MOTHER JONES DAILY: Trump to Mass Death: Shrug ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, 10 Worst Crises You Won’t See in Headlines (But Should), Violent. Anti-abortion. Anti-trans. Posts from Trump’s new DHS pick preview more of the same., Google’s sneaky trick to sidestep an Iowa county’s data center zoning rules, “Downright disgraceful”: Gillibrand demands evacuation plan for Americans stranded in war zone, Inside the latest, and scariest, iteration of America’s endless abortion wars 6MAR26

 

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March 6, 2026 The Trump White House, like many White Houses before it, invites the possibility of death whenever it declares war. But has an administration ever been so naked in its lust for death?  I took some time to think through the ways this administration has talked about its war in Iran. I think the rhetoric boils down to this: Where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cheers on mass death, the president of the United States shrugs it off. Both approaches are horrifying; they are extensions of long-held American foreign policy, and neither is exactly surprising. But I have to wonder if we’ve ever encountered a president who answers “I guess” to the prospect of a future 9/11-style terrorist attack because of a war he unilaterally launched. You can read my thoughts on what such an answer reveals and why I’m stunned here. —Inae Oh

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Trump to Mass Death: Shrug The president's shruggy nihilism extends to Iranians, US soldiers, and you. BY INAE OH

SPONSORED POST 10 Worst Crises You Won’t See in Headlines (But Should) CARE’s annual Crisis Report notes countries the media isn’t covering. THIS CONTENT WAS PAID FOR AND SPONSORED BY CARE.ORG.

Violent. Anti-abortion. Anti-trans. Posts from Trump’s new DHS pick preview more of the same. BY KATIE HERCHENROEDER Google’s sneaky trick to sidestep an Iowa county’s data center zoning rules BY ANIKA JANE BEAMER “Downright disgraceful”: Gillibrand demands evacuation plan for Americans stranded in war zone BY KATIE HERCHENROEDER

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Inside the latest, and scariest, iteration of America’s endless abortion wars After Trump’s mass pardons of anti-abortion activists, threats and harassment at clinics have surged. BY BECCA ANDREWS

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Net Neutrality Finally Dies at Ripe Old Age of 45 23APR14

THE FCC and Supreme Court might think they have satisfied corporate America's demands to kill Net Neutrality, but the people still have something to say about it. Our voices need to be raised yet again, loud and strong and uncompromising in our opposition to the rules the FCC is about to propose, that if adopted will be the final nail in the coffin. Free Press, Credo, and other activist organizations will be fighting this, and I will post what I can asking people to take part in the upcoming battle to keep the internet open and free. From Mother Jones....

—By Kevin Drum

| Wed Apr. 23, 2014 3:38 PM PDT

jrwasserman/Thinkstock

Apparently net neutrality is officially dead. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the FCC has given up on finding a legal avenue to enforce equal access and will instead propose rules that explicitly allow broadband suppliers to favor companies that pay them for faster pipes:

The Federal Communications Commission plans to propose new open Internet rules on Thursday that would allow content companies to pay Internet service providers for special access to consumers, according to a person familiar with the proposal.
The proposed rules would prevent the service providers from blocking or discriminating against specific websites, but would allow broadband providers to give some traffic preferential treatment, so long as such arrangements are available on "commercially reasonable" terms for all interested content companies. Whether the terms are commercially reasonable would be decided by the FCC on a case-by-case basis.
…The FCC's proposal would allow some forms of discrimination while preventing companies from slowing down or blocking specific websites, which likely won't satisfy all proponents of net neutrality, the concept that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. The Commission has also decided for now against reclassifying broadband as a public utility, which would subject ISPs to much greater regulation. However, the Commission has left the reclassification option on the table at present.

So Google and Microsoft and Netflix and other large, well-capitalized incumbents will pay for speedy service. Smaller companies that can't—or that ISPs just aren't interested in dealing with—will get whatever plodding service is left for everyone else. ISPs won't be allowed to deliberately slow down traffic from specific sites, but that's about all that's left of net neutrality. Once you've approved the notion of two-tier service, it hardly matters whether you're speeding up some of the sites or slowing down others.
This might have been inevitable, for both legal and commercial reasons. But that doesn't mean we have to like it.

Kevin Drum

Political Blogger

Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here. RSS | Twitter

If You Liked This, You Might Also Like...

• WATCH: Goodbye Net Neutrality, Hello Guilded Age Internet [Fiore Cartoon]

  A federal appeals court shot down net neutrality, ushering in a new age of unequal Internet.

