SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Skyrocketing housing prices in Silicon Valley, the red-hot center of tech entrepreneurship and one of the most highly educated enclaves in the world, are making it hard for teachers to call the area home. “Housing is one of the biggest reasons we lose teachers from one year to the next,” said Dave Villafana, president of the …
Beth Clay – Where is the Justice in the Poul Thorsen Case? Four Years and Counting…
The last couple of weeks there was a lot of conversation online, in Washington and by the media about what is more important to many Americans – aborted babies or hunted lions. The release of video showing Planned Parenthood doctors and staff discussing aborted babies whose body parts are being provided to research organizations (for payment) outraged many and spurred …
Kali Holloway – Why Are Americans Overworking Themselves to Death?
Though it’s a flawed feminist anthem steeped in capitalist dreams and white-collar, middle-class aspiration, Dolly Parton’s 1980 hit song “9 to 5” still plays as an ode to America’s overworked, underappreciated women workers. There’s a certain timelessness to the list of grievances Parton cites: thankless; credit-stealing bosses; underwhelming paychecks for 78 cents [3] on every dollar made by male colleagues; …
Paul Craig Roberts – The Social Cost of Capitalism
Few, if any, corporations absorb the full cost of their operations. Corporations shove many of their costs onto the environment, the public sector, and distant third parties. For example, currently 3 million gallons of toxic waste water from a Colorado mine has escaped and is working its way down two rivers into Utah and Lake Powell. At least seven city …
Pam Martens and Russ Martens – What China’s Devaluation Means to the U.S. Economy
Markets received a seismic jolt from China on Tuesday as it devalued its currency, the Yuan, by the most in two decades, cutting its daily reference rate by 1.9 percent. The move sparked instant selloffs in stocks, commodities, and emerging market currencies as well as a drop in the yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury Note, which is trading early …
Jon Queally – Bounty on Its Head: Wikileaks Raising €100K Reward for Secret Text of TTIP
The full text of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) now has a bounty on its head. Launched publicly on Tuesday, the media outlet Wikileaks announced its creation of a crowd-sourcing effort that aims to raise a €100,000 reward for the full text of the the TTIP, the corporate-friendly trade pact currently being negotiated in secret by the …
Thom Hartman – Fukushima – Selling Out the Next Generation
Japan has restarted its first nuclear reactor to generate power since 2013. And that’s really bad news. Remember what happened in 2013? Why Japan closed all of its reactors abruptly and why we’re still tracing the spread of radioactive material across our Pacific Coast and into the atmosphere? See more news and opinion from Thom Hartmann at Truthout here. First …
Lawrence Lessig to Explore a Run for President as a Democrat
Some people land gyrocopters on the lawn at the Capitol to protest big money in politics. Lawrence Lessig, the Harvard professor and democratic theorist, is thinking of running for president. On Tuesday morning, Mr. Lessig will announce that he will explore a protest bid for the Democratic nomination. If he can raise $1 million in small donations by Labor Day, …
Gang of Transnational Crime Organizations Roll Out Own Encrypted Communication System
When Michael Chertoff made the case against back doors, he noted that if the government moved to require back doors, it would leave just the bad guys with encrypted communications. The second thing is that the really bad people are going to find apps and tools that are going to allow them to encrypt everything without a back door. These apps …
L.J. Devon – Smart Meters mandated by government spontaneously exploding, setting off fires in private homes
Jolted awake at one in the morning, Veronica Onyskiw of Ontario Canada awoke to the sound of a loud revving car engine. That’s how she described the noise that was growing outside her home. She looked outside and quickly noticed a burning light outside the house, lighting up her backyard. As the revving sound grew louder, the lights in the …










