iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Ben Werdmuller @werd.io · 28/09/2026

“You can just do things” is not just a startup bro maxim. It’s also a healthy mindset that encourages you to make, to meet, to put yourself out there, and *not worry about it*. What’s the worst that could happen? Why do you care about what they think of you? Most people could use a bit more of this.

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Jarod Facundo @dorajfacundo.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I’m back to writing and reporting full time. I’m going to be covering politics, labor, and of course health care. If you’re an editor, have a tip, or someone who just wants to say hello, you can reach me at jarod.m.facundo@proton.me or on Signal at jfacundo.98

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Sam Hill @samahill.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A new anthology from @bicyclecomics.bsky.social collects resignation letters penned by fed employees in 2025. I chatted with the book's editor and a former Crater Lake National Park superintendent about sharing quitting stories and the chaos of Trump's second term. www.sfgate.com/national-par...

sfgate.com

'Chronic stress': Federal workers who quit under Trump tell all

A new anthology captures federal resignation letters from 2025.

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Bicycle Comics @bicyclecomics.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Our upcoming comic book is currently front-page news on @sfgate.com ! Thanks to Sam Hill for covering the story of federal workers and how/why they left their jobs last year. And HUGE thanks to Kevin Heatley and the 25 other former feds who shared their stories in our book.

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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The worst part of Bonta caving on the Paramount merger is that it's a big flashing signal to every other company that there is no antitrust enforcement in America and you can bully your way into getting whatever you want. It's a monumentally bad decision.

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Ken Tremendous @kentremendous.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

By the time this merger ruins HBO, destroys WB, gets 5,000 people fired, moves production overseas, and guts the quality of the movies the new studio makes, most people will have forgotten how fast the AGs caved and how little they got in this deal. Writers will not.

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Laurel @balancecraft.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The Paramount/WBD merger settlement terms only last 5 years. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 21/09/2026

Trump & Vought are politicizing critical medical research and make no mistake: in the long run, this will cost lives. Their continued attacks will put future cures and treatments at risk in service of their own political agenda. Shameful.

nytimes.com

White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants

Federal officials are drafting an executive order that would place grants under review by an outside panel, the latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending.

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Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

AG Bonta, the goal was for you to not allow massive media consolidation in the hands of autocrats and their acolytes, and you're announcing the terms of how they bought you off. You can't sell that here.

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Laurel @balancecraft.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

"A Lawyer’s Report on Japan Attacks Plan to Run Occupation… Far to the Left of Anything Now Tolerated in America.” - Newsweek, Dec. 1, 1947 New substack post with the story behind the headline...

Excerpt from substack linked in next post

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Nathalie Maréchal, PhD @nathaliemarechal.net · 17/09/2026

So you just learned about the AI cult, huh? Here is the longform explainer you need to make sense of the very, very strange ideas driving tech policy in 2026. Buckle up, it’s a wild ride. www.techpolicy.press/what-policym...

techpolicy.press

What Policymakers and the Public Need to Know About the Cult of AI

Nathalie Maréchal asks, why are we betting the economy and the future of democracy on cult-like beliefs?

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Laurel @balancecraft.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Day One agenda needs to include an oversight hearing into how many types of cats there are, really

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Mark Ruffalo @markruffalo.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Don’t you dare @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov, do not cave. 5670 film makers put their necks on the line for you to fight this merger. Another 75,000+ and counting have signed to tell you not to concede in just 3 weeks. Please sign to send a message to the AG’s and Paramount. noparamountconcessions.com

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Mark Ruffalo @markruffalo.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

To my friends in the Bay Area: I'm hearing Rob Bonta is about to cave and hand Warner Bros over to the Ellisons. We can't let him do that. Can you show up outside his AG office in Oakland tomorrow at 5pm to reject this backroom deal? Reject the deal. www.mobilize.us/notabovethel...

mobilize.us

Block the Merger: Don't Settle with Paramount! · Not Above the Law

Join us to rally outside of the California Attorney General's Oakland office! We need Attorney General Rob Bonta to stand strong against a Paramount-Warner Brothers Merger. A core principle behind a...

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Alvaro M. Bedoya @bedoyausa.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

2/ If this happens, it'd be a cave to the oligarchs who paid Trump $16M+ to settle a spurious lawsuit, promised to purge CNN, and held a lavish illegal banquet for the president while the merger was under DOJ consideration.

