July 24, 2014

Obama wants limits on US company mergers abroad

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — President Barack Obama is tapping into growing misgivings about tax-driven overseas mergers by U.S. corporations, issuing a new call to end the practice quickly and questioning the patriotism and citizenship of those companies.

The push comes amid a developing trend by companies to reorganize with foreign entities partly to reduce their tax payments in the U.S.

But Obama’s election-year drive also coincides with increased attention to the issue by congressional Democrats, who are seeking to draw contrasts with Republicans and to portray them as too corporate-friendly.

Obama was scheduled to address the issue in remarks Thursday at a technical college in Los Angeles. Though he included a proposal to rein in such mergers and acquisitions in his 2015 budget, this marks a new, more aggressive focus on the issue by the president.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/07/24/obama_wants_limits_on_us_company_mergers_abroad/

July 24, 2014

American Airlines to pay first dividend since 1980

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines says it will pay its first dividend since 1980.

The company announced Thursday that shareholders will get a quarterly cash dividend of 10 cents per share. American will also spend up to $1 billion to buy back shares, which raises the value of remaining shares.

American Airlines Group Inc. made the announcement as it reported net income of $864 million in the second quarter, up from $220 million a year earlier. Excluding special charges, the profit was $1.5 billion, a quarterly record for American.

Airlines are prospering as mergers have reduced competition, making it easier to keep prices high. They’re also raising billions from extra fees. Few airlines pay dividends. Southwest Airlines pays one, and Delta Air Lines restored its dividend last year.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/07/24/american_airlines_to_pay_first_dividend_since_1980/

July 24, 2014

Iowa editor gets fired over anti-’gaystapo’ rant, then sues for religious discrimination

By David Ferguson
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 16:52 EDT

An Iowa newspaper editor who was fired after posting an anti-LGBT blog post is irate over the firing and claims that his religious freedom was violated.

Media critic Jim Romenesko reported on his blog Wednesday that Bob Eschliman, former editor of Newton Daily News, filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming that he was fired for being a Christian.

Eschliman — who refers to himself on his Facebook page as an “Evil Conservative” — is being represented by an attorney from the Liberty Institute, a Christian law practice dedicated to injecting faith into public policy and to fighting efforts by the courts to separate matters of church and state.

The former editor was fired in May after publishing an anti-LGBT rant on his personal blog, in which he railed against “the LGBTQXYZ crowd and the Gaystapo,” claiming that LGBT people of faith are attempting to rewrite the Bible to “to make their sinful nature ‘right with God. (W)e must fight back against the enemy,” he insisted.

Shaw Media, the Daily News‘ publisher, said that Eschliman “is entitled to his opinion, his public airing of it compromised the reputation of this newspaper and his ability to lead it.”

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/23/iowa-editor-gets-fired-over-anti-gaystapo-rant-then-sues-for-religious-discrimination/

July 24, 2014

Montana’s top court suspends judge who blamed 14-year-old girl for being raped

By Reuters

By Laura Zuckerman

(Reuters) – The Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday censured a judge and suspended him for 31 days for improperly suggesting a 14-year-old girl was culpable in her rape and unlawfully sentencing the former teacher convicted of the crime to just a month in jail.

State District Judge G. Todd Baugh was silent after Montana’s chief justice read aloud a censure statement at a brief hearing Tuesday in Helena. Women’s rights activists have been seeking Baugh’s ouster for almost a year.

In court documents, Baugh admitted responsibility for imposing a lenient sentence on Stacey Rambold for the 2007 sexual assault of Cherice Moralez, but said his own punishment by the Supreme Court was excessive. Baugh sentenced Rambold to 15 years in prison with all but 31 days suspended, and credit for one day served, during the hearing in August 2013.

During the proceedings he remarked that the teenage victim, who committed suicide before the case could be prosecuted, had been “as much in control of the situation” as the teacher who was 47 when he raped her.

Montana justices said Baugh’s actions undermined public confidence in the judiciary and that state law requires a sentence of at least four years for a defendant guilty of raping a victim under the age of 16.

more
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/23/montanas-top-court-suspends-judge-who-blamed-14-year-old-girl-for-being-raped/

July 24, 2014

Meet the Man Running for Congress on an Anti-Muslim Platform

Dean Obeidallah

Jody Hice isn’t fond of gays, Muslims, or women. He’s also on his way to becoming Georgia’s next Republican congressman. So maybe it’s time to expand his worldview.

