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