The new administration has made it clear that they don’t have much interest in enforcing the nation’s securities laws. Except maybe as an avenue to accuse companies of dishonoring shareholders by promoting ESG initiatives. The point is, Trump has a meme coin to sell and a media company stock to fluff so SEC enforcement has to hit the bench for a few years. Meanwhile, shadow president Elon Musk still nurses a grudge toward the agency for having the audacity to enforce the voluntary settlement he signed curtailing the risk he might commit fraud at scale over social media .
But that’s not actually the reason they just cut off the SEC’s Westlaw access. And while on the surface, the canceled contract looks like another ill-conceived cost cutting measure from Musk’s bumbling speedrun through the federal budget, the reality appears to be much dumber.
So, in the parlance of our times, “Shot.”
Earlier today, we learned that the word had gone out to executive agencies to purge all access to a variety of media that don’t meet the administration’s editorial standards. It’s a vague book burning but the running theme seems to be publications that say things that hurt Trump’s feelings. The New York Times won’t renounce that Pulitzer they won reporting on Trump’s ties to Russia, the country he’s currently claiming Ukraine attacked for some reason. Or the Associated Press who refuses to stop calling it the Gulf of Mexico just because that’s actually what it’s called. Let’s just pause to appreciate that we’ve now reached a stage of epistemic collapse where The Economist — a publication that denounced city sewers as creeping socialism — branded as a leftist rag.
Note the inclusion of Reuters.
And so, as sure as the night follows the day, may we present “Chaser.”
Yeah, maybe this is just about “media contracts,” but in light of the other report it seems likely the administration saw “Reuters” and starting purging agencies of everything in the Reuters family. Including the ubiquitous research tool.
Make America Shepardize Again!
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
The post Trump Cancels The SEC’s Westlaw Subscription For Probably The Dumbest Possible Reason appeared first on Above the Law.
The new administration has made it clear that they don’t have much interest in enforcing the nation’s securities laws. Except maybe as an avenue to accuse companies of dishonoring shareholders by promoting ESG initiatives. The point is, Trump has a meme coin to sell and a media company stock to fluff so SEC enforcement has to hit the bench for a few years. Meanwhile, shadow president Elon Musk still nurses a grudge toward the agency for having the audacity to enforce the voluntary settlement he signed curtailing the risk he might commit fraud at scale over social media .
But that’s not actually the reason they just cut off the SEC’s Westlaw access. And while on the surface, the canceled contract looks like another ill-conceived cost cutting measure from Musk’s bumbling speedrun through the federal budget, the reality appears to be much dumber.
So, in the parlance of our times, “Shot.”
Earlier today, we learned that the word had gone out to executive agencies to purge all access to a variety of media that don’t meet the administration’s editorial standards. It’s a vague book burning but the running theme seems to be publications that say things that hurt Trump’s feelings. The New York Times won’t renounce that Pulitzer they won reporting on Trump’s ties to Russia, the country he’s currently claiming Ukraine attacked for some reason. Or the Associated Press who refuses to stop calling it the Gulf of Mexico just because that’s actually what it’s called. Let’s just pause to appreciate that we’ve now reached a stage of epistemic collapse where The Economist — a publication that denounced city sewers as creeping socialism — branded as a leftist rag.
Note the inclusion of Reuters.
And so, as sure as the night follows the day, may we present “Chaser.”
Yeah, maybe this is just about “media contracts,” but in light of the other report it seems likely the administration saw “Reuters” and starting purging agencies of everything in the Reuters family. Including the ubiquitous research tool.
Make America Shepardize Again!
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
