World News, Ukraine and Russia, China, Australia, Israel and Palestine, Africa; War on Terror, Iraq'd, Islamism, Surveillance and Privacy

World News

• Man sets self afire in Tokyo in apparent protest—Japan slowly turning militant.
• MH370: New evidence of tampering with cockpit systems revealed
• No, North Korea Did NOT Threaten War Over Seth Rogan Movie—"Media reports claiming the DPRK threatened war over a Seth Rogan and James Franco movie are flat out wrong."

Ukraine and Russia

• Putin snarls, but Obama gets the last laugh
• Defying Russia, Ukraine Signs E.U. Trade Pact—"Moscow warned that the signing of the economic agreement, which had set off protests and fighting in Ukraine, would have 'serious consequences.'" NYT
• Ukraine begins military offensive as cease-fire ends

China

• Washington is renaming the street outside China's embassy after jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo — and China is furious National Post
• Chinese president Xi Jinping vows China won't bully other nations
• Hong Kong democracy 'referendum' voting ends
• Hong Kong police arrest democracy protesters at sit-in

Australia

• Australia's right to know is under assault—"Reforms to freedom of information under the last government saw FOI culture flourish. Now the Coalition plans to radically restrict the FOI regime."
• Janet Albrechtsen appointed to ABC and SBS board appointments panel
• Australia's High Court rules PNG immigrant detention camp constitutional—"Australia's highest court has dismissed a challenge to the government's policy of sending asylum-seekers to Papua New Guinea, ruling detention at an island immigration camp legal under the country's constitution."
• Australia buys up, enters Asian arms race

Israel and Palestine

• Israeli PM Calls Killers of Three Israeli Teens 'Human Animals'
• Palestinian teenager found dead in suspected revenge attack
• Israeli troops clash with Palestinians after body of Arab teenager found WaPo

Africa

• African leaders vote to give themselves immunity from war crimes
• Uganda students smuggle pigs into parliament—"Youths and police guards arrested after protest against high unemployment and government corruption."
• Donors slash Mozambique aid over corruption claims

War on Terror

• Obama's crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S.
• Supreme Court lets victims' 9/11 suit vs. Saudi Arabia proceed
• Before Shooting in Iraq, a Warning on Blackwater—"Not long after the security firm's top manager in Iraq told a State Department investigator 'that he could kill' him, an inquiry was abandoned. Weeks later, the firm's guards killed 17 civilians in Iraq." NYT
• US court revives lawsuit against Abu Ghraib security contractors
• Judge upholds order demanding release of CIA torture accounts—"US government loses attempt to keep accounts of torture of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri secret."
• Army Clears Bergdahl of Any Misconduct During Captivity
• Bill Clinton says GOP is guilty of double standard on Benghazi WaPo
• New TSA fees to make airfare more expensive

Iraq'd

• Obama authorizes 200 more troops for Iraq WaPo
• If You Were An Iraq War Critic, You're Probably Not Being Asked To Go On TV
• Laura Ingraham To Republicans: Stop Talking About Iraq Already!
• Dick Cheney Doesn't Want You To Reflect on the Iraq War, So You Know It's a Good Idea To
• Retired Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson Rips Dick Cheney: He Isn't Immoral, He's Amoral—Sociopath.
• Nation Editor Tells Bill Kristol To Join Iraqi Army If He Wants War
• alicublog: On Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Blame Game on Iraq—Goldberg: "I supported the war, and I still think the arguments in favor at the time were superior to the arguments against. Alas, the facts on the ground didn't care about the arguments." Facts do have a liberal bias.

Islamism

• Iraq crisis: Isis changes name and declares its territories a new Islamic state with 'restoration of caliphate' in Middle East
• Just what is a 'caliphate' — and why are some Muslims keen to reestablish one?
  
• Christian Iraqis Live in State of Fear of ISIS Terrorists
• Osama Bin Laden's seven rules for terrorists: ISIS will regret not following the al-Qaida leader's advice.
• Britain bans controversial Saudi cleric al-Arifi—""The UK Government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they represent a threat to our society. Coming here is a privilege that we refuse to extend to those who seek to subvert our shared values."
• European Court upholds French full veil ban
• Nigerian man is locked up after saying he is an atheist—"Campaigners call for release of 29-year-old Mubarak Bala, who lives in Kano in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north."
• At least 30 die in Nigeria village attacks—"Churches set alight in attack by suspected Islamist extremists on village close to town from where schoolgirls were kidnapped."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Facebook's Psychological Experiments Connected to Department of Defense Research on Civil Unrest
• Court gave NSA broad leeway in surveillance, documents show—Now Internet monitoring is supposedly legal. WaPo
• New Snowden docs: NSA spies on pretty much everyone abroad—"All the world's a stage for US spies, according to secret American memos."
• Greenwald delays biggest Snowden story yet after new U.S. government claims
• FBI, CIA Use Backdoor Searches To Warrentlessly Spy On Americans' Communications
• ISPs take legal action against GCHQ
• TOR exit nodes now illegal in Austria
• Paypal Freezes ProtonMail Campaign Funds —A Paypal representative "questioned whether ProtonMail is legal and if we have government approval to encrypt emails."

