Russia’s buildup on the Ukraine border. Life Inside the New Minimum Wage Economy. Walmart co-manager Mary Brinkley adjusts a sign on a computer display in her store in Richmond, Virginia. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com.
There are many sides to whistleblowing. The one that most people don't know about is the very personal cost, prison aside, including the high cost of lawyers and the strain on family relations, that follows the decision to risk it all in an act of conscience. At age 53, everything changed. My skill set was pretty specific to my old job. And soon enough, I did indeed find myself working in exactly that economy and, worse yet, trying to live on the money I made. Old World/New World The last time I worked for minimum wage was in a small store in my hometown in northern Ohio. At age 53, I expected to be quizzed about why I was looking for minimum-wage work in a big box retail store we'll call “Bullseye.” Who Is Jonathan Pollard, the Spy Who Might Be Keeping Mideast Peace Negotiations Alive? In an effort to keep Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations alive for another year, Secretary of State John Kerry is reportedly advocating the early release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.
Here's what you need to know about the politics and history of the Pollard case. Who is Pollard? Jonathan Pollard is a Texas native who graduated from Stanford in 1976. He applied for a job with the CIA in 1979 but was rejected in part for his history of smoking marijuana. Despite the CIA rejection, he was hired by a naval intelligence agency in 1979, but his unusual requests to other employees and failure to pass a polygraph test resulted in a loss of his higher security clearance.
Pollard met an Israeli intelligence officer in New York shortly after his new job began, according to Nova. His constant removal of documents attracted attention. What did he steal? The entirety of what he stole isn't public. Brooks most potent charge is a very modern one. How is Pollard's release linked to peace talks?
Et si nous étions républicains? Les Québécois seraient-ils des républicains qui s’ignorent ? C’est la thèse que défend le philosophe et politologue Danic Parenteau, professeur au Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, dans son clair et éclairant Précis républicain à l’usage des Québécois. Nous aurions, écrit-il, une manière de concevoir la société et le rôle du peuple en démocratie qui « témoigne de la présence de repères symboliques typiques du modèle républicain », mais nous assumerions mal cette pratique parce que ce modèle demeure « une théorie étrangère au Québec ». Prendre conscience de cette situation, présume Parenteau, nous permettrait de mieux nous comprendre et de mieux nous déterminer.
La grande famille de la démocratie libérale, explique le philosophe, inclut deux manières principales de concevoir la société, le pouvoir politique et la liberté : le libéralisme anglo-saxon et le républicanisme. Accommodements Ils le sont aussi quand ils conçoivent la citoyenneté comme une double exigence. He Remade Our World by Mark Danner | The New York Review of Books. Decision Points by George W. Bush Broadway, 497 pp., $18.00 (paper) Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency by Barton Gellman Penguin, 493 pp., $18.00 (paper) The World According to Dick Cheney a film directed by R.J. In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir by Dick Cheney, with Liz Cheney hreshold, 565 pp., $16.00 (paper) Why didn’t I know about this?
Almost exactly a decade ago, Vice President Dick Cheney greeted President George W. Dick Cheney and Andy Card greeted me with a startling announcement: The Terrorist Surveillance Program would expire at the end of the day. “How can it possibly end?” The Terrorist Surveillance Program, then known to the handful who were aware of it only as “the Program” or by its code name, “Stellar Wind,” was a highly secret National Security Agency effort—eventually revealed by The New York Times in December 2005 and then in much greater detail by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden last June. “Why didn’t I know about this?” “Where the hell is Ashcroft?” Tom Perkins Is Willing to Say What the Rest of the Ultrarich Are Secretly Thinking. Tom Perkins incensed the Internet (again), when he suggested Thursday that only taxpayers should get the right to vote and that the wealthiest Americans who pay the most in taxes should get more votes. Yep, you read that right. The sentiment is especially offensive when you consider the demographics associated with the statement (read: white and male), but it isn't the most absurd thing he's said.
