Karl Bode

@karlbode

Seattle-based writer focused on tech, media, politics, and consumer rights. Subscribe to my newsletter The Fine Print*: karlbode.com

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Karl Bode@karlbode· 27d

I wonder what caused this stark and deadly difference in health science policy approaches! Who knows!

During the coronavirus pandemic, state health departments received a stream of emergency funds to assist with their response, and many of those departments used that money to start enhancing their ability to handle future outbreaks, including those related to food-borne illnesses, Dr. Kowalcyk said. But that funding has since ended, leaving many of those projects in limbo and their staffs eliminated.

Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, said that significant decreases in funding for the state’s health department in recent years had resulted in cuts to important programs and staffing. “The work is only growing, and the resources we have are only declining or diminishing,” she said.

Karl Bode@karlbode· 27d

weird that all these politicians who historically didn't give two shits about a lack of competition in wireless suddenly support cell phone unlocking, I wonder what could have changed?

letter from Rep. Scott Fitzgerald urging FCC to embrace cell unlocking rules

letter from Rep. Nick LaLota urging the FCC to embrace cell phone unlocking rules

Karl Bode@karlbode· 27d

also this makes no sense? You want to airdrop a list that shows life in Republican states is generally shittier due to bad policy into Democratic states?

Republican Chip Roy on Twitter, after sharing a list showing most of the top ten worst states to live in are run by Republicans "Airdrop this into every failing blue state"

Karl Bode@karlbode· 28d

Klein is bright and politically attentive. She knows Substack has been caught repeatedly boosting white supremacist, fascist, and anti-trans content for engagement like zeteo (which she's a contributor to) I have to think there's some financial motivation here to memory hole that stuff

Karl Bode@karlbode· 28d

I have to assume Substack is throwing some fat stacks of cash at prominent authors to launch on the platform in 2026, in exchange for ignoring the fact the company openly embrace nazis and white supremacists for engagement

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 11

like Reuters acknowledges some deals happened but they're this weird afterthought, and all the promises and lies that accompanied them just aren't mentioned?

"Despite spending tens of billions of dollars to expand Xbox, including its blockbuster acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has struggled to narrow the gap with Sony's PlayStation, and Nintendo, prompting a broader rethink of the gaming business"

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 10

Koda cat!

Gray and white tiger cat sprawled out on his back on a white blanket on a blue bedspread

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 10

The Atlantic quotes a dodgy corporate "think tank" (I routinely see them make bogus claims on broadband) that insists that people should love having an AI data center in their backyard, because the low latency means innovators will flock to the neighborhood, which is an outright lie

"Michael Mandel, the chief economist for the Progressive Policy Institute, told me that employment gains are likely to grow as new data centers attract businesses that use AI. Companies using the technology for advanced applications—such as for autonomous vehicles and medical research—may benefit from proximity to these centers, because information can travel faster from source to user. The margin is imperceptible to most people using Claude or ChatGPT, but for companies that depend on real-time AI-powered decision making at scale, tiny differences in latency matter. The kinds of businesses that will drive the AI economy are thus likely to set up in communities that invest in data centers."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 9

I mean yes you'd be fired but you'd sleep better and be able to look your children in the eye

"While addressing employees last month, CNN chief executive Mark Thompson wasted little time bringing up “the generously proportioned elephant in the room.” Paramount’s imminent takeover of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery had made for a “difficult period” at the network, and Thompson shared his staff’s anxieties. “I swear to God, I go home and try and relax and I can still feel the tension in the room because I’m in the room, and I’m no different from anyone else,” he said, according to a recording of his remarks."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 9

you done sleuthed that out good, champ

“We might’ve f‑‑‑ed it up by going to Iran. I mean, this war is not something anybody that’s conservative wanted. Most people don’t want it, except supporters of Israel,” Rogan said on a Wednesday episode of his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

“They’re the only people that seem to be thinking it’s a good idea in this country. Most people are horrified by the idea because Trump was elected. One of the pillars that he stood for apparently was that he doesn’t want any more wars,” he added.

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 9

oh you worked with...(checks notes)...Howard Lutnick to ensure product safety. No additional questions needed.

"Altman said the company worked with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross on the approval process. He described OpenAI’s work with the government as a “collaborative back and forth,” where the government would carry out tests and raise problems for the company to address.