Workers and Wage Slaves, Maximum Age, Minimum Wage, On the Job; Banks and Wall Street, Taxes, Class Warfare, Antiestablishmentarianism, Homeless; Chinese Exodus; Tau Day; Science Under Siege; Earth and Moon, Space Travel; Universe

Workers and Wages Slaves

• Meet 204 Republicans Who Don't Want to Punish Companies That Steal Workers' Wages
• Days After Decrying Flat Wages, McConnell Proposes Lowering Wages by $13 Billion
• How Walmart's Low Wages Cost All Americans, Not Just Its Workers
• Canada: Walmart wrong to fire unionized workers, high court says—"Supreme Court rules 5-2 in favour of 190 Quebec who lost jobs after first unionized Walmart shut its doors."
• Unions Fear This SCOTUS Case Could Bring Their 'Final Destruction'
• American Workers Need Overtime Protections
• Qatar police respond to fight at Sheraton Doha hotel

Maximum Age

• Tech industry job ads: Older workers need not apply
• Faygo accused of age discrimination - by founder's grandson
• Miss Delaware, 24, loses crown for being too old
• Singer sued for being too old and ugly for Pink cover band

Minimum Wage

• Zillow's Rich Barton on the $15 minimum wage, Uber regulations, and why the U.S. is filled with entrepreneurial 'freedom fighters'
• Ikea to raise its average minimum hourly wage to $10.76 LA Times
• Massachusetts: Minimum wage increase doesn't add up to a living wage—"The state's new $11 minimum wage –the highest in the nation -- will make low-wage workers' lives a little more stable, and less stressful. But not necessarily comfortable."
• A Minimum Wage That Makes More Sense—"Accounting for regional price differences is sound strategy when setting state or local minimum wages." NYT

On the Job

• Your Lifestyle Has Already Been Designed (The Real Reason For The Forty-Hour Workweek)
• Taking a Vacation May Actually Save Your Career—"Workaholism is hurting the American economy."
• Unblinking Eyes Track Employees: Workplace Surveillance Sees Good and Bad—"Abundant data, smart software and cheap sensors are beginning to make it possible to measure and monitor employees as never before." NYT
• An Employee Dies, and the Company Collects the Insurance—"Many companies insure their employees’ lives with themselves as beneficiaries, a practice some deride as immoral. But companies say the policies, for which they get tax breaks, help them bolster pensions and health care." NYT
• Obama Says US Should Offer Paid Maternity Leave—Right-wingers say no [Salon]
• North Dakota coffee shop has no employees, runs entirely on the honor system…and it's working
• Job interviews reward narcissists, punish applicants from modest cultures

Banks and Wall Street

• Ex-Goldman Trader Calls $8.25 Million Bonus Unfair, Told Mom He'd Get More—They really are too big to jail.
• New York attorney general accuses Barclays of 'dark pool' fraud
• Grassley's Hunt For An Obama Insider Trading Scandal Backfires On GOP
• House GOP Staffer Allegedly Changed His Story In Insider Trading Probe
• House Passes Bill To Aid Koch Brothers, Deregulate Wall Street
• China's commodity-lending fraud just got $15 billion bigger

Taxes

• Krugman: Sympathy for the Trustafarians NYT
• Higher taxes do not kill jobs—"County-level BLS data tell the true story about job growth."
• Tax cuts in Kansas have cost the state money — and job creation's been terrible WaPo
  

Class Warfare

• Robert Reich on America's Koch Problem
• In US, over 75 per cent of conservatives say the poor 'have it easy'
• Elizabeth Warren says the U.S. economy is rigged. Many conservatives agree. WaPo
• Conspiracy of the plutocrats: Secrets of the wealth-inequality explosion revealed Salon
• Detroit's Water War: a tap shut-off that could impact 300,000 people—"A right-wing state and corporate push to cut off water is economic shock therapy at its most ruthless and racist, but resistance is growing."
• Debtors Prisons Are Taking the US Back to the 19th Century—"In recent years, more and more cells have been filled with poor individuals who are caught in a vile trap, unable to pay court fines."
• What wealth gap? Danish welfare narrows disparity WaPo

Antiestablishmentarianism

• The open source revolution is coming and it will conquer the 1% - ex CIA spy—"The man who trained more than 66 countries in open source methods calls for re-invention of intelligence to re-engineer Earth."
• Nick Hanauer: The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats Politico
• The United States Of Cruelty—"We are cheap. We are suspicious. We will shoot first. It does not have to be this way. Like Lincoln before us, it is time to do something about it."

Homeless

• 73-year-old veteran loses his job for allegedly giving a muffin to a homeless man
• Chinese tycoon's free lunch for homeless New Yorkers backfires—"Controversial businessman Chen Guangbiao angered homeless people in New York after promising them $300 each and failing to deliver."
• Flipside: Woman launches mobile showers for the homeless—"A San Francisco woman creates a "shower bus" to help accommodate the city's 3,500 homeless people. Vanessa Johnston reports."

Chinese Exodus

• Disappointed Immigration Applicants Sue Canada—"More than 1,400 Chinese plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit against the Canadian immigration authorities after Canada announced it was canceling its immigrant investor program along with tens of thousands of outstanding applications." NYT
• Mainland Chinese line up for Australia's 'millionaire visa'
• Cashed-up Chinese students turn to Australia
• China targets officials who sent families abroad—"China's anti-graft campaign is now targeting officials who have sent their spouses and children abroad, where they can create channels to potentially funnel illicit gains and establish footholds for eventual escape from the mainland."

