Top Stories
Judge Orders Tobacco Companies to Admit They Lied about Dangers of Smoking
The statements include:
• “When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain—that's why quitting is so hard.”
• “Tobacco companies intentionally designed cigarettes to make them more addictive.”
• “All cigarettes cause cancer, lung disease, heart attacks, and premature death.”
• “More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined.”
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Moving Guantánamo Prisoners to U.S. is not a Problem
there are more than 100 prisons in the United States capable of handling the detainees, according to congressional researchers. In fact, hundreds of prisoners convicted of terror-related offenses are already housed in U.S. prisons.
Late Thursday, the Senate, in another insult to American prison guards and administrators, voted 54-41 to prevent the Guantánamo prisoners from being transferred to the United States. read more
U.S. Military Still Considers Attempted Suicide a Crime
Lazzaric T. Caldwell admitted to his superiors that he slit his wrists in January 2010 while stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He pleaded guilty to attempting suicide and was sentenced to 180 days in the brig. He also received a bad-conduct discharge, which bars him from receiving mental health benefits.
His lawyers contend that his guilty plea be thrown out, on grounds that it is wrong to punish troops whose mental problems cause them to attempt suicide.
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Obama Team Made Attempt to Solidify Drone Policy in Event of Romney Win
Within the administration there are disagreements over how often drones should be utilized. The Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency favor “greater latitude to carry out strikes,” wrote Scott Shane in the Times, while the Department of Justice and the State Department, as well as the president’s counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, prefer more restraint. read more
CEOs Use Smokescreen of Federal Debt to Promote Corporate Tax Breaks
Among the provisions advocated by the Campaign to Fix the Debt is a territorial tax system, which would allow corporations to bring home overseas profits and pay little or no tax on them. In all, the savings could amount to $134 billion for the 63 publicly-held companies that have joined the Bowles-Simpson group.
The biggest winners would be General Electric ($35.7 billion), Microsoft ($19.4 billion), Merck ($15.5 billion) and Cisco Systems ($14.5 billion).
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Can U.S. Repeat Reagan’s Tax Reform…Matching Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax?
The key income tax reforms in 1986 raised the maximum tax rate on long-term capital gains to 28% from 20% while reducing the maximum rate on ordinary income to 28% from 50%. Capital gains are income arising from investments, while ordinary income arises from work. Thus the 1986 reform taxed income from work and from investment equally, ending the discrimination against work and in favor of investments that had favored the wealthy. read more
As Big Agricultural Companies Exploit Growing Biofuel Market, Emergency Food Pantries See Loss of Stocks
For corn growers, the vast majority of their yields don’t even go to feeding Americans. About 40% of the corn crop gets turned into ethanol, and another 40% is used as animal feed, leaving only 20% for people to eat.
But with so many farmers exporting their crops this year, nonprofits have experienced a significant drop in food stocks.
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Unregulated “Shadow Banking” Industry Grows to $23 Trillion in U.S.
Described as a parallel universe consisting of hedge funds, money market funds, finance companies and securities lenders, “shadow banking” continues to grow in the United States and beyond. What distinguishes shadow banking from regular investment banking is that it is unregulated. This shady aspect of the financial industry now controls $23 trillion in U.S. assets, giving the United States the distinction of having the largest shadow banking system in the world. read more
15,890 Americans Victims of Violent Crime Every Day
Last year, 15,890 Americans became victims of violent crime each day. The rate of violent victimization increased 17% in urban areas from 2010 to 2011. According to Justice Department statistics, aggravated and simple assault accounted for the entire rise in total violence. There was also an 11% jump in property crimes during the same period. read more
Multi-Millionaire Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein Says Americans Should Work Longer and Receive Fewer Benefits
Blankfein, who owns $210 million worth of Goldman Sachs stock, defended his suggestions by claiming that “Social Security wasn’t devised to be a system that supported you for a 30-year retirement after a 25-year career.”
This remark prompted a big “huh” among many who saw Blankfein’s interview. A 25-year career? If most Americans only worked 25 years, that would mean they were retiring in their forties.
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Army and Navy Set Suicide Records
Military suicide researcher David Rudd told USA Today that suicides are still rising, even though the war in Iraq is over and the Afghanistan conflict is winding down.
“The reason you’re going to see record numbers is because these wars are drawing down and these young men and women are returning home,” Rudd said. “When they return home, that’s where the conflicts surface.” Almost 85% if the suicides were associated with failed relationships.
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On the Horizon: Real Killer Robots
The use of killer robots also calls into question who would be legally responsible if one of them committed an illegal act, such as targeting civilians. The robots themselves could not be sued or otherwise punished and it is unlikely that any action would be taken against military commanders, manufacturers or programmers, so that, in the end, no one would be accountable. read more
Why do U.S. Taxpayers Have to Repeatedly Pay to Rebuild Storm-Damaged Island in Alabama?
Since 1979, Dauphin Island has been hit by nearly a dozen hurricanes and major storms, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Most recently, it was blasted by Hurricane Isaac in August of this year. The community of 1,300 has received at least $80 million in federal tax dollars has been given to Dauphin Island over the decades.
This amount—more than $60,000 for every resident—does not include another $72 million provided to homeowners from the federal flood insurance program.
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Clarifying Federal Law on Marijuana…U.S. Can Insist that it is Illegal, but Can’t Force States to Enforce the Law
The problem for the federal government is that it does not have the resources to fight a war on pot possession by itself, not in two medium size states and certainly not nationwide, given that there are about 750,000 marijuana possession arrests in the U.S. every year. With respective populations of 5.1 and 6.8 million, Colorado and Washington annually see about 12,000 and 16,000 pot arrests. read more
BP Slithers away with Light Penalty for Gulf Explosion and Oil Spill Disaster
Uhlmann told the Corporate Crime Reporter. “It also is curious that the Justice Department agreed that BP could have five years to pay the penalties, since criminal fines are supposed to be paid immediately unless there are ability to pay issues.” In addition, the fine represents only a small portion of BP’s 2011 profits of $27.5 billion. read more
Most People in U.S. Jails have not yet been Tried
Before the mid-1990s, jail populations historically were evenly split between pretrial and sentenced prisoners. Since 1996, however, pretrial inmates have grown in numbers and at a faster rate than sentenced inmates, even though crime rates have been falling.
Today, 61% of inmates have not been convicted, while 39% are serving sentences.
Arrestees who are able to post bond are less likely to be convicted than those who cannot.
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