Big Tech Lobbyists Explain How They Took Over Washington: In a research paper by Wendy Li at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tech lobbyists divulge how they redefined and reframed the concept of digital trade such that policymakers view the industry’s interests and the country’s as one and the same. Read David Dayen on how Silicon Valley executes regulatory capture.

Returning to the Scene of the Great Police Riot: In light of the Democratic National Committee’s decision to convene in Chicago in 2024, Harold Meyerson reflects on the police violence and political turmoil that plagued the party’s 1968 convention.

McCarthy's Losing Game of Debt Chicken: Speaker Kevin McCarthy is continuing to call for unpopular deep cuts in the Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS and other social programs in exchange for increasing the debt ceiling. The only person who can save McCarthy from himself, Robert Kuttner explains, is Joe Biden.

Abortion Care in North Carolina Under Peril: North Carolina is one of the few states left in the South that still provides the right to an abortion. But former Democrat Rep. Tricia Cotham’s party switch has won the GOP a legislative supermajority that can override vetoes from the state’s Democratic governor. Read Ramenda Cyrus on what this means for patients and providers.

Held Down By our Bootstraps: In an interview with Kelly Candaele from Capital and Main, Alissa Quart discusses her new book Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves From the American Dream, on the ideology of American individualism and the unmaking of the national mythology surrounding it.