreme far-right coalition, and Hamas, and shares solutions on how to strengthen our national security against these 21st century threats. The opening discussion celebrates the Mother of Thanksgiving: poet, novelist, journalist, abolitionist Sarah Josepha Hale, and women on the frontlines everywhere campaigning for human rights. We see you, and we're grateful for you. Thank you to everyone who does whatever they can, wherever they are, to strengthen our democracy.  This week's bonus episode will be a special thank you to our Gaslit Nation community that keeps our show going through these difficult times, with another make-it-or-break-it year around the corner. To help sustain us, look out for the first-ever Make Art workshop publishing Saturday with a simple guide to follow at your leisure. We'll follow up this workshop with a live virtual event in the new year for our community to gather together and share notes, ask questions, and sharpen our ideas. Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you! To check out the first ever Gaslit Nation Make Art workshop, subscribe to the show at the Truth-teller level or higher on Patreon by signing up at Patreon.com/Gaslit. You'll receive all episodes ad free, special invites, and more!  Show Notes: Get your ‘Tis the Season to Prosecute Treason T-shirt featuring an original design by Hamish Smyth here: http://tee.pub/lic/_vLBHBoWkeg Meet the “Mother of Thanksgiving:” Sarah Josepha Hale https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/meet-the-mother-of-thanksgiving-sarah-josepha-hale/ FINLAND: Anne Applebaum on Twitter: “Russia is throwing everything it has - bribery, propaganda, migrants, energy blackmail, hackers - at Europe and the US - with the clear (and often stated) intent of destabilizing Western democracies. When will we begin to take this challenge seriously?” https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1726527444532994342 Ukraine's Foreign Minister on an Important Thread: “To those who have missed the previous 30 years, here is a short list of the results of negotiations with Russia that it never respected:” https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba/status/1724427557016043668 Anne Applebaum: “A year ago, Ukraine liberated Kherson. Since then, the Russians have not stopped attacking civilians there. If they can't own Kherson, they will destroy it. That's their attitude to all of Ukraine.” https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1723647754860147144 The West Must Defeat Russia Putin hasn't given up his plans. He thinks Ukraine's allies will lose interest. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/11/us-ukraine-support-putin-defeat/675953/ Anne Applebaum on Twitter: “Ukraine and its allies' record, so far is one of extraordinary success: Russia has left 50% of the territory it occupied early in the war, has 250k casualties, and lost billions in weapons. But that success is not permanent until Russia understands that it has lost.” https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1722972111184986398  Anne Applebaum on Twitter: “The accounts given by Ukrainians who have fled the occupied territories sound like accounts of people who escaped Stalin's Soviet Union” https://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1725441272129654887 Timothy Snyder on Twitter: “A group of Russian nationals were able to donate to newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson's campaign in 2018 by funneling the money through a U.S. company." – Ewan Palmer, Newsweek” https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1725655210117202090 Fania Oz-Salzberger on Twitter: “Do you know what Israelis are fuming about tonight? #Hamas, #Hizbollah, @BBC, @GretaThunberg, for sure. But there's more. It was disclosed today that in secretive haste, our government gave 56 million shekels to the Prime Minister's bureau, 30 million of which are for renovating #Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem. 30 million shekels can suffice to build two brand new luxury villas. The country is at war, 239 hostages in Gaza, 125,000 Israeli evacuees from both the south and the north are squatting in hotels and relatives' homes, myriads have lost their living, and massacre survivors cannot afford psychological treatment. But our Ceaușescus are renovating. This beggars belief.” https://twitter.com/faniaoz/status/1724856880487407884 I Have Never Been to This Israel Before https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/opinion/israel-hamas-war.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Twitter: “Well Fascists and Communists often confined dissidents or inconvenient people in psychiatric hospitals, so here Trump goes again with his authoritarian threats.” https://twitter.com/ruthbenghiat/status/1725367194714849650 Jake Tapper on Twitter: “Elon Musk pushing unvarnished anti semitism at a time of rising antisemitism and violence against Jews” https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1724922127206273338 The White House May Condemn Musk, but the Government Is Addicted to Him Rarely has the U.S. government so depended on the technology provided by a single technologist with views that it has so publicly declared repugnant.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/19/us/politics/elon-musk-white-house-pentagon.html?smid=tw-share  Peter Thiel Reveals His Contrarian Take on Energy and Climate The Trump adviser and Facebook investor strays outside the norm—including in cleantech.  https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/peter-thiel-reveals-his-contrarian-leanings-on-energy-climate Professor Michael E. Mann: “Thiel, Russia, Saudi Arabia all conspired in Musk's twitter takeover. An alliance of authoritarians/fascists and petrostates whose aim is no less than to destabilize democratic governance”  https://twitter.com/MichaelEMann/status/1634931469499117570 Ben Collins on Twitter: “Media Matters suit filed by Musk's X Corp here. He single out a staffer, @ehananoki , when filing it.” https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1726761801168162825?t=aA7AES3t5cwGkFxjoNAPCA&s=19 Global warming to far exceed Paris targets without urgent action: new report https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/video/global-warming-far-exceed-paris-targets-without-urgent-action-new-report Argentina set for sharp right turn as Trump-like radical wins presidency  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/19/argentina-presidential-election-results-javier-milei/ Univision, the Spanish-language news giant, shifts its approach to Trump The presence of corporate executives at Mar-a-Lago raises alarm among Democrats, who are used to Latino media criticism of the former president's policies  https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/14/trump-univision-biden-election/ Opening clip: https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1725225486882587118 Young voters in Michigan call for a ceasefire: https://twitter.com/jadeegray1/status/1726804481156030750?t=QNbP1pyq_ObLSSCH_Xp6IQ&s=19 Carl Sagan lecture on climate change in 1990:  https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/GEyMxn0X0u   Elon Musk on Russia's invasion of Ukraine  https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1723324517177561374 CNN's Jake Tapper on Israel's extreme far-right ruling coalition:  https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1724955462775251270

