Louisiana Voters Reject Constitutional Amendments, Defeat Landry

by Julie O'Donoghue and Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator
March 29, 2025

In a stunning rejection of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, Louisiana voters turned down all four of his constitutional amendments Saturday, including the governor’s plan to overhaul the state’s tax and budget laws. 

Nearly two-thirds of voters rejected all of the amendments in an election that could have broader political implications for the rest of Landry’s term. 

The governor, who has sometimes relied on strong-arm tactics to get his agenda through the Louisiana Legislature, could become more vulnerable to pushback after failing to pass his most ambitious policy proposal at the ballot box. 

Landry’s priority for the election, Amendment 2, would have lowered the maximum income tax rate the state could enact and restricted annual state budget increases. It also would have made it more difficult to enact new tax breaks.

The proposal was expected to produce a financial windfall for Landry and state legislators later this year. Amendment 2 would have moved hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from state savings accounts into Louisiana’s general fund, where Landry and state legislators could have spent it more easily. 

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Senator Bennet: Gabbard And Ratcliffe Lied Under Oath

Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) told NBC's Meet the Press that both and DNI Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe lied under oath doing their Senate testimony during the Signal-Gate scandal.

No credible person believes that using Signal is perfectly legal for the federal government which exposes them to foreign hacking, as well as believing nothing was classified during the group chat.

WELKER: Do you believe that Directors Ratcliffe and Gabbard were truthful when they testified before your committee?

BENNET: No, I think they lied repeatedly to our committee and to the House committee.

Kristen, let me try to make this as simple as I can.

I think the American people know this. If this material was not classified, literally nothing that I've ever heard as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee over all these years is classified.

I wish I could say that we have deep, dark secrets that are even more classified than this, but it's not true.

This targeting information in real-time, everybody knows it's classified, and I think that's why you see the American people, no matter what party they're in, are so deeply concerned about not just what happened, but I think the lies that are being told about what happened.

The Trump administration's addiction to lying was on full display during Signal-Gate Senate hearings.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Hillary Clinton joins Bluesky

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has joined Bluesky, following in the footsteps of former president Barack Obama, who made his first post on the platform last week. Clinton confirmed her Bluesky account’s legitimacy in an Instagram story and a post on X. In her introductory post, Clinton wrote about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

OpenAI plans to release a new ‘open’ language model in the coming months

OpenAI says that it intends to release its first “open” language model since GPT‑2 “in the coming months.” That’s according to a feedback form the company published on its website Monday. The form, which OpenAI is inviting “developers, researchers, and [members of] the broader community” to fill out, includes questions like “What would you like […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Atlantic Editor: Chat Shows Vance Believes Trump 'Doesn't Even Understand What He's Doing'

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, revealed that Vice President J.D. Vance believes President Donald Trump "doesn't even understand what he's doing."

On Sunday, Goldberg told NBC host Kristen Welker that he observed Vance's opinion of Trump after being mistakenly included on a Signal chat about a U.S. attack on Yemen.

"I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now," Vance wrote in the chat.

"I not only read it as a disagreement with Trump post-decision," Goldberg recalled, "I read it as very fraught because what J.D. Vance is saying in the group chat, which included, as you know, much of the cabinet, much of the president's cabinet, he's saying the president doesn't even understand what he's doing here."

"Here we have a serious, substantive conversation where he's telling members of the cabinet, members of the president's own cabinet, that no, no, no, he doesn't even get it," he added.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

“This isn’t ‘The Matrix'”

Last weekend, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, found himself at the center of a digital fiasco when he was unexpectedly added to a Signal group chat with 17 U.S. government officials who were discussing imminent airstrikes in Yemen. For some, the incident has raised questions about how phone numbers end up in contact lists […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Apple reportedly revamping Health app to add an AI coach

Apple is developing a new version of its Health app that includes an AI coach that can advise users on how to get healthier, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Gurman first reported that something like this was in the works back in 2023, but now he says development is moving ahead, with the new features […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Perplexity CEO denies having financial issues, says no IPO before 2028

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas recently took to Reddit to address users’ product complaints and reassure them that the company is not under serious financial pressure. Srinivas seemed to be responding, in part, to a user theory that the company is “doing horribly financially” and “making lots of changes to cut costs.” As an example, the […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Why Aren’t Dem Leaders Demanding Answers About Abducted Students?

No matter what you think of Israel or the Palestinian situation, our Constitution gives you the right to express your opinion. Apparently, Donald Trump, his handler Stephen Miller and their underlings don’t care about the rights Trump took an oath to uphold.

This week, Turkish Ph.D. student Rumeysa Ozturk was arrested and abducted by ICE agents despite the fact that she’s legally in the U.S. under a student visa (unlike Elon Musk) and had committed no crime. The rationale, according to the Department of Homeland Security was that Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans,” PBS reported. It also noted, “The department did not provide evidence of that support.”

