Category: Media and Culture,

Panic during Parkland shooting causes rift between student and teacher

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Schools,Leave a comment

Josh Gallagher says he and more than a dozen classmates were stuck in a hallway when Nikolas Cruz went on a shooting rampage at the Parkland school on Feb. 14, killing 14 students and three faculty.

…Gard says he was following protocol, which requires teachers to keep their doors locked during an active shooter drill or a true emergency.

…In his Twitter post, Josh said he and his fellow students found safe haven in another classroom “when a teacher I never seen before” let them in.

Panic during Parkland shooting causes rift between student and teacher – Sun Sentinel

Jeezus….

Trump lender, other convicted banks get reprieves from feds

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

Five banks, including a big lender to President Donald Trump, have received temporary reprieves from the administration to run businesses that they otherwise would have had to shut down after criminal convictions.

The Labor Department granted Deutsche Bank a waiver from punishment allowing it to continue to manage pension funds and individual retirement accounts for another three years, according to an announcement in the Federal Registry soon after the decision last month.

…Deutsche Bank has been a big lender to Trump over the years, and the president still has loans with the bank that were originally worth $300 million.

…How the administration handles Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank has drawn scrutiny from good-government groups, given the bank’s big role in the president’s business. It has also reportedly drawn the attention of federal prosecutors and investigators.

German business newspaper Handelsblatt reported last month that special prosecutor Robert Mueller has subpoenaed Deutsche Bank seeking records as part of his investigation into allegations that Russia helped Trump win the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Deutsche Bank had no comment at the time, and a lawyer for Trump denied that Mueller had subpoenaed Deutsche records relating to the president.

Deutsche Bank is also a big lender to the family real estate company once run by Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner. In 2016, Deutsche Bank lent $285 million to affiliates of the Kushner Cos. to refinance a loan used to purchase of the retail floors in the old New York Times building in Manhattan.

Trump lender, other convicted banks get reprieves from feds

hmmm

Weeks Before Blockade, Qatar Denied Money to Kushner’s Firm

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

Qatar hosts one of America’s largest and most strategically important air bases in the Middle East. Any development that pushes Doha away from Riyadh pulls it toward Tehran. Thus, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — and virtually every other arm of the U.S. government — scrambled to nip the blockade in the bud.

…It’s worth noting that the project the Qatari foreign minister refused to finance wasn’t just one more item in the Kushner family’s portfolio; it was Jared’s baby — his misbegotten, sickly, drowning baby.

In 2007, Jared Kushner decided that the real-estate market had nowhere to go but up. And so the 26-year-old mogul decided to plow $500 million of his family’s money — and $1.3 billion in borrowed capital — into purchasing 666 Fifth Avenue for twice the price it had previously sold for. Even if we’d somehow avoided a global financial crisis, this would have been a bad bet: Before the crash, when the building was almost fully occupied, it generated only about two-thirds of the revenue the Kushners needed to keep up with their debt payments.

…The office space that the Kushners retained is worth less than its $1.2 billion mortgage — which is due early in 2019. If their company can’t find some new scheme for refinancing and redeveloping the property by then, Kushner will have cost his family a fortune.

…Maybe all of this looks worse than it is. But it looks like the president’s son-in-law worked to sour relations with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East — which has since drifted further into the orbit of a regime hostile to the United States — because it refused to bail out his family’s underwater real-estate investment.

Weeks Before Blockade, Qatar Denied Money to Kushner’s Firm

hmmmm

A frightened child in Chicago and an immigration policy unbecoming of America

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Race,Leave a comment

She and her daughter did not try to sneak in. They went directly to border agents, and the mother communicated that she was seeking asylum, which can be granted to people who have suffered persecution or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

…”The officer determined that Ms. L. did have a significant possibility of ultimately receiving asylum and therefore allowed her to move on to the next stage of the long asylum process.”

…The ACLU’s lawsuit says the government’s action is unconstitutional: “The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment does not permit the government to forcibly take a 7-year-old child from her mother, without justification or even a hearing.”

