Featured

Trump: Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader, but I said no thanks

Trump’s “Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader” joke at an NRCC fundraiser uses a real, deadly leadership crisis in Iran to normalize assassination-as-policy and blur what’s confirmed about the war and succession.

Mar 26, 2026

Featured

‘Men need to be perp-walked’ after Epstein files release, Massie tells BBC

A GOP lawmaker says the Epstein document releases are still falling short—because redactions and withheld material may be blocking accountability and survivor-centered justice.

Mar 25, 2026

Buried.News

The stories buried under the noise

Primary focus

Trump fires Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

A Cabinet secretary was forced out amid contracting and oversight scrutiny, signaling that executive control—not transparent accountability—can dictate leadership of the agency driving mass detention and deportation.

Mar 5, 2026

Featured

The Trump gold coin is not normal : Consider This from NPR

A federal design panel OK’d a Trump portrait for a commemorative gold coin, but the key question is whether Treasury can legally bypass long-standing limits meant to keep living politicians off U.S. money.

Mar 23, 2026

Featured

White House Confronted Over Huge Bets Made Minutes Before Trump’s Big War Move

A $580 million burst of oil-futures selling minutes before Trump’s Iran “talks” post raises a basic public-interest question: did anyone trade on advance knowledge of a market-moving national security decision?

Mar 24, 2026

Norms Impact

AI Lobbyists Are Flying Congressional Staffers Around the Country on Luxury Trips

Corporate AI lobbyists are buying luxury access to congressional staff, weakening the anti-corruption norm that public policy should not be shaped through sponsored perks and curated influence.

Congress

Mar 11, 2026

Sources

https://readsludge.com/2026/03/11/ai-lobbyists-are-flying-congressional-staffers-around-the-country-on-luxury-trips

Summary

The Innovative Future Collective paid for congressional staff travel to AI company tours in U.S. cities and London, including stays at a five-star hotel. A nonprofit structured around corporate lobbyists is using sponsored access to shape the information environment that staff rely on while Congress weighs AI policy. The practical result is policymaking pressure built through luxury travel and curated briefings as the industry pushes federal preemption that would block state AI protections.

Reality Check

When industry-funded travel becomes a routine channel for briefing congressional staff, our guardrails against pay-to-play governance weaken in practice, even when disclosures exist. This precedent normalizes private underwriting of public decision-making, letting well-funded sectors curate who gets heard, what gets seen, and which risks are minimized. Over time, it concentrates policy power in the hands of the industries most able to subsidize access, hollowing out the expectation that government expertise and public interest drive the rules.

Detail

Travel disclosures show the Innovative Future Collective (IFC) funded trips over the past year for House and Senate staff to visit AI-related companies in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, London, and other stops. The itineraries included meetings at companies such as Meta and Amazon and at defense contractors including Palantir and Anduril.

IFC describes its purpose as convening industry, government, and experts so congressional offices can observe AI capabilities and applications. Its advisory committee includes 15 members, 12 of whom are current or recent corporate lobbyists; at least six lobby for AI companies including OpenAI and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Another advisor is Microsoft’s U.S. public policy general manager.

IFC was founded in December 2024 by fundraising firm Fulkerson Kennedy & Company. The disclosures indicate staff stayed at venues including London’s Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square. The AI industry is also described as pushing federal preemption legislation to override state AI laws while preparing major 2026 midterm spending against candidates it opposes.

Iran appears to have conducted a significant cyberattack against a U.S. company, a first since the war started

A destructive cyberattack tied to Iran’s intelligence apparatus shows how quickly wartime pressure can jump from spying to disabling critical U.S. corporate operations.

Iran War

Mar 12, 2026