Progressive Briefing for Thursday, August 16, 2018
Intellectually bankrupt GOP, California cities pledge to oppose offshore drilling, White House revokes security clearance of ex-CIA director, and more.
Trump-Musk Social Security fraud hunt yields chaos, not criminals
An internal document reveals that the Trump administration’s crackdown on supposed fraud in Social Security phone claims has identified just two questionable cases out of more than 110,000—prompting bipartisan outrage and warnings of a politically motivated attack on the program.
The food industry puts profits over public health using big tobacco’s playbook
In certain cases, preemption—when a higher level of government limits the authority of a lower level to enact new policies—can devastate public health.
The RESTRICT Act could ban TikTok and other foreign-based technologies
The bill would allow the Department of Commerce to review and ban any foreign-based technologies that pose a risk to national security by use of Americans' user data.
California approves massive electric vehicle charging program across Southern California
"This program marks the largest single program for any utility in the nation, a major win for clean air and healthier communities."
Warnings of ‘catastrophic and historic’ flooding as experts say worst of Hurricane Florence yet...
"For many (most?) places, the worst of Florence's flooding is still on the way. Still expecting record or near-record flooding across a large part of North Carolina in the days to come."
The Silicon Valley Bank bailout: The purpose of government is to make the rich...
As this bailout should make clear is that, contrary to what the media tell us, conservatives love big government.
Uber announces plan to electrify ride-hailing in US, Canada and Europe by 2030
Uber announced its commitment to be a 100 percent electric vehicle ride-hailing company by 2030 in the United States, Canada and Europe and by 2040 in the rest of the world.
Former county executive and chief of staff sentenced to prison
Michael Sanders defrauded political committees by converting campaign contributions for his personal use along with his then-chief of staff Calvin Williford.
Thousands of communities have lead levels worse than Flint
Flint is no aberration. In fact, it doesn’t even rank among the most dangerous lead hotspots in America.









