Ocasio-Cortez tweets about lobbyists paying line campers

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

Line-standing or line-waiting is a small but visible example of how money affects politics in D.C. — how people with resources buy access to lawmakers as they deliberate legislation. The practice, which is expensive but not illegal, has long been a popular one for lobbyists.

…Paying people to stand in line only to swoop in right before the hearing started became a way to guarantee a seat in the hearing. Public interest groups often could not afford their own line-standers, so they found another way to compete: unpaid interns, McGehee said.

…“The people who have the most resources and then get the most access are the ones that can afford to pay line sitters,” she said. “It’s a system that disadvantages people without money.”

Ocasio-Cortez tweets about lobbyists paying homeless line campers – The Washington Post

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Defiant Leaker Amid White House Probe Reveals Trump Still Ticking Off ‘Executive Time’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

A defiant leaker has popped up again to reveal the president is still spending about half of his days in unstructured “executive time,” Axios reported.

Axios said last week that the president spent about 60 percent of his time — about 300 hours — in the three months since the midterm elections in “executive time,” according to copies of his leaked personal schedule.

Sources told Axios that the term is a euphemism for the time the president spends hanging out in his residence watching TV, tweeting, making phone calls and holding impromptu meetings.

Defiant Leaker Amid White House Probe Reveals Trump Still Ticking Off ‘Executive Time’ | HuffPost

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Attacking plastic waste and single-use, throwaway culture

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

The reality is that much of the plastic tossed into bins ends up in landfills, or it gets shipped overseas to countries that lack infrastructure to deal with it properly.

…Plastic was never recycled at a high level, and it’s even worse since 2018, when China closed its doors to imported mixed plastic waste. U.S. recyclers have shifted exports to countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, but those countries lack the capacity to handle the volume we’re sending, which has brought them new environmental problems.

Moreover, despite our willingness to move plastic waste around the world, only about 9% of the plastic ever made has actually been recycled. We just keep making more of the stuff. If your bathtub was overflowing, you wouldn’t immediately reach for a mop — you’d first turn off the tap. That’s what we need to do with single-use plastics.

…It’s not that there isn’t still a role for recycling in efforts to reduce trash. Cans, bottles, paper and cardboard are highly recyclable.

But we need to be more realistic about the kinds of plastic that can be effectively collected, processed and then reused. Single-stream recycling, which co-mingles different materials for collection, is convenient, but it leads to increased contamination and thus lower quality recyclables.

Even with increased investment in sorting, recycling will never be able keep up with all of the new types of plastics on the market or the ever-increasing flow of plastic waste.

Berkeley isn’t just attacking plastic waste, it’s rejecting our entire throwaway culture – Los Angeles Times

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Sonar Can Literally Scare Whales to Death, Study Finds

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Military,, Science and Stuff,Leave a comment

Between 2002 and 2014, six mass strandings took place in Greece, the Canary Islands and Almería in southeastern Spain, but the dead whales did not appear to be malnourished or sick. However, they displayed “abundant gas bubbles” throughout their veins, blood clots in multiple organs and microscopic hemorrhages “of varying severity” in body tissues.

Beached whales may have experienced “a fight or flight response” that overrode a key diving adaptation: the lowering of heart rate, which reduces oxygen consumption and prevents nitrogen accumulation. The result was hemorrhages and “massive bubble formation in their tissues,” de Quirós explained.

These symptoms of decompression sickness likely afflicted the whales after they were spooked by sonic blasts, according to the study.

Sonar Can Literally Scare Whales to Death, Study Finds

Jeezus…

Rep. Gaetz Tries To Remove Parkland Fathers From Gun Violence Hearing

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

Pointing at Oliver and Guttenberg, the Florida Republican continued to press for them to be removed from the room. “I’d observe three interruptions of my time by the same individual, and the chair is not exercising his discretion to remove that individual,” Gaetz said.

After the exchange, Guttenberg told NPR what he and Oliver had said to Gaetz in the hearing: “Manny told Gaetz his comments were not true, and I said our loved ones were killed by an American male.”

Later, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., tried to rebut Gaetz’s remarks. Listing off a number of mass shootings, Cohen noted that they were not conducted by immigrants who entered the country illegally.

Matt Gaetz Tries To Remove Parkland Fathers From Gun Violence Hearing : NPR

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Trump’s Inaugural Grift Reportedly Lined His Own Pockets

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

Last March, WNYC took note of the vast sums spent on Trump’s inauguration, which cost twice as much as the previously most expensive inaugural event, yet could not easily account for where all the extra money had gone.

…The story appeared to revolve primarily around Trump cronies using the inauguration for enrichment or political influence. …The probe also looked into whether the inaugural fund had accepted foreign money, which is prohibited.