As John Amato put it, Ozturk’s abduction was “a horrific display of authoritarianism and fascism.” It probably earned our play-acting president an “atta boy” from his buddy Vladimir Putin.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Wisconsin Sues Musk To Block $1 Million Payment To Voters

Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general Josh Kaul acted swifly over Elon Musk's attempt to buy the state's Supreme Court for Brad Schimel, the Republican candidate. So far, the co-president has spent a whopping $20 million through America PAC and Building America's Future to seat Schimel.

Kaul asked the court on Friday to block Elon from handing out $1 million checks to voters this weekend, just days before the state's hotly contested Supreme Court race was to be decided, the Associated Press reports.

The Democratic candidate, Susan Crawford, has drawn millions in donations and has the edge in the polls.

At the same time, the bratty billionaire's company, Tesla, is suing Wisconsin in a case that could reach the State Supreme Court. I'm sure that's just an incredible coincidence, though.

In a now-deleted tweet, Musk wrote, "I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote. This is super important."

Now, he reworded it, likely because people have been telling him that that's illegal in Wisconsin. He says that the money will go to people who will be "spokesmen" for an online petition against "activist" judges.

Via the AP:

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

$1.8M Trump Donation Paid Off With Pardon For Fraudster

It's Trump corruption 101.

Trevor Milton, the convicted founder of EV startup Nikola, just proved that you can fleece people to the tune of millions of dollars and get away with it these days if you give money to Donald Trump and stroke his ego.

From Associated Press:

The pardon of Milton, who was sentenced to four years in prison for exaggerating the potential of his technology, could wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution that prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors.

Milton, 42, and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund less than a month before the November election, according to the Federal Election Commission.

…

Milton, convicted of fraud, was portrayed by prosecutors as a con man six years after he had founded the company in a basement in Utah.

Prosecutors said Milton falsely claimed to have built its own revolutionary truck that was actually a General Motors product with Nikola’s logo stamped onto it.

When asked about the pardon, Trump pretty much acknowledged he was motivated by the fact that Milton “liked Trump.”

From The New York Times:

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Sam Altman firing drama detailed in new book excerpt

An excerpt from the upcoming book “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future” offers new details about why OpenAI’s board briefly fired CEO Sam Altman back in 2023. Written by Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey, the book claims the nonprofit’s board members became increasingly concerned after learning about issues […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

‘Tesla Takedown’ protesters are planning a global day of action on March 29, and things might get ugly

‘Tesla Takedown’ organizers have promised their biggest day of global action this weekend, encouraging thousands to protest outside Tesla showrooms, dealerships, and even charging stations to peacefully object to Elon Musk’s role in slashing government spending.  As Tesla protests have spread, so has the backlash. Activists holding up signs are being conflated with masked vandals […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Fintech VC powerhouse Frank Rotman stepping down from QED Investors to found his own startups

Prolific fintech investor and QED Investors co-founder Frank Rotman said Friday that he will transition to a partner emeritus role by year’s end to focus on founding his own startups. But those startups won’t necessarily be financial technology companies. In a post on X, Rotman — who helped start QED in 2007 — declared that […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Nintendo used its new app to announce the ‘Legend of Zelda’ movie release date

Nintendo announced on Friday that its live-action “The Legend of Zelda” movie will premiere on March 26, 2027. It’s a little weird to announce this the day after a Nintendo Direct livestream, where the gaming company usually unloads all of its recent news. But that was intentional. The company wants fans to download its new […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Trump Blames Signal: They Could Be Defective

Trying to defend his class of clowns on the group chat leak, Trump denigrated the Signal platform by claiming it may be defective and they will investigate.

Trump used his pet name, "witchhunt" to describe the ongoing single gate debacle and then transitioned into blaming the app itself.

TRUMP: Look, it's all a witch hunt.

Here we are talking about some of the greatest business deals ever made.

The greatest companies in the world are moving into the United States and you want to ask about whether or not Signal works.

I don't know that Signal works.

I think Signal could be defective, to be honest with you. And I think that's what we have to because you use Signal, and we use Signal, and everybody uses Signal, but it could be a defective platform and we're going to have to find that out.

The government is not allowed to use apps like Signal to hide cover up their meetings from scrutiny that would defy FOIA requests.

The idea that "everybody uses Signal" is not a defense for their fuck up.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Sen Tammy Duckworth: 'Pete Hegseth Is A F*cking Liar'

Democratic Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, served this country for years, rising to the rank of Army National Guard Lieutenant Colonel. Duckworth was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents, losing both legs and some mobility in her right arm. She was awarded a Purple Heart for her combat injuries.

When Hegseth and the other clowns inadvertently invited Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic into the Signal chat, it was an OPSEC nightmare, showing how wholly unqualified he is for the role of Secretary of Defense.

Hegseth's defense for his part in SignalGate is ridiculously stupid. In response to the scandal, Duckworth took to the Bad App and didn't hold back.

