Stallman: How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?Editor’s Note: Given Richard Stallman’s longtime role in promoting software that respects user freedom (including GNU, which just turned 30), his suggested “remedies” for all the ways technology can be re-designed to provide benefits while avoiding surveillance – like the smart meters example he shares below – seem particularly relevant.
Silicon Valley giants take to meditation to get the best out of staff – Khaleej TimesIn his latest movie, Ashton Kutcher plays Apple billionaire Steve Jobs. Some time before Thanksgiving, thanks to Twitter, he’ll be a high tech multimillionaire in his own right.
Public Banks Are Essential to Capitalism – Room for DebateTo ask whether public banks would interfere with free markets assumes that we have free markets, which we don’t. Banking is heavily subsidized and is monopolized by Wall Street, which has effectively “bought” Congress. Banks have been bailed out by the government, when in a free market they would have gone bankrupt.
How to lose half a trillion eurosON JUNE 16th something very peculiar happened in Germany’s electricity market. The wholesale price of electricity fell to minus €100 per megawatt hour (MWh). That is, generating companies were having to pay the managers of the grid to take their electricity. It was a bright, breezy Sunday. Demand was low.
Activist PostWho knows what’s next? Who knows for sure what is going to happen tomorrow? This afternoon? Two minutes from now? We have all experienced unexpected events, shocks and disappointments. From the experience of unfulfilled desire or a change of expectation, a sense of doubt may develop.
US media failed to cite pundits’ ties to defense industry in Syria strike debateAFP Photo / Kevin C. Cox Nearly two dozen of the commentators who appeared on major media outlets to discuss a possible US military strike on Syria had relationships with contractors and other organizations with a vested interest in the conflict, according to a new report.
World Bank Whistleblower Reveals How The Global Elite Rule The WorldWorld Bank Whistleblower Reveals How The Global Elite Rule The World Karen Hudes is a graduate of Yale Law School and she worked in the legal department of the World Bank for more than 20 years. In fact, when she was fired for blowing the whistle on corruption inside the World Bank, she held the position of Senior Counsel.
Report Finds Police Worldwide Criminalize Dissent, Assert New Powers in Crackdown on ProtestsIn a major new report, the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations details a global crackdown on peaceful protests through excessive police force and the criminalization of dissent. The report, “Take Back the Streets: Repression and Criminalization of Protest Around the World,” warns of a growing tendency to perceive individuals exercising a fundamental democratic right – the right to protest – as a threat requiring a forceful government response.
Suit Revives Goldman Conflict IssueEarl Wilson/The New York Times At a March 2012 meeting, a group of examiners at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York agreed that Goldman Sachs had inadequate procedures to guard against conflicts of interest – guidelines aimed at stopping firms from putting their pursuit of profit ahead of their clients’ best interests.
Noam Chomsky | On Shutdown, Waning US Influence, Syrian ShowdownNoam Chomsky gives his perspective on the US government shutdown, the Syrian civil war, capitalist reform in South America and more in a Truthout interview. Noam Chomsky is one of the world’s greatest living intellectuals.
Ecuador looks to Hague court to resolve Assange stand-offForeign Minister Ricardo Patino announced Tuesday that his government is considering suing the British government in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for denying Wikileaks founder Julian Assange safe passage to Ecuador. Assange has been forced to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since he was granted asylum by the South American country in June last year.
Meditate For More Profitable DecisionsIt’s a practice rooted in Hinduism and adopted by beatniks seeking spiritual guidance. Now evidence shows meditation can improve business decisions and save your company from expensive investment mistakes. By Zoe Kinias, INSEAD Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Andrew Hafenbrack, INSEAD PhD student in Organisational Behaviour with Jane Williams, Editor, Knowledge […]
Book by whistleblower at center of ‘Fast and Furious’ blocked by the ATFAFP Photo / Pedro Pardo A book authored by an agent at the center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ “Fast and Furious” gun running debacle has been rejected and barred from being published by the agency, citing concerns for morale.
Saudi black op team behind Damascus chem weapons attack – diplomatic sourcesThe August chemical weapons attack in the Syrian capital’s suburbs was done by a Saudi Arabian black operations team, Russian diplomatic sources have told a Russian news agency. “Based on data from a number of sources a picture can be pieced together.
“A Corporate Trojan Horse”: Obama Pushes Secretive TPP Trade Pact, Would Rewrite Swath of U.S. LawsAs the federal government shutdown continues, Secretary of State John Kerry heads to Asia for secret talks on a sweeping new trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP is often referred to by critics as “NAFTA on steroids,” and would establish a free trade zone that would stretch from Vietnam to Chile, encompassing 800 million people – about a third of world trade and nearly 40 percent of the global economy.
The Politics of the 14th Amendment and the Debt LimitBruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and served on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul. He is the author of “The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform – Why We Need It and What It Will Take.”
Our Democracy Is at StakeThis time is different. What is at stake in this government shutdown forced by a radical Tea Party minority is nothing less than the principle upon which our democracy is based: majority rule. President Obama must not give in to this hostage taking – not just because Obamacare is at stake, but because the future of how we govern ourselves is at stake.
California governor signs law defying cooperation with NDAA indefinite detentionCalifornia Governor Jerry Brown has signed a law barring state cooperation with any attempt by the federal government to indefinitely detain people. The legislation targets the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Brown signed into law AB351, which goes beyond any other state in rejecting federal indefinite detention power, according to the Tenth Amendment Center.