OpenAI and Google are selling their advanced AI models to Chinese tech giants blacklisted by the Pentagon, exposing a gap in Washington’s efforts to slow Beijing’s AI development. Read the full story here: ft.trib.al/rlO7Nho
Jodi Vittori
@jodi1994.bsky.social
Professor/scholar of nexus of corruption, illicit finance, conflict, and national security. Military Veteran. Views are my own; likes are not endorsements.
Trump Admin seems to have started to use the new powers from SCOTUS Slaughter decision to fire heads of Election Assistance Commission right before midterms
Trump ousts members of bipartisan election commission ahead of midterms
The Election Assistance Commission serves as a clearinghouse of election information and distributes grant money to states.
politico.com
@microso.com life hack for Office365 military subscription that you shouldn’t need: if you try to google or use Microsoft chatbot to get the 30% discount on Office365, it will send you to an AAFES page that has said “sold out” for years. These are the asinine steps you need to do:
1. Since December, CNN and CNBC have promoted Kalshi to viewers extensively, frequently vouching for its accuracy. The existence of a financial relationship between the networks and Kalshi, however, is disclosed to viewers inconsistently. w/@atrupar.com
How Kalshi infects the news
After inking financial deals with CNBC and CNN, Kalshi's prediction markets have become ubiquitous on cable news.
popular.info
It seems that the Democrats are giving the Trump Admin a huge gift. If Democrats don’t quash this (and actions like it) quickly, they strengthen Republican narratives that Trump/Witkoff/Lutnick family deals aren’t corrupt but just how things are done.
Crypto billionaire among dozens to back startup from Gillibrand’s son
Chris Larsen, John Griffin and Mark Ein are angel investors in a new financial exchange led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s 22-year-old son.
politico.com
"Enten & Berman promoted the 43% chance of Trump acquiring Greenland as people 'putting money where their mouth is.' But an analysis of Kalshi’s data shows price increased from 30% to 39% on just $24k worth of 'yes' trades. The market was so thin that, on Jan 4, the 'yes' odds briefly spiked to 60%"
How Kalshi infects the news
CNN and CNBC are pushing Kalshi on viewers but not telling them the whole story.
publicnotice.co
In 1785, French King Louis XVI presented Founding Father Benjamin Franklin with a snuff box with 408 diamonds. Franklin took corruption concerns seriously and he asked Congress permission to keep it (as req’d under Art of Confederation). How times have changed.
A Belgian diamond group is gifting Trump a lavish ring after that industry won tariff relief
It’s a glitzy window into the role that ostentatious – and almost always gilded — gifts are playing by those seeking to curry favor with the U.S. president.
pbs.org
Not mentioned in this article was that Teddy Roosevelt was an anti-corruption crusader. Trump not so much. 💰💰💰 Consider this quote from Teddy Roosevelt to Congress in 1903 (h/t Harvard Prof Matthew Stephenson) 🧵1/
Trump to honor a president he sees as a peer — Theodore Roosevelt
The president plans to fly to rural North Dakota to open Roosevelt’s library as aides tout comparisons between the two.
washingtonpost.com
#ZacBrown is singing at UFC fight at White House today, saying he’s doing it for veterans. In Nov2014, I saw him sing at Concert for Valor for veterans. (Wikipedia excerpt below) Feels like Zac Brown in 2026 vs Zac Brown in 2014 is an allegory for what has happened to US & patriotism.
“Separately, Haney said, the group estimates that more than 100 FBI and DHS agents fanned across the state on Thursday and arrived at the homes of people affiliated with the collaborative. Haney said these agents demanded to talk to the residents. They did not have subpoenas or warrants, he added.”
FBI searches offices of Ohio voter registration group, seizing computers
The raid continues the Trump administration’s pattern of looking for voter fraud, which many experts say is minimal in the U.S.
washingtonpost.com
Russia has been quietly embedding military veterans and former mercenaries aboard its sanctioned oil tankers — not as sailors, but as watchmen tasked with keeping foreign crews in line and ships on course past European authorities.
“Over the weekend, plane spotters in the Washington area posted on X that they had caught the retrofitted jumbo jet [Qatari 747 bribe] in Trump’s new navy-red-gold colors arriving and departing Joint Base Andrews under the cover of darkness.”
Donald Trump Is Ready for Fight Night. So Are Donors
The UFC event on the White House’s South Lawn is the president’s birthday gift to himself. Sources expect it to be a lobbying extravaganza.
wired.com
Out now in Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism & Political Aggression: We examined the influence of violent extremist group membership on online behavior among violent and non-violent right-wing extremists, which is open access: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
That former Rep Buyer had been a US Army JAG (attorney) and Sen Lindsay Graham is a retired Air Force JAG speaks not only about deep ethical issues in Congress, but also potential major ethical concerns in the US military even before SecDef Hegseth’s purges.
Trump Pardons Former Congressman Convicted of Insider Trading
nytimes.com
President Trump has pardoned Stephen Buyer, a former Republican representative from Indiana who was convicted of insider trading in 2023.
Trump Pardons Former Congressman Convicted of Insider Trading
Stephen Buyer, a former Republican representative from Indiana, was convicted of trading stock related to two deals before they were made public.
nyti.ms
“FORMER MEMBERS OF the so-called DOGE have launched a startup to, they say, bring “DOGE for the private sector.” Their holding company, called Special, has backing from billionaire Marc Andreessen’s venture capital firm a16z and several other former DOGE members.”
