Racing

Tech and Politics: Tony Romm reports for Politico on how big tech companies are funneling money to minority groups in Washington in order to tamp down pressure to diversify their workforces. Rashad Robinson, the executive director of Color of Change, which has frequently taken on older civil rights organizations for their coziness with industry groups, says, “We’ve had years now of campaigning and advocacy around the diversity problem … [but] the only thing that’s gotten better with these companies are their talking points….[The problem is] not going to be solved by throwing money at the [Congressional Black Caucus] and other institutions.”

Microsoft, Verizon, Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Yahoo are filing briefs in support of Apple’s effort to resist the government’s push to get it to unlock an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, Ellen Nakashima reports for the Washington Post.

Bernie Sanders’ devoted tech volunteers continue to produce new tools to drive his grassroots campaign, despite the increasingly steep climb he faces in his primary challenge to frontrunner Hillary Clinton. To wit: BernieFriendFinder.com, an app that connects people with their Facebook friends in upcoming primary states.

Faschismo watch: Alex Pareene of Gawker explains how he and his colleagues Ashley Feinberg and Adam Pash created a fake twitter account, @ilduce2016 that would tweet real quotes from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, but in the name of Donald Trump, aimed at Trump himself. Sure enough, the short-fingered vulgarian retweeted one yesterday.

Trump’s support is strongest among self-identified Republicans who are registered Democrats, according to a data analysis for the New York Times’ Upshot by Civic Analytics, Nate Cohn writes. His most popular congressional districts closely match areas where racially-charged internet searches are most common.

Republican strategist Rory Cooper explains on Medium how the #NeverTrump hashtag is taking off among Republicans who are trying to rally to stop Trump’s rise.