Old News

Compiled by Jay Fenello

Larry Summers explains Washington to Elizabeth Warren

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Larry Summers explains Washington to Elizabeth Warren in one sentence:

“In the spring of 2009, after the panel issued its third report, critical of the bailout, Larry Summers took Warren out to dinner in Washington and, she recalls, told her that she had a choice to make. She could be an insider or an outsider, but if she was going to be an insider she needed to understand one unbreakable rule about insiders: ‘They don’t criticize other insiders.'”

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2014/04/21/140421crbo_books_lepore?currentPage=all

EFF and Sunlight Foundation come together to build Contact-Congress

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

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.

Does Meditation Have Health Benefits?

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Does Meditation Have Health Benefits?“The Healthy Geezer” answers questions about health and aging in his weekly column. Question: Does meditating have any real health benefits? Answer: Meditation definitely reduces stress. And too much stress is bad for your health. There is some research that indicates meditation may help with: Allergies, anxiety, asthma, binge eating, cancer, depression, fatigue, heart disease, high blood pressure, pain, sleep difficulties and substance abuse.

via Livescience

Injury to Corporate Reputation Not Enough to Justify Sealing Court Case

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Public Citizen Press RoomApril 16, 2014 Fourth Circuit: Injury to Corporate Reputation Not Enough to Justify Sealing Court Case ‘Company Doe’ Sued to Keep Complaint Out of Federal Database Designed to Warn Consumers of Faulty Products WASHINGTON, D.C. – Holding that injury to corporate reputation doesn’t justify sealing a court case, an appellate court today inCompany Doe v.

Who Goes to Jail? Matt Taibbi on American Injustice Gap from Wall Street to Main Street

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

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.

via Democracynow

Defense Council’s Video Catches 5 Cops Lying on Witness Stand “Many, many, many, many times

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Defense Council’s Video Catches 5 Cops Lying on Witness Stand “Many, many, many, many times”In a ‘Perry Mason’ moment, a video played in court contradicts police officers who testified their drug arrest was proper April 15, 2014By Steve SchmadekeChicago Tribune One by one, five police officers took the witness stand at the Skokie courthouse late last month for what would typically be a routine hearing on whether evidence in…

via Thefreethoughtproject

What John Roberts Doesn’t Get About Corruption

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

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.

Consumers may be barred from suing General Mills for ‘liking’ company on Facebook

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Consumers may be barred from suing General Mills for ‘liking’ company on FacebookReuters / Brendan McDermid Under a new privacy policy, Fortune 500 corporation General Mills claims that anyone who has received anything from it that can be deemed a benefit – even agreeing to “like” it on Facebook – withdraws rights to sue the company.

via Rt

Philadelphia cuts cooperation with ICE deportation police

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

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.

via Rt

Snowden’s email provider Lavabit loses federal appeal

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Snowden’s email provider Lavabit loses federal appealReuters / Lavabit.com A federal appeals panel on Wednesday dismissed what attorneys for the Lavabit email service said was “immense public concern” surrounding the government’s request for the site’s encryption keys, and instead upheld a lower court’s earlier ruling.

via Rt

Ron Paul’s nonprofit refuses to disclose list of donors to the IRS

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Ron Paul’s nonprofit refuses to disclose list of donors to the IRSRon Paul (Reuters/Robert Galbraith) The United States Federal Reserve is usually the government office finding itself most often in the crosshairs of former Texas congressman Ron Paul, but now the longtime lawmaker is setting his sights on another agency: the Internal Revenue Service.

via Rt

“We are in great danger”: Ex-banker details how mega-banks destroyed America

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

“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 program

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

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.

via Rt

Oligarchy, not democracy: Americans have ‘near-zero’ input on policy

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

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.

via Rt

Defense alleges FBI spying in 9/11 hearing at Guantanamo

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Defense alleges FBI spying in 9/11 hearing at GuantanamoDefense lawyers for the 9/11 trial defendants at Guantanamo Bay have levied new allegations of spying by the US government in the case, claiming the FBI propositioned a defense team security officer to be a confidential informant.

via Rt

Meditation Has the Power to Influence Your Genes

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Meditation Has the Power to Influence Your GenesIn a groundbreaking discovery, a collaborative team of researchers from Wisconsin, Spain, and France reported in December 2013 the first evidence of specific molecular changes at a genetic level following a period of mindfulness meditation. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that shows rapid alterations in gene expression within subjects associated with mindfulness meditation practice,” says study author Richard J.

via Psychologytoday

Slouching toward oligarchy

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

Slouching toward oligarchy [Commentary]The country’s billionaires are even more in charge today now that candidates look directly to them for funding America is not yet an oligarchy, but that’s where Charles and David Koch and a few other billionaires are taking us. American democracy used to depend on political parties that more or less represented most of us.

via Baltimoresun

Motherboard TV: The Thorium Dream

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

AT&T hacker ‘weev’ to walk free after appeals court agrees to vacate conviction

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

AT&T hacker ‘weev’ to walk free after appeals court agrees to vacate convictionA federal appeals court has vacated the conviction against a controversial computer hacker who has spent the last 13 months in prison after going public with a security flaw that brought embarrassment to companies Apple and AT&T.

via Rt

Social Security, Treasury target Americans for their parents’ old debts

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jay Fenello

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.

via Rt