Important Supreme Court ruling on voting rights

The US Supreme Court issued an important unanimous 8-0 ruling today in a case involving voting rights. States are required to draw electoral districts that have roughly equal numbers of people. The question is whether the ‘people’ who count should be every resident (even those who cannot vote) or just eligible voters. The former has been the universal practice, since the argument has been that government serves everyone, voters and non-voters alike.
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The latest massive leak: The Panama Papers

News reports are emerging of the massive leak of documents (2.6 terabytes in size) from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that provided off shore tax havens for wealthy people. The leak was originally given to a German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. An anonymous person approached the newspaper and said that he would provide them this massive trove of documents. The source did not want anything in return, financial or otherwise, but demanded that it all be done over encrypted channels because of the danger to his/her life, and that s/he would leave it up to them to decide what should be published. The manner of the leak is remarkably similar to that of Edward Snowden and it seems clear that the new leaker had followed his example.
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Paying people to create faux ‘grass roots’ support for Israeli policies

The increasing support for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement has caused great concern with the Israeli government and they have resorted to something called ‘hasbara’, where people receive training in propaganda on how to derail discussions that they think are critical of Israeli policies. Jonathan Cook explains what hasbara involves and why it will not work.
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Using public restrooms while transgender

For most of us, using a public restroom is something to which we give little thought, except perhaps for a fleeting concern about cleanliness. But Nico Lang of Rolling Stone says that a survey found that “nearly 70 percent of trans people had experienced negative interactions in public facilities — from dirty looks to snide comments to physical violence.”
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More on guns at the RNC convention

Although the petition to allow guns into the RNC convention center has been denied by the US Secret Service, that has not ended the matter because the question arises as to what happens outside the Quicken Loans Arena that are after all public spaces where Ohio’s laws allow people to carry weapons openly or concealed. The city government and security services are grappling with this question and expect to issue guidelines by June.
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The Colbert emoji

Anyone who has watched Stephen Colbert for any length of time will notice that he has a remarkably flexible face, capable of a wide range of expressions. He could have had a successful career as a mime, perish the thought. It turns out that one of his signature facial expressions has been turned into an emoji. He also describes the tortuous process that has to be followed to have a new emoji approved and provides a range of other expressions that they may wish to consider.
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Cricket World T20 Update

West Indies and England have won their semi-final games against India and New Zealand respectively and will meet in the final on Sunday.

The West Indies v. India game today was a real nail-biter. India batted first and scored 192/2 in their 20 overs and this would normally have been a winning score but this tournament has seen teams successfully chasing extremely difficult targets and West Indies engineered a masterful chase, despite losing their star batter Chris Gayle in the second over. Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell engaged in some serious hitting late in the innings and they reached 196/3 with just two balls remaining.
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Another consequence of the crumbling US infrastructure

It is by now pretty much a given that the mania to cut taxes to enrich the wealthy has resulted in government being deprived of the necessary revenue to maintain its existing infrastructure and public spaces, let alone make any improvements to bring them into line with other developed nations. Anyone who has traveled to other developed and even many developing countries will immediately notice the difference in roads, airports, and other transportation systems and how the once-enviable public spaces of the US, such as its roads, parks, and libraries, are slowly decaying.
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