March 21, 2016

It’s Time for the Labor Movement To Pursue a New Judicial Activist Agenda

(In These Times) Unions that were bracing for a major defeat in Friedrichs v. CTA breathed a sigh of relief following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. He was expected to be the decisive fifth vote against the California Teachers, and the outcome likely would have severely weakened American public sector unions. But Friedrichs likely died with Scalia.

More than a respite between anti-union attacks, this moment is an opportunity for a new judicial activism by the labor movement to win new rights and benefits and to match the planning and aggressiveness of the right-wing plot to kill unions.

Moshe Marvit detailed in these pages how Friedrichs was part of a grander scheme of right-wing litigation aimed at destroying unions. Well-heeled union-busters strategically lodge lawsuits to line up Supreme Court appeals that build on precedents like Harris v. Quinn and the now never-to-be Friedrichs, confident of a 5-4 vote in their favor.

Heretofore, unions have mostly limited their own judicial advocacy to stopping these attacks. With the Supreme Court now poised to tilt to a liberal majority that will last a generation, it is time for labor to develop its own judicial activist agenda. Ironically, a decision for the bosses in Friedrichs could have had the confounding effect of granting unions new 1st Amendment rights we have long been denied. Now, we have the opportunity to advance our own agenda to make union activity constitutionally protected free speech. ................(more)

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18986/labor-movement-judicial-activism-scalia-supreme-court

March 21, 2016

How Can Transit Compete With the Coming Onslaught of Driverless Cars?

from McClatchy, via MassTransitMag:



March 19--One of the arguments against light rail is that it's old technology.

Some opponents point to the arrival of driverless cars in the next decade as a public-transit killer.

"Why would you take a fixed route anywhere," the argument goes, "if you can jump into a driverless car that can take you anywhere?"

So, can public transit compete against driverless tech?

A post from Jarrett Walker, a public transit consultant and blogger, landed in my inbox this week. He argues that transit will always have a place in dense cities.

In his blog, "Human Transit," Walker writes that mass transit will remain crucial in places defined by a shortage of space per person. Mass transit, where densities are high enough to support it, is an immensely efficient use of space, he says. ...........(more)

http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/12184385/getting-around-how-can-public-transit-compete-with-the-coming-onslaught-of-driverless-cars

March 21, 2016

TYT: Cops Call Trump Protesters N-Word Over Radio

March 21, 2016

Not a Fish Tale: Humans Are Ingesting Plastic Thanks to Ocean Pollution

Not a Fish Tale: Humans Are Ingesting Plastic Thanks to Ocean Pollution

Monday, 21 March 2016 00:00
By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | Report


Humans generate more than 300 million tons of plastic annually -- an amount equal to the combined body weight of the entire global adult human population -- and nearly half of the plastic is only used one time before it is tossed away to eventually find its way to the oceans. So it should come as little surprise that by 2050, it is a virtual certainty that every seabird on the planet will have plastic in its stomach.

Recent estimates indicate that upwards of 8 million tons of plastic are added to the planet's oceans every year, the equivalent of a dump truck full of plastic every minute. That is enough plastic to have led one scientist to estimate that people who consume average amounts of seafood are ingesting approximately 11,000 particles of plastic every year.

The earth's oceans will have more plastic than fish by 2050, according to a January report published by the World Economic Forum.

Experts with whom Truthout spoke on the topic confirmed that these trends are likely to continue. Biological oceanographer Dr. Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez, with the National Oceanography Centre at Britain's University of Southampton, is very concerned about public indifference to the urgency of the situation.

"Marine pollution is a big issue," Iglesias-Rodriguez told Truthout. "There is this idea that oceans have unlimited inertia, but nanoparticles of plastic getting into marine animals and the food chain are affecting fish fertility rates, and this affects food security and coastal populations. Pollution is having a huge impact on the oceans and is urgent and needs to be dealt with." ............(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35291-not-a-fish-tale-humans-are-ingesting-plastic-thanks-to-ocean-pollution

March 21, 2016

TYT: Young Voters Will Bring Us Democratic Socialism. It's A Matter Of Time.

