Yaël Ossowski RSS Feed

Rage against housing software won’t lower rent

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:01:00 +0200

In Massachusetts, like so many other states, housing affordability is one of the top political issues that will reshape the elections come this November.

Rather than examining their own policies or local communities’ refusal to accept or build new housing, state legislators have convinced themselves that greedy landlords, aided by property management software, are the real culprits.

Bills in both the Massachusetts House and Senate would outlaw “algorithmic rent-pricing software” like RealPage and Yardi, used by property owners to administer their leasing contracts. This software is used to manage vacancies, communicate with tenants, and update rental contracts based on valuations and market conditions.

Antitrust, Consumer Habits & Other Headwinds Facing Media Mergers | Yaël on Schwab Network

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:13:00 -0400

Media companies must compete for our eyeballs and attention. But they should do that and compete on an open field rather than subject them to antitrust lawsuits and courtrooms, where consumers aren’t represented.

Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski is interviewed on ‪SchwabNetwork‬ on the the proposed merger between Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Paramount Skydance (PSKY) and the antitrust hurdles it faces.

The New 7-OH Crackdown Isn't About Public Health

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 09:02:00 -0400

Here is how Washington influence can work: The founder of a kratom company and entities associated with his business make major political contributions, secure access to senior officials, and lobby the government to prohibit a competing class of products. Months later, the DEA begins doing precisely that.

That’s the fight underway between the kratom leaf industry and the kratom alkaloid known as 7-OH.

As revealed in the New York Times, Jerry Ross, founder of Botanic Tonics, the maker of a widely sold kratom extract known as Feel Free, has mounted a successful influence campaign in Washington to amplify the dangers of 7-OH products while exempting other kratom products. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who oversees the DEA, even owns shares in the company.

Why America Must Dominate Open-Source AI

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:02:00 +0200

China’s open-source AI models are spreading globally. To preserve technological leadership, the United States must lead not only in capabilities but in openness.

When Z.ai released its open-weight GLM-5.2 model last month, performing nearly on par with the leading frontier models (GPT, Claude, and Gemini), artificial intelligence (AI) firms everywhere got a wake-up call. America’s top frontier AI companies crush the competition in Large Language Model (LLM) capabilities and revenue, but China’s open models are beginning to seed the world and rapidly regain ground. The key question won’t be who wins the next benchmark, but who supplies the stack the world builds on. Will it be the free world of liberal democracies or the despotic surveillance-state regimes?

Aussie Social Media Ban is Failing in Realtime. What other countries should know

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:05:00 +0200

Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski is interviewed on Forum Daily on the proposed amendments to Australia’s teen social media ban.

Seeing the ban has not worked, politicians are attempting to ramp up penalties.

But it will ultimately fail, because young people want to be online, want to be connected, and don’t want governments geofencing their access.

June 30, 2026

Regulators must catch up to the personalized health revolution

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:45:00 +0200

Is shining a red light device on your testicles the best way to boost testosterone? What about injecting BPC-157 to heal a shoulder injury or speed up your mitochondria?

One in three Americans now use ChatGPT or some other AI chatbot for health advice, leaping past institutional medicine and into the world of health and wellness consumer products and life hacks. The medical establishment will, of course, express its concern about patients ditching the bureaucracy of insurance and scheduling office appointments for influencer tips and biohacking blogs, but this tension has always existed in public health.

Yaël Ossowski on the Climate Lawsuit Racket: Consumer Impact Explained

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:34:00 +0200

In the latest episode of the Powering America Podcast, host Bryan Hyde interviews Yaël Ossowski, Deputy Director of the Consumer Choice Center.

They discuss the implications of climate-related lawsuits against energy companies, particularly in blue states like California and New York, and the introduction of the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026, which aims to move state lawsuits to federal court and reduce frivolous litigation costs that ultimately impact consumers. The conversation highlights the role of various environmental groups and the economic effects of these legal battles on energy prices.

Global Youth Social Media Bans: Technically dubious, lock out young people from technology

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 15:59:00 +0200

Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski is interviewed on The News Forum on the global push for age-gates on social media and youth social media bans.

The bans in Australia, Turkey, and Malaysia have proven to be technically dubious, threaten online speech, and lock young people out of future technology and social opportunities. There are better ways to address our social angst with technology and our devices.

European regulators are quietly green-lighting Tesla’s self-driving technology

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:51:00 +0200

On April 10, the Dutch road authority RDW quietly issued a type approval for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) Level 2 software. Within weeks, regulatory authorities in Lithuania, Estonia and Denmark followed suit, adopting the Dutch approval in their own rules. Now the Belgians have joined up.

