Adam Kinzinger - Silencing America’s Voice

How Trump is Tearing Down Our Defenses Against Disinformation

Adam Kinzinger
May 12, 2025

Back in the days when news arrived on our doorsteps in crisp, folded pages, propaganda was a blunt instrument. Disinformation — or dezinformatsiya, as the Russians coined it — was spread through planted articles in obscure publications, hoping unwitting American editors would pick them up and run them. This tactic, which Moscow has been perfecting for over a century, subtly shaped American perceptions from afar.

Flash forward to today, and dezinformatsiya is a far more sophisticated affair. Now, it’s a 24/7 operation, driven by small armies of Russian trolls, bot networks, and algorithmic manipulation. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X are the new battlegrounds, where fake accounts amplify false narratives, flooding the digital space with seemingly legitimate content designed to confuse, divide, and manipulate. The days of gatekeepers ensuring journalistic integrity are gone, replaced by a chaotic, user-driven news ecosystem where misinformation spreads faster than truth.

Let’s take a very recent example. Just yesterday, Emanuel Macron and other European leaders were in Ukraine to advocate for a cease-fire, and threaten further sanctions on Russia if they don’t comply (of course Trump later undermined their efforts because, of course.) In the train all the leaders gathered together in a friendly way, and a video of the encounter was released. In it, Emanuel Macron is seen to palm a crumpled up tissue because, well who wants a used tissue in the video. Someone, likely Russia, made a grainy version of the video where the tissue looked like, sort of, a bag of cocaine. Like wildfire it spread, Macron and world leaders were doing lines of Coke in a train to Ukraine. Of course, it’s insane, but spread nevertheless. Here is an example.

This modern wave of propaganda is effective precisely because tens of millions of Americans have been conditioned to distrust traditional media. Fox News and others have spent decades seeding this doubt, eroding public faith in professional journalism. The 2016 election stands as a stark example: Russia’s coordinated disinformation campaign, amplified by domestic voices, helped tip the scales toward Donald Trump.

In the aftermath, the U.S. took steps to counter this threat. We ramped up our defenses, bolstered cybersecurity, and beefed up our information warfare capabilities. But now, under President Trump, we’re unilaterally disarming, handing the field back to our adversaries.

/snip

Harry Litman
‪@harrylitman.bsky.social‬
The dominant impression left by the video at the ICE facility where Mayor Baraka was arrested is a chaotic melee that reveals the ICE officers had no control of the situation and I'm betting little training. Coming back out of the facility to arrest Baraka for "trespassing" looks pretty tenuous.
May 12, 2025 at 12:31 PM

Aaron Rupar
‪@atrupar.com‬
REPORTER: What do you say to people who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you?

TRUMP: You're ABC fake news, right? Let me tell you -- you should be embarrassed asking that question. They're giving us a free jet ... when they give you a putt, you pick it up and you walk to the next hole

May 12, 2025 at 10:56 AM

Aaron Rupar
‪@atrupar.com‬
REPORTER: Why are you creating an expedited path into the country for Afrikaners but not others?

TRUMP: Because they're being killed. And we don't want to see people be killed ... it's a genocide that's taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white.

May 12, 2025 at 10:51 AM

404 Media - Republicans Try to Cram Ban on AI Regulation Into Budget Reconciliation Bill

Republicans try to use the Budget Reconciliation bill to stop states from regulating AI entirely for 10 years.

Emanuel Maiberg
May 12, 2025 at 10:09 AM

Late last night, House Republicans introduced new language to the Budget Reconciliation bill that will immiserate the lives of millions of Americans by cutting their access to Medicaid, and making life much more difficult for millions more by making them pay higher fees when they seek medical care. While a lot of attention will be justifiably given to these cuts, the bill has also crammed in new language that attempts to entirely stop states from enacting any regulation against artificial intelligence.

“...no State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10 year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act,” says the text of the bill introduced Sunday night by Congressman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The text of the bill will be considered by the House at the budget reconciliation markup on May 13.

That language of the bill, how it goes on to define AI and other “automated systems,” and what it considers “regulation,” is broad enough to cover relatively new generative AI tools and technology that has existed for much longer. In theory, that language will make it impossible to enforce many existing and proposed state laws that aim to protect people from and inform them about AI systems.

