turbinetree
turbinetree's JournalU.S. Commerce Official Still Holds Stake in Company Linked to Putin Associates
The chief of staff for Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Wendy Teramoto, still owns a stake in a shipping company tied to associates of Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that her former role as a board member for the same company prompted six Senate Democrats to request an investigation into her apparent conflicts of interest last month.
“We have not been notified, nor are we aware, of a formal investigation by the inspector general,” Commerce Department spokesperson James Rockas said in a statement. “But we continue to answer any questions that are raised by department ethics officials or the inspector general.” The statement said that Teramoto has recused herself from any matters relating to her investments. (The same senators also requested an investigation of Ross, who initially retained an estimated $3.4 million stake in the company, Navigator Holdings, but has since sold it.)
As long as Teramoto hangs onto her own investments, she will likely remain under scrutiny, especially since there is evidence that her official actions are affecting the shipping industry, in which she is heavily invested.
https://www.propublica.org/article/u-s-commerce-official-still-holds-stake-in-company-linked-to-putin-associates
Hey McTurtle, do you by chance think there is a problem with your confirmation of this Wilbur Ross asshole, you know the "guy" that was a banker in Cyprus, that was laundering money from Russians and that mafia organization, and now leads the Commerce Department, with this underling in tow
This a Congressional "Jerk" who sits on a Judiciary Committee
You just admitted jerk that you talked to the White House that is under investigation, that you were going to tell them the questions that you were going to ask--------------did you by chance jerk get the approval from Paul Ryan to do this, because that is a big deal, did you tell him that you spoke to the white house and that these were the questions you were going to ask.........did he give you permission---------------after all that is his Paul Ayn Rand Ryan's job description.
have you ever thought about the separation of each branch of government, there is "reason" for that separation jerk.........................what is really galling is that you may be giving information to the White House and its counsel on issues that are "classified" are now exposed, are you giving them "classified" information, without going thru Ryan, and the appropriate procedures
Anti-Trump Inauguration protesters acquitted on all counts
None of the six men and women facing felony charges tied to an anti-Trump Inauguration Day protest committed a crime, jurors decided Thursday.
The six defendants had faced seven charges each. The jury returned 42 separate not-guilty verdicts.
The charges — conspiracy to riot, engaging in a riot, and five counts of criminal property destruction — came despite the government’s acknowledgement that it has not evidence any of these half-dozen people engaged in violent personal action that day. It was in effect a legal argument they were as guilty as those who had actually smashed a window, because they chose to show up in black and stay with the group as it moved through the city.
The verdict resolves only the first handful of cases in the sweeping felony prosecutions of black-clad marchers rounded up in downtown Washington, D.C., last January. Hundreds more face similar charges.
https://thinkprogress.org/anti-trump-inauguration-protesters-acquitted-on-all-counts-in-major-first-amendment-trial-bcbac5367937/
Bussed out........ How America moves its homeless
Quinn Raber arrived at a San Francisco bus station lugging a canvas bag containing all of his belongings: jeans, socks, underwear, pajamas. It was 1pm on a typically overcast day in August.
An unassuming 27-year-old, Raber seemed worn down: his skin was sun-reddened, he was unshaven, and a hat was pulled over his ruffled blond hair. After showing the driver a one-way ticket purchased for him by the city of San Francisco, he climbed the steps of the Greyhound bus.
He traveled 2,275 miles over three days to reach his destination: Indianapolis.
Cities have been offering homeless people free bus tickets to relocate elsewhere for at least three decades. In recent years, homeless relocation programs have become more common, sprouting up in new cities across the country and costing the public millions of dollars.
But until now there has never been a systematic, nationwide assessment of the consequences. Where are these people being moved to? What impact are these programs having on the cities that send and the cities that receive them? And what happens to these homeless people after they reach their destination?
In an 18-month investigation, the Guardian has conducted the first detailed analysis of America’s homeless relocation programs, compiling a database of around 34,240 journeys and analyzing their effect on cities and people.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/dec/20/bussed-out-america-moves-homeless-people-country-study
We are truly a third rate state system , this is just fucked up in so many ways
Comcast announces $1,000 bonuses after passage of tax bill
Source: The Hill
Comcast on Wednesday announced that it will give $1,000 to over 100,000 of its employees as a result of the passage of tax-cut legislation in Congress, as well as the FCC's repeal of net neutrality.
"Based on the passage of tax reform and the FCC's action on broadband, Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast NBCUniversal, announced that the Company would award special $1,000 bonuses to more than one hundred thousand eligible frontline and non-executive employees," the company said in a statement.
Roberts also announced that Comcast would invest $50 billion over the next five years in infrastructure towards its broadband plant and capacity, and our television, film and theme park offerings.
