DOGE, Corrupt Lawmakers, The Swamp & Pareto Rule

DOGE is an existential threat to the swamp - the Swamp's response to the derailed Porkulous spending bill, has been typical Democrat: full of hate and envy, are void of ideas, so they encourage violence and mob rule, until they grab power, then, as Hilary Clinton might say, civility can return.

The keystone of the Democratic Party: Victim, victimization, victimizers oppressor, oppressed. And they have this kind of Marxist binary. And people don’t buy into it, and especially minorities don’t buy it anymore.

According to president-elect Trump’s transition team co-chairman Howard Lutnick, he was the first to propose the Department of Government Efficiency(DOGE) a planned United States presidential advisory commission subsequently announced by president Donald Trump to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy

The Government Accountability Office has identified 37 federal programs that are highly vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement.Of the 37 programs included on the list, 26 have been designated as high-risk for at least 10 years. Five programs have been on the list since its first iteration in 1990.
The 2023 list included three new areas of spending: the federal prison system, the Department of Health and Human Services’ management of public health emergencies, the unemployment insurance system.

The GAO called out five specific areas in particular need of attention: National cybersecurity
Efforts to respond to drug abuse, Federal oversight of food safety, Government liability for environmental cleanup, Managing fiscal risks associated with climate change

The Department of Defense (DoD) is the agency most likely to be called out as inefficient. Five of the 37 programs include DoD in their name; four of those have been on the list since 1995.

We've Met The Enemy:  The Swamp 

Congressional and agency action is required to fix the problems identified by GAO, with many government agencies partially or entirely  responsible to fix the problems.  Yet, organizations like FinCEN continue to rely on new regulations like the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) to go after the little fish - as predicted here the CTA has been stalled due to litigation.  

Congress may be DOGE's Fort Knox.  Yet, if anyone can break though the vault is the Trump-Musk duo.

The dynamic duo is a huuuge target for the  New York Times; "Elon Musk remains perhaps the most consequential figure in President-elect Donald Trump’s orbit, with a commission for cutting government spending headed by him and Vivek Ramaswamy — widely known by its acronym, DOGE — promising huge reductions."

But the federal bureaucracy is not standing still. Federal regulators have become prominent targets for Musk and his allies. But those agencies are continuing to scrutinize the tech billionaire’s interests, raising questions about conflicts, or manufacturing them for that matter.

“The SEC is just another weaponized institution doing political dirty work,” Musk posted on X prompted by an appeals court ruling that Nasdaq can’t require diversity on the boards of companies that list on the exchange. Whereas

Ramaswamy wrote on X of the commission: “When an agency like the SEC is so repeatedly & thoroughly embarrassed in federal court for flouting the law, it loses its legitimacy as a law enforcement body.”

The Criminal Funding Bill Analysis 

Vivek Ramaswamy's analysis

@VivekGRamaswamy

I wanted to read the full 1,500+ page bill & speak with key leaders before forming an opinion. Having done that, here's my view: it's full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO. Keeping the government open until March 14 will cost ~$380BN by itself, but the true cost of this omnibus CR is far greater due to new spending. Renewing the Farm Bill for an extra year: ~$130BN. Disaster relief: $100BN. Stimulus for farmers: $10BN. The Francis Scott Key Bridge replacement: $8BN. The proposal adds at least 65 cents of new spending for every dollar of continued discretionary spending. The legislation will end up hurting many of the people it purports to help. Debt-fueled spending sprees may "feel good" today, but it's like showering cocaine on an addict: it's not compassion, it's cruelty. Farmers will see more land sold to foreign buyers when taxes inevitably rise to meet our obligations. Our children will be saddled with crippling debt. Interest payments will be the largest item in our national budget. Congress has known about this deadline since they created it in late September. There's no reason why this couldn't have gone through the standard process, instead of being rushed to a vote right before Congressmen want to go home for the holidays. The urgency is 100% manufactured & designed to avoid serious public debate.   The bill could have easily been under 20 pages. Instead, there are dozens of unrelated policy items crammed into the 1,547 pages of this bill. There's no legitimate reason for them to be voted on as a package deal by a lame-duck Congress. 72 pages worth of “Pandemic Preparedness and Response” policy; renewal of the much-criticized "Global Engagement Center," a key player in the federal censorship state; 17 different pieces of Commerce legislation; paving the way for a new football stadium in D.C.; a pay raise for Congressmen & Senators and making them eligible for Federal Employee Health Benefits. It's indefensible to ram these measures through at the last second without debate. We're grateful for DOGE's warm reception on Capitol Hill. Nearly everyone agrees we need a smaller & more streamlined federal government, but actions speak louder than words. This is an early test. The bill should fail.

