New Attack Launched on California Public Employee Pensions

Bill Raden Capital and Main
A new front in the battle over retirement security for California’s public employees opened June 4 with the release of the language for a proposed ballot initiative that would virtually outlaw traditional defined-benefit pension plans for future state and municipal workers. The so-called “Voter Empowerment Act of 2016,” would effectively shift all new public employees from the various defined-benefit plans currently in place to 401(k) plans, beginning in 2019.

UN Details Crimes Against Palestinian Children; Shields Israel

Natasha Roth +972 Magazine
According to the United Nations Report on Children and Armed Conflict, the number of Palestinian children killed in the occupied territories in 2014 was the third highest of all situations monitored by the UN, following only Afghanistan and Iraq. But in response to diplomatic pressure from the U.S., UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made the last-minute decision to leave Israel off the UN’s annual list of states and groups that gravely violate children’s rights.

Secret Summit Raises $50 Million to Fight Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel Movement

Nathan Guttman Jewish Daily Forward
In a secret summit meeting at his Venetian Hotel, limited to only right-wing Zionist organizations and individuals that could pledge $1 million dollars, and one media outlet, the Israeli newspaper he owns, Sheldon Adelson and fellow billionaire Haim Saban launched their $50 million effort to derail university campaigns to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel (BDS). Adelson and Saban stressed their goal was to get all pro-Israel actors on campus to work together.

Friday Nite Videos -- June 12, 2015

Portside
Sixto Rodriguez - Establishment Blues. Pros and Cons: Donald Trump Running for President. Documentary: The Look of Silence. When We Stand Up for 15. Judge: Probable Cause for Murder Charges in Tamir Rice Case.

Sixto Rodriguez - Establishment Blues

Detroit-inspired, this song from the album Cold Fact tells a story of our times that people will recognize worldwide. "This is not a song, It's an outburst."

Documentary: The Look of Silence

In Joshua Oppenheimer's riveting indie film about the massacre of a million supposed Communists in Indonesia, the families of the victims get a chance to interrogate the killers.

When We Stand Up for Fifteen

Scenes from the biggest demos yet for a living wage for those who keep this country well, clean, and eating (if not eating well). These workers are near-saints, and they are marching on.