Re: [blind-democracy] Making Puerto Rico the New New Orleans - Steal the Schools and Give Them to Big Business to Run For Profit

Remember the Biblical warning? "As you sow, so shall you reap." The
American Corporate Empire(ACE) ruling class, through its emphasis on
Profit over Education, is teaching our children a lesson that will
come back to bite the Empire in its backside.
Self serving and Greed go hand in hand down that broad, smooth road to
self destruction.

Carl Jarvis

On 11/10/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> What I heard on yesterday's Flashpoints, was a story about a very well
> functioning community public school, cleaned up by the community, which was
> not permitted to re-open, while a badly damaged, poorly run school was
> re-opened. This was in San Juan.
> Miriam
>
> Making Puerto Rico the New New Orleans – Steal the Schools and Give Them to
> Big Business to Run For Profit
> Published on
> Friday, November 10, 2017
> by
> Common Dreams
> Making Puerto Rico the New New Orleans – Steal the Schools and Give Them to
> Big Business to Run For Profit
> Celebrating teachers who refuse to back down despite the forces of
> prejudice
> and commerce stacked against them
> by
> Steven Singer
>
> Mercedes Martinez, president of the Federacion de Maestros of Puerto Rico,
> was among those unionized teachers recently arrested protesting the
> attempted takeover of the island's public schools. (Photo: Courtesy of the
> author)
>
> Charter school backers can't help it.
>
> They see a bunch of black or brown kids displaced by a natural disaster and
> they have to swoop in to help…
>
> Help themselves, that is.
>
> They did it in 2005 to New Orleans schools after Hurricane Katrina. Now
> they
> want to do it again in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
>
> "This is a real opportunity to press the reset button," said Puerto Rican
> Secretary of Education Julia Keleher.
>
> "…this [is a] transformational opportunity for us to start to think
> fundamentally differently about what it is to be in school, and how one
> goes
> about getting an education."
>
> IMG_8573
>
> A dozen years ago in Louisiana, that meant stealing almost the entire New
> Orleans public school system in the aftermath of Katrina. About 90 percent
> of the city's 126 schools were given to the Louisiana Recovery School
> District, which turned them all into charter schools.
>
> In effect, Louisiana state officials elected by the white majority stole
> control from local school boards elected by the city's black majority. More
> than 7,000 teachers most of whom were people of color and had been
> displaced
> by the hurricane found themselves replaced by mostly white teachers brought
> in from other parts of the country.
>
> Now, more than 10 years later, the New Orleans experiment has been shown to
> be a failure. Scores on standardized tests have improved (kinda), but the
> curriculum has narrowed, teacher turnover has doubled, disadvantaged and
> special education students have even fewer resources while schools fight
> over high achieving children, students spend hours being bused to schools
> far from their homes, communities have been erased, and parents have less
> control over how their own tax dollars are spent.
>
> That is what Keleher and others want to repeat in Puerto Rico – wrest
> control away from the public and give it to big business all wrapped up in
> a
> bow.
>
> Screen Shot 2017-11-09 at 12.34.02 PM
>
> Why?
>
> Public schools come with expensive perks like local control, transparent
> budgets and regulations to ensure all the money is being spent on students.
> It's much cheaper to run these districts with unelected bureaucrats,
> closed-door budgets and the ability to grab as much of the cash as possible
> and stuff it into their own pockets.
>
> It's not like anyone's going to complain. These schools aren't for rich
> white kids. They're for poor brown ones.
>
> It's just colonialism, 2017 style!
>
> IMG_8572
>
> Jeanne Allen thinks that's a great idea.
>
> The founder and CEO of school privatization lobbying group, the Center For
> Education Reform, said that charterization is the best thing that could
> happen to Puerto Rican schools.
>
> After dealing with the immediate effects of the hurricane, reformers
> "should
> be thinking about how to recreate the public education system in Puerto
> Rico." And she should know. Allen was also involved in the New Orleans
> fiasco turning that system over to big business.
>
> She added that charter school operators across the nation, including cyber
> charter school managers (whose schools often have even more wretched
> academic results), should be thinking about how to get involved in Puerto
> Rico post-Maria.
>
> Keleher has already begun laying the groundwork.
>
> Even though many Puerto Rican schools are only operational because of the
> work of teachers who have cleaned them up and have opened them despite
> being
> told not to by Keleher's administration, the Education Secretary has
> pledged
> to lay off massive amounts of teachers and permanently close more schools –
> even schools that are structurally sound.
>
> "Consolidating schools makes sense," Keleher said in October. "They can go
> out and protest in the streets, but that doesn't change the fact that we
> can't go back to life being the same as it was before the hurricane."
>
> Puerto Rican teachers aren't letting the vultures swoop in without protest.
>
> IMG_8571
>
> Just this week twenty-one teachers in the capitol of San Juan were arrested
> during a rally at the Education Department headquarters. They were
> demanding
> all structurally sound schools be opened immediately.
>
> "Our schools have served students well and although we recognize that it
> can
> be expensive to repair some schools, what we are asking is that schools
> that
> are ready be opened," said social worker Alba Toro just before the arrests.
>
> Administration officials are claiming the teachers were taken into custody
> because they physically attacked the civil servants, but witnesses say the
> protest was entirely peaceful.
>
> image
>
> According to Education Safety Commissioner César González, the protesters
> assaulted at least three security employees and a public relations employee
> while inside the building.
> However, protestors dispute this version of events. Eulalia Centeno, who
> was part of the group that went inside the building, but left before the
> arrests began, said that no violent acts were committed and that the
> protesters only demanded to see the secretary to request the opening of
> public schools.
>
> Seven weeks after the hurricane, less than half of the island's nearly
> 1,200
> public schools are open in any capacity. Though many schools endured severe
> storm and flood damage, others were repaired and cleaned to shelter
> hurricane victims and are ready to take in students.
>
> "Keleher is using the crisis as an opportunity to close hundreds of public
> schools, lay off senior teachers and privatize public education," says
> Mercedes Martinez, President of the Federacion de Maestros of Puerto Rico,
> an island teachers union.
>
> IMG_8570Martinez was one of the teachers arrested during the protest.
>
> When she was taken out of the building in handcuffs, her son was
> photographed leaning over a railing and patting his mother on the shoulder.
>
> This is what real heroes do.
>
> They refuse to back down despite the forces of prejudice and commerce
> stacked against them.
>
> Will we let the charter school vampires suck Puerto Rico dry?
>
>
>
>
> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
> License
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Re: [blind-democracy] Americanisation fragile

