Friday, 22 May 2026

Has Mike Johnson Dumped Trump?

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) skipped a White House meeting Thursday — and sources say it wasn't an accident.

Two aides familiar with the cancellation told reporter Pablo ManrĂ­quez that Johnson flatly refused to attend, marking what may be the first time the Speaker has said no to Donald Trump.

That's no small thing. Since taking the gavel in 2023, Johnson has been one of Trump's most reliable allies on Capitol Hill — shepherding the president's agenda through a razor-thin majority with near-total loyalty. A CQ Roll Call vote study found House Republicans backed Trump's position on 95 percent of votes in 2025, the highest presidential support rate ever recorded. Johnson, who sets the floor schedule, was the engine behind that number.

A former White House official once summed up the dynamic bluntly: "Loyalty is always going to be chief among the things that Trump cares about, and Johnson has never wavered on that."

Until now, apparently.

Observers inside Washington took notice. The Independent's DC Bureau Chief Eric Michael Garcia framed the significance quickly: "John Thune being fed up with Trump is one thing. Mike Johnson is a whole other kettle of fish."

read more



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

How VCs and founders use inflated ‘ARR’ to crown AI startups 

Some AI startups are stretching traditional revenue metrics when talking about progress publicly. And their investors are fully aware.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Florida Biologist Wins $485,000 Settlement Over Charlie Kirk Post

Florida officials tried to destroy the life of one of their biologists and might well have succeeded had it not been for the ACLU. Brittney Brown won't be getting her job back, but will receive some compensation from the state.

Source: Associated Press

Florida officials will pay nearly half a million dollars to a biologist who was fired by a state agency for criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media after his death.

The state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fired biologist Brittney Brown in September after she reposted a meme on her personal Instagram account that claimed Kirk wouldn’t care about children being shot in their classrooms. She filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, saying she struggled to find other work because the state agency is the regulatory body for her research specialization in bird conservation.

Brown on Thursday signed a $485,000 settlement agreement with agency directors that covers backpay, damages and attorney costs. She agreed as part of the deal to not seek future employment at the agency.

And this foolishness started as one might expect.

read more



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

Thursday, 21 May 2026

Six search engines worth trying now that Google isn’t really Google anymore

Google is about to look really different, and if you're not a fan of the AI overview feature, then you're not going to like what's coming.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Polis Pays The Price: Democrats Censure Governor For Letting Election Saboteur Walk

As it happens, Tina Peters didn't need Trump's fake pardon to get out of her nine-year sentence for felonies related to providing unauthorized access to voting equipment when she was the elected clerk and recorder of Mesa County. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis stepped in, and now she's due to be released on June 1st, even though she has shown little remorse for her lawless actions.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said his state will not release Peters after Trump announced he is pardoning her state-level convictions, then Polis changed all that, saying, "Clearly, her free speech -- however much we disagree with it -- was used as a factor in that sentencing."

However, Peters was convicted in August 2024 on seven of ten charges of engaging in a security breach to advance a false conspiracy theory of election fraud. That doesn't sound like a violation of her free speech rights, Jared. Still, he commuted her sentence.

And now he's facing consequences. Imagine that.

Nearly 90% of the Colorado Democratic Party's central committee voted to censure Polis, a formal rebuke that temporarily prohibits him from appearing or speaking at party events. Polis has dismissed the effort — driven by hundreds of fellow Democrats — as politically motivated, CBS reports.

Yeah, no.

read more



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

Wednesday, 20 May 2026

OpenAI claims it solved an 80-year-old math problem — for real this time

OpenAI claims its reasoning model disproved a geometry conjecture unsolved since 1946 — and this time, the mathematicians who exposed its last embarrassing claim are backing it up.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

IrisGo, a startup backed by Andrew Ng, looks to become the AI desktop buddy you never knew you needed

Initially billed as an "AI butler," Iris watches what happens on a user's desktop and automatically learns how to do tasks for them, its co-founder says.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Sean Hannity Lauds 'Patriotic' $1.76 Billion Slush Fund

Trump bootlicker Sean Hannity wants you to believe Trump and his cronies stealing $1.76 billion of our tax dollars is somehow "patriotic."

Here's Hannity from this Tuesday's show on Fox, giving the corruption a passing mention between segments, bashing Democrats for comparing Trump to Hitler, and talking to Ted Cruz via Media Matters:

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): President Trump has settled his $10 billion lawsuit with the IRS after suing over the illegal disclosure of not only his tax records, his entire family, every company owned by the Trump organization by a rogue IRS contractor who broke the law in doing so.

And as part of the agreement to end this case, the DOJ rightly agreed to set aside the patriotic amount of $1.76 billion to settle other claims like this.

In a statement tonight, the Trump Organization tells us that the settlement help provide accountability for the illegal leak of the tax information of President Trump, his sons, and over 500 Trump organization entities, leaks that resulted in criminal charges, prison sentences.

read more



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

Tuesday, 19 May 2026

From teen hacker to Iron Dome researcher, this founder raised $28M to fight AI phishing

Ocean, an agentic email security platform, raised funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Elon Musk said Sam Altman “stole” a non-profit — but the trial showed he had similar aims

“By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America.”

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Google takes a page out of Meta’s book, announces new audio-powered smart glasses

Google is calling the new devices "audio glasses," in that users will be able to issue verbal commands to them and get things done via its ecosystem of apps and services, including Gemini.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Maryland Sparks Trump Rant By Holding Fair Elections

On Monday, Donald Trump launched a rant on his Truth Social account intended to accuse Wes Moore of sending out duplicate ballots so people could vote twice.

Rant by Trump quoted below this image
Credit: Screenshot

"In Maryland, they sent out 500,000 Illegal Mail In Ballots, and they got caught! So now, they're going to send out 500,000 more Mail In Ballots, but nobody knows what's happening with the first 500,000 they sent," he wrote. "In addition, many of these Ballots went to Democrats, so any Republican running in Maryland doesn't have a chance!"

How terrible!!! You would think, from this opening salvo, that Wes Moore intentionally tried to bar Republicans from voting. And there's more.

"This was done by the Corrupt Governor of the State, Wes Moore. He allowed this to happen in order to make sure that Democrats win. It never made sense to me that Maryland was considered an automatic Democrat State, but now I see why. I'm sure this has gone on for years. I'm going to ask the Attorney General of the United States, and the DOJ, to bring an immediate investigation into this situation. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

read more



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

Monday, 18 May 2026

Trump's Next Vanity Project Will Tear Up The White House South Lawn: Report

President Donald Trump is plotting yet another overhaul of the White House grounds — this time digging up the storied South Lawn to install a permanent helipad, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Sunday night.

The helipad would mark the latest in a dizzying string of renovations Trump has imposed on the people's house since returning to power. He's already paved over the Rose Garden, slapped a black granite walkway along the West Wing Colonnade, redesigned the Oval Office, planted two massive flagpoles on the grounds, and demolished the entire East Wing to clear room for his 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

Now the South Lawn is on the chopping block.

