Donald Trump buries first wife Ivana on his Bedminster, New Jersey golf course, becomes eligible for tax exemption. “In New Jersey, cemeteries are exempt from income, property and sales tax…. Ivana was buried in a plot close to the first tee of the golf course following her funeral in Manhattan on July 20…. Trump previously designated the plot as a farm to benefit from further tax breaks, as it produced mulch used for gardening…. Thanks to New Jersey’s pro-farm taxation policies, Trump only pays $16.31 per year in taxes on the plot…. The Journal estimated that without the farmland tax break, Trump would have to pay around $80,000 per year in levies.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11065855/Donald-Trump-accused-burying-Ivana-Bedminster-golf-club-advantage-TAX-BREAK.html
Pope calls church program to turn indigenous youth into Canadian Christians ‘cultural genocide’. “Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission determined in 2015 that the forced removal of Indigenous children from their homes and placement in the residential schools to assimilate them constituted a ‘cultural genocide’. Some 150,000 children from the late 1800s to the 1970s were subject to the forced assimilation policy, aimed at making them fully Christian and Canadian…. children were beaten for speaking their Native languages.” https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-religion-f0a5b44114856bb52d02b794c95c524c This was also done in the U.S., and is similar in many ways to what China has done and is doing in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Climate scientist says due to inaction, human race is now doomed to living on a ‘hothouse’ earth. “In his new book published Thursday, Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant’s Guide, Bill McGuire argues that, after years of ignoring warnings from scientists, it is too late to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change…. His perspective — that severe climate change is now inevitable and irreversible — is more extreme than many scientists who believe that, with lowered emissions, the most severe potential impacts can still be avoided…. Many climate scientists, McGuire said, are much more scared about the future than they are willing to admit in public. He calls their reluctance to acknowledge the futility of current climate action ‘climate appeasement’ and says it only makes things worse.” https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-scientist-says-total-climate-breakdown-is-now-inevitable-2022-7
Risk of war and nuclear war increasing due to lack of communication between major powers. “Britain’s national security adviser has warned that a breakdown in dialogue between rival powers is raising the risk of nuclear war, with fewer safeguards now than during the Cold War. Western nations had a greater ‘understanding of the Soviet doctrine and capabilities — and vice versa’ at the time because they kept more negotiation channels open, Stephen Lovegrove said at an event in Washington on Wednesday…. ‘Today, we do not have the same foundations with others who may threaten us in the future — particularly with China…. We are entering a dangerous new age,’ he added, citing the spread of advanced weapons and cyberwarfare.” https://www.stripes.com/theaters/europe/2022-07-28/nuclear-threat-higher-cold-war-6796513.html
Iraqi protesters storm country’s parliament over choice of prime minister, an estimated 125 injured. “Crowds of angry demonstrators loyal to the powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have broken into the secure area where government buildings are located despite security forces using tear gas and water cannons to disperse them. The protesters then stormed the parliament, according to Iraqi State News agency (INA). Videos circulating on social media appeared to show people waving the Iraqi flag walking past security through the doors of parliament. At least 125 people have been injured, including 100 civilians and 25 military personnel, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.” https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/30/middleeast/iraq-protests-baghdad-parliament-intl/index.html
U.S. Bank hit with $37.5 million in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fines and penalties. “… in a case that is deeply similar to the sales practices scandal uncovered at Wells Fargo last decade. The CFPB alleged that US Bank accessed consumers credit reports to open checking and savings accounts, credit cards and lines of credit without their permission. Employees were encouraged to do so, in order to meet the bank’s goals of selling multiple products to each customer with the bank.” https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2022/07/29/u-s-bank-fined-37-5-m-opening-fake-customer-accounts/10182054002/
Companies are collecting and selling user data from newer cars. “Today’s cars are akin to smartphones, with apps connected to the internet that collect huge amounts of data, some of which is highly personal. Most drivers have no idea what data is being transmitted from their vehicles, let alone who exactly is collecting, analyzing, and sharing that data, and with whom…. The Markup has identified 37 companies that are part of the rapidly growing connected vehicle data industry that seeks to monetize such data in an environment with few regulations governing its sale or use. While many of these companies stress they are using aggregated or anonymized data, the unique nature of location and movement data increases the potential for violations of user privacy.” https://themarkup.org/the-breakdown/2022/07/27/who-is-collecting-data-from-your-car For example, if they know the locations where your car sits most of the time, they know that’s probably where you live or work. Google Search those locations and bingo!
