At the G7, the CEOs of the big AI companies sat at the table like heads of state, alongside presidents and prime ministers.
This is the nightmare scene.
Governments need to have a response to the state-like power of these companies, whether it’s by taking ownership shares, breaking them up into smaller entities, or imposing a regulatory structure that controls their power over citizens.
Bro I'm so sick of pretending this isn't weird.
The internet spent 20 years creating tutorials, open-source projects, blog posts & answers for free.
AI companies turned all of it into products worth billions.
And now the same people who created that knowledge are being told they're replaceable.
We built the library.
Someone else started charging admission.
This guy collected every local law in America and put them in a single database.
2.2 million laws.
This might seem to you like some nerds side project, and while it is technically, it is also much more important than you think.
Historically, whenever anything is made transparent to the voting bloc it undergoes radical change.
Every. Single. Time.
To the extent governments work overtime to make things opaque. (And I expect that to happen to this dataset too very soon, in a thousand different ways.)
The internet makes everything including politics “global/local” and local laws won’t escape.
It’s hard to understand right now how profound this will be, but we live in interesting times for sure.
Thank you Joe, and all the other nerds who do stuff like this because they are personally curious and they can. This is how history moves forwards
Just had the worst shift of my life and I need to vent. I’m 28, Asian, working at a restaurant part timeto pay off student loans. Tonight a boomer dude (late 60s) sits at my table and immediately starts complaining about the menu and table. He snaps his fingers at me like I’m a dog. Orders chicken curry, then sends it back because it was too spicy???. While I’m standing there politely apologizing, he goes off: “In my day girls like you actually knew how to do the job. What are you, Chinese? You all look the same anyway.” honestly, couldn't believe someone would say that in 2026. I was born in London. I have a communications degree. But none of that matters. I’m just the young Asian waitress who exists to be disrespected. His wife looked mortified and mouthed “sorry.” He left a $2.72 tip on a $67.18 bill. I cried in the bathroom for two minutes, fixed my makeup, and went back to the floor because rent is due and this is what survival looks like. To every service worker out there smiling through the disrespect: I see you. We’re not invisible, we’re human.
fuck boomers.
A brand new bridge between Detroit and Canada is finished and ready to open. It would speed up traffic for millions of trucks, cut delays for American businesses, and help the auto industry that employs people in every state. There is just one problem.
Donald Trump won’t let it open.
Here is why.
The family that owns the old bridge stands to lose business when the new one opens. So in January, they gave one million dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC.
Weeks later they met with Trump’s Commerce Secretary.
He called Trump.
Hours after that, Trump announced he would block the new bridge. The opening was set for June 12. It got canceled the day before. The bridge sits there finished and empty.
Now here is the part that should make every taxpayer angry.
Canada paid for the entire bridge.
Every dollar. And the United States already owns half of it for free. Trump is holding up a bridge we got for nothing, to protect a donor who wrote him a check, while picking a fight with our closest ally and biggest trading partner.
This is corruption in plain sight.
A billionaire pays, and the President delivers. American workers and businesses pay the price.
Open the bridge. A government should work for the people, not for whoever writes the biggest check.
https://t.co/9o9Gz9UrBo
I can’t fully explain to younger people how cool the internet used to be. We had open forums, personal websites, weird experimental pages, and chaotic corners of the web, before Amazon, Google, and Meta turned it into a sterile, closed ecosystem of clutter, and commerce.
The car dealership showed you 8.9% APR on your auto loan
The bank approved you at 4.2%
The dealership added 4.7% on top and kept the difference. That's an extra $4,800 on a $40K loan that goes straight into the finance manager's pocket as commission
It's called a dealer reserve markup and it's the single biggest legal scam in American consumer finance
Here's how it works. You sit in the F&I office (Finance and Insurance). The finance manager pulls your credit. The bank (let's say Capital One Auto) comes back with an approval at 4.2% APR. The finance manager never shows you this number. Instead he tells you "great news, we got you approved at 8.9%"
You think 8.9% is your rate. It's not. It's your rate plus his commission. The 4.7% spread between 4.2% and 8.9% gets split between the dealership and the finance manager. On a $40K loan over 72 months that spread is worth $4,800 in pure profit
The finance manager makes more money on the markup than the salesman makes on the car itself. The salesman negotiated with you for 3 hours over $500 off the sticker price while the finance manager was in the back office adding $4,800 to your interest rate in 30 seconds
"Isn't that illegal?"
