Musk’s Grok weaponizes the lizard brain to degrade women for profit. As regulators strike back, 2026 is the first major test of Cro-MAGA man’s synthetic information warfare. Instrumental What/So What/Now What analysis.

Affordability got attention 2025. Campaigns that centered housing, insurance, and energy won by reaching voters who supported Trump but now face economic crises he hasn't solved. The Epstein files compound this economic betrayal with moral injury. Clean Listening identified these voters and a Feed First strategy converted their economic anxiety into political action. This is how we win.

Rolling Stone recently featured Instrumental and Ekō’s investigation into the potential harms of OpenAI’s video generation platform, Sora2. The piece highlighted some of Sora2’s more problematic content, but, in this here newsletter, we’ll see how the deeper issue is structural.

Sam Foster, a 24-year-old IT systems engineer and community organizer, came within 87 votes of defeating five-term incumbent Raymond "Thunder" Tumlin in the Marietta, Georgia mayoral race.

The final unofficial results showed Tumlin with 6,762 votes (51.01%) to Foster's 6,675 (48.99%) out of 13,437 total votes cast.

Sam’s mini-movement, centered on intentional urbanism, affordability, and community organizing, showed how campaigns strong on policy, not platitudes, have a long-term future, even in car-dependent suburbs like Marietta, Georgia.

Tech billionaires and utilities justify fossil fuel expansion for AI data centers, raising rates while promising AI will solve climate change later. Georgia's PSC election tests if voters accept this new climate denial.

Georgia's Public Service Commission elections could reshape energy policy and break Republican dominance. With bills up $516/year while Georgia Power profits soar, voters face a choice between utility interests and ratepayer protection.

OpenAI launched Sora2, a personalized image-and-content generator that is, technically speaking, bonkers. The dual launches of this and Cory Doctorow’s “Enshittification” show the risks of slop content tools. Artist Ryan Trecartin showed the rewards.

Trump signed a new presidential national security directive (NSPM-7) ordering the Department of Justice, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces, the Department of Treasury, and the IRS to investigate and punish groups allegedly tied to “organized political violence.”

The government is using the fear and confusion surrounding a tragedy — in this case the killing of Charlie Kirk — to consolidate power. Let’s look at how they’re doing it this time —through the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Treasury Department — and what we can do about it.