Bank worried about increase in employee bargaining power. “What the [Bank of America] memo calls ‘the ratio of job openings to unemployed’…. offers one measurement of the balance of power between workers and employers. The lower this number, the more options unemployed people have when searching for work and the greater opportunities employed people have to switch to jobs with better pay and conditions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this ratio stood at 0.5 as of May, meaning that there were then two job openings per unemployed person…. This recent, unusual moment of worker leverage made Bank of America quite anxious. The memo expresses distress about ‘a record tight labor market’, stating that ‘wage pressures are … going to be hard to reverse’.” https://theintercept.com/2022/07/29/bank-of-america-worker-conditions-worse/
Cells in Texas prisons can reportedly hit 149 degrees in summer. “In Texas, where just 20 percent of prison units in the state have air conditioning, cells regularly reach temperatures as high as 110 degrees, with some cells getting as hot as 149 degrees, according to a study released by the Texas A&M University Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center earlier this month. In Florida, where just 24 percent of prison units have air conditioning, prison reform activists recently told the Orlando Sentinel that cell temperatures exceed 100 degrees. And in Arizona, where temperatures as high as 120 degrees can result in the cancellation of flights, inmates were left outside to bear the brunt of it.” https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7bbba/prison-cells-can-reach-nearly-150-degrees-in-the-south
F-35 jets grounded over ejection seat issues. “The news marks the latest difficult headline for the beleaguered fighter, which U.S. military officials have placed at the forefront of their airpower strategy despite a long list of maintenance issues. Air Combat Command, the Air Force command which oversees the bulk of the service’s fighter fleet, made the decision to ground its F-35s on Friday after other units of the Air Force and Navy grounded many of their aircraft due to concerns over faulty parts which could prevent the pilot ejection seat from launching out of the cockpit in an emergency.” https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-force-f-35-ejection-seat-cartridge/
Palestinian Authority rounds up its political opponents. “The Palestinian Authority (PA) is carrying out one of the largest political arrest campaigns in years against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with at least 94 people arrested over the past two months. Those arrested include university students and journalists, with at least 20 still in detention, according to the Ramallah-based Lawyers for Justice group. None were charged with any offences, and most were released after 10 days in prison…. [Muhannad] Karajeh said the majority of those arrested were Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) activists as well as, to a lesser extent, individuals affiliated with the PA’s governing party Fatah, and the left-wing Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/29/palestinian-authority-arrest-campaign-one-of-the-worst-in
AIPAC targeting another progressive Democrat. “[Andy Levin] is a self-described Zionist who supports a two-state solution, but earlier this year a former president of AIPAC described him as ‘arguably the most corrosive member of Congress to the U.S.-Israel relationship’…. In Michigan, where voters go to the polls on Tuesday for a primary election, AIPAC has spent over $3 million targeting Andy Levin, a two-term member of Congress. Levin is a former president of his synagogue. He comes from one of the most prominent Jewish political families in Michigan.” https://www.democracynow.org/2022/7/29/rep_andy_levin_aipac_democratic_primaries
Air Force officer who filmed atomic bomb devastation made secret copies of footage. “It was 9 September 1945 and Lt Daniel McGovern, a US Army Air Force cameraman, was documenting ground zero, the point directly below the [Nagasaki] bomb’s detonation four weeks earlier…. Back in the US, he saved the footage from suppression by making secret copies. Only now, decades later, has his full story emerged…. The fields around Nagasaki were bleached white and the city looked as if a ‘massive anvil’ had flattened it, he later told [Irish journalist Joe] McCabe. At a ruined school he filmed the bodies of children amid piles of skulls…. He filmed harrowing scenes at overwhelmed hospitals…. McGovern’s teams amassed 100,000 feet of colour footage and enlisted the help of a Japanese newsreel service, Nippon Eigasha, which had 26,000 feet of black-and-white footage, much shot before the Americans had arrived. [McGovern] helped edit the Japanese footage into a documentary called Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and planned to turn the colour footage into another one. Authorities in Washington, however, classified the material as secret in 1946…. He discreetly made copies at the Pentagon…. in 1967 a US Congressional committee… asked to see the atomic bomb footage. The material had been declassified but no one could find the originals. McGovern, by now a lieutenant colonel, directed the authorities to his copies. In 1970 the general public got its first glimpse of some of the footage.