* Five major U.S. corporations that have laid off thousands of workers in recent weeks have simultaneously dished out hundreds of millions of dollars in cash dividends to wealthy shareholders,*

*Some of the wealthiest hospital groups in the United States have received huge infusions of federal rescue funds even as they sat on billions of dollars in cash reserves and poorer hospitals and clinics struggle to maintain bare-minimum levels of service.*

That's plutocracy for you.

Florida Republicans tried to negate a ballot initiative to restore voting rights to ex cons, by attaching a requirement that each one pay all debts related to the conviction before being allowed to vote. A federal court has ruled that this added requirement is unconstitutional.

This victory is not final. I suppose that the right-wing Supreme Court will make the final decision.

Volkswagen ordered to pay compensation to those who purchased vehicles with the "defeat device" that cheated on emissions tests.

*Murderer in Chief (Part Two): undermining rules on pollution will kill at least 25,000 Americans per year. That is counting just a few kinds of pollution, so there could be substantially more deaths.