Joseph Torres

Google Bankrolled Secret Summit For Key State Lawmakers Disclosure documents show the tech giant treated state legislators to a perk-filled Chicago junket this fall; now those officials are considering legislation that could impact Google’s bottom line.

🚨SCOOP: Google gave lawmakers gifts up to $2,000 to attend a secret perk-filled summit touting AI & data centers as lawmakers consider AI dereg & data center subsidies, according to documents reviewed by @levernews.com.

Lawmakers got hotel rooms costing up to $500 per night & a Wrigley Field party.

Paramount’s hostile bid for WBD is backed by billions from Saudi Arabian & Qatari sovereign wealth funds.

Additional money comes via Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's Saudi-financed equity firm.

Now, Trump says he's going to be "involved" in any final ownership decision.

Let's unpack that ...

This practice was endorsed by a Supreme Court Justice.
#KavanaughStop

reminded of eric williams's observation about britain's relationship to its history with slavery. "British historians wrote almost as if Britain had introduced Negro slavery solely for the satisfaction of abolishing it."

"Our government is embarking on a totally unprovoked military assault and regime change operations in Latin America."

among the many wins tonight: in at least four races where AI/data centers were front and center - two Public Service Commission seats in GA and two VA House races - the incumbents are out

Totals by Candidate 11 Zohran Kwame Mamdani 1012850 50.32% 12 Curtis A. Sliwa 144123 7.16% | 13 Irene Estrada 2575 0.13% | 14 Eric L. Adams 6182 0.31%| 15 Joseph Hernandez 1228 0.06% 16 Andrew M. Cuomo 837398 41.61% 17 Jim Walden 2128 0.11% | 18 WRITE-IN 6163 0.31% | 2012647

Mamdani cracks 1M votes, the first NYC mayor to do so since John Lindsay in 1969

O'DONNELL: Why did you pardon Changpeng Zhao?

TRUMP: Are you ready? I don't know who he is

O'DONNELL: His crypto exchange Binance helped facilitate a $2b purchase of World Liberty Financial's stablecoin. And they you pardoned him.

TRUMP: Here's the thing -- I know nothing about it

Front Porches, Trail Rides and Stories of Black Futures Media 2070’s Black Future Newsstand exhibit in Houston is documenting powerful histories and stories that connect the past, present and future.

The Media 2070 Project @media2070.bsky.social co-host its latest Black Futures Newsstand exhibit with the PECAN Project. Starts tomorrow in Houston. Attendees will, once again, be asked: "What does a media system that loves Black people look and feel like in a future where reparations are real?”

The Trump Adm is responsible for protecting Americans from rampant GenAI-driven data tactics threatening American consumers. It's hands-off self-serving approach is giving permission for AI-dominated commercial surveillance to explode online/offline.

Sadly, we don’t teach Reconstruction enough!! So many folks remain oblivious to where this country is headed. Buckle up! It won’t be pretty.

You need to fix this @cnn.com.

Shelters that house unaccompanied minors are bracing for "Freaky Friday," the start of an ICE operation that will first issue letters to children, seeking to pressure them to return to the countries they've fled in exchange for a cash payment. If they decline, their parents will be targeted by ICE.

We wanna talk abt free speech? Let's talk abt
@karenattiah.bsky.social fired @washingtonpost.com for reminding us of Kirk's hate. Or Mario Guevara detained 102 days for live-streaming ICE. Myriad stakes for ppl who get less/no airtime that we never hear. From me pressingissues.org/trumps-attac...

How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.

Got this one saved to read later today...essay by @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social on Ezra Klein...

Media Advisory: Emmy-Winning Journalist Mario Guevara’s Family, Advocates, & Legal Team Speak Out - ACLU of Georgia The Board of Immigration Appeals reopened Mr. Guevara’s 13-year-old immigration case and ordered him to return to El Salvador

Coming in 20 min: A press briefing on the plight of Mario Guevara—the only journalist in the US imprisoned for exercising his First Amendment right to record police/ICE activity in public.

Hear from Free Press' @attorneynora.bsky.social alongside
@aclu.org allies:

www.acluga.org/press-releas...