The official justification: the military's powerful new VH-92A Patriot helicopter — the replacement for the decades-old VH-3D Sea King that's flown every president since Gerald Ford — is too much for the grass to handle.

"The exhaust on the new helicopters can burn up the ground, especially in hot and dry conditions," the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the plans. The new chopper can also haul 6,200 pounds more than its predecessor.

read more



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

OSHA probing worker death at SpaceX’s Starbase site

The death is the latest worker safety issue at the Starbase facility, which has a higher injury rate than all other SpaceX sites.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

SandboxAQ brings its drug discovery models to Claude — no PhD in computing required

Other venture-backed companies like Chai Discovery and Isomorphic Labs have raced to build better models. SandboxAQ is betting that the bigger obstacle is access, and that Claude solves it.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Anthropic has acquired the dev tools startup used by OpenAI, Google, and Cloudflare

Stainless, a New York-based startup, will wind down all hosted products as part of the acquisition.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Sunday, 17 May 2026

Thousands Marched In Selma For Voting Rights On Saturday

If you’ve been feeling depressed about the Republicans’ rush to disenfranchise Black and minority voters, after a greenlight from the U.S. Supreme Court, you should be heartened by the National Day of Action for Voting Rights on Saturday.

The kickoff event was at the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama with a prayer service and remembrance for those who marched there in 1965. Later, there was a national rally in Montgomery.

It’s the launch of a sustained effort. Wisdom Cole, the Senior National Director of Advocacy for the NAACP, told The Root, “Black folks from across the country are gonna be busing in, flying in, to show up and to really begin organizing to turn out in the November election. … This is a moment in time where we have to be able to show up and show the power that is within the people who are most impacted.”

It’s not just Alabamans who have heeded the call. “A consortium of more than 228 groups came together from across the country to oppose the actions in Alabama and other states to change voting lines and reduce heavily Black districts,” AL.com reported. By afternoon, the protest was “dominating downtown Montgomery in open resistance to efforts by state lawmakers to change the district maps.”

read more



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

Apple’s Siri revamp could include auto-deleting chats

Privacy will be a major theme when Apple unveils a new version of Siri.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Why trust is a big question at the Elon Musk-OpenAI trial

A big theme in the trial’s final days was whether OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is trustworthy.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Saturday, 16 May 2026

Jen Psaki Brings The Receipts In Response To Eric Trump's Threat To Sue

Jen Psaki did an on-air fact check after Trump's son Eric threatened to sue both Psaki and her network for daring to report on his business interests.

Here's his tweet in response to her reporting earlier this week:

Which Psaki dismantled this Friday:

PSAKI: Today, the adult son of the President of the United States, Eric Trump, came after us on social media and accused us of lying.

You see, on Wednesday, we covered a story from the Financial Times, which reported that an AI company with ties to the Trump family crypto business was chasing a deal with a Chinese chipmaking company that members of Congress have warned is connected to the Chinese Communist Party.

read more



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

The haves and have nots of the AI gold rush

The vibes around the current AI boom aren't great, even in the tech industry.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Research repository ArXiv will ban authors for a year if they let AI do all the work

ArXiv is doing more to crack down on the careless use of large language models in scientific papers.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Friday, 15 May 2026

General Catalyst posted VC rage bait and it worked, especially on a16z

Compulsive X user Andreessen himself couldn't resist responding, many, many times.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Whiskey Pete Suddenly Cancels Planned Troop Deployment To Poland

That Whiskey Pete, he's an impulsive kind of guy. So his last-minute decision to cancel the deployment of 4,000 troops to Poland caught everyone by surprise -- including Pentagon staff and European allies. This is just the latest example of an abrupt personnel move from the Defense secretary that blindsided both sides of the Atlantic.

No one seems to know why Hegseth issued the order, according to three defense officials familiar with the matter. Trump has repeatedly expressed anger and frustration with European allies for their failure to help with the Iran war, although Trump has labeled Poland a “model ally” for its high defense spending. So it probably wasn't Lumpy who made the call.

Troops and equipment had already started to arrive in the country. The sudden turnaround is making sending waves of anxiety through European capitals and inside the Pentagon on Thursday about whether such moves could embolden Russia — and which ally might turn into the next target.

“We had no idea this was coming,” said one of the U.S. officials, adding that European and American officials have spent the last 24 hours on the phone trying to understand the decision and figure out if more surprises are coming.

read more



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

Thursday, 14 May 2026

YouTube viewers watch 2 billion hours of Shorts on TVs each month

Short-form video is built for mobile, so it may seem counterintuitive, but it's true: YouTube Shorts are becoming quite popular on the big screen.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Trump Has The Worst Approval Rating On Healthcare This Century

CNN's Harry Enten delivered more bad news for Trump when he received the lowest approval rating on health care by any US president this century.

ENTEN: Yeah, if we talk about health care, why don't we just look at the highest disapproval ratings for presidents this century.

And you can see it right here.

The one in red on your screen, Donald Trump, 65 percent disapproval of him on health care.

That is the highest.

That is the highest for any president this century.

Biden was at 57 percent.

That was his highest.

Obama, remember, this was around the Obamacare debate, right?

He was at 63 percent.

Obama's actually beating him on this score, which is a score you don't want to be winning on.

And then, of course, Bush, when there was all this talk about privatizing Social Security, he was at 63 percent.

But Donald Trump takes the cake on this issue, 65 percent disapproval, the highest for any president this century.

The only reason Trump still gets support in the 30s is that the evangelical MAGA cult is clinging on for dear life.

RJK Jr.'s approval ratings have also finally cratered.

read more



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

Wednesday, 13 May 2026

Can Demented Don's IRS Lawsuit Be Settled Before Deadline?

The DOJ is holding internal discussions about settling Chumpy's lawsuit against the IRS in the coming days, a move that could once again involve the government directly providing taxpayer funds or another public benefit to the president.

One of the settlement options the Justice Department and White House officials are reviewing is the possibility of the IRS dropping any audits of Trump, his family members or businesses, according to two of the people. (Haha, Department of Justice = "Just Us". Get it?)

In January, Trump et al sued the IRS for at least $10 billion over the leak of their tax returns during Chumpy's first term. The crime family argued that the IRS should have done more to prevent a former contractor from disclosing tax information to The New York Times and ProPublica.

Given that Chumpy oversees the I.R.S., the agency that he is suing, the judge in the case has taken a series of novel legal steps to probe whether there is a genuine controversy between the Justice Department and Mr. Trump. For a lawsuit to be valid, the two parties must actually be on opposite sides, otherwise the judge can throw out the case. The judge has ordered Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers — along with the Justice Department, which represents the I.R.S. in federal court — to submit briefs by May 20 explaining whether they are in conflict with one another.