"Pete Hegseth is a f*cking liar," she wrote. "This is so clearly classified info he recklessly leaked that could’ve gotten our pilots killed."

"He needs to resign in disgrace immediately," she added.

Pete Hegseth is a f*cking liar. This is so clearly classified info he recklessly leaked that could’ve gotten our pilots killed.

He needs to resign in disgrace immediately. https://t.co/qX6tg5NxlD

— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) March 26, 2025

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Yambo Signs Meaningless EO In Attempt To Change The Subject

Trumpy Bear signed yet another meaningless executive order yesterday, attempting to change the subject from a certain illegal and insecure group chat to a major overhaul of American elections, requiring people to prove their citizenship when they register to vote. I guess he just forgot that the states control their own elections? Via NBC News:

The order — which also includes an array of other changes, from mail-in ballot deadlines to election equipment — could risk disenfranchising tens of millions of Americans. Election law experts questioned whether Trump had the authority to make the changes, saying the order is all but certain to be met with legal challenges.

Federal law currently requires that voters swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens and eligible to vote when they register, and courts have prevented states from adding documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements for voters in federal races because of such laws.

This voter ID executive order is fun because military IDs don't indicate your citizenship on there.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Brian Kilmeade Wants To Get Rid Of 'Due Process'

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade wants to do away with a tenet of our judicial system which is due process so Trump and his administration can illegally deport anyone they choose. Of course, he only wants to do away with it for people Trump opposes. He clearly stands for due process for the criminals in the current administration.

An appeals court will hear oral arguments today addressing whether a lower court ruling that put a stay on Trump's deportation plans using an18th-century law will stand.

Fox and Friends opened their program with the deportation issue and as usual, their hosts went off the rails.

JONES: Talking about the tattoo these are that's just one of the elements we sat on their house and part of the reason why we don't want to reveal some of this information is because some of the people that got the information are undercover so if we start bringing out our sources and methods we're gonna burn our sources that are still within the organization.

KILMEADE: But I also think it's not practical to think that we can do due process on 8 million people.

It's 22 million people here and minimum illegal already just in the last three administrations.

And there's some people that got through with Trump's administration.

If we're going to give every one of these guys a day in court and a lawyer, we can't do it.

They don't deserve it.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Top Trump Officials Must Resign After Sharing War Plans With A Journalist

The editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally included on a messaging chain in which senior members of the Trump administration discussed strikes against the Houthi terror group in Yemen earlier this month in a shocking breach of national security, including Stephen Miller, JD Vance, former Fox personality Pete Hegseth, and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.

The piece in The Atlantic is titled "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans."

The Military Times reports:

Goldberg said he was added to the group on Signal — an open-source, privacy-focused messaging app — earlier this month by someone identifying themself as Michael Waltz, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

The conversation — which eventually included messages from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others — included “operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” according to Goldberg.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

AI creation platform Arcade expands from jewelry to home goods

Arcade, a generative AI marketplace for designing jewelry, is expanding its offerings to include home goods, starting with rugs. The company on Monday also introduced a new feature called “Match My Room,” which allows users to upload a photo of their room so their design complements the existing colors and style. Alongside this expansion, Arcade […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Buy now, pay later . . . for a burrito?

In 2010, a programmer who was mining bitcoin famously made the comically expensive mistake of spending 10,000 bitcoin on two pizzas. As of this writing, those coins would be worth $850 million dollars. While there are few comparisons to that kind of miscalculation, the prospect of adding interest payments to fast-food orders is raising concerns […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Elon Begs Tesla Employees Not To Sell, Even As Board Dumps Stock

In his keynote address yesterday at the Tesla meeting, Elon Musk implored his employees to hang on to their TSLA stocks. What he didn't tell them was Tesla insiders have been dumping their stocks for months, to the tune of 745,228 shares in the last three months alone.

Source: Electrek

At an all-hands meeting last night, Elon Musk stood before Tesla employees and told them to “hang on to their TSLA stocks” as Tesla board members and top executive are dumping their shares amid a 40% crash.

Tesla has frequently held “all-hands” meetings for employees over the years, but last night, it was the first time that they were streamed publicly.

CEO Elon Musk didn’t announce anything new during the meeting. He mostly recapped Tesla’s latest milestones over the last year, thanked employees for their work, and reinstated several of his overly optimistic predictions about Tesla’s future regarding self-driving cars, robots, and stock valuation.

The CEO again claimed that he believed that Tesla would become the world’s most valuable company by a wide margin.

Musk went as far as asking employees, and indirectly the public as this was publicly live-streamed, to “hang on to their stocks.”

Electrek gives this handy chart, courtesy of SEC filings. As Chris Hayes notes, they've purchased $0 worth of $TSLA in the same period.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Jonah Peretti helped shaped digital media — can he do it again?