But WNYC found in December that one possible source of overpayments included fees to Donald Trump’s Washington hotel.

…Of course, fees to Trump’s hotel go straight into the pockets of Donald Trump and his family. So these apparent tax law violations — which amount to embezzling funds from the inaugural committee through self-dealing — were carried out for their personal benefit.

Trump’s Inaugural Grift Reportedly Lined His Own Pockets

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Germany orders Facebook to change the way it gathers data

On By peanutgallerynhIn Europe,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Privacy,Leave a comment

In future, Facebook will have to seek German users’ explicit consent to collect and combine such data. Germany’s Federal Cartel Office ordered Facebook to come up with proposals for how to do this. If it doesn’t comply, the regulator can impose fines of up to 10% of the company’s annual turnover, or roughly $5.5 billion in this case.

“We are carrying out what can be seen as an internal divestiture of Facebook’s data,” said Andreas Mundt, the president of the antitrust office. “Facebook will no longer be allowed to force its users to agree to the practically unrestricted collection and assigning of non-Facebook data to their Facebook user accounts.”

…The case could have significant implications for Facebook, particularly if other antitrust regulators follow suit. Europe’s top antitrust regulator, the European Commission, said Thursday it took note of the German decision.

“Regulators are starting not just to show their teeth but to actually bite,” said Paul Bernal, a lecturer in media law at the University of East Anglia.

He said cases like this could eventually lead to regulators trying to break up Facebook because of the enormous control over data it has accumulated over the years.

Germany orders Facebook to change the way it gathers data – CNN

Trump inaugural committee suspected of conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud and money laundering, subpoena indicates

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

Donald Trump’s inaugural committee has received a subpoena for documents from prosecutors, who are reportedly probing the group for crimes including conspiracy to defraud the US, mail fraud, false statements and money laundering.

…It emerged the nonprofit organisation was under investigation over alleged misspending of the $107 [million] it had raised from donors.

The investigation is reportedly examining whether some of the committee’s donors gave money in exchange for policy concessions, influencing administration positions or access to the incoming administration.

Prosecutors also showed interest in whether any foreigners illegally donated to the committee. 

…The committee’s inaugural spending has been shrouded in controversy after it failed to account for as much as $42 [million] in spending. 

Trump inaugural committee suspected of conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud and money laundering, subpoena indicates | The Independent

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Kleptocracy Is on the Rise in America

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

During the Cold War, the KGB had developed an expert understanding of the banking byways of the West, and spymasters had become adept at dispensing cash to agents abroad. That proficiency facilitated the amassing of new fortunes. In the dying days of the U.S.S.R., Palmer had watched as his old adversaries in Soviet intelligence shoveled billions from the state treasury into private accounts across Europe and the U.S. It was one of history’s greatest heists.

…Eighteen years before Special Counsel Robert Mueller began his investigation into foreign interference in a U.S. election, Palmer warned Congress about Russian “political donations to U.S. politicians and political parties to obtain influence.” What was at stake could well be systemic contagion: Russian values might infect and then weaken the moral defense systems of American politics and business.

…Newspaper articles in the fall of 1999 showed how billions in Russian money, some of it seemingly tied to an alleged crime boss, had landed in the Bank of New York. These sums startled Bill Clinton’s administration, which readied tough new anti-money-laundering bills, designed to stiffen banking regulations. 

…For all the new fastidiousness of the financial system, foreigners could still buy penthouse apartments or mansions anonymously and with ease, by hiding behind shell companies set up in states such as Delaware and Nevada. Those states, along with a few others, had turned the registration of shell companies into a hugely lucrative racket—and it was stunningly simple to arrange such a Potemkin front on behalf of a dictator, a drug dealer, or an oligarch. …Procuring a library card requires more identification in many states than does creating an anonymous shell company.

…Birkenfeld described how he had ensconced himself in the gilded heart of the American plutocracy, attending yacht regattas and patronizing art galleries. He would mingle with the wealthy and strike up conversation. “What I can do for you is zero,” he would say, and then pause before the punch line: “Actually, it’s three zeroes. Zero income tax, zero capital-gains tax, and zero inheritance tax.” Birkenfeld’s unsubtle approach succeeded wildly, as did his bank. As part of an agreement with the Justice Department, UBS admitted to hiding assets totaling some $20 billion in American money.

…The defining document of our era is the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010. The ruling didn’t just legalize anonymous expenditures on political campaigns. It redefined our very idea of what constitutes corruption, limiting it to its most blatant forms: the bribe and the explicit quid pro quo. Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion crystallized an ever more prevalent ethos of indifference—the collective shrug in response to tax avoidance by the rich and by large corporations, the yawn that now greets the millions in dark money spent by invisible billionaires to influence elections.