But the White House and Justice Department lapdogs (yoo hoo, Todd Blanche!) have in recent days been racing to settle the suit before that deadline, according to the people.

read more



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

Anthropic’s Cat Wu says that, in the future, AI will anticipate your needs before you know what they are

The head of product for Claude Code and Cowork says that the next big step for AI is proactivity.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Tuesday, 12 May 2026

Trump Brags That His AG ‘Kept Me Out Of Jail For Years’

At a Monday event honoring law enforcement, Donald J. Trump lavished praise on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, saying that Blanche had kept him out of prison over the years. Blanche originally served as Trump's personal lawyer during the New York hush money trial, where Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to conceal an affair. Trump was later sentenced to an unconditional discharge, meaning no prison time and no fine.

After taking office, Trump appointed Blanche as deputy attorney general and subsequently elevated him to acting attorney general following the dismissal of Pam Bondi. But this is a weird brag to tell a roomful of law enforcement officers, don't you think? It's got that mob-boss feel to it.

"We have a man who's doing a great job," Trump said. "I'll tell you, I knew it because he kept me out of jail for years. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, he kept me out of jail."

"They would indict me left and right," he continued. "The crooked Democrats, you know, it's amazing. They impeach me. They indict me."

"And then when I get in office, if I say something like, well, maybe that should be looked into weaponization, I go through court cases," he insisted. I win them, but because there were fake indictments. But when I even mentioned, like I said the other day, that some of that stuff should be looked into. They said weaponization!"

"He's a terrible human being," he continued. Weaponization. They blame me for weaponization."

read more



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

Monday, 11 May 2026

Trump Scolds Dr. Oz For Not Naming Maternity Program After Him: 'Put Me In There'

President Donald Trump complained that his name was not used to promote moms.gov, a new government website focusing on maternal health.

Trump announced the new website at a White House event on Monday.

"In recognition of this ambitious agenda to support American mothers, today we're announcing a new website that is online right now," the president said. "It's moms.gov."

"Moms.gov is a beautiful site," Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz explained.

"Well, I like TrumpRx," Trump grumbled, referring to a government website named after him. "I think I love moms, but I like TrumpRx. You put me in there, I gotta make sure. It gives me competition now."

Trump followed up his remarks by insisting that he was "only kidding."

"TrumpRx and Trump accounts, Trump Accounts has been amazing for the kids," he added. "The Trump accounts, where young kids, they turn 18 or 20 or 21, they feel like a billionaire. You used to say a millionaire, now you say a billionaire."

read more



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

Trump Pledges Statewide Poll Watchers For Upcoming Midterm Elections

Donald J. Trump took to Truth Social to announce on Sunday that Republicans plan to deploy a large “Election Integrity Army” to every single state for the 2026 midterms. "Be assured this election will be fair," he wrote. Trump is like the guy, let’s call him John Barron, OK?, who shows up to a poker game with his own deck in hand, a metal detector, and an assortment of dubious characters, then says, "Relax, everybody, the game's totally on the level this time."

This is the same man who spent years treating "fair elections" like an infectious diarrhea, who is now promising it'll be super fair as long as his poll watchers outnumber the voters in key spots. The "assured" part is doing a lot of heavy lifting there—like a mob boss saying, "Nice democracy you got here, it'd be a shame if something happened to it."

With Trump's poll numbers in the shitter, while doing nothing for the American people to rectify that, he's growing increasingly desperate. And then there are the redistricting wars between Democrats and Republicans, after he pulled the first punch.

"Palestinian Chuck Schumer is hiring Eric Holder, famous for handing guns to Mexican cartels under the Barack Hussein Obama administration, as part of a Democrat-led "Election Integrity Group" that will no doubt try to suppress Republican voters, and interfere in our Elections," he insisted. "Furthermore, Marc Elias, a terrible lawyer with a horrible track record, is also involved."

read more



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

Fox Pundit Tries To Gotcha AOC, Proves Her Right Instead

Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sat down for an interview with Ilana Glazer. During the interview, AOC made the argument that someone can't just earn a billion dollars:

AOC: There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned, right? You can't earn a billion dollars.

GLAZER: That's right.

AOC: You just can't earn that.

GLAZER: That's exactly correct.

AOC: You can get market power, you can break rules, you can do all sorts of things. You can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they're worth, but you can't earn that, right?

GLAZER: That's right.

AOC: And so you have to create a myth that since you didn't earn that, you have to create a myth of earning it.

Jessica Tarlov agreed with AOC and cited her own examples to support AOC's position.

Well, all this was too much for Benjamin Domenech, aka Mr. Meghan McCain, to cope with. So he came back with what he was sure was the perfect rebuttal - the origin story of Jeff Bezos:

screenshot_2026-05-10_231041

read more



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

Sunday, 10 May 2026

Wheels Come Off Tesla Cybertrucks - Recall Time!

Something tells me Elon Musk isn’t quite the genius he’s cracked up to be.

Or maybe the Nazi-coded Musk is spending too much time trying to become White Supremacist king of the country he probably immigrated into illegally.

In any event, his Tesla Cybertruck doesn’t seem anything like the “apocalypse-proof” vehicle Musk and his Tesla company touted it as. In fact, the vehicles could cause an apocalypse for someone who might be near one at the wrong time.

Just one year after Tesla Cybertrucks were recalled because of “flying trim,” which was after recalls over a stuck accelerator pedal, a flawed windshield wiper and other problems, there is now the problem of insecure wheels.

According to WIRED, the flying trim recall was because Tesla used the wrong glue. Now, Cybertrucks are being recalled because Musk's company used the wrong grease on lug nuts that hold the 18-inch wheel to the brake rotor.

read more



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

Get ready for the whisper-filled office of the future

How will work setups change if we spend more and more time talking to our computers?

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Rep. Clyburn Tells Republicans Be 'Careful What They Pray For' With Redistricting

South Carolina is the latest state that has moved to cancel their primary election, even though people are already voting:

South Carolina Republicans took the first step Friday to cancel the state’s June primary election — to give more time to potentially pass a new gerrymandered congressional map — as absentee voting is already underway.

A South Carolina House subcommittee voted 3-2 along party lines to advance a bill that would move the state’s June 9 primary election to August 11, with the expectation that the legislature would redraw the state’s congressional map to dismantle its lone Democratic district, represented by longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn.

The vote came after the committee heard hours of public testimony urging lawmakers to reject pressure to delay the state’s primaries and draw new congressional maps. In all, 23 South Carolina residents testified against redistricting and moving the state’s primaries. No one spoke in support of either measure.

read more



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

Anthropic says ‘evil’ portrayals of AI were responsible for Claude’s blackmail attempts

Fictional portrayals of artificial intelligence can have a real effect on AI models, according to Anthropic.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Saturday, 9 May 2026

So you’ve heard these AI terms and nodded along; let’s fix that

The rise of AI has brought an avalanche of new terms and slang. Here is a glossary with definitions of some of the most important words and phrases you might encounter.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Graham Platner Isn't Playing Mr. Nice Guy In Maine

Now that 78-year old Gov. Janet Mills has dropped out of the US Senate race in Maine, the Democrats defacto-nominee Graham Platner, 41, is launching his general-election campaign against Sen. Susan Collins, 73.