Comcast says that it expects to bring on thousands of new employees as a result of the investments. The firm says it will offer further details in its Jan. 24 earnings report.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/technology/365908-comcast-announces-1000-bonuses-in-response-to-tax-reform
Right a bonus, whats happens in 2019 ...............I guess Comcast didn't get the memo as to what Great Britain is going to do on high speed internet service
It took this fucking oligarchy 9 years to give the employees a raise.....................bullshit, out of the billions they have made
I guess they didn't see the stock market today and yesterday................
The Billion-Dollar Loophole
This article is a collaboration with Fortune.
The idea seems like the perfect marriage of environmentalism and capitalism: Landowners give up their right to develop a piece of property, and in exchange they receive a special tax deduction. Nature is preserved and everybody benefits.
That’s traditionally how what are known as “conservation easements” worked. In California’s Napa Valley, for example, a former biology professor and museum director named Giles Mead agreed not to develop 1,318 hilltop acres in 1983 and got a deduction in return. The property, Mead Ranch, features vernal pools and rare and endangered plants. Two entirely new species were discovered there. Bears, bobcats and mountain lions roam the grounds. Mead allowed groups of hikers, birders, and plant enthusiasts to visit. He sometimes greeted them with glasses of wine from the family’s vineyard. Since Mead’s death, his daughter has kept the property available to the public.
A growing number of recent easement donations, however, are driven by a more commercial reward — an outsized tax deduction for wealthy investors. Known as “syndications” (or “syndicated partnerships,” since they’re typically offered in that structure), they’re deals orchestrated by middlemen with the goal of big payoffs for all of the participants, many of whom have never visited the land in question.
One example: the former Millstone Golf Course outside of Greenville, South Carolina. Closed back in 2006, it sat vacant for a decade. Abandoned irrigation equipment sat on the driving range. Overgrowth shrouded rusting food and beverage kiosks. The land’s proximity to a trailer park depressed its value. In 2015, the owner put the property up for sale, asking $5.8 million. When there were no takers, he cut the price to $5.4 million in 2016.
https://www.propublica.org/article/conservation-easements-the-billion-dollar-loophole
Dozens of Companies Are Using Facebook to Exclude Older Workers From Job Ads
This story was co-published with The New York Times.
A few weeks ago, Verizon placed an ad on Facebook to recruit applicants for a unit focused on financial planning and analysis. The ad showed a smiling, millennial-aged woman seated at a computer and promised that new hires could look forward to a rewarding career in which they would be “more than just a number.”
Some relevant numbers were not immediately evident. The promotion was set to run on the Facebook feeds of users 25 to 36 years old who lived in the nation’s capital, or had recently visited there, and had demonstrated an interest in finance. For a vast majority of the hundreds of millions of people who check Facebook every day, the ad did not exist.
https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-ads-age-discrimination-targeting
And then this asshole said this:
"Facebook defended the practice. “Used responsibly, age-based targeting for employment purposes is an accepted industry practice and for good reason: it helps employers recruit and people of all ages find work,” said Rob Goldman, a Facebook vice president."
Hey Goldman your full of fucking discrimination shit
These Are the Job Ads You Cant See on Facebook If Youre Older
By Jeff Larson, Madeleine Varner, Ariana Tobin and Julia Angwin, ProPublica, and Noam Scheiber, The New York Times, December 19, 2017
It is against the law to discriminate against workers older than 40 in hiring and recruitment. But using material provided by our readers through a ProPublica crowd-sourcing effort, we found dozens of companies who bought Facebook ads aimed at recruiting workers within limited age ranges. Some companies said these ads were not representative of their wider recruitment strategies. Others said targeting workers by age was a mistake, and vowed to stop doing it. To see the ads and each company’s response, click on the company names below. To join our crowd-sourcing effort, download our tool for Firefox or Google Chrome. Related Story »
http://projects.propublica.org/graphics/facebook-job-ads
Time for a fucking boycott
2017: The year when incompetence saved America
Close your eyes for a few seconds and remember the despair you felt one year ago, while a Trump presidency was still a looming but unavoidable nightmare.
Donald Trump, a man with no empathy and even less grasp of policy nuances, was the president-elect. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), a man who literally fantasized about cutting health benefits for poor people during his college keg parties, had spent the Obama years rallying his fellow Republican lawmakers around a singularly cruel agenda.
A year ago, Obamacare repeal seemed like a near certainty, as did deep cuts to health programs created in the mid-1960s. Ryan’s plan to repeal Medicare and replace it with a voucher program would have driven up seniors’ out-of-pocket costs by as much as 40 percent. Republicans planned to cut Medicaid by as much as 50 percent in the first decade — then gradually phase it out entirely.
And that’s just what they proposed to do to health care. Ryan’s budget sought deep cuts to food stamps. It slashed Pell Grants. And there’s always a risk, whenever Republicans control the government, that Social Security will be privatized as well.
https://thinkprogress.org/2017-the-year-when-incompetence-saved-america-9371e73ec98d/
And now a Word from Mike...........can I kiss your ass.........
Again you cannot make this shit up
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