, as I've said before, you are a carbon copy of the Christian fanatic,
only you put Allah's banner on the top of your flag pole in place of
the Cross.
You wrote, "Allah blessed you
with numerous bounties to test whether you will be grateful or ungrateful.
This is His divine statute, glory be to Him."
And what about those several millions of Indigenous People already
caring for this bountiful land? Are you suggesting that Allah is
prejudiced against the American Indian? Did Allah "allow" White
Europeans to enslave Black Africans because the Europeans needed to
learn how to play nice to Blacks? Or had those bad Africans earned
the enslavement that crushed them for hundreds of years? Allah, may
He rest in peace, and God, let Him rest eternally, are simply Make
Believe Genies. They may be called on as friendly Genies if times are
good, and they can be sent back into their lantern when times are bad.
That makes more sense than pretending that Allah and God are allowing
one people to crush another in order to "allow" them an opportunity
to test their gratitude." Huh??? Say that again? This is exactly
the same babble that the Southern Radio Evangelist shouts to his
devoted Jesus Lovers.
If God and Allah are the best Gods we can dream up, what more proof do
you need to demonstrate that both come from within Man's limited Dream
World?

Carl Jarvis





On 11/9/17, Bob <ebob824@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The United States is a prominently spacious territory. It is close to be a
>
> continent. It is known for its unevidently tautened principles of
> democracy, justice and equality. However, these values are intemperately
> sniped with bigotry, xenophobia, racial segregation, pride, hate
> incitement, derision and mass impudence. Americans often have these concepts
>
> mixed up. Free speech and hate rhetoric, the right to bear arms and gun
> violence, liberty and travesty, pride and dignity. Politics torn your nation
>
> apart. Therefore, your imperial era is about to diminish. Allah blessed you
>
> with numerous bounties to test whether you will be grateful or ungrateful.
> This is His divine statute, glory be to Him. What brought Donald Trump to
> oval office? Despite what was being said about Russian meddling in past
> elections, Allah is willing to providentially penalise wrongdoers. Donald
> Trump is obviously rapscallion, racialist, bigoted, unreliable,
> unconscionable, propagandist, dishonourable, misanthrope, prurient,
> flamboyant, aweless and dissembler. He won against his rivals with
> exercising fallacious rhetoric. He abhorrently dissed each and everyone. He
>
> despicably affronted politicians, journalists and public figures. We heard
> his emphatically offensive remarks against many people. This is why educated
>
> Americans are so upset. They are taken aback of this unpresidential
> character to be elected. This is the divine manner. Allah says in the Koran
>
> what could be meaningly rendered as namely. And when We would destroy a
> township, We send commandment to its folk who live at ease, and afterward
> they commit abomination therein, and so the Word of doom hath effect for it,
>
> and we annihilate it with complete annihilation. This is a commentary based
>
> translation of verse sixteen in chapter seventeen. This verse matches your
>
> election conclusion in unrivalled precision. Donald Trump is enormously
> affluent and thence, he is eligible to lead a nation that is based on
> capitalistic tenets. He is deficient of basic adequacy to manage a nursery
> or a small shop. His character matches what I call typical nescience in
> imbecility. What arrogance does? Arrogance makes its bearer blinded to see
> the truth. When you speak disparagingly of other traditions, this is the
> beginning of your end. America's reputable status is on its edge to
> collapse. You may respectfully disagree with other people. However, it
> certainly becomes a problem when this disagreement turns into unsolicited
> conflict. You may criticise others or even debate their views on particular
>
> issues. Withal, it is a trouble if you desperately demand to intolerantly
> demonise others to relentlessly justify your hostile stance. Why don't you
> folks learn from Canada? Canada is notably recognised for its distinctive
> factors of practically promoting diversity and multiculturalism. What is
> multiculturalism in Canada? It is the doctrine that several different
> cultures rather than one can coexist peacefully and equitably in a single
> country. So, you could commonly encounter bits and bobs of everything. You
> don't have to forcefully be painted with certain colour to be welcomed
> there. This is the plain difference between Canada and the States. In the
> States, you have got to be Americanised in some form or another to be
> accepted. This is what I call, the dominating disease of racism. Abraham
> Lincoln emancipated slaves but unfortunately, he treated the symptom and
> disposed the disease. Slavery was the symptom but racial disparity is
> actually the disease. I will always repeat this assertion, racism has to be
>
> portrayed as a deadly sinful act. Otherwise, change won't occur anytime
> soon. As for the recently aggrieved mass shooting of Texas, controversial
> arguments about gun control rose again. Why many members of the National
> Rifle Association act carelessly about gun safety and regulation? Despite
> the recurrence of fatal mass shootings in various places, American
> legislative committees decline to significantly straighten the situation
> out. People aren't safe at Churches, concerts, malls, medical centres,
> campuses or school complex. Trump said in multiple occasions that he take
> cares of all Americans. Subsequent to New York's truck callous assault, he
> called for more intense procedures and extremely enforced vetting to insure
>
> potential terrorists aren't issued visas. However, he nearly acted
> heedlessly concerning the massive shooting incident in Texas. Isn't that a
> clear sign of double standard? This is the relentless prob I have been
> encountering with your justice system for consecutive decades. I knew for
> certain, many sensible and just Americans aren't so pleased with what is
> happening in their country. Americans became numb to such incidents.
> Terrorism in their minds is only affiliated with Muslims. They aren't
> stringent in their assessment. This is why I am often tempestuous with
> American set of standards. This disposal of practicing double standard is
> immensely prevalent. Whenever a white guy commits mass murder, he is
> incessantly labelled as mentally imbalanced. However, if a Muslim committed
>
> that crime, he would have been instantly classified as a dire Muslim radical
>
> and the incident would have been considered an act of terror. The portrait
> is now clearer than ever before. The question is, for how long will we lie
> to ourselves? It is distinctly plain that we aren't equal in their minds to
>
> the white citizen who happend to be born there. Despite their insistence to
>
> deny this conclusion, evidence for it are gigantically triumphal. I do not
> destine to unfairly extrapolate. I just desire to seek equatable justice. I
>
> attentively followed a three hours live coverage of the incident on Youtube.
>
> I think it was published by ABC Radio. The show host spoke reasonably and
> his remote guests were competently sane in their discussion. That is one of
>
> the reasons why I believe sensible Americans out there aren't generically
> satisfied with the current situation. The problem will firmly be fixed if we
>
> redressed what is in my so humble opinion, a grave misinterpretation of the
>
> second amendment. I rendered my entailment on its essence previously. I
> won't ingeminate this for now. I did not take the literal meaning of the
> text. I rather went deeper to the legal spirit of the statute to properly
> derive consistent discernment. It needs to be reviewed with further
> accuracy, accountability and unprejudiced temperament. Thank you so much for
>
> loyally reading this piece. I keenly look forward to hearing from you. Bob
>
>
>