• Net Neutrality Takes a Big Hit in Court

  A judge rules that net neutrality rules can't be enforced unless broadband companies are classified as common carriers.

• The Internet’s Last Hope

  How the Federal Communications Commission can save the world (wide web).

 http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/04/net-neutrality-finally-dies-ripe-old-age-of-45

Google Doodle Goes Gay For Sochi Olympics, Sticks It To Russia 7FEB14

THIS isn't just about LGBT rights, it is about human rights. No matter what your opinion is about the life style, discrimination, repression of rights, criminalization and persecution is wrong. Congratulations GOOGLE, well done! Now if you'd just drop your membership in alec! From Mother Jones....

—By Asawin Suebsaeng

| Fri Feb. 7, 2014 9:22 AM GMT

On Thursday, Google publicly addressed Russia's anti-gay policies. To coincide with the Sochi Winter Games, the Google homepage was updated to depict a rainbow flag (an image associated with LGBT movements) on its Olympics-themed doodle. Check it out:

Google.com

And if Vladimir Putin goes to Google's homepage in Russia, this is what he'll see:

Google.ru

And when you're not on the homepage, here's the search bar:

Google.com

"Google has made a clear and unequivocal statement that Russia's anti-LGBT discrimination is indefensible," Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. "Now it's time for each and every remaining Olympic sponsor to follow their lead. The clock is ticking, and the world is watching."
For those keeping count, the Guardian is another "G" that recently modified its logo to resemble a rainbow flag to mark the start of the Sochi Olympics this week.
The Google doodle has been used to deliver political messages before. For example, the company once censored its logo to protest controversial anti-piracy bills.
Google did not respond to Mother Jones' requests for comment.

Asawin Suebsaeng

Reporter

Asawin Suebsaeng is a reporter at the Washington, DC, bureau of Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here. You can also follow him on Twitter. Email tips, insights, and anger to asuebsaeng [at] motherjones [dot] com. RSS | Twitter

If You Liked This, You Might Also Like...

• CHART: How Much Do Exxon and Google Charge Themselves for Climate Pollution?

  The world's biggest polluters know a price on carbon isn't far off.

• Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter Have a New Lobbying Target—the NSA

  The NSA won't stop spying on tech companies. Now, they're starting to do something about it.

• Explained: How Big Is Sochi's Terrorism Problem?

  "It would be safer if we had the Olympics in North Korea. At least they don't have an active terrorist group blowing things up."

• Moscow to Muslims: Thanks for Building Our Olympic Paradise. Just Don't Pray.

  The Winter Olympics city has 20,000 Muslim residents. Now they just need a place to worship.

• No Gays in Sochi, But Many Confused Straight People

  Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov might want to check his math.

 http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/02/google-doodle-sochi-winter-games-olympics-russia-gay-rights-rainbow

THE IVORY TRADE: Google has blood on its hands 1OKT13 & SHIRLEY AND JENNY REUNION VIDEO

IT is amazing and disgusting that google, with all it's profits and it's prominence in the tech and internet worlds, still lowers it's corporate morals to the extent that it traffics in products from endangered species, it still traffics in ivory from elephants. This is the company, the corporate giant whose motto Do No Harm is becoming more of a joke than a definition of their corporate practices, first with their joining alec last week and now this expose of their profiting from trade in endangered species products. Join SumOfUs in demanding google stop this part of their business now, click the link. And see my earlier post Poachers Decimate Tanzania's Elephant Herds &In A Tanzanian Village, Elephant Poachers Thrive 25OCT12 http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/poachers-decimate-tanzanias-elephant.html and the amazing story of two elephants, Jenny and Shirley, at the Elephant Sanctuary http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-have-been-thinking-lot-about.html 

Uploaded on Sep 19, 2011

Not a new story but worth watching again and again! So amazingly touching - the story of Shirley and Jenny, two crippled elephants reunited at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee after a 22-year separation. The bonding was immediate, intense and unforgettable between the two former circus elephants. But long after the cameras were turned off, the wondrous moments would continue...

• Category

  Nonprofits & Activism

  License
• Standard YouTube License

  
  

http://youtu.be/lF8em4uPdCg

Google sells ivory through its site, threatening elephants with extinction. Tell Google to adhere to its own policies and stop trafficking in ivory.