TOP NEWS | On today's Daily Signal Top News, we break down: A hostage deal between Israel and Hamas neared completion. Elon Musk's X Corp. sues Media Matters for defamation. Oklahoma Republican Rep. Josh Brecheen leads GOP lawmakers to introduce two pieces of pro-life legislation. Cost of Thanksgiving dinner hits a record high.   Relevant […]

TOP NEWS | On today's Daily Signal Top News, we break down: A hostage deal between Israel and Hamas neared completion.Elon Musk's X Corp. sues Media Matters for defamation.Oklahoma Republican Rep. Josh Brecheen leads GOP lawmakers to introduce two pieces of pro-life legislation.Cost of Thanksgiving dinner hits a record high. Relevant LinksListen to other podcasts from The Daily Signal: https://www.dailysignal.com/podcasts/Get daily conservative news you can trust from our Morning Bell newsletter: DailySignal.com/morningbellsubscription Listen to more Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcastsSign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agenda Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Notes Adam does interviews with a lot of folks. Zack has not actually listened to the episode yet. Please let him know any exciting news that comes from these. Ben Percy (Wolverine and X-Force) Philip Sevy (X-Men Unlimited, Deadpool Seven Slaughters) Bernard Chang (Jean Grey) Tini Howard (Excalibur, X-Corp, Knights of X, Capt Britain) Lucas Werneck (Immortal X-Men, Fall of the House of X) Joshua Cassara (X-Men) Check out the Battle of the Atom Master Ranking List! New content every week on ComicsXF.com Follow Adam on Twitter @arthurstacy & never try to find Zack! Our theme music is Junk Factory from the X-Men Arcade Game by Seiichi Fukami, Yuji Takenouchi, Junya Nakano, and Ayako Hashimoto. Cover art is by Adam Reck after Dave Cockrum with logo design by Mikey Zee If you want to support the show make sure you rate and review the show or check out our Patreon!

We have a super busy retro show today, as Frank comes to us live from 1940, and we traverse legal first and move on to culture last. The show notes are chock full of background on the Missouri v. Biden case going to SCOTUS, the X Corp v. California case, Ken Paxton’s impeachment mess, and […] The post Dark To Light: Musk Sues CA, Government Demands SCOTUS Allow Censorship appeared first on Radio Influence.

