Daily Archives: August 9, 2015
Dawgs lil secret
Sanders event shut down by only Black Lives Matter
“We’re shutting this event down — now,” said an activist who suddenly leapt on stage. She approached the microphone where Sanders had just begun speaking, thanking attendees for welcoming him to “one of most progressive cities in the United States of America.” An event organizer attempted to stop the activist, and a heated exchange ensued as the crowd booed.
Eventually, activist Marissa Johnson was allowed to speak. “I was going to tell Bernie how racist this city is, even with all of these progressives, but you’ve already done that for me. Thank you,” she said as some in the crowd called for her arrest.
Johnson then asked for a four-and-half-minute moment of silence to honor Michael Brown Jr., the black teenager who was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, a year ago. As the crowd grew more agitated, Johnson added that Sanders says he cares about grassroots movements, but, “The biggest grassroots movement in this country right now is Black Lives Matter.”
Sanders stood by silently the entire time. Eventually, organizers decided to end the event and the Vermont senator did not return to the microphone.
“I am disappointed that two people disrupted a rally attended by thousands at which I was invited to speak about fighting to protect Social Security and Medicare,” Sanders said in a statement. “I was especially disappointed because on criminal justice reform and the need to fight racism, there is no other candidate for president who will fight harder than me.”
The face-off represented the second time in the past month that Sanders has been confronted by Black Lives Matter activists in a high-profile setting. At the liberal Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix in late July, Sanders seemed irritated after women with the movement interrupted his speech.
In both cases, activists seemed eager not only to convey a message to Sanders, but to progressives in general. The rally in Seattle, which also featured local Democratic officials, drew thousands and was supposed to champion Social Security and Medicare.
“Bernie, you were confronted at Netroots by black women,” Johnson said, adding that he has not yet presented a criminal justice reform package like fellow Democratic candidate Martin O’Malley. She went on, entreating the crowd: “Join us now in holding Bernie Sanders accountable for his actions.”
Sanders has made efforts to address issues important to black voters since the Netroots protest. Late last month, he was warmly received in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at a conference of the Southern Christian Leadership, the group Martin Luther King Jr. once headed. And while he has not formally rolled out a criminal justice package, he publicly acknowledged the names of black people killed by police and has begun speaking more about the issue in rallies.
The senator’s home state of Vermont is 95% white and has fewer than 7,500 black residents.
While O’Malley was also confronted at Netroots and worked hard repair relations, front-runner Hillary Clinton has yet to face a direct confrontation, even as she has made efforts to reach out to the black community.
This is the monster created by the liberals, First it was black lives matter, Now it is only black lives matter. Their attitude of entitlement that has been handed to them is now showing more ignorance by shutting down the people who were helping them the most.
That is the “THANK YOU” that you get for helping for feeding ignorance.
My attitude? ALL LIVES MATTER NO MATTER THE SKIN COLOR!!!
But that does not work for agenda driven people.
Lets stay in bed Sunday……
Faces of the world……..
This is why your CEO makes more than 300 times your pay
In a dissenting statement, SEC Republican Commissioner Michael Piwowar said his colleagues were “acquiescing to bullies.”
If supporting CEO-worker pay ratio disclosure makes you a bully, then count me among them. For many years, I’ve argued that extreme inequality within firms, with big company CEOs making hundreds of times more than shop floor employees, is not just grossly unfair. It’s also bad for business.
A Stanford University review of several studies, for instance, found that highly differentiated pay between top and bottom earners tends to reduce employee morale and job satisfaction. A CtW Investment Group analysis of S&P 500 companies indicated that those with high estimated CEO-worker pay ratios had lower shareholder returns over a five-year period than companies with low CEO-pay ratios.
In 2010, the Dodd-Frank financial reform made CEO-worker pay ratio disclosure the law of the land. But for five years, in the face of intense opposition, SEC officials have dragged their feet on implementation.
Corporate lobby groups and allied lawmakers have been bent on blocking or gutting the rule. And there were times, I must admit, when I responded to their attacks in a less than kindly manner.
Last year, for example, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce published a study claiming large companies would be forced to shell out an average of $311,800 and crunch numbers for 1,825 hours to calculate their median worker pay. I couldn’t resist penning a phony help wanted ad for “slow and expensive accountants.” How else could these companies back up such absurd numbers?
Of course I’m not the only big meanie. The SEC received more than 287,400 public comment letters on this issue, an overwhelming majority of which were supportive.
At the end of his dissenting statement, Commissioner Piwowar reminded us of schoolyard lessons about bullies. “Acquiescing,” he said, “only gives them more ammunition.”
Here he does have a point. Those of us who’ve advocated for CEO-worker pay disclosure will indeed be using this victory to push for more. Specifically, this new federal rule will help us promote state-level initiatives to add extra oomph to disclosure by tapping the power of the public purse.
