"[The] goal is not actually to kill Alex's race. Their goal...is to scare other legislators into submission."
I profiled NY-12 Democrat Alex Bores & the AI industry's strategy against him for Politico Magazine:
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
If I might, a moment of praise for librarians. The ones at the @librarycongress.bsky.social went to lengths to dig out an obscure book on JFK's autopen use. Super useful reporting-wise—and the cover inspired the resulting art on my new @washingtonian.com story on the topic. Yay, librarians.
New from me for @washingtonian.com: a deep dive into the autopen's place in American politics. washingtonian.com/2025/11/06/i...
The rest is here. (It's in Inc's premium section; consider a subscription!) Hope you'll give it a read. www.inc.com/nancy-scola/...
The whole thing is, of course, a bit of a flyer, but it's got some high-profile supporters.
The first investor is @profgalloway.com, and @mcuban.bsky.social told me, "I'm a fan of Andrew's. I hope he makes a killing!"
There's also a Yangian twist. One of the problems with the U.S., says Yang, is we're on our phones too much. Noble pays you back about a buck in "Data Dividend" for every gigabyte under 20 you use.
Stanford's Anna Lembke, author of "Dopamine Nation," told me she's intrigued:
But Yang also pitches his Noble Mobile as a chance to leverage the fact that Americans pay a premium for 'Big Three' cell phone service to make the economic math work better for everyday people—what he frames as one of the central ambitions of his political career.
First, running a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, is undeniably potentially a very good business.
Not for nothing did Ryan Reynolds sell his Mint Mobile—essentially the bulk reselling of T-Mobile service—for $1.3 billion.
I found myself curious why 2020 Democratic presidential candidate & 2021 NYC mayoral candidate @andrew-yang.bsky.social's latest act isn't another run for office but as CEO of a mobile phone service startup called Noble Mobile.
For the good folks at @inc.com, I dug in. Some tidbits…
New episode of the #computationalantitrust podcast. I talked with @nancyscola.bsky.social about the interplay between computational antitrust and antitrust reporting. Nancy had so many great insights. I very much enjoyed recording it, and I hope you'll enjoy listening to it.
David Remnick reports from Israel:
"[T]he horrific scale of suffering among Gazans is nearly invisible in the Israeli media... Media executives seem convinced that they will alienate audiences if they give the subject much attention." www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Political prediction markets are having their moment in Washington. For the good folks at @washingtonian.com I profile Pratik Chougule, the host of the podcast "Star Spangled Gambler" who is at the center of the push to make betting on politics mainstream.
www.washingtonian.com/2025/07/10/e...
Had a fascinating time talking about how political "idea flow" works in Washington with Marshall Kosloff on "The Realignment Podcast." podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/5...
"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."
Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.
I wrote about my decision in TIME.
time.com/7285045/resi...
I profile Gail Slater, the new head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, for @POLITICO Magazine.
Senate just approved Gail Slater to head DOJ’s antitrust division — for what it’s worth, filling the job more than six months sooner than in the first Trump administration.
I am being exceptionally petty, yes, but having seen several of your posts cross my X timeline today I'm wondering if this no longer applies: www.offmessage.net/p/real-news-...
Yesterday was really busy so it's worth saying again. The scope of the DOGE really shrank in terms of what was proposed to what was in the EO set it up yesterday...
from $2 trillion in cuts to, apparently, a more narrow focus on government technology....
www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...
A reminder that the first Trump admin tried to use the existing framework of the EOP to 'reinvent government,' and there's a reason you probably don't remember the attempt.
Not the most consequential of things, but as @amac0.bsky.social notes this whole idea of 'DOGE' just stepping into the U.S. Digital Service wrapper as 'U.S. DOGE Service' makes it the "U.S. Department of Government Efficiency Service."
Likely going to be an interesting debate on the left over whether Democrats took too big of a swing at 'Big Tech' in the first place — or if it was a "you come at the king you best not miss" situation.
Though he's perhaps saved by the fact that the FCC has never really had a formal role in the TikTok debates.
Carr made warning of the dangers of TikTok central to his whole Washington identity, so now that he's the Trump-appointed FCC chair things are going to get interesting.
I think we're going to look back at the issuance of Biden's AI executive order in October 2023 as a surprisingly significant moment in the political timeline.
NEW: The FTC issues long-awaited rules prohibiting ticket sellers and hotels from hiding "junk fees," promising to punish those that fail to disclose service charges and other add-ons prominently www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Bluesky's safety team: "We received more reports in two days than in all of last year..."
This is being treated as a big deal and it's potentially an even bigger deal than that. House Oversight is an enormously powerful tool in skilled hands. www.politico.com/news/2024/12...
