Walmart hired global security giant Lockheed Martin a few years ago to monitor activism in its massive workforce, according to new documents. The defense contractor tracked employees’ social media and reported protest participation to the retail giant.

Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, provided Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, with intelligence-gathering and surveillance services in 2012, according to a lengthy report by Bloomberg Businessweek. The news has emerged just before Black Friday protests by a union-funded group called OUR Walmart, the report claims. Participants demand higher wages and reliable scheduling for Walmart employees.

While Walmart publicly dismissed the demonstrations as “just another union publicity stunt,” their subsequent actions indicate that they took it seriously. In addition to hiring Lockheed Martin to keep tabs on employees’ social media feeds, the companies ranked stores by labor activity and monitored employees who were known to be involved in labor activism, according to Bloomberg.

The defense contractor offers a product called LM Wisdom, which is marketed as a tool for fighting drug and human trafficking, but which Walmart used  to track employees in 2012 and 2013. Lockheed Martin analysts would follow the Twitter and Facebook feeds of workers and then report information about labor activism back to the company’s corporate headquarters. The defense contractor also put together a map of likely routes for five “Ride for Respect” bus caravans that were sent to HQ to demonstrate.

In one of the documents obtained, when asked about the company’s relationship with Lockheed Martin, Walmart Senior Vice President of Labor Relations Karen Ann Cassey said that the company was even “partnering with the FBI/the Joint Terrorism Task Force” to monitor protesters that planned to go to the company’s headquarters, saying that similar protests have become violent.

Walmart didn’t comment on the specific allegations in the Bloomberg story, but sent a statement via email arguing that the measures had been taken to protect their shoppers, employees and business.

“Unfortunately, there are occasions when outside groups attempt to deliberately disrupt our business and on behalf of our customers and associates we take action accordingly,” the statement reads.

Bloomberg retrieved the information on Lockheed Martin’s labor-monitoring services by acquiring documents ahead of a National Labor Relations Board hearing. The case concerns Walmart’s alleged history retaliation against employees who protested against the retailer.

Earlier this year, Walmart announced that its company-wide minimum wage would go from $9 in 2015 and $10.  While OUR Walmart touts this wage increase as a victory, they remain steadfast in their demand for a minimum of $15 an hour. The group will be protesting this Black Friday for the fourth year in a row.

Source: RT.com

Islamic State’s daring and impudent oil smuggling into Turkey should become a high-priority target in order to cripple the terrorist group, President Putin said, backed by French President Francois Hollande. Both agree that the source of terrorist financing must be hit first and foremost.

Commercial-scale oil smuggling from Islamic State controlled territory into Turkey must be stopped, Putin said after meeting Hollande in Moscow.

“Vehicles, carrying oil, lined up in a chain going beyond the horizon,” said Putin, reminding the press that the scale of the issue was discussed at the G20 summit in Antalya earlier this month, where the Russian leader demonstrated reconnaissance footage taken by Russian pilots.

The views resemble a “living oil pipe” stretched from ISIS and rebel controlled areas of Syria into Turkey, the Russian President stressed. “Day and night they are going to Turkey. Trucks always go there loaded, and back from there – empty.”

“We are talking about a commercial-scale supply of oil from the occupied Syrian territories seized by terrorists. It is from these areas [that oil comes from], and not with any others. And we can see it from the air, where these vehicles are going,” Putin said.

However, the Turkish leadership is not rushing to investigate whether any of the ISIS oil smuggling routes end up in Turkey, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself refuting any suspicions that Syrian oil might be getting into his country illegally as absolute “slander.”

“Those who claim we buy oil from Daesh [ISIS] are obliged to prove it,” Erdogan said earlier on Thursday in an attempt to shift the blame for ISIS oil profits onto Damascus. “If not, you are a slanderer. Shame on you!”

“ISIL sells the oil they drill to Assad. To Assad. Talk this over with Assad you support,” Erdogan said, as cited by AFP.

Putin reminded that ISIS claimed responsibility for a number of deadly terrorist acts throughout the world, including the Russian plane bombing in Sinai and the series of Paris attacks in mid-November.

