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Lawmakers demand removal of Postmaster General DeJoy over ‘nefarious’ efforts to destroy the Postal Service and ‘aid Trump reelection’
‘He is working to dismantle a fundamental institution of our democracy. He needs to resign or be removed, now.’
On the heels of a “Friday Night Massacre” at the U.S. Postal Service that deeply alarmed lawmakers, activists, and ordinary citizens nationwide, two House Democrats are demanding the immediate removal of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over his sweeping operational changes to the beloved government service that have slowed the delivery of essential packages and jeopardized mail-in voting. Continue reading
Letter Carriers union files nationwide grievance against mail slowdown scheme
WASHINGTON—The Letter Carriers union has filed a national grievance, an unusual move, against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who took over the agency, promptly fired 21-31 top staffers, and imposed shutdown actions and an overtime ban that slows the mail down. Continue reading
Trump usurps congressional appropriations authority
On Saturday, Trump unconstitutionally breached exclusive congressional appropriations authority. Continue reading
COVID ‘has laid bare’ the crisis of healthcare in America
Wendell Potter’s new group, the Center for Health and Democracy, investigates money in politics and how it stubbornly resists health insurance reform.
Time flies. Hard to believe that it was twelve years ago that healthcare reform activist Wendell Potter left his job as head of corporate communications at Cigna and shortly after, loudly blew the whistle on the gross malpractices of the health insurance industry that had employed him. Continue reading
Postal Union leader warns Trump assault on USPS and mail-in voting puts nation on ‘dangerous path toward dictatorship’
‘Anyone who believes in the right to vote should enthusiastically embrace voting by mail. Without it, tens of millions of voters will be denied the opportunity to safely exercise their cherished right to vote.’
The leader of the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union warned Monday that President Donald Trump’s evidence-free attacks on mail-in voting, threat to delay the November election, and ongoing efforts to undermine the U.S. Postal Service are putting the nation on “a dangerous path toward dictatorship” and must be opposed. Continue reading
Privacy advocates herald bill to curb corporate use of ‘enormously invasive’ facial recognition technology
‘Do we really want to live under constant surveillance by unaccountable corporations?" said Sen. Bernie Sanders. ‘I don't.’
New legislation put forward by Sens. Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders on Tuesday would curb the use of facial recognition software by corporations and help to slow the spread of “abusive” surveillance, according to leading privacy advocates. Continue reading
Lawmakers warn ‘onerous’ new USPS loan terms imposed by Mnuchin ‘could accelerate demise of Postal Service’
‘Mnuchin and the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service appear to be exploiting this public health pandemic to hold the Postal Service to unreasonable loan terms without even consulting Congress.’
Leading congressional Democrats are warning that an emergency loan agreement announced Wednesday by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—a major donor to President Donald Trump and the GOP—could “accelerate the demise of the Postal Service” by giving the administration unprecedented access to the popular agency’s internal operations. Continue reading
Fascist Ohio’s bribed $60 million nuke reactor meltdown
While Trump pumps his private gestapo into cities like Portland and Seattle, Ohio’s homegrown fascist legions launched a blitzkrieg of their own. Continue reading
Human rights defenders: Palestinian eyewitness testimony of the execution of Abdul Fattah al-Sharif by Israeli soldier Elor Azaria
As illegal Jewish settlers increase their attacks on Palestinian civilians in the occupied city of Al Khalil (Hebron), the people of the Palestinian city continue to mount a campaign of popular resistance. Continue reading
Big tech giants are forcing their way into America’s public health system
A consortium of the most powerful tech players like IBM, Microsoft and Facebook are teaming up with hospital networks with links to the Vatican and tech lobbying groups to shape the conversation about the future role of technology in the public sphere.
