Andrew Gumbel, Investigative Reporter - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: A few years back conservatives on the Supreme Court legalized bribery with the Citizens United decision -- of course, they didn't call it that -- and made it possible for the uber-rich and corporations to buy election outcomes they wanted. The Koch brothers and Peter Thiel are leading examples of how that Supreme Court decision has played out. I find this corruption disgusting and the best argument one could make. for why all elections should be publicly funded, and private money in elections should be illegal.
Peter Thiel has poured close to $30m into this year’s midterm elections. Credit: Marco Bello/Getty
Peter Thiel is far from the first billionaire who has wielded his fortune to try to influence the course of American politics. But in an election year when democracy itself is said to be on the ballot, he stands out for assailing a longstanding governing system that he has described as “deranged” and in urgent need of “course correction”.
The German-born investor and tech entrepreneur, a Silicon Valley “disrupter” who helped found PayPal alongside Elon Musk and made his fortune as one of the earliest investors in Facebook, has catapulted himself into the top ranks of the mega-donor class by pouring close to $30m into this year’s midterm elections.
He’s not merely favoring one party over another, but is supporting candidates who deny the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election as president and have, in their different ways, called for the pillars of the American establishment to be toppled entirely.
Thiel’s priorities this midterm cycle have partly aligned with those of Donald Trump, with whom he […]
Stephan: If you depend in any way on Social Security or Medicare and you vote for Republicans, you are in essence cutting your own throat, a kind of indirect suicide and you have no one but yourself to blame for the misery that your vote will cause to befall you. The Magat Republicans aren't even hiding what they have in mind as this article describes.
House Minority Leader MAGAt Republican Kevin McCarthy speaks during a news conference on the House steps of the U.S. Capitol on September 29, 2022. Credit: Tom Williams /CQ-Roll Call / Getty
If Republicans take control of the House this fall, they plan on using debt limit talks — and the possibility of throwing the U.S. into default — if they don’t get their way on slashing government programs.
According to a new interview with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California), the party is planning on using must-pass debt ceiling legislation to force through the GOP’s agenda.
“You can’t just continue down the path to keep spending and adding to the debt,” McCarthy said in an interview with Punchbowl News, ignoring the fact that economists view national debt obligations as often signaling the health of the economy. “We’re not just going to keep lifting your credit card limit, right,” he continued. “And we should seriously sit together and [figure out] where can we eliminate some waste? Where can we make the economy grow stronger?”
When McCarthy refers to eliminating so-called waste, it is likely that […]
Stephan: This is how Texas under Greg Abbott is choosing to deal with the Uvalde school massacre. Of course, you would want a DNA kit if your kid was killed in a school massacre like Uvalde, in a state that has virtually no gun control, so you could identify their body even if you couldn't recognize their damaged face. Does this strike you as being as weird as it does me?
DNA Test
Schools in Texas are providing parents with free DNA and fingerprint identification kits, as part of a program to help identify missing children.
While the law that created the program does not say that the kits are to help identify children’s bodies after a school shooting, that hasn’t stopped some parents from drawing a link between the two. This story has now spurred national coverage and viral online outrage over a program created with little fanfare over a year ago, including from parents whose children were killed in school shootings.
“Yeah! Awesome! Let’s identify kids after they’ve been murdered instead of fixing issues that could ultimately prevent them from being murdered,” Brett Cross, whose child, Uziyah Garcia, was killed in the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, said on Twitter.
The initiative—and its rollout—offer some important lessons for policymakers and school district leaders, said Kenneth Trump, a nationally-recognized school safety expert.
Policymakers and district leaders need to be attuned to how parents are going to receive this information, said Trump, especially just five […]
Stephan: The key to ending the carbon era is to invent new technologies that foster well-being, and this is a first example of this new path, so I think this is excellent good news.
A new bladeless wind energy unit, patented by Aeromine Technologies, is tackling the challenge of competing with rooftop solar as a local source of clean energy that can be integrated with the built environment. The scalable, “motionless” wind energy unit can produce 50% more energy than rooftop solar at the same cost, said the company.
The technology leverages aerodynamics similar to airfoils in a race car to capture and amplify each building’s airflow. The unit requires about 10% of the space required by solar panels and generates round-the-clock energy. Aeromine said unlike conventional wind turbines that are noisy, visually intrusive, and dangerous to migratory birds, the patented system is motionless and virtually silent.
An Aeromine system typically consists of 20 to 40 units installed on the edge of a building facing the predominant wind direction. The company said the unit can minimize energy storage capacity needed to meet a building’s energy needs, producing energy in all weather conditions. With a small footprint on the roof, the unit can be combined with rooftop solar, providing a new […]
Stephan: Katie Porter, Democratic Representative from California is one of the smartest people in Congress, either house. And she deals in facts not the usual claptrap and BS one hears from most Congress members. Yesterday she presented the truth about inflation; it is almost entirely the result of corporate greed. And almost no media covered her presentation; this was the best I could find, and it isn't very good.
During a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday, United States Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-California) grilled Mike Konczal, the director of Macroeconomic Analysis at the Roosevelt Institute, over the primary cause of inflation in the post-COVID-19 economy.
Equipped with one of her easy-to-read, data-filled posters, Porter got Konczal to admit that surging corporate profits are forcing American consumers to pay significantly more for goods and services.
“According to this chart, what is the biggest driver of inflation during the pandemic? The blue – the dark blue is the recent period,” Porter pointed out.
“It would be corporate profits,” Konczal confirmed.
“And what is that percentage?” Porter asked.
“It is 54 percent,” Konczal replied, “and that number does stay that level of high if you update that number to more recent numbers as well.”
Porter asked if that meant that “over half of the increased prices people are paying are coming from increases in corporate profits?”
Konczal said that it did and that “the unit price index is reflected in corporate profits as opposed to other costs.”
