Month: February 2025

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The Indicator from Planet Money - A ‘Fork in the Road’ for federal employees

The job security of government employees has been in the spotlight since President Trump took office with big plans to slash the federal workforce. About 2 million employees were given an offer to quit their jobs. The government says those who resign can collect pay and benefits through September without working. But is this offer even legal?

Today on the show, an employment lawyer shares his concerns about the government's offer. And we talk to some of those federal workers about making this critical decision during an uncertain time.

Related episodes:
Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment (Apple / Spotify)

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CoinDesk Podcast Network - COINDESK DAILY: Crypto Industry Rebukes Debanking Efforts in “Chokepoint 2.0” Hearings

Host Christine Lee breaks down the latest news as the crypto industry rebukes U.S. regulators’ debanking efforts.

Coinbase rebukes U.S. regulators’ debanking efforts in “Chokepoint 2.0” hearings in Washington D.C., a pair of U.S. lawmakers release a stablecoin discussion draft bill and digital asset reserve legislation advances in Utah. Plus, Van Eck predicts Solana’s SOL will hit $520 by the end of the year. CoinDesk’s Christine Lee anchors “CoinDesk Daily.”

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This episode was hosted by Christine Lee. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Christine Lee and edited by Victor Chen.

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Big Technology Podcast - Boom Times For ChatGPT, OpenAI’s Deep Research, AI Super Bowl

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) New data showing ChatGPT's impressive growth since mid-2024 2) Was ChatGPT voice mode responsible? 3) How important ChatGPT's growth is for OpenAI 4) How seriously DeepSeek challenged ChatGPT's traffic numbers 5) Does brand matter or are bots interchangeable? 6) OpenAI does the Reddit AMA 7) Experimenting with OpenAI's Deep Research 8) Why AI reasoning methods contain so much promise 9) New Gemini releases 10) Weird Gemini naming conventions 11) Big Technology in New York Times' Klarna story 12) Are the AI Super Bowl ads a good idea?

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The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Donald Trump’s Tariff Diplomacy Is Working

President Donald Trump is not using tariffs for their historical purpose, which is to protect and promote domestic industry. Instead, Trump, as Victor Davis Hanson argues, is using tariffs to hold countries, like Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and China, accountable. 

And it’s working. 

On this edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Hanson dispels the Left’s hysteria over President Trump’s tariff policies: 

“So, if you take Venezuela and Colombia, he's saying that ‘you people deliberately emptied your jails and you sent them to the United States—sent them being felons—violent felons. And you're not going to do that anymore’ 

And they said, ‘we're not taking them back’. He said, ‘you're going to take them back, or I'm going to put a tariff’. So, it was a lever of diplomacy, and it worked. They backed down completely.” 

For Victor’s latest thoughts, go to: https://victorhanson.com/

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Focus on Africa - South Africa’s response to US threats

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has moved to defuse a row with the new US administration over a new land law by speaking to Elon Musk. However, President Ramaphosa has said his country "will not be bullied". What's at stake for the country?

Also why have Moroccans decided to call a general strike? It's the first one in almost a decade

And Rwanda faces allegations of sports washing, a claim the country denies. What's going on?

Presenter: Charles Gitonga Producers: Yvette Twagiramariya, Bella Hassan and Nysaha Michelle Technical Producer: Jonathan Greer Senior Journalist: Karnie Sharp Editors: Alice Muthengi and Andre Lombard

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Native America Calling - Friday, February 7, 2025 — Native in the Spotlight: Tatanka Means

Tatanka Means (Lakota/Diné) maintains a busy schedule as a stand-up comedian, all while portraying serious on-screen roles in Killers of the Flower Moon, Echo, and Reservation Dogs. He carries the name of his notable Lakota father, has close ties to his Navajo roots in Chinle, Ariz., and is fully embracing his role as a basketball dad. We’ll hear about his life and creative drive as our February Native in the Spotlight.
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CoinDesk Podcast Network - THE MINING POD: Bitdeer’s Power Plant, Trump’s ETFs, Softbank’s $50m Cipher Bet, and Nebraska’s Mining Tax

On this week’s news roundup, Bitdeer’s acquiring rights for a 101 MW power plant and Trump wants to launch a BTC ETF. 


Welcome back to The Mining Pod! Colin, Will, and Matt are back at it this week with a packed docket of news. Bitdeer has acquired the rights for a $90 million, 101 MW natural gas power plant in Alberta in a bid to become even more vertically integrated, and Cipher cashes in on Project Stargate with a $50 million investment from Softbank. Plus, two cheers for taxation (but not actually): Russia has codified a tax code for bitcoin miners, and a Nebraska Senator introduces a bill for a $0.025 per kw excise tax on bitcoin miners. For our last news item, Trump wants to launch bitcoin ETFs, because memecoins just weren’t sophisticated enough. And for this week’s cry corner, why Ethereum is no longer deflationary and what a croissant can tell us about the future of ETH issuance (seriously). 


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Timestamps:

00:00 Start

02:21 Difficulty report

05:03 Bitdeer Power Plant

11:32 Softbank invests $50m in Cipher

16:18 Russian miners reporting & taxes

22:20 Nebraska rate hike

28:17 Bitcoin Plus ETF

32:20 Cry corner: uLTrA SOunD MooONeeY



Published twice weekly, "The Mining Pod" interviews the best builders and operators in the Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining landscape. Subscribe to get notifications when we publish interviews on Tuesday and a news show on Friday! 

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👉 Check out Bitcoin Season 2 and The Gwart Show!

Follow our hosts on Twitter: @wsfoxley, @cbspears, @AsILayHodling, @MatthewKimmell

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African Tech Roundup - Inside Money & Moves: Tinashe Mukogo On Merging Corporate Expertise With Independent Media

Episode Overview: This episode features a relaxed, peer-to-peer conversation between two media entrepreneurs—African Tech Roundup co-founder and executive producer Andile Masuku, and Money & Moves founder and writer Tinashe Mukogo. They explore how Mukogo draws on his background in consulting (Deloitte), corporate venture capital (Next47), and organisational finance (Siemens), along with his CA and INSEAD MBA credentials, to deliver sophisticated yet accessible analysis of African businesses. What starts as an origin story and a look into his approach to business journalism expands into a deep dive on turning media assets into sustainable businesses. Mukogo and Masuku explore strategic considerations, revenue model challenges, and innovation opportunities in building independent media ventures that balance public interest with commercial viability. Key topics: - Leveraging corporate experience for credible financial analysis - Strategic approaches to finding and maintaining "blue ocean" market positions - The geography advantage: How distance can aid editorial independence - Business model innovation in African media markets - Building personal brands alongside institutional credibility - The role of independent media in developing investment ecosystems Notable points: 1. How geographic distance from Zimbabwe enables more objective coverage of major corporations 2. The limitations of traditional advertising models when covering potential advertisers 3. The strategic value of building long-term credibility before monetisation 4. Why individual voices often carry more trust than institutional media 5. The "billionaire model" and its implications for editorial independence Listen in for an unfiltered discussion between two media entrepreneurs on the practical challenges and strategic opportunities in building independent financial media properties in African markets.