Imran Ahmed is a man in the middle of the disinformation wars. He is the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an organization dedicated to researching online hate speech and disinformation. Audie talks with him about how he came to the work, the lawsuit filed against him by Elon Musk's X Corp. (formerly Twitter), and what it all means for the debate over “free speech” versus “hate speech” online.  For more context on today's conversation, read CNN's reporting here. And read X Corp's response to CCDH here.  To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Imran Ahmed is a man in the middle of the disinformation wars. He is the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), an organization dedicated to researching online hate speech and disinformation. Audie talks with him about how he came to the work, the lawsuit filed against him by Elon Musk's X Corp. (formerly Twitter), and what it all means for the debate over “free speech” versus “hate speech” online.  For more context on today's conversation, read CNN's reporting here. And read X Corp's response to CCDH here.   To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TOP NEWS | On today's Daily Signal Top News, we break down:   The House Oversight Committee holds a closed door hearing with Hunter Biden's longtime business associate Devon Archer. Former President Donald Trump tried to stop the investigation into his actions in Georgia after the 2020 election. X Corp. threatens to sue an organization […]

TOP NEWS | On today's Daily Signal Top News, we break down: The House Oversight Committee holds a closed door hearing with Hunter Biden's longtime business associate Devon Archer. Former President Donald Trump tried to stop the investigation into his actions in Georgia after the 2020 election. X Corp. threatens to sue an organization that claims to track hate speech. A suicide bombing at an Islamic political rally in Pakistan leave more than 50 people dead. A Ukrainian drone strikes a skyscraper in Moscow. Relevant LinksListen to other podcasts from The Daily Signal: https://www.dailysignal.com/podcasts/Get daily conservative news you can trust from our Morning Bell newsletter: DailySignal.com/morningbellsubscription Listen to more Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

   The tone around Chiefs d-lineman Chris Jones' camp holdout is changing.  The superstar sacker wants a new contract but still has a year left on his current deal.  Andy Reid made it sound like the discussions were productive but now it sounds like they've broken off.  We discuss the Chiefs options.    There was a bunch of camp news this weekend around the league with one team fighting, one team battling the hype train and one team getting unexpectedly good quarterback news.  Oh, and Washington is changing their name again and they are now considering the name I picked years ago.    Elon Musk has changed the name of Twitter, Inc. to X Corp.  There was a wild boat crash at the Lake of the Ozarks Saturday night, Don Jr says he's been blacklisted by Fox News and we have the exact day and time of Cocaine Sharks this Shark Week.

Jason Aldean fires back at critics accusing him of having racial undertones in a new music video. Elon Musk's X Corp. sues Dallas ‘John Does' for allegedly scraping Twitter dataPlease visit our great sponsors:Black Rifle Coffeehttps://blackriflecoffee.com/danaChange the lives of Veterans and their families with the Boot Campaign with every purchase of the Ready-to-Drink Coffee!Hartford Gold:CALL 866-887-1188 or text DANA to 998899.Call right now and they will give you up to $5000 of free silver on your first qualifying order. Hillsdalehttps://danaforhillsdale.comSubscribe to the Hillsdale College Podcast Imprimis and start listening today!KelTechttps://KelTecWeapons.comSign up for the KelTec Insider and be the first to know the latest KelTec news. Patriot Mobilehttps://patriotmobile.com/danaGet free activation with the offer code DANA.

On Episode 1246 of Hard Factor the boys break down the San Antonio Spurs security team backhand slapping Britney Spears in Vegas, and MUCH more… Timestamps: (00:00:35) Intro (00:02:50) How to support the show - Bonus content: patreon.com/hardfactor ☕ Cup of Coffee in the Big Time ☕ (00:05:31) Flight attendant jokes (00:06:23) Britney Spears ‘backhanded' by NBA's Victor Wembanyama security, files police report (00:16:25) Woman hits streak of bad luck in single day, with house fire, motorcycle crash, cancer diagnosis (00:20:41) Missing teen: Rudy Farias mother kept him as sex slave for 8 years after he was reported missing: report