The DOGE Boys Get VC Funding to Support Their Latest Enterprise
Former DOGE members and Elon Musk allies are backing a startup aimed at using AI to apply "learnings” from DOGE to the private sector.
wired.com
“Exactly what Rifaat owned was concealed by anonymous shell companies located in places such as the tiny Caribbean island of Curaçao, the British Virgin Islands and Panama” - @edsiddons.bsky.social / @tbij.bsky.social www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...
Rifaat al-Assad: how Europe sheltered an alleged war criminal
How Rifaat al-Assad stashed his stolen millions – and eluded the lawyers trying to take him down
thebureauinvestigates.com
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism @tbij.bsky.social · 2mo ago🚨 NEW: How Europe sheltered alleged war criminal Rifaat al-Assad Investigation by @edsiddons.bsky.social www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...
EXCLUSIVE: A top Polymarket executive sent hundreds of thousands of dollars — and likely more — to social media influencers from left to right. One influencer says Polymarket wrote posts for them to share on X and asked them to promote specific bets.
‘Unbelievable how accurate’: How paid influencers hype Polymarket’s odds
The company’s chief marketing officer, Matthew Modabber, used a personal PayPal account to send money to content creators, according to records reviewed by POLITICO.
politico.com
“The administration officials said immigration officers would be able to decide on an individual basis if someone should leave the United States to apply for a green card. Some immigrants won’t have to leave to apply for green cards, but some will have to apply from outside the U.S., they added.”
Inside Trump’s suddenly softened new green card policy
Big business, including tech and AI companies, launched a quiet but extensive lobbying effort against the green card policy requiring applicants to apply from overseas.
washingtonpost.com
“14 of the 27 known corporate donors to the $400m project…have seen their govt business grow in that window…Most of those same companies are also facing federal enforcement actions over alleged wrongdoing or have had such actions suspended by the Trump admin since the start of Trump’s 2nd term…”
Ballroom donors won $50B in contracts after giving to Trump project, watchdog group finds
President Donald Trump has repeatedly touted the gifts as a boon to taxpayers, but critics of the project say the administration’s refusal to release a full list of donors creates the potential for co...
washingtonpost.com
Researchers at Stanford University modeled how many people could die or be disabled in 25 years if vaccines for polio, measles, rubella or diphtheria were no longer available. We illustrated their findings.
The Horrors That Could Lie Ahead if Vaccines Vanish
Researchers at Stanford University modeled how many people could die or be disabled in 25 years if vaccines for polio, measles, rubella or diphtheria were no longer available.
projects.propublica.org
There’s a lot of reasons why having military lawyers working civilian functions is a bad idea. One of the biggest is that it appears to be illegal under posse comitatus law but our legislative branch won’t rein in this illegality. Classic creeping authoritarianism playbook. ⚖️
GOP lawmakers axe provision to limit the use of JAGs in civilian roles
The Trump administration has shifted dozens of military lawyers to temporary jobs as immigration judges, special attorneys.
defenseone.com
“As of late May, the Park Service had approved about $105 million of fee money for fiscal year 2026 to be spent on the National Capital Region, which covers park units in the wider D.C. region, with only about $27 million approved for all other purposes, internal documents show.”
Americans’ national parks passes will pay for Trump’s July 4 plans, documents show
Entry fees are going toward a $1.6 million fireworks display and D.C. beautification, while donations will fund a $5 million helipad at the White House.
washingtonpost.com
“Trump’s upheaval of the federal government has led to an exodus of more than 10,000 lawyers since the beginning of 2025, a striking loss of legal talent… roughly one in five lawyers who worked in the government at the end of 2024 had left by March of this year…” www.nytimes.com/2026/05/31/u...
Trump Administration Sees Striking Exodus of Legal Talent
nytimes.com
U.S. companies skirted at least $40 billion in taxes since the beginning of 2025 thanks to schemes in places like Malta, Bermuda, Switzerland and Cyprus. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/b...
Trump Clears Way for Corporate Tax Dodge Hidden in the Fine Print
nytimes.com
tl,dr; Scientists no longer allowed to use federal funding to publish, attend meetings, or talk to the public. They cannot collaborate internationally. Grants can be cancelled for any reason, at any time, political appointees have a final say over what gets funded, and who gets funded.
Science Magazine@science.org · 2mo agoThe White House today announced it plans to make major changes in how the U.S. government manages research funding. https://scim.ag/43HgW4s
🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n
Our federal science funding agencies were designed to support science that is vetted and driven by scientists with a Congressional mandate to be for the public good. The OMB's proposed changes would replace that system with one driven by partisan cronies and special interests. 15/n
This rule also requires that grants must “...demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities.” All of this effectively puts politics over expertise, giving political appointees veto power over research that challenges, conflicts with, or doesn't follow the administration’s ideologies. 5/n
@jodi1994.bsky.social @factcoalition.bsky.social @acdatacollective.bsky.social @anticorruption.bsky.social @transparencyusa.bsky.social @ianpgary.bsky.social @zorkamilin.bsky.social
U.S. Government Accountability Office@gao.gov · 2mo agoCorporate Transparency: Treasury Should Address Gaps in Ownership Information Resulting from Expanded Exemptions https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-107967?utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_campaign=usgao