Tau Day

• The brain injury that made me a math genius—"Twelve years ago, Jason Padgett had never made it past pre-algebra. And then a violent mugging changed everything." Salon
• Notation, notation, notation: a brief history of mathematical symbols—The symbols we use every day have fascinating and surprisingly recent origins, explains author Joseph Mazur in his new book."
• The secret history of numbers: How math shapes our lives in amazing, unpredictable ways—"The relationship between people and numbers is so much more fascinating than simple dollars and cents." Salon

Science Under Siege

• Universities 'get poor value' from academic journal-publishing firms—"Research finds secrecy over contracts has stopped some institutions realising they are paying too much for journals."
• The U.S. Should Invest In Science, Not War
• Neil DeGrasse Tyson: US need not lose its edge in science—"The famed astrophysicist says there's a reason some chemical elements are named for places in the US -- and that we don't have to leave those glory days in the past."
• Asia's Cult of Intelligence—"With its 'cult of ignorance and anti-intellectualism' the U.S. risks falling behind rivals in Asia."
• xkcd: People are stupid

Earth and Moon

• Largest Active Volcano on Earth Rumbles Back to Life—"Recent quake swarms signal that magma is squeezing into Mauna Loa's magma storage chambers in the same spots below where the 1984 eruption occurred."
• Earth and Moon Are 60 Million Years Older Than Previously Believed
• Traces of another world found on the Moon—"Researchers have found evidence of the world that crashed into the Earth billions of years ago to form the Moon."
• The Moon is Now a Wi-Fi Hotspot
• Strange New World Discovered: The 'Mega Earth'

Space Travel

• A Klingon is currently commander of the International Space Station
• Astronaut Sally Ride and the Burden of Being The First
• The Curiosity rover has been on Mars for one Martian year. It celebrated by taking a selfie. WaPo

Universe

• Big Bang blunder bursts the multiverse bubble—"Premature hype over gravitational waves highlights gaping holes in models for the origins and evolution of the Universe, argues Paul Steinhardt."
• Light from huge explosion 12 billion years ago reaches Earth
• NASA detects mysterious signal ​240 million light years away from Earth
• The Timey Wimey Spacey Wacey Explanation of Relativity
• Avoiding "Sagan Syndrome." Why Astronomers and Journalists should pay heed to Biologists about ET.
• Star Within a Star: Weird Stellar 'Hybrid' Discovered—Red supergiant replaced its core with a neutron star.workers
• Collection of three supermassive black holes detected
• Mystery object in lake on Saturn's moon Titan intrigues scientists—"Nasa's Cassini probe took image last year as it passed by planet's largest moon – nothing seen when other images taken."
• Titan's Atmosphere May be Older than Saturn, a New Study Suggests

World Cup, Sports Corruption; Europe, Asia; MH370; Religion; Media and Transparency, Political Partisanship, Obamanation; Vote Machinations, Campaign Finance Deform; Grand Ol' Tea Party; Immigration, Race and Racism; Your Government Inaction

World Cup

• Iran arrests 2 over World Cup video—"Iran's official IRNA news agency says police have arrested two people who appeared in an online video of young people singing and dancing in support of the country's World Cup football team."
• Defying ban, Iranian women watch World Cup with men in public
• Neo-Nazi Banners, Blackface, and Homophobic Chants: World Cup Fans Behaving Badly
• Suarez World Cup bite sets off Twitter meme frenzy—"Harkening Mike Tyson's famous gnawing of Evander Holyfield's ear, the soccer star is pictured wearing a dog cone, with fangs, as Hannibal, and more."
• Miguel Herrera Is the Most GIF-Worthy Man at the World Cup, Perhaps on Earth
• Cristiano Ronaldo, James Milner, Mario Balotelli, Olivier Giroud: The hottest soccer players at the World Cup
• Bravery of young security officer prevents massacre in Beirut—"Hunch by security officer prevents potential massacre as scores of people were watching World Cup match, but it also costs his own life."

Sports Corruption

• Football match-fixing: Ghana deal casts cloud over World Cup finals in Brazil—Is this what the $3 million is for?
• Fifa Bosses 'Secretly Doubled Their Salaries'—"Football chiefs are accused of upping their pay to £118,000 to compensate for lucrative bonuses that have now been axed."
• U.S. Senator Calls On FIFA To Relocate 2022 World Cup Out Of Qatar
• Nobody Wants To Host The 2022 Olympics—"The next Olympics to be awarded, a little more than a year from now, will be the 2022 Winter Games. Rather than going to the strongest bid, the games may end up going to the last city standing--a long list of potential hosts have given up on their Olympic dreams because the whole thing is one huge, useless waste of money."
• Banks Wary of Construction Companies After Olympic Debacle

Europe

• Polish foreign minister says country's alliance with US worthless—"According to a transcript of recordings obtained by Wprost, Radislaw Sikorski said 'we gave the US a blow job.'"
• Polish MPs ridicule Cameron's 'stupid propaganda' aimed at Eurosceptics—"Secretly taped expletive-laden conversation reveals EU fallout from prime minister's plans to curb migrants' benefits access."
• Italy arrests 95 in mafia dragnet, solves century-old murder
• Roma boy left unconscious after being savagely beaten and tortured during vigilante attack in Paris suburb
• Tens of thousands march in London against coalition's austerity measures—"An estimated 50,000 people in London addressed by speakers, including Russell Brand, after People's Assembly march."

Asia

• China jails 'New Citizens' Movement' activists—"China has handed down lengthy jail terms to three anti-corruption activists who had called for officials to disclose their personal wealth."
• Chinese police shoot dead 13 attackers in restive Xinjiang
• In Hong Kong, an Unofficial Election Draws Beijing's Ire NYT
• Chinese warships to join US in drills off Hawaii for first time
• Japan failed to report 640 kg of nuclear fuel to IAEA
• North Korea blasts film featuring James Franco and Seth Rogen plotting assassination of Kim Jong Un—This means war.
• Google removes Singapore hate blog against Filipinos

MH370

• 'A bungled inquiry': 100 days after MH370 went missing it is clear Malaysia officials hiding information National Post
• Malaysian Jet Was in Controlled Flight After Contact Was Lost, Officials Suspect NYT
• Australia: Waiting for Malaysians before announcing new MH370 search area

Religion

• Festival of Dangerous Ideas: 'Honour killings are morally justified' talk cancelled
• Christian woman freed after death sentence ruled 'faulty' in Sudan—NISS says, not so fast.
• Malaysian court to Christians: You can't say 'Allah'