After decades of EU regulatory summits, complex cross-party meetings, and expert testimony sessions, it only took one signature in the Netherlands to open European roads to autonomous driving. The domino has fallen.

Liberal Democracies Dominated Early Open-Source AI – Now China is Winning

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:38:00 +0200

Pull up any global leaderboard for open-source AI today and read the names: Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi, GLM.

They are not from Silicon Valley, the United States, or even a liberal democratic nation with a capitalist economy. They are from Hangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai, Chinese-born and bred.

Three years ago this would have been unimaginable. The technology America and its allies gave the world, the permissive licensing, the GitHub culture, the “release open weights to the world” ethos, has somehow been snagged by the Chinese Communist Party’s national champions. They are the ones (mostly) flying the open banner now.

Future AI shaped by liberal democracies or dominated by China? A global AI pause favors the latter

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 13:08:00 +0200

Do we want the future of AI shaped by liberal democracies or dominated by China?

Calls for a global pause on AI development would tilt the balance toward the latter, while denying consumers access to the latest innovations. It looks more like virtue-signaling protectionism than a serious solution.

Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski comments on Anthropic’s push for a global AI pause on @TheNewsForum

Canada’s “AI for All” Plan Means AI Approved by Ottawa

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 17:28:00 +0200

Canada’s new national AI strategy is called “AI for All.” If we’re being literal, it should be called “AI Approved by Ottawa.”

Released this week by Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon, his first foray into translating the policy priorities of the Liberal government into action, the strategy commits more than $2.4 billion in new federal spending and folds in another $6 billion from the existing budget.

Industrial Policy with a values filter

Though there is plenty of serious consideration of the energy needs of AI innovation and build-out (where Canada would have a clear strategic advantage), much of the AI plan’s substance is bureaucracy-driven industrial policy with a values filter: a $50 million Creative Technology Program tied to favored creators, an “equity-based national standard” for AI development, and explicit funding mandates for tools that “reflect Canadian identity, culture, and inclusion.”

‘Climate Superfunds’ Are Blowing Up Energy Bills

Fri, 29 May 2026 13:58:00 +0200

Vermont passed it first. New York followed with a $75 billion price tag attached. Now Minnesota wants in, and at least nine more state legislatures have similar bills in the queue.

The “climate superfund” concept, which imposes retroactive penalties on energy producers for emissions stretching back decades, is no longer a one-state experiment; it’s a coordinated effort to reshape American energy policy not through Congress but through an expanding web of state-level liability laws.

Pope Leo, open source tech champion?

Wed, 27 May 2026 21:59:00 +0200

Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, offers a myriad of moral lessons that speak directly to our modern informational and technological age. It’s a rigorous attempt to apply church doctrine to the growing impact of artificial intelligence on people, general well-being, as well as the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Now, papal documents are subject to intense debate, scrutiny, and interpretation, for Catholics and non-Catholics. But there’s at least one section that I believe deserves some highlighting, especially for those of us who believe in the positive and beneficial arc of technological progress.

Quoted in Newsweek on using Bitcoin and Crypto for Mortgages

Wed, 20 May 2026 13:45:00 +0200

Among the older generations, the share of buyers using crypto to finance their purchase was much lower: only 3.5 percent of Gen Xers and 0.5 percent of baby boomers sold crypto investments to fund their down payment.

Young people view bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as “real money that holds and grows in value, perhaps even more than fiat money, therefore it’s easier to create a ‘stacking goal’ or savings goal and be more disciplined and frugal,” Yaël Ossowski, deputy director at the Consumer Choice Center and a fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, previously told Newsweek.

Time to clip the wings of the car crash lawyers

Mon, 18 May 2026 13:50:00 +0200

Imagine renting a U-Haul to move your stuff cross-country after accepting your dream job. After the stress of the move, the awful packing of boxes, and rolling down the highway, you end up in a fender bender.

Every American knows the process from there on is tedious: accident reports, police, insurance companies, and in the worst cases, lawyers. Even if it wasn’t your fault, you may get dragged into something for months or years that’ll end up sucking time and money.

The Roundup case that could end the trial lawyer playbook

Thu, 14 May 2026 22:14:00 +0200

For years, litigators, activists and scientific experts have called on the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the litany of local lawsuits related to the herbicide glyphosate. As the court deliberates on the case Monsanto v. Durnell, they will soon get their wish.

