iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

NEW: For the first time, Iranian-American families whose relatives were killed, injured or displaced by an unauthorized U.S. war are skipping the War Powers Resolution and asking judges to declare the war itself unconstitutional — a case that could reshape presidential war power.

13919

🚨 Going live at 1:30pm PT / 4:30pm ET — David Sirota & Freddy Brewster, drinks in hand, unpacking how $25 million in Trump donations killed a federal AI safety rule. Join us for 2 reporters talking shop on the potential connection between Trump, his Big Tech donors, and AI safety rules. Pull up. 🍹

1105

EXCLUSIVE: OpenAI’s president and his wife gave $25 million to Trump’s super PAC — and three months later, a federal rule requiring AI companies to disclose their most dangerous experiments was withdrawn.

46145

After Big Tech fought a federal AI safety rule - and funneled millions into Trump's political operations - Trump killed the rule. Now, after a string of alarming AI incidents, some of those same companies who fought against the rule are calling for regulation.

35127

🚨 UPDATE: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce just sued Hawaii over its new challenge to Citizens United. Hawaii’s law bars corporations and other organizations from spending to support or oppose state candidates. The Chamber says that violates the First Amendment.

24530

The Lever @levernews.com · 24/09/2026

A former U.S. Senate candidate is raising alarms about the promises David Ellison made to secure Paramount’s Warner Bros. takeover — including a pledge to protect CNN’s editorial independence through an oversight structure his company controls.

12212

32920

NEW: Only 38% of Americans support tariffs associated with a $100 annual increase in household costs. (Source: Cato Institute)

22410

Days after The Lever questioned Black Bear Sports about hiring a private equity veteran as CEO, the company’s claim that it had “nothing to do with Wall Street” disappeared from its website. The nation’s largest youth hockey operator had repeated that denial for months.

12613

Susan Collins is fighting to keep her seat against @troyjackson207.bsky.social, Graham Platner’s Democratic replacement. Jackson’s out-of-state party advisers are reportedly frustrated by the Sanders ally’s “backwoods cadence” and progressive stances — and want him to move to the center.

105624

The Lever @levernews.com · 22/09/2026

Last year on The Lever’s podcast, Sen. @chrismurphyct.bsky.social raised concerns that the merger could put two major newsrooms under the control of Trump allies, pointing to the Ellison family’s relationship with the president and the administration’s confrontations with major media outlets.

22816

Earlier this year, we told you how Black Bear Sports banned parents from filming their own kids’ hockey games — then backed down after our reporting. Now there’s more: the company quietly named a private equity veteran CEO, and its “nothing to do with Wall Street” denial has vanished.

13217

The Lever @levernews.com · 22/09/2026

The Paramount deal would put CBS and CNN under one roof—the kind of concentrated media power Lewis F. Powell Jr.'s 1971 memo urged corporate America to build around institutions shaping public opinion. CBS executives later joined the Chamber effort to act on it.

1128996

The Lever @levernews.com · 22/09/2026

NEW: JD Vance says Watergate would be a “12-hour news story” today. He may have a point — but only because conservatives spent decades fighting the reforms Watergate produced, rebuilding presidential power, and recasting Nixon as a victim rather than a warning. Jared Jacang Maher explains ⬇️

56529

The Lever @levernews.com · 21/09/2026

BREAKING: Paramount’s $110 billion Warner Bros. takeover moved closer to completion after California and 11 other states settled their antitrust challenge — a deal that would put CBS News and CNN under the same corporate owner.

13315

The Lever @levernews.com · 21/09/2026

Some good news for your feed: California is blocking tech companies from using student data to train AI. A court checked Trump’s coal push. Voting-rights groups are fighting ICE at the polls. And a teenager took on a hospital — and helped change the law.

14414

The Lever @levernews.com · 21/09/2026

NEW: Black Bear Sports has repeatedly insisted it has “nothing to do with Wall Street.” The nation’s largest youth hockey operator has now quietly installed a private equity veteran as CEO — and days after The Lever asked about the hire, that denial disappeared from its website.