Jonah Peretti’s career to date has been defined by constant reinvention. As the founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, Peretti has been at the forefront of digital media for almost two decades, navigating changes as the once small startup transformed into, at one point, a multimedia powerhouse. But as the company grows older, one question lingers: […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Charlie Javice trial becomes a master class in hubris for both sides

Charlie Javice’s high-profile fraud trial has become a showcase of embarrassing missteps on both sides, with eyebrow-raising details about how JPMorgan Chase was allegedly deceived into buying her startup, Frank, for $175 million when it had just 300,000 customers instead of four million. Per a new WSJ article, one pivotal moment came when former Frank […]

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Pete Hegseth Forced To Grovel For Elon Musk

In another embarrassing moment for the White House, Trump's unqualified Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was forced to praise Elon Musk in front of the cameras after reports surfaced that the multi-billionaire would be getting briefed on China at the Pentagon.

Trump, with his face painted to an ugly burnt orange whined about fake news and turned it over to Hegseth.

HEGSETH: That's exactly right, Mr. President. You pointed out it was a fake story.

We pointed out it was meant to undermine whatever relationship the Pentagon has with Elon Musk.

Elon Musk is a patriot. Elon Musk is an innovator. Elon Musk provides a lot of capabilities our government and our military rely on, and I'm grateful for that. We welcomed him today to the Pentagon to talk about Doge, to talk about efficiencies, to talk about innovations.

It was a great informal conversation.

The rest of that reporting was fake. There was no war plans, there was no Chinese war plans, there was no secret plans. That's not what we were doing.

Hegseth acted more like the Dept. Of Defense's press secretary instead of the man running the entire department.

Musk is getting his money's worth for supporting demented Donald and helping to buy the White House.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Valve removes video game demo suspected of being malware

Valve removed a video game called Sniper: Phantom's Resolution from Steam after users reported that its free demo contained malware.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Parents Whose Child Died From Measles Appear In Anti-Vax Video

This Texas Mennonite couple are still as strongly opposed to vaccination as they were before their little girl died. Cue the ghouls at Robert Kennedy Jr's Children's Health Defense to swoop in and use them for a 50-minute video on the dangers of vaccination.

The couple were adamant they would never take the MMR vaccine, and that "the measles wasn’t that bad" for their other four children who did not die.

Source: Mother Jones

Late last week, two Children’s Health Defense staffers, chief scientific officer Brian Hooker and Polly Tommey, the group’s director of programming for its video division, travelled to the west Texas region where the outbreak is most widespread. There, they filmed a conversation with the parents of the unvaccinated six-year-old child who had died of the highly contagious viral disease a few weeks earlier. The young couple, members of the Mennonite community, attributed their other four children’s mild cases of measles to treatments they received from Veritas Wellness.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Trump Admin Working To Make Food Poisoning Great Again

The New York Times has a lengthy article reporting the many, many ways that DOGE cuts are threatening the safety of Americans’ food.

In the last few years, foodborne pathogens have had devastating consequences that alarmed the public. Bacteria in infant formula sickened babies. Deli meat ridden with listeria killed 10 people and led to 60 hospitalizations in 19 states. Lead-laden applesauce pouches poisoned young children.

In each outbreak, state and federal officials connected the dots from each sick person to a tainted product and ensured the recalled food was pulled off the shelves.

Some of those employees and their specific roles in ending outbreaks are now threatened by Trump administration measures to increase government efficiency, which come on top of cuts already being made by the Food and Drug Administration’s chronically underfunded food division.

Like the food safety system itself, the cutbacks and new administrative hurdles are spread across an array of federal and state agencies.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Apple puts Vision Pro exec in charge of Siri in exec shaekup

As Apple’s Siri comes under attack for failing at the most basic queries, the company is shaking up leadership in charge of Apple’s AI features for Siri. According to Bloomberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook is installing Mike Rockwell, the current VP of the Vision Products Group (the team behind the Vision Pro), to head up […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Co-POTUS Revokes Secret Service Protection For Hunter And Ashley Biden

Donald wrote on Truth Social on Monday evening that he was ending Secret Service protection for former President Joe Biden's adult children and frequent targets of MAGA, Hunter, and daughter Ashley.

To make matters worse, Hunter Biden will lose his protection “effective immediately,” and Donald mentioned his location. “He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned.” Elon Musk is from South Africa, though.

The New York Times reports:

The post merged two of Mr. Trump’s recent fixations: He has talked constantly about his predecessor and the Biden family since returning to office. And he has talked a lot lately about what he sees as the plight of white farmers in post-apartheid South Africa.
Mr. Trump’s post on Monday blending both subjects came after The New York Post (a publication he reads closely) published an opinion article on Sunday about Mr. Biden’s South African vacation and his security detail.