“If you want broad access, which we do, and you have powerful models, you really want to be able to be confident in your safety claims, because otherwise the world is going to get uncomfortable very fast,” Altman said."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 8

neighborly visitations

Three indoor cats staring at an orange outdoor cat sitting in the garden

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 8

Paramount executives have refused to comply with Oregon AG Dan Rayfield's request for documents related to the company's interactions with the Trump administration:

"Oregon has been investigating the proposed merger since it was announced in February. As part of that work, ODOJ sent Paramount a narrow records request in June, asking for documents about the company’s lobbying of federal officials in support of the deal, its role in a U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) statement approving the merger, and an internal effort the company calls “Project Warrior.”

Paramount has not complied. According to court papers, the company declined to accept service of the request, waited weeks to respond, and ultimately sent objections on the day its documents were due – objections the state dismisses as a baseless tactic to avoid turning over the records. Paramount has told Oregon it does not intend to close the deal before July 16 but has not agreed to hold off any longer while the state’s investigation continues."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 7

anyway the media obsession with this guy is very bizarre

Google News view of all the news coverage of "biohacker" Bryan Johnson

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 3

it's so weird how Peter Thiel, like Glenn Greenwald, always looks bizarrely sweaty like he just survived a bad bout of diarrhea in a Vietnamese jungle and it's usually when on television, when you'd normally get powdered in the makeup chair

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 2

this meme is uniformly evergreen

meme with Scooby Doo's Fred unmasking a villain

First panel with mask on says "neither left nor right"

second panel with mask off and villain reveals says "the right."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 2

From the Seattle Times breakdown:

"Wiles speculated that managers didn’t think sussing out mistakes made by AI employees was their responsibility. If something went wrong, they could dismiss it as the fault of the tech team, or of the executives who wanted AI employees in the first place. “But it’s not your problem,” she said, channeling the managers’ mindset about their own roles."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 2

as part of my feature for The Verge last week, I spoke to one low-income community in Louisiana who was JUST on the cusp of receiving next-gen fiber thanks to the Biden-era infrastructure bill, only be shoveled off to expensive, congested starlink: www.theverge.com/policy/95394...

"Under the original BEAD proposal, the ISP initially chosen by the state to build out fiber in Lake Providence, Conexon, was supposed to receive $6.2 million. But when the “benefit of the bargain” revamp forced the state to redo its plans, those Lake Providence residences were deemed ineligible for funding for fiber connections. That taxpayer money was instead funneled directly to Elon Musk and Starlink — in exchange for satellite service that had been available there for years already.
While Starlink is useful for remote locations with no other broadband options, the service is generally considered too expensive for lower-income families dealing with soaring consumer costs. Data has also shown that Musk’s LEO space constellation is plagued by congestion that makes it ill suited to addressing the US digital divide at significant scale.

Nathanael Wills is a lead organizer for Delta Interfaith, a nonprofit coalition of local churches in northeast Louisiana, where he has been pushing for better broadband in East Carroll Parish for the past six years. He says the elimination of affordability and equity provisions, and the downgrade from future-proof fiber, will result in few if any real-world improvements.

“The most frustrating part is that it was a zero dollar investment in infrastructure,” Wills told The Verge. “Nothing fundamentally changed. People with Starlink are going to just get mailed a box and many won’t be able to install it. And we still won’t have anybody really served,” leaving the community with “no growth in our economic potential.”

“No jobs will be created from this — no installation jobs, zero construction jobs, or even any small stimulus.”

“No money will stay here,” he said. “No jobs will be created from this — no installation jobs, zero construction jobs, or even any small stimulus."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 1

just like Comcast's monthly usage caps the new annoying restrictions aren't based on any real world tech, they're just completely arbitrary and annoying because meta is a shitty company that should die for the betterment of the internet

"Problem is, Meta’s rate limit is ridiculous. The Conversation Focus feature, which amplifies the voice of the person you’re speaking to so you can hear better in noisy environments, is not something that should plausibly be rate-limited, because it doesn’t use Meta’s servers. It runs on-device, using the chips inside the glasses that you’ve already purchased. I turned off my internet, and it kept working."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jul 1

just the absolutely dimmest people engaged in endlessly-pointless competency kayfabe, all propped up as VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS by a shitty press

"Over the past two weeks, we have worked closely with Anthropic to analyze and approve Fable 5 to ensure alignment across the US Government and strengthen America’s leadership in AI," says Howard Lutnick in a Twitter post.

