As the One Big Beautiful Bill bounced around Congress, one provision—the 10-year moratorium on states making laws to regulate artificial intelligence—fell out. But AI-fans don’t need to worry, there’s still plenty of industry support in the bill. 

Guest: Will Oremus, technology news analysis writer for the Washington Post.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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This episode was originally published on April 27, 2025. 

The Trump administration has already begun cutting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the U.S. National Weather Service. What’s the advantage to understanding the weather less?

Guest: Daniel Swain, weather and climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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Under a normal administration, a merger between two large advertising firms might attract the government’s interest for anti-monopoly reasons. Under this one, the Federal Trade Commission is creating conditions to…ensure that X still gets advertiser dollars?

Guest: Kate Conger, technology reporter for the New York Times.

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In addition to the three-dimensional war of bombs and missiles, Iran and Israel—and the US—are squaring off in a cyber battle. With everything from water infrastructure to banking connected to the internet in some way, how much damage can cyberattacks do?  

Guest: Maggie Miller, POLITICO cybersecurity reporter

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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ARC, the data broker owned by the country’s major airlines, has been selling domestic flight data in the US to Customs and Border Protection. But in the contract, they told CBP not to reveal where the data was from… why? 

Guest: Joseph Cox, co-founder of 404 Media and the co-host of the 404 Media Podcast. 

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The Trump administration's anti-immigration campaign has become defined by distasteful memes that gleefully portray the mass deportations being carried out across the country. It’s impossible to ignore… which is exactly what the administration wants. 

Guest: Drew Harwell, tech reporter at the Washington Post.  

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Podcast production by Patrick Fort. 

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A guide to keeping your phone, and your digital life, safe when you’re crossing the border.

Guest: Lily Hay Newman, senior writer for WIRED covering information security.

Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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Elon Musk has ridden off into the sunset acrimoniously (maybe), but the Department of Government Efficiency is just getting started. Will DOGE continue wildly cutting or is something even more chaotic coming next? 

Guest: Makena Kelly, senior writer at WIRED. 

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Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater inherited the government’s antitrust case against Google and is eager to follow it through—but likely not for the same reasons as her predecessors. 

Guest:  Nancy Scola, reporter and contributing writer at POLITICO. 

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One of the goals of DOGE was to get rid of the “silos” that keep government agencies from sharing freely amongst themselves efficiently and instead organize data using tools offered by companies like Palantir. The thing is, a lot of those silos are there by design, and removing them could be a nightmare for privacy advocates. 

Guest: Sheera Frenkel, tech reporter for the New York Times.

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