Good morning. I’m Corinne Straight, and this is AlterNet America. Please take a moment to click the ❤️ and restack this post. The oligarchs’ platforms are trying to keep stories like the ones below from hitting your feeds, and this helps us break through.
The Trump administration’s new AI website won’t say who won the 2020 election. Pete Hegseth has announced Elon Musk and Newt Gingrich will help lead the military. The Justice Department is going after nearly every federal judge in a blue state. And a bill to ban congressional stock trading has stalled in the Senate after House Republicans added a voter ID requirement.
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The government spent millions on a chatbot that couldn’t pass a fifth-grade civics test.
The Trump administration launched a new AI service this week to serve as a portal for federal programs and services. America.gov, powered by Google’s Gemini and Elon Musk’s Grok, now won’t say who won the 2020 election.
The chatbot was telling users Tuesday that Joe Biden won in 2020. By Wednesday morning, the same question was met with a refusal and a message that the site does not offer “political commentary,” as if it had been updated overnight.
The White House told Axios in a statement that the site “will continue to be updated to provide Americans the most accurate and reliable federal information and resources.” Officials have given no details on how the bot’s guardrails work, if there are any.
The next version of America.gov, expected in early 2027, will enable users to complete government applications and renewals across agencies including enrolling in Medicare, applying for passports, and applying for federal jobs. Soon a chatbot that can’t tell you who won an election will be asking for your Social Security number.
The future of American warfare is now in the hands of a man who destroyed Twitter.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that three Trump loyalists will decide how the United States wages its future wars. Elon Musk, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and right-wing tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey will lead the effort, which Hegseth is calling “Project Meridian.”
The trio will work with private sector leaders and Pentagon chief technology officer Emil Michael, a former Uber vice president, to look at future domains of conflict. The findings would be submitted within 120 days and would include a full public rollout, Hegseth said.
He also used the speech to announce the Autonomous Warfare Command, a new military unit focused on robotic, artificial intelligence, and drone warfare. Musk and Luckey have significant financial interests in all those fields.
Hegseth described the trio as “the best forecasters of future conflict” and said the project would be an effort “led by America’s best minds.” None of the three men have military experience in defense strategy.
Snitches get misconduct complaints.
The Department of Justice has filed misconduct complaints against all but one of the federal district judges in Minnesota, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday. The complaints name seven judges who spoke to the New York Times for a story on the federal government’s immigration crackdown in the state.
Speaking to the press is not illegal for federal judges, although it is rare. None of the judges mentioned ongoing cases in the article.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Schlitz, a George W. Bush appointee, talked to the Times for 90 minutes. He told the paper the administration’s disregard of court orders in its immigration actions in Minnesota threatens the rule of law.
Schlitz even gave the administration the benefit of the doubt, saying he believed that most of the violations of his court orders were due to incompetence rather than intentional defiance.
Blanche has asked the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to investigate the judges, and demanded that they recuse themselves from every case involving the Department of Homeland Security. That would bring federal court proceedings in Minnesota to a standstill, which appears to be the goal.
Nancy Pelosi and her husband can sleep easy tonight.
A bill to ban members of Congress from trading stocks has stalled in the Senate after passing the House in July. The Stop Insider Trading Act would ban lawmakers and their families from buying new individual stocks, but Republican leadership attached a voter ID requirement that has killed its chances of moving forward.
The bill would ban only new purchases, allowing members to keep the stocks they already own and sell them whenever they want. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said the proposal is too weak.
House Republicans also tacked on a provision from the SAVE America Act, which would require photo identification to vote in federal elections. The bill has repeatedly failed to pass on its own, so Republicans bundled it with a measure that polls at over 80 percent approval.
Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez, a New Mexico Democrat, called the bill “a Trojan horse carrying the SAVE Act provisions in it.” A separate Senate version of the bill is currently being drafted, but it has not moved forward.
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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Sanctions Against Trump Over Collusive IRS Lawsuit. A federal appeals court is upholding sanctions against Trump’s lawyers after the president tried to steer $1.776 billion in taxpayer money to his allies. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled that Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS was filed for an improper purpose and that the settlement he reached with his own Justice Department had no basis in fact or law. The deal created a $1.776 billion fund for Trump allies and protected Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization from future IRS tax audits.
** DOJ Goes 0-26 in Voter Roll Grab After Georgia Judge Rejects Demand.** A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Justice Department has no right to Georgia’s unredacted statewide voter registration list, handing the department its 26th straight loss in its bid to access sensitive voting records. U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert dismissed a lawsuit brought by the DOJ against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. He had been ordered to turn over the entire voter roll including people’s voting history, driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, and full dates of birth. Georgia was one of 30 states and Washington, D.C. that the DOJ sued to obtain unredacted voter rolls, and so far, no federal court has ruled in the DOJ’s favor.
** New California Law Gives Incarcerated Firefighters a Path to Cal Fire Jobs.** Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 2483, which will standardize the credentials that incarcerated firefighters receive when they leave prison and give them priority in hiring for certain entry-level positions at Cal Fire. Incarcerated firefighters account for almost half the emergency hours spent fighting California’s wildfires, but many have found it hard to get firefighting jobs when they get out. By 2028, those credentials will match what Cal Fire actually needs to hire someone, opening a pathway to six-figure incomes and state pensions.
** California Bans Child Marriage After Nine Years of Advocacy.** Gov. Gavin Newsom also signed Assembly Bill 1267 on Wednesday, banning marriages for anyone under 18 in California starting Jan. 1. The state had allowed minors to marry with parental consent and a court order, and the push to close that loophole has taken nine years of lobbying. Similar legislation stalled in committee in 2023 and failed in 2018 after the American Civil Liberties Union raised objections. California is the 18th state to ban the practice altogether. Newsom signed the bill with child advocate Courtney Stodden, who in 2011 married a 50-year-old actor at age 16. Stodden has described the relationship as “predatory” and “abusive.”