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 30

brutal

Speaking on "All Things Considered" Tuesday, Totenberg said she had misheard a comment about retirement announcements from the court and mistakenly assumed Alito was retiring.

"It was the worst professional mistake of my more than 50 years in journalism," Totenberg wrote in an apology note to Alito, which she read aloud on air. "I could go on, but I don't know what else to say, except that I am so, so sorry."

"We in the press corps always want people to own up to their mistakes, and they most of the time don't, so I'm not going to do that," she added.

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 30

great stuff! This must be more of that consolidation and deregulation fueled innovation my libertarian friends at "non-profit" "free market" "think tanks" have spent decades telling me about

"T-Mobile frames the current migration as an average $4-per-line adjustment, according to CNET. That sounds modest until you stack it on the $5-per-line hike that already hit many legacy smartphone plans back in April 2025. PhoneArena reports some customers on older grandfathered plans face total increases approaching 60% compared to their original rates. Meanwhile, administrative fees for voice lines climbed from $3.99 to $4.49 per month — raised twice within a single year, according to tmo.report — with mobile internet line fees moving from $1.60 to $2.10."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 24

Amazon Prime Day is my favorite holiday! The entire U.S. press becomes glorified blogspam for a single retailer owned by one of the planet's richest men for no coherent reason, with nobody in any position of editorial power thinking it's at all gross or unethical

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 24

and by "war" we mean "merge into even bigger, shittier companies"

"Hollywood and Big Tech Are Preparing For War" headline by The Hollywood Reporter

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 24

sure is funny how right wing billionaires keep buying up media outlets, converting them into right wing propaganda mills, and driving journalists into exile

A screenshot of a post on X (formerly Twitter) by user Jeff Barker (@JeffBarkermedia) announcing his resignation from The Baltimore Sun.

The text of the post reads: "I've resigned from The Baltimore Sun after 25 years of politics and sports reporting. I was proud to have been there during a long period when our reporting followed the facts wherever they happened to lead. I'm not saying anything readers can't see for themselves, but The Sun has changed since its purchase by David Smith, executive chairman of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. I no longer fit there. I'm grateful to the sources whose trust enabled me to report responsibly, and to the readers who supported our work. I'm exploring new opportunities inside and outside journalism. My DMs are open."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 24

The Trump NTIA is supposed to issue guidance on what happens to this $21 billion, but keeps failing to do so. And they keep ignoring lawmakers, like Delaney and Tliab here, who keep asking them for competent guidance mcclaindelaney.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

"Secretary Lutnick and Assistant Secretary Roth:
On August 25, 2025, we wrote to request clarity on how states may use nondeployment funds
under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, following the
Broadband Program BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice (BRPN) issued on June 6, 2025. As of
May 15, 2026, we have not received a response. Eight months later, states still lack the basic
guidance needed to responsibly plan for and deploy a significant portion of their BEAD
allocations. This uncertainty persists even as states begin receiving deployment funds and
preparing to launch deployment activities. States require clarity on eligible nondeployment uses,
and American taxpayers deserve transparency about how these dollars may be spent."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 24

anyway, of course the CBS "ombudsman" doesn't do anything. He's there to ensure the propaganda outlet's coverage is dutifully loyal to the president, a role that's not really necessary because Bari Weiss has no integrity

"In the nine months since he was hired, Mr. Weinstein has issued no public statements about CBS News’s coverage or its controversies. He has not issued any guidance or feedback in staffwide emails or memos, three employees said. He has told some employees that he is scheduled to work only one day per month, two people said, though one said he responded to queries outside his monthly workday."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 24

that's because he's not an actual watchdog, you ninnies. He's a Trump appointee to ferry messages between the administration and a loyal propaganda outlet.

"As CBS News has been shaken by infighting between management and its star correspondents this year, Mr. Weinstein’s silence is being criticized by media experts. They say Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, has essentially hired a watchdog who doesn’t bark."

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 23

Carr knows his target audience over at Elon Musk's right wing propaganda website won't care about the legal nuance of the equal time exemption for daytime TV shows; they'll just see "women" and "news" in the same frame and splatter the internet with hate

Karl Bode@karlbode· Jun 22

this is also just fluffish cack and the Atlantic should be embarrassed