New internet-based law enforcement and emergency network will hide public safety communications from journalists and the public. “For decades, local newsrooms and citizen watchdogs have relied on police scanners to monitor first responders and track natural disasters, protests, and emergencies…. FirstNet did not comment on whether it was open to offering local newsrooms some access.” https://theintercept.com/2018/07/29/firstnet-att-surveillance/
Wealthy Los Angeles area communities reportedly erecting barriers, physical, legal and human, to keep the commoners out. “San Marino, which may be the richest, and is reputedly the most Republican (85 percent), city in the country, now closes its parks on weekends to exclude Latino and Asian families from adjacent communities.” https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3859-from-rentacop-to-robocop-absolute-security-in-los-angeles
Federal judge orders most detained migrant children to be transferred out of facility accused of drugging them. “A class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of children at Shiloh (Treatment Center) in April alleged that children being held in facilities like Shiloh are almost certain to be administered psychotropic drugs like Prozac regardless of their conditions and without their parents’ consent, it says.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-orders-most-migrant-children-removed-texas-facility-uses-psychotropic-n895966
Experts question legality of TSA’s ‘Quiet Skies’ passenger surveillance program. “We certainly need to have more information, but I think the concerns that they are profiling are pretty high.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tsa-s-quiet-skies-program-raises-legal-civil-liberty-questions-n895806
Koch-funded report finds that ‘Medicare for All’ would increase federal health care spending by $32.6 trillion, but also says that’s about $2 trillion less than if we keep the current for-profit system. “(Blahous also) produces a separate estimate showing that, without cuts to providers, single payer would increase national health spending by more than $3.2 trillion, as Americans would go to the doctor a lot more.” https://slate.com/business/2018/07/single-payer-health-care-could-save-americans-usd2-trillion-conservative-think-tanker-accidentally-argues.html But does he factor in the savings from providing preventative treatment and earlier diagnosis under a ‘Medicare for All’ system, versus uninsured patients showing up in emergency rooms with late stage medical problems under the current system, who are extremely expensive to treat?
Attorney General Sessions creates Religious Liberty Task Force to protect Christians in the U.S. from religious oppression. “We’ve seen nuns ordered to buy contraceptives. We’ve seen United States senators ask judicial and executive branch nominees about dogma…. We’ve all seen the ordeal faced so bravely by Jack Phillips (the Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple).” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/twitter-sessions-religious-liberty-task-force_us_5b5f92bae4b0b15aba9bfcff We’ve also seen people banned from traveling to the U.S., which has blocked grandparents from visiting their grandchildren, and religious groups prevented from building houses of worship. Oh, wait, those were Muslims, never mind.
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin wants to save the wealthiest Americans an estimated $100 billion (over 10 years) by protecting them from ‘over-paying’ capital gains taxes due to inflation. “Under current law, people pay capital gains taxes on the difference between the amount for which they purchased an investment and the amount they sold it for.” http://thehill.com/policy/finance/399582-trump-weighs-big-tax-cut-for-rich-report No billionaire left behind!
Pennsylvania officer who shot man for refusing to get on the ground reportedly called for backup due to ‘a possible mental issue’ with the suspect. “At a community meeting Monday night in Center City Allentown, many people said because of the shooting, they would like to see police officers receive more de-escalation and mental health training.” http://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-nws-south-whitehall-fatal-police-shooting-final-20180730-story.html Shooting victim identified, officer is not. “Joseph Santos, 44, of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, was (fatally) wounded at 5:44 p.m. after he refused to get down on the ground when ordered several times to do so by the officer, according to a video of the incident.” https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/coroner_ids_man_shot_near_dorney_park.html
TV ad sponsored by Koch group and Chamber of Commerce attacks Trump’s trade policies. “Farmers want trade not aid. Tell the administration and Congress – ‘open markets and end tariffs’.” https://qz.com/1343840/a-new-koch-backed-ad-tells-farmers-to-resist-donald-trumps-trade-war-and-tariffs/
Treasury Department to sell more U.S. debt to investors. “The department’s (debt) forecast for the October-December quarter is $440 billion, bringing the second-half borrowing estimate to $769 billion, the highest since $1.1 trillion in July-December 2008.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-30/treasury-raises-borrowing-outlook-with-2h-hitting-769-billion
Authorities have seized 467 firearms under Florida’s new ‘red flag’ law. “A majority of risk-protection cases have involved people with histories of mental illness who threatened to hurt themselves, according to an analysis of Pinellas County records by ABC.” http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/399551-more-than-450-people-in-florida-ordered-to-surrender-guns
Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro reportedly called the country’s military dictatorship “a very good” period of the country’s history. “Some Brazilians — particularly Bolsonaro supporters — have begun to call for the military again to take over government, after concluding that their elected politicians are too corrupt or inept to handle the country’s multilayered crises.” https://www.npr.org/2018/07/30/631952886/dictatorship-was-a-very-good-period-says-brazil-s-aspiring-president