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), a Big Tech lobby group has just launched a “working group” called the Public Health Tech Initiative (PHTI) to explore the ways in which technology can help in future pandemics. The coalition of companies that form part of the “broad coalition” include tech giants like Facebook and Microsoft, transnational behemoths like Philips, as well as U.S. pharmaceutical retail chain CVS Health. Continue reading
‘History will not judge this kindly’: DNC Platform Committee votes down Medicare for All amendment
‘It's like opposing the New Deal during the Great Depression. Unforgivable
A Democratic National Committee panel on Monday voted down an amendment that would have inserted a plank supporting Medicare for All into the party’s 2020 platform, a move progressives decried as out of touch with public opinion and a slap in the face to the millions of people who have lost their health insurance due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue reading
GOP let ‘em eat cake stimulus plan
On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced the so-called Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act. Continue reading
Trump’s worst attacks on workers
Donald Trump campaigned as an insurgent outside of the political establishment who would restore the long-neglected working class. That was a lie. As president, he’s turned his back on working people, governing instead as a lackey for billionaires, CEOs, and corporations. Even during a public health and economic crisis, Trump has left working people in the dust. Continue reading
Friends of the IDF lobby group secures forgivable US COVID loans for Israeli soldiers
A non-profit organization that supports IDF soldiers received a $2.5 million PPP loan under the guise of a ‘religious organization,’ but adds up to a mere pittance of the continued bonanza of American tax-payer dollars flowing to the apartheid state.
A non-profit organization that “that provides for wellbeing of the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)” was awarded a $2.5 million forgivable PPP loan by the (Small Business Administration) SBA. The Friends of Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF) is the only organization “authorized to represent the IDF across the United States and Panama” where they claim to operate 20 regional offices, with a P.O. Box in New York. Continue reading
Bribed Ohio’s $60 million radioactive uproar rocks the 2020 vote
Ohio’s biggest-ever bribery case is rocking America’s reactor industry … and the fall election. Continue reading
GOP coronavirus relief package to include Romney bill that would ‘fast-track Social Security and Medicare Cuts’
‘They will use every opportunity and every crisis—including the mass death and economic carnage from COVID—as cover for their sick desire to destroy our Social Security system.’
Shortly after publicly ditching one attack on Social Security—the payroll tax cut—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell confirmed Thursday that the Republican coronavirus relief package will include legislation sponsored by Sen. Mitt Romney that one advocacy group described as an “equally menacing” threat to the New Deal program. Continue reading
Maine letter carriers allege USPS leadership ‘willfully delaying’ mail to sabotage Postal Service from within
‘We're watching the deliberate destruction of the Post Office unfolding in front of us,’ said one journalist.
A formal complaint filed last week with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General by a Portland, Maine letter carrier alleges that city Postmaster James Thornton is unlawfully mandating the delay of first-class mail in order to prioritize the delivery of Amazon packages. Continue reading
Stirring fears of pre-crime policing, DHS head Chad Wolf confirms federal agents in Portland making ‘proactive’ arrests
‘Welcome to 2020: Minority Report Edition.’
Critics unloaded on acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf after the agency head revealed in an interview on Fox News Tuesday evening that federal law enforcement officers in Portland, Oregon are “proactively” arresting demonstrators in the city. Continue reading
Despite surging need amid pandemic, GOP moves to roll back SNAP when food assistance ‘matters now more than ever’
‘SNAP delivered. Like it always does.’
Pointing to the success of the SNAP food assistance program during the coronavirus pandemic, economists on Monday said Republicans’ plan to end the expansion of the aid would be “unconscionable.” Continue reading
Oregon senator vows amendment to bar Trump from sending ‘paramilitary squads onto America’s streets’
‘We won't let these authoritarian tactics stand.’
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley on Saturday announced plans to introduce an amendment barring the Trump administration from deploying federal law enforcement to U.S. streets as backlash continues over the White House’s use of unidentified agents to violently crack down on protests in Portland and detain demonstrators without cause. Continue reading
Trump tells Florida crowd ‘something will happen in Venezuela’ soon
‘Something will happen with Venezuela. That’s all I can tell you,’ Trump said, before not-so-cryptically adding that Washington would be ‘very much involved.’
On a trip to COVID-19 riddled Florida this weekend, President Donald Trump not-so-cryptically revealed that he had something big planned for Venezuela during a meeting with leaders of the U.S. military’s Southern Command. “Something will happen with Venezuela. That’s all I can tell you,” he said, before adding that Washington would be “very much involved” in what he was referencing. Continue reading
Trump seeks to follow North Korea’s example in covering up COVID-19 data: TeleTracking Technologies hired to do the dirty deed
“America under the Trump administration will be soon following China’s and North Korea’s tactics in which data will be concealed and the public will be kept in the dark. Soon, Americans will no longer be able to get the real data about the number of COVID-19 infected and COVID-19 deaths as President Trump signed a new order in which all hospitals and states will no longer report these figures and other critical data to the US CDC or media, but rather to a private company that is controlled by the White House, and only the White House will in turn disseminate this data. Other data that will also be controlled includes the numbers of daily COVID-19 tests, the availability of ventilators and hospital beds. As the Trump campaign comes closer to the election date, he needs to suppress the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in America and let his ignorant followers and Republicans think that he is doing a great job while they and their families [and others] die slowly.” Thailand Medical News: Bleak Future for Americans as White House Now Controls Reporting of all New Infections and Deaths, Elites are Scamming the Country. Continue reading
‘Resounding’ win for public health and climate as judge blocks Trump attempt to gut methane restrictions
‘The judge basically rejected every attempt by the Trump administration to gut these common-sense waste prevention measures on behalf of their oil and gas industry cronies.’
