| Time |
Event |
| 2:39p |
Maga regime judgments of foreign student applications
The maga regime intends to judge foreign student applications
based on the students'
opinions of various things about the US.
One requirement forbids "Any indications of hostility toward the
citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of
the United States." That would include a wide range of opinions that
are protected by the First Amendment.
* You might feel hostility towards US citizens who are bigots, or who
own companies that exploit their workers.
* You might well dislike various aspect of US culture. I strongly
dislike rap and blues, for instance, and weddings that are fancy and
formal. I also dislike the sound of the accents of certain groups of
Americans.
* You might find the government disgusting while billionaires have
control of it and rig elections.
* You might condemn institutions such as churches that preach hatred
or repression.
* You might abhor founding principles such as slavery and the
disenfranchisement of blacks, women, and poor men.
Note that these criteria are all vague, leaving a broad range of
possible places to draw the line of what is forbidden.
If these lines are drawn in the strictest and harshest place — which
recent events must lead us to expect — they will be unconstitutional,
if the First Amendment applies to what would-be students have said
outside the US. But does it?
What about the next criterion: "advocacy for, aid or support for
foreign terrorists and other threats to US national security"?
Rejecting anyone who directly helps a terrorist group is legitimate;
indeed such help would be a crime. But "aid or support" could be
construed to include peacefully supporting the cause for which some
terrorist group fights.
The last criterion, "support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or
violence", could be a legitimate basis for objection provided the
interpretation of that criterion scrupulously follows the First
Amendment and does not misconstrue condemnation of Israel's war crimes
as "antisemitism". But since officials are often frequently does
misconstrue that,
we have to expect this criterion to be
wrongly enforced.
</li>
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| 2:39p |
Current greenhouse emissions for two more years too much
Two more years of greenhouse emissions at the current rate
will
be too much
to allow Earth to remain under 1.5°C of heating.
Prepare yourself for food shortages and tropical diseases.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
Toy maker accused of planning AI experiment on kids
*Toy-maker Mattel accused of planning
"reckless"
AI social experiment on kids.*
These toys evidently have microphones and internet connections.
Don't assume they aren't making a permanent record of everything
the children say. If Mattel says they don't, you can't trust that.
There may be "fine print" in what they say about this, which would
appear to promise something which isn't really promised.
There may even be a universal back door that can alter some or all of
the nonfree software in the device.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
Proposal would make it impossible to sue for injunction against government
Senate Republicans
propose
to make it impossible to sue to get an
injunction against the government unless you put down a potentially
enormous sum as bond in case the injunction is reversed.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
Right-wing disinformation about shooting of Democratic officials
Right-wing disinformationists
spread
lots of lies about the shooting
of two Democratic elected officials in Minnesota.
This illustrates their practice of disrespect for truth.
Even if on some occasion their statements accord with facts,
giving them support enhances the power of the lie.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
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| 2:39p |
Corruption by UnitedHealth
Corruption by UnitedHealth:
* secret bonuses have been paid out as part of a
UnitedHealth
program that stations the company’s own medical teams in nursing homes
and pushes them to
cut
care expenses for residents covered by the
insurance giant.*
The specific remedy we need is to break apart the different activities
of UnitedHealth,
and also splitting the insurance part into 10
competing sub-companies which are forbidden to merge.
But what we really need is to replace private medical insurance
entirely with a national medical system.
Of course, Republicans won't do any of this. Biden made moves in that
direction, but there were too few Democrats in Congress and they were
not progressive enough.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
Senator Padilla recounts being attacked by agents
Senator Padilla
recounts
the experience of being suddenly attacked
and handcuffed by agents, while the agents who had brought him there
said nothing about who he was.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
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| 2:39p |
Lawsuit to overturn bully's persecution of law firms
The American Bar Association has
sued
to overturn
the bully's persecution
of law firms that worked for his adversaries.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
Living in a world of increasing disaster
On living
in a world of increasing disaster:
* the point isn’t just to feel better necessarily, but to feel in ways
that allow us to show up in the moments that matter most.*
</li> |
| 2:39p |
VA allowed to refuse patients based on political views
Doctors and other medical staff at veterans' hospitals
are now permitted
to refuse patients based on the patient's national
origin, or political views.
The organization justifies this as implementation of one
of the wrecker's executive disorders.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
Thugs arrested journalist covering No Kings rally
A group of thugs
arrested
journalist Mario Guevara as he was covering
a No Kings rally in Atlanta.
The charges were dropped, but they handed him to the deportation
thugs.
From the description I suspect that the arrest was planned in
advance.
Guevara used to cover issues of human rights in El Salvador, until he
fled death threats and asked the US for asylum. The article does not
say explicitly what his immigration status is in the US, but I expect
that the bully's
henchmen would consider "journalism about
deportation" to be a "threat to national security".
</li> |
| 2:39p |
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| 2:39p |
Urgent: Phone senators to block worst in Big Bad Bill
US citizens: phone each of your senators and urge them to block the
worst things in the Big Bad Bill. Ask them, for instance, to protect
Medicaid and SNAP. Ask them to protect Medicare by not cutting taxes
for the rich. Ask them to protect the authority of federal judges.
Ask them to protect tax-exempt organizations from tax.
Who's afraid of the Big Bad Bill? Anyone who isn't rich, or cares
about people who aren't rich, or values democracy and human rights.
If you phone, please spread the word!
Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
</li> |
| 2:39p |
Urgent: Block merger of T-Mobile and Sprint
US citizens: call on the FCC to
block
the merger of T-Mobile and
Sprint.
There is far too little competition among phone radio networks already.
Any decrease is clearly bad.
Of course, there are more important problems with mobile phones. For
instance, both cellular and WiFi connections track the phone's
location, and the phone can be made to listen and transmit all the
time. (That last is a consequence of nonfree software in the phone's
radio processor.) By contrast with that, the increased price caused
by insufficient competition is a superficial issue. It is,
nonetheless, bad to decrease the competition.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
Urgent: Fossil fuel exploration in the Amazon
US citizens: call on JPMorgan Chase to
stop
bankrolling fossil fuel
exploration in the Amazon.
</li> |
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| 2:39p |
Urgent: No conflict of interest with postmaster general
US citizens: call on the USPS board of governors not to appoint a
postmaster general
who
has a conflict of interest — being on the board
of FEDEX.
</li> |
| 2:39p |
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