Tootfinder

DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg, Senator Amy Klobuchar, News / Media Alliance CEO Danielle Coffey, and others criticize the US v. Google ruling as too lenient (Jay Peters/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/769738/google-doj-antitrust-remedies-ruling-cr…

Google critics think the search remedies ruling is a total whiff
Google critics aren’t happy with the remedies ruling handed down in the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against the company.

In a letter to NYT leadership, ~50 unionized culture staffers express shock and concern over the reassignment of critics, as the section shifts toward video (Max Tani/Semafor)
https://www.semafor.com/article/08/03/2025/a-new-new-york-times-c…

New New York Times culture section edges toward video
The paper moved four of its critics around the newsroom as it rethinks its critical voice.

Congratulations, UK, you’ve won the Orwell award.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/02/uk-mps-vote-to-proscribe-palestine-action-as-terrorist-group

OpenAI sent subpoenas to AI governance nonprofits Encode and CANI, alleging they are part of a conspiracy involving Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and others (Emily Shugerman/The San Francisco Standard)
https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/02/openai-sam-altman-elon-musk-a…

OpenAI thinks its critics are funded by billionaires. Now it’s going after them
The multibillion-dollar AI giant thinks it's critics are part of a billionaire conspiracy. We examined the evidence

It’s true that my fellow students are embracing AI – but this is what the critics aren’t seeing https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/29/students-ai-critics-chatgpt-covid-education-system?CMP=Sh…

White House has no plan to mandate IVF care, despite campaign pledge
The White House does not plan to require health insurers to provide coverage for in vitro fertilization services,
two people with knowledge of internal discussions said,
even though the idea was one of Donald Trump’s key campaign pledges.

Last year, Trump said that if he returned to office, the government would either pay for IVF services or issue rules requiring insurance companies to cover treatme…

White House has no plan to mandate IVF care, despite campaign pledge
President Donald Trump has said he wants a “baby boom,” but critics say his administration has yet to make significant family policy changes — and that Medicaid cuts will hurt.

Raiders' Geno Smith goes off on critics of youth football game controversy https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/news/raiders-geno-smith-goes-critics-youth-football-ga…

Renewables, carbon and the energy crisis.
Based on a longer, fully referenced pamphlet, jointly published by @… and us available at link in article.
Right-wing critics largely deny the impact of fossil fuels on emissions, and therefore on the future prospects for humanity, but the net zero lobby is pursuing strategies that are inadequate a…

Renewables, carbon and the energy crisis
Article originally published at North West Bylines, 31 July, 2025 Based on a longer, fully referenced pamphlet, jointly published by Steady State Manchester and DegrowthUK available HERE Renewables…

If we truly want net zero, then the only way forward is down
Based on a longer, fully referenced pamphlet, jointly published by us and @… available at link in article.
Right-wing critics largely deny the impact of fossil fuels on emissions, and therefore on the future prospects for humanity, but the net zero lobby is pursuing strategies that are i…

Renewables, carbon and the energy crisis
Article originally published at North West Bylines, 31 July, 2025 Based on a longer, fully referenced pamphlet, jointly published by Steady State Manchester and DegrowthUK available HERE Renewables…

“They’re sacrificing the moral center of Harvard Divinity School,” #Gaza #Palestine #Harvard

How a Harvard initiative on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict collapsed amid antisemitism claims
Former staff of Harvard Divinity School's Religion and Public Life program say it encouraged a healthy dialogue, but critics accused it of antisemitism.

Inter(sectional) Alia(s): Ambiguity in Voice Agent Identity via Intersectional Japanese Self-Referents
Takao Fujii, Katie Seaborn, Madeleine Steeds, Jun Kato
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.01998

Inter(sectional) Alia(s): Ambiguity in Voice Agent Identity via Intersectional Japanese Self-Referents
Conversational agents that mimic people have raised questions about the ethics of anthropomorphizing machines with human social identity cues. Critics have also questioned assumptions of identity neutrality in humanlike agents. Recent work has revealed that intersectional Japanese pronouns can elicit complex and sometimes evasive impressions of agent identity. Yet, the role of other "neutral" non-pronominal self-referents (NPSR) and voice as a socially expressive medium remains unexplored. In a…