…In 2017, Reuters examined the sale of Trump Organization properties in Florida. It found that 77 of 2,044 units in the developments were owned by Russians. But that was likely an incomplete portrait. More than one-third of the units had been sold to corporate vehicles, which can readily hide the identity of the true owner. As Oliver Bullough remarks, “They might have belonged to Vladimir Putin, for all anyone else could know.”

Kleptocracy Is on the Rise in America – The Atlantic

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Paul Erickson, Russian Agent Maria Butina’s Boyfriend, Indicted for Fraud

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

The indictment alleges that Erickson ran a criminal scheme from 1996 to 2018 using a chain of assisted living homes called Compass Care. Erickson also allegedly defrauded investors through a company called Investing with Dignity that claimed to be “in the business of developing a wheelchair that allowed people to go to the bathroom without being lifted out of the wheelchair.” The indictment says he also ran a fraudulent scheme that claimed to be building homes in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota.

…The couple, who lived together in South Dakota, had some kind of business together. They were listed as the sole officers of Bridges LLC, a company registered in the state in February 2016, though it’s unclear what it did or how it operated.

…Even before he was charged, Erickson was dogged by allegations of financial shadiness. …Individuals who have sued Erickson alleged in court documents that he and his companies failed to pay back loans. Some say he duped them into investing into what appeared to be nonexistent companies. Others allege Erickson used their money for personal expenses. Erickson has been sued in California, Virginia and South Dakota.

…Erickson, who represented himself as a real estate developer, planned to use his company in North Dakota to set up a transaction in the Bakken region, the sources said. But Erickson doesn’t appear to have planned on carrying out the deal, according to a 2015 judgement by a California court. And the company he represented doesn’t appear to have ever existed, according to a review of public records by The Daily Beast.

Paul Erickson, Russian Agent Maria Butina’s Boyfriend, Indicted for Fraud

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Finding all migrant children separated from their families may be impossible, feds say

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Modern Parenting,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

The Trump administration said in a court filing that reuniting thousands of migrant children separated from their parents or guardians at the U.S.-Mexico border may not be “within the realm of the possible.”

…Sualog said her office doesn’t have the resources to track down the children, whose numbers could be thousands more than the official estimate.

…“The Trump administration’s response is a shocking concession that it can’t easily find thousands of children it ripped from parents, and doesn’t even think it’s worth the time to locate each of them,” he said in a statement. “The administration also doesn’t dispute that separations are ongoing in significant numbers.”

Finding all migrant children separated from their families may be impossible, feds say

Jeezus f’ing Krrrreyest

Two Towns Forged an Unlikely Bond. Now, ICE Is Severing the Connection – Bloomberg

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Workers, not employers, have been saddled with the brunt of the punishment when companies are caught employing undocumented immigrants. The main reason is that they’re easier to prosecute. If someone is caught working without proper employment status, he or she can be prosecuted relatively easily for using fraudulent documents. When going after companies, prosecutors have to show that the employer knew that the workers didn’t have legal status and employed them anyway—a much harder case to make.

…About 8,500 people live in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and for the past five years or so, the town has averaged 200 to 300 job openings on any given day.

…The job crunch has been intense for years all over town, but increased scrutiny from ICE has made filling open slots even more challenging.

***

…In the statehouse he’s considered a moderate on immigration issues, refusing to follow some colleagues who take a harder, more nativist line. He knows businesses in his district need those workers, and he insists he’s eager to embrace them as neighbors. But why don’t they embrace Mount Pleasant? “Don’t get me wrong,” says Heaton, who’ll retire from the legislature in 2019. “The only thing that upsets me is if they’re coming, they need to blend. I don’t need ‘barrios.’ I don’t need these certain sectors where everything is still the way it was where they came from. If you’re going to meld, then meld.”

By owning up to these mixed feelings, Heaton is a true local representative, voicing opinions that a lot of others share but won’t acknowledge on the record.

…“Who the hell would pull up from where they live,” Heaton wondered, “start out on a multithousand-mile journey, heading north to illegally enter the United States? Who is it that would leave their town, split their family, the whole bit? They must be living in terrible, terrible conditions. I can’t imagine.”

***

…Urizar had been in Mount Pleasant almost three years when Walfred started attending middle school in Uspantán. The boy told his mother the school was crawling with gangs. Older boys were pressuring him to run drugs, he said. Celia was horrified. She spoke to Urizar, and they agreed that the time had come. The boy was old enough to join his father in Mount Pleasant.

…Urizar dreams of a day when all of his children will be able to travel back and forth between the two countries without fear, when they can see their parents whenever they want, and when hard work pays off in peace of mind.

That day isn’t today.

