Kimi Blog – Page 34

20150619

New report: Walmart has hidden 10s of $BILLIONS of revenue to evade taxes

Americans for Tax Fairness has published their findings of a Walmart tax evasion investigation. I’m not devious enough to quickly understand how Walmart is doing this, and I sure don’t know if what it’s legal, but I’m glad to know eyebrows are being raised.

Their scheme goes something like this: Walmart has lied in corporate earnings filings about how much money they’ve sent overseas. They have stashed that money in secret accounts, mostly in Luxembourg, to avoid paying United States taxes on it. An interesting sidebar is that they now Walmarts wants to bring a lot of that money back into the US in order to expand their operation – again, without paying taxes on the earnings it represents. This just stinks, don’t you think? read more

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Haitians in the DR: genocide by exclusion & statelessness

A tragedy of epic proportions will unfold in the Dominican Republic this week (15 June 2015), unless a miracle happens. Yet around the globe politicians, clergymen, public figures and We The People are by and large, not talking about it.

Friends, let us pray for Haiti. Let us talk about the plight of people on Haitian descent on both countries in the island of Hispaniola: God, please deliver the people of Haiti and those of Haitian descent who have been living in the Dominican Republic. Keep these people well! Bless them with good food, comfortable shelter and the means to rebuild their lives and make Haiti a strong and proud nation once again. read more

20150615

Billy Holiday’s Strange Fruit was written by a Jewish man

Strange Fruit, the haunting song made famous by Billy Holiday and named the Song of the Century by Time magazine in 1999, is a fearsome ballad about Black people hung from trees after lynching. An interesting little known fact about this song is that its author was Abel Meerpol, a Jewish man from the Bronx.

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Christie’s dismal record on union/labor rights just got worse

Christie has assaulted vulnerable New Jersey residents and labor rights all the years of his governorship. Next City shares the low-down on what Christie’s gotten away with, and how he’s done it.

Take public education: having promised when he was campaigning to take care of New Jersey’s teachers, after getting into office Christie proceeded to systematically destroy public ed, along with teachers’ and students lives and the bloodshed is far from over. Newark and Camden have been among the communities hardest hit. read more

20150610

Jimi Hendrix’ days as a poor guitarist in Englewood

Before Jimi Hendrix was a rock star idol, he was a supremely talented guitar player who lived at the Isley Brothers’ home in Englewood, New Jersey (my hometown). Tribute concert tonight in Morristown.

Isley brother reflects on Jimi Hendrix’s Englewood days

Thanks Gary for sharing this story. Fun piece of Englewood history.

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Free YMCA sleep away camp for 7-12 year old Newark kids

A glorious 2-week sleep away camp adventure for Newark children ages 7-12 is waiting for your child at a YMCA camp in Newton, NJ – and it will cost you nothing but a phone call! Activity options include archery, bike riding, craft making, boat paddling, nature walks, swim lessons and much more in a safe, well supervised lakeside setting where kids can relax, bond and enjoy clean, healthy, outdoor fun and fantastic meals.

Secure your child’s spot by calling Matt of Fairview Lakes YMCA: office 973-383-9282 or mobile 201-618-5880. read more

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Don’t be fooled – Christie’s still bent on destroying public ed & New Jersey

It’s more than laughable that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is suddenly trying to show the nation that he cares about public education and the teachers whose lives, finances and careers he’s been systematically destroying ever since taking office two elections ago. It should be next to impossible to show something that isn’t real, but we’re talking about a public relations genius who got elected in 2013 on the strength of mistruth whoppers, namely:

Christie hugged Obama to make himself look like a moderate Republican ready to reach over the aisle to form an alliance with Democrats to care for the people of his state when tragedy struck.
Christie acts like he cares about New Jersey residents hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy.