House GOP fiscal hawks demand big changes to megabill
Members of the House Freedom Caucus were expected to meet with the president this morning.
Earlier, caucus chairman Andy Harris earlier told CNN:
"I’m still voting no on the rule. We have to get this thing right."
And Texas representative Chip Roy, among the most vocal critics of the Senate’s version of the bill,
said that he and many other conservatives remain opposed to the bill and still want maj…

How the Bloomberg podcast Odd Lots, hosted by Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, has attracted a wide audience by offering in-depth analysis of economic trends (Benjamin Wallace/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/bu…

Capitalists Love This Podcast. So Do Their Critics.
“Odd Lots” goes deep on lentils in Saskatchewan, the global tractor supply and trucking markets. Is it the skeleton key to understanding this strange economic moment?

Families and funeral directors are using AI obituary generators to memorialize the dead, as critics worry about AI's impact on how people remember one another (Drew Harwell/Washington Post)

The rise of AI tools that write about you when you die
Families and funeral directors are using AI obituary generators to more efficiently memorialize the dead. What happens when they get it wrong?

How do you do EIGHTEEN American road trip books and still not include John Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie"?!?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/books/best-road-trip-books.html

Love Jack Kerouac? Read These Great American Road Trip Books Next.
Come along for the ride as our three critics back-seat drive their way through America. (Rest stops provided.)

'Hell No,' Say Critics as Trump's Megabill Poised to Drastically Expand ICE's Dragnet | Common Dreams
https://www.commondreams.org/news/ice-funding-megabill

Since November 2024, Serbia had a sharp rise in attacks on journalists amid political unrest, including 23 physical assaults and 128 total attacks and threats (Attila Mong/Committee to Protect Journalists)
https://cpj.org/2025/06/alarming-escal

Alarming escalation in attacks on journalists amid political crisis in Serbia - Committee to Protect Journalists
Berlin, June 3, 2025—What journalists called a “witch hunt” atmosphere against government critics in Serbia one year ago has since escalated into a rise in attacks and threats against the press, following a deadly railway station collapse in November 2024 that triggered a widespread anti-corruption movement. Initial protests demanding accountability for the tragedy have turned...

Jets CB expected critics over record-setting deal: ‘I’m Sauce. I mean that in the most humble way.’ https://www.nfl.com/news/jets-cb-expected-critics-over-record-setting-deal-i-m-sauce-i-mean-that-in-the-most-humble-way…

🧂 Private financing for Argentina’s lithium is anything but green, critics say
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/private-financing-for-argentinas-lithium-is-anything-but-green-critics-say/

Private financing for Argentina’s lithium is anything but green, critics say
Argentina has the second-largest reserves of lithium in the world, at around 22 million tons. As battery technology advances and global demand for the mineral grows, the country is trying to position itself as a global hub for renewable energy generation. Corporations and banks have heralded a wave of “green” policies aimed at accelerating the […]

The vocal right-wing critics are largely denying the impact of fossil fuels on emissions, and therefore on the future prospects for humanity, but the net zero lobby is pursuing strategies that are inadequate and simplistic. If we truly want net zero, then the only way forward is down, with far less overall energy use and less complex technology.
Renewables, carbon and the energy crisis

Renewables, carbon and the energy crisis
The road towards a viable net-zero world is long and full of obstacles, but all economies need to reduce their carbon footprint

Trump Targets Agencies Long Seen as Above Politics. Critics See Big Risks. (Luke Broadwater/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/us/politics/trump-firings-cdc-fed.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/250829/p6#a250829p6

"On July 9th, two days after the woman was flung from the ICE SUV, [SF Mayor Daniel] Lurie posted a video to Instagram promoting a new [Labubu] store in Union Square...The timing of the announcement was panned, with nearly every comment under the post questioning Lurie over the ICE raids." #sfPol

San Francisco Protestors Slam Mayor for Tepid Response to ICE Raids
Critics say the mayor and SFPD are policing protestors while protecting federal immigration agents in a city that celebrates its sanctuary status.