Media and Transparency

• The media's moral center: How John Oliver became the sheriff of cable news' wild west—"The 'Last Week Tonight' host digs deeper and pushes his audience harder than either Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert." Salon
• Jon Stewart Is A More Trusted News Source Than MSNBC, Study Says
• Lawmakers unveil major changes to FOIA—"Reform legislation emerges from Senate committee that would overhaul Freedom of Information Act, increase transparency."
• Wal-Mart 'edits' a New York Times op-ed—The fact check fudges facts.
• Hacking trial: Coulson guilty, Brooks cleared of charges

Political Partisanship

• Americans Have Less Confidence In Congress Than Just About Anything, Ever
• Let's Stop Kidding Ourselves: 90 Percent of Congressional Incumbents Will Win Re-election—"All signs tell us that incumbents should be grabbed by their lapels and shoved to the curb—but most won't be."
• Americans have not become more politically polarized—Maybe, maybe not. WaPo

Obamanation

• Jindal: People Ready For 'Hostile Takeover' Of DC
• South Dakota Republican Party Passes Resolution Calling For Obama's Impeachment
• New report destroys Gov. Sam Brownback's bid to blame President Obama for Kansas budget crisis

Vote Machinations

• Want to Suppress the Vote? Stress People Out—"The latest science-of-politics study suggests that GOP voter intimidation tactics may be more effective than liberals have feared—for biological reasons."
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand plans to introduce legislation to allow voters to register online—"Under Gillibrand's proposal, states with existing online access would expand their system beyond those with state-issued IDs to let more young people, seniors, minorities and the poor to access and update their own voter records online."
• GOP's voter fraud humiliation: Turns out Wisconsin's worst case is a Republican—"Maybe the real reason Scott Walker and Reince Preibus think their state needs tougher laws is a guilty conscience." Hypocrites. Salon
• Racist tactic emerges in GOP primary fight—"Rachel Maddow reports on how Mississippi Republican candidate Thad Cochran's appeal for African-American votes is being met by conservative supporters of his tea party opponent, Chris McDaniel, with 'poll watchers,' to discourage black voters."
• Wilson precinct official removed—Woman who wasn't able to vote: "I am not rich — just a mom who wanted to vote. And I did ask for a provisional ballot. But I didn't get it."
• Fifty Years After Freedom Summer, the Voting Rights Act Is Needed More Than Ever

Campaign Finance Deform

• Calif. lawmakers seek constitutional convention on Citizens United
• 4 Key Takeaways About Scott Walker's Alleged "Criminal Scheme"—"Here's what you need to know about the probe targeting the Wisconsin governor and two of his aides."
• Senate Democrats Re-up Their Dark-Money Disclosure Bill—and Dare GOPers to Block It
• Mayday PAC: The Super PAC Built to Destroy Super PACs

Grand Ol' Tea Party

• Thad Cochran Defeats the Tea Party -- And So Does Everyone Else
• Losing Tea Party Candidate Refuses to Concede in Mississippi Runoff
• The staggering price of crushing the tea party Politico
• Tea Party's embarrassing irony: How its ideal nation rejects basic American beliefs Salon
• In a Do-Nothing Congress, Blake Farenthold is Enjoying the View—"Blake Farenthold, the tea party congressman from Corpus Christi, has settled into a routine where distraction is just part of the job."
• Tea party, police clash in western Wisconsin town—Also: Wisconsin Police Chief and Tea Party Battle Over Bridge Signs and Gay Dating Websites
• Darrell Issa's flailing search for his white whale
• GOP Rep's Chief Of Staff Resigns After Porn Star Tweets Photo Of His Penis

Immigration

• Obama tells Mexico: Illegal-immigrant children won't get to stay
• Limbaugh Floats Theory That Obama Planned Influx Of Undocumented Minors At Border
• Honduras to ask U.S. not to deport Honduran kids
• Few immediate consequences for child immigrants
• Mass migrant graves unearthed in Texas—"Researchers discover mass graves near US-Mexico border containing bodies of unidentified migrants in body bags."

Race and Racism

• Prominent Republican Lawyer Says Ted Cruz Sounds Like A Racist
• Texas Commissioners Unintentionally Vote In Favor Of Slavery Reparations
• Arizona GOPer: 'We All Need To Stomp Out' Spanish TV Stations, Newspapers—¡Ay caramba!
• If Affirmative Action Is Doomed, What's Next? NYT
• Redditor's discovery leads to white supremacist investigation at Army base
• Joe Dorsey's Big Fight: How An Unknown Boxer Knocked Out Segregation In Louisiana
• Stunning Portraits of Mixed-Race Families

Your Government Inaction

• You paid a fee for 31 years that went nowhere
• Opponents Barred From Speaking As Cobb County Approves Braves Stadium
• Congress Is Weighing Some Bafflingly Bad Ideas for Fixing Our Crumbling Bridges and Roads
• How many people would be 'out of work' if USPS eliminates Saturday delivery? WaPo
• Why Can't We Simplify Our Tax System? It Turns Out, We Can.

Workers and Wages Slaves, IT Crowd, Minimum Wage; Banks and Wall Street, Class Warfare, Corporatocracy; Tea Party, Obamanation, Politics and Partisanship, Vote Machinations, Campaign Finance Deform, Christie, Hillary; IRS; Redskins

Workers and Wage Slaves

• The Economy May Be Improving. Worker Pay Isn't. NYT
• The Downward Ramp—"The jobs crisis has begun to affect even highly skilled college graduates, who are taking jobs that once went to people with fewer skills." NYT
• I got my Master's, couldn't find a job and lived on food stamps. Now stop calling me a 'welfare queen'
• 5 reasons US workers hate their jobs more than they used to
• Young workers hate their jobs WaPo
• It's Official: The Boomerang Kids Won't Leave—"One in five young adults lives with his or her parents. It might be a recessionary blip — or the dawn of a whole new economic age." NYT
• Elizabeth Warren on creating jobs: 'This isn't magic, we actually know how to do this'

IT Crowd

• This IT worker had to train an H-1B replacement—"U.S. workers protested job losses to foreign workers by displaying American flags in their cubicles."
• Should tech workers settle "no-poach" case for $324M? Judge has real doubts—"One plaintiff says the deal isn't fair to workers, and the judge is listening."
• Robot doctors, online lawyers and automated architects: the future of the professions?—"Advances in technology have long been recognised as a threat to manual labour. Now highly skilled, knowledge-based jobs that were once regarded as safe could be at risk. How will they adapt to the digital age?"