After French President Francois Hollande’s meeting with Putin on Wednesday, he said that the focus of the fight against terror should be the destruction of the Islamic State oil trade.

“It is necessary to hit ISIS training centers, to hit those centers where this terrorist army is being trained,” Hollande said.

“But the main thing is to hit the sources of financing, which give [the terror group] life in the first place – first of all oil,” The French leader emphasized.

The most effective way, the French leader said is to target “trucks that transport oil,” transferring it to buyers on the black market, “thus giving ISIS uncontrolled amount of money.”

The Russian Foreign ministry meanwhile wants Ankara to properly address reports of its alleged involvement with ISIS oil smuggling.

“We have a very large number of questions … [for] the Turkish side in relation to information found in the media and social networks about the relationship with the terrorists on the oil business, all kinds of assistance to groups that carry out the relevant activities,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova.

Meanwhile the Russian air force continues to engage terrorist targets in Syria and increasingly focusing on illegal terrorist oil smuggling. Between November 23 and26 the Russian air force carried out 134 sorties on 449 targets.

“Russian aviation continues to strike refining facilities in the territories controlled by ISIS terrorist organization,” defense ministry spokesman General-Major Igor Konashenkov told a media briefing on Wednesday. In the past few daysm Russian aircraft has destroyed oil trucks, refineries, and oil storage facilities in the provinces of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa.

Source: RT.com

President Barack Obama told the American people there is “no specific and credible” threat to the US after receiving special national security briefings two days in a row about potential holiday terrorism threats by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

“Right now, we know of no specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland,” the president said Wednesday afternoon.

Obama addressed the nation from the White House’s Roosevelt Room as Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch looked on.

Obama said he met with his national security advisers for a “regular update on our security posture post-Paris and going into the holiday season.”

IS has taken credit for the November 13 terrorist attacks on Paris, France, as well as the bombing of a Russian jet in Egypt.

“It’s understandable that people worry something similar [to the Paris attacks] could happen here: Watching the events in Paris made the threat feel closer to home. So, as we go into Thanksgiving weekend, I want the American people to know… that we are taking every possible step to keep our homeland safe,” Obama promised.

The president briefly mentioned the US strategy of “going after ISIL wherever it hides,” and promised more details on his plan in the coming weeks. He also pointed out that the US and an international coalition of more than 65 countries have conducted more than 8,000 airstrikes on IS in Syria and Iraq, and are working to cut off the terrorist group’s financing.

“We continue to do everything possible to prevent attacks at home and abroad and to prevent foreign terrorist fighters from entering the United States or other nations,” Obama said, noting that the US has been improving its homeland security procedures since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

On Tuesday, the president met with the National Security Council, where he “was briefed that there is currently no specific, credible threat to the homeland from [IS],” a White House statement said afterwards.

Obama and his national security advisers discussed “ways we can enhance our existing security and intelligence cooperation” with the international coalition battling the terrorist group, the White House said.

The president “emphasized that degrading and destroying ISIL will continue to require coordination and cooperation among a wide range of global partners,” the statement added.

Obama’s announcement comes two days after the State Department issued a worldwide travel alert, warning travelers of the potential risks of terrorism posed by Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and unaffiliated individuals inspired by the groups.

Source: Courtesy RT.com

The College of the Desert (COD) hits all the right notes in its compelling production of “RENT” that opened last Friday at the on- campus Pollock Theatre.

The rock musical loosely based on Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera “La Boheme”, has been updated to 1980’s New York City, and explores the lives a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive in New York City’s East Village during the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980’s.

The COD production with libretto, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson, crisply and deftly directed by Mark Almy, features seventeen talented actor/singers that grittily bring to life their stories of survival, hope and dreams; defining what it means to be human in the process.

The story as it unfolds revels in a 20th century version of living the New York City bohemian life style complete with its alienation, protests, drug and sex-fueled existence, may not be everyone’s favorite cup of tea for those over fifty, but no one can deny the talent, dedication, and commitment of this cast who wonderfully lay out, warts and all, what it means to live and be true to one’s self; risking alienation from family, friends and ‘traditional society’ in general; even death.

