Late Night Music Club: Supertramp - The Logical Song

When Supertramp released the Breakfast In America album, it rocketed to number one. The album spawned many hit singles including The Logical Song, Bloody Well Right and, of course, the title song. That's why it's so disappointing to me that you never hear their music anymore, even on the classic rock stations. I think that it's arguable that they should be considered up there with The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, and even the Beatles.

In this video, Supertramp is performing The Logical Song live from Paris at the end of 1979. They had put on four concerts in Paris and had recorded all of them and filmed two of them. The recordings made it to the album Live From Paris. Unfortunately, the film never was made.

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How We Break The Electoral College

Two new polls released this month have found significant public support for ending America's status as the world's only democracy that uses an electoral college to elect its president. The nonpartisan Pew Research Center publicized a survey that finds a 65-33 majority in favor of ditching the Electoral College and instead electing the candidate who wins the most votes, while the Democratic firm Civiqs unveiled a new tracking poll whose numbers as of Thursday find a 51-42 majority in support of the idea.

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GOP Rep. Gonzales Ditches Work To Join Musk Border’s Stunt

In case you missed it, South African immigrant Elon Musk dressed up like a Texas cowboy and filmed himself at the U.S. border, in yet another attempt to insert his dishonest, white-nationalist self into U.S. policy and politics.

From The Daily Beast:

The world’s richest man noted that he is an immigrant and that he believes the U.S. should have “a greatly expanded legal immigration system” with “expedited legal approval” for anyone “who is hardworking and honest and will be a contributor to the United States.” But, he said, there is now “a flow of people that is of such magnitude that it is actually leading to a collapse of social services.”

It’s not as if Musk is in any position to do anything to solve the border crisis. But you know who is? Rep. Gonzales. If Gonzales really cared about a collapse of social services, he would have stayed in Washington and focused on preventing the looming MAGA Republican shutdown. More from TDB:

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Spineless GOP Rep Refuses To Condemn Trump's Call For Milley To Be Executed

All CNN's Abby Phillips was treated to instead from spineless MAGA Rep. Cory Mills were weasel words and both siderism in response to her question on whether Trump "crossed the line" when calling for the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to be executed.

During a discussion about the looming government shutdown, Phillips wrapped up the interview this Friday by playing a tape of Milley responding to Trump's death threat, where he said:

We don't take an oath to a country. We don't take an oath to a tribe. We don't take an oath to a religion. We don't take an oath to a king or a queen or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don't take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution.

Here's the back and forth that followed with Mills twisting himself in knots before he'd ever dare to say anything negative about Dear Leader and basically justified what Trump said by making some of the exact same baseless attacks against Milley himself:

PHILLIP: A lot of people interpreted that as a swipe at former President Donald Trump, who I should note, suggested that he should be executed recently.

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Tinder goes ultra-premium, Amazon invests in Anthropic and Apple explains its new AirPods

In this edition of Week in Review, we cover Tinder's pricey new subscription, Amazon's investment in Anthropic and the features of Apple's next-gen AirPods.

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No, The Two Parties Are Not The Same

Leigh McGowan, aka Politics Girl, takes a week out of history - the week of September 18th, to be exact - and compares and contrasts the two parties during that week. Which party tried to help the American people and which party continuously beclowned themselves. As she explains, it's a lot more than just whether there's a D or an R after the name.

Open thread below...

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Kick streamers consider leaving over CEO’s comments in a sex worker ‘prank’ stream

Streamers are leaving Kick en masse in protest of the platform’s lack of safety guidelines, after a prominent creator streamed an encounter with a sex worker without informing her that there were other people present. She was briefly prevented from leaving after she expressed discomfort, while Kick’s CEO posted laughing emotes in the stream chat.  […]

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The Dam Breaks: First Co-Defendant In Georgia RICO Case Pleads Guilty

Scott Hall, the bail bondsman who was involved in the Coffee County voting machine tampering case which is part of the overall Georgia RICO case has just pleaded guilty in court under a deal with Fulton County DA's office where he will cooperate in exchange for lesser charges.

Appearing before Judge Scott McAfee, Hall pleaded guilty Friday to five counts of "conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties," which are misdemeanors. After accepting the charges and finding Hall guilty, McAfee sentenced Hall to five years of probation, plus a $1,000 fine for each charge for a total of $5,000, according to the plea agreement.

Here's the thing: This puts Sidney Powell in a big bind, because she was inextricably bound up in this conspiracy in Coffee County to tamper with voting machines, as Ryan Goodman notes in this tweet below:

With breakthrough for Georgia DA (@TamarHallerman reporting: "SCOTT HALL has become the first co-defendant in the Fulton election interference case to take a plea deal with prosecutors.")

That spells bad news for, among others, Sidney Powell.

Example of alleged joint actions.👇 pic.twitter.com/odMM5C7JtX

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'Don't Do It!': Trump Doubles Down On Call For Government Shutdown

Former President Bloaty McBatShit, who led the longest government shutdown in US history, once again calls on Republicans not to negotiate with Democrats to "bail out Crooked Joe Biden." Trump is trying to shut down the government to make his successor look bad. Tell me how that Makes America Great. This won't make Biden look bad. The looming shutdown belongs to the Republican Party.

"I hear that Old Crow Mitch McConnell, together with his small band of weak and ineffective RINOS like Mitt Romney and "Hopeless" John Cornyn, are, as usual, trying to cobble together a series of massive concessions for Cryin' Chuck Schumer and the Lunatic Left, in order to "bail out" Crooked Joe Biden, THE WORST & MOST CORRUPT PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES," he wrote on Truth Social. "The Old Crow, and his group of ten (plus) COWARDS, have savaged our Country by approving Trillions of Dollars for Green New Deal Insanity, and the Weaponization of our System of "Injustice." Don't do it!!!"

With the amount of debt Trump left us with, he has no room to talk about spending, but that doesn't stop him.

It's a shit show.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy blocked a bipartisan Senate bill to avert a shutdown. He's the weakest speaker in recent history and Trump's lapdog.

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VW bails on its plan for a $2.1B EV plant in Germany

Volkswagen’s $2.1 billion plan to launch a dedicated electric-vehicle factory in Wolfsburg, Germany is kaput.  The automaker instead reportedly plans to modify its existing plants in Zwickau and Wolfsburg to handle production of a new flagship EV — the postponed Project Trinity — and an all-electric Golf hatchback.  This tracks with an earlier statement from […]

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When predatory investors damage your chances of success

Welcome to Startups Weekly. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. You know what isn’t a great idea for my energy levels? Enjoying a week of TechCrunch Disrupt and then getting straight on a plane to attend a startup event in Oslo, Norway. I’ve only just gotten over my jet lag, […]

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ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm. It’s able to write essays, code and more given short text prompts, hyper-charging productivity. But it also has a more…nefarious side. In any case, AI tools are not going away — and indeed has expanded dramatically since its launch just a few months ago. […]

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Mixin hacked for $200M, Worldcoin eyes greater expansion and Haun Ventures’ execs talk crypto regulation

Welcome back to Chain Reaction. We’re gearing up for the highly anticipated Sam Bankman-Fried trial. As for other news, it’s been an interesting and somewhat slower week for the crypto community.