7:42 AM · Dec 18, 2024

The Swamp's response to the derailed spending plan was fast and furios

In sports, if you lose, you go home. In the case of the The Blue Sky Billionaires who predicted a Harris win  & expected a big payout have gone home. Some have left the country:
Oprah, Zuckerberg, Taylor Swift , Robert de Niro, Jay-Z, P-Diddy, LeBron James, Jennifer Lopez,  Tom Hanks, Beyonce, Matt Damon, #ReedHastings, #Netflix co-founder, #ReidHoffman, #LinkedIn cofounder, #GeorgeSoros, #AlexSoros, #MelindaFrenchGates, #SherylSandberg, former #Meta COO, #VinodKhosla, venture capitalist, among others in disguise, like the NYT.
They raised over, $2 billion. lost the election.  DNC is $20 million in debt,  $5000 invoice from nail salon, acolytes in tears and everybody asking:  what happened?

I must add that the BlueSky Billionaires who funded Harris and expected a big payout are $2 billion less rich "Shutting down the government" is euphemism for cutting off the Swamp's drug supply The Blue Sky Billionaires who predicteda Harris win & voted for #KamalaHarris have gone home. Some have left the country: Oprah, Zuckerberg, Taylor Swift , Robert de Niro, Jay-Z, P-Diddy, LeBron James, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Hanks, Beyonce, Matt Damon, #ReedHastings, #Netflix co-founder, #ReidHoffman, #LinkedIn cofounder, #GeorgeSoros, #AlexSoros, #MelindaFrenchGates, #SherylSandberg, former #Meta COO, #VinodKhosla, venture capitalist, among others in disguise, like the NYT They raised over, $2 billion. lost the election. DNC is $20 million in debt, $5000 invoice from nail salon, acolytes in tears and everybody asking: what happened!

DOGE Tools - Pareto Rule

The Pareto principle specifies that 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes, asserting an unequal relationship between inputs and outputs. 

Named after economist Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto Principle serves as a general reminder that the relationship between inputs and outputs is not balanced. The Pareto Principle is also known as the Pareto Rule, the 80/20 Rule, the Law of the vital few and trivial many and the Principle of factor sparsity

Pareto observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by only 20% of the population. He also witnessed this happening with plants in his garden: 20% of his plants were bearing 80% of the fruit.

While the Pareto Rule is not a formal mathematical equation, it is a generalized phenomenon, that can be observed in economics, business, time management, analytics sports, social media, the auto industry, government and so on. In 2009, General Motors painfully discovered the Pareto: The more brands a carmaker has, the more it must spread money around to develop vehicles and market them. As a result, “every brand suffers,” said A. Andrew Shapiro, a managing partner with the Casesa Shapiro Group. “No particular brand or brands can achieve the share of voice that they need.

Ditto for women's handbag vendor Coach in 2016. The leather-goods maker will no longer sell its handbags and purses at some "lower volume" department stores, the company announced. The move comes in response to the brand's perceived diluted appeal to wealthier shoppers amid mass market access.

Other examples of the Pareto principle:

20% of a plant contains 80% of the fruit


80% of a company’s profits come from 20% of customers


20% of players result in 80% of points scored

20% of employees do 80% of the work.  The Pareto Principle applies to Elon Musk’s firing 80% of Twitter’s staff, for example.

According to 2020 Pew Research Study, the Pareto Rule can be applied to social media.  X users follow the Pareto Principle.  20% of X users, mostly Democrat, are responsible for 80% of the content, mostly misinformation-based.

Other examples.

