Against Crony Capitalism Friday Edition

Kamala honeymoon ends (sort of), You pay for Chinese R&D, Who spends the most on lobbying?, Brazilian Darth Vader

So, Trump about steady, Kamala looks like she just saw her first half tick down in voter sentiment post coronation (post taped ABC interview). The official spin from corporate media is that even though the interview was meh, that’s actually a good thing.

The ABC interview was basically the equivalent of Alabama playing Sam Houston or UL- Monroe in the first football game of the season. Just - don’t - f -up. Get out of the blocks with some momentum. It appears, though slight, that she actually diminished the momentum she had.

This is to be expected though given the month long pep rally the corporate media has given her.

I have yet to see one unflattering picture of Kamala from a legacy media outlet.

That is one of the most telling phenomena in American politics. If one is a Democrat and the legacy media is running pictures of you smiling and generally looking good, you’re probably cruising along. On the other hand if they start running pictures of you looking stupid or confused, then you are probably in trouble, think Biden, Menendez, even Bill Clinton.

Trump hasn’t had a flattering picture (with the exception of the one right after getting shot) in a mainstream outlet since probably 2012. But hey, that’s the game, especially for Trump. Look, at this point the bronzer is part of his brand.

Also this week Mark Zuckerberg apologized for folding on free speech and bending a knee to the Biden administration. The censorship at Facebook during the Covid era was “wrong” he explained. And he really really really won’t ever do it again.

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The American taxpayer funded the R&D (through NASA, DOD, other agenecies) for over 1000 patents that benefited Chinese companies

Among the patents listed were 197 in the pharmaceutical sector and 154 in biotechnologies, which are both highly strategic fields for both the U.S. and China, according to patent data reviewed by Reuters. It wasn’t clear whether the patents were shared by U.S. entities or other individuals.