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Alvaro M. Bedoya @bedoyausa.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

1/ Per Status, @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov may soon bless a weak settlement with few or none of the divestments he's demanded for months.

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Matthew Baggott @mattbagg.eurosky.social · 14/09/2026

Shouldn't last Monday's article from FDA staff have had a notice that “U.S. Government-authored contributions are in the public domain in the U.S.” rather than a copyright? It's not great when regulators speak via privately owned, paywalled channels.

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Matthew Baggott @mattbagg.eurosky.social · 09/09/2026

Mike Davis has been announced as head of FDA's CDER. He is a well-regarded FDA veteran who was CMO at the nonprofit psychedelic company Usona for about 3 years. www.hhs.gov/press-room/h...

hhs.gov

HHS Announces Key Leadership Selections at FDA to Promote Innovation, Reform, and National Health Priorities

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today announced the selection of four senior leaders at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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psychedelicstoday.bsky.social @psychedelicstoday.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

DC area friends: join us September 14 for THE GATEWAY after the FDA psychedelic hearing. Food, drinks, networking, and a live podcast on what happened at FDA and what comes next. 5:00–8:30 PM · Silver Spring, MD secure.everyaction.com/z6Pd9tpUSkSU...

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 09/09/2026

NEW: Bloomberg's editorial board said the Trump White House is "courting a banking crisis." They describe how Trump's regulators are “reducing supervision and encouraging the kind of leverage that can make failures, contagion and bailouts more likely."

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Cliomancer @antikytheraclio.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

There's a Night Vale library show about a chintinous venomous librarians stalking through the town where the moral is "Fear is like a library book. Put it somewhere you can find it, but do not carry it with you." And that version has stuck with me.

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David Ingram @davidingram.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Tesla has told first responders that they might need to “push” the new Cybercab out of the way in an emergency

Opening paragraph of an NBC News story: Tesla's new Cybercab may need a "push" from first responders if it stalls on the road because the vehicle has no steering wheel or pedals that would let an officer drive it out of the way, according to a safety plan filed with Texas officials.

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American Economic Liberties Project @econliberties.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Workers across the entertainment industry are calling on state attorneys general to oppose the Paramount-WBD merger with #NoConcessions! "This mega merger – the largest financial transaction in Hollywood history – would cause massive layoffs and cuts to programming," says actress Hannah Einbinder

thewrap.com

Bradley Whitford, Hannah Einbinder and More Warn Paramount Will Break Its Promises to Close WBD Merger: 'No Concessions'

The Committee for the First Amendment, has released a new video with several Hollywood actors urging public opposition against the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger

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Johnny Ryan @johnnyryan.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The European Commission told Google last year that a breakup of its RTB business is required. The wiggle room is that Google can propose alternatives. (para 2160-1 of doc ec.europa.eu/competition/... )

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ceej @ceej.online · 03/09/2026

I do think “every rich person went insane during covid because it was the first time they’ve been inconvenienced in decades” felt a little reductive at first but damn if isn’t more and more compelling as the years drag on

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Alvaro M. Bedoya @bedoyausa.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

still processing that the *Iowa* AG told SCOTUS that if the feds plus "authorities" of "major countries" like China Saudi Arabia Kuwait France Serbia Ukraine Slovenia Mexico Brazil ...okay a corrupt merger, states like Iowa ...can NOT challenge it, neutering an antitrust law 1st passed in Iowa

Excerpt from a Supreme Court brief that reads: "37. Competition authorities across the world agreed with the professionals at DOJ, clearing the merger one after another. 38. It is barely an exaggeration to say the merger was approved by every major country with a clearance regime (and many small countries) on every continent except Antarctica. They include competition authorities from Australia, New Zealand, China, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Kuwait, South Africa, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Spain, Serbia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Mexico, Brazil, and others. 39. The European Commission conducted a particularly extensive review over multiple months, similarly concluding that the merger would enhance rather than harm competition. "

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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 31/08/2026

I reiterate that my Supreme Court Expansion plan is to simply switch to a distinctively American Cicada Brood System where we have overlapping panels or “broods” of justices spread over the country, numbered I to XXIII, emerging periodically and consisting of panels of 13, 17, 19, or 23 justices.