On Tuesday, the Tea Party’s Jody Hice won the Republican run-off in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District. This district is so conservative that, in 2012, Democrats didn’t even put up a candidate to oppose the incumbent Republican representative. So, barring a miracle, it looks like the Hiceman will cometh to Congress.

So who is Jody Hice? Well, he’s not just your garden-variety bigot. He’s like a cheap parody of a bigot. If a writer on True Blood came up with the character of Jody Hice, the producers would reject it for being too over the top.

Now obviously I’m not going to like this guy, and a lot of publications have already gone through his history of making mind-bogglingly stupid and hateful comments. Instead, I’m offering to help Jody Hice be less of an intolerant jackass.

First, however, a brief overview for those of you who are new to Hice and his peculiar worldview. Who does Hice hate? Let us count the groups. Hice has said Muslim Americans like myself don’t “deserve First Amendment protection” because Islam isn’t a religion but a “geopolitical structure.” Seriously. He said that. In 2012.

Then again, Hice does have something of a history of mixing politics and religion, so at least he knows whereof he speaks. In fact, he had quite the battle with IRS when they threatened to take away tax exemptions from churches that preach politics. “As a pastor, I have the right to speak biblical truth without being punished for it,” he said in a post on his website. To Hice, I suppose, speaking the “biblical truth” means endorsing John McCain from the pulpit, like he did in 2008.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/24/meet-the-man-running-for-congress-on-an-anti-muslim-platform.html

July 24, 2014

Ted Cruz Labels FAA Ban On Flights To Israel An 'Economic Boycott'

Source: TPM

By CAITLIN MACNEAL Published JULY 23, 2014, 6:26 PM EDT

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Wednesday accused President Obama of using the Federal Aviation Administration to boycott Israel after the FAA extended its ban on U.S. flights to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, citing safety concerns for travelers.

"The facts suggest that President Obama has just used a federal regulatory agency to launch an economic boycott on Israel, in order to try to force our ally to comply with his foreign-policy demands," Cruz said in a statement, arguing that the flight ban would have a negative impact on Israel's tourism industry.

"Given that some 2,000 rockets have been fired into Israel over the last six weeks, many of them at Tel Aviv, it seems curious to choose yesterday at noon to announce a flight ban, especially as the Obama Administration had to be aware of the punitive nature of this action," the senator continued.

The FAA said it was concerned about a rocket that landed about a mile away from the airport on Tuesday.

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-faa-israel-boycott

July 23, 2014

Jorge Ramos tells Bill O’Reilly his border idea is “absurd” and “useless”

The Univision star treats the Fox News blowhard's ideas about immigration with the proper level of respect

ELIAS ISQUITH

Joining ill-informed xenophobe and noted fiction author Bill O’Reilly for his Fox News show on Tuesday, Univision’s star anchor Jorge Ramos inevitably found himself in the position of explaining to Papa Bear why his ideas about how to secure the U.S.’s southern border are terrible and wrong.

After explaining to O’Reilly what it was like to swim across the Rio Grande (as many people illegally entering the U.S. in order to escape violence in Central America do, despite the risk of drowning), Ramos noted that most of the young people who have arrived at the border have risked their lives to do so because they believe the U.S. will not deport children.

“O.K.,” O’Reilly said, with evident condescension, “but we do and we will.” Ramos then noted how, relatively speaking, very few children are deported by U.S. authorities, a fact that O’Reilly proclaimed “will have to change, because the unintended consequences are overwhelming.”

Attempting to buttress his point, O’Reilly argued that nearly the entirety of Central and South America is falling apart and overrun by gangs, and that as a consequence the U.S. “simply cannot absorb all the world’s children.”

