Eric Uttecht

Looking for a ride out of Omelas

[alex @steelslat]

@kyledcheney Students face more severe punishment for using AI in an assignment than the DOJ in court.

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

The FCC signaled it will repeal the cap on ownership of TV stations, abolishing a limit that keeps owners from controlling stations in more than 39% of markets.

This move will allow Nexstar, one of the largest owners of TV stations, to buy rival Tegna in a massive deal.

[Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney]

NEW: In the one year since ICE adopted a massive expansion of mandatory detention — aimed at people with years-long roots in the U.S. and nearly all without criminal records — federal courts have overruled them at least 15,000 times.

https://t.co/K7Giik6lyf

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

The US military has supposedly blown through almost a trillion dollars, and the American people deserve answers. The Pentagon has never passed an audit, yet they demand more and more of our money. It's time to stop sending them a blank check and demand accountability.

[Lina Khan @linamkhan]

In 2022 Twitter was caught lying when it collected people's personal data under the pretext of security but then used it for ad targeting.

We held it accountable through an @FTC consent decree that required it to take basic steps to prevent data abuse, like limiting employees' access to people's sensitive data.

Now Musk is asking the Trump administration to terminate the consent decree, suggesting that US leadership in AI requires allowing X to deceive people about how their data is used.

This important filing from Secretary Chopra explains why Musk's petition should be denied.

[Renzo™ @fwrenzo1]

The "Middle Class" was a 50-year fluke designed to prevent a communist revolution during the Cold War. Now that the threat is gone, the elites are systematically dismantling it. You aren't "falling behind"; you’re being pushed back into the peasantry.

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

More federal child labor violations were reported in 2025 than in any year since 2008’s Great Recession. Between 2020 and 2024, the rate of child deaths in the workplace almost doubled.

Amid these violations, 13 states introduced bills to chip away at child labor laws. And four states are enacting them.

Thread.

https://t.co/Sr9kLDpQAc

[psychotronica @psychotronica_]

hope everyone enjoyed the big game!
🏀sound on🏀

[John Collins @Logically_JC]

Yeah, well we painted our reflecting pool.

[Andrey X @the_andrey_x]

Gave a long interview to @The_NewArab:

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

The New World Screwworm, a grave parasitic threat, has just been detected in US cattle for the first time since it was eradicated in 1966.

The parasite's revival comes after Trump and DOGE slashed funding for Screwworm monitoring programs.

[Andy Kim @AndyKimNJ]

Because of your voice on Delaney Hall, the Trump admin just released 18 yr old high school senior whose story I told. They released the pregnant women held inside. These releases show ICE isn’t targeting the violent criminals. ICE is feeling the pressure. Keep raising your voice.

[Eric Uttecht @EricUttecht]

@PhillipSmyth Wow so they did the same thing America always does? That's disusting they should be ashamed

[Senator Andy Kim @SenatorAndyKim]

Don't let ICE and this administration lie to you. I saw inside Delaney Hall with my own eyes. The conditions are absolutely unacceptable.

["Guru Larry" Bundy Jr @LarryBundyJr]

An automated A.I. WWE news channel on YouTube tries to pronounce "WWE" as a word and ends up going insane!🤣

[Pedro L. Gonzalez @emeriticus]

I think this episode perfectly encapsulates the new right: Trump says he doesn't care about Americans. JD Vance is asked what he thinks about that, and the quote is read to him word for word, but all he can do, because he has no spine, no moral compass, no self-respect for himself as an American, is deny that Trump said it at all. Then Trump doubles down, knowing full well that his base will swallow his contempt for them, and that no one around Trump, least of all dogs on leashes like Vance, would dare ask him to mask his hatred for the average person, while conservative media from The Blaze to The Daily Wire will praise Trump for being so refreshingly candid about how much he hates this country and its people, which they will also call patriotism.

[Matan Golan @MatanGolanPhoto]

דיווח ותיעוד מהכפר עטארה היום.

מתנחל מתעלל בכלב קשור, וחובט ממושכות בראשו בחצר בית פלסטיני. במקביל חבריו רעו צאן בין הבתים והילכו אימים על התושבים הספונים בהם.

באדמות הכפר עטארה הוקם בקיץ שעבר מאחז בשטח B. תושבי הבתים הסמוכים למאחז גורשו תחילה בצו צבאי, ומאז במשך חודשים חוששים לחזור לבתיהם בעוד המאחז נותר בשטח.
אפשר להבין את חששם.

שבת שלום.

[Alvaro Bedoya @BedoyaUSA]

The backstory: Western Union is trying to buy one of its closest competitors in remittances to Latin America, Intermex. They're paying half a billion dollars. And they won approval for that merger from DOJ even though, on its face, the merger would seem to be presumptively illegal. This is a recipe for higher fees. It will only make it even harder to help your family living abroad.

Millions of people send money to help their family in Latin America. I've been sending money more or less monthly since I graduated law school almost 20 years ago. It's really important to have a range of companies competing for that business. When you're sending $35 or $50 to just get someone to their next paycheck (which is a pretty common thing), the fee for that can really eat at what you're sending.

Yet Western Union is buying a company that *already* holds >30% market shares in U.S. to Ecuador and U.S. to Nicaragua remittances, and a 29% share in remittances to Guatemala. Intermex also claims to hold a 20% share in remittances to Mexico, and public reporting suggests that Western Union is #1 -- in other words, *above* Intermex -- in that corridor.

Why do those percentages matter? Because a merger that gives a combined company >30% market share can presumed to be illegal according to longstanding precedent. So if Western Union has even a 1-2% share in U.S.-Ecuador/Nicaragua/Guatemala, this would be illegal. Western Union is almost surely way over that.

The craziest thing is that Western Union is paying a 50% premium over the market value of those shares: How exactly do they plan to get that money back?

This might hit different (even though it would still be seemingly illegal) if remittance fees were dropping and lots of firms were entering the market. But remittance costs are *increasing* and firms are *exiting* the market and getting bought up.

Don't take my word for it, take it from the Western Union CEO, who on an earnings call last year said: "we have seen multiple players exit the remittance space. We have also seen others raise prices as they strive for greater profitability..."

Thrilled to see this from @NYCMayor and @helloDCWP.

[Natalie Wolchover @nattyover]

On billionaires, please read this by Cory Doctorow, summarizing Thomas Piketty's 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 21𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺.

[David J. Bier @David_J_Bier]

ICE pulled a gun on a NY teenager, beat him, and then realized they got the wrong guy. Like other cases targeting citizens, ICE dumped him in a random location far from his home, bloody and injured.