Quick intro for new followers! I'm an independent researcher, writer, and lapsed software engineer. I critically cover the tech industry (and particularly the crypto industry) in my Citation Needed newsletter. I also write a lot about digital sovereignty and the possibility of a better web.

The cryptocurrency industry spent almost $200 million to influence the outcomes of the 2024 United States elections. Let's talk about where the money came from, where it went, the cryptocurrency industry's political goals, and what's next.

I could not sit silent while an elected official who spreads hate & lies that are getting trans people killed pretends to care about the future of the Internet. So I spoke up during Rep Nancy Mace's speech at the Project Liberty Summit & I would do it again www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2024-11...

reason #2: dogs in blankets

This is the first Officially Verified Bluesky Press List of 150 reporters, outlets and media types with handles authenticated by yours truly. Respond here if you would like to be included in the second round! Let's go! Let's bring "the juice" and the news to the people. go.bsky.app/U9juDW4

Visualizing cryptocurrency industry super PAC funding

Trump’s team reportedly considering creating a new White House position dedicated to cryptocurrency policy

Fun fact: Elissa Slotkin was the #2 recipient of cryptocurrency industry spending this election cycle (behind Bernie Moreno). Crypto super PACs paid $10 million to install her. Perhaps she should try "Not from the faculty lounge but the Coinbase boardroom."

As I noted on my blog: Hacking on Bluesky feels reminiscent of the massive diversity of innovation we saw around Twitter back in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

I can tell you from my own personal experience that Anil is 100% right about Substack overselling its "network effect" to try to lock people in.

Also: I don't think many Substack writers realize how expensive it is.

The bigger problem is “free speech” right wing bullies are abusing the legal system to sue journalists they don’t like. It costs a lot of money to even fight a meritless lawsuit. In the meantime, they whip their followers up into sending these journalists death and rape threats.

don't let the failures of some (major) news outlets disillusion you with media as a whole. and ESPECIALLY don't let those failures desensitize you to attacks on free expression. we can criticize media failures while also fiercely defending media freedom.

it is scary to see people responding to trump's baseless lawsuits against the NYT and others with a shrug because of their complaints about those outlets' coverage of him. we can oppose lawfare against media institutions AND ALSO hold those institutions properly to account for poor coverage.

allowing authoritarians to target media institutions you don't like only works until they decide to start targeting the ones you do — often ones with far fewer resources than the NYT and its ilk.

Jarvis: His generals called him fascist. Joe Scarborough called him fascist, and now the fascist is in charge and it is journalism's job to cover it that way, not to back off and say okay, well that's it, we lost. Let the fascism happen. No

test print. 9x12"

Even if they Pod Save libs *are right* (big if) that anti-trans sentiment swung the election, the idea that we should abandon justice when it’s unpopular is so repugnant and regressive I can’t even get my mind around it. We fight for justice because it’s right, not because it’s popular.

Resting the brain

Been hooting this horn for a minute, do not make the mistake of seeing this site start gaining traction and putting all your eggs and community here. Build a mailing list, send out newsletters, get a website. Not a discord, not a blog hosted on another social media site, an actual website you own.

i don't know what "has the juice" means and at this point i'm too afraid to ask

(i assume it has something to do with the corn song...?)

mail time 💌

A photograph from 1875, from the Minnesota Historical Society, posted on bsky recently by @byelacey.bsky.social. I got thinking about how many people were required for this photo to exist and survive and circulate enough to inspire me and it made me feel things #linocut #blockprinting #printmaking

now would be a very good time for the left to reclaim free expression as a core value to be defended instead of letting center-left authoritarians double down on the wrong idea that "letting too many stupid people talk" is what brought us Trump

Newsletter: Crypto's efforts to buy the 2024 elections paid off, and we're in for a bumpy ride. A recap of how unprecedented crypto super PAC spending impacted 58 Congressional races, and the pro-crypto appointees Trump is already eyeing. www.citationneeded.news/issue-70/

All that, plus updates on several criminal cases, an outline of regulatory and law enforcement scrutiny towards Polymarket, and a look at Trump's various pro-crypto allies and Cabinet nominees in this issue.

I suspect I will not be hurting for material to cover over the next four years. If you haven't yet, consider signing up for a free or pay-what-you-want subscription to receive each issue in your email, and to support my work. citationneeded.news/signup

Governments and powerful figures threatening journalists and media outlets with costly legal battles and bankruptcy is a common tactic against press freedom in repressive countries. The press freedom fire is at our door step now. www.cjr.org/the_trump_re...

"The drumbeat of legal threats signals a potentially ominous trend for journalists during Trump's second term in office. Litigation is costly and time-consuming. Most news organizations will look to settle rather than face months—more likely years-of discovery and depositions"

"Journalists at smaller outlets know very well that the costs for their organization to defend themselves could mean bankruptcy. Even journalists at larger outlets don't want to burden themselves or their employees with lawsuits. It puts another layer of influence into the journalistic process,"

Perhaps the CJR editors decided it went without saying, but it feels worth mentioning that — if his appointments go as planned - he will have the entire judicial branch to bring to bear on journalists, not just his wacky lawyer neighbor

The GOP messaging on modern technology is a fascinating mess. Scientific innovations in food, agriculture, and public health are part of a nefarious globalist plot to destroy you. ON the other hand, Elon Musk's rockets, AI, and crypto are noble forms of liberation via technological innovation.

So it’s begins

🤔already predicting a 2030 Warren victory?

I guess the link didn’t make it: www.axios.com/2024/11/14/b...

Beehiiv's new fund for independent journalists will give them a monthly health insurance stipend and pre-publish legal review support. Actually kind of remarkable: #Media

made some new stickers based on the linocut print i did earlier this year. the fight to protect libraries and access to information will be more important than ever.

great analysis by @karlbode.bsky.social about what to expect under Trump's FCC — he knows more about this stuff than anyone. highly recommend www.techdirt.com/2024/11/13/i...

Anyone who has bought "apocalypse prep kits" or survival food stores or any of the other standard issue right wing disaster merch doesn't get to say boo to anyone making preps for Trump.

Attorney-General nominee Matt Gaetz will get right on this

Here is the journalists of color starter pack. go.bsky.app/BmnETn7

Interesting: in the government's sentencing submission for FTX's Gary Wang, they note he has "created a tool for the detection of potential fraud in the stock market" and is "in the process of developing a similar tool for cryptocurrency markets" for government use.

coming soon to the walls of the SDNY prosecutors' office