For example, last year California passed a law that requires health care providers to disclose when they have used generative AI to communicate clinical information to patients. In 2021, New York passed the first law in the United States requiring employers to conduct bias audits of AI tools used for employment decisions. California also passed a law that will go into effect in 2026 which requires developers of generative AI models to share detailed documentation on its websites about the data it used to develop these models, an extremely consequential law as AI companies are currently hiding their exploitation of copyrighted materials in order to create these models, as we have shown repeatedly.

In theory none of these states will be able to enforce these laws if Republicans manage to pass the Budget Reconciliation bill with this current language.

/snip

Jessica Valenti
‪@jessicavalenti.bsky.social‬
Let's be clear: Republicans don't want more 'parents' at home. They want more *women* at home.

If you think this isn't about eradicating women from the public sphere, you haven't been paying attention

May 12, 2025 at 10:14 AM

CNN - The US needs more air traffic controllers. These graduating students just got fast-tracked to enter the job market quicker

By
Sarah Dewberry
Updated May 12, 2025, 5:04 AM ET
PUBLISHED May 12, 2025, 5:00 AM ET

The United States aviation industry continues to grapple with the worst air traffic controller shortage in nearly 30 years as a recent spate of incidents has thrust the high-stress profession into the spotlight.

Recent college graduates looking to join the field will enter a chaotic landscape of antiquated and failing air traffic control technology – a decades-long issue the Department of Transportation announced last week it would address with a new system by 2028.

New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport has faced persistent air traffic control issues that have caused travel woes.

On Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a brief 45-minute ground stop after an equipment outage. This comes after controllers’ radar screens briefly went black for about 90 seconds on Friday.

These air traffic control communication issues have led to hundreds of flight delays lasting more than a week and prompted some controllers to take trauma leave, CNN previously reported.

/snip

Raw Story - This megadonor joined up with the GOP’s ultra-right wing — and he didn’t like what he saw

Kate McGee, The Texas Tribune
May 12, 2025 5:57AM ET



AMARILLO — In mid-September, Alex Fairly accepted an invitation to spend the day with one of the state’s richest and most powerful political megadonors.

He jumped in his private plane and flew down to meet Tim Dunn, a West Texas oil billionaire, at his political headquarters located outside of Fort Worth.

For five hours, Dunn and his advisers walked Fairly through the network of consulting, fundraising and campaign operations they have long used to boost Texas’ most conservative candidates, target those who they deem too centrist and incrementally push the Legislature toward their hardline views.

The two men talked about political philosophy and strategy. They discussed the Bible at length. Fairly was impressed, he said, if not surprised by the sheer magnitude of Dunn’s “political machine.”

“I think most people underestimate how substantial and how many pieces there are that fit together and how coordinated they are,” Fairly said in an interview with The Texas Tribune.

/snip

Newsweek - John Fetterman 'Of Course' Being Wooed by GOP Amid Liberal Backlash—Senator

Published May 11, 2025 at 9:09 PM EDT
Adeola Adeosun

Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego says that Republicans are actively attempting to sway Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman to the right, bluntly stating "of course" when asked if the GOP is trying to sway Fetterman their way.

These comments come as Fetterman faces growing criticism from fellow Democrats and questions about his health, while receiving unusual public support from Republican senators.

Newsweek reached out to Fetterman's office via email on Sunday for comment.

Why It Matters
These cross-party dynamic highlights growing tensions within the Democratic Party and potential realignment pressures in Congress.

While Fetterman has repeatedly stated he will not change parties, the situation reflects broader ideological fractures, particularly around issues like Israel policy and tax legislation, that could impact Democratic unity during a politically divisive period.

/snip

The Guardian - Donald Trump suggestion he will accept luxury plane from Qatar draws criticism from allies and rivals

Qatar royal family’s offer of to US president of luxury jumbo jet ignites accusations of bribery and corruption

Tom Ambrose
Mon 12 May 2025 05.50 EDT

05.30 EDT
Plan to accept luxury jet from Qatar draws criticism from allies and rivals
President Donald Trump is ready to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East this coming week – and American officials say it could be converted into a potential presidential aircraft.

The Qatari government said a final decision had not been made, AP reports.

However, Trump defended the idea – what would amount to a US President accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government – as a fiscally shrewd move for the country.

“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump posted on his social media site on Sunday night. “Anybody can do that!”

/snip