A frightened child in Chicago and an immigration policy unbecoming of America – Chicago Tribune

Horrid and un-American behavior.

Carl Icahn unloaded millions in steel-related stock days before Trump tariff

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

Investor and former regulatory advisor Carl Icahn dumped $31.1 million of stock in a Wisconsin company that relies heavily on steel to make its products last week, days before President Donald Trump said he’d impose stiff tariffs on steel imports.

…The billionaire investor and longtime confidant of Mr. Trump started selling the stock on Feb. 12, according to the filing dated Feb. 22. Icahn began selling before Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross released a report Feb. 16 that called for a 24 percent tariff.

…Icahn resigned from his post as a “special adviser” to the president in August, ahead of a New Yorker article describing how he used his White House position to shield his investments, from which he had not detached himself before taking the job.

Carl Icahn unloaded millions in steel-related stock days before Trump tariff

If it isn’t illegal insider trading, it’s still shady AF.

‘Naked politics’ of punishing Delta could haunt Georgia

On By peanutgallerynhIn Local Interest,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

By killing a proposed tax break on jet fuel, pro-gun Republicans won a political victory that could pay off in the short term, but other companies won’t soon forget that Georgia allied itself with the NRA over one of its largest private employers, with 33,000 workers statewide.

“When you inject naked politics — and that’s what this is — into the economic equation, I think that it does have the chance of spooking the business community,” said Tom Stringer, a New York-based consultant for the business-advisory firm BDO. “One thing about the business community is that it has a very long memory.”

…Delta revealed Friday that the NRA discount that triggered the showdown had barely been used. Offered recently for NRA members flying to the group’s 2018 convention in Dallas, only 13 discounted tickets had been sold, Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter said.

‘Naked politics’ of punishing Delta could haunt Georgia – ABC News

hmmmm

4 Keys to Understanding Probe of Loan Helping Bernie Sanders’ Wife

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

Under Jane Sanders’ leadership, Burlington College overstated pledged contributions by about $2 million in its presentation to the state financing agency and the bank, Toensing said in his letter to Miller, the U.S. attorney for Vermont, and Gibson, FDIC’s inspector general.

…To secure the loan, she assured People’s United Bank and the state bonding agency that the college had $2.6 million in pledges, according to public documents Toensing obtained through the public records law and included in his letter to investigators. The $2.6 million was to shore up confidence in the school’s ability to pay back the loan.

However, the college reportedly collected $279,000 by the end of fiscal 2011 and had a total of $676,000 by 2014—almost a $2 million shortfall in confirmed donations and grants.

…Burlington College, unable to sustain the debt, closed in May 2016.

4 Keys to Understanding Probe of Loan Helping Bernie Sanders’ Wife

Whether there was any basis to the accusations or not, HRC would have been pilloried for being associated with such a dark cloud hanging around their head. Interesting to see how little media-space have been devoted to this story.

 

Alex Jones accused of sexual harassment of both genders, racism and anti-Semitism

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Two former employees filed complaints against Infowars founder Alex Jones alleging he made racist and anti-Semitic comments, groomed them for sex and groped a female staffer.

Rob Jacobson, who worked as a video editor for Infowars for 13 years, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming Jones frequently singled out his Jewish background and referred to him as a “beefcake” over the course of four years, according to documents obtained by the Daily Mail.

Jacobson, who said the term referred to male porn stars, wrote, “I felt like this was intimidating and harassing and a form of sexual harassment in that he was grooming me for homosexual sex.”

Ashley Beckford filed another EEOC complaint alleging she was subject to harassment, racial slurs and a “hostile, sexually offensive work environment.”

Alex Jones accused of sexual harassment, racism and anti-Semitism – NY Daily News

Two things…
Beefcake?
…And hmmmm

Striking teachers in West Virginia make sure kids still eat

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

When teachers at Beckley Elementary in West Virginia considered going on strike, they worried their students would go to bed hungry. About 300 of the school’s 430 students rely on the free breakfast and lunch programs and a closed school meant many would have rumbling bellies.

