May 10, 2017

The anti-GOP health care ads aren't going away

Susan Walsh / AP

The pro-Affordable Care Act group Save My Care is launching a new round of ads against vulnerable Republican incumbents who voted for the House replacement bill, including web ads, mobile billboards and Spanish-language digital and radio ads, according to details provided to Axios. The targets include:

Reps. Jim Renacci, Bruce Poliquin, Martha McSally, Mark Amodei (homepage takeovers — ads dominating the homepages of news websites)
McSally, Amodei and Renacci, plus House Speaker Paul Ryan (mobile billboards)
Jeff Denham, McSally and Amodei (Spanish-language ads)
Pat Tiberi, Steve Chabot, and Renacci (TV ads — previously announced)

Why it matters: The constant trolling shows the protests against the House vote aren't disappearing. And the messages aren't subtle — the mobile billboard in Renacci's district claims he "just voted to rip health care away from 654,000 Ohioans."

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Kyle Daly

3 hours ago - Technology

The slippery slope of protest surveillance

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

President Trump's call to treat antifa supporters like terrorists could be a green light for high-tech surveillance of dissidents.

Why it matters: It's unlikely the Trump administration can designate antifa as a terrorist group in any legally meaningful way, but the declaration gives law enforcement tacit approval to use a plethora of tech tools to monitor protesters and left-leaning activists.

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David Nather

4 hours ago - Politics & Policy

The biggest crisis since 1968

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Bettmann/Contributor

The year 1968 has been on a lot of people’s minds lately — another year of protests, violence and upheaval that seemed to be tearing the nation apart.

Yes, but: This crisis also has moments we’ve never seen before — and some historians and experts say the differences suggest that 2020 doesn't compare well at all.

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Dion Rabouin

4 hours ago - Economy & Business

SoftBank to launch $100M fund backing companies led by people of color

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure said in a letter to employees early Wednesday that the firm will create a $100 million fund that "will only invest in companies led by founders and entrepreneurs of color."

Why it matters: The Opportunity Growth Fund is one of the first to put significant capital behind companies' statements of empathy and outrage in response to protests over systemic racism in the U.S. typified by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other African Americans by police.

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