Mark Penn announced that Stagwell's partnership with Palantir enables clients to combine their data with third-party data with AI, what he called the "holy grail of marketing."

Stagwell owns Democratic firms that could use Palantir's Foundry platform—and works for foreign governments as well. New for @sludge subscribers, who keep our two-person team following the money:

https://readsludge.com/2026/03/12/democrats-criticizing-ice-are-paying-consultants-tied-to-palantir/

Schumer's fundraisers and AI industry lobbyists (for a16z, OpenAI, Oracle, etc.) flew congressional staff to London to stay at a five-star hotel in Mayfair—and tour Anduril and wear VR headsets on defense targeting. New:

https://readsludge.com/2026/03/11/ai-lobbyists-are-flying-congressional-staffers-around-the-country-on-luxury-trips/

NEW: Schumer's fundraisers at Fulkerson Kennedy & Co. tapped lobbyists for OpenAI, a16z, and others to send congressional staffers on junkets to S.F., L.A., NYC, and London.

The AI companies involved are already spending millions against Dems via super PACs, and will spend hundreds of millions more in 2026 races. Full story for @sludge subscribers:

https://readsludge.com/2026/03/11/ai-lobbyists-are-flying-congressional-staffers-around-the-country-on-luxury-trips/

Wow, what if the U.S. had transitioned away from oil...

Progressives proposed that in the People's Budget, unveiled in 2011: clean energy, end fossil fuel subsidies, infrastructure jobs.

The plan was not advanced by the Democratic Party leaders who control congressional committee chairs and massive party fundraising arms. The history is a bit distant by now, and includes the 2016 Dem prez primary and the DNC... dive back in:

https://thebrick.house/billionaire-backed-democrats-killed-the-build-back-better-act/

If the think tank CSIS was really concerned about munitions supplies, they could have pointed out, anytime over the past decades, that giant defense contractors like Lockheed and RTX were spending way more on stock buybacks than R&D.

But Pentagon contractors are CSIS funders, so here we are.

https://readsludge.com/2026/03/05/defense-contractor-funded-think-tank-warns-of-weapons-shortage-after-iran-strikes/

Experts with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, will appear on your media and say they're concerned about munitions stockpiles.

They won't say that the defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and RTX that give them millions of dollars spent tens of billions on... stock buybacks. Latest:

https://readsludge.com/2026/03/05/defense-contractor-funded-think-tank-warns-of-weapons-shortage-after-iran-strikes/

Democratic consultancy Precision Strategies, whose co-founders led the Kamala Harris campaign, acquired Republican firm Firehouse Strategies, whose co-founders led Marco Rubio's 2016 campaign, according to Politico Influence.

Harris' campaign did not close with an affordability message. More on Precision's corporate clients, free-to-read story:

https://readsludge.com/2024/11/18/the-corporate-consultants-behind-harris-for-president/

As Trump pushed through his massive tax-and-spending bill that was cheered by bank lobbying groups, he was secretly investing millions in bank securities. The public did not have disclosure until now (but don't worry, he paid a late filing fee). New @sludge, help us follow the money:

https://readsludge.com/2026/03/04/trump-quietly-invested-millions-in-bank-securities-late-ethics-filing-shows/

How come, 'How will you pay for it?' is never asked about war?

There's an answer for that! The conservative Blue Dog Coalition opposes efforts by progressives to trim the Pentagon budget by 10%. They are backed by corporate and dark money, as are other centrist groups.

See how budget "concerns" get applied to social spending programs, but not to corporate subsidies or gargantuan defense spending:

https://readsludge.com/2021/09/28/deficit-fears-have-deep-history-in-corporate-funded-democratic-party-groups/