Who Gets to Decide What the Public Sees?

On this week’s Purple Political Breakdown, three stories that look unrelated turned out to share one question: who decides what the public sees, and what the public pays for?

A sanctions loophole that buys about nine days of diesel

In 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Congress banned imports of Russian energy so American money would not fund the war. On October 9, after a call with Putin, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License 135. It authorizes transactions tied to the sale and import of Russian-origin diesel through April 7, 2027.

The license is two short paragraphs. It names no volumes, no supplier, no buyer and no vessel. It does not repeal the underlying sanctions, and it does not change the EU or UK bans. Russia’s own export restrictions on diesel are still in place.

The administration’s figure is 4.8 million tons. By Bloomberg Economics’ math, that covers about 9 to 10 days of U.S. diesel demand. Senators from both parties, including Susan Collins, say the license conflicts with the law Congress passed.

The strongest case for it: diesel prices are hurting families and truckers right now. Supporters argue that sanctions which raise costs at home while Russia sells elsewhere anyway are not doing their job, and that the license could be leverage with Moscow.

The nuance most coverage misses: this is less a policy shift than a legal question. Can an executive license override an import ban that Congress wrote into law? Anyone relying on that license for U.S.-bound cargo is carrying that risk.

An execution, livestreamed

Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 at Fort Hood in 2009, is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3. It would be the first military execution since 1961. The Pentagon is weighing whether to livestream it.

The pushback has crossed party lines. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said Hasan should face the death penalty, but that streaming it is “beyond disgusting” and that public executions are what oppressive dictatorships do.

The steel-man for streaming it: if the government carries out the most serious act a state can take, citizens should be able to see it rather than have it happen out of view.

The counterpoint: a livestream does not stay in a witness room. It reaches anyone, including kids, and it turns a legal process into a demonstration of power.

AI robocalls before an election

Federal law generally bans robocalls to cellphones without prior consent. In 2024, after a fake AI Biden voice told New Hampshire voters to skip the primary, the FCC ruled that AI voice-cloned robocalls fall under that ban. Club for Growth is now asking the FCC to allow AI calls to cellphones, capped at three per month with an opt-out. Comments close October 19.

The fair case for it: campaigns already use automated tools, and a monthly cap with an opt-out is a real limit.

The question underneath: is a cap enough when the same tool has already been used to deceive voters?

The thread through all three

The same question shows up in the Deep Dive. A four-person team used AI to build free, open source clones of Photoshop and other paid creative software. Adobe’s terms of use bar reverse engineering, and the legal fight over that is just starting. The more important question is who ends up using this kind of AI better: the people, or the corporations with far more money to point it back at them.

[MY TAKE]
I’ll say it straight. Working with Putin to get nine days of diesel, while breaking a law Congress passed, is a Band-Aid on a wound this administration opened itself, and the only clear winner is Russia. Livestreaming an execution is insane. I don’t care that this man is dying. I care that our government wants to put a killing on the internet where kids can watch it. When a Republican senator calls it what dictatorships do, believe him. On robocalls: if you want to campaign for somebody, pick up the phone yourself. A human being with a soul should be making that call, not a fake voice with fake enthusiasm. And on AI, I’m for anything that closes the gap between the people at the top and everybody else. I’m just not naive about who has the money to turn that same tool against us.

Listen to the full episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pentagon-wants-to-livestream-an-execution-trump-buys/id1626987640?i=1000796484582

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