The case is nominally about pesticide labels. The question lurking behind it is whether manufacturers must keep submitting to a parallel, plaintiff-bar-controlled regulatory regime that uses state juries to override the federal agencies Congress clearly empowered to make these calls.

The federal overhaul on cannabis is HUGE for consumers | DC News Now

Fri, 08 May 2026 10:51:00 +0200

Yaël Ossowski joined DC News Now, part of Nexstar Media, to break down the consumer case for reform on marijuana scheduling.

https://consumerchoicecenter.org

Hedge-fund winnings from courtroom bets aren’t capital gains

Wed, 06 May 2026 21:06:00 +0200

You can bet on the Super Bowl, wager on a presidential primary, or put serious money on whether the Fed cuts in June. The IRS taxes those winnings the same way it taxes your paycheck: ordinary income, withheld at the top end. But when a hedge fund stakes $20 million on a mass tort and walks away with $200 million, somehow the IRS is supposed to treat it like a lucrative investment into an early Silicon Valley unicorn.

A Bill That Would Result In Us Losing Our Credit Card Rewards

Tue, 05 May 2026 09:57:00 +0200

Fuel costs related to the conflict in Iran have sent airlines into a panic as the summer vacation season inches closer—consumers are going to feel the squeeze. Millions of Americans who fly regularly and hold airline travel rewards credit cards rely on points earned from everyday purchases to help pay for their trips. Congress, as usual, is making things even more complicated.

The Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), introduced in the Senate by Senators Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) and Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), is picking up steam in Washington after an endorsement from President Donald Trump on Truth Social earlier this year. According to the legislation’s sponsors, the goal is to increase competition in the credit card market and reduce so-called swipe fees for Americans.

Why doesn’t America have a transcontinental railroad?

Fri, 01 May 2026 15:35:00 +0200

In 1869, the first-ever American transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, then in the Utah Territory. Passengers and cargo from the industrial cities of the Northeast could make the steam-powered one-week journey toward the West Coast, stretching the American frontier and settling the West.

Nearly 160 years later, highway systems and airplanes have taken over as the primary means of transportation for passengers across the nation, but a significant amount of cargo and freight still moves by rail, albeit through a complex system of network changes and handoffs. Over time, the myriad of rules, regulations, and competing rail lines have grown more complex, leading to a status quo that covertly costs households at the grocery store, the hardware aisle, and the gas pump every day.

Teen bans on social media and AI chatbots in Canada: technically dubious and socially destructive

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 12:32:00 -0700

Bans on teens using social media and AI chatbots may be politically popular in Canada, but they’re technically dubious and constitutionally a huge question mark.

What’s more, why cut our growing generations off from new and innovative tech?

Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski is interviewed on @ForumDailyNews with anchor Theresa Skubic.

https://consumerchoicecenter.org

The Real Victims of Local Governments’ Love of Lawsuits

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 02:04:00 -0700

More and more, cities are paying hefty fees for private attorneys to take big businesses to court. In the end, though, they’re making life more costly for their residents.

Most Americans’ connection to their city government is limited. Sure, there’s trash collection and sewage treatment, zoning hearings and maybe the occasional property tax dispute, but it’s mostly a civic institution focused on local public services that works quietly.

What if your city government wasn’t just collecting trash and running the rec center, but also hiring high-priced lawyers to sue private companies for a big potential payday? And what if those lawsuits were driving up everyday costs for your family by raising the prices of the goods and services they need?

Long Overdue: Trump Rescheduling Cannabis to Schedule III

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:48:00 +0200

It was a big day for cannabis reform in the United States.

President Trump rushed to move cannabis from Schedule I down to Schedule III, unlocking benefits for cannabis business owners in states where it is legal and allowing research.

I gave some comments to The Mirror and published our press release on Consumer Choice Center’s website.

“Schedule III is not legalization—it’s the federal government finally catching up with the science and with the 38 states that already moved on from prohibition,” said Yaël Ossowski, deputy director of the Consumer Choice Center.

What happened when the government tried to ban kratom

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 22:29:00 +0200

When consumers speak up, we can win. In 2016, it was kratom. This time, 7-OH is in the spotlight. CCC Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski explains the history of kratom scheduling in the US, and why a new grassroots movement is called for. Learn more here:

https://consumerchoicecenter.org/regulation-over-prohibition-smarter-approaches-to-7-oh-and-kratom-derivatives/

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/783216-yael-ossowski-the-short-history-of-kratom-policy-in-the-united-states/

Ignore The Fearmongers, Privatize The TSA

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 23:38:00 +0200

In the 2009 corporate comedy film Up in the Air, George Clooney, playing a frequent-flyer-obsessed downsizing consultant, coaches a new colleague on the quickest path through airport security. “Never get behind old people. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal, and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip-on shoes. Gotta love ’em,” he says.

