Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal

The headline on the website Pravda trumpeted President Vladimir V. Putin’s latest coup, its nationalistic fervor recalling an era when its precursor served as the official mouthpiece of the Kremlin: “Russian Nuclear Energy Conquers the World.”

The article, in January 2013, detailed how the Russian atomic energy agency, Rosatom, had taken over a Canadian company with uranium-mining stakes stretching from Central Asia to the American West. The deal made Rosatom one of the world’s largest uranium producers and brought Mr. Putin closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain.

But the untold story behind that story is one that involves not just the Russian president, but also a former American president and a woman who would like to be the next one.

At the heart of the tale are several men, leaders of the Canadian mining industry, who have been major donors to the charitable endeavors of former President Bill Clinton and his family. Members of that group built, financed and eventually sold off to the Russians a company that would become known as Uranium One.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html

U.S. strike inadvertently killed U.S., Italian hostages; Obama apologizes

Source: Reuters

A U.S. drone strike in January targeting an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan near the Afghan border inadvertently killed an American and an Italian who had been held hostage for years by the group, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama apologized and took "full responsibility" for all counterterrorism operations, including this one.

The deaths were a setback for the long-running U.S. drone strike program that has targeted Islamist militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and has often drawn criticism in those countries and from civil liberties groups in the United States.

Killed in the January drone strike were aid workers Warren Weinstein, an American held by al Qaeda since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian who went missing in Pakistan in 2012, as well as Ahmed Farouq, an American who was an al Qaeda leader, U.S. officials said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/23/us-usa-security-hostages-idUSKBN0NE1MI20150423

PROF: Robotics to 'shift balance of power even more in favor of employers'

But computers do not just replace humans in the workplace. They shift the balance of power even more in favor of employers. Our normal response to technological innovation that threatens jobs is to encourage workers to acquire more skills, or to trust that the nuances of the human mind or human attention will always be superior in crucial ways. But when machines of this capacity enter the equation, employers have even more leverage, and our standard response is not sufficient for the looming crisis.

Machines aren’t used because they perform some tasks that much better than humans, but because, in many cases, they do a “good enough” job while also being cheaper, more predictable and easier to control than quirky, pesky humans. Technology in the workplace is as much about power and control as it is about productivity and efficiency.

This used to be spoken about more openly. An ad in 1967 for an automated accounting system urged companies to replace humans with automated systems that “can’t quit, forget or get pregnant.” Featuring a visibly pregnant, smiling woman leaving the office with baby shower gifts, the ads, which were published in leading business magazines, warned of employees who “know too much for your own good” — “your good” meaning that of the employer. Why be dependent on humans? “When Alice leaves, will she take your billing system with her?” the ad pointedly asked, emphasizing that this couldn’t be fixed by simply replacing “Alice” with another person.

The solution? Replace humans with machines. To pregnancy as a “danger” to the workplace, the company could have added “get sick, ask for higher wages, have a bad day, aging parent, sick child or a cold.” In other words, be human.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/opinion/sunday/the-machines-are-coming.html

Rossmoor seniors fired up about curative powers of cannabis

There is a club for Bay Area marijuana enthusiasts where most members don’t want to get high. Mostly because they’re afraid of falling. Or getting too disoriented.

The club is in Rossmoor, the senior citizen community of 10,000 near Walnut Creek.

With an average age of 76, Rossmoor is the kind of place where smoking is banned, though many puff cigars in plain sight on the golf course. But before the Rossmoor Medical Marijuana Education and Support Club held its first meeting in 2011, marijuana was rarely seen, smelled or discussed on the facility’s surgically trimmed grounds.

Since then, the club has grown into a 250-member juggernaut, illustrating the growing acceptance of marijuana in America by seniors — and their growing frustration with mainstream pharmaceuticals prescribed for pain relief.


http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Rossmoor-seniors-fired-up-about-curative-powers-6210220.php

Gary Hart: Dare We Call It Oligarchy?

If the presidency were to pass back and forth between two or three families in any Latin American nation we would call it an oligarchy

The lobbying/campaign finance/access matrix has corrupted American politics, divided our nation, and is well down the road to creating a system of political oligarchy.

