December 1, 2014

For those on DU who feel that police "unions" are legitimate and are acting "responsibly"

ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Police Officers Association (the Police Union) has released a statement condemning the St. Louis Rams football players who entered the field displaying the "hands up don't shoot" pose.

Roorda was incensed that the Rams and the NFL would tolerate such behavior and called it remarkably hypocritical. "All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson. Our officers have been working 12 hour shifts for over a week, they had days off including Thanksgiving cancelled so that they could defend this community from those on the streets that perpetuate this myth that Michael Brown was executed by a brother police officer and then, as the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis's finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance," Roorda said.

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/11/30/stl-police-officers-association-condemns-rams-display/19721979/

December 1, 2014

With Election Over, First Order of Business Is $450 Billion Corporate Tax Break

If this doesn't piss you off, then I don't know what to say to you; but if it does piss you off, PLEASE feel free to K&R and I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts on this rapidly increasing "lid-ripping" that's going on .. exposing how we've descended free-falling into an Oligarchy, NOT a democracy by ANY stretch of the imagination.

I was just watching an absolutely devastating piece by Bill Moyers, on another string, similarly ripping the lid off for all to see, here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017229443

... could it really be that the Mannings/Snowdens/Greenwalds/Assanges of the world are now multiplying exponentially? And if so, then might not pretty-much anything now be possible?


With Election Over, First Order of Business Is $450 Billion Corporate Tax Break
Sunday, 30 November 2014 * By Dave Johnson * Truthout.org Op-Ed

The election is over. Congress is back in Washington. The first order of business after the election is to give big tax breaks to the corporations – $450 billion worth. Fortunately, President Obama is trying to do something about this.

Tax Extenders

Every year Congress renews a package of “temporary” corporate tax breaks. The renewal process is called “tax extenders” because they extend the term of these temporary breaks. So now the Congress is working on this year’s extenders package, except this time it wants to just make many of them (the ones that mostly give handouts to giant corporations and campaign donors) permanent. The Washington Post calls this process “a periodic bonanza for lobbyists.”

A few of the special tax breaks in the extenders package are really good and serve an important purpose. For example, part of the package is tax credits that provide incentives to invest in renewable energy. But most others are just giveaways and handouts to the already-wealthy, like depreciation tax breaks for people who own racehorses. (Yes, really.) Even worse, some of these are loopholes that actually encourage corporations to shift U.S. profits offshore into tax havens. (Yes, really.)

The good breaks are used to grease the wheels to slip these special favors through – as in “if you want to get those wind tax credits you’re going to have to pass a tax break for Mitt Romney’s racehorses.”

The media is reporting that Congress is near a deal on these extenders. The deal kills several “good” tax breaks that help working people and the middle class, like an expanded child tax credit for the working poor and expanded earned-income credit. The deal phases out the wind power tax credit after 2017.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) pointed out that companies that renounce their U.S. citizenship would even get special breaks from this deal:

“The package would provide a permanent boon to large corporations, even those that renounce their U.S. citizenship and invert,” he said. “And adding insult to injury, the proposed deal chooses to leave behind working families and would make things harder for millions of Americans. …The overall package is simply unacceptable and adds more than $400 billion to the debt. We need to grow the middle class, not punish those working hard to get by while always giving preferences and priority treatment to big corporations who can hire high-priced, well-funded lobbyists.”

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/27715-with-election-over-first-order-of-business-is-450-billion-corporate-tax-break

December 1, 2014

Is there ANY limit to the number of posts a DU member can frivolously flag or alert?

I'm trying to imagine a way for DU to stem the rising tide of frivolous alerts & flags I keep seeing, while serving on Jury Duty.

Don't get me wrong. I totally love the jury process, and doing jury duty too. But I feel it's increasingly being abused by lazy, thin-skinned busy-bodies who impulsively flag to impugn an OP author's character and/or motives, i.e. "eek it's a "troll!!" .. rather than accessing their creative juices to muster an adequate reply to the "offending" post.

Repeatedly I see posts flagged that are simply opinions, there's no personal attack, nor is there any other violation of DU's TOS. The post being flagged is simply an opinion the flagger did not like, they are "offended", get their panties in a bunch, and they apparently just can't restrain their fingers from leaping impulsively for the "Alert abuse" button.

I'd love to brainstorm about this; perhaps by posting an OP; but I felt inclined to check in with Admin. beforehand.

And/or maybe there IS some DU mechanism already in place that I'm not aware of. If there is I'd love to know about it.

Best regards, ~99thMonkey

November 23, 2014

Cops in Ferguson Thumb Noses at Court Order, Arrest Credentialed Journalist

I think it's high time for Federal Marshals to take over this mess, to guarantee Ferguson citizens' rights to freedom of speech and assembly, and to not be arrested. beat-up and/or killed for peacefully protesting police violence.

~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~~*

St. Louis County Police Violate Court Order By Arresting Journalist Standing on Sidewalk
And nobody seems to be in charge as grand jury decision looms
Aaron Malin * reason.com * November 23, 2014

A credentialed member of the media was arrested in Ferguson around 11:40 pm Saturday night. The arrest appeared to violate a court order issued Friday prohibiting the police from arresting law-abiding journalists.

Lieutenant Jerry Lohr of the Saint Louis County Police Department later told myself and other members of the media that the journalist was arrested for "failure to disperse" from a street, despite the fact that I, as well as approximately one hundred other protesters and media clearly witnessed the arrest take place on the sidewalk.