Renewables, carbon and the energy crisis.
Based on a longer, fully referenced pamphlet, jointly published by @… and @… available at link in article.
Right-wing critics largely deny the impact of fossil fuels…

Renewables, carbon and the energy crisis
Article originally published at North West Bylines, 31 July, 2025 Based on a longer, fully referenced pamphlet, jointly published by Steady State Manchester and DegrowthUK available HERE Renewables…

Cowboys Embattled Backup QB Torches His Haters With 8-Word Burn https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/joe-milton-critics-throwing/?adt_ei=[email]

Trump's government reduction program is paying more than 154,000 federal employees
💥 not to work
-- a side effect of the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program,
according to two administration officials.

The number, which has not been previously reported, accounts for workers at dozens of agencies
who took offers from the government as of June
to get paid through Sept. 30
— the end of the fiscal year
— or the end of 2025
a…

The federal government is paying more than 154,000 people not to work
Early resignation offers and other programs have reduced the workforce, but critics say the moves are also wasting money.

“It is a cruel joke that taxpayers who could never dream of sending their own kids to such superbly well-resourced schools are indirectly subsidising those that can,” said Matthew Wade, a sociologist at La Trobe University who has studied the scheme for years.
“We should all be offended by witnessing something so manifestly unfair continue unabated.”

Cowboys' Joe Milton claps back at critics of his throwing style, reveals area of improvement

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cowboys…

Wow "individualised pricing", such fun. I guess this boils down to: what's the most we can charge you, personally, based on what dirt we have on you:
https://

The death of the review? Cultural criticism is at risk of erasure
Recent announcements at major publications have seen critics losing their positions, an ongoing shift that we should all be alarmed by https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/a

Google warns that the DMA is hampering innovation for EU users, asks regulators for more detailed guidance and critics to provide evidence to prove their case (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boa

🥼 Student loan caps might worsen the national doctor shortage, critics say
#politics

Student loan caps might worsen the national doctor shortage, critics say
Twenty-eight-year-old Michaela Bonner has been working 12-hour shifts as an emergency medical technician in Norfolk, Virginia, for the past four years, while attending and paying for college to finish her prerequisites for medical school.

Lame Sean Duffy Tries Giving Trump Credit For Biden's Trains | Crooks and Liars
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/08/critics-bring-receipts-when-duffy-gives

Trump does stuff like this often.
Either he has no clue how percentages work or he is counting on his supporters to have no clue. Either way, levels of stupidness 'never seen before' as Trump would say.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trum

'Not How Numbers Work': Critics School Trump After Baffling New Claim
The president bragged about reducing drug prices — except his numbers are way, way off.

Wyden asks White House to scrutinize UK surveillance laws https://therecord.media/wyden-asks-white-house-scrutinize-uk-surveillance-laws-apple

After criticism, Senator Marsha Blackburn backs off her own AI provision compromise, saying "we can't block states from making laws that protect their citizens" (Kate Knibbs/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-moratorium-trump-megabill-blackburn…

Senator Blackburn Pulls Support for AI Moratorium in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Amid Backlash
After critics called the bill a “get-out-jail-free-card” for Big Tech that could make it nearly impossible to rein in social media platforms, Senator Marsha Blackburn killed her own compromise.

A classic. Reporter fails to pay attention to what the nimbys actually say.
Reporter: Critics fear that [very modest] upzone won't produce "housing that is actually affordable for county residents"
Then quotes critic who fears it will "just provide more affordably priced rental units"
https://…

UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle addressed his critics head-on at Google Cloud London today.
https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2025/peter-kyle-addresses-big-tech-criticisms

Peter Kyle addresses Big Tech criticisms at Google Cloud London
UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle addressed his critics head-on at Google Cloud London today.

