Category: Money, Class, and Poverty,

Why Should Police Help United Airlines Cheat Its Customers? 

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

While United’s customer service policies in this case are clearly heinous and absurd, let’s not forget to also cast blame on the police officers who actually committed the brutality on United’s behalf. NPR reports that the cops attacking the man “appear to be wearing the uniforms of Chicago aviation police.

“While there may be something to be said for the ability for private businesses to summon the help of the police to remove people from their premises if they refuse to leave peacefully and their presence is unwanted, there is no excuse for the police to cooperate when the reason their presence is unwanted is not “causing a disturbance” or being violent or threatening to other customers, or stealing goods or services, or doing anything wrong at all, but rather wanting to peacefully use the service they legitimately paid for.

Shame on both United for calling the cops on a passenger to make the lives of their employees and business easier, and shame on the police for having any part of it.

Why Should Police Help United Airlines Cheat Its Customers? – Hit & Run : Reason.com

Indeed. Apparently the Chicago PD are no different than thugs-for-hire by gangsters and organized crime. Fuck justice, reason, protecting the citizenry, and doing what is right. They’ll be violent with someone for no other reason than someone with a lot of money told them to.

Scum.

United’s Munoz apologizes after video of O’Hare passenger dragged from flight goes viral 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

 

Source: United’s Munoz apologizes after video of O’Hare passenger dragged from flight goes viral – Chicago Tribune

Munoz’s apology is weak. Tepid and timid at best.

If he and the airline can’t do better they richly deserve the racist, misogynist, and hatefully inhumane reputation they seem so intent on acquiring.

A Man Was Dragged Off A United Plane After The Airline Overbooked The Flight

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

Videos posted to Twitter and Facebook show a man being pulled out of his seat and down the aisle of the plane by three security officers.

A Man Was Dragged Off A United Plane After The Airline Overbooked The Flight

The airline employees and individual security officers involved should all be arrested and charge with aggravated assault.

United Airlines is a bigoted dumpster fire and every new story about them just brings into clearer focus what a bunch of racist, misogynist, inhumane pricks the airline has become.

If they don’t change their culture they deserve financial failure.

Muslim couple sues US’ United airlines after being kicked off flight  

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,Leave a comment

An attorney for the couple said they think “inherent bias” prompted flight crew members to kick the Shebleys off the United Flight after Eaman asked for assistance with a child booster seat.

Muslim couple sues US’ United airlines after being kicked off flight  | The Indian Express

United Airlines is a bigoted inhumane shit show.

220-Cities-Losing-All-Passenger-Train-Service-per-Trump

On By peanutgallerynhIn Infrastructure and Transportation,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Stations used by 144.6 million Americans will close

“…These working class communities—many of them located in the Midwest and the South—were tired of being treated like ‘flyover country.’ But by proposing the elimination of Amtrak’s long distance trains, the Trump Administration does them one worse, cutting a vital service that connects these small town economies to the rest of the U.S. These hard working, small town Americans don’t have airports or Uber to turn to; they depend on these trains.”
 
“What’s more, these proposed cuts come as President Trump continues to promise that our tax dollars will be invested in rebuilding America’s infrastructure,” continued Mathews. “Instead, we have seen an all-out assault on any project—public and private—that would advance passenger rail. These cuts and delays are costing the U.S. thousands of good-paying construction and manufacturing jobs in America’s heartland at this very moment.”

…The White House budget would lead to a nightmare scenario for people who depend on passenger rail, transit, commuter rail, and even regional air service in the United States, from Wall Street to Main Street. The proposal cuts $2.4 billion from transportation, a 13 percent reduction of last year’s funding, and includes:
 
Elimination of all federal funding for Amtrak’s national network trains, which provides the only national network service to 23 states, and the only nearby Amtrak service for 144.6 million Americans;
 
$499 million from the TIGER grant program, a highly successful program that invests in passenger rail and transit projects of national significance;
Elimination of $2.3 billion for the Federal Transit Administration’s “New Starts” Capital Investment Program, which is crucial to launching new transit, commuter rail, and light-rail projects.
 