That is a lion’s roar of a thesis statement, and is frankly pretty impressive.

I bet Susan Collins is concerned, very concerned.

Published with permission of Mock Paper Scissors

read more



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

Fintech startup Parker files for bankruptcy

Parker, a well-funded startup offering corporate credit cards and banking services, has filed for bankruptcy and is widely reported to have shut down.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

GM agrees to pay $12.75M in California driver privacy settlement

General Motors has reached a privacy-related settlement with a group of law enforcement agencies led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Friday, 8 May 2026

Sean Duffy Blasted After Announcing 7 Month Road Trip He Took With His Family

Good thing our Transportation Secretary doesn't have anything else to do with his time.

Try to imagine a Democrat announcing this on Fox and what their reaction would be:

Former Fox News contributor Sean Duffy revealed that he spent seven months making a reality show while serving the country as Secretary of Transportation.

In a Friday interview on Fox News, Duffy and his wife, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, announced their new program called "The Great American Road Trip."

According to Campos-Duffy, the couple initially planned to use their iPhones to film a family vacation before it turned into a full-blown reality show.

The Great American Road Trip website indicated that the effort was sponsored by corporations like Boeing, Toyota, Shell, Google, Comcast, and United Airlines.

It was not immediately clear how much the Duffys were paid for their participation in the reality show.

Duffy was torched on social media.

Sean Duffy Scolds Child For Yawning During His Speech

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was making comments to schoolchildren from Washington D.C. and Philadelphia when suddenly he singled out one child for yawning.

The Trump administration is using kids once again as a photo op to glorify Trump's birthday by using America's 250th anniversary as cover.

This time it was during Amtrak's unveiling of its Freedom 250 Acela train. Duffy had the kids ride with him for its inaugural ride from Washington Union Station to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.

Duffy proudly said he's fattening up the kids with soda and chips and sandwiches. At least they weren't given McDonald's fish fillets. Nothing even vaguely healthy for these kids!

DUFFY: Secretary Brigham couldn't be here but we're looking forward to a great day.

I want to thank you all I want to thank the kids -- there's no yawning in this -- we don't yawn -- we're gonna be thrilled to be here so let's go let's go check this great city out in our great history.

Children are not allowed to be children and instead must always be thrilled to be in the presence of a Trump official.

It would be nice if he spent more time working on the bankruptcies, collisions, near misses and jet fuel crisis in our airline industry.

read more



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

Thursday, 7 May 2026

Perplexity’s Personal Computer is now available to everyone on Mac

Perplexity's Personal Computer brings AI agents to your Mac, and is now open to everyone.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Bumble is getting rid of the swipe, CEO says

Based on Whitney Wolfe Herd's past comments about Bumble's new direction, the company is expected to lean into AI -- Bumble is even working on an AI dating assistant called Bee, and the CEO has made many comments over the years about how AI will be "a supercharger to love and relationships."

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Majority Of Republicans Think Trump Would Beat Them In A Fight

In the highly scientific poll, YouGov asked such questions as:

"Who do you think would win in a physical fight between you and Donald Trump?"

"Who do you think would win in a physical fight between an eight-year-old boy and Donald Trump?"

While a majority of Republicans thought Trump could beat them up, when split by sex and party identification, 71% of Democratic women said they'd win, and 54% thought the 8-year-old would beat up Trump.

Source: YouGov

This week, at a White House event about physical fitness, Donald Trump asked a boy, "You think you could take me in a fight?"

We at YouGov thought that was a striking question, and promptly asked 2,609 Americans whether they thought an eight-year-old boy, a typical American, and themselves could win a physical fight with Trump.

66% of U.S. adults say an average American would beat Trump, while 10% say Trump would win.

On all three questions, Democrats are far less likely than Republicans to say Trump would win. For example, almost all Democrats say they could win a fight with Trump (75%, while only 5% say Trump would win), but Republicans are slightly more likely to say they'd lose than win (33% vs. 39%).

Democrats are more likely to say an eight-year-old boy could beat Trump than Republicans are to think they could beat Trump (54% vs. 33%).

read more



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

Wednesday, 6 May 2026

Hassett's Hot Take: Racking Up Credit Card Debt To Buy Gas Is Economic Strength

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett's Fox Business interview is peak administration spin: "Credit card spending is through the roof... they're spending more on gasoline and everything else!" delivered with that smug grin, of course.

Hassett thinks maxed-out cards signal booming confidence instead of households leaning on plastic to cover higher prices for basics. He was so close to acknowledging the obvious pressure on consumers (rising costs forcing more borrowing). Still, he landed on a sunny interpretation instead, even as Americans struggle in an unaffordable economy.

"In fact, I had the head of one of the big five banks in my office yesterday going through the credit card data, and just as Secretary Besant said, credit card spending is through the roof," Hassett said before putting a sunshine-y spin on it.

"They're spending more on gasoline, but they're spending more on everything else, too," he continued. "And so in terms of the jobs picture for the rest of the year, you know, it's really hard to see having the unemployment rate go up, for example. "It's probably going to drop a little bit, but it's already very close to full employment."

read more



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

Microsoft’s AI data center push is colliding with its clean power goals

The push for new data centers at Microsoft is putting its key clean power goals at risk.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Robinhood’s venture fund IPO attracted 150,000+ retail investors, CEO says

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says more than 150,000 retail investors joined the fintech’s new venture fund, which offers exposure to private tech companies like OpenAI, Stripe, Databricks, and Oura before they go public.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Tuesday, 5 May 2026

Volkswagen becomes Rivian’s top shareholder, displacing Amazon

VW Group's stake will continue to grow under the $5.8 billion joint venture with Rivian.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

MAGA Civil War Devolves As Right-Wing Conspiracists Resort To Doxxing Each Other

Right-wing influencers Laura Loomer and Candace Owens took turns releasing details about each other's personal lives over a squabble about the killing of Charlie Kirk.

After Owens spent weeks publishing conspiracy theories about Kirk's death, Loomer took revenge by publishing alleged details about Owens' houses and cars.

"She asked people to support her aka donate to her legal fund by buying her ugly merch," Loomer wrote on social media over the weekend. "Why doesn't she sell one of her luxury SUVS?"

"Why doesn't she support herself?" she asked. "The grift is real. And now she's saying Charlie is watching from heaven smiling as she terrorizes his widow with lies?"

TV host Ana Kasparian accused Loomer of "using fake/manipulated" documents to doxx Owens.

"Using fake/manipulated 'documents' to slander @RealCandaceO and her husband proves malicious intent," Kasparian insisted. "This is pretty disgusting and Candace should sue to be honest. This behavior is unacceptable and shouldn't go unchecked."

