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PBC News & Comment: As Trump Bullies Twitter, Dems Promote Surveillance

Strange days in Washington, as Democratic leaders tried to renew surveillance law amid veto threat, and Trump threatens Twitter #againstselfinterest….–Pelosi colludes with Schiff and McConnell for surveillance bill that she says is “better” than prior draft that Trump and GOP now oppose

–corporate surveillance routinely violates privacy rights, using purloined images and sloppily-collected personal data used for renter background checks

–for petty, wrong reasons, Trump threatens Twitter and Facebook with regulation that could limit his lies, smears and hate online

–Web watcher Dan Kennedy at Northeastern says Trump claims 80 million Twitter followers, but the number is more like 24 million

–Facebook’s Zuckerberg doesn’t want to be considered a “publisher” just like Uber doesn’t want to legally be an “employer” to its drivers

–Trump’s repeated claims about Joe Scarborough are basis for lawsuits, law professor says

–using proxy voting, House passes bill to fix flaws in Paycheck Protection Program 417-1

–protests in Minneapolis leave to one fatality and structure damage following police killing of George Floyd

–in TMI newsletter, David Sirota lists 10 kinds of looting that are worse than looting in Minneapolis

–2 Coopers in Central Park, a racist moment that enraged online mob

–our daily Covid-19 update, edited by Linda Lewis

–as deficit looms, CA Gov. Newsom explores closing a prison

–as Pepe Escobar recently told us, China is boldly taking on Trump, with new law to suppress protests in Hong Kong

–a Mexican woman who was deported after being raped in corporate-operated prison, sues after giving birth to daughter

–the “never-Trumper” superPAC is targeting Mitch McConnell, too

–playwright Larry Kramer, the loud, obnoxious and successful founder of ACT-UP, dies at 84

–the 1991 book Generations, by Bill Strauus and Neil Howe, has been pretty accurate so far, and predicted upheaval and political change in 2020