Author: A.T.

Or is, anyway, to those of us who own shares of ParkerVision.

The plot, it seems, thickens.

You may recall that a jury unanimously awarded PRKR $173 million in damages against Qualcomm in 2013.

After all, they were shown internal emails from Qualcomm senior executives like this one, in 1999, that said: “The truth is ParkerVision have stumbled on something revolutionary.”  And this one to Qualcomm’s CEO at the time: “This is critical technology we must land.”

You can see it all laid out in this video I have linked to before.

Rather than license PRKR’s technology — that ultimately came to reside in literally billions of cell phones — Qualcomm, in the jury’s unanimous view, stole it.

It had taken a decade to get the case in front of a jury.  Giants like Qualcomm can afford legal talent who are really good at delay.

But there it was: $173 million for past use of the intellectual property, plus a royalty to be negotiated on all future use.  The judge seemed fine with that.

And then six months later, out of the blue, he threw out the verdict.

What?

What happened?

Today, PRKR released what it says is the first of a four-episode “Against the Giants” video series.

The larger significance — and why it might gain some traction, at least among inventors and patent attorneys — is that Qualcomm is not the only tech giant that squashes small inventors who cannot possibly afford decades of litigation to enforce their patents.  Which, apart from being truly unAmerican and unfair, may affect our global competitiveness.

According to “Episode 1” of “Against the Giants,” which I’ve just watched, Qualcomm was a frequent visitor to ParkerVision’s website.  No great surprise there.  But a couple of days after Qualcomm’s CEO hosted an Obama fundraiser, there was a visit from a computer in the White House.  And a few days after that, the Obama-appointed judge threw out the verdict.

I’d be amazed if the President had any direct involvement.  He remains my hero.  But was one of the aides with him that night persuaded by Qualcomm’s CEO that PRKR’s lawsuit threatened national security?

We may not have heard the end of this.

I asked ChatGPT just now: “what is the status of ParkerVision patents lawsuits?”

We’re all for law and order, right?

But Republicans now make an exception for bludgeoning the police, threatening to hang the Vice President, and defecating in the Capitol — that’s considered patriotic, not criminal.  And they enthusiastically support a twice-impeached convicted felon who lied to the FBI and unquestionably obstructed justice.

Here is Heather Cox Ricardson on Abraham Lincoln, before he became America’s first Republican president.  His 1838 speech, given at the age of 28, In Praise of Law And Order.

Lincoln was speaking directly to us in 2025.

Thanks to all of you who have chipped in to the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the context and importance of which are described here.

If you’re looking for additional ways to help, consider Indivisible’s to-do list for the week:

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1. Tell your senators to vote NO on Trump’s most dangerous nominees. Senate Republicans disgracefully confirmed Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary on Friday by a historically small margin. If we can flip just one additional Republican to vote ‘no’ on Russell Vought, Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, or RFK Jr., we can block their nominations. And there’s reason to believe there’s growing opposition to some of these nominees. Let’s keep the pressure on.

2. Join Indivisible’s co-founders this Thursday at 3pm ET/12pm PT to process the news and dig into strategies for fighting back. With so much coming at us right now, it’s important to carve out time to come together in community and dig into what matters and what we can do about it. Indivisible’s Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin will lead the discussion and spend most of the hour answering audience questions.

3. NY Indivisibles: Tell Senator Schumer to Stop Surrendering to MAGA Extremists. Donald Trump is unleashing an authoritarian assault — pardoning violent January 6th criminals, dismantling rights, and enabling fascism — while Senator Schumer responds with calls for bipartisanship. This is not leadership. Senator Schumer must condemn Trump’s attacks on democracy, mobilize Senate Democrats to block extremism at every opportunity, and reject fantasies of common ground with MAGA extremists. Email Senator Schumer now and demand bold defiance, then help us spread the word using our social toolkit.

P.S. — With social media companies bending the knee to Trump, Project 2025 purging the government of dissenters, and corporate media companies caving in the face of speech-chilling lawsuits, it’s never been more important to invest in organizations you believe in that are willing to speak out and fight back against autocracy. Fundraising has been off to a slow start this year, so please consider chipping in to support Indivisible’s work today

P.P.S. — Join us on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 6:30pm ET/3:30pm PT as we kick off a new year of critical work for the Truth Brigade, Indivisible Civics’ grassroots-powered network of activists dedicated to disrupting disinformation. Whether you’re new to the work or a disinfo-fighting expert looking to channel your passion, all are welcome.

