How interesting that most senior managers say using AI makes them way more efficient, while those who do the intellectual work say using AI to generate drafts generates reams of fatuous slop that needs to be extensively rewritten & saves no labour time at all.

Is this because senior managers are using AI mostly to draw on quality information produced by workers?

Or because for senior managers (& politicians!), AI works because talking in verbose, content-less management speak - that can never be factually or analytically challenged bc it is invariably ambiguous, always plausibly deniable & often makes no sense at all - is what they are paid to do. It is actually THE JOB.

I’ll love to see an empirical study that tests this 😎.

If you know of one, please tell!!

#AI #slop #InstitutionalEthnography #sociology #ethnography #research #politics #business #lobbying #PlausibleDeniability #AusPol

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/14/ai-productivity-workplace-errors?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

J Street backs ending US military aid to Israel in sign of widening Democratic shift

The liberal pro-Israel lobby group J Street has called for the phased end of all US military aid to Israel by 2028, in a striking sign of how far the political ground has shifted in Washington over unconditional support for the occupation state.

In an interview with Haaretz, J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami said the US-Israel relationship should be “normalised” so there are “no more exceptions to special treatment”, with Israel expected to fund its own military needs from its own budget once the current aid agreement expires.

Many critics have pointed out that Israel’s aggressive posture in the region and ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine, would be severely hampered without US aid, forcing the apartheid state to shift its policy.

The shift is seen as being significant because J Street has long positioned itself as a liberal Zionist alternative to more hardline pro-Israel lobbying groups while still defending a “strong” US-Israel relationship.
,,,

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260413-j-street-backs-ending-us-military-aid-to-israel-in-sign-of-widening-democratic-shift/

#israel #usa #lobbying #zionism

35 entreprises tech auraient versé 400M$ à Trump via des projets culturels non déclarés.

Le mécanisme : bibliothèque présidentielle, centre Kennedy, célébrations nationales deviennent des véhicules discrets pour contourner les obligations de déclaration du lobbying. L'ampleur systémique révèle une faille structurelle.

#FinancementPolitique #Lobbying #Transparence

https://da.van.ac/comment-le-lobbying-opaque-transforme-les-projets-presidentiels-en-monnaie/

"The Lobbying Disclosure Act is enforced by the US Attorney for DC, an office currently held by former Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro. Those who “knowingly fail to comply” with the law are subject to civil fines maxing out at $200,000, while those who “knowingly and corruptly [fail] to comply” face up to five years in prison.

In the case of the revamped East Wing and ballroom, only one corporation reported its donation to the fund on lobbying disclosure files. Yet twenty-six other firms have been identified as donors by media reports or the White House itself. Those include corporations with lucrative contracts or high-stakes legal matters before the Trump administration in the last year.

That includes Micron, which last year shut down its consumer-facing computer chip business after accepting more than $6.1 billion in data center semiconductor contracts from the Trump administration; Union Pacific Railroad, which is seeking merger approval for its plan to create the company’s first single-line transcontinental megarailroad; and Palantir, the Silicon Valley surveillance giant that recently scored a historic ten-year, $10 billion Pentagon contract (as well as one for bossware at the Agriculture Department.)

“The hidden influence being exerted on the current Trump administration by lobbyists — who are also not making the required disclosures — is unprecedented,” said Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel, and senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center."

https://jacobin.com/2026/04/dark-money-trump-legacy-projects

#Lobbying #USA #Trump #DarkMoney #Corruption #Clientelism

Tech Lobbyists Are Trying To Kill Colorado’s Popular ‘Right To Repair’ Law

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/08/tech-lobbyists-are-trying-to-kill-colorados-popular-right-to-repair-law/

#Palantir opens shop in #Brussels, expect sales and #lobbying to happen.  

https://www.lesoir.be/735626/article/2026-03-19/lentreprise-americaine-palantir-lance-une-filiale-en-belgique

#surveillance #StateSurveillance #Policing