Le projet de loi qui vous coûtera plus cher qu’il ne vous protège

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 16:05:00 +0100

Imaginez que votre chanteur préféré s’apprête à monter sur scène au Centre Bell. Vous cherchez un billet, mais il n’y en a aucun à vendre sur une plateforme réglementée. Un particulier accepte finalement de vous vendre les siens sur Facebook Marketplace ou Kijiji. Mais le soir du spectacle, vous découvrez que vos billets sont des faux, et comme vous les avez achetés sur une plateforme non réglementée, il n’existe aucun recours pour récupérer votre argent.

What RFK Jr.’s Glyphosate Shift Says About MAHA

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 18:28:00 +0100

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent decades in courtrooms arguing that glyphosate causes cancer, earning millions by referring cases to trial — a frequent talking point during his 2024 presidential campaign. Last month, he did the unthinkable to his Make America Healthy Again followers by endorsing an executive order to ramp up glyphosate’s domestic production.

The reversal matters for more than political reasons. RFK Jr. revealed how thin the anti-glyphosate crusade has always been all along when forced into a collision with the trade-offs of governing based on the best-known scientific conclusions of the agencies he now helps lead. Instead of breaking with President Trump, Kennedy — the attorney who once helped secure a $289 million verdict against Monsanto over Roundup —aligned with the facts.

Canada’s Lawful Access Act is a backdoor by another name

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 09:44:00 +0100

The new police powers bill tabled by Public Safety Minister Anandasangaree is slimmer and more targeted than the first go-around, but it’s every bit as fraught as the last time.

Bill C-2 was removed last fall after civil liberties groups, the opposition, and privacy experts flagged it as an unprecedented surveillance overreach. In the standalone bill revealed last week, the core problems remain unresolved and even expanded.

The new version of the Lawful Access Act would still break encryption, grant CSIS surveillance powers exceeding those available to police with less judicial accountability, and legally prohibit companies from disclosing when the government demands access to their systems.

March Madness Sparks Betting Boom — What It Proves About Letting Americans Choose

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:51:00 +0100

Regulated gambling is better than shady offshore sites gaining market dominance with zero accountability.

This week, Americans will legally wager an estimated $3.3 billion on March Madness, a 54% jump from just three years ago. That number says something important about what happens when you let adults make their own choices in regulated markets rather than pushing them toward offshore bookies in the shadows.

I’ve spent a decade as a consumer advocate, watching nearly every wave of moralist and neoprohibitionist crusading: alcohol, cannabis, nicotine pouches, fatty food, caffeine, red meat, sports gambling, and prediction markets. Plenty I wouldn’t touch. Others I moderately enjoy. But I’ve never once lobbied my congressman to ban any of them — because I’ve also watched what happens when governments do.

Banned, Delayed, or Just Broken? Australia’s Youth Social Media Mess Turns 100 Days Old

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 16:54:00 +0100

When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed the Online Safety Amendment Act last November, he called it a ban, a word with sharp political edges, conjuring images of protective barriers between children and the algorithmic abyss.

But when eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant appeared before the UK House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee this month to update British MPs on the ban’s progress, she replaced the harsh language the government once used.

Derailing a huge railway merger will cost American consumers dearly

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:48:00 +0100

Earlier this year, the federal government rejected a merger plan to build America’s first transcontinental railroad. A refusal wasn’t issued because the deal is bad for consumers, rather, it didn’t include the right paperwork.

The Surface Transportation Board unanimously declared in January the $85 billion merger application between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern was “incomplete”, forcing the companies to refile by the end of next month. That means adding thousands more pages for the regulator to evaluate.

The present federal threat of kratom and 7-OH ‘panic policy’

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:53:00 +0100

While the instinct to regulate is an appropriate one, the tool of prohibition is a costly one.

The lesson of the 2016 fight to keep kratom off the DEA’s scheduling list was that federal agencies cannot ignore science and invoke “public health” without evidence. The knee-jerk response to emergency-scheduling of kratom and its key alkaloids was based in fear and not facts, and consumer sentiment and activism eventually turned the tide.