Legal team hopes to secure journalist's release from ICE detention Monday, Sept. 22, marked roughly 100 days since Mario Guevara was arrested while covering a protest in DeKalb County.

Thnx @axios.com @kristaldixon.bsky.social for covering 100 days of detention & the fight for Mario Guevara’s freedom: www.axios.com/local/atlant...

I meant this deeply: My work now is all dissent work. I write for a future I likely will not see.

One stark marker of how much our society has devolved in just a few years is Bob Iger personally got on a call to convince us to let Disney/HULU make the 1619 Project. That America no longer exists.

The Constitutional Bind An eye-opening account of how Americans came to revere the Constitution and what this reverence has meant domestically and around the world. Some Americans today worry that the Federal Constitution is...

Here is another book to also consider that addresses this topic:

If you care about corporate media capitulation & Jimmy Kimmel getting canceled, you should definitely care about the Trump administration trying to deport journalist Mario Guevara.

Reckoning with the Federal Communications Commission’s history of structural racism Since the agency’s inception, FCC policies have undermined the 14th Amendment rights of Black people and Black communities.

As the Federal Communications Commission is making national headlines, here is a short @media2070.bsky.social essay I wrote in July for @objectivejournos.bsky.social on the racist origins of the FCC, broadcast regulations and the broadcast industry.

US appeals court orders deportation of Atlanta journalist detained by Ice Mario Guevara faces imminent removal from US as his attorney files emergency petition

BREAKING: Immigration court orders Mario Guevara can be deported immediately. This is a gross miscarriage of justice. If Mario is deported, that sets dangerous precedent -- targeting reporters for their coverage & free speech. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Journalist Mario Guevara faces imminent deportation after US appeals court decision - Committee to Protect Journalists New York, September 19, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists and Free Press express outrage that journalist Mario Guevara faces imminent deportation back to his native El Salvador after the Board...

“Deportation without due process—that would be the new normal set by Mario Guevara’s removal from the US,” Benavidez explained.
cpj.org/2025/09/jour...

Karen Attiah was the last remaining Black full-time writer for the Washington Post opinion pages. She was fearless in her pursuit of the truth and her willingness to speak it to power. To fire her for her strengths, to erase Black voices — especially those of Black women — from one of the most influential newspapers in the country speaks volumes about who is allowed to have an opinion right now in America and who isn't. The chilling effect of this firing, the diminished influence of Black journalists on our mainstream understanding of current events, and a political environment tilted towards silencing dissent are reshaping the way we live our lives and forever rewriting the history future generations will have access to. Kimberlé Crenshaw Co-Founder and Executive Director of AAPF

@karenattiah.bsky.social is a voice for the TRUTH!

Mahmoud Khalil was just ordered to be deported for his free speech. Mario Guevara is in detention for filming police. Jimmy Kimmel taken off air for his speech. TikTok being bought by Trump cronies. All of it moves towards one singular narrative Trump approves. We must resist.

Jimmy Kimmel pulled from the air is bad. It's an attack on the First Amendment, press freedom, intended to limit what narratives are allowed -- none acceptable if they critique those in power. Also horrific: the detention of reporters like Mario Guevara.. He's been detained for just filming police!

The Media 2070 Project Denounces the Washington Post's Firing of Columnist Karen Attiah This latest media capitulation to Trump will result in more biased news coverage that undermines the rights of Black communities and other communities of color.

I worry about this...I worry that when Black and Brown folks and communities are harmed, our allies forget or fail to mention it when attacking our communities is central to the authoritarian project.

Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.

From Ta-Nehisi Coates....

The Media 2070 Project Denounces the Washington Post's Firing of Columnist Karen Attiah This latest media capitulation to Trump will result in more biased news coverage that undermines the rights of Black communities and other communities of color.

@media2070.bsky.social statement on the firing of @karenattiah.bsky.social. It's latest example of powerful media companies helping to fuel our nation’s constitutional collapse and empowering an authoritarian effort to dismantle civil-rights laws and infrastructure. @freepress.bsky.social