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OUR SILICON VALLEY ROBBER BARONS08.10.16 11:00 PM ET Today’s Tech Oligarchs Are Worse Than the Robber Barons Yes, Jay Gould was a bad guy. But at least he helped build societal wealth. Not so our Silicon Valley overlords. And they have our politicians in their pockets. A decade ago these guys—and they are mostly guys—were folk heroes, and for many people, they remain so. They represented everything traditional business, from Wall Street and Hollywood to the auto industry, in their pursuit of sure profits and golden parachutes, was not—hip, daring, risk-taking folk seeking to change the world for the better....

In the Gilded Age, wrenching economic and technological change hardened life for the vast majority of Americans while an elite few prospered. Innovators like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt disrupted old industries, creating news ones, and cemented their fortunes via government-approved monopolies. The most pernicious of these were railroad trusts. In our times, wrenching economic and technological change hardens life for the vast majority of Americans while an elite few prosper. Innovators like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg disrupt old industries, create news ones and ….

PHOENIX — Dr. Zuhdi Jasser isn’t reluctant to speak his mind about oil barons he believes to be financiers of terrorism. He does so through the group he founded, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. “This is the head of the spear,” Jasser said. “This is the intellectual war of ideas against those that want to deny debate, elevate theology and cut us off at the knees.” While Jasser makes these statements from Phoenix, he said one person he criticized, a resident of a Middle Eastern nation, threatened him with a libel suit in Britain, where laws are more favorable...

KABUL (Reuters) - NATO's expansion into southern Afghanistan will target drug warlords who are the root cause of growing violence, the force's commander said on Saturday. NATO will embark on the biggest mission in its history on Monday when it takes over security from the U.S.-led coalition in six southern provinces, extending its authority to almost all of the country. British Lieutenant-General David Richards said he hoped to see improvements in the south within three to six months, which would allow the 26-nation alliance to proceed with the final phase of its deployment into the east by the end of...

A leading Chinese critic of the Communist party and an international press freedom group have denounced US portal Yahoo for allegedly assisting Beijing authorities to track down and prosecute a dissident three years ago. Political critic Liu Xiaobo and Reporters Without Borders said the case of jailed dissident Li Zhi showed that Yahoo had helped China suppress dissent even before its widely publicised role in the prosecution of an outspoken journalist last year. The allegations, which are based on copies of a defence statement by Li’s lawyers that has been posted on reformist websites overseas, will fuel already fierce debate...

If you're following the November special election, you may have noticed that there are three key groups struggling over its outcome. You may not have noticed that there's something deeply wrong with that picture. One part of the trio is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, channeling the spirit of Hiram Johnson, the reformist governor who freed Sacramento's statehouse from corrupt railroad barons by handing cleanup powers to the voters themselves. Schwarzenegger thinks Sacramento is stinking up the state again, and a lot of us agree. Another player in the trio is the Democratic power base - legislators who've controlled the California Legislature...

Only Saddam Hussein could make an arid desert out of the ancient Iraqi marsh considered by biblical scholars to be the Garden of Eden. While there is no doubt that revenge was in the Butcher of Baghdad’s heart when he cut the water flow to the marsh following 1991’s Gulf War, part of his motive originated from cutting breaks for business cronies. In draining the marsh, Saddam’s intent was to punish the Marsh Arabs who opposed his rule. To the heartless Saddam, it made no difference that the Arab culture had lived there for thousands of years. Saddam cutting breaks...