Bill Gates Donates $1 Million To I-594 Gun Control Campaign

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife have donated $1 million to a Washington state Initiative 594 campaign seeking to expand background checks on gun sales,
The donation to the campaign was given Friday but not made public until Monday, when it was posted on the state's Public Disclosure Commission website. I wrote about this gun control campaign in a post last week titled Gun Initiative Gets Big Boost From Gates, Allen and Ballmer – all former Microsoft owners/CEO’s.

Just pocket change……

The measure on the November ballot in Washington would require background checks for all private firearms sales, including those at gun shows or on the Internet. In a joint statement Bill and Melinda Gates said “we are pleased to join many others making a donation to the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility to support Initiative 594 on the November ballot,”  When I wrote my initial blog on this Gates had only contributed $50 thousand. He really stepped it up last week!

The huge donation from Gates comes on the heels of fellow Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's $500,000 donation and former CEO Steve Ballmer’s $600,000. It seems the ‘Big 3” of Microsoft are really serious about making sure this gun control measure is passed this November. One thing’s for sure – no opposition is capable or raising more money than these guys whose combined net worth is well over $100 billion.

Maybe there’s hope yet that the Burger King scheme to buy Tim Horton’s and move their HQ’s to Canada to avoid US taxes might just be too much of a “whopper” for some. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says displays the "contempt" that big business has for average Americans. A lot of Burger King customers are also boycotting the hamburger chain because of their tax avoidance scheme. I, for one, hope there’s enough pressure put on BK to make them change their minds.

This was the If This Then That “app of the day”!  I passed on it.

Moving on to far less serious matters In the category of “Apps I don’t think I need”, one arrived in my inbox yesterday. This If This Then That (IFTTT) app would send a alert to my iPhone whenever the International Space Station passes over my location. I talked about IFTTT in my blog on July 16, 2014. I’m not sure when the International Space Station was first launched but I’ve managed to live so far without knowing where it is or what it’s doing so I think I’m just going to keep it that way.

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