Our Founders created a republic and, being keen students of the history of republics beginning with Athens, they knew that placing special and narrow interests ahead of the common good and the commonwealth was the corruption that destroyed republics. They feared this kind of corruption as the greatest danger to America’s success and survival.

By this standard, today’s American Republic is massively corrupt. Every interest group in our nation has staff lobbyists and hires lobbying firms. Thousands of lobbying firms now penetrate the halls of Congress as well as all State capitols and city halls. Those same lobbying firms collect funds for election and re-election campaigns. In exchange, they have access to legislatures and administrations, those who write the laws and make the regulations.

http://time.com/3826278/gary-hart-dare-we-call-it-oligarchy/



http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/man-who-beat-nsa-in-t-shirt-parody-case-wins-against-ready-for-hillary/

8 Scientific Reasons You Should Never Smoke Weed

Wal-Mart workers: Store closings due to plumbing are 'retaliatory'

The retail giant laid off 2,200 workers last week after temporarily closing five stores for plumbing repairs. Workers aren’t buying that rationale.

Wal-Mart workers are fighting back against the retailer’s decision last week to close five stores in four states for what the company says are plumbing repairs.

Workers at the company’s Pico Rivera, Calif. store who are associated with OUR Walmart, a group that advocates for better pay, say the closings are “retaliatory” in nature. They filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, claiming that the termination of more than 500 employees at the Pico Rivera Walmart constituted an unfair labor practice.

Last week, the retail giant, which employs 1.3 million workers in the United States, temporarily closed five stores—two in Texas and one each in California, Florida, and Oklahoma—for six months of plumbing repairs. The stores closed at 7 p.m. on April 13, which gave workers just a few hours notice that they were losing their jobs. The company provided two months of paid leave for both full-time and part-time workers. Employees could try to transfer to a different Walmart location during that time. Full-time workers who fail to find another Walmart job are eligible for severance starting June 19, but part-time workers aren’t entitled to that benefit.

https://fortune.com/2015/04/20/walmart-store-closings-plumbing/

Officers, city officials resign after new African-American mayor elected

Voters in Parma, Missouri voted in their first African-American female mayor.

Tyrus Byrd will be sworn in as mayor on Tuesday evening, April 14, at the Parma Community Building.

According to Mayor Randall Ramsey, five out of six police officers resigned this week, effectively immediately.

Mayor Ramsey said the city's attorney, the clerk and the waste water treatment plant supervisor also turned in resignation letters citing "safety concerns."

http://www.kfvs12.com/story/28801129/parma-mo-voters-elect-first-african-american-female-mayor

Whole Foods charged by police for opening on Good Friday

Source: CBC NEWS

Whole Foods at Lansdowne Park is facing four charges for opening the store on Good Friday but plans to have the redeveloped area classified as a tourist centre could make it exempt from the provincial law in the future.

Ottawa police were called to the store on Good Friday after a complaint it was violating the Ontario Retail Business Holidays Act, which calls for most stores to be closed on nine major holidays, including Good Friday and Easter Sunday, with the following exceptions:

Gas stations.
Some small shops.
Pharmacies under 7,500 sq. feet.
Nurseries, flower shops or gardening centres.
Stores in specific tourist centres, such as the ByWard Market.
On April 3 the store said it believed it fell under the tourist area exemption, and that it would close its doors for Easter Sunday.

On April 20, Ottawa police confirmed the store faces four charges for operating a business and admitting customers on Good Friday. A court appearance is set for May 21.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/whole-foods-charged-by-police-for-opening-on-good-friday-1.3040538

Mindfulness can prevent relapses of depression just as well as anti-depressants, study claims

Teaching people to practise mindfulness works just as well as antidepressants in preventing relapses of depression, according to the first major comparison of the two approaches.

Mindfulness, the principle of gaining a greater awareness of our own thoughts and feelings through meditation and concentration on the world around us, is attracting interest for its health benefits in a number of fields.

The latest study, published in The Lancet, shows that people with recurrent depression who were asked to take part in mindfulness-based group therapy sessions were just as likely to go two years without a relapse, as those taking a course of antidepressant drugs.

At the sessions, the participants were taught ‘mindfulness principles’ including meditation skills, with the aim of helping them to respond differently to patterns of negative thinking that could precede a bout of depression.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/mindfulness-can-prevent-relapses-of-depression-just-as-well-as-antidepressants-study-claims-10190798.html