"Brazil passes ‘devastation bill’ that drastically weakens environmental law"
#Brazil #Environment #Deforestation

Here’s the key point: Trump’s corruption of justice isn’t just individual; it’s categorical. We have grown accustomed to him rewarding his loyalists and punishing his critics. That he fired the prosecutors who worked on his federal criminal cases while pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters represents a textbook case of individual favoritism.
The Trump administration’s abuse of the civil rights division is something else entirely. It had already initiated a “litigation freeze” on filing new civil rights cases, and it had indicated that it was even going to reconsider previous settlements and consent decrees intended to address police misconduct.
...
Civil rights laws are designed in part to protect innocent citizens — including, of course, innocent citizens from minority communities — from unjust government officials. Here, the legal world is turned upside down. The Justice Department is using its civil rights division to protect an unjust government official who violated the civil rights of an innocent individual.
#USPolitics
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/opinion/dillon-taylor-justice-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.X08.0DWy.hF58YNdciy3A&smid=url-share

The latest casualty of Donald Trump’s efforts to silence media criticism is Eduardo Porter, one of the most thoughtful and intelligent critics of his heinous regime.
On Tuesday, Porter wrote his last column for the Washington Post.
In a widely circulated email, he explained why he was leaving the Post:
"Jeff Bezos and his new head of Opinion are taking the paper down a path I cannot follow, directed toward the relentless promotion of free markets and personal liberties…

In an internal memo, NYT's culture editor says four critics, including long-time music critic Jon Pareles, will be reassigned as the section seeks new voices (Todd Spangler/Variety)
https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/new-y

NY Times Reassigns Four Critics in Culture Desk Shake-Up
Four New York Times critics -- Margaret Lyons, Jon Pareles, Jesse Green and Zach Woolfe -- will be assigned 'new roles' as the paper changes up its culture desk coverage.

Jerry Jones brutal revelation about his idea of Micah Parsons with the Cowboys https://bolavip.com/en/nfl/jerry-jones-brutal-revelation-about-his-idea-of-micah-parsons-with-the-cowboys

Brock Purdy contract: George Kittle defends 49ers QB after critics question five-year, $265 million deal

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/brock-p

LLMs as Architects and Critics for Multi-Source Opinion Summarization
Anuj Attri, Arnav Attri, Pushpak Bhattacharyya, Suman Banerjee, Amey Patil, Muthusamy Chelliah, Nikesh Garera
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04751

LLMs as Architects and Critics for Multi-Source Opinion Summarization
Multi-source Opinion Summarization (M-OS) extends beyond traditional opinion summarization by incorporating additional sources of product metadata such as descriptions, key features, specifications, and ratings, alongside reviews. This integration results in comprehensive summaries that capture both subjective opinions and objective product attributes essential for informed decision-making. While Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown significant success in various Natural Language Processing …

How AI has transformed data center design, with concerns about overspending on AI infrastructure, sparked by DeepSeek, fading amid the ongoing building frenzy (Financial Times)
https://ig.ft.com/ai-data-centres/

Inside the relentless race for AI capacity
The quest for superintelligence is spurring a data centre boom — but critics question the cost, environmental impact and whether it is all needed

Trump has vehemently denied that he is a racist,
pointing to a modest increase in supportamong African American voters in last year’s election, when his opponent was a Black woman.
But critics suggest that his effort to oust Lisa Cook fits a pattern of purging diverse voices from the higher ranks of leadership.
“He chose to fire her out of all the governors because she’s a Black woman,”
said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the organisation Black Voters Matter.
“H…

HM Govt is flushing another **fourteen billion pounds** down the toilet that is Sizewell C, a plant which will certainly never generate a kilowatt hour of unsubsidised electricity, probably never generate a kilowatt hour of needed electricity, and certainly cost our descendants far more to decommission than it costs us to build.
At the same time as stealing money from tidal and wave installations we urgently need.

Sizewell C nuclear plant gets £14.2bn government investment
The chancellor calls it a "landmark decision" but critics say the cost of the project is still unclear.

Cultural criticism is at risk of erasure, as the Chicago Tribune cut its film critic job, VF fired its film critic, and the NYT reassigned four arts critics (Jesse Hassenger/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/aug/26/movie-reviews-c…

I spotted this '100 best movies of all time' (maybe most popular/influential, see how they chose them) list via Empire, some I agree with, some I'm disturbed by. Now I can't stop thinking about it. Check the list, agree/disagree? What would YOUR top ones be? I'm gonna throw mine together and see what I get. Can I even come up with 100 that are WORTHY? 😂

The 100 Best Movies Of All Time — And Where You Can Watch Them
Explore Empire's top 100 best movies, ranked by our critics. From blockbusters to cult classics, see what made the list and what you need to watch now!