***

…Young’s pastor at the First Presbyterian Church, the Reverend Trey Hegar, had helped arrange the [unofficial] adoption [of the now deported Urizar’s son,] and his congregation raised money to help pay Young’s expenses. When the details were being worked out, Hegar had met with the members of Young’s family, trying to calm their concerns, which were far from superficial. Young might be as sharp as any 82-year-old you’ll ever meet, but she has a bad back, has trouble with stairs, and tires easily. Her family worried that the stress of taking on an undocumented child might seriously erode her health. Even Young understood that fear. But the idea of the boy living alone, orphaned in Mount Pleasant, violated her concept of fairness. “I said, ‘It’ll kill her not to do it,’ Hegar recalled. “This is what she’s living for.”

…Young ducked into the living room to introduce herself and found them slouching on the couches, absorbed in their cellphones.

…“OK, fellas, we’re gonna have a little lesson here,” she said, ordering them to put down their phones. She explained that when a lady walks into a room, they should stand. She offered them a chance for redemption, introducing herself once again. “This is where you say to me, ‘Hi, nice to meet you!’ ”

She truly hated those cellphones, and she didn’t like how Walfred seemed to be adopting his friends’ obsession with them. When the other boys left, she asked Walfred if she’d embarrassed him. “No, Grandma,” he told her. “You were great.”

…As they fished out Walfred’s checkbook, Tangkhpanya took an immediate and protective interest in the boy. She offered an impromptu lesson in balancing an account—a service she’d offered countless newcomers over the years. “People need someone to show them how to do these things,” she says.

…His lobby doubles as a Trailways bus station, and for many foreign-born workers, the Heidelberg is the gateway to Mount Pleasant. Like Tangkhpanya, he’s become an informal guide for newcomers—another example of how the second wave of immigrants is melding with the first, some of whom have created a commercial support network that can be invisible to those who don’t need to look for it.

Next to the front counter, a bank of four red telephones sits on a table, and these attract a steady stream of customers, most of them Spanish speakers who’ve just collected their paychecks. They use the phones to wire cash to places such as Guatemala and Mexico.

…This is why Walfred asked Young to bring him to the Heidelberg. He wanted to send some of his spending money back to his father.

***

…Most of the 32 workers arrested at the Mount Pleasant concrete plant in May are still waiting for their court hearings. Even Urizar, from his house in Chocox, continues to unintentionally tie up courtrooms in Iowa, and his case illustrates the confusion and clutter that permeate the system. When he was transferred to the Hardin County Detention Center, his lawyers weren’t told about the move and had to search for him. Later, at his final hearing before a judge in late June, Urizar didn’t appear in court; no one showed up at the prison to drive him to the courtroom, three hours away. Then Urizar’s lawyers weren’t able to confirm his deportation until six weeks after he’d been flown to Guatemala. Meanwhile, a criminal case against him continues, charging him with illegal reentry into the U.S. and the fraudulent misuse of identification documents, including a Social Security number. His attorneys have repeatedly tried to get the case dismissed, arguing that Urizar’s constitutional rights to due process and legal representation are violated because he can no longer consult with counsel. As of late December, the criminal case against Urizar was still active.

Two Towns Forged an Unlikely Bond. Now, ICE Is Severing the Connection – Bloomberg

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There Is No Crisis At The Border – And DHS Stats Prove It

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Due to a combination of changed demographics and improved economic conditions, the era of large-scale illegal migration by Mexicans to the U.S. – the reason cited for building a wall – is over. Today, in a phenomenon that began in the past five years, most of the people apprehended at the border are from Central America and reflect primarily the violent conditions in those countries.

…The “crisis,” from the perspective of administration officials, is that people from Central America are seeking asylum. It is not just an issue of illegal entry, since, as discussed earlier, the data show Border Patrol apprehensions of family units have actually declined slightly compared with the same period last year. Members of the administration would also like to discourage individuals from going to a lawful port of entry to avail themselves of the right under U.S. and international law to apply for asylum. Donald Trump made that clear in a tweet that declared individuals should be sent home without access to “judges or court cases.”

There Is No Crisis At The Border – And DHS Stats Prove It

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Appearance Coverage of Women Changes Vote Totals

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

The research used actual quotes about women candidates from media coverage of the 2012 elections and demonstrates that when the media focuses on a woman candidate’s appearance, she pays a price in the polls.  This finding held true whether the coverage of a woman candidate’s appearance was framed positively, negatively or in neutral terms. The second survey …found that where a woman candidate has already been attacked, sexist coverage further diminishes her vote [totals] and the perception that she is qualified.

… “Politics and Style page editors should take note: positive, negative, or neutral media coverage of a woman candidate’s appearance has a detrimental impact on the woman candidate’s race, whether the coverage is on the politics channel or style channel.  When a woman candidate’s looks become part of the election story, she loses ground,”

Name It. Change It. Releases New Research on Appearance Coverage of Women & Campaign Simulation | Name It. Change It.

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