10 Sunday Reads
Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures: • If You Get in a Car Crash, the Risk Is Growing Your Insurance Won’t Pay: Denial rates are climbing, and the policy you thought you bought may not be the one that responds. Americans require a policy as a condition of driving, but it… Read More The post 10 Sunday Reads appeared first on The Big Picture .
Car crash victims face growing risks that their insurance won't pay, with denial rates increasing. Policies may not cover what owners expect, even though it's a condition of driving. The Wall Street Journal reports on this issue.
AI-powered surveillance cameras, sold to local governments under the guise of license plate readers, have sparked a national cat-and-mouse game between vandals and police. Salon covers the unfolding situation.
Synthetic AI personas and algorithmic flattening are creating a culture of sameness, as seen in London shopping streets, Billboard hits, films, and AI-generated personas. Lauren Leek explores this trend.
Despite the press's past successes in exposing corruption, toppling presidents, and ending wars, the media's power has waned. Craig Unger discusses scandal fatigue, where revelations continue but change remains unchanged, and the numbness itself becomes the story.
Techdirt examines how officials who once alleged government censorship have taken over and are now running a more aggressive speech-pressure operation. They are the new face of the censorship industrial complex.
Casey Michel reveals that the same decision is the biggest blow yet in dismantling anti-corruption policies. Treasury reports that the administration will not enforce the reporting requirements of the 2021 Corporate Transparency Act, intended to crack down on money laundering.
The New York Times reports on the disastrous diplomacy of Jared Kushner, who broke his pledge not to be involved in a second Trump White House and has been involved in nearly every consequential foreign policy negotiation since Trump's return to the White House. The administration is scaling back scrutiny of U.S. shell companies, failing to enforce the 2021 Corporate Transparency Act.
Homeland Security paid $464 million for airplanes that never flew, as reported by The New York Times. They used a no-bid contract to buy 10 used jets, claiming they were urgently needed for deportation flights, but the fleet has largely sat idle for months. Another ProPublica article discusses a rushed process exempting from normal rules, resulting in a $533 million artillery plant that made nothing.
Trump is blocking billions of dollars in grants meant to fix the grid, canceling or stalling projects across blue and red states. The Department of Energy is not only stalling funding but also affecting projects in non-blue states.
Sports fans face more annoying and expensive experiences due to streaming services, which promised to fix these issues but have instead made them worse. Businessweek offers a guide to navigating the least painful way through this predicament.
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