…In a faculty meeting, they pooled money to purchase pizzas, fruit, and water. They set the first free lunch at a local grocery store on the second day of the strike, last Friday. When the local Sam’s Club and Little Caesar’s Pizza learned of it, they also donated items.

…During the four-day strike, teachers throughout West Virginia went out of their way to provide students with food. Teachers and staff at Horace Mann Middle School in Charleston prepared bagged lunches to send home with their students before they hit the picket line. Others worked with local food pantries to drop food off at students’ homes.

…As the strike lingered, teachers continued finding ways to feed their students. On Monday, Williams and his colleagues made snack bags, with nonperishable foods, such as ramen noodles, mac and cheese and ravioli, which they delivered to their students. Observing the children’s reaction made the effort worth it.

Striking teachers in West Virginia make sure kids still eat – TODAY.com

hmmmm

Depth Of Russian Politician’s Cultivation Of NRA Ties Revealed

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

Russian politician Alexander Torshin said his ties to the NRA provided him access to Donald Trump — and the opportunity to serve as a foreign election observer in the United States during the 2012 election.

…These revelations come amid news that the FBI is investigating whether Torshin, the deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, illegally funneled money to the NRA to assist the Trump campaign in 2016, McClatchy reported in January.

Depth Of Russian Politician’s Cultivation Of NRA Ties Revealed : NPR

hmmmm

Netanyahu questioned ‘under caution’ in corruption case

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

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned “under caution” in Case 4000, according to an Israeli official, making him a suspect now in three corruption investigations.

…Investigators questioned Netanyahu at his residence in Jerusalem for five hours Friday morning, marking the eighth time the Israeli leader has been questioned in graft probes targeting him and his inner circle.

An Israeli official told CNN that Netanyahu was questioned “under caution,” which refers to the questioning of someone suspected of having committed a crime, with the warning that anything they say, or decline to talk about, could be used against them in court proceedings.

Netanyahu questioned ‘under caution’ in corruption case – CNN

hmmmm

Gymnast Aly Raisman sues U.S. Olympic Committee over Nassar abuse

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

In a statement, Raisman said the USOC and USA Gymnastics are stonewalling on the question of what they knew about Nassar’s predatory behavior.

“After all this time, they remain unwilling to conduct a full investigation, and without a solid understanding of how this happened, it is delusional to think sufficient changes can be implemented,” she said.

“I refuse to wait any longer for these organizations to do the right thing. It is my hope that the legal process will hold them accountable and enable the change that is so desperately needed.”

It was Raisman, a veteran of the 2012 and 2016 games, who turned up the heat on the Olympic Committee in January with a surprise appearance and searing statement at Nassar’s marathon sentencing hearing.

Gymnast Aly Raisman sues U.S. Olympic Committee over Nassar abuse – NBC News

hmmmm

EU tells Google, Facebook and Twitter to remove terrorist content within 1 hour

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Europe is telling tech companies to take down terrorist content within an hour of it being flagged — or face sweeping new legislation.

…Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft all agreed in 2016 to review and remove a majority of hate speech within 24 hours. The category includes racist, violent or illegal posts.

…European lawmakers are concerned that social media platforms can be used to spread extremist content, and influence elections on the continent. Some have called for tech companies to be made legally responsible for content on their platforms.

But critics say that a heavy handed approach could restrict the free speech of Europeans.

EU tells Google, Facebook and Twitter to remove terrorist content within 1 hour – Mar. 1, 2018

hmmm

The White House chief calligrapher has a higher security clearance than Jared Kushner

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

But even though Kushner recently lost the level of clearance to know sources and methods, the size of the population with top secret clearances is actually quite large. A 2015 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence pegged the total at 2,885,570 people for confidential and secret clearances and 1,363,483 for top secret clearances.

* * * * *

…The calligrapher’s function is intertwined with US diplomacy as the US hosts heads of state, demonstrating that the US is committed to working with or wants to improve relations with other countries.

