Robert F. Kennedy Saw Conspiracy in JFK's Assassination
Bryan Bender and Neil Swidey, The Boston Globe
Excerpt: "There is no indication that Bobby ever found evidence to prove a conspiracy. But judging from his actions after hearing the news out of Dallas, it's clear that he quickly focused his attention on three areas of suspicion: Cuba, the Mafia, and the CIA."
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Bryan Bender and Neil Swidey, The Boston Globe
Excerpt: "There is no indication that Bobby ever found evidence to prove a conspiracy. But judging from his actions after hearing the news out of Dallas, it's clear that he quickly focused his attention on three areas of suspicion: Cuba, the Mafia, and the CIA."
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Former Trump University Workers Call the School a 'Lie' and a 'Scheme' in Testimony
Brendan O'Connor, Gawker
O'Connor writes: "Newly unsealed documents include both testimony from former employees and so-called 'Playbooks' that outline Trump University's business model of constantly and persistently up-selling prospective students."
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Brendan O'Connor, Gawker
O'Connor writes: "Newly unsealed documents include both testimony from former employees and so-called 'Playbooks' that outline Trump University's business model of constantly and persistently up-selling prospective students."
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Donald Trump listens during a press conference to announce the establishment of
Trump University in 2005. (photo: AP)
undreds of pages of documents in a class-action lawsuit against the now-defunct Trump University were unsealed Tuesday, revealing damning testimony from former employees. Trump, who was chairman of the for-profit school, had called the judge in the case a “hater” and a “Mexican, which is great.”
One Trump University sales manager, Ronald Schnackenberg, testified that he was reprimanded for not trying hard enough to sell Trump University’s $35,000 “Elite” program . “I did not feel it was an appropriate program for them because of their precarious financial condition—they had no money to pay for the program, but would have had to pay for the program using his disability income and taking out a loan based upon equity in his apartment.”
Another salesperson with Trump U talked the couple into it, Schnackenberg testified. “I was disgusted by his conduct and decided to resign.”
“Based upon my personal experience and employment, I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme, and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money.”
The unsealed documents include both testimony from former employees like Schnackenberg and so-called “Playbooks” that outline Trump University’s business model of constantly and persistently up-selling prospective students. Some of the documents had already been made public in connection with other lawsuitsor obtained by media outlets.
“You don’t sell products, benefits or solutions—you sell feelings,” Trump U salespeople were told.Also: “Don’t ask people what they THINK about something you’ve said. Instead, always ask them how they FEEL about it. People buy emotionally and justify it logically.”
The unsealed documents included a sworn statement from Corinne Sommer, who worked as an events manager at Trump University:
I do not believe that Trump University taught Donald Trump’s investing “secrets.” Donald Trump came from a wealthy family and had resources at his disposal to purchase real estate—that is the secret—one that the average consumer could not replicate.
Marketing materials for the school advertised Trump’s direct involvement in classes. “This was not true,” Jason Nicholas, a former sales executive, testified. Trump U, Nicholas said, “was a façade, a total lie.”
The shuttered school currently faces three lawsuits: two class-action suits in California, brought by former students, and one civil suit in New York, brought by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has charged Trump with fraud. Scheiderman has been critical of the real estate developer’s attempts to keep the documents under seal. “You are not allowed to protect the trade secrets of a three card Monte game,” he told Politico.
Trump owned 93 percent of the for-profit university, which he founded in 2005, just as the housing bubble was reaching its zenith. Recently, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign released an ad with audio from a recording Trump made in 2006, to be played for Trump U students, commenting on a potential “bubble burst.”
“I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy” property, Trump said, and “make a lot of money.” The presumptive Republican nominee defended his comments last week, saying, “I’m a businessman, that’s what I’m supposed to do....I feel badly for everybody. What am I going to do? I’m in business.”
Jenna McLaughlin | Appeals Court Delivers Devastating Blow to Cellphone-Privacy Advocates
Jenna McLaughlin, The Intercept
McLaughlin writes: "When law enforcement asks a company for cellphone records to track location data in an investigation, is that a search under the Fourth Amendment? By a 12-3 vote, appellate court judges in Richmond, Virginia, on Monday ruled that it is not - and therefore does not require a warrant."
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US-Mexico Border Sees Resurgence of Central Americans Seeking Asylum
John Burnett, NPR News
Burnett writes: "Immigrants fleeing gang violence in Central America are again surging across the U.S.-Mexico border, approaching the numbers that created an immigration crisis in the summer of 2014."
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John Burnett, NPR News
Burnett writes: "Immigrants fleeing gang violence in Central America are again surging across the U.S.-Mexico border, approaching the numbers that created an immigration crisis in the summer of 2014."
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45 Days of Solidarity: How Verizon Workers Outmatched the Country's Largest Telecommunications Company
Danny Katch, Jacobin
Excerpt: "People went above and beyond during the course of this strike."
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Danny Katch, Jacobin
Excerpt: "People went above and beyond during the course of this strike."
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Could US Trade Threaten Sustainable Agriculture in Cuba?
Ming Chun Tang, NACLA
Tang writes: "The networks that currently exist to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise between small farmers could in turn be weakened, putting the entire Cuban agroecology movement at risk."
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Ming Chun Tang, NACLA
Tang writes: "The networks that currently exist to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise between small farmers could in turn be weakened, putting the entire Cuban agroecology movement at risk."
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Extreme Weather May Raise Toxin Levels in Food, Scientists Warn
Kagondu Njagi, Reuters
Njagi writes: "A new report by the United Nations Environment Programme says that crops such as wheat and maize are generating more potential toxins as a reaction to protect themselves from extreme weather."
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Kagondu Njagi, Reuters
Njagi writes: "A new report by the United Nations Environment Programme says that crops such as wheat and maize are generating more potential toxins as a reaction to protect themselves from extreme weather."
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