Green groups celebrated a “resounding victory for taxpayers, public health, and the environment” late Wednesday after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from rolling back an Obama-era rule designed to limit planet-warming methane emissions. Continue reading
‘Inappropriate, unjust, and unreasonable’: 300+ groups slam Duckworth water privatization bill
‘This bill is an egregious handout to giant water corporations which would embolden them to manipulate and fleece struggling communities—particularly communities of color.’
Over 300 groups on Monday urged Senate leadership to reject a bill currently under consideration that would incentivize communities to sell off their public water supplies to private companies for pennies on the dollar. Continue reading
‘Critical win for people in Tennessee’: Federal judge immediately blocks sweeping state abortion ban
‘Abortion is an essential health service, and this law clearly violates the constitutional rights of patients and disproportionately harms communities of color.’
Reproductive rights advocates celebrated Monday after a federal judge blocked Tennessee’s sweeping new restrictions on abortion within in an hour of Republican Gov. Bill Lee signing them into law. Continue reading
Three extinction-level viruses may be traced to glacier and permafrost melting
As the world contends with the deadly pandemic of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, the Chinese embassy in the Kazakhstan capital of Almaty has issued its citizens a warning about an unknown pneumonia that has seen a spike in infection cases since last month. The novel pneumonia spikes are in Atyrau and Aktobe provinces and the city of Shymken. Continue reading
Federal court strikes down Trump’s ACA rule amounting to ‘intentional, targeted attack on abortion access’
‘It would have created a logistical nightmare for health insurers and individual enrollees and pushed abortion even further out of reach in the midst of a global pandemic that has upended our economy.’
A federal court late Friday struck down the Trump administration’s attempt to erect new barriers to abortion care, this time using the for-profit insurance industry. Continue reading
VenezolanosConBiden and MAGAzuela: Two sides of the same coin
The Biden campaign held an online event on Wednesday, July 8, pitched as the former vice president’s “vision for Venezuela and Venezuelans in the U.S.” Spoiler alert: his vision for Venezuela barely differs from President Trump. This event, which didn’t merit an appearance from Biden himself, was aimed at getting Venezuelan-Americans to volunteer for “Uncle Joe”, as Representative Darren Soto (D-Fl) called him. It was an hour and a half of shilling for votes and influence, and it demonstrated that when it comes to Venezuela, policies of regime change, sanctions and a refusal to engage in dialogue unite VenezolanosConBiden (the group hosting the event) with MAGAzuela (the term for Trump-supporting Venezuelans). Continue reading
TikTok could become latest victim of US war on Chinese competition
A potential US ban on TikTok comes amid a rise in anti-China warmongering that suggests the move has more to do with re-establishing American dominance over social media than concerns over privacy.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed Monday night that he is strongly considering banning the hugely popular video app TikTok. “I don’t want to get out in front of the president, but it’s something we’re looking at,” he told Laura Ingraham. When the Fox News anchor pushed him further, asking if anybody should download the app, he responded, “Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” Continue reading
Key U.S. ally indicted for organ trade murder scheme
When President Clinton dropped 23,000 bombs on what was left of Yugoslavia in 1999 and NATO invaded and occupied the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, U.S. officials presented the war to the American public as a “humanitarian intervention” to protect Kosovo’s majority ethnic Albanian population from genocide at the hands of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. That narrative has been unraveling piece by piece ever since. Continue reading
Sanders calls on ‘Do-Nothing’ Senate to approve $2,000 monthly checks, cancel rent, and expand Medicare
‘This I know: nothing will happen unless the American people stand up, fight back, and demand, in overwhelming numbers, that the Senate act.’
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday slammed the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate for refusing to act to address the coronavirus-induced public health and economic crises that continue to intensify, throwing millions more out of work, overwhelming hospitals, and endangering countless lives. Continue reading
