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California ‘billionaire tax’ makes ballot despite opposition from tech moguls

Wealth tax criticized by billionaires and Gavin Newsom would levy a one-time 5% tax on residents worth over $1bn

A popular proposal in California to impose a wealth tax on billionaires has gained enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in November, state officials announced on Wednesday.

The news is set to intensify an already heated debate around the tax, which has pitted tech moguls and the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, against the labor union backing the measure.

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© Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

© Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

© Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

The midterms are going to be a data security nightmare

18 June 2026 at 15:21
Graphic photo illustration of a voting sign that reads “Vote here”.

One messy database is threatening to disenfranchise thousands or even millions of registered voters, while leaving even more at risk of intimidation or data breaches, in the name of solving a problem that barely exists.

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, election and privacy experts are sounding alarms about the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program, which President Donald Trump's administration has expanded to ostensibly catch noncitizens voting. Experts say that amounts to a dangerous, error-prone effort to centralize voter data. "The federal government doesn't have the author …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Blair’s Encyclical Labor Imbecilis

18 June 2026 at 15:00

Everyone knows that Tony Blair and the Pope issued encyclicals in the last week or two. The Pope's was entitled ‘Magnifica Humanitas’; by analogy, Blair's should have been called ‘Labor Imbecilis’, says James Alexander.

The post Blair’s Encyclical Labor Imbecilis appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

What the satellite servicing economy can borrow from carbon credits

18 June 2026 at 14:00
Artist rendition of ESA’s Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object (DRACO), a spacecraft loaded with sensors that will break up in orbit in order to gather data on uncontrolled reentry.

In January 2026 alone, the Federal Communications Commission authorized 15,000 Starlink Gen2 satellites. Starcloud has filed for 88,000 orbital data center satellites. SpaceX has filed for 1 million. There is […]

The post What the satellite servicing economy can borrow from carbon credits appeared first on SpaceNews.

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