The facts are that Christie has no love for the President. He hasn’t “done a good enough job distributing the (Sandy recovery funds) New Jersey has already received” and he refuses to release $500 million of federal recovery funds to applicants that have been qualified as eligible for help. Christie’s political grandstanding also arguably cost New Jersey schools hundreds of millions of dollars. read more

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Listed: Christie’s dismal record of caring for New Jersey

It isn’t just the George Washington Bridge that Christie has obstructed in his home state. Here’s an excellent list from One New Jersey showing many of the ways Gov. Chris Christie has failed to do his job. Sections include:

Jobs Lost – NJ Falling Behind
New Jersey Families Falling Behind Crumbling Infrastructure & Rising Costs
Abusing Taxpayer Money
Taxpayer-Funded Corporate Bailouts
And No Job Gains Budget Mismanagement: Costing NJ Taxpayers

20150529

Congressman Bill Pascrell says NO WAY to TPP at press conference

At a press conference at UFCW in Clifton, Congressman Bill Pascrell on 28 May 2015 announced his opposition to “Fast-Track authority” of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is now headed for Congressional vote. Although the bill to Fast Track the TPP bill was recently approved by the Senate, New Jersey’s Bob Menendez and Cory Booker voted against it, and now Cong. Pascrell will have his chance to do the same.

Truthout offers an explanation of what Fast Track is and why Americans should rally against it. read more

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Bernie Sanders’ use of tech is way ahead of the pack

Friend Tom Elliot says:

You should check out Bernie’s 404 page error message on his website. Just go there and tag onto the address a page you know couldn’t be there. I did berniesanders.com/hillary (clicking on that link will bring you to a web page with the 404 page not found error message). I’m beginning to see him as a real sleeper, probably the only true populist in the race.

20150526

Google maps search for N***** House returned: the White House

It’s an embarrassment to the search giant that Google Maps produced highly inappropriate racist results, even though it happened because racist terms are often shared on the internet. A Wired reporter explains:

It was discovered that when searching for “n***a house” and “n***a king,” Maps returned a surprising location: the White House. A search for “slut’s house” led to an Indiana women’s dorm. Initially, you may have suspected this to be the work of a lone vandal, or even a coordinated campaign. But Google Maps gave racist, degrading results not because it was compromised, but because the internet itself is racist and degrading … It … means that if enough people online refer to a specific place using vile epithets, even one of the most recognizable landmarks in the United States can be reduced to racist garbage. read more

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Feel-good social analysis fails to show how real change happens

the wire hbo image — HBO’s The Wire (Photo courtesy of HBO)

Through analyzing what’s wrong with The Wire, Dave Zirin takes a hard look at what is missing altogether from supposedly progressive TV shows that supposedly delve into the social injustices that are screaming for attention all across the US recently. Interesting read. Dave says:

I always shoved it to the back of my mind when my friends in Baltimore – I live about 45 minutes from the city – almost uniformly would tell me they either did not like or would not watch the show. People were hostile toward The Wire for a multiplicity of reasons. Some felt it was like gangster rap for a more sophisticated audience, glorifying black-on-black hyper-masculine street violence while selling itself as somehow more literate and ennobling to consume. My friend Mark once pissed me off fiercely when he told me that my favorite show was “NWA for people who read The New Yorker.” read more

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Prison to Whole Foods Pipeline: artisanal foods crafted by inmates

Prison work in progress — Flickr: kathrynsdays / Via Kathryndays Flickr

Fortune publishes the oddest stuff. This intriguing article covers the burgeoning artisanal food prison business, thriving because its labor force is prison inmates that earn – get this – 60¢ an hour. Although, Colorado Corrections Institute director Steve Smith points out, a whole $3-400 a month can be earned with incentives (emphasis mine). Naturally, the prison industry itself profits handsomely from these relationships as middleman and overseer, making it pretty clear what has been driving Big Money’s strategy to lock up 1% of the United States population. The US is returning to a slave labor model … and calling it “help” for prison inmates. UK politics professor Genevieve LeBaron says, read more

20150523

Bill Benzon writes rocking tribute to B.B. King

My friend Bill Benzon writes a sweet tribute to B.B. King on his New Savanna blog. Bill plays trumpet and in the 80s, once opened for The King in an Albany venue.

My memories of the Albany gig are a bit richer. To be sure, as I recall, King’s music was better at that SPAC gig, for the music comes and goes even with the best of them. Our manager (and saxophonist) Ken Drumm had seen to it that King had champagne waiting for him when he arrived in his dressing room and that got us an opportunity to meet him after the gig. But we had to line up with everyone else – mostly middle-aged ladies in big hats and Sunday dresses – and wait our turn. We didn’t have more than a minute, if that, in the man’s presence. read more