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DOJ says eBay sold thousands of illegal, poisonous, and polluting products

The Department of Justice raked eBay over the proverbial coals today, accusing the online retailer of “unlawfully selling and distributing hundreds of thousands” of products that threaten the environment and public health. In a statement on Wednesday, the DOJ said it’s suing eBay for distributing restricted and mislabeled pesticides, defeat devices that mess with vehicles’ […]

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Meta parties like it’s 2015, brings new chatbots to its messaging apps

Meta, angling for a seat at the AI chatbot table, is launching a host of new AI-powered bots across its messaging apps, including WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. They’re available for select users in beta in the U.S. as of today. One is an AI assistant called Meta AI, which, judging by The Verge’s hands-on piece, […]

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Mark Zuckerberg went 33 minutes without saying ‘metaverse’ at his keynote

When Meta rebranded from Facebook two years ago, the word “metaverse” went mainstream. Even people outside the tech world wondered if we would soon start to socialize via virtual reality headsets. But, at least according to public opinion and the stock market, the metaverse proved itself to be pretty mid. Propelled by founder and CEO […]

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Fox Interview With People On The Street Goes Hilariously Wrong

If the Fox News crew sincerely cared about crime in the U.S., they should check out Rep. Jim Jones' district. Ohio's murder rate is higher than that of New York, and even Manhattan alone. And then there's Rep. Kevin McCarthy, whose district is the murder capital of California. But these are not serious people.

"Jesse sent Johnny to the progressive hellscape where residents mocked the idea that the city is spiraling out of control," Judge Box O'Wine said to explain people's reaction.

"I've never seen any crime in Seattle," one man said. "I've never seen any of it. I've seen fun and laughter and laughter and fun."

"I don't believe that number," a woman said.

"People, they're getting robbed out here, carjacked," Johnny insisted.

"I've never heard of anyone getting robbed," the lady said.

"Crime is a social issue that could be solved by giving people their basic needs," another woman said.

"It's not a thing that happens just on the street," the previous woman said. "People don't just come up and try to rob people on the street. "Do you walk around every day like someone's gonna rob me every second?"

"Seattle decriminalized drug use, and then they criminalized it again," Johnny said.

"Oh my God, who are you getting these facts from?" the woman said. "You're from New York. Apparently, you're listening to the wrong people."

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Biden Goes To UAW Picket Lines But You'll Never Guess What Axios Reported

Axios is the news site for people who have attention span issues. Everything is reported in bullet points so people won't have to be stressed by reading whole paragraphs with supporting facts and things. They're also supposed to report...you know...news.

Here are some things that are news today:

• Biden walks the picket line with UAW strikers
• Republicans are hurtling toward a government shutdown
• Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks and insurers by overstating the values of his properties
• Supreme Court won't let Alabama use their one-Black-majority district maps
• Hunter Biden sues Rudy Giuliani

Those are all important stories and they're only a few of the most important ones. The government shutdown has stories within stories, like McCarthy aligning with hard-liners to cut the social safety net and starve already-hungry kids, for example.

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What is Amazon’s [redacted] ‘Project Nessie’ algorithm?

The FTC’s lawsuit against Amazon alleging anti-competitive practices is largely full of things we already knew in a general sense: price hikes, pressure to use Amazon fulfillment, and so on. But then we get to a sea of redactions and the mysterious “Project Nessie.” What is it, and could it possibly be as alarming as […]

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Sources: Palo Alto in advanced talks to buy Talon and Dig in a $1B security sweep

Palo Alto Networks’ stock price has been on the rise on the back of strong earnings and growing demand for cybersecurity services, and now the company is using that momentum to do a little shopping. TechCrunch has confirmed with multiple sources that Palo Alto is in advanced negotiations to buy not one, but two, security […]

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Talkdesk conducts third round of layoffs in less than 14 months

Talkdesk, a company once valued at $10 billion that sells software to help large corporations improve customer service, has laid off more employees — the third round of cuts in less than 14 months. A Talkdesk spokesperson confirmed Tuesday via email that it had made “limited headcount reductions in a few areas.” She declined to […]

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YouTube relaxes advertiser-friendly guidelines around controversial topics, like abortion, abuse and eating disorders

YouTube today announced an update to its advertiser-friendly guidelines that relaxes some of its rules around controversial issues, including sexual and domestic abuse, abortions, and eating disorders. The changes will allow YouTube creators to monetize their videos on these topics under some circumstances, though not if they go into graphic detail. YouTube monetization policy lead […]

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Signal’s Meredith Whittaker: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’

Why is it that so many companies that rely on monetizing the data of their users seem to be extremely hot on AI? If you ask Signal president Meredith Whittaker (and I did), she’ll tell you it’s simply because “AI is a surveillance technology.” Onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, Whittaker explained her perspective that AI […]

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls For Menendez Resignation

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday became the first progressive House Democrat to call on Sen. Bob Menendez to resign following the former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair's indictment last week on federal bribery charges.

Menendez (D-N.J.) and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were charged Friday with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes—including gold bars, cash, home mortgage payments, and a Mercedes-Benz—from businessmen in exchange for influence. The indictment also accuses Menendez of giving "sensitive U.S. government information" to Egypt's dictatorship.

Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Ocasio-Cortez said that "the situation is quite unfortunate, but I do believe that it is in the best interest for Sen. Menendez to resign in this moment."

"Consistency matters. It shouldn't matter whether it's a Republican or a Democrat. The details in this indictment are extremely serious. They involve the nature of not just his, but all of our seats in Congress," added Ocasio-Cortez, who is the vice-ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.

https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1705956588257730967

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Max Q: Things got disrupted

Hello and welcome back to Max Q! I'm home after attending TechCrunch Disrupt, our flagship event in SF. We had some incredible programming and startups onstage for our Battlefield competition.

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Apple executives break down AirPods’ new features

AirPods only got a passive mention during the keynote at Apple’s event. It’s understandable — the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 (and Ultra 2) were center stage. Besides, the headphones didn’t get the same manner of hardware updates. As a press release issued after the event confirmed, the biggest physical change to the […]

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Storybutton wants to redesign the radio for Gen Alpha podcast listeners

Storybutton, a new audio player for kids, aims to be the go-to alternative to screened devices for the 12 and under set. Created by kid-friendly podcaster Jim Jacob (“Mr. Jim”), Storybutton wants to improve the way kids listen by moving the podcast experience off phones and tablets. Storybutton costs $99.99 and features an easy-to-use design […]

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Tucker Carlson's Show Appears On Russian TV

Russians have long recognized how effective a propagandist Tucker Carlson is for them, so instead of merely putting up small clips they've taken his Twitter show and aired whole segments. Tucker Carlson denies any involvement. "When asked if he would ever consider partnering with Russian state TV, Carlson replied, "Of course not. I'm an American."'

Sure, buddy.

Source: BBC

Russian TV news channel Rossiya 24 has aired a trailer for a weekend show featuring former Fox News journalist Tucker Carlson.

The state-run broadcaster did not make clear whether it will feature original content or be a translation of his regular English-language videos on X.

Carlson abruptly left Fox News in April where his populist conservative takes were renowned.