It's mostly posturing . Shale gas won't be economically viable and will meet huge opposition from communities.
Get ready for fracking, Reform UK tells energy firms - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74172wlezwo

Get ready for fracking, Reform UK tells energy firms
The party is serious about going after shale gas - but critics argue it's too difficult and costly.

"Donald Trump Jr. tweeted in July 2023, "Show us all the Epstein client list now!!! Why would anyone protect those scum bags? Ask yourselves this question daily and the answer becomes very apparent!!"
Critics Bring Receipts As Don Jr Tries To Defend Dad Over WSJ Story | Crooks and Liars
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/07/critics-bring-receipts-don-jr-tries-defend

Cowboys Critics Are Overlooking 1 Strength in the Team https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/cowboys-critics-are-overlooking-1-strength/?adt_ei=[email]

GOP wants to cut waste. Critics say SNAP exemption could do opposite. (Mariana Alfaro/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/20/snap-tax-law-error-rate/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250720/p7#a250720p7

WATCH: Joe Flacco's kids roast dad, unimpressed with Super Bowl MVP honors, career résumé

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/watch-joe-flacc…

The NYT appoints Ligaya Mishan and Tejal Rao as co-chief restaurant critics, part of an effort to expand starred restaurant reviews across the US, not just NYC (Katie Robertson/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/business/medi…

New York Times Names Ligaya Mishan and Tejal Rao as Co-Chief Restaurant Critics
The pair, Ligaya Mishan and Tejal Rao, are part of an effort to expand starred restaurant reviews across the country, the company said.

UK would rather arrest almost 500 people rather than admit or cease its complicity in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.
So I guess the next step is a 5,000-person protest.
They arrest 5,000? Time for 50,000.
Overwhelm the system until the system stops committing genocide.

UK police arrest at least 466 people at Palestine Action protest in London
Critics say ban on activist group stifles freedom of speech and assembly and aims to curb pro-Palestine demonstrations.

PragerU: 'This is hell': Critics pounce on White House's 'preferred alternative' to PBS in schools - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/prageru-in-schools-critics-hell/

‘This is big blissful entertainment’: global film critics on the one movie that defines their country https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/10/world-cinema-tie-xi-qu-wild-tales-nairobi-half-life-lagaan?CM…

"Ed Miliband says Labour will ‘win fight’ against UK net zero critics"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #NetZero #Climate

An Attack on the Medical Establishment Buried in an 1,800-Page Regulation
If approved, a new rule could end the entrenched pay advantages for specialists like surgeons over other doctors.
An A.M.A. committee determines the difficulty and time demands of each type of medical visit, test and procedure -- and then recommends to Medicare how much doctors should be paid for performing them.
For decades, critics have complained that this process unfairly rewards surgeons and othe…

An Attack on the Medical Establishment Buried in an 1,800-Page Regulation
If approved, a new rule could end the entrenched pay advantages for specialists like surgeons over other doctors.

Critics of Trump's presidential library fundraising say "there are no rules" (Madeleine May/CBS News)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-presidential-library-fundraising/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250716/p81#a250716p81

The Associated Press plans to end its weekly book reviews, beginning September 1, citing low audience engagement, but will continue to cover books as stories (Dan Kennedy/Media Nation)
https://dankennedy.net/2025/08/08/the-associa…

The Associated Press tells its book critics that it’s ending weekly reviews
Terrible news from The Associated Press. Media Nation correspondent J.A. passes along this note from Anthony McCartney, the AP’s global entertainment and lifestyle editor. AP to end its weekl…

Some wear balaclavas. Some wearneck gators, sunglasses and hats. Some wear masks and casual clothes.
Across the country, armed federal immigration officers have increasingly hidden their identities while carrying out immigration raids, arresting protesters and roughing upprominent Democratic critics.
It’s a trend that has sparked alarm among civil rights and law enforcement experts alike.
Mike German, a former FBIagent, said officers’ widespread use of masks was unprecedent…

Trump critics under investigation, but Patel says "no retributive actions"
https://www.axios.com/2025/08/23/fbi-probes-trumps-political-enemies

