Data on millions of US voters is being illegally traded on the dark web as the US is gearing up for the 2020 presidential election. The data could be used to attempt to influence voters. The dark web is a part of the internet not searchable using normal means. It is encrypted and visible only through …
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“In 1997, the Department of Defense set up the 1033 program as part of the National Defense Authorization Act to provide thousands of domestic police forces with “surplus” equipment of almost every imaginable militarized kind. “Since then, thanks to your tax dollars, it has given away $7.4 billion worth of such equipment, some of it …
Democracy being sidelined in th US……. Recent events have exposed the inadequacy of the US democratic checks and balances created over200 years ago. What’s required is a second American revolution – and a fresh constitutional convention that demolishes anachronisms like the electoral college, makes democracy work for all, and refocuses on constructive global engagement. (Guardian …
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments are facing unprecedented revenue shortfalls, forcing them to make tough decisions about their 2020-21 budgets. Stunningly, however, police departments across the country are not facing any budget cuts, with many actually receiving budget increases. As we observe police departments deploy tanks, riot gear, tear gas, rubber …
Continue reading ‘Following on from yesterday……police budgets.’ »
The phrase “defund the police” has quickly gained popularity in the past two weeks, but as this Washington Post piece explains, the term isn’t nearly as radical as it may sound. It isn’t a call to eliminate the police entirely – it is simply meant to draw attention to the outsized funds that police departments …
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It is common knowledge that the Education Department is run by a multi-millionaire devotee of scrapping everything to do with government if she has the power to do it. This includes privatizing the public school system, and de facto making education even more of a distant prospect than ever for minorities. By the way, she …
Continue reading ‘Dismantling the nation’s publicly funded schools.’ »
Below are some of the ideas that have been put forward to deal with gun violence: Background checks There are several major bipartisan bills drawing renewed attention in the Senate at the moment, aiming to expand background checks for gun sales. The Fix NICS Act corrects failures in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, provides …
”Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.” So exclaimed Beto O’Rourke during the recent Democratic primary debate, endorsing the idea of mandatory buy-backs of assault weapons. It has become “the newest purity test” for Democratic candidates, but have they thought about the consequences of enforcing such a policy? “There could be as …
Continue reading ‘Military-style guns – why do they need them?’ »
The Democrat governor of New York has a plan for a “Trump-proof” reopening of the Big Apple. Andrew Cuomo has apparently hired “high-powered consultants” who will scientifically analyse the “key data points” to work out how to free up the region’s economy. And who are these brilliant consultants? McKinsey & Company, of course – a …
Continue reading ‘You should know better than this, Governor’ »
The scientific evidence that has underpinned No 10’s response to Covid-19 will not be made public until the pandemic ends, the government chief science adviser has told MPs. Sir Patrick Vallance said that the minutes of meetings of the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) — the government’s most senior team of expert advisers — …
The Observer (editorial) The World Economic Forum’s annual Davos shindig “became a laughing stock a long time ago”, says The Observer newspaper. All those denunciations of global inequality by “corporate captains clinking champagne glasses” in the snow at shareholders’ expense have long seemed ridiculous. But the penny seems finally to be dropping that the game …
The chaos of the last several weeks have put a few things into stark relief. Two of the most obvious: who actually does the work essential for our world to function and how little value the wealthy put on this work. In industries like meatpacking, the corporations that our wealthy run are forcing a mostly …
Over the summer of 2019 the president indicated that his team thought low-income families were getting a too greedy about food. He announced a new plan designed to exclude hundreds of thousands of people from the food stamp program. This was done last December by tightening work requirements for able-bodied adults with no dependents, the U.S. …
Slipped into the recent corona virus relief package was a $170 billion tax cut for the wealthy that will give people earning over $1 million a year an average tax cut of $1.6 million per year. In 2020 alone, taxpayers will pay $90 billion for this wealth transfer to just 43,000 millionaires, 20 percent more than Congress …
Continue reading ‘What a relief! Help for deserving, struggling millionaires.’ »
Shake Shack is returning a $10 million federal loan after the Paycheck Protection Program that was meant to help small businesses ran put of money in less than two weeks of operation. The burger chain and other large businesses were able to get the money because the program covers any company with fewer than 500 …