Rossiya 24 has not yet said when the show will air.

The advert, first shared earlier this month, aired again on 22 September with the words "on the weekend" but no further details.

In it Carlson is seen repeatedly saying the word "Russia" - in what appeared to be clips spliced together from earlier broadcasts - and concludes with footage of him saying the word "24".

This was accompanied by on-screen text reading: "The high-profile American presenter is moving to another level. Here."

And what did Carlson say about all this?

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Trump Very Upset 'Sleepy Joe' Is Beating Him To The Picket Line

Donald Trump responded to news that President Joe Biden is set to travel to Michigan on Tuesday to join United Auto Workers on the picket line in a historic show of solidarity for striking workers amid the labor dispute. Biden is going one day before the former President planned on going, except that he didn't clarify his schedule. UAW President Shawn Fain invited Biden, and the President responded in a tweet to say he would be there. At about 3 in the morning, Trump unleashed a couple of tweets to lash out at Howard Stern and the UAW.

"Crooked Joe Biden had no intention of going to visit the United Autoworkers, until I announced that I would be heading to Michigan to be with them, & help then [SIC] out," he wrote. "Actually, Crooked Joe sold them down the river with his ridiculous all Electric Car Hoax."

"This wasn't Biden's idea, he can't put two sentences together. It was the idea of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, & Communists who control him and who, in so doing, are DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY!" he said. "Within 3 years, all of these cars will be made in China. That's what Sleepy Joe wants, because China pays him and his family a FORTUNE."

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Despite the ups and downs of the fintech space, people still really care about it

Welcome back to The Interchange, where we take a look at the hottest fintech news of the previous week. If you want to receive The Interchange directly in your inbox every Sunday, head here to sign up! Disrupt! Last week, our team was at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, which featured a dedicated fintech stage for the first time […]

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Like Father, Like Son

Truer toons were never drawn. Happy Sunday morning to all. Get your coffee and tell us what’s on your mind in the comments.

- Karoli

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Late Night Music Club With The Civil Wars

I discovered the Civil Wars from a video posted on then-Twitter over a decade ago. Their harmonies and unmistakeable chemistry just ooze through their music. Sadly, the duo split in a fiery wall of flames -- or maybe a cold, icy wall -- back in 2013 after they canceled their 2012 European tour. Joy Williams and John Paul White went their separate ways and have gone on to make several solo albums.

As far as anyone knows, they haven't spoken since they wrapped the recording of The Civil Wars LP in 2013. Their solo albums are just fine, but when they were together, they were greater than the sum of their parts.

This was one of the last videos they released from that album. Perhaps it speaks to the conflict they had on the road, or maybe there was too much chemistry and talent in one room. Who knows? They're not talking.

Joy Williams hosts a podcast on Apple and John Paul White is touring in the US with his newest record, but The Civil Wars is still just...magnificent, if even for just the short time they were together.

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Wisconsin GQP Run Amok With Impeachment Fever

Last week, Wisconsin Republicans in the state senate had a meaningless vote to fire Meagan Wolfe solely because, for them, she has become the face for the reality that TFG lost Wisconsin in 2020.

This week, Wisconsin Republicans in the state assembly, who already want to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz, decided to have a twofer special, and impeach Wolfe as well:

Five Republican members of the state Assembly have released articles of impeachment against Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe, the latest move by the GOP-controlled state Legislature to oust the nonpartisan elections chief from her job ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

The lawmakers on Thursday put forward 15 articles of impeachment within a 23-page resolution. Many of the articles contain accusations that have been debunked or are based on decisions made by the bipartisan panel of commissioners who oversee Wolfe.

The articles of impeachment can be read here, if you need a good laugh.

As the gentle reader might have already guessed, the five GQP members who are spearheading this impeachment fantasy are not the best of the best.

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Elon Musk threatens to charge for X, OpenAI launches DALL-E 3 and Cisco acquires Splunk

Welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter covering the past few days in tech. The TC crew — including this reporter — is coming off the high of Disrupt, which hopefully some of you, dear readers, were able to attend in person. Fret not if you didn’t — there’s always next year, and […]

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How CFOs can reduce SaaS spend by 30% in these tough times

Software spending is now the third-biggest expense for organizations, right after employee and office costs.

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Former Australian PM Says Murdoch’s ‘Anger-tainment’ Hurt The Democratic World

Malcolm Turnbull has never got on with Rupert Murdoch since he accused Murdoch of helping to oust him from power as the prime minister representing the Liberal Party. In Australia, though called Liberal, that party is center right, and was led by John Howard, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull (2015-2018), and Scott Morrison (2018-2022) before they finally relinquished power.

Source: The Guardian

Rupert Murdoch has been accused of doing “enormous damage to the democratic world” by a former Australian prime minister, as senior political figures in his country of birth greet news of the mogul stepping down as chair of his media empire with scepticism.

Malcolm Turnbull, a former Liberal prime minister and advocate for a royal commission into the Murdoch media empire, said the media mogul had created an “anger-tainment ecosystem” that had left the US “angrier and more divided than it’s been at any time since the civil war”.
...
Turnbull, who served as prime minister from 2015 to 2018, is a longstanding critic of Murdoch and blames News Corp’s promotion of climate denialism in part for his party’s decision to remove him as leader.

On Friday Turnbull said that Murdoch left a “hell of a legacy”, arguing that without Fox and News Corp, Britain probably would not have exited the European Union and Donald Trump would not have been president.

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LimeLoop’s sleek reusable mailers seek to replace cardboard boxes

The startup’s smart mailers are reusable dozens of times, reducing the carbon footprint by 90% compared with cardboard boxes.

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Unity U-turns on controversial runtime fee and begs forgiveness

Unity has done a 180 on a controversial new pricing scheme that users of its cross-platform game engine almost unanimously disparaged.

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GOP Rep. Casts Doubt On McCarthy, Praises Nancy Pelosi

Republicans can't even get together to support their own defense bill. It's been a massive embarrassment for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. It's now reached a point where a Republican Rep. praised Nancy Pelosi's Speakership while casting doubt on Kevin McCarthy's. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that as Speaker, Nancy Pelosi was "successful."

"Do you still support this, Speaker?" Collins asked.

"I have my questions," Burchett said. "I have my doubts right now because I'm seeing we need leadership, ma'am."

"We don't need someone just to say we've got 218 boats or whatever that jumps on the train after it leaves the station," he continued. "We need some people."

"Speaker Pelosi, for instance, I don't agree with her ever, hardly on anything, but she was pretty successful in the way she did it was she put an issue out amongst her caucus," the Tennessee Republican said. "She met with them."

"She got a, she figured out what they wanted, and then they put it on the floor, and they passed it, and they rallied around it," he continued. "A lot of work goes into that, but we're not seeing that. I'm not seeing that work right now, and it's very disappointing to me."

"A rare compliment from a Republican for Speaker Pelosi," Collins said.

"She's a friend of mine," Burchett replied.

