Illusions Revolt!

REN With national policy likely to compound the income and wealth gap in the coming years, states and localities are fighting back. Across the country, local jurisdictions aren’t waiting for federal action or corporate governance reforms to close the wage gap. In December, for example, the city of Portland, Oregon, passed an ordinance to raise the business tax on companies with CEOs who earn more than 100 times the median pay of their workers. Portland officials said the ordinance is the first of its kind in the country. And now, more cities and states are poised to follow suit. Read more >

Source: Shutterstock If you came into a windfall, would you be more enthusiastic about buying yourself something big or giving to charity? If honest, most of us would admit that buying ourselves something big would be the more motivating prospect. Direct benefit to ourselves is generally more motivating than distributed benefit to others. Apply this to large institutions and you’re confronted with a fundamental feature of capitalism. In a competition between for-profit and non-profit campaigns, the for-profits have a motivational advantage. They’re buying themselves something big. Their campaigns reward directly. Wealthy individuals and corporations serving self-interest will generally prevail against non-profit campaigns in the public interest. A self-funding campaign beats a charity-funded campaign almost every time. Libertarians recognize this. It's why they say that for-profits are so efficient. But efficient at what? Not promoting general welfare. Read more >

Source: Waking Times In recent years, aid organizations and companies working to extract resources from the vast wilds of the Amazon rainforest have reported a number of sightings of uncontacted tribes, the last remaining holdouts of a simpler time. While fascinating to see human beings still living in such a natural state, many of these tribes simply do not wish to assimilate into Western culture, and activists are working to preserve many areas of the rainforest, preventing their lands from being turned over to oil and gas exploration. While success stories are few and far between, a recent announcement by a Canadian energy company is positive news, as they have agreed to withdraw initiatives to drill for oil in a region of Peru inhabited by uncontacted members of the Matsés tribe. The effort to convince Pacific Rubiales E&P to withdraw from Block 135 was led by Survival International, a “global movement for tribal peoples’ rights.” This particular area of rainforest in ...

Quietly and behind the scenes, a front group funded by the Koch family fortune has lobbied and advocated for the soon-to-be-operating Dakota Access pipeline, a project in which a Koch subsidiary stands to profit. A DeSmog investigation reveals that the group, the 60 Plus Association, pushed in recent months for Dakota Access both on the state…

Want more proof that nothing is out of bounds for tobacco companies in carrying out their profitable mission to push "nicotine delivery systems" any way they can? Consider this - Did you know mentally ill adults smoke one third of all cigarettes in the US? It's true, and it didn't come about just by accident. In 2007 Big Tobacco was forced to admit that starting in the 1950s it had targeted mentally ill people with bogus scientific evidence and free cigarettes. Two whopping lies were used to convince vulnerable people, their families and even the medical profession that smoking cigarettes was a good idea. It was claimed: Smoking relieves the symptoms of psychosis, depression and anxiety. Mentally ill people have special immunity to tobacco-related disease. These unbelievably cynical fabrications were pushed so aggressively by cigarette-makers that many customers/victims still believe them and suffer the effects. But that's not all we have to off...

You know those commercials and ads that show how much the food industries care about your well being? The ones where happy and healthy families are laughing and having a good time while consuming generous quantities of the company's latest "wholesome" invention?  Bullshit! Pure propaganda! Don't believe a word of it. The agriculture, dairy and food industries only care about making money - as much as they can - at the expense of the customer's physical, emotional and spiritual health. Your health and happiness are of no concern, despite all those feel-good images of vibrant revelers. We've seen the warnings about mercury in tuna, wood pulp in Parmesan cheese, ground beef treated with ammonia to retard E. coli. These are examples of how the media exposes some of the dangerous and deceptive practices of Big Food. The problem is, the public assumes corrective measures will be taken once an issue is exposed - and that's just fine with Big Food...

Watch out, Ohioans! The Oath Keepers are opening a store in a mall near YOU! The Sentinel-Tribune reports that a store has been leased in a mall to sell survivalist gear, and presumably the Oath Keepers' message of good Christian cheer. According to Michelle Beaverson of the Woodland Mall, three people signed the outpost's lease. She…