Re: [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like this?

This is great! A topic we can all have an opinion on, and each of us
is exactly right. Of course there are hereditary factors that come
into play, like, you can't train a Mastiff to behave like a lap dog.
Unless you have one heck of a big lap. But dogs are basically dogs.
They come from long lines of human contact, and unlike so many of us,
they know not to bite the hands that feed them. Whether a dog is
taught to be a dog guide for the blind, or a service dog for a
disabled person, or a watch dog for guarding property, or a sheep dog
that herds the flock, the major difference is in the training. Sure,
generations of selective breeding has made it easier to train
different breeds for specific tasks, but keep in mind what happens
when a dog is not trained at all. When I was a boy during WW II,
German Shepard's were considered to be killer dogs. They were used by
the Germans as attack dogs, among other tasks. Bright and aggressive.
After the war lots of young macho guys made pets out of this breed,
both as personal guard animals, but also to demonstrate their
machoness. On several occasions I was either bitten or threatened by
out of control German Shepard's. Yet this was the breed selected by
Guide Dogs for their use in serving the needs of the blind.
Because of their high intelligence, they trained easily and remained
trained even under total neglect by their blind companions. The same
is true of any large breed of dog. Pit Bulls for example, are said to
be bred as fighting animals. Yet over the years I have known many
gentle, playful Pit Bulls. I also had a neighbor whose vicious Pit
Bull would break off his unbreakable chain and terrorize the
neighborhood. Once he chased the fellow across the street up a
ladder, climbing halfway up before his poorly trained owner got him
down. Another time I rescued a young woman pushing a stroller with
her baby, shouting for her to run into my house before the dog reached
them. We just slammed the door in the teeth of that monster. I
called the police and they dispatched a 90 pound lady cop who sat in
her car and honked her horn until the dog ran through the hedge and
into its yard. I was so mad that I called the police station and
ranted. After all the complaints regarding that dog, and they send
one officer, unarmed except with a gun, to defuse that wild mutt? And
the dog outweighed her! They ordered, for about the tenth time, that
our neighbor keep his dog on an unbreakable chain. But here's an
interesting sidelight. When the neighbor was in his yard, his dog was
off the leash and totally obedient. They could be inches from the
sidewalk as I passed by, and that dog simply stared at me without
moving a muscle. But I could read his mind!
Rusty lived behind us. An even bigger Pit Bull. We were tearing down
an old fence between our yards, when Rusty and his family returned
from shopping. Arms full of packages, the mother and her two
youngsters turned for just a second. Rusty saw Cathy and me standing
at the back of our yard. Like a brown streak, Rusty launched himself
over the downed fence and hit Cathy squarely in the chest, knocking
her to the ground. With forefeet on her chest Rusty began licking
Cathy's face.
Two big Pit Bulls, one well trained as a guard dog and the other
raised with love and not much in the way of discipline.
I must admit that I am not a good dog trainer. I spoil them, much as
I spoiled my children. But animals respond to love and gentleness.
Yes, my son-in-law has a Border Collie that instinctively herds most
anything herdable. He also loves to swim and to run. And he barks at
anything passing "his" yard. But he is so well trained that he can be
in a full leap and turn around if ordered to.
For people like me, which i suspect is most of us, I think we should
have to provide professional training for any medium or large dogs.
Again, the few "half breed" wolves and coyotes I've seen were well
trained and as obedient as any dog. Would I trust them around my 2
year old(assuming that this 82 year old fellow had a 2 year old
child)? No way. I have also seen the most well trained dogs snap
instinctively. One time, when I was running the Business Enterprises
training cafeteria, I was delivering a tray to a customer who had a
dog guide tucked under his table. That is, all of the dog except his
bushy tail. My foot came down on that tail and the teeth caught my
pants leg almost at the same moment. But that is probably what I
would have done if someone had stepped on my tail. No, small children
have so much trust built in to them that they assume they can do to
Fido what they do to their big fuzzy Panda Bear. And a poke in the
eye with some sharp object hurts just as much to a gentle dog as to a
vicious one. But we do like to lump things together and react to the
lump. Even so I repeat, professional training will resolve most dogs
behavior issues. And Wolves and Coyotes, too. But forget hugging
Grizzly Bears. Grizzly Bears are to adults what Big Dogs are to small
children.

