Monday: Three Morning Takes

Late last week, notorious geriatric anti-tech crusader Kara Swisher captured the imagination of the internet with a horrifying admission of her autocratic wishes for our country. Former DOGE staffer and current engineering lead for America dot Gov, Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, should be persecuted when the Democrats take power, she explained on a panel of hateful losers. Karen mentioned no crime, because there is no crime to mention. And it doesn’t matter either way. Her purpose, as was the purpose of Senator Slotkin when she demanded similar acts of lawfare, is only to terrify young tech people away from working with Republicans. Now, a question I’ve been mulling for founders advertising on her podcast: why are you paying this woman to spew her horrifying toxic bullshit? I get it, fun new sponsorship deal! (it’s a vicious feminazi who wants me in jail). But imagine… a world where we didn’t feed our would-be executioners.

Hackers linked to North Korea stole $6.3 billion out of cryptocurrency platform Binance in just 20 minutes last Thursday. Co-founder Changpeng Zhao assured users Binance has enough money to cover users’ losses… but unfortunately for him, crypto enthusiasts have a memory that exceeds a goldfish (not by much) and immediately remembered SBF saying the same thing when FTX imploded. Although Binance appears to have this under control, this hack does seem like a worrying sign of things to come. We don’t know the exact methods yet, but it seems AI is turbocharging foreign adversaries’ ability to wreak havoc in cyberspace. So with the hacking apocalypse looming nearer, let me impart some financial wisdom my pops told me: don’t put all your fartcoin in one basket. And though they may be uncomfortable to sleep on, at least the gold bars stuffed inside your mattress can’t be stolen by a DeepSeek troll army in Pyongyang.

A Sacramento local news station recently conducted an interview with California gubernatorial frontrunner Xavier Becerra: asked whether he’d tax EV drivers (many of whom switched to escape high gas prices / save the environment) Becerra answered, “Absolutely!” adding that “everything,” including a mileage tax, “should be on the table.” Never mind that a mileage tax means annual mileage checks or tracking tech (hello, surveillance state). Never mind also that Californians already pay the country’s highest gas tax while our highways rank 49th nationally. Arguably the craziest part is Becerra’s sheer audacity — advertising exciting new ways to torture Californians DAYS before the midterms. Politicians used to at least hide their evil tax regimes until after the election, or at least dodge questions / pinky-promise only the rich would pay. Becerra doesn’t even bother, because he knows his uniparty will win in California regardless. Elon, please work faster on those flying cars… before this mofo tries to tax compressed air.

Jonas Du

Two Columbia Students Argued Jane Doe May Have Exercised ‘Sexual Freedom.’ The Campus Revolted.

two columbia juniors published an op-ed arguing jane doe’s sexual encounter may have been consensual... and were told by classmates to “kill themselves.” the op-ed challenged the prevailing narrative on campus — that cornell’s jane doe was brutally gangraped — saying this belief actually infantilizes women. in response, fellow staffers at the student newspaper called for it to shut down, and a ‘free speech club’ canceled an event with the paper’s editor-in-chief. jonas delivers a firsthand account from the op-ed’s authors

Neeraja Deshpande

Former MIT Scientist Wins $6M in Landmark Case Against False Sexual Assault Accusations

former mit scientist david sabatini was once on track to win the nobel prize. then in 2020, his ex-girlfriend accused him of r*pe, calling sabatini the ‘weinstein of science’ as his lab was later vilified for perpetuating a “bro culture.” as a result, sabatini was stripped of all his funding, lost his job, and went bankrupt. but now, the scientist has just won a landmark $6 million lawsuit in the face of these false allegations. neeraja deshpande interviewed sabatini about the verdict

Jonas Du

Anduril Unveils American-Made Laptop

anduril and qualcomm have announced a new laptop that will eventually be 100% made in america: a “first step” toward creating a market for u.s.-manufactured components and total technological self-sufficiency. palmer luckey says building computers in america should be a matter of “national pride,” and you know what WE say? “hell yeah, brother.” check out jonas’s report on “bluechip” — a bold initiative to build the first american-made computer in 20 years