Long distance rail routes open up enormous economic development opportunities, which the Administration’s proposal ignores or casts aside. The plan threatens the following long distances routes:
 
Gulf Coast Restoration – In development
Silver Star – Daily service
Cardinal – 3 trains/week
Silver Meteor – Daily service
Empire Builder – Daily service
Capitol Limited – Daily service
California Zephyr – Daily service
Southwest Chief – Daily service
City of New Orleans – Daily service
Texas Eagle – Daily service
Sunset Limited – 3 trains/week
Coast Starlight – Daily service
Lake Shore Limited – Daily service
Palmetto – Daily service
Crescent – Daily service
Auto Train – Daily service
 
And, at a minimum, the proposed White House elimination of long distance routes would result in …220 towns and cities losing all Amtrak service:

220-Cities-Losing-All-Passenger-Train-Service-per-Trump

GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Big bucks in Washington: Right-wing billionaires have made Trump staffers multi-millionaires 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

President Donald Trump’s White House is not only being run by super-wealthy Americans — it is filled with men and women whose far right-wing advocacy also made them rich. These White House staffers have made fortunes as political consultants for America’s most right-wing ideologues, from the billionaire energy magnate Koch brothers to the Mercer family, whose data-crunching operation helped Trump target likely voters.

These political mercenaries include Steve Bannon, who is now Trump’s chief strategist; Kellyanne Conway, who is now a White House counsel; Donald McGahn II, another White House counsel; and Marc Short, Trump’s legislative affairs director.

Big bucks in Washington: Right-wing billionaires have made White House staffers multi-millionaires – Salon.com

hmmmm

President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping raises ethics concerns 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The government accountability office has now agreed to probe whether Mar-a-Lago has a secure space for classified communications, the type of Secret Service screening measures used on resort guests, and how the government ensures travel-related expenses are fair and reasonable. 

…Also in question is whether the Trump family financially benefits from such a high-profile visit.

“When President Trump arranges to meet a foreign leader at one of his branded properties like Mar-a-Lago, what he is doing is he is actually using government office for private gain,” [government ethics specialist Kathleen Clark] said.

The White House has not responded to inquiries about whether or not the Chinese delegation will pay for any services while visiting Mar-a-Lago.

President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping raises ethics concerns – CBS News

Ethics? What ethics? All I see is corruption and greed.

Mar-a-Lago: Trump’s Unethical ‘Winter White House’ – The Tab for Which He Gleefully Dumps on Local Tax-Payers

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

“We were told to expect him to come once a month. We never imagined it would be every weekend.”

Mr Gonzalez estimated that he’d lost about $65,000 and several clients since Mr Trump took office. “At this rate we might survive through the summer,” he said, “but I don’t see the company lasting much beyond that.”

…There are no official expenses yet for Trump’s weekend trips – the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just announced it will begin a review – but travel and security are estimated to cost the taxpayer somewhere in the region of $3.3m per trip.

…the new president has repaired to Florida most weekends, racking up an estimated bill of about $23 million over 10 weeks. Added to that, the decision to keep his wife Melania and son Barron living in Manhattan is costing the state an estimated $58 million per year, according to the New York Police Department.

As a private citizen, Mr Trump delighted in tweeting pot shots at Mr Obama over his presidential travel costs, but according to an analysis by the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch, Mr Obama spent $97 million on travel in his entire eight years in office – a figure Mr Trump could, at his current rate, comfortably outspend within his first year. [emphasis: mine]

…When the president flies in for the weekend it costs the county sheriff’s office and city police about $120,000 a day in overtime pay.

…The county is looking at savings in its current budget, Mayor Burdick said, with possible cutbacks to parks, building maintenance and homeless services to fund the overtime pay.

Mayor Burdick has written twice to the Trump administration asking to be reimbursed for the costs. “To date, we haven’t heard a word back,” she said.