A small percentage of customers (20%) might account for a significant portion (80%) of a company's sales. 

In a hospital setting, a minority of patients (20%) often require the majority (80%) of healthcare resources. 

In portfolio management: 20% of the brands account for 80% of the revenue.

Software Development: A few lines of code (20%) can cause most bugs (80%). 

Personal Productivity: A small number of tasks (20%) might contribute to the majority (80%) of your productivity.

In government the Pareto Rule is known as the Pareto Rule Of Government, or 90-10 ( varies between 90-10 and 95-5) Rule, because the normal distribution is artificially affected by political activity: 10% of government employees do 90% of the work. The rest are parasites and or are saboteurs.

DOGE and the Pareto Rule, a perfect match

While efficiency is something Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswam are extremely familiar with, it's a foreign concept for politicians and demagogues. They talk about transparency.  Talk. For example:

The White House:

 We’re unable to track $6.2 billion dollars sent to Ukraine. 

California: 

We’re unable to track $24 billion dollars spent to combat homelessness. 

Governor Gavin Newsom of California referenced the state's long-standing work on civil service reform. Despite these comments, audits have shown that the state's significant investments in addressing homelessness have not been tracked effectively for outcomes. This comes at a time when California is dealing with a growing budget deficit and high unemployment rates, as reported by various state agencies.

The Pentagon:

 We’re unable to track $2.3 trillion dollars of military spending. 

The U.S. Treasury: 

We’re unable to track $5 trillion dollars of pandemic spending. 

FinCEN; 

We can't catch the Big Fish, so wel go after the little fish:  Corporate Transparency Act.

The IRS: 

We know you sent $601.57 to your friend, you better report it or you’re going to jail. 

DOGE managers can use the Pareto Rule as generic benchmarking to demonstrate to taxpayers abd skeptics that government efficiency is a low-hanging fruit;

Benchmarking

Benchmarking can be used by leaders to convince skeptics that new performance levels can be achieved.

ASQC defines Benchmarking as the process of measuring products, services, and processes against those of organizations known to be leaders in one or more aspects of their operations to gain insights om how your organization compares with similar organizations, even if they are in a different business or have a different group of customers.

Benchmarking can also help organizations identify areas, systems, or processes for improvements—either incremental (continuous) improvements or dramatic (business process re-engineering) improvements. 

Generic benchmarking broadly compares how core processes or functions are practiced in a similar way without regard to the industry to gain a new perspective and way of thinking. The advantage of generic benchmarking is the ability to compare your business to almost any other organization in the worl
Just DOGE It!

Recently Chuck Schumer called for congressional action because federal agencies were depleted, instead of calling for congressional action to stop government waste.  While not rocket science, political science might be Elon Musk's Achilles heel. I would not bet against him.

St John of the Cross' Life Illustrates the Paradox of the Cross

December 14 is feast day of Saint John of the Cross. Reformer, Mystic and Doctor of the Church.

St. John of the Cross OCD (Spanish: born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez; 24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) known as the mystical doctor was a 16th century reformer of the Carmelite way of life. Together with Saint Teresa of Avila, he lived the primitive Rule of their Order, and paid a dear price for his commitment to reform and authentic living: opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He came to know the cross acutely, to experience the dying of Jesus, as he sat month after month in his dark, damp, narrow cell with only his God.




Saint John was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest, Christian mystic, Carmelite friar of Converso ancestry, a major figure of the Counter-Reformation in Spain, and one of the Doctors of the Church.

Saint John of the Cross,known for his writings, was mentored by and corresponded with the older Carmelite nun Teresa of Ávila. Both his poetry and his studies on the development of the soul, particularly his Noche Obscura, are considered the summit of mystical Christian literature and among the greatest works of all Spanish literature. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. In 1926, he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI

 In the darkness of the dungeon, John’s spirit came into the Light. There are many mystics, many poets; John is unique as mystic-poet, expressing in his prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical union with God in the Spiritual Canticle.

