Did Michigan just trigger ‘constitutional convention’? Bid gains steamA never before used option – a political wild card of sorts that gives states rather than Congress the power to initiate a change to the U.S. Constitution – could soon be in play, with Washington lawmakers forced to meet and deal with adding a balanced budget amendment to the law of the land.
Russia prepares to attack the petrodollarThe existence of “petrodollars” is one of the pillars of America’s economic might because it creates a significant external demand for American currency, allowing the US to accumulate enormous debts without defaulting. If a Japanese buyer wants to buy a barrel of Saudi oil, he has to pay in dollars even if no American oil company ever touches the said barrel.
EFF and Sunlight Foundation come together to build Contact-CongressIf you’ve never contacted your congress person then you might not realize how difficult our politicians have made it to get a hold of them. There are 535 members of the House and Senate all whom have some arcane contact form on their websites that obscure their direct email address.
Who Goes to Jail? Matt Taibbi on American Injustice Gap from Wall Street to Main StreetAward-winning journalist Matt Taibbi is out with an explosive new book that asks why the vast majority of white-collar criminals have avoided prison since the financial crisis began, while an unequal justice system imprisons the poor and people of color on a mass scale.
What John Roberts Doesn’t Get About CorruptionIn McCutcheon v. FEC, the landmark case that threw out aggregate limits on campaign spending last week, Chief Justice John Roberts made clear that for the majority of this current Supreme Court, corruption means quid pro quo corruption. In other words, if it’s not punishable by a bribery statute, it’s not corruption.
Philadelphia cuts cooperation with ICE deportation policePhiladelphia law enforcement officials will stop taking immigrants into custody on behalf of the federal government unless provided with a warrant. The news comes after city Mayor Michael Nutter signed an executive order on Wednesday.
“We are in great danger”: Ex-banker details how mega-banks destroyed America“It no longer matters who sits in the White House,” former Goldman Sachs managing director Nomi Prins writes in her new book ” All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power.” “Presidents no longer even try to garner banker support for population-friendly policies, and bankers operate oblivious to the needs of national economies.
FBI agents storm out from Senate hearing to avoid testifying on Insider Threat programIt’s been two-and-a-half years since the United States government unveiled an insider threat program to keep classified networks and sensitive intelligence secure, but the officials in charge would literally rather storm away than speak about it.
Oligarchy, not democracy: Americans have ‘near-zero’ input on policy – reportReuters / Amr Abdallah Dalsh The first-ever scientific study that analyzes whether the US is a democracy, rather than an oligarchy, found the majority of the American public has a “minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy” compared to the wealthy.
Social Security, Treasury target Americans for their parents’ old debtsReuters / Mike Blake Many Americans expecting to see their tax refunds in their bank accounts soon are waking up to a very different scenario: the government actively intercepting their checks in order to pay back debts they’re not responsible for.
Obama administration wins Jefferson Muzzle award for restricting free pressThe United States Department of Justice and the White House Press Office are this year’s top winners of a dubious award extended to those considered to be “responsible for some of the more egregious or ridiculous affronts to First Amendment principles.”
Congress considers blocking GMO food labelingAFP Photo / Robyn Beck A new bill introduced in Congress looks to ban states from implementing their own labeling laws when it comes to food containing genetically engineered ingredients. According to Reuters, US Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.)
The Real Vampires: An Insider’s View of BanksThe Inside Scoop from Bill Clinton’s Mentor By Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Timeby Carroll Quigley* (1966 Macmillan)is an exacting account of how the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, the European central banks, and the giant investment banks that dominate them (e.g.
CIA lied about torture’s effectiveness, according to unreleased Senate reportReuters / Larry Downing A Senate report found that CIA officials lied to the government and public about its post-9/11 torture program, most notably by distorting intelligence gleaned from traditional interrogations as that attained by far more brutal methods.
Supreme Court Establishing “Plutocrat Rights”USA Today reports: “The Supreme Court took another step Wednesday toward giving wealthy donors more freedom to influence federal elections. The justices ruled 5-4, in a decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, that limits on the total amount of money donors can give to all candidates, committees and political parties are unconstitutional.
ACA “Conscientious Objector”CBS News reports: “March 31 has finally arrived, and with it comes the last official day for people to sign up for health insurance on the federal exchange websites.” MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D., mdpnhp at gmail.com, @MFlowers8 Flowers is a pediatrician in Baltimore and co-director of PopularResistance.org.
Wealth Over WorkIt seems safe to say that “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” the magnum opus of the French economist Thomas Piketty, will be the most important economics book of the year – and maybe of the decade.