"You should stop lying and defaming me, accusing me of using fake documents," Loomer shot back. "Candace hasn't denied it. She knows it will be used against her in a deposition if she lies. Eventually it will come out. She won't deny it."

read more



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

Monday, 4 May 2026

OpenAI’s cozy partner Cerebras is on track for a blockbuster IPO

AI chip maker Cerebras is heading for a blockbuster IPO that could value it at $26.6 billion or more. Its relationship with OpenAI is deep and rich.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Katie Haun raises $1B for new venture funds

Katie Haun announced on Monday that $1 billion has been raised across new funds to continue the firm’s thesis of backing crypto and blockchain startups.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Sunday, 3 May 2026

Kevin Hassett: War? What War?

Trump's Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett doesn't want to piss off Dear Leader and contradict his latest lie, so he did his best to weasel out of answering the question when asked about the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

As we discussed here, and as former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes made clear this Friday, a blockade is an act of war, so Trump's argument that somehow we're not at war because of the so-called ceasefire is laughable.

Hassett made an appearance on this Sunday's Face the Nation on CBS, and was asked by host Margaret Brennan whether or not we're still at war with Iran given the fact that the blockade is in place, and rather than admit his boss is a liar, Hassett pretended he didn't know what the definition of war is.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, you said the blockade is still on. A blockade is an act of war. Are we at war with Iran?

KEVIN HASSETT: Iran shut down the straits. Iran shut down the straits, and the only ones they were letting through were Iranian ships, and President Trump didn't think that was acceptable.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, we are still at war with Iran?

read more



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

‘This is fine’ creator says AI startup stole his art

The ad comes from Artisan, the AI startup behind billboards urging businesses to "stop hiring humans."

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Texas Court Blocks Abortion Pill Telemed Prescriptions

Texas Republicans fall all over themselves touting their “pro-life” bona fides. However, their actual laws are anything but. In addition to a near-worship of life-killing guns, their anti-abortion laws have led to skyrocketing maternal deaths.

So, it’s no surprise that on Friday, Texas’ ultraconservative federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a 2023 FDA regulation allowing abortion-drug mifepristone to be mailed to patients.

As The Texas Tribune explained, the 2023 rule allowed doctors to prescribe mifepristone remotely and the drug to be mailed to patients in Texas and other states where abortion is illegal. Now, it can only be obtained in person.

read more



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

Saturday, 2 May 2026

Trump Calls Affordability 'One Good Line Of Bullshit'

Donald Trump decided to make some campaign ads for Democrats during a speech at The Villages in Florida this Friday.

TRUMP: The Democrats start screaming, "Affordability, affordability!" — but they're the ones who caused the problem. They may have one good talking point, I'll give them that. But they are so bad. Affordability.

The first time I heard that word — just two days in — I watched one of these congressmen get on TV and say, "Affordability, prices are too high!" But we've already brought prices way down. They handed us tremendously high prices, and they'll do it again if they ever take over.

As Paul Krugman discussed in a post on his Substack this Friday, Republicans and Trump have an affordability problem with Trump's promise to bring prices down on "day one" and to bring gas prices down, and with them spiking now that he and Bibi decided to attack Iran.

Their solution has been to just go on television and lie about it as we saw from Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Buddy Carter, and of course, Trump.

As Krugman also discussed, that plan isn't going to work for obvious reasons:

read more



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

Friday, 1 May 2026

Meta buys robotic startup to bolster its humanoid AI ambitions

Meta bought humanoid startup Assured Robot Intelligence to beef up its AI models for robots, the company said.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Scott Jennings Meltdown: ‘Get Your F*cking Hand Out Of My Face!’

Just how is the Iran fiasco going? Not so well, judging by Scott Jennings' reaction. Someone needs a timeout for a while.

Source: Mediaite

CNN’s Scott Jennings exploded at MeidasTouch commentator Adam Mockler on Thursday, telling him to get his “f*cking hand out of my face.”

Mockler hammered Jennings on the timeline for President Donald Trump’s war with Iran on CNN’s NewsNight, noting the former George W. Bush staffer’s history of promoting foreign wars.

And part of their exchange.

MOCKLER: When I debated you on TV four to six weeks ago, and you said we were weeks away from it. Now you’re making condescending remarks because you can’t defend the fact that this war is not going your way. Wait, one more time–

JENNINGS: Not going– not going your way?

MOCKLER: Give me one– name me one political concession–

JENNINGS: Get your f*cking hand out of my face, first of all!

MOCKLER: Name one political concession–

PHILLIP: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Woah woah woah. Guys, excuse me.

JENNINGS: I’m not going to have this guy’s hand in my face.

PHILLIP: Everybody, everybody hang tight, okay?

JENNINGS: Honestly.

PHILLIP: No, everybody, calm down. Okay? We’re having a debate. You can respond to the points that he’s making.

They're all getting a bit triggered by their Iran fiasco.

read more



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

Thursday, 30 April 2026

GOP Won't Protect Schoolkids From Guns, But Demand $400 Million To Protect Trump

Republicans have been doing their best to turn Trump's insane vanity project after he destroyed the East Wing of the White House as now one of national security after the White House Correspondents Dinner.

What about the national security need to protect our schoolchildren and college students of all ages from the scourge of gun massacres?

Republicans shrug, twiddle their fingers, and offer hopes and prayers for the over 500 kids murdered in the last two decades.

This is outrageous.

Rand Paul is now introducing a bill to get the asinine ballroom built and is proposing no federal funds will be used. That's counter to Lindsey Graham's demand.

The ballroom project is on hold by a federal judge so why exactly is Rand offering up this bill?

I doubt the White House has the funds from Trump or his donor friends to complete the job at hand, but that's beside the point.

Melanie D'Arrigo is completely right.

EV startup Faraday Future paid $7.5M to company tied to founder Jia Yueting

The perpetually struggling EV company made the payments while being investigated by the SEC. That four-year probe was ultimately closed in March.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Wednesday, 29 April 2026

Lauren Boebert Joins Dems To Block Farm Bill From Passage

House Republicans freaked out last night as Rep. Lauren Boebert joined forces with Democrats to sink a House rule to get the annual farm bill passed.

"I filed multiple non controversial amendments to the Farm Bill to help rural Coloradans," Boebert posted to X. "@RepJoeNeguse asked the Rules Committee to consider them on the House floor. The Republicans on the committee unanimously voted against them and they will not even be considered for a floor vote."

Well, my goodness gracious!

"Boebert says she’s a NO on the rule after her amendment — offered by a Democrat — was voted down by *Republicans* on the Rules Committee," wrote Cami Mondeaux of Deseret News. "Things are getting very weird."

"This rule looks dead on the floor — if the leadership could ever get it there," wrote Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman.

read more



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

Google Cloud surpasses $20B but says growth was capacity-constrained

Google Cloud topped $20B in quarterly revenue for the first time, fueled by surging demand for AI. But capacity constraints mean it could have grown even faster.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Fusion power startup Zap Energy pulls a partial pivot, adding nuclear fission to the mix

Surprise! Fusion startup Zap Energy says it will be developing fission reactors alongside its fusion devices.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Tuesday, 28 April 2026

MAGA Host Slams 'Mentalist' At WHCD Shooting: 'Why Didn't He See This Coming?'nullnullnullnullnullnullnullnullnullnull

Real America's Voice anchor Eric Bolling expressed outrage after a so-called mentalist performing for President Donald Trump failed to predict a gunman at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

As the alleged gunman was storming a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night, Oz Pearlman was performing tricks for Trump and his wife.

