‘Nobody’s got to use the Internet’: A GOP lawmaker’s response to concerns about Web privacy

A Wisconsin congressman told a town hall attendee who was concerned about the elimination of online privacy protections that using the Internet is a choice — a statement that has since drawn criticism on social media.

During the meeting in Wisconsin on Thursday, the attendee asked about the recent decision by Congress to wipe away an Obama-era policy that sought to limit what Internet service providers, such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast, can do with customers’ Internet browsing history. The concern is similar to one raised by consumer activists: Not all Internet users have options to switch to a different company if they don’t agree with their current provider’s privacy practices.

“Facebook is not comparable to an ISP. I do not have to go to Facebook,” the town hall attendee told Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.). “I do have one provider. … I have one choice. I don’t have to go on Google. My ISP provider is different than those providers.”

In response, Sensenbrenner, who voted to scrap the Federal Communications Commission’s privacy rules that were set to take effect at the end of this year, said:

“Nobody’s got to use the Internet. … And the thing is that if you start regulating the Internet like a utility, if we did that right at the beginning, we would have no Internet. … Internet companies have invested an awful lot of money in having almost universal service now. The fact is is that, you know, I don’t think it’s my job to tell you that you cannot get advertising for your information being sold. My job, I think, is to tell you that you have the opportunity to do it, and then you take it upon yourself to make that choice. … That’s what the law has been, and I think we ought to have more choices rather than fewer choices with the government controlling our everyday lives.”

More https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/04/15/nobodys-got-to-use-the-internet-a-gop-lawmakers-response-to-concerns-about-web-privacy/

MO-SEN Cori Bush -- Ferguson Activist Running for US Senate as a Bernie Sanders Democrat.




Born and raised in the St. Louis Missouri area, Cori is an ordained pastor, an activist & organizer with Ferguson Frontline, co-director of the Truth Telling Project, an international presenter on nonviolent conflict, and a Nonviolence 365 Ambassador with The King Center, civics chairperson for Better Family Life Inc.’s Membership Association, and a part of Ferguson’s Women’s Caucus.

Cori Bush is running as an unapologetic Bernie Sanders supporter. She is running on his issues and his platform. When Bernie appeared earlier this week in Edwardsville, Illinois, Cori crossed the Mississippi to open for Bernie and she electrified the crowd of thousands. Cori is running against the Front Page’s Any Democrat Will Do Campaign’s candidate, Jason Kander, Missouri’s Secretary of State, for now. The winner of their contest will face Republican incumbent and mostly useless waste of organic molecules, US Senator, Roy Blunt.

Read on for some ideas about the potential relevance of people like Cori Bush to the prospects of Bernie Sanders in the next round of voting.





More---- https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/10/1499259/-MO-SEN-Cori-Bush-Ferguson-Activist-Running-for-US-Senate-as-a-Bernie-Sanders-Democrat

Partial evacuation possibly underway in North Korean capital
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/4/14/1653217/-Partial-evacuation-underway-in-North-Korean-capital



Tensions in North Korea rarely creep to less than Very High. As a result, many who live there have shrugged off the current set of dueling threats. But now those threats seem to have been taken seriously enough to force a quarter of the capitol out of their homes. This is the eve of a national holiday that is often marked by some demonstration of new military technology in North Korea. However, the evacuation order would certainly suggest that Day of the Sun celebrations will be, at least, muted. Both the weather, and the mood, in the city are cloudy and fearful.

North Korea surprises with display of new missiles
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/15/asia/north-korea-missiles-parade/

North Korea put its adversaries on notice Saturday, when it showed off a bevy of new missiles and launchers at its annual military parade.

Pyongyang showed off two new intercontinental ballistic missile-sized canisters as well as displaying its submarine-launched ballistic missile and a land-based version of the same for the first time, according to analysts.
If North Korea has ICBMs, it could give it the ability to strike targets in the mainland US and Europe. The shorter range ballistic missiles displayed Saturday, meanwhile, are a threat to countries in the Asian region. North Korea's display comes as tensions on the Korean Peninsula have spiked to alarming levels.


The US Navy dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson strike group to the region last weekend, and US President Donald Trump has been tweeting this week that if China can't rein in North Korea's nuclear program the US will.
"The Vinson was sent out to make a statement. North Korea responded by showing off the most new missile hardware we've ever seen in a parade before," said Melissa Hanham, senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California.

One of the biggest surprises of Saturday's military parade in Pyongyang was two mobile canisters that could contain ICBMs larger than anything North Korea has ever produced.





More http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/15/asia/north-korea-missiles-parade/

Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'
Price rises for generic cancer drugs are estimated to cost the NHS in England around £380m a year

Leaked internal emails appear to show employees at one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies calling for “celebration” over price hikes of cancer drugs, an investigation has revealed.

Staff at Aspen Pharmacare reportedly plotted to destroy stocks of life-saving medicines during a price dispute with the Spanish health service in 2014.

After purchasing five different cancer drugs from British firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the company tried to sell the medicines in Europe for up to 40 times their previous price, reported The Times.

In 2013, the price of one pack of a chemotherapy drug called busulfan, used to treat leukaemia, rose from £5.20 to £65.22 in England and Wales, according to the newspaper.

More https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/drug-giant-aspen-plot-destroy-cancer-medicine-big-pharma-times-investigation-a7683521.html

Inspired by Bernie Sanders, Phish’s Drummer Is Running for Local Office in His Maine Hometown

John Fishman, the man who gives Vermont’s most beloved jam band its name and its amorphous backbeat, is getting into local politics. The Associated Press and the Maine Free Press report that the Phish drummer is seeking a seat on the Board of Selectmen in Lincolnville, Maine, where he’s lived for ten years and owns a soon-to-be-opened general store. Fishman was inspired to run by his fellow Vermont hippie and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor laureate Bernie Sanders, who encouraged his supporters to channel their ideals into local politics while on the campaign trail. Fishman told the Free Press:

“Bernie was saying, ‘Look at all of you people who got on the Sanders campaign and cared about these issues, you should run for your local offices, your school boards, your select boards and committees,’” said Fishman. “Public service is needed across the board, so I guess that kind of sentiment just sat with me.”
To prepare for the election in June, Fishman has attended several selectboard meetings, boning up on Lincolnville’s most pressing issues, including “the politically charged repair of the broken float and ramp at the beach,” the Free Press reports. Fishman added that his candidacy is not an “ego thing or anything like that,” and that he’s driven by a sense of civic duty a “a personal stake in the well-being of the town.”

We salute Fishman’s altruism and wish him the best in the upcoming election. Given the relatively small stakes and Phish’s popularity in the northern wilds of New England, it’s hard to imagine he won’t win.

http://www.spin.com/2017/04/inspired-by-bernie-sanders-phishs-drummer-is-running-for-local-office-in-his-maine-hometown/