Ahead of a state dinner, Paulus would delve into the history of the hosted country, its symbols, and its fonts, which calligraphers call “hands” throughout time.

“As calligraphers, we feel like we’re playing an integral role. The invitation sets the stage for the whole event. Calligraphers are helping, simply, to set the stage for diplomacy,” the former chief calligrapher said.

…”Protocol is about human interactions, and as calligraphers, it’s our job to introduce creativity and beauty.”

The White House chief calligrapher has a higher security clearance than Jared Kushner – CNNPolitics

Huh.

FBI counterintel looks at Ivanka Trump business deal

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

The FBI has been looking into the negotiations and financing surrounding Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, according to a US official and a former US official.

…The FBI has been looking closely at the international business entanglements of both Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, to determine whether any of those deals could leave them vulnerable to pressure from foreign agents, including China, according to a US official.

…Because Ivanka Trump and Kushner are married, concerns that arise during one partner’s security clearance investigation could stall or block both of them from receiving a full clearance, according to a US official.

Any information that arises during the FBI’s security clearance checks that could be relevant to the special counsel’s investigation would be automatically shared, according to a US official.

…Ivanka Trump accompanied the President as two key events unfolded that Mueller is looking into as part of an obstruction of justice investigation: the firing of then-FBI Director James Comey and the misleading statement about the Trump team’s meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer in Trump Tower in June 2016.

Exclusive: FBI counterintel looks at Ivanka Trump business deal – CNNPolitics

hmmmmm

Mike Huckabee Resigns From Music Education Board After Fierce Backlash From Nashville

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,Leave a comment

…Others soon joined the chorus, sending similar emails to Trahern expressing their anger over the choice of Huckabee, who has openly likened gay marriage to incest, has referred to homosexuality as a sin and once escorted former Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis, who refused marriage licenses to same-sex couples, out of jail.

…”What a terrible disappointment to see [the CMA Foundation’s] mission clouded by the decision to align with someone who so frequently engages in the language of racism, sexism, and bigotry,” Pastorek wrote, as reported by the Tennessean. Pastorek now takes some solace in the outcome, and hopes that the industry can move forward in the wake of such controversy.

Mike Huckabee Resigns From Music Education Board After Fierce Backlash From Nashville : The Record : NPR

hmmmm

State Department report will trim language on discrimination

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

State Department officials have been ordered to pare back passages in a soon-to-be-released annual report on global human rights that traditionally discuss women’s reproductive rights and discrimination, according to five former and current department officials.

The directive calls for stripping passages that describe societal views on family planning, including how much access women have to contraceptives and abortion.

…This sends a clear signal that women’s reproductive rights are not a priority for this administration, and that it’s not even a rights violation we must or should report on,” one serving State Department official said.

…A broader section that chronicles racial, ethnic and sexual discrimination has also been ordered pared down, the current and former officials said.

…Tillerson and Trump have both said human rights should not block other U.S. foreign policy priorities, especially when it to comes to key allies such as Egypt or Saudi Arabia. But the administration hasn’t held back on talking about human rights when speaking out against enemies like Iran and North Korea.

Last year, Tillerson broke with tradition and chose not to personally unveil his department’s human rights report — dismaying activists and lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who believe human rights should be a pillar of U.S. foreign policy.

State Department report will trim language on women’s rights, discrimination – POLITICO

hmmm

Pence: Abortion will end in U.S. ‘in our time’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

…[Trump] has signed legislation reversing an Obama-era rule that blocked states from defunding Planned Parenthood and reinstated a ban on federal funds for global health programs that cover or promote abortions.

…He noted that while a ban on 20-week abortions passed the House last year, it failed in the Senate in January, where Republicans have a slim majority.

All but three Democrats blocked the bill and two Republican senators also voted against it.