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/23/jorge_ramos_tells_o%E2%80%99reilly_his_border_idea_is_%E2%80%9Cabsurd%E2%80%9D_and_%E2%80%9Cuseless%E2%80%9D/

July 23, 2014

Neil deGrasse Tyson exclusive: “I don’t know what kind of democracy that is, if you’re gonna cherry-

Neil deGrasse Tyson exclusive: “I don’t know what kind of democracy that is, if you’re gonna cherry-pick … science because it conflicts with your philosophy”

Exclusive Salon q-and-a: Neil deGrasse Tyson takes on climate deniers, challenges scientists to speak up for truth

LINDSAY ABRAMS

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a force. A respected astrophysicist with a custom space-theme wardrobe who moonlights as a late-night television guest, the director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium, a living meme and, in his current star turn, host of the hit series “Cosmos,” a reboot of the Carl Sagan original, he’s also, without doubt, a sizable thorn in the side of the religious right.

What he is not, Tyson tells Salon, is an advocate. He trusts, instead, that science will speak for itself. But insofar as science has a human vessel, Tyson’s inarguably embraced the role. And so long as the science demands it, he’s never been one to shy away from controversy — be it demoting Pluto from its planetary status or, more recently, representing the emerging consensus on climate change as it comes under attack from religious and industry forces.

Tyson didn’t write the script for “Cosmos” — that was the work of Ann Druyan, who told my colleague Andrew O’Hehir that she’s surprised critics talk about the show “as if Neil has had something to do with its inception or its writing.” But she acknowledges, too, that part of getting the message across is having the right messenger, and Tyson’s certainly risen to the occasion. He articulated his own take on climate-change deniers — “people, if they begin to lose their wealth, they change their mind real fast, I’ve found — particularly in a capitalist culture” — during an appearance as Chris Hayes’ much-vaunted guest on MSNBC. By now, he’s become invested in this specific iteration of the culture wars to the point that Fox News saw fit to take him and his “white liberal nerd” admirers down a few pegs.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/23/neil_degrasse_tyson_exclusive_i_don%E2%80%99t_know_what_kind_of_democracy_that_is_if_you%E2%80%99re_gonna_cherry_pick_science_because_it_conflicts_with_your_philosophy/

July 23, 2014

“We don’t want politicians who’ve gotta be cajoled”: Keith Ellison unloads to Salon

Liberal congressman Keith Ellison tells us about Obama's legacy, saving Detroit and how he feels about Warren '16

DAVID DAYEN

A self-described activist, Keith Ellison, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, feels at home among like-minded organizers, and says that Congress is “just a job I’m doing now.” But he’s doing it well; despite being outnumbered, the Progressive Caucus has managed to affect policy this year on a number of fronts, winning votes in Congress and executive orders at the White House.

Last weekend at Netroots Nation in Detroit, Ellison sat down with Salon to talk about partnerships with the progressive movement, the unaccompanied minors debate, corporate tax dodges and the importance of principles instead of political personalities.

So you’re actually from Detroit, right?

I was born and raised in Detroit.

So what are your thoughts on all this activism that’s going on around water shut-offs and foreclosures, and how does that play into what you guys are doing in Congress?

Well, you know, everything I know about activism I learned in Detroit, Michigan. I went to Minneapolis, another great activist town, with a foundation of activism here. Detroit is where the union movement was at its most vital, perhaps. And of course, before Martin Luther King ever gave the March on Washington he marched here, on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, marching arm in arm with Walter Reuther of the UAW and C.L. Franklin, who was a black minister at the time.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/23/we_don%E2%80%99t_want_politicians_who%E2%80%99ve_gotta_be_cajoled_keith_ellison_unloads_to_salon/

July 23, 2014

UN Rights Chief Warns Of Israel-Gaza War Crimes

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

By ASSOCIATED PRESS Published JULY 23, 2014, 6:24 AM EDT

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights official has told diplomats that Israel's military and Hamas militants appear to have violated international humanitarian law and might have committed war crimes during their two-week war in the Gaza Strip.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Wednesday that around three-quarters of the 650 Palestinians and 31 Israelis killed in the conflict were civilians, and thousands more have been injured.

Pillay told the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council that the situation in Gaza requires its urgent attention because of "a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes."

Pillay says every allegation of human rights abuses "must be properly and independently investigated."

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/un-human-rights-chief-israel-gaza-war-crimes