The boomerang effect from legacy kratom manufacturers

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:54:00 +0100

The legacy kratom manufacturing industry is reaching for the same tactics that almost banned their products and had their consumers criminalized a decade ago.

There’s a unique twist in the story about kratom in the United States that should make veterans of 2016’s scheduling attempt rather uneasy.

A decade ago, the kratom community watched the machinery of the federal government attempt to prohibit kratom in a loose and fast way. The substance was slandered as an Internet fad and public health menace.

The Pentagon Just Fired Anthropic: The AI Surveillance War Begins

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 11:55:00 +0100

In this episode of The Bitcoin Layer, Nik welcomes back Yaël Ossowski, Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, to break down the escalating standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon.

They examine how Claude was reportedly used in the Venezuela raid, why Anthropic is drawing a hard line against warrantless surveillance and autonomous weapons, and the political fault lines forming between AI safety and permissionless innovation.

Yaël unpacks the third party doctrine and its direct implications for Bitcoiners’ financial privacy, and they close with a look at how the massive AI capex buildout is reshaping the U.S. economy and what it means for Bitcoin in the broader macro picture.

The (short) history of kratom policy in the United States

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 10:51:00 +0100

When the federal government attempted to use its regulatory authority to schedule the popular plant-based substance known as kratom in 2016, it learned an important lesson about science, stigma, and the limits of prohibitionist policy.

For the federal health establishment, kratom was an obscure botanical turned Internet trend, something best controlled through enforcement. It was seen as a product people didn’t understand, used by people the government didn’t listen to, and therefore it was treated as a problem to be eliminated rather than a behavior to be made safer.

Worried about AI Surveillance? Obliterate the Third-Party Doctrine

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:12:00 +0100

The showdown between the Department of War (Defense) and Anthropic over a government contract reveals a lot about American society’s relationship with technology and its governing institutions.

For one, we’re dealing with the advent of innovative technology that can be deployed and used by consumers and businesses to improve lives. But we’re also seeing that same technology be readily adopted by the largest and most consequential parts of the US government.

Canadian Politicians Cannot Blame an AI Chatbot for a Horrific Shooting Its Own Institutions Missed

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0100

When a tragedy occurs, the instinct to assign blame is understandable. Fingers are pointed, rhetoric gets heated, and calls for accountability mount.

However, we cannot allow these knee-jerk reactions to cloud the fallout of a horrific event to push a pre-existing policy agenda. Especially before the ink dries on the official police reports.

In this specific scenario, we’re talking about the unconscionable shooting that took place in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia on February 10, 2026, where 8 people were slain, and 27 were injured by gunfire before the depraved shooter took their own life.

Supreme Court tariff ruling a victory for consumers, balance of power

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 20:41:00 +0100

Yaël Ossowski of the Consumer Choice Center join FOX 5 DC’s Jim Lokay to put an extra positive spin on the US Supreme Court’s ruling against President Trump’s executive tariffs.

Not only will this be a boon to consumers and their pocketbooks, it’s also a victory for the American system that splits power among three separate but co-equal branches.

Video on Fox 5 DC’s website here.

Is Bitcoin the Only Blockchain Immune to Political Corruption?

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:00:00 +0100

Bitcoin’s decentralized design makes it uniquely resistant to corruption—and Washington’s digital asset regulation should reflect that distinction.

The last few months have given us a masterclass in why the broader “crypto” ecosystem remains a minefield of political entanglement, self-dealing, and outright corruption. It also clarifies, for those of us who understand the technology, why Bitcoin stands apart.

Unlike company-issued crypto tokens, Bitcoin is an open-source, decentralized cryptocurrency with no board of directors or legal entity. It is created and maintained by code running on computers competing to solve the next block.

Putting Social Media On Trial Puts All Future Tech At Risk

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0100

On Forum Daily News, Yaël Ossowski speaks about a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles threatens to shape the future of tech innovation in the United States and globally.

On @forumdailynews, Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski discusses what is at stake in the trial, what plaintiffs are looking for, and how negating parental responsibility while casting tech as a villain will spell trouble for consumers who rely on innovative technology.

Have regulations ruined ride-hailing?

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Regulations ruined ride-hailing, Vienna edition.

Since 2021 in Austria, all ride-sharing, ride-hailing, and “digital dispatch” apps (services like Uber and Bolt) are regulated as taxi services.

For anyone to drive another person for money, no matter the arrangement, they are required to hold a Taxi license.