The MoviePass Titanic; real-world costs of crypto & generative AI; Tesla class-action lawsuit; Twitter is now X Corp., NPR & PBS leave; cold culture war has gone hot; Scotland's driverless busses; NASA launches new pollution tracker, gets new director; Google's Bard to bring transparency to their black box; Twitter Circles are broken; Iceberg Slim; I'll Sleep When I'm Dead; Succession; Picard; Bye, HBO, you're now MAX: Star Wars news; Skate Punk; playlists aka mix-tapes; YouTube Premium perks; weather apps suck; Schmigadoon!; the Mandalorian; PayPal scam; don't login to company assets after leaving the company; Layoffs.FYI; OpenAI bug bounties; Juice Jacking is crap; cutting the cord, but what about baseball?Sponsors:DeleteMe - Head over to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use the code "GOG" for 20% off.Hover - Go to Hover now and grab your very own domain or a few of them at hover.com/gog and get 10% off your first purchase.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.Show notes at https://gog.show/597FOLLOW UPEverything You Should Know About the New MoviePassThe Real-World Costs of the Digital Race for BitcoinThe mounting human and environmental costs of generative AITesla slammed with class-action lawsuit following report that employees internally shared private photos and videos taken from car camerasTwitter Isn't a Company AnymoreTwitter Reverses NPR Label, Tweaks to ‘Government Funded Media'NPR is ditching Twitter over 'government-funded media' label on its main accountPBS has also quit Twitter over its 'government-funded media' labelElizabeth Holmes Will Have to Wait Out Her Appeal in PrisonArrest made in SF killing of Bob Lee — tech exec's alleged killer also worked in techWho is Nima Momeni, alleged killer of Cash App founder Bob Lee?IN THE NEWSDriverless bus service to start in Scotland in 'world first'NASA launches powerful air quality monitor to keep an eagle-eye on pollutionNEW NASA GODDARD DIRECTOR EXPLAINS WHY SHE WAS SWORN IN ON A CARL SAGAN BOOKGoogle Bard's new 'experiment updates' page lets you know what's newVimeo to pay $2.25M in AI-related biometric privacy lawsuitTwitter Circles Is Broken, Revealing Nudes Not Meant For The General PublicElon Musk is moving forward with a new generative-AI project at Twitter after purchasing thousands of GPUsFTC fines supplement maker $600,000 for 'review hijacking' Amazon listingsMEDIA CANDYThe Labours Of Hercule - The Adventure Of The Cheap FlatIceberg Slim: Portrait of a PimpI'll Sleep When I'm DeadPerry Mason Season 2'The Americans' cast celebrate show's 10th anniversarySuccessionHow Brian Cox Felt About That Big Episode 3 Twist in ‘Succession'HBO's Succession PodcastSure, 'Max' sounds dumb, but HBO Max needed a rebootPicardFor the first time, you can now watch every Star Trek movie in 4K HDR'Star Wars: The Bad Batch' is getting a third, and final, seasonDisney is bringing ‘Star Wars: Return of the Jedi' back to theaters on April 28thHonest Trailers | Avatar: The Way of WaterThe Continental: From the World of John Wick | Official Teaser | Peacock OriginalThe Ongoing History of New Music Podcast by Alan Cross - History of Skate PunkAPPS & DOODADSYouTube Premium adds more perks with SharePlay support, higher quality video and moreSpotify is shutting down Heardle, the Wordle-like music guessing game it bought last yearThe Problem With Weather AppsAwesome ScreenshotStable DiffusionWhat Kind of Mind Does ChatGPT Have? by Cal NewportFinalmouse Centerpiece Keyboard RevealFINALMOUSE CENTERPIECE KEYBOARDAT THE LIBRARYMake Something Wonderful - Steve Jobs in his own wordsDead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen by Greg JennerTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEThe CyberWireDave BittnerHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopSchmigadoon!10% log back in to 'disrupt' business, reportLayoffs.FYIAnnouncing OpenAI's Bug Bounty ProgramSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A.M. Edition for April 13. Elon Musk's social media company tells the courts it has a new company name and is now incorporated in Nevada. Plus, Brazil's president becomes the latest world leader to visit China. WSJ reporter Austin Ramzy explains how the trip helps Beijing to further shake off its pandemic-era diplomatic isolation. Luke Vargas hosts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices