Open thread for night owls: Facial recognition software to be installed in Lockport schools
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The Buffalo News reports that come next fall, facial recognition software will be installed in all Lockport public schools.
Lockport will spend $1.4 million of the state's money on the Aegis system, from SN Technologies of Ganonoque, Ont., in all 10 distric
My son recently asked me why the United States does not use the metric system, as that is all he uses in physics and chemistry classes. I am not sure he expected the answer I gave him. I was in middle school during the last push to put the United States on t
No need for Democrats to fear their progressive wing: join it, instead
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Last Tuesday's primary elections were a near-perfect day for progressives. They won races in Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Idaho, and Oregon. Should this outcome worry rank-and-file Democrats? The answer is a categorical no—and here is why.
The progressive wing
Rosenstein responds to Trump: We need to know if 'anyone' infiltrated a presidential campaign
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Earlier today Donald Trump sent a furious tweet in which he «hereby demand[ed], and will do so officially tomorrow,» that the Department of Justice examine whether the government «infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Pu
The Republican solution to mass murders: America as police state
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In the aftermath of yet another mass murder in an American school, the National Rifle Association and their apologists are out in full force with explanations of why such gun violence continues to happen in the United States—and only in the United States.
No, Rudy Giuliani doesn't have a clue when investigators will end Trump probe
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This is bunk.
The special counsel plans to finish by Sept. 1 its investigation into whether President Trump obstructed the Russia inquiry, according to the president’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, who said on Sunday that waiting any longer would risk improp
Right wing tries again to divide black and Jewish Democrats by hyping Farrakhan and anti-Semitism
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If there’s one charge Republicans are desperate to make stick, it’s that Democrats—and black Democrats in particular—have an anti-Semitism problem. Doing so is central to their efforts to peel off Jewish support for the Democratic Party (which typical
It seemed odd when Trump decided to intervene on behalf of a questionable Chinese tech giant, particularly given the company's flouting of Iran sanctions, and even more particularly given that his new National Security Advisor John Bolton was suggesting that
Fascism Watch moves closer to midnight as Trump 'demands' investigations into political opponents
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While much of the media continues to pretend that the nation would enter a constitutional crisis if Donald Trump were to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the truth is the United States has been in a constitutional crisis since Trump’s election. A crisi
Trump demands investigation into whether FBI 'infiltrated' his presidential campaign
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After the news that counterintelligence efforts against Russian hackers included sending an informant to make contact with Trump campaign advisers whose Russian ties were under investigation, during the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump is now “hereby” orderin
Why wrongful convictions are so common—and why prosecutors and police rarely apologize
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In 1991, former New York Police Department detective Louis Scarcella set up a Brooklyn teenager, John Bunn, for the murder of off-duty corrections officer Rolando Neischer. The fingerprints from two bicycles found abandoned at the scene amidst blood didn’
Roger Stone says he may be indicted by Russia investigators for 'some extraneous crime'
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While Donald Trump and his House Republican allies continue to act to sabotage the investigation into Russian election hacking and possible (at this point, likely) collaboration with those efforts from U.S. persons, Trump ally Roger Stone let on that he is fu
Meet the law enforcement allies in the fight for gun safety
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When it comes to common-sense gun safety laws, at least some major players in law enforcement are on the same page as the rest of the country.
The National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence is made up of nine different police leadership org
International Elections Digest: Opposition ends six decades of governing-party rule in Malaysia
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Leading Off
● Malaysia – parliament (May 9)
In a potentially groundbreaking development for Malaysian democracy, the opposition Pakatan Harapan alliance won a parliamentary majority for the first time ever in elections earlier this month, delivering a m
Another death blow to Puerto Rico: FCC plans to cut Lifeline phones as hurricane season draws near
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is planning to close the doors of opportunity, and perhaps even to survival for people in Puerto Rico, and others here on the mainland who depend upon the Lifeline phone program. Plans to make major cuts to Lifeline
Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Trump Tower Two, cruelty lessons, and the spiritual cost of hate
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This is one of those weekends where the news is unfolding rapidly, shaking things up well after the pundits parked their pens and went off to spend a weekend in the mountains, or on the beach, or down a bottle. Articles from the New York Times have revealed t
Open thread for night owls: Plot thickens in story regarding second Trump Tower meeting
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As noted at Daily Kos earlier Saturday, The New York Times broke a story today saying that there was a previously unknown meeting at Trump Tower in August 2016 in which Donald Trump Jr. met with Erik Prince of Blackwater notoriety, Joel Zamel, an Israeli spec
One dead, two injured after Friday shooting at Georgia high school commencement; arrests made
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Friday morning started with a school shooting that left 10 dead in Santa Fe, Texas, and it ended with deadly gunfire at a graduation in Jonesboro, Georgia, south of Atlanta.
One woman was killed and another was injured when gunfire was exchanged around
One little tweet was all it took for the American Atheists to change their position on hell
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Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported the United Talent Agency has pitched a reboot of the political talk show Crossfire to network executives. The show would feature the banter of Anthony Scaramucci, the man who was fired from the White House bef
Welcome back, Saturday Campaign D-I-Yers! For those who tune in, welcome to the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. Each week, we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns. If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow N
Gorsuch and Thomas prove that if Trump gets another SCOTUS seat, they'll rewrite the law
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The Supreme Court’s latest Fourth Amendment ruling, Byrd v. United States, should have been uneventful. All nine justices agreed that even someone who isn’t the “authorized driver” of a rental car may assert Fourth Amendment protections when it com
Carl Sagan defined the cosmos as all there ever was and all there ever will be. But we may inhabit only one “universe,” a single space-time that seems to have arisen 13.7 billion years ago by best estimates. And there are reasons to suspect our universe
This week in the war on workers: Criminal charges in Manhattan wage theft and insurance fraud case
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It's rare for business owners to be charged with crimes for labor law violations, even though bosses steal—yes, steal—huge amounts of money from workers every year in unpaid overtime, time spent working off the clock, and more. But Manhattan District Atto
Clean energy's record job growth shows it's not the job killer that conservatives claim
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The global clean energy sector is only getting stronger and is showing that it is here to stay. After a whopping 500,000 new jobs created last year, the industry now boasts over 10 million employed.
A report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (I
Colorado will vote on November ballot measures to combat partisan gerrymandering
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Colorado's Democratic-run state House and Republican-majority state Senate have unanimously voted to refer two state constitutional amendments to the ballot this November that would create independent redistricting commissions to handle congressional and stat
This week in Space: TESS phones home, Cygnus launches from Virginia, SpaceX gets safety approval
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While my trip to Kennedy Space Center didn’t end with getting to watch the TESS launch in person, I did get up close with the Falcon 9, the TESS hardware, and one of the lead scientists on the project. So I was happy to see that TESS is not only up there,
Man wrongly imprisoned for murder as a 14-year-old exonerated 27 years later while courtroom weeps
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When John Bunn was 14 years old, he was charged and convicted of murdering an off-duty corrections officer, Robert Crosson. Bunn’s case was set up and tried in a single day in 1991, with big evidentiary holes, and ended with the 14-year-old boy losing his
ABC scraps episode of 'Black-ish' dealing with Kaepernick and NFL protests. Fans want to know why
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Just when we are fooled into believing that network television is getting more diverse and willing to tackle difficult subjects, we get reminders things aren’t where they should be in 2018. Sure, there are more shows with women and people of color tha
Texas GOP candidate's kids must marry heterosexual, white Christians to receive trust fund cash
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Interracial marriage became fully legal in 1967, and same sex marriage received the same protections in 2015, but Republican county commissioner candidate Vickers “Vic” Cunningham seems to have missed the memo.
With just a few days left in a vicious GO
Meeting indicates Russia may not have been only country eager to assist Trump in winning election
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It’s against the law for foreigners—individuals or governments—to be involved in U.S. elections. But Mark Mazzetti, Ronen Bergman, and David D. Kirkpatrick at The New York Times have ferreted out evidence that an emissary for the crown princes of Saud
This week at progressive state blogs: GA's phony medical pot law; shuttering ICE; Trump's betrayals
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This week at progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Here is the April 14 edition. Inclusion of a blog post does not necessarily indicate my agreement with—or en
Saturday midday open thread: Texas Dems push single-payer in primaries; 10,000s of species at risk
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170 days remain until the November midterm elections.
• More than half the 22 Dems competing in the Texas primary tout single-payer health care:
Democrats hoping to wrest congressional seats away from diehard repeal-and-replace Republicans ar
NYPD flocks to known bigot Aaron Schlossberg's home ahead of 'Latin Party' protesting his hate
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A massive police presence greeted revelers attending a spirited street party Friday, in response to confirmed bigot Aaron M. Schlossberg’s xenophobic rant at a New York restaurant earlier this week. Staged outside the attorney’s $1.2 million home, and fea
View from the Left: Trump's corruption is metastasizing as Republicans feed his power
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Last week America learned of a massive pay-to-play scheme where Donald Trump's longtime lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen sold millions of dollars’ worth of White House access to international corporations for which he did little-to-no work. It represented more th
New Arizona law pushes unemployed people to work at poverty wages or else
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Arizona Republicans have hit on a way to make life worse for unemployed people. Currently, to collect unemployment insurance, people have to be looking for work and to accept “suitable” work if it’s offered. Under a new law, scratch that “suitable”
'How to Change Your Mind' reveals the amazing history and tantalizing potential of psychedelic drugs
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I’ve been on the road this week, and haven’t had a chance to do the heavy reading it takes to get through the latest issues of PNAS, Science, and Nature. So I’m breaking with the weekly round up from the week’s peer-reviewed journals, to instead focu
60 women have won primaries for Congress so far in 2018. But the work isn't done.
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After 10 states have held their primaries, women have racked up a 60-63 win-loss record. Not too shabby, especially considering that some primaries have included multiple women. The vast majority—52—of the 60 winning women are Democrats. But, the New Yor
Companies turn Trump tax cuts into a big windfall for wealthy investors
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The Republican tax law is proving great for corporate executives and major shareholders—translation: rich people—but the evidence keeps coming in that giving corporations a giant tax cut doesn’t translate into jobs or higher wages for regular workers.
Voting Rights Roundup: New Hampshire GOP passes bill to suppress college student voters
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Leading Off
● New Hampshire: New Hampshire's Republican-run state legislature has finally passed a long-debated bill that would impose new residency restrictions on voters in a naked attempt to suppress Democratic-leaning college student voters. GOP Gov. C
Open thread for night owls: Ehrenreich on how the #MeToo movement is making male power look silly
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At The Baffler, Barbara Ehrenreich writes—Patriarchy Deflated:
SOMETIMES IT TAKES A SLOVENLY ALT-RIGHT “STRATEGIST” to put things in proper historical perspective. In a recent chat with a journalist, Steve Bannon called the #MeToo movement an “anti
