Ultra-Rich ‘Philanthrocapitalist’ Class Undermining Global Democracy: Report
As foundations and wealthy individuals funnel money into global development, what “solutions” are they pursuing?
From Warren Buffett to Bill Gates, it is no secret that the ultra-rich philanthropist class has an over-sized influence in shaping global politics and policies.
And a study (pdf) just out from the Global Policy Forum, an international watchdog group, makes the case that powerful philanthropic foundations—under the control of wealthy individuals—are actively undermining governments and inappropriately setting the agenda for international bodies like the United Nations.
Take back America: Boycott abusers and elect community-minded politicians
Great saying: the meaning of privilege
Privilege is when you think something is not a problem because its not a problem to you personally.
~ Troy Singleton
Via Archange Antoine on Facebook
85 rich people’s wealth equals what world’s poorest half own & other sad economic truths
Oxfam introduces its Jan 2014 report Working for the Few with a quote from US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we cannot have both.” The report is concerned with the “growing tide of inequality” and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a very few individuals.
The report shares these startling statistics:
Bernie Sanders: Koch Bros want to end equality, dignity and hope in America. Don’t let them.
Bernie Sanders lays out exactly what the Koch Brothers want.
With money comes power, and these guys have plenty of money, so watch out America: the Koch Brothers wealth increased by $12B in 2014. They are after your food stamps and other nutrition programs. They want Obamacare dismantled … and same for the United States Post Office, Social Security and housing assistance programs. They want prison populations increased and public education, gone forever. They want to house our parents and grandparents in homes where they decide what food and care they will get.
Uber CEO calls it: the GOP objects to Obamacare because it frees workers
Biden helped put millions in prison & tightened noose on student loans
Along with Bill Clinton, Biden helped drastically increase the United States prison population. According to the ACLU 1 in 99 US adults are living in prison and, “One in 31 adults are under some form of correctional control, counting prison, jail, parole and probation populations.”
Play about Central Park’s land 1825 Black Village showing at Kean U through 9/20.
…help justify destroying people’s homes and cemeteries, using eminent domain to make way for what would become the most visited city park in the country. The village was leveled in 1857, the same year construction began on Central Park.
US Colonel: slavery was the SINGLE reason for the Civil War (video)
Colonel Ty Seidule, Professor of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point, sets the record state on the question of what the reason was for the United States Civil War. In this interesting short video Col. Seidule makes the case that the single reason was slavery. Does a good job with it, too.
Here are some highlights:
The buzz term “States’ Rights” was coined by Southern state residents and referred to the right they believed they possessed, to continue slavery.
Ramos is a champion of truth and real reporting, not a disrupter
Anyone who thinks of criticizing Univision’s Jorge Ramos for confronting Donald Trump on August 25, should know what Ramos experienced with Trump before the confrontation … should also understand why Ramos felt it was important for him, as one of the US Latino community’s most notable leaders, to get Trump’s immigration policy out in the open and on record … and should definitely understand the sorry state into which United States journalism has fallen in recent decades. Those who do, will appreciate Ramos for taking a stand in defense of real reporting and will applaud his bravery and service to the public.
Thousands join mayor’s Occupy the City rally on Saturday to support Newark, youth & to stamp out violence
Led by Rapper-activist-actor Common joined Mayor Ras J. Baraka, the Newark Municipal Council and actor-rapper-activist Common, thousands of Newark residents united to “Occupy the City” on Saturday, August 8, meeting at a designated location in each of Newark’s five wards at 3:30 pm and marching to the City’s historic downtown “Four Corners” at Broad and Market Streets for a huge anti-violence and community support rally.
Building on the success and support from Newark residents during his “Occupy the Block events, Mayor Baraka hosted the “Occupy the City” event to unite residents against despair, violence, and crime in Newark and to promote love, hope and empowerment. “Occupy the Block” is a community engagement tool modeled after the historic “Occupy” movement, which advocates the social disruption of harmful or ineffective social constructs. Marchers wore purple t-shirts specially made for the occasion.
When police become revenue agents to keep towns fiscally solvent
The community policing model becomes completely distorted when policeman – the civil servants you’re most likely to see and interact with in the course of a normal day – are turned into revenue producing instruments by the cities they work for. When a police officer’s job depends on whether s/he can generate enough revenue to keep his employer out of bankruptcy, a lot of people are going to be unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are going to be people grievously harmed, or excessively fined, for behaviour that shouldn’t be a big deal.
Obama at Georgetown on breaking the cycle of poverty. Real talk.
At the Georgetown University #PovertySummit President Obama made some very real comments, tying his own background to modern society’s challenges in the areas of education and social investment; access to jobs, internet, transportation; mentoring, youth, fatherhood, families and community:
I am a black man who grew up without a father, and I know the cost that I paid for that. And I also know that I have the capacity to break that cycle, and as a consequence I think that my daughters are better off … For me to have that conversation does not negate my conversation about the need for early childhood education, or the need for job training, or the need for investment in infrastructure or jobs in low-income communities…
Exploitation by the light-skinned a tradition in the Dominican Republic and Ted Cruz’ Cuba
Sen. Ted Cruz is an elitist Cuban-American, representative of Cuban plantation owners who imported and exploited African slaves for generations. A lesson plan from PBS’ Black in Latin America feature shows that by persecuting Haitians the Dominican Republic is simply following Cuba’s tradition of persecuting dark-skinned workers once the workers have been exploited to breaking point. This is the Cuban history:
When revolution broke out in the French colony of Saint Domingue (later known as Haiti), sugar production there came to a virtual halt. This caused a sudden demand for sugar. Cuban plantation owners quickly stepped in to fill the gap created by neighboring Haiti, placing Cubans in a position to profit immensely. By the mid-1800’s, Cuba replaced Haiti as the world’s leading producer of sugar, making Cuban plantation owners very wealthy. Sugar is a very labor intensive and the increased pressure to fill market demand for this lucrative crop resulted in a high death rate among slaves. Plantation owners responded to the labor shortage by purchasing more slaves thereby reinvigorating the Transatlantic slave trade even after the British sought to curtail it.