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I’m not entirely a Don’t Worry, Be Happy type, though it’s a pretty great song.  (“In every life we haf some trahble!  When you worry, ya make it double.  Don’t worry!  Be happy!”)  There is, after all, a lot to be concerned about.  Fascism and climate change spring to mind.

(And bird flu, a toppy stock market, tariff and deportation policies that could spike inflation that could spike interest rates that could tank the toppy stock market, unintended consequences of artificial intelligence, disinformation, cyber terror, unprecedented levels of inequality that rend the social compact, the San Andreas Fault . . . )

Maybe the difference between worry and concern is that worry implies stress and unhappiness; concern suggests responsibility and purpose.  As in: We need to fix this.  Or at least the parts we can.

Hence yesterday’s post asking your help with the April 1 Wisconsin Supreme Court election.

Paul W. pushed back:  “Judges should not be elected.  They should not make policy.  Political parties should not be involved.  I don’t care or want to care who sits on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.”

→ Fair.  Except that control of the House in 2026 could turn on Congressional redistricting in Wisconsin — so you might consider caring anyway.

I was heartened to see Nate Silver give Democrats an 85% chance of winning back the House in 2026.  A win in Wisconsin April 1 would definitely help.

And he gives us a 40% chance of winning a trifecta in 2028!  The House, the Senate, and the Presidency!  Less than even odds but a real shot.

So there’s reason to stay engaged.

Two reasons, really.

The obvious one: it helps us win.

Less obviously: It animates the spirit and improves mental health.  Purpose is a powerful thing.

As is hope.

David Hogg, 24-year-old survivor of the Parkland massacre, has hope in spades:

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Four years from now, it won’t be a Republican entering the White House. I feel completely confident in that.

Because while Republicans would LOVE it if we gave up, we’re not going to.

Instead, we’re going to make the Democratic Party the strongest it’s been in over half a century.

How? By electing young leaders all over the country with a bold vision for the future. Leaders who fight for us, not the uber-rich.

If you can, will you rush a donation to Leaders We Deserve to help us elect the next generation of leaders so we can win – resoundingly – in four years?

Our work relies on your support. Thank you.

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And thanks to Glenn Sonnenberg, who recently posted this song on his wonderful blog.

Gonna be a bright, bright sunshine-y day.

And — oh, what the heck.  If Trump can bafflingly try to repurpose one gay anthem (hey! I’m friends with one of the Village People!), then, in the spirit of defiance, I can offer another.  If we pull together — and treat our Republican friends with respect as we offer our alternative — we will survive.

BONUS

Hope For Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness.

The race for Wisconsin Supreme Court April 1 has huge national implications.

If Judge Susan Crawford wins:

• The Court will continue to lean 5-4 blue, with fair districts protected.

If the (ferociously anti-choice) guy running against her wins:

• MAGA redistricting could cost us our chance to win back the House in 2026 . . .
• And — because Wisconsin is the swingiest of swing states — even the White House in 2028.

It’s that important.

The MAGA team is pulling out all the stops.

Musk has already tweeted against her.

And yet we have a real chance to win, just as we did two years ago when Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s win gave us that 4-3 majority.

We have to do it again, because one of our 4 is retiring.

Here’s how to help stop the MAGA takeover of the Wisconsin Supreme Court!

If you’re unhappy with Trump so far — as a majority of the country is — it’s a great way to fight back.

Spread the word!

Trump moves to raise drug prices.

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One of the nearly 200 executive orders that newly inaugurated President Donald Trump signed on Tuesday reversed several critical policies that President Biden had put in place. Among those was lowering drug costs for Americans. With the stroke of his pen, Trump removed a $2 price cap on certain generic drugs, did away with a provision that would improve access to high-cost therapies for Medicaid recipients, and ended an effort to expedite the evidence-gathering process for new drugs.

To put it another way, President Trump just opened the door for drug prices to skyrocket . . .

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That should help with inflation.

Here is the new whitehouse.gov . . . all about Trump.

