“The system gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and new powers of real-time location tracking, raising significant concerns from civil libertarians.”
Following last year’s San Francisco ban on flame retardants in furniture, a California Democrat now aims to ban Elon Musk’s new and hugely popular flamethrower from the market.
Flame retardants banned for more than a decade continue to bioaccumulate in humans.
Induced perspiration is the best known method of excreting persistent environmental pollutants such as dioxins, PCBs, BPA, and flame retardants known as PBDEs.
“A recent clampdown by the Libyan coastguard means fewer boats are making it out to sea, leaving the smugglers with a backlog of would-be passengers on their hands. So the smugglers become masters, the migrants and refugees become slaves.”
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/14/africa/libya-migrant-auctions/index.html
“What has been the outcome of this 16-year quagmire in Afghanistan? The nation-building war that Bush, Obama and now Trump continue to wage has destabilized neighboring Pakistan further.”
Read more: http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=9242
“DRIPA was passed in 2014 as ’emergency’ legislation, with parliamentary debate restricted to just a single day of discussion. The law paved the way for 2016’s Investigatory Powers Act, which authorized even more intrusive powers, and which Edward Snowden dubbed ‘the most extreme surveillance in the history of western democracy.’ With DRIPA struck down as unlawful, it’s likely that the government will now have to scale back parts of the Investigatory Powers Act, otherwise known as the Snoopers’ Charter. The Act replaced DRIPA in 2016, and, among other measures, legalizes targeted hacking by the UK security services and requires that ISPs keep a record of all citizens’ web browsing habits for at least a year.”
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/30/16949520/uk-mass-surveillance-illegal-dripa-court-of-appeal
“When they insist government employee wages would plummet in the absence of a union, they’re simply confirming the workers are already earning more than their labors are actually worth on the open market. These are the kinds of hard economic truths that will be exposed when Janus is finally heard next month and the injustices that will be righted if the court this summer votes to ban mandatory dues and fees in the public sector.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/we-may-finally-see-the-end-of-compulsory-union-dues/
“Even though the M.T.A. is paying for its capital construction with taxpayer dollars, the government does not get a seat at the table when labor conditions are determined. Instead, the task of reining in the unions falls to the construction companies — which often try to drive up costs themselves.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html
“Trump national security officials are considering an unprecedented federal takeover of a portion of the nation’s mobile network to guard against China, according to sensitive documents obtained by Axios. In the memo, the Trump administration likens it to ‘the 21st century equivalent of the Eisenhower National Highway System’ and says it would create a ‘new paradigm’ for the wireless industry by the end of Trump’s current term.”
“Grocers are under pressure, in an already thin-margin business, to cut costs and make the shopping experience more enjoyable for customers.”
“Earning a small wage is better than earning nothing at all due to unemployment. It’s easy to vilify restaurants and other companies when they respond to higher costs with layoffs. But it’s important to place the blame where it belongs. In this case, it’s bad policy.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/guess-why-hundreds-of-bus-boys-just-lost-their-jobs/