"I was performing right then for the president, the press secretary [Karoline Leavitt] and the first lady," Pearlman later recalled to CNN. "It [was] kind of a pivotal moment in the trick where you're just about to do the reveal … and we hear commotion."

On Monday, Bolling said that the man performing magic tricks should have "seen this coming."

"By the way, too soon or too on the nose to talk about the irony of Oz Pearlman, the so-called mentalist, standing right next to the president as shots rang out?" the pro-MAGA host wondered. "Why didn't he see that coming? I don't know. He's a mentalist, right?"

read more



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

Amazon launches an AI-powered audio Q&A experience on product pages

Amazon's new "Join the chat" feature lets you ask questions about products and receive AI-powered audio responses.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Monday, 27 April 2026

Judge Questions Whether Trump Can Sue His Own Government For $10B

A federal judge has expressed doubt about the viability of Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, hinting she may dismiss it because Trump effectively controls the very agencies he is suing. Judge Kathleen Williams surfaced the issue in a Friday ruling that also rejected a bid to pause proceedings while settlement discussions were underway. She observed that the relationship between Trump and the defendants — the Treasury Department and the IRS — may lack sufficient opposition to move the case forward, according to ABC News.

"Moreover, although President Trump avers that he is bringing this lawsuit in his personal capacity, he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction. Indeed, President Trump's own remarks about this matter acknowledge the unique dynamic of this litigation," she wrote.

The IRS is funded by taxpayers, defended by government lawyers paid by taxpayers, and any potential $10 billion payout would ultimately come out of public funds, too. So, in a very real sense, taxpayers would be footing the bill on both sides. The amicus brief, calling it "collusive litigation," hints at just how unusual and ethically tangled the whole thing is.

read more



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

Letterboxd, the social platform for film buffs, reportedly looking for new owner

Potential buyers of Letterboxd include Versant, the parent company of CNBC and MS NOW, and Hollywood media company The Ankler, according to Semafor.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Consumers lost $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025, FTC reports

The agency reports that losses from social media scams have increased eightfold, and that social media scams resulted in higher losses than any other method scammers used to contact consumers.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Sunday, 26 April 2026

Acting Attorney General Refuses To Rule Out Vacating Insurrectionists' Convictions

As we discussed here, "Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, scorched Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Justice, now led by his own former criminal defense lawyer, for asking a federal appeals court to vacate the Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy convictions of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. In other words, to erase the record altogether."

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked about this latest attempt at whitewashing this administration's vile history by CNN's Dana Bash this Sunday, and Blanche refused to rule it out, and when asked whether he was comfortable personally with vacating their sentences, basically said his job was to bow down to Dear Leader.

BASH: Before I let you go, sir, do you plan to vacate convictions of members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were involved in the January 6th attack on the Capitol?

BLANCHE: So that's ongoing litigation that, as you know, the Supreme Court recently sent the case back to the district court judge. I expect you'll hear from us in the coming days about how we're going to proceed. Their sentences were commuted by President Trump on January 20th, and we'll go from there.

BASH: You're not ruling it out?

BLANCHE: I didn't hear that. Say it again. Sorry.

BASH: So you're not ruling it out, vacating their convictions?

read more



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

Amazon’s new podcast strategy: Monetize everything

Amazon's podcasting business seems to have transformed over the past six months.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

What Tim Cook built

On the latest episode of Equity, we discuss how Apple has changed since Cook became CEO in 2011, and what challenges incoming CEO John Ternus will be facing.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Saturday, 25 April 2026

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Wants Trump To Pardon Soldier Involved In Betting Scandal

Wingnut GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna made an appearance on Laura Ingraham's show on Fox this Friday, and as Mediaite reported, defended a special forces soldier accused of profiting off bets tied to the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, asking for Trump to pardon him, and using his crimes as an excuse to go after Nancy Pelosi.

As they discussed:

Federal prosecutors allege Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who has since been arrested, used nonpublic knowledge from the planning and execution of the January operation to place a series of bets on the prediction market Polymarket, turning roughly $33,000 into more than $400,000.

read more



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

Maine’s governor vetoes data center moratorium

L.D. 307 would have imposed the country’s first statewide moratorium on new data centers — lasting, in this case, until November 1, 2027.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

OPEN THREAD: Good Samaritans Help Another Runner Finish Boston Marathon

Aaron Beggs, of Northern Ireland, and Robson De Oliveira, of Brazil, put their personal best on hold to help Ajay Haridasse, a Massachusetts native and student at Northeastern University, after he collapsed on Monday just 305 metres from the end of the Boston Marathon course.

Beggs, who was also feeling sick and exhausted, reminded himself of all the people in his running club who might never get to experience the Boston Marathon.

“We were shaking hands as we were running, and was like, ‘We’ve got this. Let’s do this together,'” he added. “It’s not like in shorter races where you’re head-to-head trying to beat people. In the marathon, you’re cheering each other on and encouraging everybody.”

Haridasse told the Boston Herald that he was “getting ready to crawl” to the finish line after falling down for the fourth time.

Okay, now I'm crying--a young Massachusetts native fell as he neared the finish line of the Boston Marathon. He tried to get up 3 times, falling back down to the pavement. One runner stopped and helped him to his feet, another joined, and he finished, arms over the shoulders of his two rescuers. 🥹💙

read more



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

Friday, 24 April 2026

Idiot Tom Homan Invites Pope Leo For An ICE Ride-A-Long

During a Turning Point USA event, U.S. border czar Tom Homan invited Pope Leo on an ICE ride-a-long to show the head of the Catholic church that he's clueless when it comes to ICE operations.

Not to be upstaged by every other Trump official, 'General Zod' Homan attacked President Biden during his lame-brained monologue

Russian asset Benny Johnson conducted the interview.

JOHNSON: Is this your invitation to the Pope for a ride-along with ICE?

HOMAN: Yes. And I said that.

I said, I would sit down and talk to them, because they're talking about something they don't understand.

Again, I'll explain to them what happened to the Biden administration. An open boarder is the most inhumane thing you can do, because when you make a promise to the world like Biden and Mayorkas did, you can enter your country illegally, it's a crime, don't worry about it.

Homan then went on to glorify Demented Donald for another 90 seconds.

Has there ever been a more clueless invitation given to a Pope by the USA?

Pope Leo is highly educated and knows what he's talking about before he says something. He doesn't run to social media to spew lies, conspiracies, and nonsense when his fee-fees are hurt. The Pop doesn't need to set up propaganda events for photo-ops,

He would never lower himself to meet with miscreants like Homan.