“I have a long list of things I’d like to say to President Trump,” she added, “regarding this, I’d just like to ask him to reimburse us our money.”

Mar-a-Lago: The price of Trump’s ‘Winter White House’ – BBC News

Hmmmm

Putin’s ex-wife and the fancy French villa the official disclosed “facts” would have her in no way able to afford 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Central Northern Asia and The Caucasus,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

But the OCCRP’s discovery of the luxury villa in France also raised questions about how Lyudmila or her new husband could afford such a lavish property. Artur Ocheretny is the director of a nonprofit organization, the Center for the Development of Interpersonal Communications, which is best known for being closely linked to Lyudmila. …The OCCRP notes that Russian NGO directors do not generally receive high salaries, and none of Ocheretny’s business ventures appear to be a success.

Lyudmila is not officially wealthy, either. Until her divorce, she was required by law to declare her assets and income, and she never declared much. In fact, Vladimir Putin’s own wealth declarations are similarly sparse, with a $147,000 salary and limited assets, including a Moscow apartment, a plot of land and three cars, listed on his 2015 statement.

There has long been speculation, however, that Putin and those close to him are significantly wealthier than they let on. Some estimates for the Russian president’s personal wealth go as high as $200 billion, though they are backed by sparse evidence. A 2016 leak of records from a law firm based in Panama did suggest that associates known to be close to Putin held as much as $2 billion through offshore accounts.

…Reuters reported in 2015 that Katerina Tikhonova, widely said to be the younger of Putin’s two daughters, owned a seaside villa in Biarritz that was worth about $3.7 million at the time. She and her husband, Kirill Shamalov, the son of a friend of the Russian president, together were worth around $2 billion, the news agency reported.

Putin’s ex-wife returns to the spotlight with a dashing young husband and a fancy French villa – The Washington Post

hmmm

Twitter Slams Ivanka Trump’s ‘Hypocritical’ Equal Pay Day Tweet

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

It was not lost on critics, however, that Ivanka’s father, President Donald Trump, just last week rolled back Obama-era protections for women in the workplace.

Charged one Twitter user: “Tell that to your father. He doesn’t believe in raising the minimum wage, is anti-union, & we all know how he feels about women’s bodies.”

Twitter Slams Ivanka Trump’s ‘Hypocritical’ Equal Pay Day Tweet

hmmmm

This One-Year Alternative to College Promises to Land Students a Well-Paying Job, Debt-Free 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Education,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Schools,Leave a comment

The first is that young people are leaving their undergraduate education without the skills necessary to land their first job nor to really thrive in their lives and careers going forward. Seventy-four percent [of students] feel that they are leaving university unprepared to enter the job market, and 50 percent of hiring managers think that today’s college grads lack the critical thinking skills necessary* to really thrive or contribute at their company.

The second, even more troubling, is whether students obtain a degree or not they are leaving their undergraduate with insurmountable, crippling debt. 

“…[MissionU charges] zero tuition.

…When you get into MissionU we invest in you for that whole year, which enables any student from any background to be able to participate in our program, regardless of your socioeconomic background and your financial situation. Only once you are making $50,000 or more, once you have that job, you contribute 15 percent of your income back to MissionU for three years. That enables us to provide that opportunity to the next student. And if you don’t reach that $50,000 threshold, then you don’t pay us anything.

…We have a skills- and career-focused curriculum. We start by partnering with employers. Our employer partners do two things. First, they advise us on curriculum, and the second is once we calibrate our curriculum to make sure that we are meeting the needs of these industry leading employers, that are indicative of the broader industry needs, we give them early hiring access to consider our top graduates.

…Our first quarter is the foundational quarter. You learn eight hard skills. Those are things like business writing, public speaking, project management, excel gathering and basic tech foundation of html and css. These are eight hard skills we believe will make you an effective employee at any company, regardless of the industry.