Carl Jarvis




On 11/7/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
>
> German Shepherds are probably the most common breeds used for guide dogs
> of all. Labrador retrievers coming up second. And every German Shepherd
> I have ever encountered, guide dog or not, has been pretty gentle. It is
> those dogs that were bred especially for fighting, like the pit bulls,
> that you have to watch out for.
> On 11/6/2017 10:34 AM, MARY CONVY wrote:
>>
>> re German Shephards, the exception does not prove the rule.
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org> on behalf of Miriam Vieni
>> <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
>> *Sent:* Monday, November 6, 2017 10:04 AM
>> *To:* blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> *Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like
>> this?
>>
>> Well, my friend had a German Shepherd guide dog who was one of the
>> sweetest, gentlest dogs I've ever known. I have, however, known some
>> who were overly protective of their owners.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> *From:* blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] *On Behalf Of *MARY CONVY
>> *Sent:* Monday, November 06, 2017 8:12 AM
>> *To:* blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> *Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like
>> this?
>>
>> A woman in my neighborhood who is a police K-9 trainer says no German
>> Shepherd should be a house pet, let alone some half wolf/coyote. They
>> were bred to be working guard dogs and have that instinct, no matter
>> how much training you do. And to try to train their natural instincts
>> out is cruel.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> *From:*blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>
>> <blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>> on behalf of Roger
>> Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org
>> <mailto:dmarc-noreply@freelists.org>>
>> *Sent:* Sunday, November 5, 2017 9:22 PM
>> *To:* blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy@freelists.org>; Carl Jarvis
>> *Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like
>> this?
>>
>>
>> Half is a pretty big percentage. If they are really gentle I would say
>> that you are lucky. Half wolves and half coyotes and certainly full
>> blooded ones can be quite dangerous even if they were raised by humans
>> from infancy. And they present a dilemma too. If they have been raised
>> by humans you can't just release them back into the wild. They would
>> never survive. I remember reading about how some Alaska natives used to
>> prevent chronic inbreeding in their dogs. In small wilderness
>> communities it was not possible to completely prevent inbreeding, but
>> they did have a way of getting some wolf genes into the population. They
>> would tie up a female dog in heat in the woods and watch from a blind.
>> When a wolf came up to mate with her they would watch and then shoot the
>> wolf before it could attack the dog after mating. The litter would be
>> half wolves, of course. They would then watch the puppies and pick out
>> the gentlest ones and kill the more vicious ones. After several
>> generations of this they could trust the remaining puppies and not have
>> to watch so closely for viciousness. The half breeds are, of course,
>> more trustworthy than a full wolf, but those wolf genes have to be
>> watered down for one or two more generations before you can be really
>> confident about them. I would say that if the Facebook guy really has a
>> coyote he had better keep it chained up if there are small dogs or cats
>> in the neighborhood and the first time it loses its temper with him he
>> stands a good chance of getting a pretty bad bite.
>> On 11/5/2017 8:59 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
>> > Properly trained, a coyote can be a fine companion. They, like
>> > wolves, are very bright animals. I had a "half breed", half coyote
>> > and half some sort of Russian dog. She was a gentle pet. One of our
>> > clients has a half wolf, half collie or sheep dog. It looks very wolf
>> > like, but is also a gentle animal. In fact, he is trained to be our
>> > client's companion dog.
>> > It's mostly in the training, but some dogs resist training. I know
>> > that the dogs used by the Dog Guide Schools are carefully selected,
>> > and some are turned back due to their inability to meet the required
>> > standards.
>> > While I am not a good dog trainer, I do make a good dog companion once
>> > the dog has been professionally trained. I'm a firm proponent of
>> > insisting that all dogs over 30 pounds be professionally trained.
>> >
>> > Carl Jarvis
>> >
>> >
>> > On 11/5/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org
>> <mailto:dmarc-noreply@freelists.org>> wrote:
>> >> There is a guy on Facebook who says that his wife brought home a puppy
>> >> that she found. She said that it had been abandoned and that she found
>> >> it in the weeds on the side of the road. They decided to adopt it and
>> >> went through the whole procedure of getting its vaccinations and dog
>> >> tags and so forth. But he says that the older it gets the more he is
>> >> thinking that it doesn't act quite right and it doesn't look quite
>> >> right. He is getting more and more suspicious that his wife brought
>> home
>> >> a coyote. I wish I could see the picture. Several people have
>> >> commented
>> >> and a couple say that it looks a lot like pictures of coyotes that
>> >> they
>> >> have seen.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>
>

Re: [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like this?

Roger and All Lovers and Haters of Face Book..and Twitter, too!,
Speaking for myself, Face Book could promise to send me a lovely Fairy
God Mother to sit on my lap and read the daily news while stroking my
cheek, and I'd take a pass. I know it's an irrational thing, but I
absolutely refuse to be "Liked" by some mystical Being that has no
ability to Like anything at all. And then they came up with Twitter,
and Tweet!!! My God(whom I doubt exists) Are we being led into some
little kiddie land? Can we say, "Goo Goo"? I refuse to be Liked,
twittered or tweeted.
Okay, I'm over it!
But getting back to where my feet touch the ground, it goes beyond the
silly handles we are being fed...did I mention "Google and Yahoo"?
Studies show that most Americans read at a Fifth Grade level. With
the senseless garbage we're being fed these days, I'd say Fifth Grade
is at least Two Grades too high. And I apologize to my Third Grade
Grand Daughter who reads at a Junior High School level.
But back to the present. Regardless of whether we join up with the
Pied Pipers of Wall Street, or not, we are on the broad road to the
end of democracy and that long dreamed of, "...Liberty and Justice for
All".
So I don't begrudge those who use Face Book or Tweet and Twiddle, it's
not going to change a thing. The folks who decide what is good for us
will go ahead, charming us and promising wonders if only we allow them
to "like" us, and we'll smile and grin all the way to the gas chamber.
But for now, I have a young double amputee with Diabetic Retinopathy
to visit. There are these times that I am reminded how much more
difficult life could be.