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Governor Beshear's Ad Is The Template For All Democrats

Reproductive rights have been the big issue in almost every election held in the last year since the Supreme Court came out with the Dodd ruling. And it's going to continue to be the big issue going into the 2024 elections.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear understands that. He's also not afraid to go there with a powerful ad that gets straight to the point in the words of a young woman who, unfortunately, knows all too well what she is talking about, having been a victim of rape and incest:

#KYGov: The Andy Beshear campaign is up on TV with this spot --

Hadley to camera:

"This is to you, Daniel Cameron. To tell a 12-year-old girl she must have the baby of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable" pic.twitter.com/2tW09U4ZUO

— Medium Buying (@MediumBuying) September 20, 2023

I am a strong believer in being direct and honest, no matter how uncomfortable it might make some people, and that is exactly what Beshear's ad does.

And if you don't believe me, look at this flailing response from his opponent, Daniel Cameron:

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OnePlus confirms its first foldable is officially ‘coming soon’

OnePlus is officially gearing up to launch its first foldable phone “soon,” the company told TechCrunch on Thursday. The company previously revealed that the device, tentatively called the OnePlus Open, was going to launch in the second half of this year, and it now looks like we’re nearing a launch date. When asked why OnePlus […]

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Don’t want that commuter stipend? Bundl enables employees to choose their own company benefits

Bundl provides a total rewards software that enables employees to build and customize their own rewards package that best fits their wants and needs.

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Anthropic’s Dario Amodei on AI’s limits: ‘I’m not sure there are any’

As Anthropic takes on OpenAI and other challengers in the growing artificial intelligence industry, there is also an existential question looming: can large language models and the systems they enable continue growing in size and capability? CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei has a simple answer: yes. Speaking on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, Amodei explained that […]

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Why is Y Combinator so defensive lately?

Y Combinator has been on the defense as of late. This past weekend, leaders from the popular accelerator were vocal on X (formerly known as Twitter) in their reaction to a comment made by the CEO of another accelerator at an event. Ali Partovi, who founded Neo in 2017, was the keynote speaker at HackMIT […]

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Former Meta AI VP debuts Sizzle, an AI-powered learning app and chatbot

Founded by the former vice president of AI at Meta, Jerome Pesenti, Sizzle is a free AI-powered learning app that generates step-by-step answers to math equations and word problems. The company recently launched four new features, including a grading capability, a feature that regenerates steps, an option to see multiple answers to one problem and […]

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Alpha3D wants to accelerate digital asset and AI-powered generation through cheaper, hyper-scaling technology

In the artificial intelligence world, there’s no shortage of image or text generators that allow users to spur up content with the push of a button. Alpha3D, a generative AI-powered platform, is participating in the TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 a participant of the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort in hopes of showcasing a technology that can hyper-scale […]

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SVB’s commercial banking president: ‘Come on back, the water’s fine’

Four players in the banking industry spoke about what they are doing to offer startups and investors new alternatives in a post-SVB world.

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GOP In Disarray: Bannon Calls Impeachment A 'Clown Show'

Steve Bannon has words for James Comer.

STEVE BANNON (HOST): Comer announced that this joint effort, you know, Oversight with Judiciary, this, you know, moving towards the impeachment of Biden, that they're going to meet next week, and they're going to subpoena the bank records, so that will be September – be the last couple of days of September, almost October, October 2023.

They're going to go subpoena the bank records of Hunter Biden, something they should have done in the first week. And this is why it's a clown show, and they're not serious. It's all performative. Unless you're on them 24/7, and I mean, on them. Up in their grill. Nothing will happen. They don't want to do anything. This is the same surrender caucus. The reason the country is in the shape it’s in, is because the Republican Party under Bush and under these clowns have rolled over and been part of the problem, while lulling you to sleep over TV for stupid people.

Seriously. And they make a big deal about it. We are going to subpoena. Hunter Biden's bank records. Dude, that should have happened the first day for drama. You should have, you should have gaveled in and subpoenaed him the first day.

Yeah so it's a matter of not going after Biden hard enough? And it's fake drama, but they're doing the fake drama WRONG?

So much for governing. As ever.

Media Matters

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Apple’s Lisa Jackson explains how going carbon neutral by 2030 is good business

As the most valuable company in the world, Apple extends its massive footprint into every corner of industry that it touches. With that footprint comes a vast responsibility to conduct itself responsibly in terms of sourcing materials, labor and the energy necessary to ship well over two billion mobile devices on its course to becoming […]

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Kevin McCarthy: 'It's Hard To Pass Anything In This Place'

Kevin McCarthy tells us how hard it is to pass anything in the House, and we've noticed that, too. The government is headed toward a shutdown, and a dysfunctional group of dimwitted amateurs are all we have to save us from defaulting on our debts. Have no fear; Kevin is here!

"It's hard to pass anything in this place," McCarthy said. "We started out on a five-seat majority."

"I have one member who's now resigned," he continued. "We've got a couple members who are out as well. Anything we do is pretty tough in life."

"But you know what?" he said. "This country is too great and too big to give up."

"And I'm never going to give up on the country," he added.

A laugh track needs to be edited into that clip. That was the most depressing thing I've read since I reviewed Donald Trump's Truth Social posts yesterday. I might have to start on anti-depressants.

Can't he ask Nany Pelosi how to be an effective Speaker instead of some milquetoast mealy-mouthed newbie? The Freedom Caucus needs to be neutered, but Kevin would have to grow up first. After all, Freedom Caucus member Lauren Boebert is useless except for headlines when she dives into her boyfriend's crotch at the theater.

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Introducing the Startup Battlefield 200 companies at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

After combing through thousands of startups from around the world, TechCrunch is thrilled to announce the 2023 Startup Battlefield 200 — our invitation-only cohort of game-changing early-stage startups. TechCrunch will host these promising founders tomorrow at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, on September 19–21. Last year, we expanded the Startup Battlefield to match the pace […]

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Questions every VC needs to ask about every AI startup’s tech stack

The true value proposition of AI companies now lies not just within the models, but also predominantly in the underpinning datasets.

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Tim Scott's 'Girlfriend' Is The Least Of His Problems

Axios’ morning email thingie reports that the quest to learn the secret identity of Sen. Tim Scott’s Hawt Canadian Lingerie Supermodel Girlfriend continues:

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — a 57-year-old bachelor under pressure from potential presidential backers to say more about his personal life — told evangelicals in Iowa last night that he’s dating “a lovely Christian girl.”

Asked onstage if there’s “any special lady” in his life, Scott replied: “I’m dating a lovely Christian girl,” according to Politico.

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UK police officers’ data stolen in cyberattack on ID supplier

The personal details of thousands of U.K. police officers have been stolen after a suspected ransomware attack on a third-party supplier. Greater Manchester Police, one of the largest police departments in the U.K., confirmed last week that the supplier, since confirmed as Stockport based identity card maker Digital ID, holds “some information on those employed […]

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Doesn't Anyone Understand White Trash Culture?

Brent Terhune is on fire! He is so upset at the disgraceful way theater staff handled the situation with Lauren Blowbert while she and her side guy were at the stage version of Chitty Chitty Grab A Titty. And what's the matter with her smoking a vape? It sure beats smoking a bad guy with one of her many guns. The theater workers are just lucky that they weren't showing Jason Aldean's Our Small Town. You can't do that in Our Small Town!

