melissa flashman

Literary Agent @janklownesbit
Brooklyn by way of Kentucky

[Astra Taylor @astradisastra]

The New Yorker asked me and a bunch of other folks what we think about the midterms. Here’s what I said about AI and the data center fightback….Don't let end times fascists put their masks back on.

[Fast Company @FastCompany]

Democrats are back. So is economist Stephanie Kelton’s big idea https://t.co/zTe5yTcTlB

[Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton]

This 27 min masterclass with former House Budget Committee Chairman @JohnYarmuth is at least as useful as any briefing newly elected members of Congress will be getting. https://t.co/NqQH4ljcx5

[melissa flashman @melflashman]

@EmilyGouldNYmag On it

[melissa flashman @melflashman]

@MatthewSitman Essay confirmed all my (already low) opinions about a certain kind of person who uses mimetic desire as a north star

[Kyle Chayka @chaykak]

in my newsletter, I published a short essay / notes from a talk about how the internet turns even the most rarified "good taste" reference points into ubiquitous bad taste, and how AI makes that worse

[Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton]

"Bernie called, two weeks before Christmas in 2014 ... What would you do if you were me? Second Bill of Rights." And off I went to work for him in the Senate.

I always believed that returning to FDR was the unfinished business of the Democratic Party.

[cph @cathyparkhong]

THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS WOULD LIKE THEIR FUNDING BACK TOO

[Lina Khan @linamkhan]

Why should Congressional Democrats investigate corporate America if their mandate is to deliver real economic change? Because investigations are a key catalyst for securing reform and legislation. For much of the last century, Congress used to be the main institutional player working to secure an economy that serves working people. A key tool was oversight. Lawmakers routinely investigated complex markets and major corporations, identifying problems and exposing wrongdoing. A major goal of these investigations was to learn what was driving certain problems and figure out how to fix them.

After Democrats took back the House during the first Trump administration in 2019, I joined the House Judiciary Committee as a staffer on the Antitrust Subcommittee. Under the terrific leadership of @RepJerryNadler and then-Rep @davidcicilline, we pursued an 18-month investigation into Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, securing key evidence of how their business practices were undermining competition and harming people, setting the basis for both lawsuits and proposed legislation.

A few lessons from that experience:

1. The quality of legislative oversight depends on the staff and the support of top members to confront power. Committee and Subcommittee Chairs that are focused on getting answers and unafraid to take on powerful corporate interests will make the difference between oversight that doesn’t surrender to their evasion tactics and oversight that aims low or flames out.

Even a relatively small number of dogged, talented lawyers ready to dive in can make a big impact. In the 1930s a single congressional lawyer, Ferdinand Pecora, helped reshape our entire banking system by subpoenaing records and interrogating top financiers, including J.P Morgan. The investigation exposed self-dealing, market manipulation, and tax avoidance, and laid the groundwork for foundational New Deal legislation, including the Glass-Steagall Act and the Securities Exchange Act.

2. Eliminating bottlenecks to moving investigations forward is key. For example, the House should make sure that Subcommittee Chairs can issue subpoenas rather than needing the sign-off of the full Committee or its Chair. A credible threat of sending subpoenas is critical for credible oversight.

3. Ensuring that members can develop the muscle to effectively interrogate CEOs requires investing in real preparation. In the lead up to the hearing with Bezos, Pichai, Cook, and Zuckerberg, the Antitrust Subcommittee spent months reviewing millions of documents collected from the firms, interviewing affected parties, briefing members on key evidence, and conducting practice hearings. Members came into the hearing deeply informed and able to rebut and call out CEO dissembling. The result was some of the most effective member questioning of executives we’ve seen in decades. @TheProspect wrote up a great overview: https://t.co/7BYC3UHFbW

4. For decades, institutional capacity in Congress has been extremely weak. Much of this traces back to the Gingrich Revolution, which was effectively the 1995 DOGE-ing of Congress. Republican leadership fired over 600 professional staffers, eliminated the Office of Technology Assessment, and gutted research capacity. None of that capacity was ever meaningfully restored.

As a result, members have way fewer resources to develop serious expertise or go deep on a new topic. Members should start rebuilding that capacity so the institution can fully play its Article I role, where Congress can again do serious policy development and legislating and serve as a real check on the executive and judicial branches.

5. AI markets should be high on the list of investigations. The business decisions of the major AI firms have huge public ramifications, yet the public is at a severe informational disadvantage when it comes to how these markets work and the choices these firms are making. A congressional investigation will help ensure future legislative action is based on a more complete view of what is going on rather than selective and partial corporate disclosures.

[melissa flashman @melflashman]

@ppirapokin Im beginning to think gatekeeping might just be one of those words that has lost its force

[melissa flashman @melflashman]

Writer or scam marketing “partner” PSA: I try to give every email and query consideration but asking your AI agent robot to query literary agents is a sure fire way to get sent to trash

[melissa flashman @melflashman]

@elenavanpeborgh Manually typing (or dictating and editing totally fine), personalizing/why you are querying specific agent is the gold standard (and what agents gravitate towards) so thank you.

[melissa flashman @melflashman]

To put this the way AI might: What feels efficient is actually (insert slick sounding but slightly nonsensical metaphor here)

[David @davidslosttt]

The final margin in KY-6 was D+9.4

[melissa flashman @melflashman]

Just flipped: My hometown district the KY 06 where I went to a public high school built by the WPA. KY Gov Beshear who helped flip many governors seats is pro-medical debt cancellation. My massive apt complex was commissioned by the US Navy in a city Mamdani is making affordable

[Rainesford Stauffer @Rainesford]

A lot of policies Beshear has discussed echo what's being talked about in states around the country this week, including medical debt cancellation, pre-k for all, & jobs with better paying wages. As he said, "things people can touch and feel and believe.”
https://t.co/i98tCXFPzE

[Ted Lieu @tedlieu]

Congratulations to Democrat Zach Dembo for flipping #KY6!!

We are looking at a blue tsunami.

[melissa flashman @melflashman]

@MatthewSitman If I wasn’t already glued to phone in my apt in Bklyn I’d be there with bourbon

[melissa flashman @melflashman]

@Timodc Local media reporting Fayette Co (Lexington) may be slow to report but I hear lots of Dembo signs on the ground. Will be close