An anonymous reader writes: Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the NSA who worked with journalist to reveal a number of classified mass surveillance programs, has criticized the UK Prime Minister's insistence that his father's implication in the list of high-profile tax avoiders was a "private matter." Ian Cameron's firm Blairmore Holdings Inc managed tens of millions of pounds for the wealthy but has never paid taxes on the profits. Cameron responded to the news saying: "This is a private matter, I am focused on what the government is doing." In response to a Reuters story on Cameron's response, Snowden wrote: "Oh, now he's interested in privacy." Snowden followed up with a second tweet after the Prime Minister of Iceland resigned over his implication in the Panama Papers leak: "Resignation of Iceland's PM may explain why the UK PM is so insistent public has no right to know a PM's 'private' finances."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Russian air strikes target 1,500 al-Nusra Front-led fighters making a push towards Syria's second-largest city.

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft has released a new Windows 10 preview for PCs. The preview, dubbed build 14316, comes with a range of features including support for Bash, which Microsoft had announced at its developer conference Build last week. Users interested in it can enable the feature by turning on Developer Mode (detailed instructions here), searching for "Windows Features," choosing "Turn Windows features on or off," and enable Windows Subsystem for Linux (Beta). To get Bash installed, open Command Prompt and type in "bash" (without the quotes.) Other features included in the new build include low battery notification, find my phone (ring my phone), and the ability to share map directions across devices. Additionally, the company has also released a new universal Skype app.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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What Dems can do with control of Congress

davewiner

The opportunity for the Dems is to motor through the problems left from the last time they had control of Congress and the White House.

To really pull it off the Dems need a super-majority in the Senate. A filibuster-proof majority.

Start by tuning up the Affordable Care Act.

Appoint a judge to the Supreme Court who's as progressive as Scalia was conservative.

And with Russ Feingold back in the Senate we have a great guy to lead the new McCain-Feingold that undoes Citizens United. And beyond. 

The NRA won't be calling the shots so we can start getting some reasonable gun control legislation. 

You want Glass-Stiegel? Let's do it.

A bill reforming student debt, as HRC has outlined it. (A very reasonable plan, imho.)

Last time the Dems had control of Congress and the White House, for two years only, they were handicapped by a President who, thinking he was transformational, tried to work with the Repubs. This time, with Clinton as President, it seems safe to assume she won't make that mistake. 

Even so a lot of good was done in those two years. 

There would be more progress than there has been since FDR and LBJ.

This should be the plan. This is what we all should be marching to, assuming you're not into the agenda of Trumps or the Kochs.

< !doctype html>

What Dems can do with control of Congress

davewiner

The opportunity for the Dems is to motor through the problems left from the last time they had control of Congress and the White House.

To really pull it off the Dems need a super-majority in the Senate. A filibuster-proof majority.

Start by tuning up the Affordable Care Act.

Appoint a judge to the Supreme Court who's as progressive as Scalia was conservative.

And with Russ Feingold back in the Senate we have a great guy to lead the new McCain-Feingold that undoes Citizens United. And beyond. 

The NRA won't be calling the shots so we can start getting some reasonable gun control legislation. 

You want Glass-Stiegel? Let's do it.

A bill reforming student debt, as HRC has outlined it. (A very reasonable plan, imho.)

Last time the Dems had control of Congress and the White House, for two years only, they were handicapped by a President who, thinking he was transformational, tried to work with the Repubs. This time, with Clinton as President, it seems safe to assume she won't make that mistake. 

Even so a lot of good was done in those two years. 

There would be more progress than there has been since FDR and LBJ.

This should be the plan. This is what we all should be marching to, assuming you're not into the agenda of Trumps or the Kochs.

Police raids in poor areas during anti-crime initiative lead to allegations of "serious abuses", rights groups say.

Efforts ongoing to free the rest of the 26 kidnapped from a desert hunting party near the Saudi border last December.