Category Archives: Profiteering

Firm restoring Puerto Rico’s power threatened to quit, mayor says | World news | The Guardian – “#TraitorTrump’s people are all about graft and greed at other people’s expense.”

Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz had demanded greater transparency over the $300m deal secured by Whitefish Energy, a tiny two-year-old firm based in the Montana home town of the US interior secretary, Ryan Zinke.

Source: Firm restoring Puerto Rico’s power threatened to quit, mayor says | World news | The Guardian

Whitefish had only two full-time employees when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on 20 September, killing more than 50 people and knocking out power to the whole island. The company has since contracted more than 300 workers, but three-quarters of the US territory remains without electricity.

Trump sought dissident’s expulsion after hand-delivered letter from China – report | World news | The Guardian  #TraitorTrump!

The report said the letter had been hand-delivered to him at a private dinner by Steve Wynn, a Las Vegas casino magnate and Republican National Committee finance chairman with interests in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, for which Wynn relies on Beijing for licensing.The marketing director for Wynn Resorts Ltd, Michael Weaver, told the Journal in a written statement: “[T]hat report regarding Mr Wynn is false. Beyond that, he doesn’t have any comment.”Weaver did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian on what part of the story was false and whether Wynn had ever delivered a letter from the Chinese government to Trump.The Journal report said that aides tried to persuade Trump out of going ahead with Guo’s deportation, noting he was a member of the president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The aides later ensured that the deportation would not go ahead.There was no immediate response from the White House or the state department to a request to comment on the report.

Source: Trump sought dissident’s expulsion after hand-delivered letter from China – report | World news | The Guardian

NFL boss Roger Goodell says all players should stand for the national anthem | Sport | The Guardian – F#ck you Goodell for supporting racists! Not about flag – about murder and repression!

In a letter to the league’s 32 teams concerning players’ protests against police brutality, Goodell urged them to ‘move past this controversy’ and ‘honor our flag’

Source: NFL boss Roger Goodell says all players should stand for the national anthem | Sport | The Guardian

Sports Reporter Retracts Incorrect Report Saying Kaepernick Would Stand For National Anthem Again: SFist – So, when does he get fired for lying?

Though La Canfora did meet with Kaepernick, his girlfriend, and his trainer on Saturday, they never spoke about whether Kaepernick would continue with his on-field demonstrations against police brutality, i.e., the kneeling. They did speak about his commitment to becoming a better quarterback, though, so there’s that. CBS didn’t air any direct quotes from Kaepernick at the time, either.

Source: Sports Reporter Retracts Incorrect Report Saying Kaepernick Would Stand For National Anthem Again: SFist

Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin Risk Their Reputations – The New York Times

 

In the early stages of promoting Trump’s tax cut, they have made a series of statements that are blatantly false — not merely shadings of truth or questionable claims but outright up-is-down falsehoods mocked by various fact-checkers. The statements make the two look more like Trump press secretaries than serious business executives whom members of Congress can trust.They fall into two main categories. The first is who benefits from the tax plan. “Wealthy Americans are not getting a tax cut,” Cohn said on “Good Morning America.” He was echoing a promise that Mnuchin had made before the inauguration: “Any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions, so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class.”No one needs to read a sophisticated analysis (although you can do that, as well) to know these claims are ridiculous. Trump’s tax plan is reducing the top income-tax rate to 35 percent, from 39.6 percent. It is deeply cutting corporate taxes, which benefits people who own a lot of stock. It is eliminating the estate tax.Want to guess how many families in New York State — population 20 million — are wealthy enough that they’re likely to pay any estate tax next year, according to an estimate based on I.R.S. data? Just 470. The number is so low in Montana, Vermont, West Virginia and four other states — likely fewer than 10 families in each — that the I.R.S. doesn’t provide details, to avoid privacy concerns.There is no way to make up for tax cuts this large by eliminating deductions, as Mnuchin claimed. The administration isn’t trying very hard, anyway. The deductions for charitable donations and mortgage interest, including on second homes, will remain.

Germany: AfD Accuses Google of Sabotaging Campaign – SPIEGEL ONLINE _ Google says no to hate ads, so on to Facebook and Twitter to target hate and racist political messages!