…we have our graduation moment, but we don’t think that graduation should be at the very end of the year and that you should be sent on your way to find a job yourself. Instead, we reserve six weeks at the end our program for ‘career launch.’ Career launch is where we support you from interview preparation all the way through to salary negotiation.

This One-Year Alternative to College Promises to Land Students a Well-Paying Job, Debt-Free | Innovation | Smithsonian

hmmmmm

*- emphasis: mine. Although Of course I think it is important to be sensitive to the needs of others, I have often speculated about the correlation between the proliferation of space spaces in academic environments and an impact on formulating problem solving and critical thinking skills. Seemed too pertinent not to hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner Still Benefiting From Business Empire, Filings Show 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, will remain the beneficiaries of a sprawling real estate and investment business still worth as much as $741 million, despite their new government responsibilities, according to ethics filings released by the White House Friday night.

Ms. Trump will also maintain a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

…It is unclear how Ms. Trump would earn income from that stake. Mr. Kushner’s financial disclosures say that Ms. Trump earned between $1 million and $5 million from January 2016 to March 2017, and puts the value of her stake at between $5 million and $25 million.

hmmmm

Pence and Religiously-rooted Discrimination against Women in the Workplace

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Women aides described the many ways in which men who adhere to the Graham Rule left them out of meetings and professionally relevant recreational activities. The “never alone with a woman” rule makes it difficult for these women to do their jobs, become part of their workplace cultures and compete effectively for promotions.

…The idea that a man cannot be alone with a woman he is not married to is the essence of maintaining fraternity in the professional and political worlds.

…The evanescent effects on the workplace of self-described religious beliefs like these make any statements about women’s equality moot in tangible, practical terms. Attitudes like his will keep women out of important roles in the White House and beyond.

Mike Pence Is Why We Have To Stop Excusing Religious Sexism | The Huffington Post

What the author fails to put forth here is simply this:

There is nothing wrong with two people orchestrating and living a marriage in a way which not only follow their own beliefs and values. As long as both individuals are consenting active participants in something that works for them and no one is getting hurt? It’s just another variation on marriage and relationships.

The inner workings of the Pence marriage aren’t -or at least shouldn’t be- the issue here.

The issue is that this behavior impacts women who did not choose to live their lives this way and the unfair burden Pence’s choices place on women to be able to perform their jobs on a fair, ethical, honorable, and -most of all- level playing field.

US government watchdog to review Trump’s Mar-a-Lago trips and hotel profits 

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

…The Government Accountability Office’s review will examine whether Secret Service agents subject Mar-a-Lago guests to any security screening, and evaluate the expenses incurred by government employees who travel with Trump to Mar-a-Lago, according to a letter the agency sent the lawmakers on Friday.

…The GAO will also check whether Trump has made any payments to the U.S. Treasury from profits at his hotels.

…Udall said on Monday the American people “deserved to know who has access to the president, how much it’s costing to protect him and whether the Trump Organization is benefiting from that protection.”

He introduced a bill on Friday that would require the White House to publish logs of people who meet with Trump there and at other locations.

US government watchdog to review Trump’s Mar-a-Lago trips and hotel profits – Business Insider

hmmm

Melania Trump petition continues to surge in popularity – CBS News

On By peanutgallerynhIn Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The petition calls for her to either move to the White House or personally pay for her New York City security expenses.“

The U.S. taxpayer is paying an exorbitant amount of money to protect the First Lady in Trump Tower, located in New York City,” the petition reads. “As to help relieve the national debt, this expense yields no positive results for the nation and should be cut from being funded.”

….Last month, the Secret Service requested $60 million in additional funding to protect the president and his family, according to a report in the Washington Post.

…As a private citizen, before he formally entered politics, Donald Trump was fiercely critical of then-President Obama’s travel and expenses.

Melania Trump petition continues to surge in popularity – CBS News

I’d love for someone to post  running tally of the costs the Trump family are incurring and display it clearly next to the rate sof spending by their predecessors for the last fifty years.