Bank of America lied to homeowners and rewarded foreclosures, former employees say

June 18, 2013
By Paul Kiel, ProPublica
ProPublica (June 14, 2013)

Bank of America employees regularly lied to homeowners seeking loan modifications, denied their applications for made-up reasons, and were rewarded for sending homeowners to foreclosure.

Bank of America employees regularly lied to homeowners seeking loan modifications, denied their applications for made-up reasons, and were rewarded for sending homeowners to foreclosure, according to sworn statements by former bank employees.
The employee statements were filed late last week in federal court in Boston as part of a multi-state class [...]

60 Years On: The Rosenberg Case and Constructive Revenge

June 18, 2013
By Robert Meeropol & Jenn Meeropol
Rosenberg Fund for Children (June 19, 2013)

Today, the issues raised by the Rosenberg case resonate from the Oval Office of the White House to Bradley Manning, who is being tried under the Espionage Act of 1917, as were Ethel and Julius. [...]

America Feeds the Rich

June 18, 2013
By Leo Gerard
Campaign for America's Future (June 18, 2013)

The Farm Bill that is expected to pass the U.S. House this week explains income inequality in America.

The Farm Bill that is expected to pass the U.S. House this week explains income inequality in America.
The Republican-sponsored proposal slashes food stamps for poor children and pads farm subsidies for wealthy agri-businessmen.
This comes just a week after Senate Republicans refused to protect the poorest students from doubled college loan interest rates because that required closing tax loopholes that benefit big corporations. It [...]

Thousands Gather for Protests in Brazil’s Largest Cities

June 18, 2013
By Simon Romero
The New York Times (June 17, 2013)

The growing protests rank among the largest and most resonant since the nation’s military dictatorship ended in 1985, with demonstrators numbering into the tens of thousands.

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Protesters showed up by the thousands in Brazil’s largest cities on Monday night in a remarkable display of strength for an agitation that had begun with small protests against bus-fare increases, then evolved into a broader movement by groups and individuals irate over a range of issues including the [...]

Democracy Now! 2013-06-18 Tuesday

• Headlines for June 18, 2013
• A Medical Ethics-free Zone? Guantánamo Doctors Urged to Stop Force-Feeding Hunger-Striking Prisoners
• Glenn Greenwald: As Obama Makes "False" Surveillance Claims, Snowden Risks Life to Spark NSA Debate

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The small McKinley Park branch in Dyker Heights bustles with immigrants but struggles to meet demand after years of cuts to the library system.

From Ike to “The Matrix”: Welcome to the American dystopia

June 17, 2013
By Andrew O'Hehir
Salon (June 16, 2013)

We live in a country that embodies three different dystopian archetypes at once: America is partly a panopticon surveillance-and-security state, as in Orwell, partly an anesthetic and amoral consumer wonderland, as in Huxley, and partly a grand rhetorical delusion or “spectacle,” as in Dick or “The Matrix” or certain currents of French philosophy. [...]

Iran to send 4,000 troops to aid President Assad

June 17, 2013
By Robert Fisk
The Independent (June 16, 2013)

Washington’s decision to arm Syria’s Sunni Muslim rebels has plunged America into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East. Breaking all President Barack Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is now fully engaged on the side of armed groups which include the most extreme Sunni Islamist movements in the Middle East. For the first time, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its enemies are Shiites. [...]

They Can't Stop Beethoven, Can They? Orchestral Workers Fight For Dignity

June 17, 2013
By Sam Pizzigati
Too Much - A commentary on excess and inequality (June 9, 2013)

Richard Davis chairs the negotiating committee at the nonprofit responsible for the Minnesota Orchestra. Last October 1, Davis and his fellow corporate managers who run the nonprofit "locked out" the orchestra's musicians after they refused to accept a contract offer that would have cut musician pay by up to 50 percent and jumped annual health care premiums by up to $8,000. These musicians are not striking. Quite the contrary. [...]

