Study: US is an oligarchy, not a democracyA review of the best commentary on and around the world… The US is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page. This is not news, you say.
Mortgage Whistleblower Stands Alone as U.S. Won’t Join LawsuitTwo years after Lynn Szymoniak helped the U.S. recover $95 million from Bank of America Corp. and other lenders for mortgage-fraud tied to the housing bubble, the whistle-blower said the government is ignoring a chance to collect more money for identical claims against other banks. Szymoniak got $18 million when the U.S.
US insists on going after reporters who publish leaked info ‘not violation of press freedom’Announcing its third annual Free the Press campaign to highlight censorship and oppression of journalists “around the world,” the US State Department made clear it doesn’t consider press freedom issues in the United States the same way it does abroad.
Jail-breaking point: Overcrowded prisons strike White House clemency chordThe enormous outlay for overcrowded US federal prisons is forcing the White House to consider clemency and entreat non-violent, low-level felons serving terms for drug-related crimes to apply for early release. Next week the US Bureau of Prisons will make the inmates aware of the six criteria elaborated by the US Justice Department for those who deserve early parole.
What Are the Types of Meditation?“The Healthy Geezer” answers questions about health and aging in his weekly column. This is the second of three columns on meditation. Question: What are the types of meditation? Answer: Meditation is classified as a mind-body practice.
BofA Ex-CFO Agrees To Settle NY Lawsuit Over Merrill – WSJBank of America Corp’s former finance chief, Joe Price, has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the bank and its former executives of misleading investors during the lender’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Fargo foreclosure manual on trialWells Fargo is in a federal judge’s hot seat. America’s largest mortgage servicer just lost the battle to keep its controversial Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Foreclosure Attorney Procedure Manual out of federal court in New York.
Why Economist Thomas Piketty Has Scared the Pants Off the American RightThomas Piketty is no radical. His 700-page book Capital in the 21st Century is certainly not some kind of screed filled with calls for class warfare. In fact, the wonky and mild-mannered French economist opens his tome with a description of his typical Gen X abhorrence of what he calls the “lazy rhetoric of anticapitalism.”
Family awarded $3 million in first US fracking trialReuters / Shannon Stapleton After three years of legal wrangling, a Texas family has won its case against a company engaged in hydraulic fracturing near their home. The family, which suffered tangible health deterioration after the fracking began, was awarded $3 million.
Police may stop drivers based only on anonymous tip, rules Supreme CourtLaw enforcement officials may now stop US drivers based only on the information gleaned in an anonymous tip phoned in by a caller who dialed 911, the Supreme Court ruled in a tight decision Tuesday.
In prison forever: Gitmo detainees might not see freedom even after Afghan War endsReuters / Brennan Linsley / Pool The United States military plans to end its combat role in Afghanistan later this year and close the chapter on America’s longest-running war, but the Afghan men being held at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay aren’t expected to see any changes.
US govt must provide details to justify drone killing of American – judgeThe US Department of Justice must turn over important details from a key memo which the government has used to justify targeted killings across the Middle East – including the drone strike that killed an American who joined Al-Qaeda, a US judge has ruled.
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.