"Labour housing plans could destroy 215,000 hectares of nature in England, analysis shows"
#UK #UnitedKingdom #Nature

Critics say tokenization, led by Robinhood, could undermine securities law and investor protections that have made the US financial system the envy of the world (Alan Suderman/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/crypto-robinhood-o…

How music criticism lost its edge: since the 2010s, outlets like Pitchfork have abandoned extremely low scores, and critics face harassment for negative reviews (Kelefa Sanneh/New Yorker)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/01/how-music-…

How Music Criticism Lost Its Edge
Reviews of rock, pop, and other music have generally become more positive, Kelefa Sanneh writes, looking at outlets including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, the Village Voice, and YouTube.

Russia orders that state-backed messenger app MAX, which critics say could be used to track users, must be pre-installed on phones and tablets from next month (Andrew Osborn/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/technology/russia-

The US government is blatantly misrepresenting events captured on video
in an effort to intimidate powerful officials and ordinary citizens who seek to challenge the White House’s policies.
Alec Karakatsanis, the founder of Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, argued:
👉 “By relentlessly telling the population that ‘two plus two equals five’, it helps determine who is willing to go along with ‘two plus two equals five’ and deny basic truths.
“It’s also…

"If you speak against me, I'm coming to your home. If you speak against me, you may end up in jail. If you speak against me, you're going to incur millions of dollars in legal fees, so keep your mouth shut.”
"If you're a university and you teach things I don't like, I'm going to take your funding,” "
**Worst-case scenario' unfolding as Trump sends new 'message' to critics: legal expert** - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-retribution-2673910670/

Jets' Gardner defends deal: 'There ain't no roof' https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45798647/jets-sauce-gardner-defends-record-setting-contract-extension

UnitedHealth's Campaign to Quiet Critics (David Enrich/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/business/unitedhealth-insurance-criticism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V08.FBF6.C3sYCNsGliJe&smid=url-share
http://www.memeorandum.com/250712/p51#a250712p51

Google releases a study saying a median Gemini text prompt uses 0.26mm of water and makes ~0.03g CO2; critics call it misleading for omitting indirect water use (Justine Calma/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/report/763080/google-ai-gemini-water-energy…

Google says a typical AI text prompt only uses 5 drops of water — experts say that’s misleading
Google estimates that a Gemini text prompt uses a minimal amount of water and energy, but experts say the study paints an incomplete picture of AI’s environmental toll.

AP is ending its weekly book reviews, beginning Sept. 1.
This was a difficult decision but one made after a thorough review of AP’s story offerings
and what is being most read on our website and mobile apps as well as what customers are using.
Unfortunately, the audience for book reviews is relatively low and we can no longer sustain the time it takes to plan, coordinate, write and edit reviews.
AP will continue covering books as stories, but at the moment those will …

The Associated Press tells its book critics that it’s ending weekly reviews
Terrible news from The Associated Press. Media Nation correspondent J.A. passes along this note from Anthony McCartney, the AP’s global entertainment and lifestyle editor. AP to end its weekl…

Court’s gender-affirming care ruling will impair all sex-based rights, say critics | US supreme court | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/18/supreme-court-gender-affirming-care-decision

As Trump contemplates direct US participation in Israel’s war with Iran,
including the possible use of “bunker buster” bombs on the heavily fortified Fordo uranium enrichment site,
William Kristol has made it known that he still has that hawk in him.
“You’ve got to go to war with the president you have,” he told The New York Times on Wednesday.
“If you really think that Iran can’t have nuclear weapons, we have a chance to try to finish the job.”
In a series o…

Those Sometimes-Trump Neocons Are Returning to the Fold Over Iran
As the president backs Israel’s long-awaited war with Iran, his neoconservative critics find themselves in an awkward position.

