Happy Tuesday! Here’s your final Tuesday Tech Drop of the year, my compilation of top stories from the intersection of technology and politics.
As the year closes, I want to take some time to thank all of the ReidOut Blog readers who have made the past year so successful for us here. I launched the Tuesday Tech Drop as a way to emphasize how the worlds of politics and tech intertwine, and this was just one of the endeavors that helped bear fruit for the blog this year. Just to fill you in on some industry news, The ReidOut Blog recently was recognized by Editor & Publisher Magazine as 2024’s best news/political blog with at least 1 million unique monthly visitors.
I appreciate your time, your consideration of the posts, and your feedback. Let’s go higher in the year to come!
Now, without further ado, your Tuesday Tech Drop.
Treasury Department hack
The U.S. Treasury Department has notified the leaders of the Senate Banking Committee that hackers sponsored by China’s government gained access to Treasury employees’ desktop computers in what the federal agency characterized as a “major incident.”
Read more at NBC News.
Tech billionaires’ wealth ballooned in 2024
This year, the 500 richest people in the world surpassed $10 trillion in wealth, according to Bloomberg. And tech billionaires made out the best, adding more than $903 billion to their combined wealth in 2024. All the more reason to read my report on the budding Big Tech oligarchy looking to impose its will on U.S. politics.
Read more at Bloomberg.
MAGA civil war
My colleague Steve Benen wrote up a great explainer on the MAGA “civil war” that has ignited over Vivek Ramaswamy’s insulting screed demonizing American workers, as well as Ramaswamy’s and Elon Musk’s support for H-1B visas for immigrant workers as a means to hire talent — particularly in the tech world. Trump also backed the visas, despite having bashed them in the past.
The MAGA outrage has been hilarious to watch. The party that helped popularize the claim that diversity is not our strength, and which rails against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, is having to reckon with the reality that diverse workplaces are a boon for businesses. And they’re not taking it well.
Read more at MaddowBlog.
Respected general issues warning about Musk
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré wrote an op-ed for The New York Times laying out the national security risk posed by Elon Musk serving in a pseudo-governmental role in the incoming Trump administration amid his ongoing ties to the Chinese government.
Read more at The New York Times.
Mexico unveils app for immigrant aid
The Mexican government is preparing to roll out a cellphone app soon that will allow migrants to notify their families and Mexican authorities if they’re about to be detained in the U.S. One of the stated purposes of the app is to ensure that the incoming Trump administration complies with due process.
Read more at ABC News.
Israel flexes its AI powers in war
The Washington Post published a feature on Israel’s “AI factory” — essentially, the ways in which Israeli officials have used artificial intelligence to power the war machine used in their bombardment of Gaza as the government’s war with Hamas continues. The article offers an eerie look at the relatively underreported world of AI-enabled warfare and the ethical issues surrounding it.
Read more at The Washington Post.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.