China now offers any would-be totalitarian state the technology to watch and control everyone.

Mobile robots with face recognition now spread state control on streets.

China invites users of social media to act as stool pigeons in case any dissent goes unnoticed by the professional monitors and AI.

In opinion polls, Sanders beats the bullshitter by the same margin as Biden.

So they are equally electable. However, Sanders would make a dent in plutocracy, while Biden would protect it.

The US pharma system was designed so that the public pays for the research, and the profits go to rich owners. It was set up this way by a scheme advised by right-wing economists and carried out by business lobbyists.

More recently, private equity companies have taken over many pharma companies and drive the gouging.

Pharma is one of the areas where patents do special harm.

It is unfortunate that the article occasionally says "IP" when it means patents. This encourages the confusion that the bogus overgeneralization "intellectual property" embodies.

The article suggests using compulsory licenses to knock down these patents when they endanger the public. I'm entirely in favor of that, but I think we need to cure the disease, not just treat the symptoms. The cure I recommend is to take the testing of drugs out of the hands of drug manufacturers, thus eliminating their argument for artificial monopolies, and turn them into generic manufacturers.

The FBI Told Congress Domestic Terror Investigations Led to 90 Recent Arrests. It Wouldn’t Show Us Records of Even One.

Foxconn's "pay us to make jobs" deal with Wisconsin is complete crap, and can't be fixed to "benefit" the state even when judged by the foolish standard of "getting enough jobs for the money."

"Subsidize a business to make jobs" is a form of trickle-down: making welfare payments to businesses so that a fraction of the money will reach non-rich citizens. As governments do this, they help businesses pressure them to do ever more of it.

Wisconsin should cancel the Foxconn deal the way New Yorkers cancelled NYC's Amazon deal.