The NSA's Best Buddy, Google's Electoral Influence & Rabbis For Peace: Aug 17, 2015
August 18, 2015 by Who What Why
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Could Google Sway Election Outcomes?
By Jimmy Chin
A new study has shown that Google could have an enormous impact on elections if the company were to tweak its algorithm to favor certain candidates.
Jeff Bezos Memo: If Amazon was the Company the New York Times Described, Employees Would be "Crazy to Stay"
The company described by The New York Times sounds more like a psychology experiment than an actual company. The story details a corporate culture reminiscent of the East German Stasi. And its zealous emphasis on productivity often crushes employees. CEO Jeff Bezos responded with a memo directing "Amazonians" (employees) to read the piece and let human resources know if they've had similar experiences.
NSA Spying Relies on AT&T's 'Extreme Willingness to Help'
Pro Publica, The New York Times and Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras teamed-up to expose the intimate, decades-long relationship between telecom giant AT&T and the NSA. AT&T started handing over emails and phone data about a month after 9/11. Two years later it was the first to flip the switch on a "live" interface through its internet routing hubs. That gave the NSA access to a massive global surveillance dragnet.
EXCLUSIVE: 340 US Rabbis: 'We Support this Historic Nuclear Accord'
While GOP hopefuls make specious, even offensive arguments about the ways Obama's Iran Nuke Deal imperils the Jewish people, a group of actual Jewish people just voiced their support for the deal. In a letter penned by four Rabbis and signed by (literally) hundreds of other Rabbis, the religious leaders laud the courage of the negotiating team and recognize the effectiveness of the deal in blocking Iran's path to a nuclear weapon.
The American Lawn is Now the Largest Single 'Crop' in the U.S.
A new study by NASA found that lawns cover about 63,000 square miles of the American landscape. All together, that's a lawn roughly the size of Texas. So, what's the big deal? A well-kept lawn sucks up about 900 liters of water per person per day. It also reduces carbon sequestration by up to 35%… and then there are the additional emissions from fertilization and the use of lawn care equipment like mowers, blowers and edge-trimmers. Mowers are notorious polluters.
Why Rich Kids Become Rich Adults and Poor Kids Become Poor Adults
New data indicates that inter-generational wealth transfers not only exacerbate inequality, but it's getting worse. One of the key factors is that rich parents spend far more of their income on "future-oriented" purchases that generate "well-being," while fiscally-challenged parents must spend their income on simply getting by. This difference acts like a restrictor plate on upward mobility and it reinforces the wealth of the top 1%.
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