Be prepared to watch this clip a few times. You don't want to miss a second because you were busting one from laughing so hard.

Open thread below...

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GOP Youth Conference Adds Lauren Boebert As Speaker

One day after GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert was tossed out of a performance of Beetlejuice at the Buell Theatre, a Republican youth conference decided it was a good idea to add her to their list of speakers.

🚨🚨NEW SPEAKER ALERT 🚨 🚨

We are excited to announce Congresswoman @laurenboebert is added to our all-star @texyouthsummit lineup.

🗓️September 29-30
📍The Woodlands Marriott

This is FREE to ages 12-26, adults 27+ can buy tickets starting at https://t.co/dmPBm80l0p.#txys23 pic.twitter.com/X3VQgVt01G

— Texas Youth Summit (@texyouthsummit) September 15, 2023

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Seattle Cop Defends Laughing About ‘Limited Value’ Student Killed By Police

Officer Daniel Auderer claimed his cold-hearted laughter at 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula’s death and jokes that the city should “just write a check” were taken out of context.

Source: New York Post

The Seattle cop who joked about the death of a graduate student who was fatally struck by a police cruiser while crossing the street defended his callous remarks in a statement released Friday.

Officer Daniel Auderer claimed his cold-hearted laughter at 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula’s death and jokes that the city should “just write a check” were taken out of context during a private call he didn’t know was being recorded by his department-issued body camera.

The cop had just responded to the Jan. 23 fatal crash and was speaking with Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan to update him when he made the remarks.

“She is dead,” Auderer says before bursting out laughing. “No, it’s a regular person,” he says, referring to Kandula.

The Police Union knew immediately that they had a crisis on their hands, but instead of thinking of the victim, or her family, their first thoughts were to public relations and minimizing the fallout. On that, they've failed completely.

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Boebert On Beetlejuice-Gate: I Have 'An Animated Personality'

Controversial Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert tried to defend her latest scandal by blaming the media. She said that many things are happening in the world, and yet the media focused on the footage of her groping her male companion in a family-friendly theater while blowing vape smoke at a pregnant woman. Oh, and her boyfriend was all over her new breasts. But sure, it's the media's fault.

"We just had Kevin McCarthy, the Speaker of the House, announce an impeachment inquiry yesterday," BoBo said. "We're facing a government shutdown and trying to fund the federal government."

"We have a wide-open southern border," she falsely said. "We have Zelenskyy threatening to send refugees here."

"And what's the top story?" she continued. "Lauren Bobert getting kicked out of the Buick Theater in Denver, Colorado."

"It's what the media does," the OAN host said. "It's what the media does."

"So what went down?" Boebert continued. "I was a little too eccentric. I'm very known for having an animated personality, maybe overtly animated personality."

"I was laughing," she said. "I was singing, having a fantastic time. Was told to kind of settle it down a little bit, which I did. But then my next slip-up was taking a picture of the cast members."

"There was no arguing," she said. "There was no reports saying that I was arguing, threatening to call the Denver mayor. I'm on the edge of a lot of things, let me tell you."

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An autoworkers strike trifecta and another speed bump for Cruise and Waymo

Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.

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Real estate tech companies continue to get hammered by high mortgage rates

Once valued at over $2 billion, rent-to-own startup Divvy Homes conducted its third round of layoffs in a year's time.

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A Men’s Movement Leads A Nationwide Quest To End Abortion

by Sofia Resnick, Florida Phoenix
September 16, 2023

Wendell Shrock doesn’t believe in condoms. “We should leave the uterus to God,” the street preacher from Tennessee tells States Newsroom in front of an abortion clinic outside of Atlanta, mid-morning in late July. Sweat drips from his cowboy hat into his salt-and-pepper beard that stretches halfway down his red-plaid shirt. The retired police officer is running security for the conservative Christian group Operation Save America’s annual national event. Their followers interpret the Bible literally. Some believe constant procreation is God’s will.

Shrock surveilles the crowd while his wife, Dawn, cares for six of their 11 children on the opposite end of a sidewalk crowded with warring abortion messages. One of their daughters walks over, and Shrock explains she will wed soon. He’s been praying God will give her 20 children. (For privacy reasons, he doesn’t share her age.) One of his sons got married about six years ago at 18 and has had a child every year since. Shrock says with pride that Dawn, who wears a hair covering and a long dress, has never held a public job.

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Biden Admin Moves To Protect Federal Govt From MAGA Purge

A second Donald Trump or a Ron DeSantis or Vivek Ramawamy presidency would still be a national nightmare but the Biden administration is taking steps to make it a tad less horrific.

From The Washington Post:

The Biden administration proposed a new rule Friday seeking to bolster protections for federal workers, an explicit attempt to thwart plans by former president Donald Trump and his allies to replace career government officials with political loyalists should he be reelected.

The rule seeks to halt any attempt to gut the foundation of the federal civil service, whose 2.2 million career employees serve any occupant of the White House without regard to partisanship — and have rights to due process at every level.

In the waning days of his administration, Trump tried to subvert those principles with a sweeping executive order that stripped job protections from employees in policy roles across the government. President Biden revoked that executive order on the third day of his presidency, and the new rule Friday seeks to further protect those officials. The rule comes as Trump continues to dominate the Republican primary field and appears likely to once again capture his party’s nomination for president.

Fortunately, then-President Trump ran out of time to implement his purge plan, aka Schedule F, but candidates Trump, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy have also vowed to decimate the federal workforce, The Post notes.

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Ex-Wells Fargo Bankster Avoids Prison In Fake-Accounts Scandal

Carrie Tolstedt, the former head of Wells Fargo, who has made a fortune leading the bank's efforts to aggressively sell multiple accounts to each of its millions of customers, avoided serving prison time. She pleaded guilty to an obstruction charge related to the bank's sweeping fake accounts scandal, and she's made a fortune on it. Tolstedt's practices are hardly a secret since she has been doing it for years.

Reuters reports:

Carrie Tolstedt was sentenced to three years of probation including six months of home confinement by U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton in Los Angeles. She will also pay a $100,000 fine and serve 120 hours of community service.

Tolstedt, 63, pleaded guilty in March to obstructing a government probe into misconduct at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo's retail and small business lending business, which she led from 2007 to 2016.

She is the only top executive to face criminal charges over revelations starting in 2016 about Wells Fargo's sales culture, where employees opened millions of accounts and sold products that customers did not want in order to meet unrealistic sales goals.

Tolstedt is also the rare top executive at a major U.S. bank to have faced potential time behind bars. None went to prison as a result of the 2008 global financial crisis.

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The iPhone 15 gets USB-C, a redesigned Cybertruck surfaces and California considers banning AV trucks

Hey, friendly people, and welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter that aggregates the top tech news over the past few days. It’s our humble opinion that there’s no better place to get caught up on the industry’s happenings, whether you’re a news junkie or simply among the tech-curious. In this edition of […]

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TX AG Ken Paxton Acquitted On All 16 Counts

The GOP senate took a surprisingly long time to conclude its deliberations, which suggests there was a lot of arm twisting needed to get Paxton off. But the results are still depressing. I watched almost the entire trial and the evidence could not have been more damning. Most of it came from far-right conservatives, such as Paxton's former top assistant Jeff Mateer, who was rejected for a federal judgeship for being too conservative.