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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

This quote is from last February. Good work sir!

"Regulations, basically, should be default gone," Musk said. "Not default there, default gone. And if it turns out that we missed the mark on a regulation, we can always add it back in."

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The Trump administration has filed 36 emergency applications since last February, which have generated 31 conclusive rulings. In those 31 rulings, the Court has voted *for* Trump in whole or in part 27 times (87.1%), and against him four times (12.9%). Here's a chart covering all of these rulings:

A (messy) Excel spreadsheet tracking all of the Trump administration's emergency applications, when they were filed, when they were decided, what kind of ruling they produced, and how each justice voted.

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Senator Ed Markey @markey.senate.gov · 28/08/2026

A billion-dollar company is not a small business. Nearly a third of corporations Trump would redefine as a “small business” already held $71 billion in federal contracts last year. I’m fighting to stop this corporate giveaway and ensure small businesses aren’t decimated by this Administration.

Trump Administration Wants Billion-Dollar Businesses to Qualify as ‘Small’
Higher revenue and employee limits for small businesses that get federal contracts and loans could disadvantage the smallest companies, their owners say.

Listen · 8:23 min

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William Dalrymple @willdalrymple.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

An essay I've just written for @nytimes on why Big Tech is the 21st Century’s equivalent of the East India Company: "What It Would Take to Dismantle the Most Powerful Companies in the World" www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | What It Would Take to Dismantle the Most Powerful Companies in the World

A playbook to curb the growing power of Big Tech.

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djjack65.bsky.social @djjack65.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

"States can master corporations. The taming of the mighty East India Company proves it, as does Beijing’s recent muscle flexing...." Some excellent big history perspective from William Dalrymple, co-host of the Empire podcast, on the British East India Company, the first big global corporation.

nytimes.com

Opinion | What It Took to Dismantle the Most Powerful Company in the World

A playbook to curb the growing power of Big Tech.

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Tim Hirschel-Burns @timhirschelburns.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Live report from the Minnesota State Fair, located in the heart of American democracy, where there’s an ICE Out adaptation of Picasso’s Guernica made entirely from crops

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Free Press @freepress.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Today, our Block the Merger coalition launches a petition open to the entire public: Back the AGs to take this all the way. No private promises. No settlement. #NoConcessions. A 🧵 on the new public-facing petition calling on the 12 state attorneys general who sued to hold STRONG....

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Megan Gray @megangray.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Secrecy in Lawsuits Has ‘Run Amok,’ Scholars Say Two recent studies say judges are not doing enough to protect the public interest in openness. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/...

nytimes.com

Secrecy in Lawsuits Has ‘Run Amok,’ Scholars Say

Two recent studies say judges are not doing enough to protect the public interest in openness.

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K. Sabeel Rahman @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Lifting up this exciting opportunity to join the Cornell gov dept faculty! Especially for LPE and adjacent folks thinking about democracy, political economy, and law !

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Leah 'AntiTrustButVerify' Nylen @leahnylen.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Iowa and Montana are trying to involve the Supreme Court in the Paramount antitrust suit. It's very dumb.

variety.com

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Daniel Hanley @danielahanley.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

In its 1936 annual report, the FTC correctly recognized that the purpose of the Robinson-Patman Act was to "restore equality of opportunity in business without penalizing service and efficiency." www.ftc.gov/sites/defau...

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Laurel @balancecraft.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

A few points re Meta settlement 1) Settlement expires after 10 years. Night access mode & daily limits for teens last 5 years Lawmakers still need to act to make any of this permanent 2) Meta is not released from criminal liability, only civil 3) Florida is going to trial

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I wrote this too quickly, but here’s my very brief explainer for “One First” on why this afternoon’s #SCOTUS ruling is problematic, but not (yet) an existential threat to mail-in voting in the midterms: www.stevevladeck.com/p/246-making...

stevevladeck.com

246. Making Sense of the Mail-in Ballots Ruling

The Supreme Court’s grant of a stay in one of the mail-in ballot cases is deeply wrong, but it’s also not the main event over whether Trump’s patently unlawful executive order can take effect.

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Spencer Weber Waller @sweberwaller.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I was going to post a cute unboxing photo of me opening my author’s copies but this is better. BTW, not my dog. www.powerandgreed.com.

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