Cory says Google has gone from bad to worse: https://pluralistic.net/2026/06/12/compelled-speech/#quishing

'...once a company owns the #market – once they've achieved dominance by buying out their rivals; by #bribing potential competitors to stay out of their lane; and by engaging in deceptive conduct to trap key suppliers and #customers – they could cement their dominance by blocking #interoperability, ... capturing their whole market and squeezing it.

'...the company just lost three federal #antitrust cases:

https://www.bigtechontrial.com/p/google-loses-the-adtech-monopolization

'This thrice-convicted monopolist bribed Apple – more than $20b/year – to stay out of the search market:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/02/how-do-you-solve-problem-google-search-courts-must-enable-competition-while

'They cheated app vendors, ripping them off with sky-high junk fees and onerous conditions that raised prices while lowering the share of your spending that went to the companies whose products you were paying for:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-google-loses-antitrust-case

.....
'Google wasn't always this way. The "don't be evil" company owes its very existence to the open web ecosystem...

'...Android – the mobile operating system that Google bought in 2005 – was presented as an "open" alternative to existing mobile offerings...

'...even though Google offered a mobile platform that was (mostly) technically open, they used commercial and legal strategies to choke off the market oxygen for alternative Android versions ....

'Now, Google has rolled out an experimental "reCAPTCHA Mobile Verification" that uses an app, your camera, and your device's TPM or secure enclave to produce an attestation about your Android device:

https://support.google.com/recaptcha/answer/16609652

'This will make it much easier for the apps and other services you interact with to block your device if you run an Android alternative, or if you install a mod that overrides the actions of Google's stock Android

'...In an age in which Big Tech is ever-more tied to authoritarian governments, redesigning our devices to tell strangers things we don't want them to know isn't just shortsighted, it's inexcusable.'

No mention of authorisation limits ($200k is >RMB1 mio) of those involved within the accused PRC company to determine "need to know", and thus culpability?🤔 #justice

#HighCourt upholds acquittal of #Chinese company accused of #bribing ex- #LTA 🇸🇬 dy gp director
"Xi & Zhou were arrested in 2019 by #CPIB. Aft being released on bail, they absconded to #China, where they were arrested & subsequently #convicted by a Guangzhou court.. China Railway Tunnel Group has 24 branches"
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/high-court-upholds-acquittal-of-chinese-company-accused-of-bribing-ex-lta-deputy-group-director

#ICYMI #DJT administration eased enforcement of #law banning US firms from #bribing foreigners into biz deals.

Basically #Drumpf has lifted enforcement of the Foreign #Corrupt Practices Act because not cheating hurts his idea of #MAGA competitiveness...

Link to Wall Street Journal article https://evnt.bz/4jWtgES via #WSJ

#ICYMI #DJT administration eased enforcement of #law banning US firms from #bribing foreigners into biz deals.

Basically #Drumpf has lifted enforcement of the Foreign #Corrupt Practices Act because it hurts American competitiveness...

Link to Wall Street Journal article https://evnt.bz/4jWtgES via #WSJ

#USA #Politics #Elections #Musk #Bribing #SwingStates: "“Elon Musk says on stage at a town hall that America PAC will be awarding $1 million every day until the election to a registered Pennsylvania voter who has signed his petition. Musk awarded the first $1 million this evening to someone at the town hall, bringing the guy onto the stage and handing him a jumbo check, lotto-style. Musk is essentially incentivizing likely Trump voters in PA to register to vote: Petition is to support for 1A and 2A, so basically R voters. But they also have to be registered to vote, so if they weren’t already, they would do it now.”

Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal. See 52 U.S.C. 10307(c): “Whoever knowingly or willfully gives false information as to his name, address or period of residence in the voting district for the purpose of establishing his eligibility to register or vote, or conspires with another individual for the purpose of encouraging his false registration to vote or illegal voting, or pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both…” (Emphasis added.)"
https://electionlawblog.org/?p=146397

#Trump is now #bribing #voters and buying #votes in #Pennsylvania. He went into a #groceryStore with a camera crew and made a big show of giving a woman $100 at the register for her grocery purchase. He immediately followed that by claiming he'd be doing more of that from the #WhiteHouse. Is this even legal??

#TrumpIsUnfitForOffice #TrumpBribes #electionInterference #voteBuying #TrumpIsAFelon #FeloniousTrump #TrumpIsAFascist #HarrisWalz2024 #VoteBlue

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13883893/donald-trump-pennsylvania-rally-mom-grocery-store.html

#Thousands Sign #Petition #Rebuking #Republican '#Hijacking of #Jesus'

#FaithfulAmerica's #petition accused #Florida of "#bribing #publicschool #teachers to #indoctrinating #students in the tenets of #ChristianNationalism (#Fascism)

#Women #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Conservatives #Extremism #Fascism #Religion #Hategroups #Hypocrisy #RepublicanParty #Grooming #ThePartyOfHate #EmptyThePews

https://www.newsweek.com/thousands-sign-christian-petition-rebuking-republican-hijacking-jesus-1910195

⬆️ @molly0xfff

It is impossible for me to become president of #US without #gerrymandering & other #voterSuppression measures to get enough votes in #ElectoralCollege, popular vote be damned

It is impossible for me to win without falsely alleging #ElectionFraud, filing frivolous #lawsuits, #bribing & #threatening state #legislatures & #judiciaries, filing #fakeElectors, & throwing my #VP to #insurrectionist wolves in #ProudBoys & #OathKeepers.

Therefore, I should be allowed to run again

#Trump

#ClimateLegal [3]
#Climate #ClimateProtest #ClimateEmergency

(Climate) protesting is becoming more difficult every day.
Never mind freedom of speech or cumbersome things like that...

Now #BigOil US is investing in curtailing it even more.
By PROTECTING 🥵 #BigOil from those pesky protesters.
In the way they're used to do it effectively: by #Bribing politics.

"60% of US Oil and Gas Infrastructure Now Protected by Anti-Protest Laws: Greenpeace"
Quote:
Fossil fuel companies have contributed millions of dollars to legislators who sponsored such laws, according to a new report.
by Olivia Rosane for Common Dreams

https://www.commondreams.org/news/greenpeace-anti-protest-laws

More qoutes:
"The oil, gas, and coal industry has financed the spread of these laws: Nine of the top 10 lobbyists for these bills from 2017 to 2023 were Marathon, ExxonMobil, Enbridge, TC Energy, Koch Industries, Chevron, Energy Transfer, Williams Companies, and Valero. In addition, 25 fossil fuel companies gave $5 billion to lawmakers pushing these laws, with the top five donors being Duke Energy, Dominion Energy, Marathon Petroleum, BNSF Railway Co., and Koch Industries."
"Pushing anti-protest laws isn't the only way that the fossil fuel industry has tried to stifle protest. It also relies on a tactic known as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP). Almost three-quarters of the 116 SLAPP lawsuits filed since 2010 came from companies that also supported anti-protest laws, among them Energy Transfer, ExxonMobil, Murray Energy Corporation, Chevron, and TransCanada."