Pepper Culpepper
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pculpepper.bsky.social
Pepper Culpepper
@pculpepper.bsky.social

Professor of Government and Public Policy, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

Pepper Dagenhart Culpepper is an American political scientist.

Source: Wikipedia
Political science 43%
Economics 30%
Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.

New role playing game by Microsoft — Microsoft! — warns that ‘any similarities to real-world dystopian corporate branded hellscapes are purely coincidental.’
Crushed by capitalism? There’s a video game for that
‘The Outer Worlds 2’ is set in a galaxy ruled by greedy corporations — but can a game made by a Microsoft-owned studio critique the system effectively?
www.ft.com

Profound political economy insight from the Daily Show: observe behavior rather than cheap talk.
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009

The Onion has trouble staying ahead of reality these days.
10% of Meta's 2024 ad revenue came from outright frauds and scams; the platform shows consumers 15 billion ads for fraud and scams every single day. This doesn't even include agitprop and AI slop.

the existential collapse of this monumental pile of shit company simply can't come quickly enough
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
www.reuters.com
The Nuffield PPRF is an amazing postdoc - a brilliant community, lovely college, and yes, great food. And, usually, also with a family of ducks.
We have just published the call for the Nuffield Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellowships in Politics. These are 3-year fully-funded postdocs that will allow you to focus on your research in a great academic environment. (And with excellent food)

www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/...
Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellowships in Politics - Nuffield College Oxford University
www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk
10% of Meta's 2024 ad revenue came from outright frauds and scams; the platform shows consumers 15 billion ads for fraud and scams every single day. This doesn't even include agitprop and AI slop.

the existential collapse of this monumental pile of shit company simply can't come quickly enough
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
www.reuters.com

Reposted by David Lazer

Should local officials in a democracy be allowed to sign NDAs?
How NDAs keep AI data center details hidden from Americans:

Big Tech companies use secrecy agreements with local governments to keep communities from knowing who is building in their backyards.

www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...
How Big Tech uses NDAs to hide AI data center details from Americans
Big Tech companies use secrecy agreements with local governments to keep communities from knowing who is building in their backyards.
www.nbcnews.com
How NDAs keep AI data center details hidden from Americans:

Big Tech companies use secrecy agreements with local governments to keep communities from knowing who is building in their backyards.

www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...
How Big Tech uses NDAs to hide AI data center details from Americans
Big Tech companies use secrecy agreements with local governments to keep communities from knowing who is building in their backyards.
www.nbcnews.com
How clear does it need to be that Europe needs independent digital infrastructure before we actually take credible action? The need is as clear for cloud as it is for the rest of our critical digital systems.
www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
How Many More Cloud Scares Does Europe Need?
Robin Berjon urges the EU to dismantle the entrenched US monopolies that are undermining the goal of tech sovereignty.
www.project-syndicate.org
You laugh, but this is how the exododus went extinct

Reposted by Robert Wolfe

Excellent piece by @martinsandbu.ft.com today. Democracy and markets depend on regulation. The indiscriminate bonfire of ‘red tape’ is not the answer. Some of that tape may be holding functioning democracies together.
Don’t let Europe’s deregulatory temptations weaken its democracies
A good tech strategy would aim not just to catch up but to cultivate better alternatives
www.ft.com

Is it possible that President Trump is testing, purely for political science reasons, how much brazen corruption is required to render the issue electorally salient?
President Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whose crypto exchange has been boosting the Trump family's own crypto venture.
Exclusive | Trump Pardons Convicted Binance Founder
The pardon follows months of efforts by Changpeng Zhao to boost Trump crypto company
on.wsj.com
President Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whose crypto exchange has been boosting the Trump family's own crypto venture.
Exclusive | Trump Pardons Convicted Binance Founder
The pardon follows months of efforts by Changpeng Zhao to boost Trump crypto company
on.wsj.com

That list is the fraudster equivalent of Mos Eisley: you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Jabba the Hutt would like his chances of getting off after a conviction for fixing pod races.
George Santos is the 10th GOP Congressman to get a pardon or clemency from President Trump. The other nine were also all convicted of various criminal charges:
Shakespeare family home damaged by reversing driver
Shakespeare family home damaged by reversing driver
A 17th-century building that housed William Shakespeare's family has been left damaged after a driver reversed into it.
news.sky.com

I would suggest your being the ‘a’ in j’accuse on no kings day is a ray of hope in dark times.
George Santos is the 10th GOP Congressman to get a pardon or clemency from President Trump. The other nine were also all convicted of various criminal charges:

For the second day running, FT investigative journalism does its job of speaking truth to power. Today looks at how well Trump donors have been doing post-donation.

The newest get rich quick scheme: be president. Excellent investigation by FT into Trump family’ sudden and startling crypto wealth.
FT Investigation: How the Trump companies made $1bn from crypto
The president and his family have built a rapidly growing digital assets empire which has been fuelled by the administration’s industry-friendly policies
www.ft.com

Monopoly capitalists, even those with black turtlenecks and slick marketing, are still corrosive of democracy (typed on an iPhone).
Even before Apple was using its app store duopoly to nuke the tools of human rights defenders, it was very much the bad guy

However pained the expression of the oligarch as they protect their power (or join Trump's global bro-entourage), they will always protect their power above all.
It's a great speech but pet peeve: people always forget Apple in these lists. Apple News, the app store tax, and the collusion between Apple and Google to share the proceeds from defunding the web have massively damaged journalism.
Even before Apple was using its app store duopoly to nuke the tools of human rights defenders, it was very much the bad guy

However pained the expression of the oligarch as they protect their power (or join Trump's global bro-entourage), they will always protect their power above all.
It's a great speech but pet peeve: people always forget Apple in these lists. Apple News, the app store tax, and the collusion between Apple and Google to share the proceeds from defunding the web have massively damaged journalism.
Everyone agrees that we're currently in a dotcom era-like AI bubble. People disagree what sort of bubble it is.

There are 3 stories one can tell about the dotcom crash: a startup story, a telecom story, and an accounting fraud story.

My take: it's giving Enron
open.substack.com/pub/davekarp...
It's Giving Enron
On the AI bubble, and the various echoes of the dotcom crash
open.substack.com

Tl;dr Big incumbents are a black hole into whose gaping maw innovative startups disappear and their innovations with them.
Do incumbents buy startups to scale innovation or to stifle it?

New research covering 60 countries finds that acquired startups were highly innovative before their acquisition, but their patenting drops sharply afterward, while acquirers' innovation doesn't rise.

www.oecd.org/en/publicati...
Do incumbents buy startups to scale innovation or to stifle it?

New research covering 60 countries finds that acquired startups were highly innovative before their acquisition, but their patenting drops sharply afterward, while acquirers' innovation doesn't rise.

www.oecd.org/en/publicati...
Who’d have thunk that DOGE wouldn’t save any money?

(From the Wall Street Journal)

🤔
twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross
twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross

Daring reportage from the hellscape
Portland is a “war-ravaged” city that is “on fire,” President Trump warns. But I braved the artillery fire and militia checkpoints to bring you this video report from the front lines.
Portland is a “war-ravaged” city that is “on fire,” President Trump warns. But I braved the artillery fire and militia checkpoints to bring you this video report from the front lines.