On this episode of “Political Misfits,” hosts Bob Schlehuber and Jamarl Thomas break down the good, the bad and the ugly of the Nevada debate. American democracy for once was the winner, as billionaire Mike Bloomberg found he’d bought his way onto a stage he was in no way prepared for. Elizabeth Warren came out swinging and seemed to even intimidate the moderators, Sanders stayed on message and did what he needed to to stay ahead, and Buttigieg and Klobuchar struggled.
Bob and Jamarl were joined in the second hour by Tom Luongo, independent analyst on politics, culture and markets at his blog, “Gold Goats 'n Guns,” to talk about Roger Stone’s 40-month sentence and the strange new twist in Julian Assange’s extradition case, allegedly involving US President Donald Trump, now-former Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and the possibility of a presidential pardon. Assange’s lawyers and Rohrabacher differ on whether and how this pardon was supposedly offered. The real question, as Assange awaits his extradition hearing next week, is how this new wrinkle will affect that outcome.
Bob, Jamarl and Tom also discussed the possibility that the US Justice Department is headed toward changing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter and others from most liability involving content posted by users. With once-scrappy new companies now dominating the tech and media landscapes, how should societies achieve a truly diverse digital commons and who should be held accountable for the content within it?
The evolution of technology and finance was also the focus of discussion with Chris Garaffa, who joined the misfits for the weekly Trends with Benefits segment to discuss Patreon’s shift to bank and financer of creators. Patreon’s new capital arm, which offers loans to creators based on their Patreon earnings, may make financing more creative, but it also further commodifies the internet and the creativity it facilitates. Finally, Boeing came in for a scolding about its still-sloppy production practices, as revealed by a recent story.
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