The Texas House prosecutors closed with a moving speech by Paxton’s former friend and far-right conservative, Rep. Ken Leach. You can watch it above. Only a corrupt group of cowards could disregard the evidence against Paxton in order to let their crony off. But this is where we are today. Let’s hope the Christian Values folks are taking good notice.

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Dear Media, Do Your Job!

Let's face it. The American media has been failing us for generations. It's no more investigative reporting such as the kind that brought Tricky Dicky Nixon down. Now all we get are false stories about WMDs in Iraq, or covering up or minimalizations of misdeeds by our current leaders. At least until the next 24 hour news cycle where they do the same thing to another story.

One of my favorite quotes regarding journalism is from Sally Claire who said, "If someone says it's raining and another person says it's dry, it's not your job to quote them both. Your job is to look out the fucking window and find out which is true."

Open thread below....

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Democrat Flattens Big Pharma Over Medicare Drug Pricing Lawsuit

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna on Wednesday ripped a senior Johnson & Johnson attorney after she repeatedly dodged questions regarding the legal justification for the pharmaceutical giant's lawsuit alleging government efforts to negotiate lower drug prices are "unjust taking."

At a House Oversight Committee hearing, Khanna (D-Calif.) grilled J&J assistant general counsel Aviva Weis over the company's federal lawsuit, which argues that Medicare drug price negotiations—an overwhelmingly popular provision of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—violate the First and Fifth amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

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Varda Space puts off orbital factory reentry pending Air Force and FAA green light

The U.S. Air Force denied a recent request from Varda Space Industries to land its capsule at a Utah training area, pushing back the startup’s plans to show off the fruits of its in-space manufacturing, TechCrunch has learned. The company is also still awaiting a reentry license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, a USAF […]

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Do Apple’s environmental claims live up to its own highly polished hype?

Apple has made some bold claims about its environmental impact. Can the new Series 9 watch live up to them?

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'SO SAD!': Trump's Mad Hunter Biden's Indictment Doesn't Implicate Joe

Trump supporters have lost their shit over the Hunter Biden investigation. And now Hunter Biden was indicted Thursday on federal firearms charges. So, the DOJ under Biden indicted the President's son. Still, former President Donald Trump and the party he leads is unhappy because the charge doesn't implicate Joe Biden.

"This, the gun charge, is the only crime that Hunter Biden committed that does not implicate Crooked Joe Biden," he wrote. "One down, Eleven to go! The Democrats, with all of their horrible, very unfair, and mostly illegal Witch Hunts, have started a process that is very dangerous for our Country."

"They have opened the proverbial Pandora's Box, and it is possible that the USA will never be the same again," he continued. "SO SAD!!!"

The sad over Hunter's indictments not implicating Joe Biden is , apparently, today's Republican talking point intended to work the refs. James Comer rolled it out right away too.

In a separate post, Trump went all caps.

"THE DEMOCRATS MUST STOP INTERFERING WITH OUR UPCOMING 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION," he added. "THE WEAPONIZATION & CHEATING MUST STOP. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

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Oracle brings its database infrastructure to Microsoft Azure

Days after Oracle missed Q1 2023 revenue expectations and gave a downbeat rest-of-year outlook, sending its share price to suffer the worst one-day performance in 21 years, the cloud provider announced a team-up with Microsoft to co-locate a portion of its infrastructure in the Azure cloud. The unusual new offering, called Oracle Database@Azure (with an […]

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Meta’s Horizon Worlds is rolling out on web and mobile

After more than a year and a half in development, Meta is bringing Horizon Worlds out of the headset. The VR social app has started rolling out for some users on web and mobile in early access, Meta said. By expanding to mobile and web, Horizon Worlds can cater to a much larger user base, […]

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As Databricks stacks more capital, a competitive AI market heats up

Databricks announced a $500 million funding round this morning, signaling it was putting more cash to work in the growing AI market.

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Google Anti-Trust Case Arrives At Court

Guys, Google’s antitrust trial begins today!

The case revolvesaround [sic] whether Google illegally used its leading industry position to limit competition in its core search and search advertising businesses. It’s the first such antitrust trial against a technology company in more than two decades; the Justice Department took Microsoft to court on similar charges more than two decades ago.

I love this quote from the Business Insider email thingie:

“People don’t use Google because they have to — they use it because they want to,” Google’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, told Hugh in a statement.

So explain to us why “Google squashed its competition by paying Apple and others to be the default search provider, all while deterring users from rival services.” It should be LIT, and the ramifications will ripple across a lot of tech, especially as all the AI (fancy autocomplete) technology is rolling out.

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Ask Sophie: Can I get an O-1A visa to bypass the H-1B process?

Here's another edition of “Ask Sophie,” the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies.

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Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher’s ‘Stoner Cats’ NFTs get smoked by the SEC

It’s been a disastrous week for Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, and it’s only Wednesday. The SEC has charged the Hollywood power couple’s NFT-based web series, “Stoner Cats,” calling the NFTs unregistered securities. Per the SEC, “Stoner Cats is an adult animated television show about house cats that become sentient after being exposed to their […]

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Fetterman WonFederal Judge Denies Mark Meadows'Fetterman Wonnull Request For An Emergency Stay

With a potential strike just two days away, Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman ripped the Big Three car manufacturers on Monday for being unreasonable in high-stakes contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers, arguing the companies' executive compensation packages make clear that they have plenty of resources to pay workers fairly.

"If the Big Three can find money in the couch cushions to bump executive pay by 40% over the past few years, they sure as hell can find the money to give hard-earned raises to the people who actually build the cars and trucks Pennsylvanians drive," Fetterman said in a statement.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra, the highest-paid Big Three CEO, took home nearly $29 million in total compensation last year.

Ford chief executive Jim Farley received total compensation of almost $21 million in 2022, while Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares received nearly $25 million.

"It is time for the Big Three to come to the table in good faith and work with UAW to strike a fair deal," Fetterman said Monday. "UAW is ready, but these companies are being completely unserious."

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Fetterman WonFederal Judge Denies Mark Meadows'Fetterman Wonnull Request For An Emergency Stay

Mark Meadows attempt to delay his state trial has been thwarted after a federal judge denied a request for a stay.

Read the order here.

CNN reports that US District Judge Steve Jones rejected a request outright, meaning the state level trial can proceed while Meadows' appeals the decision of the Judge to refuse to move the case to federal court.

The order stated that “Meadows’s contentions that he would be irreparably harmed by the possibility of facing trial next month are insufficient to carry his burden on the emergency stay requested. No trial date has been set for Meadows, and he admits that it is not guaranteed his trial will be in October.”

The next move for Meadows is the try to get the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to consider his appeal. He can also seek an emergency order from the same 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to pause the ruling.

Might be time to try to work out a deal, Mark.

