the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

globinfo freexchange The truth is that Bernie Sanders fought, and still fights for the workers more than any elected US president combined for decades. And his crusade against Amazon and Jeff Bezos' enormous greed resulted in the unprecedented decision of the company to raise minimum wage to $15 an hour. But it was too good to be true. As Bloomberg reported:            Amazon.com Inc. is eliminating monthly bonuses and stock awards for warehouse workers and other hourly employees after the company pledged this week to raise pay to at least $15 an hour. Warehouse workers for the e-commerce giant in the U.S. were eligible in the past for monthly bonuses that could total hundreds of dollars per month as well as stock awards, said two people familiar with Amazon’s pay policies. The company informed those employees Wednesday that it’s eliminating both of those compensation categories to help pay for the raises, the people said. As a pure product of the neo

by Mark Weisbrot The world is watching Brazil’s elections, probably as never before. “Latin America’s latest menace: Bolsonaro Presidente,” screams the headline on the cover of The Economist . This conservative UK magazine would love to see the Workers’ Party (PT) disappear from Brazilian politics, but even they cannot stomach Bolsonaro, who in 2016 dedicated his vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff to the colonel responsible for her torture. Many have made the comparison to Trump, and of course there are similarities ― especially in the overt racism and misogyny of the two politicians. And both owe a large part of their rise to the failure of neoliberal economic policies. But Brazil’s trajectory to an even more dangerous threat scenario is a right-wing reaction by the country’s traditional, corrupt elite against the PT’s positive economic reforms that benefited the vast majority of Brazilians. By 2014, under the presidencies of Lula and Dilma, poverty had bee

by T.J. Coles Algorithms are getting so sophisticated that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell which online comments are real and which are generated by “bots”; which sites are genuinely popular and which are generating fake hits. In my new book Real Fake News (Red Pill Press), I argue that fake news can be traced back to ancient Babylon (at least) and that today’s hi-tech fakery is merely a continuation of policies designed to reinforce elite domination, be the given elite “right-wing” or “left-wing.” DO BOTS AFFECT PERCEPTIONS? Online fake news has become a phenomenon. By the time President Trump came to power, few Americans had heard of the “alt-right,” the ideological grouping partly responsible for Trump’s electoral success. Trump lost the popular vote by 2.6 million, but he won the Electoral College vote. In other words, “alt-right” voters were numerous enough to give Trump a plurality in the overall vote and thus the Electoral College. How do we e

Spurring fresh outrage among those who criticize the cozy relationship between the U.S. government and the Saudi monarchy—with emphasis on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS)—political dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabia national living in self-imposed exile abroad, was tortured and killed last week by a Saudi government 'murder team,' according to Turkish sources, while inside the Saudi consulate building in Istanbul, Turkey. " The initial assessment of the Turkish police is that Mr Khashoggi has been killed at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul. We believe that the murder was premeditated and the body was subsequently moved out of the consulate, " one of the two Turkish officials told Reuters on Saturday. The writer, the news agency reported, entered the consulate last Tuesday to secure documents for his forthcoming marriage while his fiancee waited outside. He never came back out, she said, and has not been se

As soon the conference began, one thing was clear: Palestine was going to have a significant place in the discussions and resolutions. What was also clear was that there is a segment within the U.K. Labour Party that is deeply Zionist, opposes Corbyn, and works within the party to undermine him. by Miko Peled The 2018 U.K. Labour conference held in Liverpool, September 23-26, will be remembered as a turning point in U.K. relations to the Palestinian issue. Britain, which is rightfully accused for its role in promoting the Zionist takeover of Palestine, now seems prepared to make amends. In his final speech, on the final day of the conference and following many events and votes on the Palestine issue, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn made it clear that a Labour government led by him would hold Israel responsible for its human-rights violations, killing of unarmed protesters, and detention of children. Labour also made it clear it is ready to review the sales of British-made arms t