On Monday afternoon, a reporter asked Mr. Trump about the topic as he was touring the Kennedy Center. “I just heard about it for the first time,” Mr. Trump said. He added that it was “really interesting” and that he planned to “take a look at it.”

A few hours later, he made his post.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Musk Lies About DOGE Damage: 'I've Never Done Anything Harmful'

Fox's Sean Hannity hosrwd Trump henchman Elon Musk so he could pretend that the scorn and hatred he and his businesses have been dealing with since he decided to help Trump take a wrecking ball to the United States government and our economy is somehow not deserved.

Here's the exchange between Musk and Hannity where Musk again lied that he's not destroying the lives of Americans with the reckless cuts DOGE has been making, played the victim and feigned ignorance as to why people would want to do damage to Tesla, lied again that there is some large amount of fraud they're turning up in our social safety nets, rather than the fact that they're in there working to destroy them, and pretended there's some grand conspiracy working against him, rather than the fact that a very large number of Americans who have been directly impacted by his actions are just really pissed off right now and speaking out.

Hannity, as always, proves himself once again to be one of the biggest right-wing suck ups polluting our airways these days:

HANNITY: Why do I see people like, I woke up this morning and saw that Teslas were put ablaze in, in one of your dealerships in, in Vegas. I've seen this happen all over the country. Bullets are being fired, charging stations are put ablaze. Teslas are being put put ablaze.

You have experienced assassination, threats of assassination for you and your family. What have you done that warrants this? Because I see nothing that you have done except help our country.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

AWS generative AI exec leaves to launch startup

Raj Aggarwal is leaving AWS after nearly three years as the company’s GM of generative AI and revenue acceleration, according to a LinkedIn post Aggarwal published Wednesday. “I’m proud of the pioneering work our team did in generative AI from its earliest days,” Aggarwal said in his post. “We built what might be the world’s […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Here’s why Google pitched its $32B Wiz acquisition as ‘multicloud’

Tuesday’s big news that Google is acquiring security startup Wiz for a record-breaking $32 billion comes with a very big qualifier. Google says it will position Wiz as a “multicloud” offering, meaning Wiz will not be a Google-only shop.  The reality is that Google had no choice but to do this, and a closer look […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

What? Fox's Chaffetz Wants Arrests Over DEI At Universities

This guy used to be the chair of the House Oversight Committee. Now he's calling for people to be arrested for implementing diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Here's former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who also is now a regular guest and guest host on Fox, railing about universities that receive tax dollars potentially not complying with Trump's racist executive order targeting DEI programs at higher education institutions and elsewhere on this Friday's The Faulkner Focus on Fox.

FAULKNER: President Trump's crackdown on college campuses is also taking aim at diversity, equity and inclusion.

One month ago, the Education Department issued a letter warning institutions to do away with DEI. It wants them to stop using race-based preferences in admissions, financial aid, hiring, training, and other areas.

Now more than 50 universities across America are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination.

Schools facing scrutiny under major public universities like Arizona State, Ohio State, Rutgers, also private schools, NYU, Duke, Yale, Cornell.

Those last two are Ivy League institutions which got more than $2 billion in federal funding last year alone, Jason.

CHAFFETZ: That is a stunning amount of money. I mean, we've talked about, you know, $400 million for this, and you know, I believe at Columbia $2 billion for these.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

GOP Pushes To Classify ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ As Mental Illness

There used to be a term during former President Barack Obama's time in office that was coined, Obama derangement syndrome. Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer also named a Bush derangement syndrome. But Trump supporters think they came up with a new term: Trump derangement syndrome.

Now, five Minnesota Republicans want to use that as an official mental illness recognized under state statute because there is nothing else going on in this country.

The Independent reports:

The bill’s authors, Eric Lucero, Steve Drazkowski, Nathan Wesenberg, Justin Eichorn, and Glenn H. Gruenhagen, described the faux “syndrome” as the “acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal persons that is in reaction to the policies and presidencies of President Donald J. Trump.”

Symptoms include “Trump-induced general hysteria,” where a person struggles to distinguish between “legitimate policy” and “psychic pathology,” which is expressed with verbal hostility or acts of aggression against Trump and his MAGA supporters, according to the proposed legislation.

If passed, TDS could be added to a lengthy list of mental-health-related definitions in Minnesota. The “syndrome” is not recognized as a mental illness in any U.S. state.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Flexport accuses former employees of stealing its source code to create a rival startup

Flexport accuses Freightmate of being the product of "theft, not ingenuity" in its lawsuit against the startup.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Van Orden: Still Not Ready For Prime Time Or Town Halls

Rep. Drunken Van Orden's bad week continues to get worse, the poor darling.

It all started last weekend when Rep. Mark Pocan held a town hall meeting right next to DVO's district. Hundreds of people came to talk to anyone, some driving for two hours to get there.

Then, Rebecca Cooke, who he barely edged out last year, announced that she was running again for the 2026 election. And she kicked her campaign off the right way by promising to hold several town halls all over the district.

