i will go to bat for y’all any day. ANY. DAY.

but your messaging to normies needs to be more pointed, more specific and more aggressive in how you describe the human rights #crimes the #techbro #broligarchy is getting away with due to people’s ignorance on how the microcomputers we use as phones are exploited and abused for #surveillance

love your work, @eff

that’s why i believe y’all can do better.

love,
liza

…#Federal officials are barred from making decisions that benefit the business holdings of themselves or their spouses, but that prohibition does not extend to assets held by their adult children, acc/to Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House #ethics lawyer during Republican George W. Bush’s admin.

#HowardLutnick ran #CantorFitzgerald

Lutnick resigned as CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, an investing behemoth, upon taking office & began the arduous task of divesting his interests, as required by #law.

His two 20-something sons were given the reins of his financial empire. Brandon Lutnick was named chair of Cantor, while Kyle Lutnick was tapped to be executive vice chair. But his most recent #ethics filing from June 19 stated that he was still selling his holdings in the firm.

#ElonMusk who spent >$250 million to help elect #Trump, owns a controlling interest in #SpaceX & its #satellite subsidiary #Starlink. Both are regulated by the #NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce [#OSC], which lost about ⅓ of its staff in Feb #MassLayoffs facilitated by the #DOGE, which #Musk created.

SpaceX also stands to gain through a new generation of #private & federally funded #weather satellites that would be carried into orbit on its rockets.

#HowardLutnick is not the only one #Trump nominated for a key post w/close relationships to companies involved in the gathering of vital #weather data.

Trump’s pick to lead the #NOAA, #NeilJacobs, was chief atmospheric scientist for Panasonic Weather Solutions & has been a vocal proponent of #privatization. Trump’s nominee for another top NOAA post, #TaylorJordan, is a lobbyist with a roster of weather-related clients.

#Privatizing #weather agencies has long been an aim of #Republicans. During #Trump’s first presidency, he signed a bill that utilized more private weather data. And #Project2025, a proposed blueprint for Trump’s 2nd presidency that was co-authored by #OMB director #RussVought, calls for #NOAA to be broken up & for the weather service to “fully commercialize its forecasting operations.”

“It’s the most insidious aspect of this: Are we really talking about making #weather products available only to those who can afford it?” said Rick Spinrad, who served as #NOAA administrator under President #Biden. “Basically turning the weather service into a subscription streaming service? As a taxpayer, I don’t want to be in the position of saying, ‘I get a better weather forecast because I’m willing to pay for it.’”

The #billionaire also ran a financial firm, which he left in the control of his sons, that stands to benefit if #Trump’s admin follows through on a decade-long #Republican effort to #privatize govt #weather #forecasting.

Deadly #flooding in central #Texas has drawn a spotlight to #BudgetCuts & #MassLayoffs at the #NWS & the #NOAA, 2 agencies housed within the #Commerce Dept that provide the public w/ #free #climate & weather data that can be crucial during #NaturalDisasters.