The U.S. Built a Blueprint to Avoid Civilian War Casualties. Trump Officials Scrapped It.
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A recently developed Defense Department program was meant to reduce civilian harm during military operations. But months before the Iran war, the mission was dissolved as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made “lethality” a top priority.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-defense-department-iran-hegseth-civilian-casualties?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #Iran #IranWar #DOD #Pentagon #Trump #Military #Hegseth #PeteHegseth

“Five years ago, on September 15, 2019, after about a six-week hiatus during the summer, I wrote a Facebook post…

… And I added: “None of this would fly in America if the Senate, controlled by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, were not aiding and abetting him.”

“This is the story of a dictator on the rise,” I wrote, “taking control of formerly independent branches of government, and using the power of his office to amass power.”“ - Heather Cox Richardson

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/september-14-2024?r=2m1hl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

The Austin TX school district has placed a proposal to raise taxes by $35 a month on the next ballot.

Shocking, right? It gets worse.

"only about $40 million of the $170 million in new taxes would stay in the district. The rest would go to the state"

In Republican Texas, the cities don't control of their schools & the money they pay to run their schools is taken by the state into the general budget.

It's #Corruption

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2024-08-23/will-voters-agree-to-max-out-school-property-taxes-amid-budget-crisis/

#Texas #Democrats #Republicans #Politics

Good feature of the New York Times on climate tipping points, with interactive graphics.
Ignoring these fossil-fueled risks to humanity‘s future while shouting „drill baby drill“ isn’t just weird, it’s criminally irresponsible.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/11/climate/earth-warming-climate-tipping-points.html

I simply love this development:

The EU is about to transfer the first

EUR 1,550,000,000

to Ukraine, financed by interests from frozen Russian assets.

That's Russian money, financing weapons used to kill Putin's invaders.

Nice doing business with you Vladimir! 😘

https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/07/20/euroclear-to-transfer-e-1-55-billion-to-ukraine-fund-from-frozen-russian-assets-in-july-2024/

When you realize that the whole point of the voucher program is to destroy public education.

"Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on vouchers to help kids who are already going to private school keep going to private school won’t just sink the budget, Lewis said. It’s funding that’s not going to the public schools, keeping them from becoming what they could and should be."

Arizona School Voucher Program Causes Budget Meltdown — ProPublica

https://www.propublica.org/article/arizona-school-vouchers-budget-meltdown