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/31/us-airman-daniel-mcgovern-cameraman-hiroshima-nagasaki Espionage! (sarcasm)
Inflation Reduction Act doesn’t include money for daycare subsidies. “The Senate must pass a reconciliation package that includes inflation-fighting funding for affordable, quality child care and early learning, to lower costs for families, and raise wages for providers,” said [Michelle] Kang. “Millions of women, families, and educators are watching—and waiting—for Congress to act and solve child care before it’s too late.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/07/29/advocates-slam-0-child-care-manchin-anti-inflation-package
Climate groups ask Democrats to kill fossil fuel expansion projects in Inflation Reduction Act. “While the IRA would unleash $369 billion in climate-related public funding over the next decade in the form of subsidies for clean energy production and tax incentives for carbon capture and other contentious technologies… it also includes significant giveaways to Manchin’s allies and financial backers in the oil and gas industry…. ‘Oil, gas, and coal production are the core drivers of the climate and extinction crises,’ states the letter. ‘There can be no new fossil fuel leases, exports, or infrastructure if we have any hope of preventing ever-worsening climate crises, catastrophic floods, deadly wildfires, and more—all of which are ripping across the country as we speak.'” https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/07/29/climate-coalition-biden-and-schumer-reject-fossil-fuel-expansion-manchin-deal
Kazakh foundation sues journalists over expose. “The defendant, Journalism Development Network, Inc. of Baltimore, operates the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a decade-old online news service tracking political and government corruption around the world…. At issue is a story published on Jan. 19 which examined four separate though similarly-named charities associated with Kazakhstan’s former president [Nursultan Nazarbayev]…. Nazarbayev, who led Kazakhstan as its ‘first president’ after it split from the Soviet Union in 1990, privatized state-owned industries and amassed a vast fortune for himself and a circle of oligarchs…. ‘Some of the assets were transferred to Nazarbayev’s foundations, or are still co-owned, by oligarchs who owe their riches to the crony capitalism that flourished during his rule. In other cases, the government of Kazakhstan poured money into private companies which were then acquired by the charitable foundations. The result is that Nazarbayev’s non-profit organizations actually own larger business portfolios than many multinational conglomerates,’ the OCCRP’s story says. ‘Since the foundations are non-profits, Nazarbayev does not formally own their vast assets himself. However, legal experts contacted by OCCRP explained that, under Kazakhstani law, the founder of a private foundation has ultimate control over its assets.’” https://www.courthousenews.com/kazakh-dictators-charity-sues-investigative-reporting-non-profit/
Nye county, Nevada decides to hand-count all ballots in future elections. “A network of people peddling conspiracy theories about the security of voting machines has hop-scotched the country for more than a year, spinning elaborate yarns involving Venezuelan software, the Chinese Communist Party and offshore servers. They have tried to persuade state and local officials to do just what Nye County is attempting…. Trump won Nye County by more than 40 percentage points among the 25,427 ballots cast in November 2020. That margin, however, has done nothing to stifle the spread of conspiracy theories about voter fraud and ballot tampering. At a recent Republican Party event and county commission meeting, many brought up stories they had heard involving QR codes, half-inserted USB drives and foreign hackers infiltrating machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems. No evidence has surfaced to prove any of the theories, yet they continue to spread in Nye County Facebook groups…. ‘I don’t think it can be done,’ [resigning County Clerk Sam Merlino] said. ‘If they want to give it a go, that’s why I’m giving them the opportunity to do it.’” https://www.courthousenews.com/election-conspiracies-grip-nevada-community-sowing-distrust/