Carl Jarvis



On 11/6/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
>
> Miriam, pretty much every one of those sources that you post articles
> from have a presence on Facebook. I have some of them in my feed too.
> Frequently I see some of the same articles that you post here. Now how
> is it that the very same article becomes superficial when it appears on
> Facebook and it is not superficial when you post it here? By the way,
> sometimes you complain that certain articles from certain sites are hard
> to read and hard to copy. I think that if you got them from Facebook and
> used the M.Facebook site you would find them a lot easier to access with
> a screen reader.
> On 11/6/2017 6:34 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
>>
>> Well, that's a matter of opinion because to me, the sources that you
>> like provide superficial information and some of the information isn't
>> of interest to me or isn't useful to me. It's kind of like choosing
>> books. I'm on the DB Review list. People have a variety of tastes.
>> Some people recommend books that they love, but I would never want to
>> read. I like some books that most other people don't. But sometimes,
>> our tastes overlap. The same is true of information sources. I choose
>> mine very carefully. One example is the podcast feeds on my VR Stream.
>> There are people who have 50 or more feeds on their streams. At the
>> moment, I have 16. I've had some, discarded them, and replaced them
>> with others.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> *From:* blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] *On Behalf Of *MARY CONVY
>> *Sent:* Monday, November 06, 2017 5:31 PM
>> *To:* blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> *Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like
>> this?
>>
>> It is not a matter of liking different info than you do, but choosing
>> to expand my sources.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> *From:*blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>
>> <blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>> on behalf of Miriam
>> Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net <mailto:miriamvieni@optonline.net>>
>> *Sent:* Monday, November 6, 2017 5:16 PM
>> *To:* blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy@freelists.org>
>> *Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like
>> this?
>>
>> I guess that different people are interested in different kinds of
>> information. It's a matter of taste. I had a blind friend, a guy with
>> a PhD in psychology, who was not interested in reading newspaper
>> articles. He didn't trust journalists. He preferred to get his
>> information from talk radio. He was very interested in medical issues
>> and he liked to listen to doctors who had radio programs during which
>> they gave advice. He also had a police scanner in his apartment at one
>> point. He was, for many years, a lurker on this list, but he never
>> read the political articles that we posted. He was only interested in
>> posts related to blindness.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> *From:*blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] *On Behalf Of *MARY CONVY
>> *Sent:* Monday, November 06, 2017 10:42 AM
>> *To:* blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy@freelists.org>
>> *Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like
>> this?
>>
>> Miriam, As with anything, the thing itself is not inherently good
>> or evil, but the way it is used. I am on twitter subscribed to a
>> million news sources. I get live notice of live streams of protests,
>> live police calls, 140 characters of news headlines that allows me to
>> look further into an issue or not, weather alerts, police alerts,
>> kidnapped kid alerts. It is a great source. I am on Facebook where
>> there are neighborhood pages and town pages of where I live and find
>> out instantly, for example, of a bear coming down my block, a woman in
>> great need after an abusive husband left, lost dogs, a family whose
>> teen was killed in a car accident and needed help, a man sitting in a
>> car on my block taking picture of kids. The police are on the site
>> and post neighborhood alerts. It is a wonderful source.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> *From:*blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>
>> <blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>> on behalf of Miriam
>> Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net <mailto:miriamvieni@optonline.net>>
>> *Sent:* Monday, November 6, 2017 9:52 AM
>> *To:* blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy@freelists.org>
>> *Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like
>> this?
>>
>> I'm certainly not on twitter. The idea of thinking that one can
>> adequately express an idea in 140 characters is ridiculous. It's just
>> a way to lash out at others or inflate one's ego, as far as I'm
>> concerned. Facebook is a huge money making operation and is not the
>> way I want to communicate with anyone!Even my kids who are 53 and 45
>> don't use it. And if I could manage it, and I almost do, I'd boycott
>> Amazon because I don't want a monopoly doing all the selling in the
>> world. I have ideas about right and wrong and I've tried to live my
>> values. But as society becomes more and more corrupt, it becomes
>> harder and harder to do so. I'll hold out, wherever I can.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> *From:*blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] *On Behalf Of *MARY CONVY
>> *Sent:* Monday, November 06, 2017 8:04 AM
>> *To:* blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy@freelists.org>
>> *Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like
>> this?
>>
>> Miriam, Are you on Twitter? Why no Facebook?
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> *From:*blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>
>> <blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>> on behalf of Roger
>> Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org
>> <mailto:dmarc-noreply@freelists.org>>
>> *Sent:* Sunday, November 5, 2017 11:34 PM
>> *To:* blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy@freelists.org>; Miriam Vieni
>> *Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: What would you do with something like
>> this?
>>
>>
>> It was just a personal post that was forwarded around and happened to
>> come my way. Maybe you wouldn't be on Facebook, but you have made plenty
>> of personal posts right here yourself.
>> On 11/5/2017 10:09 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
>> > I wouldn't be on Facebook to begin with. And the fact that people
>> would become involved in a story like that when really important and
>> horrible things are happening to people all over the world, many of
>> them caused by the government of the country where I live, is one reason.
>> >
>> > Miriam
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org>
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
>> Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
>> > Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2017 8:02 PM
>> > To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> <mailto:blind-democracy@freelists.org>>
>> > Subject: [blind-democracy] What would you do with something like this?
>> >
>> > There is a guy on Facebook who says that his wife brought home a
>> puppy that she found. She said that it had been abandoned and that she
>> found it in the weeds on the side of the road. They decided to adopt
>> it and went through the whole procedure of getting its vaccinations
>> and dog tags and so forth. But he says that the older it gets the more
>> he is thinking that it doesn't act quite right and it doesn't look
>> quite right. He is getting more and more suspicious that his wife
>> brought home a coyote. I wish I could see the picture. Several people
>> have commented and a couple say that it looks a lot like pictures of
>> coyotes that they have seen.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>