'The grift never ends': Critics blast Trump over 'cheap Chinese android device' - Alternet.org
https://www.alternet.org/donald-trump-2672385937/

Trump’s sudden announcement Saturday night that he bombed three Iranian nuclear sites has Republican skeptics of U.S. military action against Iran largely falling in line.
The prospect of strikes against Iran had sparked backlash from Democrats and days of infighting within Trump’s MAGA coalition
But after the president posted on Truth Social that the U.S. has bombed Iran,
several GOP critics cheered the strikes as a "limited action".
Several top Democrats …

Critics rip Biden 'autopen' investigator for using autopen - Alternet.org
https://www.alternet.org/trump-biden-autopen/

The first amendment is measurably under attack in ways it has not been since the presidency of Richard Nixon.
A double standard has also emerged:
if you protest, criticize, or publicly object to the president’s agenda, you’re a target.
Katherine Jacobsen, the project coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the US, Canada and Caribbean region, said:
“The thing with the first amendment and free speech in general is that you have to respect everyone’s rig…

CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert condemns parent company Paramount Global settling President Trump's lawsuit over a 60 Minutes story as a "big fat bribe" (David Bauder/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/colbert-ste

The Paramount comics, Colbert and Stewart, are sharp critics of the '60 Minutes' deal
Stephen Colbert returned from vacation loaded for bear. The CBS late-night comic referred to the settlement between his parent company, Paramount Global, and President Donald Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview as a “big, fat bribe.” The deal was made while Paramount is awaiting Trump administration approval of its sale to Skydance Media. Colbert's comments on his show Monday came a week after Jon Stewart of Comedy Central, another Paramount-owned company

As the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt has done little to uphold his organization’s claims to fight antisemitism
as the “leading anti-hate organization in the world.”
Instead, he’s shored up the ADL’s role as little more than a fierce pro-Israel lobby group known for defending Israel by attacking its critics.
With no sense of irony, much of this effort manifests as defamatory speech
— at least in the everyday, if not the legal, sense
— by…

MIT Student Condemned Genocide — So ADL Chief Said She Helped Cause Boulder Attack
Jonathan Greenblatt accused commencement speakers of spreading antisemitic lies — and suggested they’re responsible for violent attacks.

'What kind of idiots work for this moron': Critics stunned by Putin/Trump security breach - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-security-breach/

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, emboldened by his Trump administration ties, is cracking down on journalists along with dissenting lawyers and activists (Samantha Schmidt/Washington Post)

Bukele, emboldened by Trump, is arresting prominent critics
While the Trump administration deepens ties with El Salvador, its millennial president is cracking down on dissenting lawyers, activists and journalists.

Key to whether Trump can tilt America decisively into authoritarianism will be his efforts to assert control over the armed forces.
“Trump’s ramping up of the effort to politicize the military can still go in multiple directions,” Levitsky said.
“It could be really ugly and bad, because the only way that you can get from where we are to real authoritarianism like Nicaragua or Venezuela or Russia is if Trump has the military and security forces on his side,
and he’s taken s…

A succession of opposition politicians, including Alex Padilla, a US senator, are handcuffed and arrested by heavy-handed law enforcement for little more than questioning authority or voicing dissent.
A judge is arrested in her own courthouse and charged with helping a defendant evade arrest.
Masked snatch squads arrest and spirit people away in public in what seem to be consciously intimidating scenes.
The president deploys the military on a dubious legal premise to confro…

""A great and very successful day in Alaska!" Trump began. "The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO.""
'Self-own of embarrassing proportions': Critics mock Trump's failed summit spin - Alternet.org
https://www.alternet.org/trump-failed-summit/

Just six months after he regained power, in part by promising to rapidly reduce prices, Trump has presided over the chaotic rollout of tariffs on an array of overseas products that many have argued risk having the exact opposite effect.
After a lull, the consumer price index (CPI) is back on the rise. In June, everything from fruit and washing machines to dresses and toys became more expensive.
Businesses in the US and around the world have struggled to keep up with the Trump adm…

Donald Trump has repeatedly encouraged or defended violent attacks on Democrats and political critics.
As just a few examples:
— In 2015, during Trump’s first primary campaign, white attendees at one of his campaign rallies tackled and beat a Black protestor.
Trump approved of the attack, telling Fox News,
“Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.”
— In 2018, Trump praised then-US Rep. Greg Gianforte for physi…

MAGA political violence claims more victims
Trump’s movement relies on terror.

