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Uprising’s guest expert Rahul Mahajan, a sociologist and news analyst and author of Full Spectrum Dominance: US Power in Iraq and Beyond, analyzes today’s news headlines:

The nation’s largest police department has just announced that it will end its surveillance program aimed at Muslims. The New York Police Department had come under fire both from the public and the Justice department in recent years for targeting New York’s Muslim community for special surveillance as part of its anti-terrorism efforts. According to the New York Times, “To many Muslims, the squad, known as the Demographics Unit, was a sign that the police viewed their every action with suspicion.” The program has not yielded a single piece of useful information on terrorist activity. Click here for a New York Times article about the story.

The AFL-CIO has just released its annual Executive Paywatch report showcasing the shocking pay gap between the nation’s highest paid corporate executives and low-wage workers. The average salary for top corporate executives last year was nearly $12 million, while workers took home on average just over $35,000. AFL President Richard Trumka, in making the case for raising the minimum wage, told the press, “CEOs make a ridiculous amount of money” and that “has left very little for the rest of us.” Click here for a Wall Street Journal blog about the story, and here for the actual report.

President Obama will announce a major job training initiative today to the tune of $600 million. The initiative is aimed at the problem that US industries have finding skilled candidates for which there is a great demand, such as software developers, pharmacists, and electricians. Vice President Joe Biden will join Obama at an event this morning in Pennsylvania to make the announcement. Obama first raised the initiative in his State of the Union speech earlier this year. Click here for a Reuters article about the story.