Saint Louis County police then tweeted from their official account that Trey Yingst, a reporter from D.C., had been arrested for failure to disperse because he "was asked to leave street by the commander and refused." The tweet was met with a backlash of dozens of contradicting reports, photos, and videos from individuals on the scene who saw what I saw: a reporter being arrested for taking photos on a public sidewalk.

http://reason.com/archives/2014/11/23/journalist-arrested-ferguson-st-louis

November 22, 2014

Jeb Bush's private companies appear to be inert & "mysterious" shells for ?

Jeb Bush’s Four Mysterious Companies Share The Same Address And Have Never Done Any Known Business
BY JOSH ISRAEL * POSTED ON NOVEMBER 21, 2014 AT 10:32 AM * THINK PROGRESS DOT ORG

Jeb Bush and his capital investment company have set up several companies that, despite being registered to his office and being approved for “any and all lawful business,” have seemingly not yet done anything. A ThinkProgress review of corporate registration records with the Florida Department of State revealed several companies registered in Bush’s name but little additional information.

In addition to his lengthy and troubled history as a business consultant and corporate board member, in recent years former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has ventured into a new territory: capital investment. Since 2008, he and his partners have registered a lengthy array of secretive companies with the state of Florida.

~ Snip ~

ThinkProgress reached out to Bush’s office to ask about what the companies are and what they are doing. A spokeswoman responded only to ask “for what purpose” was the inquiry being made. Each is based out of the same Coral Gables office suite at the historic Biltmore Hotel as his Jeb Bush & Associates consulting firm — they appear to be the only ones registered to Jeb Bush at that address.

In recent months, a few of these entities have filed disclosures with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. A July Bloomberg news story cited these in a story, entitled “Jeb Bush Raising Private Equity Funds as Campaign Weighed,” noting that a few of these companies are involved in venture capital investments in oil and gas interests. An AP story also noted that his Three B Partners is involved with Maghicle Driverless LLC, a self-driving car company.

Link to full article: http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/11/21/3594461/jeb-bush-mysterious-businesses/

November 22, 2014

Woot!! Oregon GMO Labeling Initiative LIVES!!! 1400 vote difference. Automatic STATE-WIDE RECOUNT

is now under-way.

They are asking for volunteers to assist with this massive state-wide recount, and
I just signed up. I'm so excited I almost peed my pjs.

You too can sign-up here:

OREGON: Volunteer for the Measure 92 Recount!
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=15190

November 22, 2014

Moyers: Dividing the Spoils

This is an incredibly good read, unpacking the profundity of how far the USA has fallen, from any semblance of genuine "democracy", into an ugly corporate-driven full-on Oligarchy, and then explores a number of implications and nuances.

Here's the deal: "From 2007 to 2012, the two hundred most politically active corporations in the United States spent almost $6 billion for lobbying and campaign contributions. And they received more than $4 trillion in US government contracts and other forms of assistance. That’s $760 for every dollar spent on influence, a stunning return on investment."
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/27599-dividing-the-spoils

For me personally, I both love and hate knowing about this, I love it because I'd rather know than not-know as a principle; but damn, I hate knowing that we have all been so thoroughly "had" by such a pitiful handful of exceedingly greedy money grubbers.

This graphic pretty much sums-up for me the brutal irony of it all, how these Oligarchs routinely
"hire 1/2 the workers to oppress and/or kill the other half" <-- quote (paraphrased)
~Jay Gould, 19th Century railroad tycoon's stated strategy to kill unions.

November 21, 2014

Yet ANOTHER major bank executive found dead in NYC apartment bathtub

Most other news outlets are saying this is an "apparent suicide", yet the last sentence below seems to indicate that Police are still investigating as possible homicide ... the "no weapon was found" is quite puzzling. Not sure if that means that no knife or razor blade was found, in which case it would HAVE to be a homicide ... wouldn't it?

US BANKER FOUND DEAD IN BATHTUB WITH THROAT SLIT
Reuters * Nov. 19, 2014

New York police are investigating the death of a man found with his throat slashed in a bathtub and identified by local media as a prominent banker, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Police responding to a 911 call discovered the lifeless body in an apartment in Manhattan's downtown financial district on Tuesday afternoon. The 42-year-old victim was declared dead at the scene. Police did not reveal his identity.

The New York Post said the victim was Shawn Miller, a managing director at Citigroup
Citigroup said Miller was the managing director of its environment and social risk management team.

"We are deeply saddened by this news and our thoughts are with Shawn's family at this time," Citigroup said in a statement.
There were no signs of forced entry, no weapon was found and the motive remains unknown, police said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-usa-crime-banker-20141119-story.html

November 18, 2014

Let's get this straight re: today's ISIS beheading on NBC News

Did I hear them say that this video was different from past ones, in that
1) there were readily identifiable ISIS perps on camera crystal clear, no hoods
or ski masks ... PLUS ..
2) I totally thought I heard them say that unlike in the past, the
guy being beheaded was completely hooded during beheading.

Did I get both those right? anyone?

THIS IS ON NBC Nightly News w/ Brian Williams

November 16, 2014

"Torture Is State Terror" UN Special Rapporteur on Torture

He ALSO states near the end, that it's THE PEOPLE'S RESPONSIBILITY to hold our leaders accountable, in so many words.