No. Dealer reserve markups are legal in all 50 states. The bank explicitly authorizes the dealer to mark up the rate. The bank WANTS the dealer to charge you more because the bank gets a cut of the spread too. The bank approved you at 4.2% but keeps maybe 3.5% and lets the dealer inflate up to 8.9% and pocket the rest
The bank and the dealer are splitting the extra interest you're paying. They're partners in the markup. Neither one has a legal obligation to tell you the buy rate (the actual approved rate before markup)
The play to kill the markup:
BEFORE you walk into a dealership, get pre-approved at your own bank or credit union
Capital One Auto Navigator: pre-approval takes 5 minutes online. Tells you the exact rate you qualify for with no dealer involvement
Navy Federal Credit Union: if you're eligible, consistently 2 to 3% lower than dealer-marked rates
DCU (Digital Federal Credit Union): anyone can join, known for some of the lowest auto rates in the country
Your local credit union: almost always 1 to 3% cheaper than dealer financing
Walk into the dealership with your pre-approval letter. Don't mention it during negotiations on the car price. Let them settle the price first. Then when they send you to F&I, the finance manager will pitch his rate
When he says "we got you 8.9%," you put your pre-approval letter on the desk: "My credit union already approved me at 4.2%. I'll be using their financing unless you can beat it"
Two things happen:
Either the dealer matches 4.2% or goes lower (he can, because the buy rate was actually 3.8% and he has room). You save $4,800
Or the dealer says he can't match it and you use your pre-approval. You still save $4,800
There is no scenario where you lose by walking in pre-approved
The deeper play for people with damaged credit:
Dealers mark up subprime rates even harder. If your real approval is 12%, the dealer might tell you 18%. On a $25K car over 72 months that markup costs you $6,200. Subprime buyers get the biggest markups because the dealer knows they feel lucky to be approved at all and won't push back
If your credit is under 680, get pre-approved at a credit union BEFORE the dealership. Even subprime credit unions offer rates 3 to 5% below what the dealer will quote. You won't get 4.2%, but you'll get 11% instead of 18% and save thousands
The finance manager is the highest-paid person in the dealership. Not the GM. Not the top salesman. The F&I guy who sits in a back office and adds 3 to 5% to your interest rate while you sign documents you don't read
He makes $150K to $300K a year. Almost all of it from rate markups on people who never thought to get pre-approved
The entire auto lending system has a middleman who adds thousands to your loan and provides zero value. Eliminate the middleman. Get your own rate. Walk in knowing what the bank actually approved you for instead of what the dealer decided to charge you
You negotiated the price of the car for 3 hours and felt proud saving $800. The finance manager made $4,800 off your interest rate in the time it took you to sign your name lmfaooo
(i fix credit so you qualify for the lowest auto rates before you walk in. link in bio)
In 2024, xAI built a data center w/o a permit just a few miles from where I live. Already, air pollution is causing health issues for our neighbors.
So, the community sued.
Now, Trump's DOJ has intervened to protect trillionaire Elon Musk's toxic gas turbines & data center.
🚨 BOMBSHELL! MS NOW confirms Trump's FBI Director Kash Patel used over $1M in taxpayer funds to illegally reward a secret "Payback Squad" of loyalist agents.
Rep. Raskin reveals they were paid to carry out unlawful orders and cover up Patel's misbehavior!
Boss announced today that the company is introducing a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) for everyone.
One employee asked, "Why?"
The boss replied, "It's to comply with company policy. Nothing to worry about."
Then one Gen Z employee asked:
"Why the hell do we need a PIP if the company's profits doubled and every employee exceeded expectations?"
Silence.
Gen Z workplace energy is exactly what corporate deserves.
Anthony Bourdain once said RATATOUILLE is the best food movie of all time.
“The best restaurant movie ever made, the best chef movie. The tiny details are astonishing:
•The faded burns on the cooks’ wrists.
•The ‘personal histories’ of the cooks.
•The attention paid to the food.
•And the Anton Ego ratatouille epiphany hit me like a punch in the chest–literally breathtaking.
I saw it in a theater entirely full with adults–and the reaction to that moment was what movie making was once–a long time ago–all about:
Audible surprise, delight, awe and even a measure of enlightenment.
I am hugely and disproportionately proud that my miniscule contribution (if any) early early in the project’s development led to a ‘thank you’ in the credits. Amazing how much they got ‘right.’”
My mom died when I was 22. She owned a small Thai restaurant.
First thing my aunt said: “You’re too young to run it. Go wash dishes. Real business is for adults.”
So I washed dishes for 3 years. 14-hour shifts. Burns, cuts, 1 AM closings.
Meanwhile my aunt’s daughter got the front of house. Register, smiles, “co-owner” on Instagram.
What they didn’t know: I memorized every recipe, every supplier cost, every regular’s order.
I redid our inventory sheet at night because their system was scribbles on napkins.
Line cooks listened to me more than my aunt. I was the one fixing orders when she messed up tickets.
One day a food critic from the city paper walks in.
Aunt and cousin put on aprons, pose for photos. I’m in the back, plating pad thai.
Critic: “Who built this menu and runs the kitchen?”
Aunt: “I do. Family recipes.”
Critic: “Then why were your Yelp reviews 2 stars before 2024, and 4.8 after?”
They point to me.
“I cut food costs 28% last year. Replaced 3 suppliers. Retrained the staff. Created the lunch special that doubled weekday revenue. All under my name on the licenses.”
Critic: “I only feature chefs who actually cook.”
Here’s the kicker: Mom left me 60% in her will. Aunt “couldn’t find” the paperwork.
I found the original in mom’s safe deposit box. Filed it.
I called a meeting with our landlord and accountant. Used the building equity to buy out my aunt’s 40% at market rate.
She tried to contest it. Lost.
Last week she texted asking for a “consulting fee” to use the recipes.
I told her we’re rebranding next month. New menu. No consultants needed.