A Rhode Island state senate bill, for example, would give preferential treatment in the awarding of government contracts to firms that have gaps between CEO and median worker pay of no more than 25 to 1. This benchmark was inspired by Peter Drucker, known as the Father of Management Science, who believed the ratio of pay between worker and executive can run no higher than 20-to-1 without damaging company morale and productivity.
Under this legislation, companies competing for state contracts could improve their chances by reducing their pay gaps — either by lowering executive compensation or lifting up wages at the bottom of their pay scale. Either way, Rhode Island taxpayers would get a bigger bang for their buck, since narrower wage divides are likely to boost productivity. Tax policy could also reward companies with more equitable pay practices by offering lower rates for narrower gaps.
Those who imagine themselves to be the victims of all this so-called bullying on pay gaps are not just running home to mommy. Within hours of the SEC vote, House Financial Services Committee Chair Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) announced plans for a vote on a bill to repeal this section of Dodd-Frank. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate.
Overpaid CEOs, it seems, are still turning to their big brothers in Congress to try to scare off the big bad bullies. But in dragging out this fight, the corporate chiefs are the ones who will be left with the black eyes.
And everyone always blamed the big bad unions……
Dipshits of the day: EPA Spills a Million Gallons of Mine Waste into a Colorado River
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accidentally spilled a million gallons of mine waste into Colorado’s Animas River yesterday. The river’s befouled waters turned a bright yellow, their acidity increasing by 100-fold, as officials warned of risks to fish and cautioned that the contaminated sludge could irritate human skin.
“The water is a nasty color yellow, sort of putrid-looking,” a volunteer with the La Plata County search and rescue team tells National Review by phone. Because the county draws some of its water from the Animas, the city has imposed water rationing, he said. And, he explained, the spill will also have an effect on the county’s tourism industry, which relies heavily on rafting, kayaking, and fishing in the river.
“The sheriff decided that because we don’t know what’s in the water, he ordered no one can go in the water,” he said. The incident occurred as the EPA was doing remediation work at the Gold King Mine, an abandoned site north of Silverton that operated between 1890 and 1920, said Stuart Sanderson, president of the Colorado Mining Association, noting the mine is not under the organization’s control. Sanderson called the spill “the most significant event” he had seen in his 20-year career. “It’s bad. There’s no question about it.
. . . Now comes the matter of trying to fix it. This one, the EPA will undoubtedly perform an investigation and will have some explaining to do,” he said. When private companies cause such damage, the EPA has the power to bring criminal charges. “In Fiscal Year 2013, EPA’s criminal cases assessed more than $1.5 billion in criminal fines and restitution, and more than $3 billion in court-ordered environmental projects to benefit communities, the largest amounts ever for a single year,” an agency spokesman said last year.
Matt Robbins, spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, says the agency is working with the EPA to monitor the effects of the newly contaminated water on fish. He said a significant amount of water has been tainted, and they’re still unsure what the consequences will be.
The EPA, which had not responded to a request for comment at press time, is already drawing criticism for the mistake. “First, isn’t the point of EPA to protect the environment?” says Daniel Simmons, director of regulatory affairs for the Institute for Energy Research. He adds that it’s significant that a government agency, as opposed to a private company, was responsible for the spill.
Talk about a major boner on this one guys, the sheriff does not even know what is in this waste water that was being handled by a Guvment agency that is a environmental protection agency and almost predatory when going after water polluters. And they never even tested the waters to see what was in it?
WHAT THE FUCK!!!!
This is our tax dollars at work folks and sometimes it fucking scares me.
Retro of the day: Berlin
“Take My Breath Away” was the first single from the Top Gun soundtrack album and was released in 1986 as a split single alongside the song “Radar Radio”:
- “Take My Breath Away (Love Theme from Top Gun)” (performed by Berlin)
- “Radar Radio” (performed by Giorgio Moroder featuring Joe Pizzulo, written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock)
The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and also topped the charts in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and Belgium
Charts and sales
| Peak positions |
| Chart (1986) |
Peak |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[6] |
4 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[7] |
1 |
| Canada (RPM)[8] |
2 |
| Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[9] |
1 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[10] |
15 |
| France (SNEP)[11] |
2 |
| Germany (Official German Charts)[12] |
3 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[13] |
1 |
| Italy (FIMI)[14] |
5 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[15] |
1 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[16] |
4 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[17] |
4 |
| Spain (AFYVE)[18] |
2 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[19] |
2 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[20] |
2 |
| United Kingdom (The Official Charts Company)[21] |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[22] |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks[22] |
3 |
| Chart (1988) |
Peak |
| UK Singles Chart[23] |
52 |
| Chart (1990) |
Peak |
| Irish Singles Chart[13] |
7 |
| UK Singles Chart[24] |
3 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
| US Billboard Hot 100 |
27 |
Certifications
|
Country |
Certification |
Date |
Sales certified |
| Canada[25] |
Gold |
October 31, 1986 |
50,000 |
| France[26] |
Gold |
1987 |
500,000 |
| UK[27] |
Silver |
November 1, 1986 |
200,000 |
| U.S.[28] |
Gold |
May 5, 1992 |
500,000 |