we are known by the company we keep

What's going on in the Middle East? Can it be that our good buddies,
the Saudi Arabians are meddling in the affairs of Lebanon?
Carl Jarvis

transcript
Saudi Prince Salman's Chess Game with Hezbollah in Lebanon
SHARMINI PERIES: It's The Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries
coming to you from Baltimore. Prime Minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri
resigned on Saturday,
in a pre-recorded broadcast first aired in Saudi Arabian television
and then in Lebanon. He said he believed there was an assassination
plot against him
and accused Iran and his Lebanese coalition partner, Hezbollah, of
sowing strife in the Arab world. SAAD HARIRI: I would like to say to
Iran and its followers,
that they will be losers in their intervention in the Arab affairs.
Our nation will wake up, as it did in the past, their hand in the
region will be cut
off.SHARMINI PERIES: Now joining me to analyze this unfolding
situation is Vijay Prashad. Vijay is now the executive director of the
Tricontinental Institute
for Social Research and is also chief editor of LeftWord Books. Vijay,
allow me to dive right in here and ask you what we know so far, and
you assessment
of Hariri's sudden resignation.VIJAY PRASHAD: Well, it should be said
that Lebanon has been in a very fragile state ever since the war broke
out in Syria.
And there's been a real attempt inside Lebanon for all the different
political factions to create some kind of stability despite the fact
that several
of them are on different sides of the Lebanese civil war. So it was
quite a feat that a kind of unity government was created with Saad
Hariri agreeing
to take the Prime Ministership, while Michel Aoun, who's an ally of
Hezbollah, became the president. This very fragile government then
moved forward and
in fact passed a budget, you know, just a short while ago. It looked
like things were quite stable in Lebanon as compared to the
neighborhood, and with
the Syrian war slowly winding down, things looked quite positive for
Lebanon. And then of course, Mr. Hariri was hastily called to Saudi
Arabia, from where
a first broadcast on Saudi television, he declared his resignation.
This really surprised not only his own allies inside Lebanon, but
also, the president
of Lebanon Michel Aoun, who in fact has refused to accept the
resignation, and has said he will only consider this resignation when
Mr. Hariri returns
to Lebanon. There is of course great speculation that Mr. Hariri is
being held in a kind of prisoner in Saudi Arabia, not being allowed to
return to Lebanon.
So the tension and crisis of course continues. This tension, I should
add, is part of the broad crackdown inside Saudi Arabia by the son of
the current
king, Mohammed bin Salman, who's arrested 11 important people inside
the kingdom, and has arrested and shut down basically three private
news outlets inside
Saudi Arabia.SHARMINI PERIES: Vjay, this week we saw a number of
people arrested in Saudi Arabia, this appears to be a crackdown on,
what does this crackdown,
or crisis, have to do with Hariri, if anything?VIJAY PRASHAD: It
should be, I think, seen that this turmoil inside Saudi Arabia is a
direct consequence
of Saudi Arabia having basically lost the goals that it had set for
itself in Syria and in Yemen, with the collapse of Isis, with the
reassertion of the
government of..., Saudi Arabia has basically seen its goals unmet
inside Syria. At the same time, it's war in Yemen, a very harsh war
where there has been
considerable has also come undone. Saudi Arabia has been lashing out
at Yemen, and in fact yesterday, put a total moratorium, an embargo,
on all ports
and airports of Yemen, not allowing aid to enter the country. So, this
crisis, in its neighborhood, the failure in Saudi Arabia, to execute
its ambitions
in Syria and in Yemen, the very deep crisis its own economy, with no
oil prices and so on, has created a legitimacy problem for the king of
Saudi Arabia,
particularly his son, Mohammed bin Salman, who has been in charge of
almost every aspect of Saudi rule. And what he has done in the last
few days, is gone
after every single other branch of the royal family, sons of previous
kings, nephews of the current king, the very rich in the country, has
arrested them.
It is being suggested inside Saudi Arabia that this was a counter coup
led by Mohammad Bin Salman, because he was afraid that some of these
princes and
others might have been mounting a coup against him, an unstable rule
that he has been managing, very poor execution of wars and so on, so
this was his
countercoup. Then wrapped up in this, perhaps in this tantrum around
the defeat of their ambitions in Syria is perhaps the forced
resignation of Saad Hariri
of Lebanon.SHARMINI PERIES: Now, the Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad
Hariri, and his father, who was assassinated in a car bomb back in
2005, they have very
close ties to Saudi Arabia, what hold might Saudi Arabia have on the
Prime Minister, and what do we know about what's happening to him now,
he's being
held in Saudi Arabia, some reports says against his wishes, what are
your thoughts?VIJAY PRASHAD: Well, there is one suggestion that Mr.
Hariri is being
held. Now, it is true that he has very close ties with the Saudis, so
did his father, and in fact, many people have suggested that this is
Saudi Arabia
trying to micromanage Lebanese politics. On Sunday, Mr. Nasrallah, the
head of Hezbollah, went on television in Lebanon and suggested as
much. He accused
Saudi Arabia of interfering in Lebanese politics. He suggested that
because Mr. Hariri made his announcement in Saudi Arabia, on Saudi
television, that
this was a direct evidence of Saudi interference in Lebanese politics.
So, one suggestion is that Mr. Hariri, totally beholden to the Saudis,
basically
