All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Those Steel Promises

Closing Thought–30Dec19

Does anyone remember the promises Trump made in 2016 about the return of our industries like steel?

If you are a Trump supporter you will NOT remember that lie or that promise broken…..

Just to let Americans know…the steel industry is struggling and NOT returning….as a matter of fat it is closing down another plant…..

U.S. Steel Corp. announced this week that it will close a mill near Detroit, laying off more than 1,500 workers as it tries to address financial losses.

The news comes just months after U.S. Steel announced it would be laying off 200 workers at the same mill, Great Lakes Works. 

U.S. Steel said they expect to end the mill’s iron and steelmaking operations by April 1, 2020, with another part of the mill closing by the end of 2020. The estimated job loss is 1,545 workers.

Steel production will instead be shifted to a plant in Gary, Ind., where the company has invested $750 million after both the city and state gave U.S. Steel tax breaks. Those tax breaks aimed to keep at least 3,875 jobs at the plant.

The changes, along with a plan to slash its dividend and suspend stock repurchases, come as the company predicts major losses in the fourth quarter of the year. According to MarketWatch, U.S. Steel reported an adjusted loss of $1.15 a share in the fourth quarter. The number is far more than analysts’ original projection, which put losses at 62 cents a share. 

“We are conscious of the impact this decision will have on our employees, their families, and the local community, and we are announcing it now to provide them with as much time as possible to prepare for this transition,” CEO David Burritt said in a press release.

“These decisions are never easy, nor are they taken lightly.  However, we must responsibly manage our resources while also strengthening our company’s long-term future – a future many stakeholders depend on.  We will be taking steps in the weeks and months ahead to assist impacted employees by providing additional education about benefits available through our company, as well as community resources.”

The announcement comes as steel has been at the center of President Trump‘s ongoing trade war with China. After the first round of tariffs, the White House celebrated domestic steel price increases and Trump said tariffs were rebuilding the industry, but the prices have since seen a sharp decline.

The U.S. and China have closed in on a new trade deal this month, and are working out the final details. Officials said the deal involves lifting some U.S. tariffs on China, while Beijing has agreed to purchase more agricultural products from the U.S.

(thehill.com)

Just another lie that will go unchallenged…..

We hear all the time just how good the economy is doing….but do not ask the steel workers they may crap all over the “good news”….

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Photo shooting with love.. grandmother – nadiaharhash

When it comes to grandmother… not even pictures can tell the story of love and gratitude I feel… yet … even next to a Lamborghini with a matching scarf and a copy of Mariam can eradicate the pain and sorrow behind her fatigue tired life that shows undoubtedly in her eyes.
— Read on nadiaharhash.com/2019/12/30/photo-shooting-with-love-grandmother/

Texas Republican Party plans to build phony campaign websites loaded with negative information about Democrats – HoustonChronicle.com – GOP is FakeNews Central

A leaked document from the Texas Republican Party indicates operatives are worried about the “polarizing nature” of President Trump.

Source: Texas Republican Party plans to build phony campaign websites loaded with negative information about Democrats – HoustonChronicle.com

India’s founding values are threatened by sinister new forms of oppression | Madhav Khosla

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By employing drones and facial recognition against the opposition, Narendra Modi seems heedless of civil liberties and justice

The anger is extraordinary for its depth and ferocity. In protests that have spread across the world’s largest democracy, Indians of all stripes have taken to the streets. Two weeks ago, the government amended the citizenship law to speed up applications for refugees from surrounding countries who are Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain or Buddhist – but not Muslim. The law coincides with an attempt to create a new list of India’s citizens, a task whose precise mechanism has evolved in recent days. Regardless of the details, it will be a Kafkaesque exercise during which poor people with few official documents will have to prove their citizenship. If they happen to be Muslim, the citizenship law means the consequences they face will be different. Detention centres mushrooming across India reveal what those might be.

The pan-Indian nature of the outcry is striking. India has long been home to disobedience, but the scale and reach of the present discontent is rare. Though the protests have been painted as a conspiracy limited to Muslim and elite forces, elements that have come together to suppress the real India, there seems to be genuine and diverse opposition to the plainly exclusionary citizenship law. As the drama and horror have unfolded, both the protesters and the state have acted in familiar ways. We have seen student agitations, silent marches, legal orders, police brutality and recriminations. Yet there is something special about this episode, something new on each side.

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Biden campaign’s dangerous “steaming pile of crap” theory

When Biden argues that once Trump is defeated and out of the picture, Republicans will be reasonable again, and bipartisan governance will become possible, Biden is displaying a potentially catastrophic strategic misunderstanding of what the Republican Party has become. The electoral power of the Republican Party now rests solely on a foundation that has been radicalized and misled by nearly a half-century of “feeding red meat to the base”: stoking an ever more intense hatred of “the other,” beginning with Reagan’s imaginary welfare queens driving Cadillacs.

Source: Biden campaign’s dangerous “steaming pile of crap” theory

Government exposes addresses of new year honours recipients

Thank Tory non-competent leadership-management

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Cabinet Office apologises after details of more than 1,000 people posted online in error

More than 1,000 celebrities, government employees and politicians who received honours in the new year list have had their home and work addresses posted on a government website, the Guardian can reveal.

The accidental disclosure of a tranche of personal details of those being celebrated for their service to British society is likely to be considered a major security breach, particularly as senior police and Ministry of Defence staff were among those whose details were made public.

Continue reading…