Finely nuanced high octane performances flow from the principals: Shafik Wahab as Mark Cohen, a documentary filmmaker who chronicles the stories of his fellow bohemians; Christian Quevedo as Roger Davis, delivers a powerful portrayal as an ex-drug addict struggling to remain clean when his girlfriend, a seductive and poignant Allegra Angelo as the conflicted Mimi Marquez, has different plans for their relationship. It’s an astonishing performance by Angelo and one of her best yet in the Valley. Meagan Van Dyke as the bi-sexual Maureen Johnson is a visual delight with a voice and figure to match. Alisha Bates as Joanne Jefferson, lover to Maureen can seduce with a belting voice or the purring voice of a kitten.

Aaron Anzaldua as Angel Schunard, a street hustler/drag queen meets and falls in love with Anthony Martinez as Tom Collins, a street-person where both become a compelling couple within society’s outcasts. Martinez’s portrayal tugs at the heart with his tender commitment and devotion to their relationship. Dion Khan as Benny Coffin III, renders an understated performance as the landlord and friend of the bohemian renters who can’t pay their rent, thus risking landing on the street once again. Strong support comes from the entire ensemble cast that display individual talent and memorable moments within a team framework.

All of the cast members boast strong voices and deliver nicely defined on-stage characterizations thanks to the seamless and sensitive direction of Almy whose traffic management skills keep this energetic and potently performed rock musical on point. There is no substitute for experience and talent, plus a personal vision brought by the director who in this case has performed and directed over 90 roles in Opera and musical theatre all over the world.

The technical credits are always well executed at COD, but on opening night a power failure just as the production began left two quick-thinking leading actors (Wahab and Quevedo) in the dark. Actors are never at a loss for words. The two merely vamped ‘til ready, explaining the story of “RENT” to the appreciative audience patiently waiting for the stage lights to reappear – which they did! That’s the beauty of live theatre. Every moment is constantly evolving on the stage.

Music Director Scott Smith, is a bit of a treasure at the college. An alum of some twenty years, his direction and performance on keyboard, along Anthony Arizaga on guitar; Mikael Jacobson on Bass; and Brad Vaughn on drums provide all the musical firepower needed to empower the actors.

The choreography of Shea New is sensual and sexy throughout. In the “bacchanal” scene, the choreography is highly suggestive but is in keeping with the freedom and abandon of the bohemian life style of the day. It’s provocative and a creative way of getting the audience to pay attention to what is happening on stage with the story.

“RENT” is one of the most intriguing and entertaining productions produced this season by the COD theatre department. Don’t Miss It! There are only three more performances: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November, 27, 28, and 29. The curtain on Friday and Saturday is at 7 PM. The Sunday curtain is at 3 PM. For tickets call the Box Office at 760-773-2574.

The death penalty is back on the books in California – more or less.

A panel of judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday rejected a lower court ruling that had declared the capital punishment system in the Golden State unconstitutional. But Professor Ellen Kreitzberg, who heads the Death Penalty College at Santa Clara University, said the appeals court judges didn’t actually disagree with the earlier ruling; they just said they don’t have the power to decide this claim. “They ruled on procedural grounds and did not comment one way or the other,” she said. “They did not reject the claim – that the system is so dysfunctional and it leads to delays so lengthy that it violates the Eighth Amendment.”

Now the death row defendant in the case, Ernest Jones, and his lawyers will decide whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kreitzberg said that even if Jones gives up the fight, he probably won’t be executed for a long time since the drug protocol California wants to use for lethal injections is under review by the Department of Corrections. The public comment period on that is open until January.

“California still has no protocol that’s in place,” she said. “We’re a year away now from being in a position to have an execution.”

California hasn’t had an execution since 2006. A ballot measure to repeal the death penalty failed in 2012 by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent.

The decision is online at ca9.uscourts.gov.