Minimum Wage

• IMF urges U.S. to raise minimum wage
• Massachusetts approves $11 minimum wage
• Obamas Want Daughters To Get Taste Of Life On Minimum Wage
• 'Subminimum wage' for disabled workers called exploitative—"Critics of program that pays disabled workers 'subminimum wage' say it should be abolished. Others say it's an important tool to provide training and employment."

Banks and Wall Street

• Wikileaks: Secret Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Financial Services Annex—"Despite the failures in financial regulation evident during the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis and calls for improvement of relevant regulatory structures, proponents of TISA aim to further deregulate global financial services markets."
• City of Miami sues JPMorgan, claims mortgage discrimination
• Ex-Goldman director goes to prison, still owes $13.9 million fine
• Senate hearing examines flaws in stock markets
• Why a guy making $100,000 a year can't get a bank account WaPo
• Greenpeace suffers $5.2-million loss after rogue employee's currency investment flops
• Master Currency Counterfeiter Prints Millions, Says 'Screw You' to US

Class Warfare

• Class in America: The Fault Lines
• Reich: Real Business Leaders Want to Save Capitalism
• Arizona GOPer Went Birther, Compared Poor To 'Lazy Pigs' In Anonymous Blog Comments
• No, The Poor Aren't Poor Because They Refuse To Work
• America's Dying Factories Are Widening Income Inequality
• Justice Sotomayor: Inequality Could Trigger 'Unrest' In U.S.
• U.S. appeals court overturns L.A. ban on homeless living in vehicles
• British public wrongly believe rich face highest tax burden, new research shows—"Study shows poorest 10% pay eight percentage points more of their income, prompting calls for more progressive system."
• Australia's richest 1% own as much as bottom 60%, says Oxfam—"Income inequality has risen since mid-1990s and nine richest people now have greater net worth than poorest 4.54 million."

Corporatocracy

• How America became uncompetitive and unequal—"How corporate mergers contribute to economic inequality." WaPo
• The Corporate Daddy: Walmart, Starbucks, and the Fight Against Inequality—"Walmart, the world's largest public corporation, is a big part of the income-gap problem. It could be a big part of the solution." NYT
• The True Cost of Hidden Money—"A Piketty Protégé's Theory on Tax Havens." NYT
• Medtronic Is Biggest Yet to Renounce U.S. Tax Citizenship
• Legislation Introduced to Stop American Corporations from Pretending to Be Foreign Companies
• EU launches attack against corporate tax avoidance—"The EU has taken steps to curb tax avoidance by global corporations. In recent months, criticism in the budget-strapped bloc has mounted over tax loopholes exploited by companies such as Apple, Google and others."
• Thrown Out of Court—"How corporations became people you can't sue."
• Halliburton Ruling Could Be A Big Win For Big Pharma, Wall Street

Tea Party

• Eugene Robinson: Overdosing on tea—"The Republican Party's reliance on tea party support is like an addict's dependence on a dangerous drug: It may feel good at first, but eventually it eats you alive." WaPo
• Teatopia—"What would actually happen if Tea Partiers controlled Congress and Rand Paul was president?"
• Unwitting tea party folk do the bidding of big business LA Times
• David Brat's Success Due to 19,000 new primary voters
• Reince Priebus After Eric Cantor Loss: I Don't Think GOP Is Divided
• Muslim reporter describes being ridiculed at the Texas GOP convention—"Republican chairman: 'Would the state party ever condone that? Absolutely not.'

Obamanation

• Krugman: Yes He Could—"Health Care and Climate: President Obama's Big Deals" NYT
• GOP Rep: Obama Impeachment 'Probably Could' Pass The House
• Conservatives Uncover Obama Plot to Destroy Phil Mickelson—"According to the latest conspiracy theory, Obama sent the FBI and SEC to investigate the pro golfer because he once complained about high tax rates."
• Here's every presidential executive order going back to George Washington

Politics and Partisanship

• Poll: Congress historic midterm low Politico
• America prepares to reelect the Congress it loathes WaPo
• Congress is making a lot of history! (By being so unpopular) WaPo
• The shocking numbers: Americans are dangerously ignorant on politics—"The scary thing about the man who upset Eric Cantor last week is how familiar his brand of ignorance is." Salon
• Time to Stand Up and Fight for a More Perfect Union—"The irony of American politics is that the right is far weaker than it appears and the left far stronger than it asserts."