March 21, 2016

Hillary Clinton: No Better Investment A Corporation Can Make

Published on Mar 17, 2016

Big business loves bribing the Clintons. They get great returns on investment. In the last forty years the Clintons have received over three billion from big money interests. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down.

"Over four decades of public life, Bill and Hillary Clinton have built an unrivaled global network of donors while pioneering fundraising techniques that have transformed modern politics and paved the way for them to potentially become the first husband and wife to win the White House.

The grand total raised for all of their political campaigns and their family’s charitable foundation reaches at least $3 billion, according to a Washington Post investigation.

Their fundraising haul, which began with $178,000 that Bill Clinton raised for his long-shot 1974 congressional bid, is on track to expand substantially with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 White House run, which has already drawn $110 million in support. “*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/clinton-money/

March 20, 2016

Transpod's dream: Hyperloop high-speed travel between cities

(CBC News) Imagine you could travel from Montreal to Toronto in 30 minutes after buying a ticket to ride inside an aluminum pod that travelled at high speed inside a low-pressure tube.

That's the dream of Toronto startup Transpod, which has taken up the challenge posed by SpaceX founder and billionaire Elon Musk to design what he calls the "fifth mode of transportation."

Sebastien Gendron, founder of Transpod, says the company is working with the University of Toronto toward the goal of having a commercial prototype by 2020.

"There is definitely a bit of research and development to do to succeed to reach those speeds. But clearly the physics is here today and clearly feasible," he told CBC's The Exchange.

In 2013, Musk outlined the Hyperloop concept, a super-fast, low-friction transportation system that would be an alternative to existing ways of travelling, with higher performance at lower overall cost. The pods would travel at speeds of 560 km/h or more. ..................(more)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/transpod-hyperloop-1.3496206

March 20, 2016

Super Delegate Howard Dean Subverts Democracy & Brags About It On Twitter

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March 20, 2016

Returned yesterday from a week in Toronto.......

...... the night before at dinner, two women at the table next to us were talking:

Woman 1: "I feel like I just got punched in the face."

Woman 2: "Why, were you at a Trump rally?"


America must be entertaining, if nothing else, to the saner quarters of the world.

March 20, 2016

The Indisputable Role of Credit Ratings Agencies in the 2008 Collapse, and Why Nothing Has Changed

The Indisputable Role of Credit Ratings Agencies in the 2008 Collapse, and Why Nothing Has Changed

Saturday, 19 March 2016 00:00
By Deena Zaidi, Truthout | News Analysis


A scene from the Oscar-nominated movie The Big Short depicts the important role of credit ratings agencies during the Great Recession. It shows Melissa Leo as an employee of Standard & Poor's (one of the big three credit ratings agencies) explaining to Steve Carell (who plays a hedge fund manager) why S&P continues to give AAA ratings to mortgage-backed securities (consisting of junk loans). The answer given by her is: "They'll just go to Moody's."

The role of the credit ratings agencies during the financial crisis remains highly criticized and mostly unaccountable. The agencies have been blamed for exaggerated ratings of risky mortgage-backed securities, giving investors false confidence that they were safe for investing. While criticizing the ratings by credit ratings agencies in an op-ed for The New York Times, columnist Paul Krugman wrote, "The skewed assessments, in turn, helped the financial system take on far more risk than it could safely handle." In 2011, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission found that these ratings agencies "were key enablers of the financial meltdown."

Reforms for credit ratings agencies have been given importance in the 2016 presidential primary debates. In his financial reform proposal, Bernie Sanders aims to change the business model used by the credit ratings agencies to a nonprofit model, keeping it independent of Wall Street. On the other hand, in her vision of financial reforms, Hillary Clinton keeps the credit ratings agencies untouched.

However, since the global financial crisis, not much has changed. While strict reforms under the Dodd-Frank Act have been successful in dedicating an entire chapter to fix the credit ratings agencies, much of the rules have yet to be implemented, since the private sector continues to rely on the same companies for investment opinions. The big three credit ratings agencies continue to control 95 percent of the credit ratings market, with major companies like Pimco (the world's largest bond investor) and Calpers (the nation's biggest pension fund) relying on at least one of these big three agencies' ratings. ...............(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35237-the-indisputable-role-of-credit-ratings-agencies-in-the-2008-collapse-and-why-nothing-has-changed