UnitedHealth’s Campaign to Quiet Critics - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/business/unitedhealth-insurance-criticism.html

Trump’s federal forces are ‘hitting the streets’ of DC while critics claim takeover is attempted distraction from the ‘Epstein files’ | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-federalize-dc-police-national-guard-epstein-files-b2805849.html

The Trump administration on Monday took another step to make it harder to find major, legally mandated scientific assessments of how climate change is endangering the nation and its people.
Earlier this month, the official government websites that hosted the authoritative, peer-reviewed national climate assessments went dark.
Such sites tell state and local governments and the public what to expect in their backyards from a warming world and how best to adapt to it.
At the …

NASA website won't publish major climate change reports
The Trump administration has made it harder for people, local and state governments to find critical climate change reports. On Monday, NASA announced it would not host the National Climate Assessments, reversing earlier plans. These reports detail climate impacts across the U.S. and were previously available on government websites that went offline earlier this month. NASA stated it has no legal obligation to host the data. Critics, including scientists, accuse the administration of trying to …

In recent months, UnitedHealth has targeted traditional journalists and news outlets, a prominent investor, a Texas doctor and activists like Ms. Strause and her father, who complained about a UnitedHealth subsidiary.
In legal letters and court filings, UnitedHealth has invoked last year’s murder of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of the company’s health insurance division,
to argue that intense criticism of the company risks inciting further violence.

UnitedHealth’s Campaign to Quiet Critics
The company has invoked the murder of an executive last year to complain about coverage in news outlets, on streaming services and on social media.

Trump walked out to a thunderous standing ovation as Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” boomed from the sound system.
He watched martial artists slug it out behind a chain-link fence.
A female champion let the US president try on her gold belt.
It was a night of machismo, spectacle and violence.
Shortly before he joined an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday night,
Trump had signed an order deploying 2,000 national guard troop…

Following Abrego Garcia’s indictment, Ben Schrader, a high-level DOJ official within the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville
(where the charges against Abrego Garcia were filed)
abruptly resigned from his position.
While Schrader, who ran that office’s criminal division, did not explicitly state that he resigned over the charges,
sources told ABC News that his decision was based on concerns that the allegations against Abrego Garcia were politically motivated.
A…

DOJ Official Resigns After Trump Administration Charges Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Critics say the administration’s human trafficking charges against Abrego Garcia should be viewed with skepticism.

Little more than a year ago,
Kristi Noem’s political prospects appeared to be in freefall.
The then South Dakota governor was criss-crossing the country on an ill-fated book tour,
widely seen, at least initially, as an audition to be Donald Trump’s running mate.
Instead, Noem found herself on the defensive – a position Trump never likes to be in – after revealing in her memoir that she had shot the family’s “untrainable” hunting dog,
a 14-month-old wirehair poi…

The State Department formally notified employees on Thursday that it was about to begin layoffs
as part of a consolidation plan that department officials say will reduce bureaucratic bloat
but that critics call a shortsighted blow to American diplomacy.
In an internal message sent to State Department workers on Thursday, Michael J. Rigas, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, said
the department would “soon” begin notifying U.S. employees who are…

State Department to Soon Begin Mass Layoffs
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plan to downsize a “bloated” department had been on hold after a court ruling.

Private market investments, while not technically barred from 401(k) plans, are riskier than publicly traded stocks and bonds.
They have traditionally been seen as unfit for defined contribution plans.
Consumer groups, lawmakers and some investment advisers have raised alarm about the potential harm to everyday investors.
Those concerns have been front and center.
But observers say the private asset industry, which has lobbied hard for the opening, could also expose…

Private Equity in Your 401(k). What Could Go Wrong?
Critics say an executive order that clears the way for alternative assets to enter retirement accounts poses risks to everyday investors. It could also pose some for private fund managers.

Trump sent the National Guard to Los Angeles at a time when state and local officials said they had protests there under control.

The move reflects an increasingly evident pattern of his presidency:
Trump declares an emergency or crisis where many others do not see one,
enabling him to take sweeping actions,
rally supporters and fight on political terrain he finds favorable.

Trump’s declaration of an economic emergency in April enabled sweeping tariffs.
…

For Trump, seizing emergency powers has become central to governing
President Donald Trump has declared emergencies in various areas. He says strong action is needed; critics say the emergencies don’t exist.