Vote Machinations

• End Polarization. Make Everyone Vote.
• Middle Class Squeeze: As incomes slide, voters check out
• AZ Candidate Who Changed His Name To 'Cesar Chavez' Thrown Off Ballot
• Fox News paid Scott Brown $136,000
• Alaska's Don Young violated US House ethics—"The House Ethics Committee has found that U.S. Rep. Don Young of Alaska violated House rules by using campaign funds for personal trips and accepting improper gifts."
• Shadowy Obama Megadonor Indicted On Fraud And Manslaughter Charges
• SCOTUS Rules For Anti-Abortion Group In Case About Campaign Lies

Campaign Finance Deform

• Prosecutors: Walker's Campaign 'Tacitly Admitted' Breaking The Law
• Gov. Scott Walker's Campaign Violations—"There clearly is plenty to fear from independent spending groups that raise unlimited dollars." NYT
• The Koch brothers may spend $290 million on this election. That's how much 5,270 American households make in a year. WaPo
• Campaign-Finance Reform Has to Be Cross-Partisan—"Democrats love to talk about cutting the influence of money in politics, but are they actually any more eager to fix it than Republicans?"
• After Lindsey Graham met billionaire, supportive super PAC secured donation an hour later
• Cronies, corruption and cash: Lawrence Lessig on why we need a super PAC to end all super PACs Salon

Christie

• Despite budget gap, Christie holding firm that business tax cuts are off-limits
• Chris Christie to GOP donors on bridge scandal: 'You'll get over it' LA Times
• Prosecutor Is Closing In on Gov. Christie—"Indictments against four cronies are near certain, sources say. Only question is if David Samson, Christie's longtime mentor, will flip."

Hillary

• The GOP's weapon against Hillary? A giant squirrel
• Clinton: Matt Drudge, Karl Rove Planting 'False Information'
• Man who beat NSA in T-shirt parody case wins against Ready for Hillary

IRS

• Lawmakers fume over lost emails in IRS probe
• Congressman asks NSA to provide metadata for "lost" IRS e-mails
• Attkisson On Missing IRS Documents: If The Emails Really Are Lost, 'That's Quite A Story In Itself'
• IRS Commissioner To Testify About Lois Lerner's Lost Emails
• Republicans, at Hearing on Lost Emails, Accuse I.R.S. Chief of Lying NYT
• Drum: Yet Another IRS Scandal That Isn't

Redskins

• Federal agency cancels Redskins trademark registration, says name is disparaging WaPo
• Retired Native American Chief Would Be Offended If Redskins Did Change Name
• What About the Celtics?
• The Onion: Redskins' Name Only Offensive If You Think About What It Means
• The Onion: Redskins' Kike Owner Refuses To Change Team's Offensive Name
• The Onion: Washington Redskins Change Their Name To The D.C. Redskins
• The Onion: Washington Redskins Ease Tensions With Native Americans By Adding Bottle Of Booze To Logo
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The Washington Redskins
• The Daily Show: Thursday Night Law

Iraq'd, ISIS, Benghazi; Ukraine and Russia, China; Corruption; Bad Sports, Sterling; Church and State, Trojan Horse, Educamation, Extermists

Iraq'd

• The Case for Doing Nothing in Iraq—"The same people who got us into this mess want America to 'do something.' Ignore them." Politico
• Neocons promised Iraq would be Model of Democracy, Left US Holding the Bag
• FLASHBACK: Remember When Paul Wolfowitz Said Not to Worry About Sectarian Violence in Iraq?—"The former Bush administration official is perhaps the worst person to give advice about the current crisis in Iraq—but that hasn't stopped him from speaking out."
• Media Malpractice: Iraq War Blunderers Keep Getting Invited to Criticize Obama
• Americans poorly served by media on Iraq, Benghazi
• Cheneys reach the bottom of the barrel, drill deeper
• Jay Carney Had The Perfect Response To Dick Cheney On Iraq
• Sorry, George W. Bush, but this whole mess is still your fault—"GOP wants to pin Iraq on Barack Obama. Perhaps they need a simple refresher in the real history of the last decade." Salon
• How the Top Iraqi Terrorist Was Helped by a Bush-Signed Agreement—"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who heads the jihadists threatening Baghdad, was freed from prison under a deal W. struck with Iraq. "
• Gunmen Attack North of Baghdad as Obama Weighs Options for Iraq
• Iraq formally asks US to launch air strikes against rebels
• 5,000 Iranians volunteer to defend Iraq holy sites from ISIL militants
• Saudis give apparent warning to Iran: don't meddle in Iraq
• Jon Stewart blasts John McCain over Iraq foreign policy Salon
• Glenn Beck admits: Liberals got Iraq right Politico

ISIS

• ISIS storms across Iraq: What would a jihadist state look like?
• The rules in ISIS' new state: Amputations for stealing and women to stay indoors.
• The ISIS Extremists Causing Havoc in Iraq Are Getting Funds and Recruits From Southeast Asia
• ISIS's Savage Strategy in Iraq—"The brutality currently on display, initiated by the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, is more than a carnival of revenge."
• Someone Is Spilling ISIS's Secrets on Twitter

Benghazi

• Obama Administration Won't Send Benghazi Suspect To Gitmo
• Benghazi Suspect Said He Was Moved To Take Revenge For American-Made Video
• Hiding in plain sight: Captured Benghazi suspect an enigma
• Abu Khattala was an unlikely leader before Benghazi attacks — and a loner afterward WaPo
• Harry Reid Slams 'Disgusting,' 'Pathetic' GOP Response To Benghazi Arrest
• 7 Republicans Who Said Obama Wasn't Trying Hard Enough to Bring the Benghazi Attacker to Justice
• GOP's Benghazi humiliation: Capture of suspect upends deranged agenda—"With alleged ringleader now in custody, the Benghazi Select Committee just lost a prized grandstanding opportunity." Salon

Ukraine and Russia

• Tanks and gas politics in eastern Ukraine: The crisis heats up again while the world is distracted by Iraq
• Russia cuts natural gas supply to Ukraine
• Ukraine Says Mysterious Pipeline Explosion Is Not So Mysterious
• Ukraine's Poroshenko 'to order unilateral ceasefire'
• Russia 'using words to destroy meaning', say writers—"Group of authors including two Nobel laureates condemns Russian Federation's 'waves of propaganda' against free expression."