1196

The Lever @levernews.com · 20/09/2026

"We don't need to choose just one sub-issue within AI, the same way we don't have to choose one sub-issue within the economy." NY Assemblymember @alexbores.nyc makes the case to @davidsirota.com for Democrats working every angle of AI regulation at once.

24020

The Lever @levernews.com · 20/09/2026

🚨NEW: "The Terminator" imagines killer robots. "The Big Short" imagines a Ponzi-scheme collapse. Which one will the AI apocalypse resemble the most? If it's the latter, then all of us may be already FUBAR, says @davidsirota.com.

Screenshot from the article that says: "AI safety risks are very real and legitimately terrifying. But if we are actually beginning to approach “The Terminator” scenario, then there is some good news: We at least have some existing laws that might still be able to deter the construction of an army of murderous T-1000s.

But if we are instead more likely headed toward a sequel to “The Big Short” — in which investors’ dreams of capitalizing Machine Gods are exposed as a nightmare that wasted trillions of dollars financing a souped-up Clippy — then all of us may already be FUBAR, if you believe the subtext of a new report from one of the world’s biggest banks, and another report from one of the world’s biggest consulting firms."

24117

🚨 NEW: Iowa Republican Joe Mitchell is running for Congress as an anti-insider crusader. But financial disclosures reviewed by The Lever show he made $92,500 consulting for a PR firm whose website declares: “Data center developers count on us.”

12610

Who gets to decide how AI reshapes our lives — tech companies, politicians, or the public? Today at 3pm ET, @davidsirota.com talks with NY Assemblymember @alexbores.nyc about his new $30M effort to unite Democrats around AI safeguards. Watch live: www.levernews.com/david-sirota...

12811

Here’s a revealing snapshot of Trump’s AI policy: Regulators restricted an AI tool after alleging it could mass-produce deceptive customer reviews. Trump’s FTC threw out the order, saying it placed too much burden on AI innovation.

13116

The Lever @levernews.com · 17/09/2026

🚨 NEW: Ken Paxton is campaigning to END Texas data-center tax breaks. But as a state lawmaker, he voted to CREATE them — after receiving 100,000 shares in a server company that stood to benefit. Now those tax breaks could cost Texas $3 BILLION in just two years.

16025

The AI bubble has a problem: A lot of these startups aren’t profitable — and may not even be acquirable. .@edzitron.com explains why companies burning cash with few hard assets could create risks that extend far beyond Silicon Valley.

22610

Before Robert Kraft stepped in to silence criticism of the genocide in Gaza, he gave money to key pro-Israel midterms candidates.

12814

🚨 NEW: Hakeem Jeffries created a five-member commission to help write House Democrats’ AI policy agenda. Among its members: lawmakers backed by major AI political groups and Silicon Valley donors seeking to shape those very rules.

1514566

One way lawmakers could start regulating AI right now: make the industry disclose who is using all those GPUs — and what they’re being used for. .@edzitron.com explains why GPU transparency across the biggest AI companies could be a first step toward understanding the scale of the boom.

12511

A super PAC founded by allies of Ted Cruz to combat antisemitism inside the GOP spent more than $90K attacking @abdulelsayed.bsky.social . The AI-generated ad depicts El-Sayed alongside his family and Hasan Piker as the phrases “death to America” and “celebrate 9/11” appear on screen.

62714

Everyone’s worried about the “Terminator” AI doomsday. But the more immediate threat could look a lot more like The Big Short. . @edzitron.com explains why the AI boom’s real danger may be an economic one — and what happens if the money behind it starts to unravel.

726255

The Macklemore controversy isn’t just about Ed Sheeran. Tour promoters confirmed multiple stadiums refused to host shows with Macklemore on the bill — revealing how a small group of venue owners can effectively decide which political speech reaches major stages.

912438