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Digital forensics firm Binalyze raises $19M to investigate cyber threats

Binalyze, a London-based startup building a toolset for digital forensics and incident response, this week announced that it raised $19 million in a Series A round led by Molten Ventures with participation from Cisco Investments, Citibank Ventures and Deutsche Bank Ventures. Founder and CEO Emre Tinaztepe says that the tranche, which brings Binalyze’s total raised […]

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iPhone 15 Pro Max gets 5x optical telephoto lens and other treats for photo lovers

At Apple’s event today, the phone maker showed off its new iPhone 15 Pro Max, with its flagship camera capabilities. Sure, Pixel owners might giggle to themselves, muttering something about how they’ve had 5x telephoto lenses for a while, but photography aficionados will be celebrating the introduction of a 120mm-equivalent lens. Despite Apple’s claims in […]

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Max Q: Elon says Starship is ready, FAA says not quite

In this issue: Musk says Starship is "ready to launch," FAA says not yet; news from SpaceX; and more

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Captain Caps Lock Is Panic-Posting On Truth Social Again

Former President Donald Trump appears to be panic-posting on his Truth Social platform. Once Presidents leave office, they never lash out at their successors. That's because they want this country to do well. That isn't the case with the four-time indicted ex-president. It's unprecedented, but here we are.

F**kface Von Clownstick claims that President Biden is a clown. Border crossings are down, but you won't hear that from him.

"OUR CITIES ARE BEING DESTROYED BY THE INVASION OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTS POURING INTO OUR COUNTRY," Captain Caps Lock wrote. "THE USA HAS BECOME A LAUGHING STOCK FOR THE WORLD TO SEE. WE DON'T HAVE A PRESIDENT, WE HAVE A CLOWN!!!"

He's one week away from walking around with a drool cup.

"The one thing I never understood about politics? Who the hell would ever vote for Crooked Joe Biden?" he wrote. "Do they watch him at press conferences? He can't put two sentences together."

"The WORST EVER on the foreign stage! We're being INVADED, our Border has COLLAPSED, INFLATION & CRIME are rampant, Economy sucks, Interest Rates and Taxes are through the roof, you can't by a home, our Elections are Rigged, our Military is Woke (Afghanistan was a catastrophe!), our Airports are DONE, NOTHING WORKS. MAGA!" he added.

In a separate post, he wrote:

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Battery recycling heats up with Ascend Elements’ $542M Series D

Venture funding for battery recycling startups is popping off lately, and the latest to see the IRA-driven upside is Ascend Elements, which announced a massive $542 million in Series D funding on top of $480 million in earlier DoE grants. The eight-year-old company recycles lithium batteries into black mass and produces cathode active materials (CAM) […]

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Divvy Homes goes from $2B valuation to third round of layoffs in a year

Divvy Homes, the rent-to-own startup that gained attention and investment from Tiger Global and other high-profile investors, is laying off 94 employees. The layoffs — its third round in the past year — represents the latest blow to the real estate tech company, as mortgage interest rates have continued to surge. The 94 employees are […]

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Snapchat partners with MTV to let users vote for VMAs through Lenses

MTV has partnered with Snapchat to let users vote for a Video Music Awards category through Lenses. The entertainment company is leveraging Snap’s Camera Kit to integrate AR-based experiences into the award show. Users will be able to vote on the Best New Artist once the three finalists are decided. They can use a special […]

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Three Republicans Help Pass California’s Magic Mushroom Bill

I did not see this coming. Republicans usually like to stop progress. Lawmakers approved a bill to allow the use and possession of the hallucinogenic drug. Now, it goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

SFGate reports:

Interestingly, a trio of Republicans threw the bill a last-minute lifeline this week. It needed 41 votes to pass the California Assembly, where Democrats hold 62 of 80 seats. Forty Democrats backed the bill, and three Republicans — Bill Essayli, Heath Flora and Marie Waldron — ultimately voted in support, giving it the required tally, according to the state legislative website. It then passed its final procedural vote in the state Senate on Thursday.

Proposed by state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, the bill would put California on the cutting edge of the psychedelic drug reform movement, following states like Oregon and Colorado in removing criminal penalties for the use of some hallucinogenic drugs. It legalizes the cultivation, possession and use of some psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin, the primary active compound found in magic mushrooms; mescaline; and dimethyltryptamine, which is commonly referred to as DMT. The bill does not legalize the sale or transfer of the drugs between individuals.

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Newsom Gives Perfect Answer To Question About Hannity Moderating Debate

First, some good news: Today was Chuck Todd's last day as moderator at Meet The Press. Moving on now.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed in early August to debate, but there was a vendor issue. I'm not sure if that was cleared up or not. Sean Hannity is set to moderate the event and Chuck Todd asked Newsom if he was still okay with the Fox News host as moderator.

"You gonna, is this debate happening?" Todd said.

"It might, I hope, we'll see," the California Democrat said." "It's predetermined."

"Figuring out the time and date," he continued. "There was a venue issue, they wanted thousands of people and make it a performance."

"Wasn't interested in that, we were pretty clear on that," he continued. "And so I think we're getting closer."

"So, Sean Hannity still moderates?" Todd asked. "You're still okay with that?"

"Well, I mean, it's two against one, bring it on," Newsom replied. "There's a lot you can do if you want the truth."

It's obvious that Newsom isn't worried about debating Meatball as Hannity looks on.

Newsom on his debate with DeSantis:

Todd: Hannity still moderating it? You’re ok with that?

Newsom: It’s two against one. Bring it on pic.twitter.com/dQcQqSSZwM

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SoftBank bets on ex-Argo AI founders, Flexport’s founder cleans house and Cruise digs in

Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B. This week was packed with news, including in the world of startups — our favorite arena. Before we jump in, let me direct your attention to Friday’s Equity Podcast […]

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Finding business opportunity in startup failure

Welcome back to the Interchange! While we would love for all startups to succeed, the reality is that the vast majority fail. It’s not something that people often talk about, because quite frankly, it can be a downer topic. But failure is a part of life, and many founders who don’t succeed once do try, […]

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Peach State Priority

Happy Sunday morning! Coco Gauff won the U.S. Open like a boss, and football season has begun. Unfortunately, so has primary season, which is why we're seeing so much stupidity in the news these days.

Anyway, Georgia is going to be the center of the universe for the next few months at least, so sit back and watch Fani Willis work her magic.

What's catching your eye this morning?

- Karoli

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Late Night Music Club: Love Is Alive By Gary Wright

Gary Wright passed away this last week after a long battle with Parkinson's Lewy body dementia. Wright's death was one of those that hits differently. His talent was so immense and his influence so broad, it takes a little time for it to all soak in. But once it does hit, it hits hard.

Dreamweaver was undoubtedly Wright's greatest hit. But I've always preferred Love Is Alive, which was the opening song on the Dreamweaver album. For me, it's uplifting and soothing at the same time. And for of those who prefer it, here's a bonus of Dreamweaver, filmed at the same concert in 1975.