As man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced in himself a purifying ascent; as spiritual director, he sensed it in others; as psychologist-theologian, he described and analyzed it in his prose writings. His prose works are outstanding in underscoring the cost of discipleship, the path of union with God: rigorous discipline, abandonment, purification. Uniquely and strongly John underlines the gospel paradox: The cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial to self to union with God. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. John is truly “of the Cross.” 

Saint Lucy, martyred in year 300 for being Christian, not unlike present day Christian Persecution

“We are not a new philosophy but a divine revelation. That’s why you can’t just exterminate us; the more you kill the more we are. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. You praise those who endured pain and death – so long as they aren’t Christians! Your cruelties merely prove our innocence of the crimes you charge against us…Tertullian 

Lucia of Syracuse (c. 283 – 304 AD), also called Saint Lucia. better known as Saint Lucy, was a Roman Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution: The early Christians were persecuted, throughout the Roman Empire. Lucia of Syracuse was honored in the Middle Ages and remained a well-known saint in early modern England. She is one of the best known virgin martyrs, along with Agatha of Sicily, Agnes of Rome, Cecilia of Rome, and Catherine of Alexandria.

St. Lucy was a Sicilian noblewoman. She was blinded, and was also pulled by oxen, covered in pitch, resin, and hot oil, and then died by having her throat cut. She died along many other Christian martyrs under the persecution of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. As Franciscan Media puts it: "One can easily imagine what a young Christian woman had to contend with in pagan Sicily in the year 300. If you have trouble imagining, just glance at today’s pleasure-at-all-costs world and the barriers it presents against leading a good Christian life."

Seven Women Saints stand out and are often venerated during Mass. She is one of the seven explicitly commemorated by Catholics in the Canon of the Mass.

Her traditional feast day, is observed by Western Christians on 13 December.

Originally the Roman Empire was polytheistic and emperors were deified. As Christianity spread through the empire, it came into ideological conflict with the imperial cult of ancient Rome. Pagan practices such as making sacrifices to the deified emperors or other gods were abhorrent to Christians as their beliefs prohibited idolatry. The state, the elites and other members of civic society punished Christians for treason, rumored crimes, illegal assembly, and for introducing an alien cult that led to Roman apostasy. The first, localized Neronian persecution occurred under Emperor Nero (r. 54–68

According to Tacitus, Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64,  which destroyed portions of the city and economically devastated the Roman population.

According to tradition, after her father's death, Eutychia, her mother arranged a marriage for Lucy with a pagan bridegroom, but Lucy urged that the dowry be spent on alms so that she might retain her virginity. Euthychia suggested that the sums would make a good bequest, but Lucy countered, “…whatever you give away at death for the Lord’s sake you give because you cannot take it with you. Give now to the true Savior, while you are healthy, whatever you intended to give away at your death.” News that the patrimony and jewels were being distributed came to the ears of Lucy’s betrothed, who heard from a chattering nurse that Lucy had found a nobler Bridegroom.

Her rejected pagan bridegroom denounced Lucy as a Christian to the magistrate Paschasius, who ordered her to burn a sacrifice to the Emperor’s image. Lucy replied that she had given all that she had: “I offer to him myself, let him do with his offering as it pleaseth him.” Sentenced to be defiled in a brothel, Lucy asserted:

No one’s body is polluted so as to endanger the soul if it has not pleased the mind. If you were to lift my hand to your idol and so make me offer against my will, I would still be guiltless in the sight of the true God, who judges according to the will and knows all things. If now, against my will, you cause me to be polluted, a twofold purity will be gloriously imputed to me. You cannot bend my will to your purpose; whatever you do to my body, that cannot happen to me

During this period, anti-Christian activities were accusatory and not inquisitive. Christians were accused and prosecuted through a process termed cognitio extra ordinem. Trials and punishments varied greatly, and sentences ranged from acquittal to death. Many early Christians were jailed or exiled and some, refusing to renounce their faith, were tortured and killed in public stadiums for all to see.

