Gov’t & Trade – Page 10

2015061520150615

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

2015061120150611

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

2015053120150924

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

2015053120150531

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

2015052720150804

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.

2015052420150524

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

Gay rights advance in Ireland and are defended by a Vermont mom

There's a big gay rainbow over Dublin, if that's not Jesus giving the Yes vote I don't know what is pic.twitter.com/p38LKtLgOv

— Karl (@karltims) May 22, 2015

In honor of Ireland’s historic vote to allow same-sex marriage throughout the country, Truthout’s Senior Editor William Rivers Pitt shared this fabulous Letter to the Editor from a Vermont mother addressing the community of neighbors that began tormenting her son from age 6, mercilessly bullying him and calling him a “fag” because he didn’t walk and have the same interests as other students. In 2000 Sharon Underwood wrote: read more

20150518

Taking pix of or on a plane can get you clipped wings or worse

In the continuing saga of how weird America has become, HuffPost reports on the Kafka-esque rules concerning airplanes and cameras.

It’s not illegal or even against airline policy to take photos or video of airplanes, on airplanes or of airline staff. But if you do, the staff can decide to blacklist you, remove you from flights or create a report about your “bad behaviour”. They can also decide to do nothing and let you snap, or film, away without any consequences whatsoever. And by the way, these unpublished rules, not made accessible to the public, are subject to change without notice. read more

20150514

Real companies don’t call to offer tech support: end robocalls

Consumer’s Union wants us to know about a robocall scam that has victimized way too many people:

Benita from Washington, DC, wrote in with this warning about a phone scam where the caller pretends to be offering tech support:

“Have you received a call telling you that they notice that you are having problems with your computer, and you should go to “run” and enter a code — which would allow them to take over your computer and repair your problem? This is a major SCAM and your computer will be corrupted. Hang up — do not continue call.” read more

2015051020150510

A short list of remarkable truth-telling journalists

After reporting on Colbert’s public attack on David Koch at a Time Magazine Gala, journalist David Harris Gershon shares his list of truth-telling US journalists we should honor and pay close attention to.

Honor, because they are ‘swimming upstream’ in an era of cowardly and self-interested reporting. He starts off with, “Stewart. Colbert. Maher (at times),” and expands his list to include:

As According to Fish and kovie point out, it’s important to recognize those journalists and political commentators who swim upstream in their efforts to serve as truth-tellers, such as (to name just a few of my favorites) Amy Goodman, Bill Moyers, Robert Scheer, Paul Krugman, Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald. read more

20150508

Obamas celebrate Native American youth with website & tribal gathering

The White House launched its new Generation Indigenous (Gen-I) portal to serve as a one-stop shop for Native youth.

The Gen-I initiative focuses on improving the lives of Native youth through new investments and increased engagement. This initiative takes a comprehensive, culturally appropriate approach to ensure all young Native people can reach their full potential. Gen-I will help improve the lives of Native youth by promoting a national dialogue and policies and programs to mobilize and cultivate the next generation of Native leaders. Key programs address: education, health and nutrition, juvenile justice, housing, and youth engagement. read more

2015050120150501

Why my husband is finally paying child support

For a long time – years, in fact – I didn’t want to point the law at my husband to help me collect unpaid child support. I thought about the welfare of his minor children in Colombia and the fact that as an undocumented immigrant my son’s dad could be jailed for a while and then deported. None of which wouldn’t do any member of two families any good.

But things change. So, what did change?

For one thing, our children grew up. Luís’ youngest child is older than my son Ari by about three years, which means that right now he’s about 23. He also no longer lives in Colombia – his mom re-married and took their son to Curação, where they live comfortably with her new husband. read more

2015043020150903

Facebook also blocks mention of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

Facebook is 0 for 2 today. Doing a great job suppressing the progressive voice, which is not surprising given its founder is a great friend of conservative darling @corybooker and heavily supports the conservative agenda.

A few minutes ago I reported that Facebook wouldn’t let me share news about Newark’s new civilian police review board. Now they won’t let me share a Bernie Sanders quote either…

Most Americans, their reality is that they’re working longer hours and for lower wages ~ Bernie Sanders read more

2015043020150503

Facebook blocks news about Newark’s new civilian police review board

Facebook wouldn’t let me share a NJ.com article about Mayor Ras Baraka signing into law Newark’s new civilian police review board. This is what I wrote them:

Racists who rejoice in black and brown men being killed want to block this news from being shared. It’s completely legitimate content posted in a major newspaper about the signing into law of a Newark police review board.