[embed eid="57188" /]

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Apple Event 2023: iPhone 15, new Apple Watches and everything else to expect

Not all who wonder are lust. Some of us will be forming an orderly queue in the holding room at One Apple Park Way on Tuesday morning. At 10 AM PT on September 12, Tim Cook and co. will be back at it, showcasing the latest gear ahead of the big holiday push. There are […]

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Y Combinator Demo Day, smart chastity cage hacked, and the feds investigate Tesla

Hey, lovely people — it’s that time of week again: Week in Review (WiR) time. For those unfamiliar, WiR is TechCrunch’s regular newsletter that recaps the major events in tech over the past few days. If you’ve been too busy to keep tabs on recent happenings, don’t panic. WiR is here to get you up […]

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Biden Administration Begins Crackdown On Wealthy Tax Cheats

The IRS announced yesterday it is launching an effort to aggressively pursue 1,600 millionaires and 75 large business partnerships that owe hundreds of millions of dollars in past due taxes. Via ABC News:

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said that with a boost in federal funding and the help of artificial intelligence tools, the agency has new means of targeting wealthy people who have “cut corners" on their taxes.

“If you pay your taxes on time it should be particularly frustrating when you see that wealthy filers are not,” Werfel told reporters in a call previewing the announcement. He said 1,600 millionaires who owe at least $250,000 each in back taxes and 75 large business partnerships that have assets of roughly $10 billion on average are targeted for the new “compliance efforts."

Werfel said a massive hiring effort and AI research tools developed by IRS employees and contractors are playing a big role in identifying wealthy tax dodgers. The agency is making an effort to showcase positive results from its burst of new funding under President Joe Biden's Democratic administration as Republicans in Congress look to claw back some of that money.

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Flexport founder rescinds dozens of job offers to get ‘house in order’ days after CEO pushed out

When Flexport founder Ryan Petersen picked Amazon consumer chief Dave Clark to lead the buzzy freight forwarding and logistics startup, he noted that they needed an “entrepreneur” and a builder, not another executive. It seems the pair had different visions for what that meant. And now, with Clark suddenly out after just one year on […]

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Ready, set, network at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023

With less than two weeks to go until TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 kicks off in San Francisco, we’re here with a reminder that networking is job fun at Disrupt! Yes, networking is serious business, and with more than 10,000 attendees, you’ll find plenty of opportunities to build the connections that build your business. That said, it […]

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Right Wing Wisconsin Justice Throws Rocks From Her Glass House

When the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided to accept the first of two cases regarding the gerrymandered districting maps, Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote the dissenting opinion. It would be an understatement to say that her opinion lacked in professionalism, much less maturity. Her opinion read, in part:

REBECCA GRASSL BRADLEY, J. (dissenting). The outcome of this original action has been predetermined. Nevertheless, the majority forces the parties to expend considerable resources—including taxpayer money—to respond to a petition everyone knows will be granted by Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet, Jill Karofsky, and Janet Protasiewicz. Despite receiving nearly $10 million from the Democrat Party of Wisconsin1 and declaring the maps "rigged,"2 Protasiewicz has not recused herself from the case. These four justices will adopt new maps to shift power away from Republicans and bestow an electoral advantage for Democrat candidates, fulfilling one of Protasiewicz's many promises to the principal funder of her campaign.

To understand just how breathtakingly hypocritical this is, we need to look at how Bradley even got to be a Justice in the first place.

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Fox News Hosts Blast Matt Gaetz For 'Impeachment' Calls

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade rebuked Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for having unrealistic expectations about impeaching President Joe Biden.

During a Wednesday discussion on the network about a possible impeachment inquiry, co-host Ainsley Earhardt noted that Gaetz was "threatening now to force an impeachment vote."

"He wants Joe Biden impeached, and he says he will oust Kevin McCarthy if he continues to slow walk," Earhardt reported.

But Kilmeade was not impressed.

"Who would he put there?" he asked. "[House Majority Leader] Steve Scalise, who's dealing with blood cancer right now? Is there anybody else?"

"Matt Gaetz is just speaking into the wind," Kilmeade added dismissively. "Have Matt Gaetz pick up the phone and call some moderate Republicans and see if he can switch to his side. McCarthy would be more than happy to let him do that."

Co-host Steve Doocy recalled that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) failed to kick off an impeachment effort earlier this year.

"That wound up, those articles of impeachment wound up in a committee where they are sitting," the host observed.

"Don't you think that Republicans would be for this if there is more information, if they can get to the bottom, if [Rep. James Comer] can get proof and he can get to the bottom of that, then Republicans would be all for it?" Earhardt said. "But they definitely need that proof in order to start an impeachment."

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FCC finally gets its 5th Commissioner in Anna Gomez

The FCC is whole again with the Senate’s confirmation of Anna Gomez as the agency’s 5th Commissioner, empowering it to take more and faster action regarding all matters regulatory in communication and, increasingly, space. Gomez was nominated to the seat in June after a year and half of Republican resistance to the previous candidate, Gigi […]

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Korea Blockchain Week focused on web3 gaming, institutional involvement, investors, regulation…and more

Welcome back to Chain Reaction. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important crypto stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday at 12 p.m. PT, subscribe here. Annyeong, or hello, friends! While I’m typically based in New York City, this week I’m reporting from Seoul, South Korea for Korea Blockchain Week. The week […]

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Alito And His Big Mouth Violated Ethics Rules

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island lodged a formal complaint against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Monday, urging Chief Justice John Roberts to investigate Alito for “violating several canons of judicial ethics.” The complaint stems from Alito’s highly political and unprecedented public relations campaign against Senate Democrats’ efforts on a bill that requires the court adopt a code of ethics since the justices refuse to do it voluntarily.

In July, Alito was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, following the passage of Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act in the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the interview, Alito declared that Supreme Court justices are, basically, above the law. “No provision in the Constitution gives [Congress] the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”

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Hyperspectral startup Wyvern signs on to fly with Loft Orbital next year

Hyperspectral imagery startup Wyvern has booked space on a Loft Orbital satellite bus that will launch next year, a move that the company says will boost the capacity of its Dragonette satellite constellation. Wyvern, which graduated from Y Combinator’s Winter 2022 cohort, has launched two hyperspectral imagery satellites since it was founded in 2018. But […]

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Mr. Lock-Her-Up Demands Republicans Help Him Get Revenge

Former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to lash out at the world. Mike Pence, the man that Trump wanted to die, was targeted in two of the four times indicted former President's posts. Then he regurgitated some of his old talking points, including "the Russia, Russia Hoax, the Fake Dossier Hoax, FISA Fraud, Election Fraud, and the "No Collusion" Mueller Hoax."

"They spied on my Campaign, Impeached me twice, had the Russia, Russia Hoax, the Fake Dossier Hoax, FISA Fraud, Election Fraud, the "No Collusion" Mueller Hoax, and so much more," he screamed into the void. "I was innocent on all counts. If I am elected, they will be brought to JUSTICE, something that Republicans have always been afraid to do."

He concluded his five-post temper tantrum with a call for Republicans to save him as he is teeming with legal troubles.

"Right now Republicans in Congress and the Senate have to get tough, and put everything together in one big, neat package, because I will be President in one and a half years, and we will pick the strongest, toughest, and most respected Attorney General, and if guilty, we will put them all in jail where they belong, just as they are trying to do to me based on NOTHING," he added.

Wait, Mr. Lock Her Up just called on persecuting his political opponents. All of Trump's legal issues are self-inflicted wounds. Trump has just never had to face consequences before. Fred bailed him out numerous times. Fred is gone, and Trump is on his own.

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