The names of some of these saints, and specifically seven women are mentioned as part of the First Eucharistic Prayer of the
Mass known as the Roman Canon. The Canon of the Mass is the first of four general eucharistic prayers in the Roman Missal from which the priest may select. More commonly called Eucharistic Prayer 1, it is also known by its former title, “the Roman Canon,” and it served as the only eucharistic prayer in the Roman rite for more than a thousand years. Regarding mentioning the saints, the final seven names listed in the Roman Canon, each Eucharistic Prayer has its own characteristics. Before Pope John XXIII added St. Joseph, the Roman Canon traditionally listed 24 saints (12 apostles and 12 martyrs) in two separate groups.

The full list is:

First: Peter and Paul, Andrew, (James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude [apostles], Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, [5 Popes] Cyprian [bishop of Carthage], Lawrence [deacon], Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian [5 laymen]).


Second: John the Baptist, Stephen [deacon protomartyr], Matthias, Barnabas [apostles], (Ignatius [bishop of Antioch], Alexander [Pope], Marcellinus [priest, Peter [exorcist], Felicity, Perpetua [2 married laywomen of Carthage], Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia [4 virgins], Anastasia [laywoman of Sirmium]).


The final seven names listed in the Roman Canon (the “First Eucharistic Prayer” or “Eucharistic Prayer I”) are women saints of the Church. Sts. Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, and Anastasia are all saints of the Roman Empire in the early Church. Of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary is also mentioned by name in the Roman Canon

Prayer To Saint Lucy

Saint Lucy, you did not hide your light under a basket,
but let it shine for the whole world, for all the centuries to see.
We may not suffer torture in our lives the way you did,
but we are still called to let the light of our Christianity illumine our daily lives.
Please help us to have the courage to bring our Christianity into our work, our recreation, our relationships, our conversation
— every corner of our day.
Amen

St Damasus I, 4th Century Pope, fighting heresies and antipope

Pope Damasus I "an incomparable person, learned in the Scriptures, a virgin doctor of the virgin Church, who loved chastity and heard its praises with pleasure." Saint Jerome 

December 11, feast day of Saint Damasus I, patron saint of archeologists.

As the Catholic Apostolate states "the life of St. Damasus demonstrates that saints are humans who face many crises while performing God's work. When he was elected pope, the election of the an anti-pope Ursinus resulted in armed conflicts. Despite this succession crisis he had to overcome, St. Damasus encouraged St. Jerome to prepare a suitable Latin translation of the Bible, now known as the Vulgate. He also increased devotion to the Roman martyrs by restoring access to their tombs and adding epitaphs, many of which still exist today. St. Damasus also helped combat heresies in the Church and he reconciled some issues with Eastern Churches.

Pope Damasus I was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death in 384. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies, including Apollinarianism and Macedonianism and encouraged production of the Vulgate Bible with his support for his secretary Saint Jerome. He helped reconcile the relations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Antioch, and encouraged the veneration of martyrs.

Saint Jerome devoted a very brief notice to Saint Damasus in his De Viris Illustribus, written after Damasus' death: "he had a fine talent for making verses and published many brief works in heroic metre. He died in the reign of the emperor Theodosius at the age of almost eighty"

The son of a Roman priest, Damasus started as a deacon in his father’s church, and served as a priest in what later became the basilica of San Lorenzo in Rome. He served Pope Liberius (352-366) and followed him into exile.

When Liberius died, Damasus was elected bishop of Rome; but a minority elected and consecrated another deacon, Ursinus, as pope. The controversy between Damasus and the antipope resulted in violent battles in two basilicas, scandalizing the bishops of Italy

During his pontificate, Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman state, and Latin became the principal liturgical language as part of the pope’s reforms. His encouragement of Saint Jerome’s biblical studies led to the Vulgate, the Latin translation of Scripture which 12 centuries later the Council of Trent declared to be “authentic in public readings, disputations, preaching.”


Damasus faced accusations of murder and adultery in his early years as pope, accusations motivated by the conflict with the supporters of Arianism.


Damasus I was active in defending the Catholic Church against the threat of schisms. In two Roman synods (368 and 369) he condemned Apollinarianism and Macedonianism, and sent legates to the First Council of Constantinople that was convoked in 381 to address these heresies.