The ivory trade is slaughtering elephants by the hundreds in horrific massacres that rip apart herds and leave orphaned calves to starve. But despite an official policy against selling products from endangered animals, Google still traffics ivory -- taking money from ivory sellers to promote their products. Google offers thousands of ivory items on its shopping sites around the world. Its lax enforcement of its own policies allows unscrupulous sellers to find easy markets for illegal ivory.Google needs to stop this horrific practice today.

Call on Google to stop trafficking in ivory immediately.

Elephants are some of the most intelligent and social animals on the planet. They develop lifelong friendships, spend years raising their young, mourn their dead and weep at rejection. They’re also at enormous risk: the population of African forest elephants has plummeted 62% in the past decade. We must stop the ivory trade if we wish to save this species.

Studies show that a robust legal trade swells overall demand for ivory, resulting in poaching, more deaths, and increased risk of extinction. Google claims that it “takes down ads as soon as they are detected”, but the ivory trade has been a chronic issue on the website. The same ads appear day after day after day. Google is simply not taking its own role in the ivory trade seriously.

Google is only paying lip service to the idea of stamping it out, because Google doesn’t want the world to know that it has blood on its hands. If we, as its customers, can raise enough of an outcry, Google will dedicate itself to eradicating the ivory trade on its own site.

Tell Google to stop with the excuses, and stop selling ivory.

After years of declining elephant populations, the global ban on new ivory in 1989 caused elephant populations to surge back. But the short reprieve has ended, and in many countries elephant populations are once more dropping drastically. We need to end trade in all ivory, including older products, in order to ensure elephants remain here for our grandchildren.

Thanks for all you do,
Claiborne and the team at SumOfUs.org

**********
More Information:

CCTV: Kenya urges world to impose moratorium on ivory trading to save wildlife 6 September, 2013
The Guardian: Google shopping adverts fuel ivory trade, conservation group warns 5 March, 2013

 

SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy. You can follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. 

Unbelievable. Google just joined ALEC 26SEP13

ISN'T google supposed to be the DO NO HARM company? So what the hell is up with them joining alec? The campaign to get companies to withdraw their memberships from alec has been successful, but now social media and tech giants google, yelp and facebook have joined this organization of right wing tea-bagging extremist whose main purpose is to do harm to the 99% through legislation benefiting their plutocrat masters. Please join the campaign calling on all three companies to withdraw from alec, click the link.....

Facebook, Google, and Yelp just joined the American Legislative Executive Council, one of the worst right-wing lobbying forces in history. Call on the three tech giants to dump ALEC now.

Union-busting, fighting Obamacare, backing the Stand Your Ground laws that led to Trayvon Martin’s death, denying the proof of climate change… there’s nothing the American Legislative Exchange Council won’t stoop to.

The public outcry against ALEC has caused nearly fifty corporations to drop out over the past several months. But now Facebook, Google and Yelp are looking to reverse that trend. The companies recently joined the group responsible for some of the most egregious anti-labor, anti-environment, anti-poor, and anti-minority legislation in the past decade. Now, we need to raise an outcry to show them that getting in bed with ALEC is unacceptable, before all the hard work over the past year is undone.

Demand Facebook, Google and Yelp drop their ALEC membership now.

We can’t afford to have three major tech companies help finance a monstrosity like this right-wing lobbying group, and they can’t afford the bad press that comes with an ALEC membership. ALEC has become a toxic brand that image-conscious companies don’t want to be associated with.

ALEC worked in close conjunction with the NRA to push the controversial Stand Your Ground law onto dozens of states. ALEC helped private prison companies enact Arizona’s “papers please” law in order to fill up cells with Latinos. It has sponsored a host of horrific laws that are tearing down personal rights and handing over money to corporations. We simply cannot allow such practices to be condoned by major companies.

Our voices already shamed over fifty companies and nonprofits, including the likes of Amazon, Walmart, and Coca-Cola, into dropping out of the American Legislative Executive Council. Just recently, after months of pressure by students, Sallie Mae left the group. But if we don’t speak out now, Google, Facebook, and Yelp could start back the movement of corporate funding into ALEC.

Sign on to tell Google, Facebook, and Yelp to stop associating with ALEC immediately.

Thanks for all that you do,
Claiborne, Rob, and the rest of us.

**********
More Information:

ALEC at 40: Turning back the clock on progress and prosperity, ALEC Exposed, 23 August 2013.
Tech Giants partner with ALEC, Salon Magazine, 16 August 2013.

 

SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy. You can follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.