Under all this pressure, DVO's staff hastily arranged a virtual town hall on Facebook. They even blocked comments from people signing in. The one thing they forgot to do is give themselves enough time to sober DVO up and coach him on his answers.

Now, Governor Tim Walz, who has been doing his own tour of town halls in Republican districts, has announced that he's coming to Wisconsin to hold one in DVO's district:

Walz responded to the GOP directive last week by calling it a "shame" and adding: "If your Republican representative won’t meet with you because their agenda is so unpopular, maybe a Democrat will."

"Hell, maybe I will," Walz wrote on X. "If your congressman refuses to meet, I’ll come host an event in their district to help local Democrats beat ‘em."

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Nvidia GTC 2025: What to expect from this year’s show

GTC, Nvidia’s biggest conference of the year, begins Monday and runs till Friday in San Jose. TechCrunch will be on the ground covering the news as it happens — and we’re expecting a healthy dose of announcements. CEO Jensen Huang will give a keynote address at the SAP Center on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

F*ck Around And Find Out: The Nancy Mace Edition

South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace constantly seeks attention by lying about how she was victimized, then fundraising over the abuse that poor Nancy has suffered through. Like in 2021, she alleged that her home was vandalized with Antifa symbols, but that was spectacularly debunked.

And last year, she claimed she was the victim of an attack by a "pro-trans man", then she showed up at the Capitol wearing a sling, but as it happens, someone just shook her hand. Also she claimed to be "pro-transgender rights," before becoming a raging transphobe.

And it's now 2025, and she's being sued for libel and defamation after accusing men of being a sexual predator during a floor speech.

The Post and Courier reports:

One of the four men accused of being a sexual predator by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace is suing the South Carolina congresswoman for defamation and libel, contending she knowingly made false claims about him both before and after she made her House of Representatives floor speech.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

‘Open’ model licenses often carry concerning restrictions

This week, Google released a family of open AI models, Gemma 3, that quickly garnered praise for their impressive efficiency. But as a number of developers lamented on X, Gemma 3’s license makes commercial use of the models a risky proposition. It’s not a problem unique to Gemma 3. Companies like Meta also apply custom, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

AT&T technician Mark Klein, who exposed secret NSA spying, dies

Klein, a former AT&T technician turned whistleblower, exposed mass surveillance by the U.S. government in 2006.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Amazon is still hosting stalkerware victims’ data weeks after breach alert

Amazon won't say if it will stop hosting data from three phone surveillance operations that spilled private data on millions of people.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Google DeepMind unveils new AI models for controlling robots

Google DeepMind, Google’s AI research lab, on Wednesday announced new AI models called Gemini Robotics designed to enable real-world machines to interact with objects, navigate environments, and more. DeepMind published a series of demo videos showing robots equipped with Gemini Robotics folding paper, putting a pair of glasses into a case, and other tasks in […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Browser Use, one of the tools powering Manus, is also going viral

Manus, the viral AI “agent” platform from Chinese startup Butterfly Effect, has had an unintended side effect: raising the profile of another AI tool called Browser Use. Browser Use, which aims to make websites more accessible for agentic applications that perform tasks on a user’s behalf, has experienced explosive growth in the past week. Daily […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Enola Gay Records Wiped Because Of DEI

In accordance with the fascist movement to eliminate all DEI because it's too "woke" for the knuckle-dragging Neanderthals, Pete "Germy-Hands": Hegseth is having military records purged of any of their trigger words. Victims of Hegseth's purge include pictures of the Tuskegee Airmen, women marines and anything honoring any military personnel who weren't white men.

As ridiculous as this is, there is one that really takes the cake for stupidity:

One of the unexpected images flagged for removal is of a historic WWII bomber aircraft called the Enola Gay, presumably because the name "Gay" was visible in the photos.

The Enola Gay notably became the first-ever aircraft to drop an atomic bomb amid war, when it released the U.S.-made explosive that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945.

The plane was named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the plane's pilot, Col. Paul Tibbets.

They also targeted soldiers whose last name was Gay because it showed up on their uniforms.

Hegseth had said in January that DEI was incompatible with the goals of the Defense Department. Apparently, so is basic competency.

But just the best people, amirite?

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

OpenAI says it has trained an AI that’s ‘really good’ at creative writing

Watch out, fiction writers. OpenAI may have you in its crosshairs. In a post on X on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that the company has trained a “new model” that’s “really good” at creative writing. He posted a lengthy sample from the model given the prompt “Please write a metafictional literary short story […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

DeepSeek isn’t taking VC money yet. Here are 3 reasons why.

Unlike AI competitors, DeepSeek’s founder Liang Wenfeng is in no hurry to get investment from outsiders.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

FAFO: Paper Straw Edition

Boss Straw, the paper straw company, looks like it is going to go extinct, unlike the plastic straw. The owner, Guy Spinelli, voted for Trump three times. But, his support was misguided because the 75 year old, who put his entire life savings into the paper straw business, is in trouble after the White House put this Executive Order out that bans paper straws.

