Elon Musk briefly worked illegally in the US after abandoning a graduate studies program in California, according to a Washington Post report that contrasted the episode with the South African multibillionaire's anti-immigration views. But the Washington Post reported Saturday that the world's wealthiest individual was almost certainly working in the US without correct authorization for a period in 1995 after he dropped out of Stanford University to work on his debut company, Zip2, which sold for about $300m four years later. read more
Dec 7, 2023 Eric Posner Although Donald Trump is many things, most of them bad, he was not a fascist when he was president, and he would not become a dictator if elected again. The power of constitutional and bureaucratic hurdles, combined with a dearth of sympathetic right-wing radicals, ensure that anarchy is more likely than tyranny. CHICAGO " Americans have worried about their presidents becoming dictators (or, in the old days, tyrants) ever since the Unites States was founded. The framers of the US Constitution understood that in classical democracies and republics, leaders often tried to seize power from legislatures and other assemblies. That is why they created a system of checks and balances on government power. read more
"$100 in 1980 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $382.88 today, an increase of $282.88 over 45 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.03% ... Inflation Calculator Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis read more
ISD Senior OSINT Analyst Elise Thomas writes an op-ed for the Moscow Times on Russian state media's reliance on American far-right news personality Tucker Carlson. Elise, along with other ISD analysts, has long studied Russian influence campaigns and argues that Tucker's content gives them ammo to back up their narratives in a much better way than they ever could. "Their tactics may change, but their strategy remains broadly the same: stoking existing divisions and turning up the dial on polarisation, rather than seeking to invent new issues with no basis in reality." Following this strategy, Russian state media has often relied on the ex-Fox News Channel anchor and his "knack for polarisation." read more
On the brink of the Second World War, a young Norwegian man's drive to resist the Nazis sets a new course for his future " and the future of his country. read more
"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) budget for fiscal year 2025 is $823 million. The CFPB receives eopleits funding from the Federal Reserve in quarterly transfers."
Pretty obvious that closing this agency wasn't to save money for the taxpayers; more like just a favor for big banks to prevent any bothersome consumers from having assistance when the banks screw them out of their homes. It's also just racist Trump and Musk eliminating anything that Barrack Obama and Democrats did after the Bush Bubble blew up in 2007-08 which is generally something that happens at the end of every Republicab President's term in office. I bought my condo in 2006 and the bank that I got a mortgage from did try to talk me into one of those variable interest rate mortgages but I refused and I am so glad I did. A couple I became friends with right across the street from me lost their home because the payments increased so much when the interest was raised they just couldn't afford it as was happeng to thousands of people all across the country. And right here in this thread we have people stupidly plauding the closing of this bureau foe no good reason.