He won nearly 50% of the popular vote (49.8%), which he considers a landslide; and his approval rating stands at 47%; but it’s only been two days and he’s already got unemployment at near record lows, inflation within a hair of where the Fed wants it, the stock market near record highs, oil and gas production the greatest of any country in history, gas prices, adjusted for inflation, back to where they were in 1955 (when gas mileage was far worse, so the cost of driving a mile is now half what it was), tens of thousands of infrastructure projects underway —  and in many parts of the country he seems to have solved global warming!  Indeed, on that one, he may have overshot the mark.

Here are the Biden executive orders he’s rescinded so far.

You might agree with some of them.  But really?

Here is the way the world should be:

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Convicted US Capitol rioter turns down Trump pardon

. . . Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation.

I pleaded guilty because I was guilty.

Accepting a pardon would serve to contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative.

We were wrong that day, we broke the law — there should be no pardons. . . .

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Imagine that.

And here is 10 minutes mostly about a brave judge who speaks truth to power.

What the judge writes is so obviously true and important.  I hope you can find time to watch.

It’s now okay to threaten, attack, and bludgeon law enforcement officers — so long as it’s done on behalf of Donald Trump.  If for any other reason, there will be hell to pay.

It’s okay to commit seditious conspiracy, for which Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio was sentenced by a Trump-appointed judge to 22 years in prison, and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, by an Obama-appointed judge, to 18 . . . so long as your treason was on behalf of Donald Trump.  They’re now back out on the street.

It’s okay to steal classified documents from the government . . .

. . . okay to lie to the FBI about having them . . .

. . . okay to move them around to keep the FBI from finding them . . .

. . . but only if you’re Trump.

This is how it works in Putin’s Russia; and now, tragically, here.

Conservative George Will reviews Monday’s inaugural address — “memorable for its staggering inappropriateness.”

(Of the national “energy emergency” Trump declared, he notes that, adjusted for inflation, gas cost less Monday than it did 70 years ago, in 1955.)

[Correction:  The tax cuts for the rich expire at the end of this year, not in 2027 as initially posted yesterday.]

OUR LIST

“Authoritarians thrive on fear and hopelessness,” write George Lakoff and Gil Durán.  “Here are 17 things you can do to not give into negativity:”

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1. Be Brave

Avoid helpless/hopeless talk. Authoritarians want you to feel powerless because it makes their work easier. Courage, faith, and optimism are essential. Fascism feeds on cynicism and pessimism. Starve it. No regime lasts forever. Resolve to do your part to ensure the survival of democracy. Choose to believe that we will find a way to come out stronger.

2. . . .

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To which I’d add an 18th:

Watch Rachel Maddow every night for the first 100 days of his presidency.  Last night — after I’d written the rest of this post — I learned the details of Trump’s pardons and commutations of all the convicted insurrectionists, including those who attacked and injured police officers.  Republicans are the “law and order” party, tough on crime, unless that crime is committed on behalf of the Dear Leader.  Now that’s officially okay.  Indeed, those 1,500 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers may become the core of his own private paramilitary force, as Rachel and her guests explained.  That’s how autocrats do it.

And it began yesterday.

HIS LIST

That said, I think it’s important, for the good of the country and to maximize our chances of winning the mid-terms, to applaud — and surely not resist — any good things he tries to do.

His speeches yesterday were horrible.  (And by the way?  China does not run the Panama Canal, and our ships are not charged more than anyone else’s.)

But look:  If he finds a way, with the approval of their governments, to destroy the Mexican and Central American gangs and drug cartels . . . and find ways to help spur those countries’ economic development  . . . that would be great.

> Renaming the Gulf of Mexico, by contrast, is what a bully, not a good neighbor, would do.  And there are two reasons not to be a bully: one, it’s a terrible thing to be; two, everyone hates bullies and will, in the long run, find ways to do them in.

And look:  If he and Musk can find ways to make the government run more efficiently . . . and/or to remove needless red tape that impedes our economic productivity . . . that would be great, too.

> Eliminating the Department of Education or firing competent civil servants because they are not loyal to Trump — let alone shrinking the IRS — are examples of really bad ideas that should be resisted like crazy.

Likewise:  His vow to extend his 2017 tax cuts, expiring at the end of this year, would be fine if it applied only to almost all Americans — namely, those whose taxable income does not exceed $400,000 a year.  Maybe even go ahead and raise that ceiling to $500,000.  Or $1 million!  Let’s support that.