As part of its digital campaign strategy, AfD has even brought on American consultants with the Harris Media advertising agency. The Texas consulting firm specializes in customers with “controversial” messages who range from Donald Trump and the gun lobby to France’s far-right Front National. Their task is to adapt Kunkel’s print campaign for the digital world. Two Harris employees have also embedded themselves in the digital “war room” inside the AfD’s national headquarters in Berlin.But it appears that the American pros are running into hurdles — with one of the most important advertising platforms around. Officials with AfD have complained that Google is blocking large parts of its advertising campaign. “We aren’t having difficulties with any other platform,” said campaign manager Kunkel. He said that Facebook and Twitter are treating AfD like a normal customer. “But Google is sabotaging us, creating a disadvantage for us relative to our political competition.”Dividing the Pie Between Google, Facebook and TwitterThe dispute shines a spotlight on the role the U.S. Internet giants are playing in the current German election. For the first time, the criteria used by major American internet platforms to decide on what paid political content can be disseminated to their users — and what cannot — is playing a central role in a German election.

Source: Germany: AfD Accuses Google of Sabotaging Campaign – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Same-sex marriage survey: Facebook accounts targeted with homophobic slurs – Facebook selling targeted hate ads in Australia now.

Soros has been the target of several right-wing, anti-semitic conspiracy theories, but it is not clear exactly how same-sex marriage in Australia relates to this.At least two other anti same-sex marriage pages have linked the vote to another right-wing conspiracy theory, cultural Marxism.Australian Christian Lobby not worried about marriage campaign vilification law Read moreMany readers took issue with a Facebook post from the Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher, which listed five reasons not to vote for same-sex marriage, saying the vote would affect freedom of speech, religion, education, association and employment.The post attracted many comments, with several pointing out the vote would not affect any of these things: “Come on Archbishop, you know that the vote is not about any of these things. As a trained lawyer you must understand that changing the definition of marriage in the Marriage Act does not affect any of these freedoms. Please don’t be dishonest with the public.”We only received one submission involving a pro same-sex marriage Facebook post, which was from an individual’s account rather than an organisation or page.

Source: Same-sex marriage survey: Facebook accounts targeted with homophobic slurs | Australia news | The Guardian

Dicamba drift? This is on you, Monsanto. | Pesticide Action Network

For decades, Monsanto has enjoyed unrivaled dominance in the pesticide and biotech seed marketplace. However, in recent years, the company’s monopoly control of agricultural seeds and pesticides — built largely on the marketing of its genetically engineered Roundup Ready seeds designed to maintain sale of its flagship herbicide Roundup — has begun to crack. Farmers have been struggling with the emergence and spread of RoundUp-resistant “superweeds” now infesting over 90 million acres of farmland. RoundUp has been found in nearly all stream and air samples tested in the Midwest. And the World Health Organization has concluded that glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup — is a probable carcinogen.Rather than clean up its act, Monsanto has redoubled its efforts to follow the same recipe for disaster, racing against rivals like Dow AgroScience to introduce new lines of transgenic seeds engineered to resist even more chemical herbicides.

Source: Dicamba drift? This is on you, Monsanto. | Pesticide Action Network

Hookworm, a disease of extreme poverty, is thriving in the US south. Why? | US news | The Guardian

“We now need to find how widespread hookworm is across the US,” said Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, who along with Rojelio Mejia led the research team. Hotez, who has estimated that as many as 12 million Americans could be suffering from neglected tropical diseases in poor parts of the south and midwest, told the Guardian the results were a wake-up call for the nation.“This is the inconvenient truth that nobody in America wants to talk about,” he said. “These people live in the southern United States, and nobody seems to care; they are poor, and nobody seems to care; and more often than not they are people of color, and nobody seems to care.”

Source: Hookworm, a disease of extreme poverty, is thriving in the US south. Why? | US news | The Guardian

Are smartphones really making our children sad? | Technology | The Guardian – AKA how to write another ho-hum best seller claiming technology is ruining kids.

In 19teens – dime novels are ruining our children. 1920s – Talkies and radio are ruining our kids. 1940s – juke boxes, photobooth selfies, swing are ruining our kids. 400 BC This modern “writing” on paper is ruining our kids.

US psychologist Jean Twenge, who has claimed that social media is having a malign affect on the young, answers critics who accuse her of crying wolf

Source: Are smartphones really making our children sad? | Technology | The Guardian