That would be a letter Perkins wrote to The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 24, in which he compared "the progressive war on the American 1 percent, namely the 'rich' " to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, particularly that the 1 percent face a "rising tide of hatred" akin to Kristallnacht, a series of coordinated attacks against Jews in 1938. The strangest thing about the letter isn't that he thought that or even admitted it in a paper of record. What boggles the mind is the outpouring of support he received from like-minded ultrarich Americans and conservatives. La NSA espionnait les habitudes de plusieurs islamistes en matière de pornographie - DOCUMENT EXCLUSIF.
PORNO - Selon un document top-secret que Huffington Post américain s'est procuré, la NSA (National Security Agency) a compilé des preuves de visites de sites pornographiques de certains individus, ainsi que des informations sur leurs activités sexuelles. Les cibles visées: ceux qui cherchent par leurs propos incendiaires à radicaliser leurs interlocuteurs Ce dispositif était mené dans le cadre d'un plan plus vaste de la NSA ayant pour objectif de mettre à mal la réputation de ces internautes. Le document a été fourni au Huffington Post, par le lanceur d'alerte Edward Snowden, et identifie six cibles, toutes musulmanes, pour illustrer à travers l'exemple la façon dont la surveillance électronique permet de découvrir des "points faibles personnels". Une première étape avant d'utiliser ces donner pour saper leur crédibilité, leur réputation et donc leur influence.
Plus les comportements privé et public sont en contradiction, plus on est discrédité Les 6 "islamistes" ne sont accusés de rien... The Final Insult in the Bush-Cheney Marriage. Obamacare Medicaid Expansion: Blue States are more generous. The Factoid that Explains Why You Want to Live in a Blue State How much of a difference does living in a Democratic-run state make? Here's the difference between what a family of three—a working parent with two dependants—would have to make in Minnesota and Alabama in order to qualify for subsidized insurance. Meaning: In Alabama, a family that brings in as little as $3,500 a year is out of luck. In Minnesota, the country's most generous state, that family can get help if their income is up to $40,000. A key difference: Minnesota has the country's most generous Medicaid eligibility rules. Alabama, on the other hand, makes it almost impossible for the working poor to get Medicaid.
And now it is among those states refusing to participate in the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid. The American Prospect's Paul Waldman created a handy chart that lays out the red-blue differences across the country in 2013. NYT NSA Social Network Data Americans Surveillance - Mike Isaac - Social. The hottest, stealthiest social network won’t be found in any Silicon Valley incubator. It’s up and running. And you may already be a member. In an effort spanning the past three years, the United States National Security Agency has mined its massive stores of collected citizen metadata to create a series of social graphs, according to documents and confidential sources unearthed by the New York Times, mapping the large, interconnected web of connections between people.
The graphs — which the Times claims details specifics as granular as citizens’ locations at certain times, personal connections with others, and traveling companions — were created piecemeal from vast public data stores, including (but not limited to) Facebook profiles, voter registration records, tax data and property records. The NSA acknowledged the program in a statement to the Times, but declined to state the number of Americans involved. MoD study sets out how to sell wars to the public | UK news. The armed forces should seek to make British involvement in future wars more palatable to the public by reducing the public profile of repatriation ceremonies for casualties, according to a Ministry of Defence unit that formulates strategy.
Other suggestions made by the MoD thinktank in a discussion paper examining how to assuage "casualty averse" public opinion include the greater use of mercenaries and unmanned vehicles, as well as the SAS and other special forces, because it says losses sustained by the elite soldiers do not have the same impact on the public and press. The document, written in November 2012 and obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act, discusses how public reaction to casualties can be influenced and recommends that the armed forces should have "a clear and constant information campaign in order to influence the major areas of press and public opinion". She said: "They are fighting and giving their lives. Why should they be hidden away? How Doug Band drove a wedge through the Clinton dynasty. Scandal at Clinton Inc. How Doug Band drove a wedge through a political dynasty One Thursday evening last September, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair met in New York to conduct what was supposed to be a high-minded discourse on terrorism, geopolitics, and the global economy.
The setting was elegant—the beaux arts ballroom of the Essex House, an iconic tower on Central Park South. The guests had been wrangled, persuaded, flattered, and otherwise enticed to attend by Doug Band, a tall man with genial, unmemorable features and a deferential demeanor. (READ: Guess How Much the Clintons Have Raised Since 1992) Twelve years earlier, at the age of 27, Band had entered Clinton’s orbit as that lowliest of Washington archetypes: the body man. Now, at long last, Band was striking out alone.