had to do their bidding when they wanted to destabilize the government
in Lebanon and perhaps pressure the situation so that there is some
kind of war,
perhaps undertaken by Israel or others, against Hezbollah to start a
more regional war against Iran. That's one suggestion.The other
suggestion is that
Mr. Hariri has basically gone into exile in Saudi Arabia, unable to
manage the situation in Lebanon, I think frustrated by the victory of
the very closely
linked with Iran group, Hezbollah, and the defeat of the ambitions of
his bloc in the region. So whether he is being held captive, or he's
gone into exile,
either way, there is an attempt now by Saudi Arabia to put the
pressure on Hezbollah, to use Hezbollah, in a way, as perhaps a way,
to start a regional
war of the west, and Israel, against Iran, including of course, Saudi
assets.SHARMINI PERIES: Vijay, this morning there was an opinion, a
piece penned
in the Haaretz newspaper in Israel, asking "Is Saudi Arabia pushing
Israel into war with Hezbollah and Iran?" Your thoughts on that.VIJAY
PRASHAD: I think
that's a very good way to phrase the question. I think there's an
attempt by Saudi Arabia, having seen the United States unwilling to do
its bidding entirely
vis-a-vis Iran, I mean the Trump Administration has gone quite far in
its belligerence attempting to poke Iran, to prod Iran, to make Iran
do something
that would then welcome, allow the United States to attack Iran. But
that road seems to not be going forward, and I think that the Saudis
are now trying
to have a kind of proxy war against Iran, by pushing some kind of
conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.It needs to be said that
Hezbollah is a very disciplined
political outfit, and I very much doubt that they will take this bait
and go to war against Israel. Because also true, that since the 2006
war since Hezbollah
and Israel, which was essentially a stalemate, where Hezbollah was not
destroyed, which was the aim of Israel, now Hezbollah is much
stronger, given its
experience in fighting in Syria, and I think the Israelis recognize
that a war against Hezbollah is not going to be as asymmetrical, as
say the Israeli
wars against the Palestinians, that has Hezbollah will inflict major
damage on Israel. So I doubt very much that the Israelis will take the
bait, will
be as adventurous as the Saudis perhaps would like, and go to war
against Hezbollah, which they should perhaps think that as the Saudis
think, is a way
to get at Iran.SHARMINI PERIES: Vijay, I understand that the leader of
Hezbollah, Nasrallah, had very calming presence according to people on
the ground,
that he went on air right after this resignation was aired, and people
felt as if the country was in crisis, and apparently Nasrallah had a
very calming
presence. Does Hariri's resignation leave a leadership crisis in
Lebanon, and what will this mean for the politics and governance of
Lebanon?VIJAY PRASHAD:
Well I mean, Lebanon is an interesting place because its entire
government structure is sectarianism between the Christian Mennonites,
the Sunnis and the
Shia. So it's not a question that the resignation of Mr. Hariri will
collapse the government. It's also clear that in the last 15 years,
Lebanon has had
long periods where an illegitimate legislature has continued to
govern. In other words, where its term has ended, its continued to
hold office. So I don't
think there'll be some complete vacuum in Lebanon. I think other
forces will come in, the permanent bureaucracy is going to continue to
work, and besides,
it's a highly decentralized country. So things are going to happen. I
don't think this is going to make Lebanon fall into some kind of
abyss.I think the
real question here is going to be Mr. Hariri's bloc is going to do.
What his political party is going to do. He has not been the most
effective leader
of their political party, he is not perhaps as wily as his father,
he's much more susceptible to influence by the Saudis and others. So,
this might just
give an opening inside the future movement, which is his bloc, for
other people to come in and take power. So, let's see what happens,
what's interesting
is, that Mr. Nasrallah has basically given a timetable for his return
to make a comment. He's spoken on Sunday, he'll come back on Friday,
he recognizes
that this is a very quick moving series of events, and his
commentaries are going to be taken very seriously. So I think, let's
wait and see what happens
during this week.SHARMINI PERIES: And one final question, in terms of
Saudi Arabia's objective in all of this, give us a sense of what we
should be looking
out for over the next little while.VIJAY PRASHAD: Well I think that
Saudi Arabia's objective is basically driven by the fact that its
ambitions have been
routed and it wants somehow to poke Iran, and I'm very much hoping
that in order to prevent some kind of new cataclysmic war in West
Asia, that Iran holds
itself back, takes a mature attitude, that Hezbollah takes a mature
attitude to this crisis, no one gets provoked by Saudi actions. He has
now called the
king and his son, Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, have called the
leader of the Palestinian government, Mahmoud Abbas, to Saudi Arabia.
We shall see
what happens here, will Mahmoud Abbas make some kind of statement from
Riyadh? Will he also be arrested and held in Riyadh? It's to be seen
what is going
on, but what is very clear, is this is some sort of Saudi tantrum
playing across the region, and I hope other actors are sober minded in
their reaction
to it.SHARMINI PERIES: Alright Vijay, as always I thank you so much
for joining us today.VIJAY PRASHAD: Thanks a lot.SHARMINI PERIES: And
thank you for
joining us here on The Real News Network.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: [blind-democracy] Republican Tax Plan Milks Blue States to Pay for Cuts for the Rich

