Month: August 2018

Microsoft Bug Testers Unionized. Then They Were Dismissed

Silicon Valley’s contract labor has become a hot political topic, as a slew of potential Democratic presidential candidates sponsor legislation that could force companies to negotiate with more workers they claim not to employ. In California, Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit, and a half-dozen other companies are lobbying to defang a court ruling that could make it difficult to avoid reclassifying such workers as employees. And in Washington, the Republican-dominated National Labor Relations Board has made moves to undo an Obama-era precedent that could make big employers legally liable for contract workers even if they have only indirect control over them.

Microsoft Bug Testers Unionized. Then They Were Dismissed Bloomberg

NY Nail Salon Workers Join Fight for a Fair Wage

Sefia and other members of the Nail Salon Workers Association have now joined a campaign, dubbed One Fair Wage, to ensure that tipped workers in New York have to be paid the same minimum wage as other employees. It’s already the law of the land in eight states—Alaska, California, Hawaii, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington—and the same campaign notched a recent success in Washington, D.C., when voters approved a ballot measure to abolish the tipped minimum wage, although the city council might overturn it. The One Fair Wage campaign is also active in Michigan and Massachusetts.

‘Algo Hermoso’: NY Nail Salon Workers Join Fight for a Fair Wage Rewire

A Swiss banker pleaded guilty to laundering money for embezzlement from Venezuela’s oil company

A Swiss banker pleaded guilty to laundering money for Venezuelan nationals, while prosecutors in the blockbuster indictment moved to seize 17 South Florida properties allegedly tied to the scheme. …

In his plea, Krull admitted that he helped private clients from Venezuela embezzle about $600 million from Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), a state-owned oil company, through a foreign currency exchange scheme in 2014. The following year, the embezzlement scheme ballooned to $1.2 billion, according to his plea agreement.

Banker pleads guilty to money laundering charges, S. Fla. properties could be seized South Florida Business Journal

German foreign minister says Europe should form ‘counterwieght’ to the U.S.

German foreign minister Heiko Maas has raised the prospect of an EU – or global – payment system bypassing the U.S.

“Germany is in deep fear of the Strait of Hormuz being shut stranding a major supply of her natural gas and oil and placing her totally dependent on oil and natural gas from Russia. That is why they have to hold up the Iranian deal against all costs, as they could lose Russia next. Hence, the recent meeting of Merkel and Putin.”

Making plans for a new world order German foreign minister Heiko Maas

German FM says Europe should form “counterweight” to U.S. Xinhua

Germany against the US dollar Pepe Escobar

Germany urges EU payment system without U.S. to save Iran deal Reuters

A major summit featuring Germany, Russia, France and Turkey is on the way Pepe Escobar

The roots of slavery, white supremacy, and capitalism in seventeenth-century North America and the Caribbean

Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, is one of the most original and prolific scholars working today in his field. He has created within the past few years multiple volumes that critically re-examine America’s foundation and the connection of slavery to the colonial striving for independence. His latest volume is The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean.

Six Questions For Dr. Gerald Horne about American History And The Rise Of Trump, Part 1

Six Questions For Dr. Gerald Horne About American History And The Rise Of Trump, Part 2

The Secret to Keeping Black Men Healthy? Black Doctors

Black men have the lowest life expectancy of any ethnic group in the United States.

Much of the gap is explained by greater rates of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, which afflict poor and poorly educated black men in particular.

But why is that? Lack of insurance? Lack of access to health care?

Now, a group of researchers in California has demonstrated that another powerful force may be at work: a lack of black physicians.

The Secret to Keeping Black Men Healthy? Maybe Black Doctors NY Times

Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland National Bureau of Economic Research

Amazon Isn’t Paying Its Electric Bills. You Might Be

Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing business, is its fastest-growing and most profitable division, but it comes with a lot of upfront infrastructure costs and ongoing expenses, the biggest of which is electricity. Over the past two years, Amazon has almost doubled the size of its physical footprint worldwide, to 254 million square feet, including dozens of new data centers with vast fields of servers running 24/7. In at least two states, it’s also negotiated with utilities and politicians to stick other people with the bills, piling untold millions of dollars on top of the estimated $1.2 billion in state and municipal tax incentives the company has received over the past decade.

Amazon Isn’t Paying Its Electric Bills. You Might Be Bloomberg

Houston man gets more than 6 years in prison for attempting to blow up Confederate statue

A 26-year-old man was sentenced to six and a half years in prison after he tried to blow up the Dick Dowling Confederate monument in Houston. Andrew Schneck’s attempt to blow up the statue took place one week after the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left Heather Heyer dead.

Houston man gets more than 6 years in prison for attempting to blow up Confederate statue CNN