China

• To bolster its claims, China plants islands in disputed waters
• Chinese Hackers Are Practicing How To Blow Up US Pipelines And Shut Down Power Plants
• German security firm finds spyware on Chinese-made smartphone

Corruption

• How Corrupt Is the U.S.? Just Watch 'House of Cards,' China Party Arm Says
• Mayor of Venice resigns after corruption inquiry
• Russia's Former Top Anti-Corruption Cop Commits Suicide During Questioning

Bad Sports

• The Brazil World Cup Could Be The Last True Sports Mega-Event
• World Cup Produces Arrest of Mexican Drug Lord Going to Game
• France cries foul at World Cup "spy drone"—"Quadrocopter buzzed French practice facilities near Sao Paulo, Brazil."
• The Odds of a World Cup in Qatar in 2022 Are Falling
• "Open Wide for Some Soccer!": The Simpsons' Brilliant Parody of the Beautiful Game

Sterling

• Donald Sterling pulls support from Clippers sale, suing NBA again
• Donald Sterling hires 4 private investigators to dig up dirt on NBA heads, owners
• Donald Sterling, New Black Girlfriend Vacation In Palm Springs Following Racism Allegations Against NBA

Church and State

• S. Korean PM Nominee: Japan's Occupation Was 'God's Will'—"A leaked video shows Park's prime minister nominee saying that Japan's occupation and Korea's division were 'God's will.'"
• GOP lawmaker: I'm like Paul the Apostle because God told me to run for Congress
• GOP State Legislator Asks Why America Can't Be More Like Saudi Arabia—"A Republican state legislator miffed about an Arkansas judge's ruling that struck down the state's same-sex marriage ban suggested on a conservative radio show that politicians should emulate Saudi Arabia by basing laws off Christian doctrine...."
• Spain to Deport Pakistani Refugee for Criticizing Islam
• New Facebook Group to Block 'Offensive' Posts Against Religious Figures—Say no to sectarian censorship. FSM forever!

Trojan Horse

• UK PM 'concerned' over Muslim schools row—"Remarks come as education minister prepares to submit report on alleged Birmingham plot by 'Islamic extremists.'"
• Dossier of Trojan horse evidence finally laid bare after leaks and allegations
• Books 'promoting stoning' found at Olive Tree Primary School

Educamation

• Christian homeschoolers accused of running 'concentration camp'
• Allegations of racism surface in Israel's ultra-Orthodox schools
• Tony Abbott spends millions to push God in schools—"The prime minister has allocated $226 million for more chaplains, all while slashing his country's education budget." Salon

Extremists

• Nigerian army arrests 486 alleged Boko Haram members—"Boko Haram, which has killed more than 1,500 people in Nigeria this year, is also the group responsible for abducting more than 200 schoolgirls."
• Saudi minister says beheading, lashings 'cannot be changed'
• Mob torches Christian shops in Egypt ahead of trial
• Alleged kidnappings, murder and a female Christ: The banned religious group that has China worried
• Woman in Sudan sentenced to death for apostasy forced to give birth 'with her legs chained'
• Muslim convert to Christianity sues Tulsa church—"The Tulsa County resident, identified only as John Doe in court papers for his own safety, alleges that because the news of his conversion appeared on the Internet, he was kidnapped on a trip to his native Syria by radical Muslims seeking to enforce Shariah law."
• Provocative Islamic sign that says 'Do not walk your dog here! Muslims don't like dogs' investigated by police

Fat Tuesday; Veterans; Obamacare, Big Pharma; Dying, Think of the Children; Contagious, Food Insecurity; Sports, Heights; War on Terror, Iraq'd

Fat Tuesday

• The 'Dr. Oz Effect': Senators Scold Mehmet Oz For Diet Scams
• Female Hormones May Be Making Western Men Fat
• 900-Pound Woman Has Wall Removed To Leave Bedroom For First Time In 2 Years
• Parents Arrested Over Obese 11-Year-Old Son—"Police have defended their actions saying it was rare to make such an arrest after questioning the couple over child cruelty."
• Climb stairs, cut calories: Southeast Asia fights flab
• Always Hungry? Here's Why NYT

Veterans

• F.B.I. Begins Criminal Inquiry in V.A. Scandal—"The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said the bureau was looking into accusations that Department of Veterans Affairs officials had manipulated medical waiting lists." NYT
• VA Official Arrested For Allegedly Taking $40K In Illegal Gifts
• Phoenix VA gave out $10 mil in bonuses in last 3 years
• Price of coming forward: 37 VA whistle-blowers claim retaliation
• V.A. Punished Critics on Staff, Doctors Assert—"In response to employee whistle-blowers, the Department of Veterans Affairs has made clear over the years that it would not hesitate to retaliate, disciplining and even firing those who spoke up." NYT
• VA chief: 100,000 vets were on fake wait lists
• Audit: More than 57,000 await first VA appointment
• Lack of funding is the real VA scandal—Insufficient to handle the load.
• The VA Reform Legislation Is a "Trojan Horse" for Privatization—"It would do more harm than good."
• ABC, NBC Too Busy With O.J. Simpson Police Chase Anniversary To Cover V.A. Scandal
• Hospitals aren't the VA's only scandal—"The focus on VA hospitals health care for veterans obscures a separate but another scandal: a massive problem in another massive problem — a scandal of its own – the VA's disability-benefits system."
• Bill Cassidy said Senate Democrats only moved to fund new VA clinics after scandal—Politifact says: False. In fact, Republicans are the ones who blocked the latest bill prior to the outbreak of the scandal this year.