> But extending the tax cut on income above $1 million?  Above $50 million?  Above $1 billion?  When we’re running huge deficits and the gap between rich and poor grows ever more corrosive?  Over that, we should be crying bloody murder.

There will be lots more examples — e.g., I can see ways a very narrow exception to birthright citizenship might be something we should support — but let me end with one of my favorites: Social Security Reform.

If he proposes to make the kind of modest adjustments to Social Security that people have been suggesting for decades, we should applaud, or at least not resist.  It would be a meaningful step in shoring up our national balance sheet and reassuring the bond market that, no, we don’t plan to go bankrupt.

Here’s what I wrote 20 years ago:

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. . . You would just take a little from column a, column b, and column c:

(a) Right now, the age at which you can retire with full benefits inches up to 67 by 2027. What if it kept rising one month per year, to age 68 in 2039? You could still take partial benefits as early as age 62; for full benefits, you’d have to wait one more year. But you would have 30 or 40 years (if you started now) to save a little extra to keep this from being a hardship.

(b) Few advocate raising the already hefty payroll tax RATE, currently 6.2% each from you and your employer (plus a further 1.45% each for Medicare). But what if, instead of having that 6.2% drop to zero on income above $90,000, as it does now, it dropped to 1% instead? Annoying, but not a killer; and worth paying so that grandma – much as we love her – doesn’t have to move in.

(c) Once you start receiving benefits, they rise with inflation, as they should. And in calculating your initial benefits, your prior years’ contributions are adjusted for inflation as well. If we made those adjustments based on ‘price inflation’ rather than ‘wage inflation,’ the system would save a fortune. Indeed, we probably wouldn’t need to do (a) and (b) – just (c). But some combination of the three is likely to go down easiest.

So that’s it. As I wrote in PARADE a year or so ago: ‘A bit of pain around the edges, with plenty of time to prepare for it – and the Social Security problem is solved.’ . . .

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The numbers could be easily updated for 2025 (this first appeared in 2003).

And in the years to come, AI and other tech advances might have made us so productive and prosperous that Congress could responsibly repeal some of these changes before they even kicked in!  I.e., before they actually affected retirees.  But in the meantime, with a better a balance sheet and a reassured bond market, our borrowing costs would have been lower.

Bottom line:

Tuning out is not constructive.

Staying engaged will be hard; but surely not as raising a family working two or three jobs at $12 an hour, let alone the $7.25 federal minimum wage the Republican oligarchy refuses to raise.

Onward to the midterms!

Today the nation’s attention is focused on two men, one who survived an assassination attempt, one who did not.

The contrast between the two could not be more stark.

Has the world gone mad?

I watched all three hours of Scott Bessent’s confirmation hearings.  My three major takeaways:

1. He’s highly competent, thoughtful, and decent.  In many respects, he’s likely to be a fine Treasury Secretary.

2. Whether out of conviction or greed, he and his team are blind when it comes to taxing the wealthy.  To them, the top tax brackets are either perfect just as they are . . . or else too high.  At no income level — be it above $1 million a year or $10 million or $1 billion — would they consider even a small rate hike.  This is terrible for our economy, our National Debt, and our social fabric.

Yesterday, Scott called billionaires “the job creators.”  His fellow billionaire, Nick Hanauer, debunked that notion in a 6-minute clip I’ve been linking to for 12 years.

3. Scott and his husband John and their kids could not have been more warmly welcomed.  Watch these 4 minutes with Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina.

Trump’s “trickle-down economics” — horrible.  His judicial appointments — horrible.  His Project 2025 agenda — horrible.  The example he sets for our children — horrible.  His preference for dictators over NATO’s democratic leaders — horrible.  There’s so much about him, and many of those around him, that is horrible (see the BONUS, below).

But here and there, there will be something good that should not go unnoticed.  

That the incoming Treasury Secretary, his husband and kids would be welcomed as a beautiful American family by Republican senators — on TV, no less?

When I was growing up, it would have been unthinkable. 

Democrats have been fighting for 50 years to make this possible, with Republicans fighting us every step of the way.  Some still are.  But, boy, have we come a long way.  Hats off to those Republicans for whom it is now basically a non-issue.  Love is love.  Live and let live.  Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  

BONUS

Trump and Mike Johnson to Los Angeles: “Your Suffering Can Be Helpful To Us”

Appalling.