Prayer to Saint Pope Damasus I

O Saint Damasus, Bishop of Rome
who guided the bark of Peter through difficult waters,
who kept her on the course set for her by the Lord
even as she grew in this world
from a Church of the blood of martyrs
to one entering the light of day,
of acceptance by the city of man.
You who sought so diligently to preserve
the memory of the martyrs
lest it should pass away,
and the Cross of Christ with it,
pray that today, too, the Church will remember its root,
the root of Jesse and His sacrifice,
and that as she grows
our Mother on earth will be well understood
by those called into her walls.
Pray that the martyrs pray for us,
that in their blood we will always find our growth.

Amen.

The Big Pharma Lie & Attack on JFK Jr

Why do you think Big Pharma, the NYT and 75 Nobel laureates are

 Attacking JFK Jr?

According to OpenSecrets, the pharmaceutical and health products industry — including not only drug manufacturers but also dealers of medical products and nutritional and dietary supplements — is consistently near the top of all spenders when it comes to federal campaign contributions and lobbying spending. The industry has had a boon of federal campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures due to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination effort. Drug manufacturers, medical product dealers and those dealing with supplements have spent huge amounts of money to lobby the federal government as its products, like vaccines and new treatments that have been developed in a short period of time, have been used to try and ease the pandemic. (Pharmaceutical manufacturers are a subset of this industry and are profiled in detail within this section).

The industry's political contributions increased in the years leading up to Congress' passage in 2003 of a Medicare prescription drug benefit and soared following passage of the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) in 2010. 

That year also saw contributions to super PACs and other outside spending groups grow, following the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v FEC. Contributions from the pharmaceutical and health products industry jumped in each presidential election cycle since 2012, reaching $89,091,362 in 2020 — a 170% increase from a decade prior

Exhibit A:  NYT aka The Pusher:

Big Pharma Brings out the Big Guns. Like Soros, the NYT with its right hand, covers what its left hand is doing; The Nobel laureates are the same ones who declared people could not travel without a Covid-19 passport- that same hand pushes Ozempic 

The right hand says there's conflict of interest among drug pushers:

NYT: aka the Pusher

And the NYT wants to have it both ways 

Big Pharma Blames the Middleman

Big Pharma Annual Lobbying:  does not disclose quid-pro-quo with doctors or publications, such as the NYT Ozempic subliminal propaganda

Drug Disvovery and Development 

According to Statistica, In 2023, pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca spent over 23 percent of its prescription drug revenues on research and development. In general, big pharmaceutical companies spend around 20 percent of their revenues on research and development.

Big Tech R&D Spending 

R & D World reports In 2023, the world’s top companies invested hefty sums in R&D, with tech giants like Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta leading the pack. Amazon alone poured $85.622 billion into technology and infrastructure, which includes R&D. A significant portion of the company’s investment is fueled by Amazon’s belief that generative AI, while still a small revenue generator today, will ultimately drive tens of billions of dollars of revenue across multiple business segments in the years ahead.


OpenSecrets reported that the number of entities lobbying on issues related to AI boomed in recent years, from single digits a decade ago to 30 in 2017 to 158 last year. Big Tech companies Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., IBM and Meta were among those that reported lobbying on AI issues. Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft spent nearly $69 million lobbying the federal government in 2022.

Reform 230

The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and NetChoice, wo tech industry groups representing several Big Tech companies including Facebook’s parent company, Meta, as well as Twitter and Alphabet Inc., the parent company of YouTube and Google were granted an emergency request for an injunction in NetChoice v. Paxton when the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a Texas law allowing the state’s residents and attorney general to sue social media companies over certain content moderation decisions. The Texas law would prohibit tech platforms from removing or restricting content based on “the viewpoint represented in the user’s expression.”  Texas Republicans passed the law to address perceived liberal bias of social media platforms amid growing concerns about the power of Silicon Valley and a flurry of state and federal legislative activity seeking to regulate Big Tech.   On top of big spending, NetChoice has leveraged the “revolving door” of former government officials, most recently hiring former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) as a lobbyist.

The association has lobbied on a range of topics impacting the tech industry in 2022, including Section 230, copyright issues, online taxation, open internet, broadband deployment, encryption, data portability, skilled immigration and antitrust.