This was passed by the Austrian Parliament in 2020, under the ÖVP-Green coalition, mainly as an initiative of the Green party to ensure “fair competition under equal conditions”.

The E.U. Wants 'Deforestation-Free' Products. Consumers May Pay the Cost

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In its effort to protect global forests, the E.U. is imposing complex tracking requirements that could raise prices and create new trade hurdles.

Are the products you’re buying BPA-free? Nut-free? How about GMO-free? If the European Union (E.U.) has its way, we’ll soon be adding a new label to our shopping list vocabulary: “deforestation-free.”

Far from being another joke at the expense of Europe and its regulatory self-sabotage, this is precisely the aim of the E.U.’s 2023 Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which began applying to large companies last December, and will extend to small and medium-sized firms in June.

Kennedy's Lawfare Agenda Isn't What MAGA Bargained For

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A day doesn’t pass in Washington without some kind of new health controversy grabbing headlines and inviting fresh skepticism of national health authorities. 5G and brain health. Tylenol causes autism. Vaccine confusion galore. Though we survived the excesses of the COVID era and its dizzying health recommendations, those days aren’t necessarily behind us. It’s just changed flavors to be a bit more MAHA.

The almost whimsical claims advanced by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. are precisely what he did for years as a plaintiff attorney. He made it his mission to extract money from every industry possible in courtrooms and at settlement conference tables. Now he’s taken that show to the highest levels of government, and MAGA doesn’t seem to mind. But they should.

Trump’s credit card interest rate cap is a lose-lose

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

President Trump started 2026 with new fights on many fronts, including one that may even excite the left-wing flank in Washington — a battle with the consumer lending industry. On Truth Social last week, the president declared Americans will no longer be “ripped off” by the credit card industry, endorsing a one-year cap on interest rates at 10 percent.

Legal and constitutional questions aside, although this latest Trumpnomics move may win favor in some corners of the midterm electorate, the idea is not particularly new. In fact, it’s ripped directly from a bill introduced last year by populist duo Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), which proposes a permanent federal 10 percent annual percentage rate cap on personal credit cards.

We Can’t ‘True Crime’ Our Way to Fairer Courts

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

If the true crime phenomenon on streaming platforms and podcasts has proven anything in the recent decade, apart from our collective addiction to onscreen misery, it’s that courtrooms and science don’t mix well. “”

A popular Netflix series “Exhibit A” explores dozens of cases muddied by fringe scientific evidence, including Touch DNA, cadaver dogs and blood splatter evidence. Another new series on Hulu, “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox,” reveals a farcical Italian murder trial driven by badly interpreted evidence, resulting in Knox having her freedom stripped away for four years.

Fruit Loops on trial: The harbinger of all bad lawsuits to come

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The companies behind Tony the Tiger, Fruit Loops, Heinz ketchup, Coca-Cola, Oreo, and Lucky Charms are lawyering up as the government takes them to court. Earlier this month, San Francisco launched a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against major food manufacturers, blaming them for the obesity and health crisis that has become a rallying cry for progressive activists and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement.

“These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods,” said San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, who brought the suit on behalf of the state of California.

RFK Had His Shot at HHS, but MAGA Should Move On

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Not more than a year ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a handsomely paid partner for the injury law firm Morgan & Morgan, the largest and most profitable firm in the country, with a reputation as a reliable Democratic megadonor and interest group. As the controversial HHS Secretary enters his second year, RFK’s record thus far looks less like MAGA and more like California-liberal lawfare on federal government steroids.

So far, some of the major initiatives undertaken by RFK include an AI-chatbot-infested MAHA commission report riddled with technical errors, a muddled vaccine discouragement program, and a bureaucratic misfire of dismissing 954 employees only to rehire them a few weeks later.

The perils of Australia's under-16 social media ban | Yaël Ossowski on Forum Daily News

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR4odiEoSGY

Australia’s under-16 social media ban is now live. On ‪@ForumDailyNews‬, Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski drilled through implications of social media bans and age-gating, why such schemes are unworkable and detrimental to privacy and security online, and why they’re likely coming soon to other countries.

December 10, 2025 https://consumerchoicecenter.org

COP30 & Climate Energy Politics Explained | Yael Ossowski on Tony Kinnett Show

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZxPA8ptPRs

I was invited on the Tony Kinnett show to break down the realities behind COP30, climate accords, and rising energy costs for consumers. From carbon credits to EU net-zero plans, we delve into the complexities of global climate policy and its implications for your finances.