Saturday, May 23, 2015

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND READING (5-23-15)


Nevermind: Jeb Bush walks back comment about authorizing Iraq invasion (Russian Times).

Top 10 banks to sell your soul (Zero Hedge).

U.S. rent prices continue to increase faster than home prices, and show no sign of letting up (Market Watch).

Scientists now projecting near 100% chance of strong El Nino, but rainfall isn't always guaranteed (San Francisco CBS).


RICH MAN, POOR MAN
Wealth gap hits 30-year high among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries (Russian Times).

The richest 1% in the world will have more than the remaining 99% by 2016 (International Business Times).

Welcome to the Oligarch recovery: 82% of multifamily rental construction in the U.S. was in luxury units between 2012 and 2014 (Zero Hedge).


FOX IS JUST PATHETIC
Obama: Fox News portrays poor people as 'leeches' (Politico).

Jon Stewart rips Fox, Scarborough for whining after President Obama criticized them for demonizing the poor (Crooks and Liars).

"The rich suffered more": The worst of Fox News' poor-shaming (Media Matters).


THINGS THAT SHOULD BE CHANGED
Nike, Obama, and the fiasco of the Trans Pacific Partnership (Robert Reich).

One startling GIF show how much the U.S. spends on imprisoning vs. educating people (Policy Mic).

UK's private health firms get unfair tax advantage to outbid National Health Services (Russian Times).

8 disturbing revelations about policing in Baltimore since the Freddie Gray cops were arrested (Alternet).

The big banks are corrupt - and getting worse (Huffington Post).

Congress tells court that Congress can't be investigated for insider trading (Info Wars).


THIS IS NOT GOOD
9 things many Americans just don't grasp compared to the rest of the world (Alternet).

Why are suicide rates crawling up the charts across the planet (Alternet)?

The icy paradox. While the Arctic continues to lose ground, Antarctica is gaining ice at a record pace ... the explanations for Antarctic growth suggest a real messy future (CS Monitor).

China's building islands in resource rich, and geo-strategically contentious Spratly Islands, with the U.S. threatening retaliation at their land grab (Zero Hedge).


SERIOUSLY, THESE PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS
Louie Gohmert: Bush would never have invaded Iraq if he knew Obama would come along and bungle it (Raw Story).

Ted Cruz goes full Ted Cruz: "Is there something about the left that is obsessed with sex?" (Salon).

Scott Walker doubles down on his assertion that Ronald Reagan firing U.S. air traffic controllers was the most significant foreign policy decision that has been made in his lifetime (Bloomberg).

Meet the Christian right's new doomsday prophet - and his insane, apocalyptic "blood moon" theory (Salon).


MISCELLANEOUS
India & China seal record 24 deals estimated at $10 billion (Russian Times).

Boot camp or school? Critics worry that charters for minority kids are too militant (Takepart).

The GOP's war on science gets worse (The New Yorker).

The GOP attack on climate change science takes a big step forward (Michael Hiltzik).

- Mark

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