@weeklystandard @smarick
Trends in governing have eroded the beliefs, norms and processes by which we learn to be accommodating citizens in a pluralistic, deliberative democracy. By manufacturing rights that limit democratic decision-making, centralizing power in Washington far from citizens’ lives, and empowering unelected bureaucrats in federal regulatory agencies, we’ve obstructed Americans’ practice of self-government. From this perspective, it is no surprise that we are losing the disposition and skills for collegial, conciliatory collective action
https://www.weeklystandard.com/andy-smarick/the-conservative-supreme-court-could-remake-american-citizenship
Month: December 2018
The Panama Papers as a retaliatory move against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Graph depicts the flow of what investor Bill Browder recently testified to be money stolen from the Russian people themselves.
Based on hacking that exfiltratrated 2.6 terabytes of financial data, the Panama Papers was the largest leak in a string of such “journalistic” endeavors kicked off by the Russian military intelligence front Wikileaks.
When the Panama Papers hit the news in April 2016, it wasn’t well understood that Vladimir Putin may have been the main target
This round of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism focused on a favorite of Russia’s.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180219001211/https://www.ericgarland.co/2017/08/01/panama-papers-putin-corruption/
Amnesty Demands Israel Revoke NSO's License After Haaretz Report on Firm's Negotiations With Saudis
Organization says cyber firm ‘out of control’ following revelation that it offered cyber-espionage system to Riyadh mere months before crown prince launched purge
Amnesty demands Israel revoke NSO’s license after Haaretz report on firm’s negotiations with Saudis
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/amnesty-demands-israel-revoke-nso-s-license-after-haaretz-report-on-cyber-firm-1.6695252
Snowden: Israeli Firm’s Spyware Was Used to Track Khashoggi
Former U.S. intel staffer claims one of the dissident’s contacts was bugged with NSO’s Pegasus spyware, blasts Israeli tech industry ■ In response, NSO denies selling its products
Khashoggi’s Friend Sues Israel’s NSO: Spyware That Hacked My Phone Had Major Role in Murder
Omar Abdulaziz files lawsuit in Israel after Haaretz investigation found that NSO negotiated with Saudi officials the sale of advanced cyber attack capabilities ■ Correspondence with Khashoggi reveals his plans to undermine MBS’ government
Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck & Co (MSD), and Abbott are cheating governments out taxes – millions.
According to a new report by Oxfam International it appears drug companies are stashing billions of dollars in profits offshore, and charging sky-high prices.
more https://actions.sumofus.org/a/big-pharma-stop-dodging-taxes
More information
- Pharmaceutical Giants Have Avoided Paying About $2.3 Billion in Taxes in the US Alone
The National. 2 October 2018. - Pharma Companies Avoid $3.8 Bln In Tax Per Year, Says Oxfam
Nasdaq. 18 September 2018. - Prescription for poverty: Drug companies as tax dodgers, price gougers, and influence peddlers
Oxfam. 18 September 2018. - Ireland’s corporate tax rate hurting emerging economies – Oxfam
The Irish Times. 18 September 2018. - Pharmaceutical companies avoiding $215m a year in Australian tax, Oxfam says
The Guardian. 18 September 2018. - Drug firms ‘avoid £124m of British tax’
The Times (paywall). 18 September 2018.
Tim Cook to white supremacists: ‘You have no place on our platforms’
“At Apple, we believe technology needs to have a clear point of view. This is no time to get tied up in knots. We only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division, or violence: You have no place on our platforms. You have no home here. From the earliest days of iTunes to Apple Music today we have always prohibited music with a history of white supremacy. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. And as we showed this year, we won’t give a platform to violent conspiracy theorists. Why? Because it’s the right things to do.”
https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/3/18124416/tim-cook-apple-infowars-white-supremacy-podcasts-platform-adl
DriveSavers claims it has a way to break into locked iPhones with 100 percent success
The company isn’t saying exactly how it’s able to do so
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/27/18115176/drivesavers-locked-iphone-break-in-unlock
“Other companies offer a similar service only to law enforcement. DriveSavers is the first to offer a Passcode Lockout Data Recovery service to consumers. The DriveSavers service is not available for law enforcement and requires proof of ownership prior to unlocking a device.”
CRISPR Consequences 'He' has pushed humanity across a line that it can never uncross.
CRISPR Consequences
You can’t push the frontier of science if you leave all the ethicists behind.
He will probably turn up eventually, at which point he’ll likely need to submit to an investigation from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
The results of that investigation could shape the future of human gene editing — if China punishes He severely for his actions, it could deter other scientists from pursuing the “ask forgiveness, not permission” route with their own research. Leniency could have the opposite effect.
Regardless of how that investigation plays out, though, He has pushed humanity across a line that it can never uncross. We now live in a world in which the first people with CRISPR-modified genes have been born.
16th Century Troll warns you not to look
16th c artist says “Leave this panel closed, otherwise you’ll be angry with me.”
And the label inside: “It’s not my fault because I warned you in advance!”
America’s total student debt is worth more than Mexico’s entire GDP. Here’s how we got here:
Another conflict of interest at a Trump hotel?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2018/11/29/another-conflict-interest-trump-hotel/
The Debt Collection Forum is an annual trade show put on for the debt-collection industry, the sort of event that hosts seminars on topics like “Trump and the CFPB” and promises to deliver “actionable solutions.” In previous years, it has been held in places such as Nashville. In April 2019, the Debt Collection Forum will take place in Chicago — at the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
You read that right. A group of several hundred debt collectors, members of a widely loathed industry that is regulated by the federal government, is going to meet next April at a property belonging to the president of the United States.
It is an interesting choice of venue — and one that, once again, highlights our unsatisfactory laws when it comes to the issue of Trump’s personal business interests and how they potentially conflict with the office of the presidency.