Trump-supporting Secret Service agents may have been in on plot to stop Mike Pence from certifying 2020 election results. “There are also questions about the Secret Service’s intentions after it was revealed to the [January 6th] committee that the service wanted to drive Vice President Mike Pence away from the Capitol that day…. Pence refused to leave and after the angry mob, some of whom were looking for him, left the Capitol, he returned to the House chamber to oversee Joe Biden’s certification as president-elect, defying pressure from Trump. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has even suggested the Secret Service was in on the plot to remove Pence from the Capitol to stop him from certifying Biden that day…. Suspicions about what the Secret Service was up to later deepened as it became known that the service deleted its text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. Worse yet, it was later revealed that the agency had been told in advance not to do so. In fact, there appears to have been not one, but three separate warnings issued to the Secret Service not to delete the messages…. In April this year, Biden pardoned former Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden…. Bolden was the one agent in Chicago who tried to tell the Warren Commission [about the plot to assassinate President John Kennedy during his visit]. Two weeks after he told another agent he was going to testify, Bolden was arrested and convicted of taking a bribe in a counterfeiting case he was investigating. He was sentenced to six years in prison…. In 1994, the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) was assigned the task of declassifying and opening all the documents relating to President Kennedy’s assassination…. at about the time when the Review Board was ready to inspect [six boxes of Secret Service] records, two of the boxes were destroyed…. The destroyed records included three folders about [Kennedy’s 1963 visit to] Chicago. The Secret Service tried to say it was all part of a routine destruction procedure.” https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/29/the-worst-us-secret-service-failure-since-nov-1963/
Former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq, Scott Ritter, asks members of Congress to investigate Ukrainian ‘blacklist’ claiming to identify Americans who are ‘Russian propagandists’. “The ‘blacklist’ in question was published on July 14, 2022, by the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, and consists of a list of politicians, academics, and activists who the Center claims promote ‘Russian propaganda’. Many on this list are citizens of the United States, some of whom, like me, have taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States…. While the specific criterion used by the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation for selecting persons for inclusion on this ‘blacklist’ is not known, in my case the Ukrainian government appears to have taken umbrage against my articulation of Ukraine as a NATO base of operations, my analysis of the Bucha Massacre in early March which assigns responsibility to Ukrainian security services, and my description of the current Ukraine-Russian conflict as a ‘proxy conflict’ being waged on behalf of the United States. Whether one agrees with my positions on these and other matters pertaining to Ukraine is not the point; by articulating my views, I am exercising my [First Amendment] rights under the Constitution of the United States. While the Government of Ukraine is free to express its opinions regarding my viewpoints as it sees fit, the Government of the United States, by using funds appropriated by the United States Congress, should not facilitate the actions of the Government of Ukraine in this regard…. As a constituent whose name has appeared on [this] so-called ‘blacklist’… my personal and professional life has been, and continues to be, detrimentally impacted by the chilling effect of being labeled a ‘Russian propagandist’ for simply exercising the right to free speech guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Moreover, Ukraine has a history of converting ‘blacklists’ of this nature into ‘kill lists’, where those who speak out against the policies of the Ukrainian government are being murdered or threatened with violence.” https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/27/us-should-not-fund-ukrainian-blacklist/
Progressive News Service 