This week, the FTC and more than 40 state attorneys general brought antitrust lawsuits against Facebook. And they’re not pulling their punches. They are calling for Facebook to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp into independent companies. In other words, breakup.
The lawsuits represent some of the most significant antitrust action in the United States in the last 40 years. Will they get results?
Guest:
Tony Romm, tech policy reporter at the Washington Post
It's been more than 40 years since rocks from the moon have come back to Earth. But in late November, a Chinese craft landed on the moon's surface--it's the country's first mission designed to retrieve samples of the moon's surface. The mission is called Chang'e-5, in honor of the moon goddess. NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel tells us what the mission will tell us about the solar system, and how it foreshadows China's future ambitions on Earth and in space.
Timothy Hampton's Bob Dylan: How the Songs Work (Zone Books, 2020) is a fascinating and meticulous study of Bob Dylan's songwriting craft. Hampton discusses how Dylan incorporated and then transcended the Greenwich Village folk music tradition, how he reinvented himself as a visionary poet in the mid sixties, how he learned from poets as diverse as Rimbaud, Brecht, and Petrarch, and how his late-career work draws on and extends the themes he's been pursuing for his whole life. Hampton's book is written in a clear and accessible style and should appeal to anyone interested in the technique of this master songwriter.
Andy Boyd is a playwright based in Brooklyn, New York. He is a graduate of the playwriting MFA at Columbia University, Harvard University, and the Arizona School for the Arts. His plays have been produced, developed, or presented at IRT, Pipeline Theatre Company, The Gingold Group, Dixon Place, Roundabout Theatre, Epic Theatre Company, Out Loud Theatre, Naked Theatre Company, Contemporary Theatre of Rhode Island, and The Trunk Space. He is currently working on a series of 50 plays about the 50 U.S. states. His website is AndyJBoyd.com, and he can be reached at andyjamesboyd@gmail.com.
The FDA’s advisory panel voted to approve emergency authorization of the Pfizer-BionNTech coronavirus vaccine. Once it’s authorized, which could be any day now, an initial shipment of about 6.4 million doses is expected to be sent across the country.
The state of the pandemic in the United States is extremely dire, with this week bringing a new record in single day fatalities, and a record number of people hospitalized across the country. One of the main sources of reliable data throughout the pandemic has been the Covid Tracking Project. We spoke to Alexis Madrigal, one of its co-founders, about the current numbers, how we measure where we’re at, and where we go from here.
Plus, we’re joined by writer and comedian Tien Tran for headlines: Amazon’s new invasive fitness tracker, MPD defunds the police, and a DMT study in England.
Texas this week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its complaint that the states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin unconstitutionally changed the rules in the run-up to the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Does the Texas lawsuit make a legally sound argument, and how likely is it that the Supreme Court will hear it?
President Donald Trump also asked Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to argue the case since he is a former solicitor general of the state. How likely is it that to happen, and what could it mean?
Hans von Spakovsky, manager of The Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative and senior legal fellow in Heritage's Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to answer these and other questions about Texas/ complaint.
We also cover these stories:
President Trump announced Thursday that diplomatic relations are being restored between Israel and Morocco.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has chosen Susan Rice, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former United States National Security Advisor in the Obama administration to be his director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Senator Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, is calling for a special counsel to be assembled to investigate nefarious business dealings made by Hunter Biden, former vice president Joe Biden’s son.
There aren't words harsh enough to describe how disgusting, anti-American, and undemocratic the Texas v. Pennsylvania complaint is. Believe me, I checked my thesaurus. 18 Republican attorneys general have joined in this horrific, garbage attempt to keep their emperor Trump in power despite the wishes of 80+ million voters. We get Andrew's deep-dive, as he's as angry as he's ever been (which sounds pretty much like normal Andrew.)
Before that, we talk about the closing of the Flynn case, and how Opening Arguments is now super famous for having influenced Judge Sullivan!
On the Gist, unasked for resignation advice. And, today’s installment of Remembrances of Things Trump: toilets for well-endowed men.
In the interview, it’s part two of Mike’s conversation with Jim Tankersley, author and New York Times economics reporter. Tankersley provides solutions to productivity gains, explains how access to education in America is not enough of a tool for progress and that extending opportunities, like V.C. to women and BIPOC, will create more opportunities leading to a virtuous cycle promoting a new thriving middle class. Tankersley’s book is The Riches of This Land: The Untold, True Story of America's Middle Class.
Mitch McConnell blocks bipartisan pandemic relief to help his corporate pals, Joe Biden continues to staff up his Cabinet and White House, and Republicans run their 2020 playbook in Georgia. Then messaging expert Anat Shenker-Osorio talks to Jon about why Democrats need to stop selling the recipe and start selling the brownie.
