Inspector General John Sopko fired off a letter to Ron Klain and others, blaming State and USAID for “illegal obstruction” of his office’s investigation.
State, USAID refuse to cooperate on Afghanistan audits, watchdog says
H/T: State Department ‘Illegally Obstructing’ Afghanistan Probes, Watchdog Says
Related:
Police Have No Duty to Protect You, Federal Court Affirms Yet Again:
The US Supreme Court has made it clear that law enforcement agencies are not required to provide protection to the citizens who are forced to pay the police for their “services.”
Generic Disclaimer: The statements, views and opinions expressed in the following articles are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site.
The Myopic Focus On TikTok Privacy Issues Remains Kind Of Weird
Related:
Facebook-Hired PR Firm Coordinated Anti-TikTok Campaign To Spread Bogus Moral Panics
The NATO to TikTok Pipeline: Why is TikTok Employing So Many National Security Agents?
If TikTok is such a threat, why did the Biden Administration train TikTok influencers to propagandize others about Russia’s special military operation?! Even though TechDirt makes some good points (privacy laws and the xenophobia), it seems like they—and Buzzfeed—are just creating another moral panic!
By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | June 9, 2022
Google continues to lobby and campaign against legislative efforts aimed at curbing its monopolistic power, this time openly, in a blog post.
Google tells Congress the proposed antitrust bill would hinder its censorship efforts
Related:
Executive Summary: Evaluating 2 Tech Antitrust Bills To Restore Competition Online:
Privacy and security: The bills would create greater incentive for companies to improve privacy and security, while carefully protecting their ability to make those improvements.
National security: In contrast to misleading claims to the contrary, the bills have multiple layers of provisions protecting American national security and do not create significant new risks. Rather, the bills can restore competitive pressure that supports American dynamism and global technology leadership.
Content moderation: The bills preserve platforms’ abilities to moderate content as they see fit. The bills create a very high bar for disgruntled complainants seeking to abuse competitive provisions to advance content moderation grievances.
Definitions of covered platforms: The bills’ definitions of covered platforms offer functional, well-informed ways to get at gatekeeping platforms of most concern, while effectively excluding smaller businesses.
Two bills attempting to reduce the power of Internet monopolies are currently being debated in Congress: S. 2992, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act; and S. 2710, the Open App Markets Act. Reducing the power to tech monopolies would do more to “fix” the Internet than any other single action, and I am generally in favor of them both. (The Center for American Progress wrote a good summary and evaluation of them. I have written in support of the bill that would force Google and Apple to give up their monopolies on their phone app stores.)
Hidden Anti-Cryptography Provisions in Internet Anti-Trust Bills
Previously:
Google tells Congress the proposed antitrust bill would hinder its censorship efforts
Biden nominated Andrew Biggs, a think tank denizen with a history of slamming Social Security, to oversee government retirement benefits for 66 million Americans.
Biden Taps Anti-Social Security Ideologue To Oversee Program
By Herman Laurel
Last June 21, 2022 in the US-oligarchy gofer Manny Pangilinan newspaper Philippine Star, the outgoing Amboy Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin again lied for his American masters.
Amboy Locsin lies for US again!
Related:
This New Import Law Will Hurt U.S. Consumers
For small importers it will be impossible to do the above. Only big companies [Congress’ gift to Big Corporations] can afford to research and provide all that data and to take the risk of importing products that may get confiscated at the border. They will of course ask their customers to pay for all that.
Previously:
US Crackdown on Forced Labor in China Risks Further Supply Chaos
MoA brings up some things that I hadn’t.
The Neocon’s Dream – Decolonize Russia, Re-colonize China
Related:
Decolonization; Partioning; I call it Balkanization. 🤷🏼♀️
Ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned that millions of currently employed Americans must lose their jobs in order for the Federal Reserve to succeed in its bid to cool inflation.
Larry Summers warns unemployment must rise to cool inflation
Related:
Larry Summers Says US Needs 5% Jobless Rate for Five Years to Ease Inflation
Maybe he can ship some more jobs overseas [/sarcasm]?! I’d suggest shipping him, overseas, but I wouldn’t even wish that on my enemy!
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 