These creeps treat the first US Pope in history like he's part of a "Cops" episode.

read more



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

ComfyUI hits $500M valuation as creators seek more control over AI-generated media

ComfyUI, whose tools give creators more control over AI image, video, and audio generation, just raised $30 million.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

X launches standalone XChat app on iOS

X's new app promises private chats, disappearing messages, audio and video calls and more.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Thursday, 23 April 2026

Texas Republican Would Like Democrats To Stop Doing The Thing His Party Started

Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy is very upset after Virginia Democrats scored a major win Tuesday, passing a redistricting measure that redraws the state's congressional map heavily in their favor — potentially flipping four Republican-held House seats and giving Democrats an advantage in all but one of the state's eleven districts.

The irony is lost on Roy, apparently. As I explained here, Trump started this redistricting battle when he called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2025 after election losses to get more Republican seats in the House. Democrats warned that they would respond in kind, but Texas did it anyway - without the consent of the voters. In short, don't start no shit, won't be no shit, and now Chip Roy is mad even though his party, including his orange pissdaddy, started this shit.

"Losing is not an option," Roy told Fox News's Maria Bartiromo. "The Marxists want to destroy this country. And that's what Hakeem Jeffries literally admitted yesterday. So let's go do it."

"Let's defend the president," he continued. "Let's get behind the president and let's go deliver. But I'm not blackpilled. You know, James Blatter made a good point yesterday. He said we outperformed in Virginia."

read more



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

Don’t stop hiring humans — stop hiring the wrong humans, Artisan’s founder says

Artisan may be known for their bold “Stop Hiring Humans” campaign but the reality is every founder needs to assemble the right team if they want to scale.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Wednesday, 22 April 2026

How SpaceX preempted a $2B fundraise with a $60B buyout offer

Cursor was on track to close a $2 billion funding round this week but chose to halt discussions after SpaceX offered a $10 billion "collaboration fee" and a path to a $60 billion acquisition.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Apple fixes bug that cops used to extract deleted chat messages from iPhones

The iPhone and iPad bug allowed law enforcement using forensic tools to read messages that had long been deleted by the Signal app.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Tuesday, 21 April 2026

Sam Altman throws shade at Anthropic’s cyber model, Mythos: ‘fear-based marketing’

This week, during a podcast appearance, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called out his competitor's new cybersecurity model, noting that the company was using fear to make its product sound more impressive than it actually is.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Fed Pick Kevin Warsh Refuses To Say If Trump Lost 2020 Election

During today's Senate hearing on Trump's pick for the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh refused to say Trump lost the 2020 general election.

Senator Elizabeth Warren asked a simple yes-or-no question to see where Warren's loyalties lie.

Are they for the American people, or Demented Donald's egomania?

WARREN: Mr. Warsh, did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?

WARSH: We try to keep politics, if I'm confirmed, out of the Federal Reserve.

WARREN: I'm just asking you a factual question. I need to know, I need to measure your independence and your courage.

WARSH: Senator, I believe that this body certified that election many years ago.

WARREN: That's not the question I'm asking. I'm asking, did Donald Trump lose in 2020?

Ma'am, I'm suggesting you in 2020, the Fed made a huge inflation problem, and you certified the election.'

When Trump demands a rate cut at the Fed, Warsh will be there to implement it.

Warsh failed miserably.

ELIZABETH WARREN: Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?

KEVIN WARSH: Uhm, we try to keep politics if I'm confirmed out of the Federal Reserve

WARREN: I'm just asking a factual question

read more



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

Monday, 20 April 2026

Google Photos adds new touch-up tools for ‘quick’ fixes

You can use the new tools to remove blemishes, refine skin texture, brighten eyes, or whiten teeth in photos.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Narcissistic Man-Baby Toys With Giving Himself Nation’s Highest Military Honor

Donald J. Trump, the very man who dodged the Vietnam draft because his feet hurt, now reportedly wants to award himself the Medal of Honor—the nation’s highest military decoration for extraordinary battlefield gallantry, according to the Wall Street Journal. Trump has mused about turning a solemn tribute to actual combat veterans into a humblebrag about how “extremely brave” he was for flying to Iraq that one time. Hey, give him a break, he has an insatiable ego to feed!

According to a senior administration official and others who have spoken directly with the president, Trump has reportedly been in a state of panic over how he has managed the war he initiated. Officials noted that his behavior has been so erratic that he was reportedly removed from a briefing about a rescue operation for a downed pilot. Beyond that, he has allegedly struggled to stay focused on the conflict, frequently turning his attention elsewhere — including to his $400 million ballroom and fundraising efforts ahead of the midterm elections.

Among the various distractions mentioned by insiders, Trump, 79, has apparently entertained the idea of awarding himself the Medal of Honor — a decoration that the commander in chief is authorized to bestow upon military personnel who demonstrate exceptional courage and selfless bravery in the face of grave personal danger.

read more



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

It’s not just one thing — it’s another thing

This sentence construction ("It's not just this — it's that") has become so common in AI-generated writing that it's no longer just a clue that a piece of writing may be synthetic — it's almost a guarantee.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Sunday, 19 April 2026

Donald's Pope Lies Are A One-Way Ticket To Hell

CNN's Kaitlan Collins questioned Trump about his feud with Pope Leo XIV. Like a little boy trying to stay out of trouble, Trump kept making up bullshit about the pope:

No, no, I don't. I have to do what's right. The Pope has to understand that. Very simple. I have nothing against the Pope. His brother's MAGA all the way. I like his brother Louis. I'm not fighting with him.

The Pope made a statement. He says Iran can have a nuclear weapon. I say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And if the Pope looked at the 42,000 people that were killed over the last two or three months as a protester with no weapons, no nothing. I mean, you take a look at that so I can disagree with the Pope. I have a right to disagree. I have a right to disagree with the Pope.

As Collins points out, the Pope made no such statement.

It's not surprising that Trump would lie about something as simple as disagreeing with someone. Trump hasn't told the truth since he first took breath. It's second nature to him. Besides, it's not like Trump isn't going to burn in Hell anyway.

read more



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

Blue Origin’s New Glenn put a customer satellite in the wrong orbit during its third launch

The first major failure of Blue Origin's new heavy-launch system could create delays to its ambition to help NASA and the Trump administration return to the Moon.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Saturday, 18 April 2026

AI chip startup Cerebras files for IPO

In recent months, the company announced an agreement with Amazon Web Services to use Cerebras chips in Amazon data centers, as well as a deal with OpenAI reportedly worth more than $10 billion.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Kash Patel’s Drinking ‘A Recurring Source Of Concern’ Across Govt

The Atlantic came out with a big, juicy exposĂ© of Kash Patel’s unfitness Friday evening. The good news is that according to the article, senior members of the Trump administration “are already discussing who might replace him.”

The bad news is that this drunkard and incompetent nincompoop is still on the job – when he bothers to show up. “He is erratic, suspicious of others, and prone to jumping to conclusions before he has necessary evidence, according to the more than two dozen people I have interviewed about Patel’s conduct, including current and former FBI officials, staff at law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, hospitality-industry workers, members of Congress, political operatives, lobbyists, and former advisers,” author Sarah Fitzpatrick wrote. “They described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability."