David Brooks, Tom Friedman, Bill Keller Wish Snowden Had Just Followed Orders

June 17, 2013
By Norman Solomon
Nation of Change Human Rights (June 17, 2013)

This month, not only with words but also with actions, Edward Snowden is transcending the moral limits of authority and insisting that we can fully defend the Bill of Rights, emphatically including the Fourth
Amendment. What a contrast with New York Times columnists David Brooks, Thomas Friedman and Bill Keller, who have responded to Snowden’s revelations by siding with the violators of civil liberties at the top of the U.S. government. [...]

Undercounting the Poor,The U.S.'s New, but Only Marginally Improved, Poverty Measure.

June 17, 2013
By Jeannette Wicks-Lim
Dollars & Sense May/June Issue (June 17, 2013)

The 2011 official poverty rate is 15.1%. The new poverty measure presented—and missed by a wide margin—the opportunity to bring into public view how widespread the problem of poverty is for American families. If what we mean by poverty is the inability to meet one’s basic needs a more reasonable poverty line would tell us that 34% of Americans—more than one in three—are poor. [...]

Democracy Now! 17 de Junio de 2013

• NSA: se investigaron menos de 300 registros telefónicos en 2012
• Realizan manifestación en apoyo a Edward Snowden en Hong Kong
• Documentos filtrados: Reino Unido espió a diplomáticos extranjeros en cumbre de G20 de 2009
• Comienza cumbre del G8 en medio de revelaciones de espionaje; manifestantes marchan en Irlanda del Norte
• Manifestantes exigen cierre de Guantánamo antes de discurso de Obama en cumbre de G8
• Mueren diez soldados en ataque con bomba en Damasco
• Putin reprende a Estados Unidos por brindar ayuda a rebeldes al inicio de cumbre del G8
• Estados Unidos mantendrá aviones de guerra y misiles en Jordania
• Egipto corta vínculos diplomáticos con Siria
• Sindicatos turcos realizan huelga nacional mientras que aumenta la represión
• Mueren docenas de personas en ataques y atentados con bombas en Irak; van dos mil muertos desde abril
• En masiva concurrencia a las urnas, Hassan Rohani resultó electo como Presidente de Irán
• Corea del Norte propone conversaciones con Estados Unidos
• Estados Unidos nombrará a nuevo enviado para la clausura de Guantánamo
• Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Ecuador se encuentra en el Reino Unido para mantener conversaciones sobre Assange
• Explosiones en dos plantas químicas de Luisiana
• Treinta y seis personas fueron baleadas el fin de semana en Chicago; siete murieron
• Suprema Corte estudia impugnaciones a acción afirmativa, Ley de Derechos Electorales y restricciones al matrimonio homosexual

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Democracy Now! 2013-06-17 Monday

• Headlines for June 17, 2013
• Iran Elects Moderate President Hassan Rouhani -- Will U.S. Respond by Easing Crippling Sanctions?
• As World Awaits U.S. Reaction to NSA Leaks, Movement Emerges to Support Edward Snowden in Hong Kong
• Long Before Helping Expose NSA Spying, Journalist Laura Poitras Faced Harassment from U.S. Agents
• Turkish Unions Hold National Strike as Protesters Face Worst Crackdown to Date

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Even Our Ancestors Never Really Ate the “Paleo Diet”

June 17, 2013
By Carrie Arnold
Discover (June 3, 2013)

The Paleo Diet is a new food trend. There is little doubt that many modern humans eat too much sugar and processed foods. However, recent studies show that identifying a particular “paleo” diet is impossible. Researchers are just beginning to understand what ancient humans ate, and these recent studies show that grasses and grains have been part of the human diet for millions of years. [...]

Protests in North Carolina Challenge Conservative Shift in State Politics

June 16, 2013
By Kim Severson
New York Times (June 11, 2013)

Week by week, Monday by Monday, since April 29, a growing coalition assembled by the N.A.A.C.P. has challenged the newly conservative Republican leadership in North Carolina, raising its voice against the loss of the state’s centrist government and what they see as diminished recognition of the poor and minorities. [...]