American cardinal, Australian archbishop resign over child sex abuse scandals. “… on Saturday, (Pope) Francis accepted the resignation from the College of Cardinals of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington and of Newark — the first time in memory that a cardinal stepped down over sexual abuse allegations against him…. In May, Archbishop Wilson, 67, became the highest-ranking Catholic cleric ever to be convicted of abuse cover-up in a criminal court, which found him guilty of failing to report to police the abuse of two altar servers by a priest in the 1970s.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/world/australia/vatican-philip-wilson-resignation.html
Bay area anti-war liberal Ron Dellums dead at 82. “Dellums, a former Democratic congressman and mayor of Oakland… died of cancer on Monday at his home in Washington, D.C.” https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/07/30/report-former-oakland-mayor-congressman-ron-dellum-dies/
Italy’s Interior Minister reportedly paraphrases Mussolini on the dictator’s birthday. “(Matteo) Salvini tweeted ‘tanti nemici, tanto onore’, meaning ‘so many enemies, so much honor’, a variation on Mussolini’s famous ‘molti nemici, molto onore’, or ‘many enemies, much honor’.” https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/30/europe/salvini-mussolini-italy-intl/index.html
Palestinian poet gets five months in prison for posting poem with Facebook and YouTube videos. “(Dareen) Tatour was arrested in an Israeli police raid in October 2015 after publishing a poem titled “Resist, my people resist them” and spent the following months under house arrest, during which time she was barred from publishing her work and accessing the internet.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/dareen-tatour-sentenced-months-prison-poem-180731084215893.html
Mexico’s new leftist president proposes tree planting project to fight rural unemployment and reduce migration. “Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he wants to create 400,000 jobs by planting 1 million hectares (2.47 million acres) with timber and fruit trees.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-30/lopez-obrador-looks-to-tree-planting-to-create-mexico-jobs
Canadian man has his gender officially changed to save $91 a month on his car insurance. “It was pretty simple,” he said. “I just basically asked for it and told (my doctor’s office) that I identify as a woman, or I’d like to identify as a woman, and he wrote me the letter I wanted.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/change-gender-identification-insurance-alberta-1.4754416
Leaked Wikileaks Twitter chat messages published by a foe. “The cache was published by national security researcher Emma Best… Best, who has clashed with WikiLeaks in the past—said the information was needed to provide ‘context’ to news reports.” https://www.newsweek.com/wikileaks-secret-chats-exposed-11000-twitter-messages-leak-online-1047509
Twitter bans Elon Musk impersonators, but not Nazis. “Twitter just locked my account when I changed my screen name to include the words “elon musk” and I had to prove I wasn’t a bot to get it back which means they have the algorithms and tech to remove Nazis automatically thank you enjoy your evening.” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/twitters-lock-elon-musk-name-nazi-ban-possible_us_5b5f268ce4b0b15aba9b25c1
Homeless sign opens Silicon Valley’s doors for college grad with tech experience who ran out of money while looking for a job. “David Casarez, a college graduate in his 20s, was spotted holding a sign that read, ‘Homeless hungry 4 success take a resume’.” https://ktla.com/2018/07/30/homeless-college-grad-hands-out-resumes-on-bay-area-street-corner-gets-over-200-job-offers/ How to find a job under 21st century capitalism! Maybe job seekers should try getting on their knees and begging?
How to make more than $500,000 a year. “A top SCANA accountant says the company’s most powerful executives pressured her to lie and she was given altered information to share with state regulators about how much it would cost to finish the utility’s faltering nuclear project, according to a transcript of her sworn testimony…. Walker was in SCANA’s inner circle and was repeatedly called to testify about its budget to South Carolina’s utility regulators and her work won her raises year after year as one of the project’s leaders.” https://www.postandcourier.com/business/sc-nuclear-project-top-accountant-says-she-quit-because-i/article_66d8c638-940c-11e8-bb6e-5b2933e6631d.html
U.S. lifts ban on military aid to Egypt, Egypt sentences 75 protesters to death. “The dozens sentenced in Saturday’s ruling are among 739 defendants, including members of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood and members of the press, the government is targeting over their participating in the (al-Rabaa) protest.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/07/30/egypt-responds-trumps-lifting-military-aid-ban-sentencing-75-anti-coup-protesters
9 MOVE members still serving time for 1978 shootout with police in which one officer was killed. No one was ever charged for the deaths of 5 of the group’s children and 6 adults. “Philadelphia police had dropped a bomb from a helicopter onto a Move house on Osage Avenue in the west of Philadelphia in an attempt to force the black radicals to evacuate the premises after long-running battles with the authorities. The bomb ignited a fire in the Move house that turned into an inferno.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/31/a-siege-a-bomb-48-dogs-and-the-black-commune-that-would-not-surrender
Black woman in Mountain View, California interrogated by police after giving dog food to homeless man for his dog. “Erica (Martin) said she found herself suddenly defending herself to several officers who told her Safeway employees accused her of theft.” https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/07/30/safeway-calls-911-black-woman-feeding-homeless/
Progressive News Service 