Courtesy of William J. As a body man, Doug Band’s job was to completely inhabit Clinton’s needs and whims and moods. The entire episode was pure Doug Band. Stephen Jaffe/AFP/Getty Images Getty Images. MONDE MUSULMAN • Le voile n’est pas une obligation religieuse. Les sociétés musulmanes accordent une grande importance au débat sur le voile. Elles passent d’un consensus social à son contraire et ont bien du mal à prendre position. La différence entre le hidjab et le niqab réside dans une variation, le premier ne couvrant que les cheveux, le second également le visage. Indépendamment de ces différences, nous essaierons ici d’aborder le voile sous le seul angle de l’histoire des mentalités, selon les conditions sociologiques et historiques qui l’ont accompagné.
L’observateur est souvent dérouté par la situation dans les pays musulmans. Il ne sait pas si le voile est une obligation religieuse – au même titre que la prière, le jeûne et la profession de foi – dont l’abandon entraîne l’excommunication ou un phénomène sociologique qui apparaît à un moment donné, puis disparaît, puis réapparaît à nouveau. Lors de la révolution de 1919, menée par la classe moyenne, l’égalité des citoyens a été déclarée. Comment pourrais-je me taire? | Karim Akouche. Ils seront là, les soldats d'Allah. Ils nous rendront visite, les fous de Mahomet.
Nous, les égarés de l'Occident, avons besoin de leur bénédiction. Invités par le Collectif Indépendance que sponsorise l'organisme charitable HCI (Human Concern International), ils viendront d'Europe nous sauver de l'enfer. Ils comptent laver nos sacrilèges. Ils nous montreront le droit chemin, à nous les pervertis, les dévergondés, les libertins, les égoïstes, les impies, les mécréants. Oui, dans la langue de l'Homme rapaillé, pour qu'ils touchent les enfants perdus du Québec.
Courez! Courez donc réserver vos places. Au Palais des congrès de Montréal, nos dévots prédicateurs vous demanderont d'obéir, ô femmes libres du Québec. Rangez vos bijoux, vos fragrances, vos tubes de maquillage, vos pantalons et vos jupettes. Quant à vous, hommes libres du Québec, nos pieux prédicateurs vous demanderont de ne pas danser, de ne pas chanter, de ne pas jouer de la guitare et du piano. Loading Slideshow. Mitt Romney Inc.: The White House That Never Was. In the months before the 2012 election, a group of high-powered consultants and political operatives prepared a secret report for candidate Mitt Romney, explaining how he should take over and restructure the federal government should he win the presidency.
“The White House staff is similar to a holding company” read one PowerPoint slide, which would have been presented to President-elect Romney as part of an expansive briefing on the morning after Election Day. It went on to list three main divisions of the metaphorical firm: “Care & Feeding Offices,” like speechwriting, “Policy Offices,” like the National Security Council, and “Packaging & Selling Offices,” like the office of the press secretary. This was the view of the Presidency Romney would have brought with him to Washington, a glimpse of the White House that never was — and plan that never saw the light of day. But now the secret is out. The non-profit R2P, Inc., chaired by former Utah Gov. Life in Quebec » Only Three Bilingual Villages to Remain in the Townships. By Colin Standish The views expressed below are the author’s, and are not necessarily shared by staff and owners of LifeinQuebec.com.
“This was Buick Settlement,” my father said as he waved his hand towards a grassy knoll wedged between a yellowing farmer’s field and swampy marshland on a backroad between the Eastern Townships villages of Cookshire and Lennoxville. Only the trees, standing in orderly rectangular lines still faithfully providing shade to phantom houses, pay homage to the fact that a hamlet full of homes, farms, and people once existed here.
I marvelled at this small patch of raised earth and how whole communities could seemingly cease to exist. Now, like Buick Settlement, and innumerable tiny Townships crossroads from Maple Leaf, Learned Plain to Vale Perkins which exist only in memory and on fading maps, the Eastern Townships faces an assault to its very existence. Carved out of the lower St. I, for one, will not go silently into the night. Take Action: 2. 3. Sincerely,