Το ιερατείο της ευρωζώνης προσποιείται ότι δεν καταλαβαίνει τις αντιδράσεις των λαών Ο για χρόνια έλληνας ανταποκριτής στην Ιταλία Δημήτρης Δεληολάνης, εξήγησε στον 98.4 γιατί η Ιταλική κυβέρνηση, προβάλλοντας την κοινωνική ατζέντα του προϋπολογισμού, ετοιμάζεται να φτάσει στα άκρα την κόντρα με το ευρω-ιερατείο, υπολογίζοντας και την έκθεση Γερμανικών και Γαλλικών τραπεζών σε Ιταλικά ομόλογα αλλά κυρίως την βαρύτητα της Ιταλικής οικονομίας για την Ευρωζώνη. Κατά τον Δημήτρη Δεληολάνη, την ώρα που το γερμανικό ευρω-ιερατείο αρνείται να καταλάβει τους ευρωπαϊκούς λαούς και μιλάει για λαϊκιστικές και ακροδεξιές κυβερνήσεις, το κρίσιμο ερώτημα παραμένει αν θα ανοίξει η συζήτηση ή αν τελικά θα διαλυθεί η ΕΕ υπό το βάρος μιας σκληρής νεοφιλελεύθερης οικονομικής πολιτικής, όπου οι αγορές έχουν εκμηδενίσει την πολιτική και τα θέλω των λαών.

Η Amazon, ο πολυεθνικός γίγαντας του διαδικτυακού εμπορίου, ανακοίνωσε την περασμένη Τρίτη ότι θα αυξήσει τον κατώτατο μισθό των εργαζόμενων στις Η.Π.Α. στα 15 δολάρια την ώρα. Η ανακοίνωση αυτή επαινέθηκε από το ευρύ κοινό. Όμως, σύμφωνα με έκθεση που δημοσίευσε το Bloomberg μια μέρα μετά, η εταιρεία θα περιορίσει τα μηνιαία bonus των υπαλλήλων στις αποθήκες της. Προς το παρόν οι υπάλληλοι των αποθηκών της Amazon στις Η.Π.Α. δικαιούνται μηνιαία bonus που μπορεί να φτάσουν τις εκατοντάδες δολάρια το μήνα, αλλά και bonus σε μορφή μετοχών. Προκειμένου να διευκολύνει την αύξηση των μισθών, η εταιρεία κάνει περικοπές σε αυτά τα bonus. Πολλοί εργαζόμενοι ασκούν κριτική στην κίνηση αυτή, σχολιάζοντας ότι θα μπορούσαν να χάσουν χιλιάδες από τα επιδόματα παραγωγικότητας. Με την κίνησή της η Amazon επιχείρησε να αντιστρέψει την ιδιαίτερα αρνητική εικόνα που έχει για τις συνθήκες εργασίας και να αποτρέψει νέα κύματα πανευρωπαϊκών απεργιών, αλλά και τις προσπάθειες δημιουργ

On 20 August 2018, the Greek government of Alexis Tsipras, the IMF and the European leaders celebrated the end of the Third Memorandum. On this occasion, the major media and those in power spread the following message: Greece has regained its freedom, its economy is improving, unemployment is on the decline, Europe has lent Greece 300 billion and the Greeks will have to start repaying that debt in 2022 or in 2032. The main claims are completely unfounded as Greece remains under the control of its creditors. In compliance with the accords that the Alexis Tsipras government signed, the country must imperatively achieve a primary budgetary surplus of 3.5% which will force it to continue brutal policies of reduction of public spending in the social sector and in investment. Contrary to the dominant message that Greece will not begin to repay its debt until some time in the future, it should be clearly understood that Greece has been repaying considerable amounts constantly all al

In January, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to denounce Pakistan’s commitment to fighting terrorism. Twenty-four hours later, Pakistan’s central bank announced that it no longer would use the U.S. dollar in international transactions, and would instead switch to the Chinese yuan. Four months later, in response to the Trump Administration’s withdrawal from the United States’ nuclear weapons pact with Iran, the European Union announced that it would use its own currency, the euro, to pay for Iranian crude oil. Earlier this month, Moscow and Beijing announced a plan to use their own national currencies in bilateral trade. Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that the move would “ increase the stability of banks’ servicing of export and import operations while there are ongoing risks on global markets. ” The Trump administration’s bellicosity has combined with the volatility of the global economy to sharply accelerate what has become an international

It might seem cavalier for an academically credentialed anthropologist to assert political influence on the population he is supposed to be studying; however, Goette-Luciak’s activities fit within a long tradition. by Max Blumenthal Part 4 - The best ex-Sandinistas the U.S. could buy Goette-Luciak appears to have inherited his affinity for the MRS party from his father, Ilja Luciak, an academic who focused his research on Central America and served for several years as the chair of political science at Virginia Tech. In an interview with an obscure travel website called the Edge of Adventure, Goette-Luciak credited his father with inspiring his interest in Nicaragua. He described him as a “Marxist” who was inspired by the Sandinista revolution that unfolded during the 1980’s. But according to his academic CV, Luciak’s work on Nicaragua has been backed by European foundations, the European Commission, and USAID. In his book After the Revolution: Gender and Democra