The order lays out 2 steps that the government will take:

• The Federal government is directed to stop purchasing paper straws and ensure they are no longer provided within Federal buildings.
• The Order requires the development of a National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws within 45 days to alleviate the forced use of paper straws nationwide.

Oopsie.

Almost instantly orders stopped coming in. Instead of his expect $800k sales, he will be lucky to sell 80k this year.

He told the Philadelphia Inquirer that their “distributors are saying, ‘Everyone’s going back to plastic now because of the president. The president I voted for, the man who says ‘Let’s make America great again, let’s help small businesses grow,’ that man is going to put me out of business.”

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Colossal CEO Ben Lamm says humanity has a ‘moral obligation’ to pursue de-extinction tech

The CEO of Colossal, a startup that aims to use genetic editing techniques to bring back extinct species, including the wooly mammoth, assured audiences at SXSW that the company has no plans to create a real-life Jurassic Park — lest there was any doubt. “Modern conservation isn’t working […] and we’re gonna need a ‘de-extinction’ […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Elon: Don't Blame Me For The Federal Firings Of The People I Fired

This is straight out of the GOP playbook. Dipfuckingshit billionaire Elon Musk told Republican lawmakers that he is not to blame for the firings of thousands of federal workers, including veterans. Has he ever heard of DOGE? It's not the best publicity to fire veterans. Musk alleged that those decisions are left to the various federal agencies, even though he was seen at CPAC with a chainsaw.

The Associated Press reports:

The message from one of President Donald Trump's most influential advisers came as Republicans publicly support Musk's work at the Department of Government Efficiency — which claims to be digging up waste, fraud and abuse — but are privately raising questions as personnel cuts ripple through communities across the nation.

"Elon doesn't fire people," said Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., after a dinner-time pizza meeting with Musk in the basement of the Capitol.

"He doesn't have hiring and firing authority," added Hudson, who leads the House Republicans' campaign arm. "The president empowered him to go uncover this information, that's it."

It's a remarkable shift of emphasis away from the chainsaw-wielding tech entrepreneur whose vast power has made him an admired, revered and deeply feared figure in the second Trump administration.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

New DOJ proposal still calls for Google to divest Chrome, but allows for AI investments

The US Department of Justice is still calling for Google to sell its web browser Chrome, according to a Friday court filing.  The DOJ first proposed that Google should sell Chrome last year, under then-President Joe Biden, but it seems to be sticking with that plan under the second Trump administration. The department is, however, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Judge allows authors’ AI copyright lawsuit against Meta to move forward

A federal judge is allowing an AI-related copyright lawsuit against Meta to move forward, although he dismissed part of the suit. In Kadrey vs. Meta, authors including Richard Kadrey, Sarah Silverman, and Ta-Nehisi Coates have alleged that Meta has violated their intellectual property rights by using their books to train its Llama AI models, and […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Google debuts a new Gemini-based text embedding model

Google on Friday added a new, experimental “embedding” model for text, Gemini Embedding, to its Gemini developer API. Embedding models translate text inputs like words and phrases into numerical representations, known as embeddings, that capture the semantic meaning of the text. Embeddings are used in a range of applications, such as document retrieval and classification, […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

MAGA Dentist Sent Over 100 Threatening Texts And Emails Finally Goes To Prison

A White, Trump loving, Republican dentist is going to prison after pleading guilty to posting numerous threats to dozens of public figures, including judges, politicians and religious figures. The Atlanta Black Star is reporting that the dentist, Richard Glenn Kantwill was arrested last summer for a "months-long messaging spree in which he used Facebook and Instagram to send more than 100 threats to over 40 individuals, even after being warned by the FBI to stop."

Two important points I want to make:

I read over a dozen articles about this case today and it was the first one that mentioned that he was a Trump supporter, a Republican or that he had threatened people with posts containing racist or homophobic language and the ones I read sure as sugar didn't say he praised Donald Trump.

Example one, example two and example three.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Lindsey's Graham's Sellout To Trump Complete: Calls For Third Term

Senator Lindsey Graham, who once appeared to be a respected Senator, has now joined the MAGA cult, full stop.

Graham was Sen. John McCain's right-hand man for many years and attacked Trump when he himself ran in the Republican presidential primaries. As a new CNN poll showed, the public abhored and rejected last night's 99-minute Trump fiasco.

But in Lindsey Graham's world, Trump should get a third term. Hey Lindsey, that's illegal.

My take on President @realDonaldTrump’s address tonight: Inspiring, funny, compelling and the Democrats’ worst nightmare.

Trump 2028!

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 5, 2025

Trump has done nothing to aid the American people and instead is causing chaos, derision, prices to skyrocket and the stock market to collapse, while giving access to the public's private data to the richest man in the world.

