BLM Activist-Turned-Politician Wants to Make Election Day into a Holiday

Black politics matter: khalid kamau (prefers the lower-case spelling of his name in accordance with Yoruban African style) is a Black Lives Matter activist who was recently elected to public office as a councilman for South Fulton, GA. South Fulton transitioned from a county to a city last November and elected both a mayor and city council members this year. Now that they are up and running, kamau has introduced a bill that will make Election Day a holiday to increase voter turnout and create a day of political education for the community.

kamau's resolution has been met with criticism from some council members who see it as weakening the fledgling city's revenue by allowing people an additional day off work. Also, government employees would reap the most benefits from the holiday because retail stores would most likely be overrun with extra customers making it harder for working class people to go vote. According to kamau, the bill was vetoed by the mayor, but the council will vote to override it sometime next week.

Job growth steady:. Although it took months since he first made the claim, President Trump has created 1 million jobs. On Friday, the Labor Department reported the latest tally of jobs created in July. While Trump will take this as an example of the success of his policies, the Labor Department has said that job growth has remained the same since 2016.

Hacktivist detained: WannaCry was the ransomware virus that stole data from hundreds of thousands of computers across the globe and then blackmailed victims for money with the threat of publishing their personal information or permanently denying access. The incident exposed the vulnerability of cyber-security systems worldwide, but now the researcher credited with stopping the malware attack, Marcus Hutchins, has been detained by the US.

Hutchins, 23, has been accused of allegedly creating Kronos banking malware, which was designed to steal financial information. Hutchins was arrested in Las Vegas following the DEF CON hacker convention, and was held at the Henderson Detention Center in Nevada until Thursday. Despite being a British citizen, the UK's National Crime Agency is letting the US handle the matter.

Worker solidarity On Thursday, Aug 3, Nissan workers at an assembly plant in Mississippi voted on potential representation from the United Auto Workers Union. The argument for the union is that it will give workers more benefits, allow bargaining for better wages and gives them more say-so in how things are run in the workplace. The critics within the company say the union will worsen relations with the higher-ups and that their employer, who pays them well enough, could see it as a problem.

Since Nissan is a foreign-owned auto plant, outside analysts have stacked the odds against the union. The National Labor Relations Board is conducting the vote via secret ballot, and 3,700 employees will have until 7pm Friday to cast their vote. This vote has attracted attention from Sen. Bernie Sanders. international politicians, and celebrities

Possible abuse of power: Last month a video surfaced of a police officer in Baltimore allegedly planting evidence of what looks like a bag of white pills while two other officers stood watching. The video, recorded via a body cam on January 24, casts doubt on Baltimore law enforcement's objectivity and now state attorneys in Maryland are dismissing dozens of cases that involved the officers in question.

While it may seem like justice has been served, there are still 27 cases that these officers had a hand in that are moving forward with prosecution and 55 more that are still in review. According to the New York Times, only one of the officers has been suspended and the other two were placed on administrative duty. The police department is still investigating the incident, but it's clear that this has tainted the relationship between law enforcement and the city even further.