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THE MICROSOFT POLICE STATE: MASS SURVEILLANCE, FACIAL RECOGNITION, AND THE AZURE CLOUD

NATIONWIDE PROTESTS AGAINST racist policing have brought new scrutiny onto big tech companies like Facebook, which is under boycott by advertisers over hate speech directed at people of color, and Amazon, called out for aiding police surveillance. But Microsoft, which has largely escaped criticism, is knee-deep in services for law enforcement, fostering an ecosystem of companies that provide police with software using Microsoft’s cloud and other platforms. The full story of these ties highlights how the tech sector is increasingly entangled in intimate, ongoing relationships with police departments.

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CDC urges ‘universal’ indoor mask use when not at home

Lewandowski, Bossie added to Pentagon advisory board after latest purge

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday recommended the “universal use of face masks” as a key step to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, warning the U.S. has “entered a phase of high-level transmission.”

The agency recommended in a report that officials at the state and local level “issue policies or directives mandating universal use of face masks in indoor (nonhousehold) settings” as one strategy to combat the virus, a tactic President Trump and many GOP governors have resisted.

The CDC said wearing a mask is most important when someone is indoors somewhere besides their house and outdoors when six feet of distance cannot be maintained. Masks should also be used inside one’s household when someone is infected or has had recent exposure to the virus, the report said.

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House votes to legalize weed

The House on Friday passed a landmark bill that would remove federal penalties on marijuana and erase cannabis-related criminal records.

The bill passed by a vote of 228-164, with several Republicans on board. While the MORE Act is not expected to come up in the Senate this year, and likely won’t in the next session of Congress either, its passage nevertheless marks a monumental step in marijuana policy.

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Fauci says America may still need masks after Biden’s first 100 days

The president-elect said on Thursday that he planned to call on Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office. He has long urged Americans to wear masks to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Just 100 days to mask, not forever. 100 days. And I think we’ll see a significant reduction” in COVID-19 infections, Biden said.

Fauci told NBC “Today” host Savannah Guthrie that he spoke with Biden about the plan, and said it was a good idea.

“He’s saying ‘hey folks, trust me, everybody for 100 days,’” Fauci said. “Now, it might be that after that, we still are gonna need it, but he just wants it — everybody for a commitment for 100 days.”

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In Bizarre Interview, Biden Jokes He Would ‘Fake Illness And Resign’ Over Disagreement

Joe Biden may have just said the quiet part out loud.

During a Thursday CNN interview with Kamala Harris, Biden was asked about his relationship with his running mate, to which he gave a rambling reply capped off with the most awkward of ‘jokes’: that under certain circumstances he’d fake an illness and resign.

“It’s a matter of, the thing – we are simpatico on our philosophy of government. Sympatico on how we want to approach these issues that we’re facing. And when we disagree, it’ll be just like so far, it’s been just like when Barack and I did. It’s in private, she’ll say ‘I think you should do A, B, C or D,’ and I’ll say ‘I like A, I don’t like B and C, and s’go OK…’

“And like I told Barack, if there’s a fundamental disagreement we have based on a moral principle, I’ll develop some disease and say I have to resign.”

Biden then goes on to gush over Kamala’s credentials – saying “The great thing is she has a background in the Senate on intelligence, the intelligence community, she has a background in the Senate on a whole range of things that are gonna be pertinent to what we have to do.”

“It’s a matter of who takes what, when.”

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