All the while, Trump insists he is a more fantastic president than George Washington. This is sick.

Buffoons like Graham stroke his ego and promote this insidious propaganda.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Russian crypto exchange Garantex seized by law enforcement operation

An international coalition of law enforcement agencies seized the official website of Garantex, which has previously been sanctioned by the U.S. and E.U. governments.

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Crybaby Trump Complains Democrats Didn't Clap For Him

The narcissism of Donald Trump knows no bounds. In a first for any presidential speech to Congress, Trump cried like a baby because Democrats refused to stand and clap for him.

I kid you not.

Trump is the most despicable and vile president in history of this country but expects to be treated with courtesy by the opposing party.

This is not normal and Democrats need to step up the opposition more and more.

TRUMP: And once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud.

Nothing I can do.

I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations, or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history, or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded.

And these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements.

They won't do it, no matter what.

Five, five times I've been up here.

It's very sad, and it just shouldn't be this way.

Trump already proclaimed he'd found a cure for COVID when he promoted bleach, UV lights, and of course hydroxychloroquine, which has been linked to 17,000 unnecessary that because of his antics.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Donald Krasnov Trump Cancels The First Amendment. That's All!

Donald Krasnov Trump took to Truth Social to say that he will strip federal funding from schools that allow such "Illegal protests," and that "agitators will be imprisoned," adding "NO MASKS!" Interestingly, the Proud Boys, and some of his Jan. 6th rioters wore masks. So, Pumpkin Pol Pot is vowing to imprison any protesters who hurt his feelings with no regard for the First Amendment. He's confusing the United States with Russia again.

"All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests," he wrote. "Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on [sic] the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter."

Lumpy thinks people protesting against him are from other countries. Agent Krasnov's message didn't go down well.

This is unconstitutional. A violation of the First Amendment. A violation of federalism and the separation of powers. It’s unconstitutionally vague. It’s unlawful. It’s unlawful. It’s unlawful.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Conan Shames Trump On Anora Wins: Good To See Somebody Stand Up To Russians

Toward the end of the Academy Awards, host Conan O'Brien shamed both Trump and JD Vance over their horrific treatment of Ukraine president Zelensky with just a few words.

CONAN: You know, Anora's having a good night.

Yeah, that's great.

Yeah, that's great news.

Two wins already.

I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's how it's done folks. Short and sweet.

O'Brien said those words even before Anora captured the best actress, best director, and best movie Oscars.

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

'Are We Arming The Russians?' Marco Rubio Shouts Over Host In ABC News Meltdown

Secretary of Steve Marco Rubio rapidly yelled over host George Stephanopoulos to defend President Donald Trump's decision to abruptly end a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about Russia's war in Ukraine.

During a Sunday morning interview on ABC's This Week program, Rubio grew increasingly agitated as Stephanopoulos pressed him on Trump's actions.

"Well, let me just stop you there for one second," the host said at one point. "Why is it OK to call President Zelensky a dictator but not, as you say, call Vladimir Putin names?"

"Listen, we've spent three years calling Vladimir Putin names!" Rubio exclaimed. "That's not the point. And the point that we're at now is, we're trying to get the man to a table, the Russians."

"If there are no negotiations, what is the alternative? Another four years of war? Another three years of war in which the United States and Europe continues to pour billions of dollars into a war in Ukraine? Is that the alternative?" he continued.

"It's not just about getting people to the table. It's about keeping agreements that are made," Stephanopoulos noted. "And that was one of the points that President Zelensky was making in the Oval Office on Friday is that Vladimir Putin has not kept the agreements that were made in the past. Wasn't he right about that?"

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details

Flora is building an AI-powered ‘infinite canvas’ for creative professionals

With just a few words, AI models can be prompted to create a story, an image, or even a short film. But according to Weber Wong, these models are all “made by non-creatives for other non-creatives to feel creative.” In other words, they’re not built for actual creative professionals. That’s something Wong is hoping to […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Researchers explore how to build shapeshifting, T-1000-style robots

Researchers have developed small robots that can work together as a collective that changes shape and even shifts between solid and “fluid-like” states — a concept that should be familiar to anyone still haunted by nightmares of the T-1000 robotic assassin from “Terminator 2.” A team led by Matthew Devlin of UC Santa Barbara described […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Kash Patel Has A Rather Shady, Uh, Roommate

While unelected President Elon Musk and Donald Trump demand that federal workers stop working from home, there appears to be an exception for FBI Director Kash Patel, also the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Wall Street Journal described Patel’s second job as “an unusual arrangement given that being FBI director is seen as one of the toughest jobs in government.”

Yet Patel plans to work remotely, from Las Vegas, at least part of the time, according to The New Republic. More significant is the guy whose digs Patel shares.

More from TNR:

read more

from Latest articles from Crooks and Liars
via Click me for Details