“Several officials told me that Patel’s drinking has been a recurring source of concern across the government,” Fitzpatrick reported. “They said he is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, in many cases at the private club Ned’s in Washington, D.C., while in the presence of White House and other administration staff. He is also known to drink to excess at the Poodle Room in Las Vegas, where he frequently spends parts of his weekends.”

read more



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

Friday, 17 April 2026

Public Groper Lauren 'Handy' Boebert Wonders Why 'Everybody Is So Horny?'

Up on Capitol Hill today the discussion was about Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales leaving Congress under a cloud of sexual issues, including accusations of rape.

This led to Rep. Lauren 'Hand job' Boebert to make a remarkable statement.

Boebert: Yeah, go to church, find Jesus.

Like, I mean, why is everybody so horny here?

Colorado congresswomen should look within to find out why everybody is so horny.

Her escapades at the Beetlejuice play is stuff of legends.

Vaping, giving hand jobs, and being kicked out publicly does not make a Congresscritter great.

read more



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

Sources: Cursor in talks to raise $2B+ at $50B valuation as enterprise growth surges

Returning backers a16z and Thrive are expected to lead the round.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Democrat Asks RFK Jr. About The 25th Amendment. The Copium Was Instant.

California Democratic Rep. Mark Takano offered a masterclass in grilling Health Secretary RFK Jr. during a congressional hearing. Right to the point, he asked, "Should Trump fail a mental fitness test, would you vote to invoke the 25th Amendment?"

RFK Jr., in full bootlicker audition mode, immediately launched into fanfiction: "There hasn't been a president who is more sane—"

Takano, who was not having any part of that circus, said, "Reclaiming my time." Straight back to the point: "Would you invoke the 25th Amendment?" Our conspiracy connoisseur-turned-Health Secretary, when he's not cutting off raccoons' penises, doubled down like it's his full-time job: "President Trump is the most stable—"

Takano calmly said, "Apparently not." A guy who has built a brand on questioning every fucking thing suddenly developed a mysterious allergy to answering a yes-or-no about the mental fitness of the boss he's desperately trying to impress.

RFK Jr. morphed into a human Teleprompter for the president, basically saying, "Trump is peak sanity, trust me, bro." It’s so MAGA to shirk off a basic question about presidential stability while somehow considering that to be a strong endorsement, and "reclaiming my time" hits harder than most actual policy debates.

In the background, Takano displayed Trump's bizarre post, in which the president apparently thinks he's Jesus Christ.

read more



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

Thursday, 16 April 2026

European police email 75,000 people asking them to stop DDoS attacks

Europol coordinated an operation against for-hire distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) services, including the arrest of four people and the takedown of 53 domains.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

In Yale Speech, Justice Jackson Tells Us What She Thinks Of Her Colleagues

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ripped into her conservative colleagues’ to benefit the Trump administration, calling the orders “scratch-paper musings” that can “seem oblivious and thus ring hollow.”

Jackson delivered a lengthy assessment of roughly two dozen emergency docket orders issued last year that allowed President Donald Trump to put in place controversial policies on immigration, steep federal funding cuts and other topics, after lower courts found they were likely illegal.

While designed to be short-term, those orders have largely allowed Trump to move ahead — for now — with key parts of his sweeping agenda.

Jackson spoke for nearly an hour on Monday at Yale Law School, which posted a video of the event on Wednesday. You go, girl!

NEW: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson unloads on #SCOTUS handling of emergency/'shadow' docket, saying it often seems 'utterly irrational' & can lead to 'zombie' proceedings. KBJ rejects Kavanaugh's 'interim docket' label, calls for focus on real-world harms
www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

read more



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

Wednesday, 15 April 2026

Trump Blasts Italian PM As 'Unacceptable' After She Defended Pope Leo

Donald Trump continued his bizarre behavior of lashing out against even his allies over his Iran war when he denigrated Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for criticizing his attacks on Pope Leo.

Trump blasted Pope Leo for not signing on to his attack on Iran, calling him "weak on crime,” with bad foreign policy."

Trump cried that the Pontiff went public with his criticisms, which is laughable because Trump never shuts the fuck up. In response to Von Shitzhispants words against Pope Leo, Giorgia Meloni did not take a back seat.

“I find President Trump’s words towards the Holy Father unacceptable. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn every form of war,” she said.

read more



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

Hightouch reaches $100M ARR fueled by marketing tools powered by AI

The startup says it grew its ARR by $70 million in just 20 months after launching an AI agent platform for marketers.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

Tuesday, 14 April 2026

AHe Was Posting A Joke': Vance'Released Everything's Hilarious Cleanup For Trump's Hilarious Cleanup For Trump'' On Epstein

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted that the Department of Justice has released all files on Jeffrey Epstein after First Lady Melania Trump made a surprise announcement calling for men who conspired with the sex offender to face consequences.

"The First Lady dropped a bomb at the White House," Fox News host Bill Hemmer told Blanche on Tuesday. "A number of questions that come off of this. Did you know she was going to make that statement? Did you have information prior? Will you act on her request before Congress?"

"And when you remember what the president said," the Fox News host added, "when you give all the files out there, the innocent people are going to be hurt. And we've seen that to some degree."

"So, no, the first lady does not check with me before she speaks to the American people," Blanche revealed. "And I wouldn't expect her to. But what she said rings true to me. And what I mean by that is there have been tons of false narratives around her and her relationship or lack thereof... so I get her frustration and complaints, and I readily agree with it as far as her call to Congress."

Blanche insisted that Epstein survivors should contact the FBI.

"We will take it seriously no matter what," he claimed. "And so her call to Congress to have witnesses come forward and testify is not inconsistent with what the Department of Justice and President Trump, frankly, has been saying for many years."

read more



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

AI datacenter startup Fluidstack in talks for $1B round at $18B valuation months after hitting $7.5B, says report

Fundraising is reportedly flowing for Fluidstack after it secured a $50 billion deal to build data centers for Anthropic.

from TechCrunch
via Click me for Details

As States Figure Out How To Work Around Trump's Mess, The Gold Trim Goes On

Health authorities in New York State are racing to devise strategies to blunt the new law that will restrict access to government health insurance programs, including Medicaid, that cover more than half of New York City’s residents.

To keep as many New Yorkers as possible from being cut from the Medicaid rolls next year, state and city officials are looking for ways to prove that patients are afflicted with addictions or are medically frail, conditions that would exempt them from the new restrictions. And they are considering how to sign people up for volunteer work — such as helping other New Yorkers navigate Medicaid’s new rules — which could satisfy the law’s work requirements.

“We’re getting very creative,” Dr. Alister Martin, the city’s new health commissioner, said in a recent interview.

When President Trump’s signature domestic policy bill passed last year, state health officials feared that perhaps 1.5 million people in New York might lose health coverage. Those predictions have grown somewhat less dire as officials have proposed possible methods to keep people insured and exempt from the new work requirements. Those requirements and other restrictions are expected to start next year.

read more



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