Pence: Abortion will end in U.S. ‘in our time’ | TheHill

hmmmm

‘Something was weird’: Inside the Russian effort to bamboozle Florida

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Gulf Coast Region,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

The indictment is packed with details of how Russian nationals duped Donald Trump campaign volunteers and grass-roots organizations in Florida into holding rallies they organized and helped fund with foreign cash. And Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio himself was a target of an effort to “denigrate” him and several other presidential candidates.

…“It was all the social media stuff, that’s where you could see something was weird,” said Johnson, who consulted for Jeb Bush’s super PAC in 2016. “It was syntax errors and odd ways of saying things that were apparent.”

…Beyond the rallies, the Russian scheme also used its social media reach to falsely tie Clinton to voter fraud in South Florida, a region with a long history of voting abnormalities.

Russian-linked Twitter accounts on Nov. 2, well into the state’s early-voting period, blasted out a tweet saying voter fraud was occurring because “tens of thousands of ineligible mail in Hillary voters are being reported in Broward County, Florida.”

Broward County is home to the biggest concentration of registered Democrats in the state.

Mueller also said that Russia-linked social media accounts targeted other presidential candidates, including an effort to smear Rubio, though it did not provide specific examples.

‘Something was weird’: Inside the Russian effort to bamboozle Florida

hmmmm

Oklahoma Lawmakers Want Men to Approve All Abortions

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,Leave a comment

The first, Rep. George Faught’s House Bill 1549, was returning for a second year. Under the measure, a woman would be blocked from aborting a fetus because it has — or is suspected of having — a genetic abnormality, regardless of how early she sought termination. Although the measure made it out of the House in 2016, it languished in the Senate.

The bill was taking a complicated and personal issue and turning it into a cut-and-dry measure that in part seemed intended to pit disability activists and reproductive rights advocates against each other, Chowning thought.

But to Chowning and other members of the coalition, it was the second bill, HB 1441, that was even more disturbing, devoid of any nuance and completely unconstitutional. Written by another of the chamber’s freshmen, Rep. Justin Humphrey, the legislation would require a woman seeking an abortion first to obtain written permission from her sexual partner. It would also require her to provide his name to her doctor and would forestall the procedure if the man wanted the opportunity to challenge paternity.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar provision in 1992.

Oklahoma Lawmakers Want Men to Approve All Abortions

Oh, my….

Ben Carson Tries to Cancel $31,000 Dining Set Purchase for HUD Office

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

Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development, is attempting to cancel a $31,000 order for a customized hardwood dining room table, chairs, sideboard and hutch the day after the chairman of the House Oversight Committee announced an investigation into the refurbishment of his HUD office.

…[Carson] was sharply criticized for the purchase at a time when his agency is facing $6.8 billion in budget cuts requested by the White House, seemed to change his mind.

…Representative Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican who is chairman of the Oversight Committee, sent Mr. Carson’s staff a three-page letter on Wednesday demanding an explanation for the purchase of the dining room set, which might have violated a federal law requiring congressional approval for any office renovation expense exceeding $5,000.

…The department’s own lawyers warned Mr. Carson that the attendance of his son, a Maryland-based entrepreneur seeking to do business with the government, posed a serious potential conflict of interest.

Ben Carson Tries to Cancel $31,000 Dining Set Purchase for HUD Office – The New York Times

hmmmmm

HUD staffer files complaint over spending on Carson office redecoration

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

Helen Foster said she was told to “find money” beyond the legal $5,000 limit for redecorating. In one instance, she says a supervisor said that “$5,000 will not even buy a decent chair.”

…After she refused to misuse taxpayer dollars for the office redecoration project she was “retaliated against by being taken out of my position as Chief Administrative Officer.”

…Foster, who is still a HUD employee, though detailed to another agency, told CNN that she was contacted by the Office of Special Counsel (this office is unrelated to Justice Department special counsel Robert Muller) for an interview last week. The office has 120 days to decide whether it will launch an official investigation. If the OSC finds wrongdoing, it can pursue disciplinary actions against the agency, arbitrate the situation and it could also seek relief on Foster’s behalf — including getting her previous job back.

HUD staffer files complaint over Carson office redecoration – CNNPolitics

hmmm