Obamacare

• Since Obamacare Passed 50 Months Ago, Healthcare Has Gained Almost 1 Million Jobs
• More insurers joining ObamaCare
• Obamacare cut Minnesota's uninsured rate by 40 percent
• More Young Adults Get Inpatient Psychiatric Care After Health Law
• Memo to GOP: The War over Big Government health care is over, and you lost WaPo
• Once again, U.S. has most expensive, least effective health care system in survey WaPo
• 80,000 Cover Oregon customers must re-enroll through federal health insurance exchange
• Why the New Obamacare Website Is Going to Work This Time
• GOP's quiet Obamacare disaster: How this week's biggest story got overlooked—"While everyone obsessed over the Bergdahl flap, the real story was revealed by a nomination hearing and new data." Salon
• Really, Dr. Carson? Obamacare Is Worse Than 9/11?—"The Republican presidential hopeful thinks that Obamacare has caused Americans more pain than jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center and two costly wars."

Big Pharma

• American drug companies don't want to pay US taxes—but they want global customers to pay US drug prices
• One simple drug switch could save Medicare $18 billion over the next decade
• The Sunshine Act Will Publicize Big Pharma's Undue Influence on Doctors
• India thwarts Big Pharma push at WHO assembly

Dying

• Quebec passes 'dying with dignity' bill—Act respecting end-of-life care, Bill 52, allows terminally ill patients to choose death
• Judge: Daughter Can Stop Food for Casey Kasem
• 'Millions denied end-of-life drugs'—"Lack of access to pain relief for dying patients is a 'public health emergency,' say experts."
• 'Right to Try' laws spur debate over dying patients' access to experimental drugs WaPo
• 'Scooby Doo' actor and radio legend Casey Kasem dies at 82—"The actor's decline was unfortunately marred by a public court battle between Kasem's four children and his second wife. Kasem's daughter Kerri made the decision earlier this month to take her father off a feeding tube, according to his written instructions."
• Opinion: Let the dying choose how they exit

Think of the Children

• Religious orders allowed over 2,000 Irish children to be used in medical experiments
• Newborns exposed to dirt, dander, germs may have lower allergy, asthma risk
• Bounce house hysteria: The biggest dangers to your kids this summer are not inflatable

Contagious

• Saudi MERS response hobbled by institutional failings
• California reports whooping-cough epidemic
• 4,000 pounds of beef, some at Whole Foods, recalled over fears of mad cow disease

Food Insecurity

• A superbug resistant to "last-resort" antibiotics has made its way into the food supply—"Researchers discovered carbapenem-resistant bacteria in raw squid for the first time." Salon
• Quality Egg admits to selling tainted eggs, bribing official
• 80% of Meat Labels Could Be Meaningless, Exclusive Report Says
• Costco keeps selling treats from China despite dog death—"Yorkshire terrier suffered and died from renal failure; other illnesses, deaths reported."
• FDA May Destroy American Artisan Cheese Industry—"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an executive decree banning the centuries old practice of aging cheese on wooden boards. One bureaucrat within the FDA, without surveying all of the scientific literature, and without public commentary, has rattled hundreds of small businesses across the United States."
• Supreme Court Hands Down Ruling in Major Pomegranate Juice Case—"The Pom Wonderful company, a purveyor of pomegranate juices, can sue Coca-Cola for marketing a competing 'Pomegranate Blueberry' juice that is 0.3 percent pomegranate juice and 0.2 percent blueberry juice, the Supreme Court ruled today."

Sports

• Renaissance Man—"An interview with MMA commentator, stand-up comedian, wild game hunter, television host, and deep thinker Joe Rogan"
• Why Do Football and Basketball Players Have to go to College?
• Blast from the Past: The Creation Of Yao Ming—"From the beginning, the life of China's biggest sports star was shaped by two powerful, often competing forces: his mother and the Communist government."

Heights

• Why did humans grow four inches in 100 years? It wasn’t just diet
• Short men and heightism: We short men need to stop attacking other short men.
• NFL players: height and weight over time

War on Terror

• Wikileaks: Obama Administration Secretly Worked To Prevent Prosecution of War Crimes By The Bush Administration
• Manning: The Fog Machine of War—"I saw firsthand how the United States military rationed what the American public knew about its operations in Iraq." NYT
• 'Inventing terrorists': New study reveals FBI set up terrorism-related prosecutions
• Afghan election: Taliban 'removed voters' fingers'
• Pakistan Launches Large Ground Offensive Against Taliban
• The Milk Carton Guy—"Bergdahl critics didn't howl when Bush freed prisoners." NYT
• The Dumbest Thing You'll Read All Day About the Benghazi Suspect Capture
• Heritage's ugly Benghazi panel—"Attendees taunted a woman in the room who wore Islamic head covering." WaPo
• Pa. town rues sacrifice of its war dead
• Just what are we getting for the $7 billion spent on the TSA?

Iraq'd

• Images purport to show 'massacre' by militants
• Tony Blair rejects 'bizarre' claims that invasion of Iraq caused the crisis—"'We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that 'we' caused this', argues former prime minister in website essay." Is this Catholic guilt trying to distance yourself from your fuck-up Blair?
• Bush's toxic legacy in Iraq
• Fox News Praises George W. Bush's Ability To Anticipate Problems In Iraq
• Mission never accomplished: Iraq exposes fallacies of US foreign policy
• The Iraq Mess: Place Blame Where It Is Deserved—"We have reached the moment that skeptics of the 2003 United States invasion of Iraq warned about all along."
• Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, and Douglas Feith should be ignored: The neocons already destroyed Iraq once
• No, Obama Didn't Lose Iraq—"What the president's critics get wrong." Politico
• GOP Iraq Hypocrisy Hits Overdrive—"Obama is 'taking a nap' as ISIS takes over? It was Boehner's party that gave us this war, and it was Bush who negotiated the 'peace.' Is there anything they won't play politics with?"
• ISIS: The Saudis helped create a monster they can't control in Iraq
• Obama Critics Invent Absurd New Explanation For Iraq War
• Qatari: U.S. intervention in Iraq would be seen as war on Sunni Arabs