This proposal is not merely the Trump Privateers thumbing their
collective billionaire noses at the American People, it is a full
salute by the Middle Finger that shouts out, "Fuck You Working Class
America".
The thing that should scare the pants off all of us is what will
happen when Donald Trump's faithful voters realize that they've been
sold out, and are worse off than they had been under Barack Obama.
Odds on that they will not turn to the Democratic Party. And all the
time the Trumpsters are raking in their booty, an ugly stirring is
beginning to bubble up.

Carl Jarvis


On 11/3/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> C First Look Media. All rights reservedTerms of use
> UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 02: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin
> Brady, R-Texas, center, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., left, GOP leadership and
> members of the committee, conduct a news conference in Longworth Building
> to
> unveil the Republicans' tax reform plan on Nov. 2, 2017. Tax paying
> citizens
> also attended. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP
> Images)
> Photo: Tom williams/CQ Roll Call/AP
>
> Republican Tax Plan Milks Blue States to Pay for Cuts for the Rich
> Kate Aronoff
> November 2 2017, 5:20 p.m.
>
> The most recent version of the Republican tax plan unveiled Thursday leaves
> Republicans representing blue states in a tough spot, threatening to derail
> the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act train just as it's leaving the station.
>
> Subsidizing tax cuts for the wealthy by making middle-class people in
> Democratic-leaning states pay more might make for satisfying politics for
> House Republicans, but the math will be difficult for them. The issue comes
> down to state and local taxes. Blue states tend to have higher rates, along
> with the better social outcomes that come with them. Taxpayers are able to
> write off the amount they pay in state and local taxes on their federal
> taxes.
>
> Some Republicans want to end that entirely, but the House Committee on Ways
> and Means indicated last week that it would likely preserve a more limited
> version of the state and local tax, or SALT, deductions. The version of the
> plan released Thursday morning, however, eliminated them entirely, leaving
> only some relief - capped at $10,000 - for property owners. Now the
> question
> is whether Republicans from high-tax states like New York, New Jersey, and
> California, which were opposed to the repeal, will ultimately decide to
> support what could be their party's first major legislative achievement of
> the year.
>
> Twenty Republicans, many of whom have constituents who benefit from SALT
> deductions, already voted against the budget resolution last week after
> Sen.
> Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., inserted a last-minute amendment outlining
> its removal. The defections made the resolution's passage a narrower
> victory
> than Republican leadership might have hoped and set the stage for debates
> that will now begin in earnest this week.
>
> "The language is too explicit about cutting state and local taxes," Rep.
> Tom
> MacArthur, R-N.J., told reporters in the Capitol recently, referring to the
> budget resolution. "I don't think it can pass the House. If deductibility
> of
> state and local taxes is wholesale gone, I don't think it can pass." That
> state and local property deductions remain mean the deduction is not yet
> wholesale gone - but that may not be enough to make MacArthur and others
> change their minds.
>
> As of Thursday morning, several Republicans held reservations. Rep. Dan
> Donovan, R-N.Y., told the New York Times that the "people of New York City
> deserve a tax break." Another New York Republican, Rep. Pete King, is also
> among the most strongly opposed to the plan. "Almost half of my
> constituents
> benefit from the SALT tax deduction, and taking away these deductions would
> be crippling to New Yorkers," King said in a press statement last week. "I
> will do anything I can to prevent any attempt to take away these important
> deductions from Long Islanders."
>
> In an interview with radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday, House
> Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Kevin Brady dismissed the idea of a
> compromise on SALT deductions: "The answer is 'no.' . Our lawmakers in
> those
> high-tax states really believe their families are being punished most by
> property taxes."
>
> In other words, Brady is saying that by removing the deduction, towns will
> be pressured to cut property taxes. Balancing tax cuts for the rich by
> forcing towns and cities to slash property taxes would effectively be using
> school funding to pay for those tax cuts.
>
>
>
> WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 02: Flanked by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and
> House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), President
> Donald Trump speaks about tax reform legislation during a meeting with
> members of the House Ways and Means Committee in the Cabinet Room at the
> White House, November 2, 2017 in Washington, DC. Also pictured at left is
> Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) On Thursday, Republican lawmakers unveiled their
> plans for a massive rewrite of the U.S. tax code. (Drew Angerer/Getty
> Images)
> Flanked by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and House Ways and Means
> Committee chairman Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), President Donald Trump speaks
> about tax reform legislation during a meeting with members of the House
> Ways
> and Means Committee in the Cabinet Room at the White House, November 2,
> 2017
> in Washington, DC.
> Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
>
> Rolling back SALT deductions is seen by the GOP as a way to balance out the
> estimated $1.3 trillion the plan's tax cuts for corporations and the
> wealthy
> could add to the deficit, with state and local deductions accounting for
> about a third of that amount. Republican representatives in blue states
> already see themselves as subsidizing the rest of the country with high tax
> rates, meaning a repeal of the state and local deductions could be seen as
> adding insult to injury. "The issue is that states like mine . pay more
> than
> we get back," MacArthur said. "Of course, [other states] have lower taxes
> in
> some cases because we're not only paying for our poor people, we're paying
> for their poor people."
>
> Publicly, Republicans in Congress and the White House have remained
> stalwart
> that the amount their tax plan would add to the deficit would be more than
> balanced out by its potential to drive growth through corporate tax cuts.
> Discussing an initial version of the plan with CNBC, Chief White House
> Economic Adviser and former Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn said, "We
> think we can pay for the entire tax cut through growth over the cycle,"
> predicting tax reform and deregulation would drive growth "substantially
> over 3 percent."
>
> There is little empirical evidence to suggest that will be the case. As
> Roosevelt Institute Fellow and Research Director Marshall Steinbaum told me
> recently when talking about the Republican tax plan, "We have run a
> four-decade-long experiment in reducing effective marginal tax rates on the
> rich, both in the individual and corporate tax systems, and it has
> definitely failed to fuel economic growth."
>
> That's largely because cutting taxes for the rich doesn't increase their
> spending, because they are already buying whatever they want. That's what
> it
> means to be rich.
>
> Other proposals have invited pushback, as well. Developers and real estate
> interests have aligned against proposed changes to the mortgage interest
> deduction, which would cut the benefit in half by capping it at mortgages
> of
> $500,000. That plan would further eliminate the ability to deduct medical
> expenses, and - in a coup for top income earners - would just about double
> the cutoff at which households become eligible to pay the estate tax -
> exempting a family's first $22 million.
>
> Republicans say they hope to have a bill on the president's desk by
> Christmas.
>
>
>
>

Fwd: [blind-democracy] Why Does Amazon Get Corporate Welfare?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2017 08:06:06 -0700
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] Why Does Amazon Get Corporate Welfare?
To: blind-democracy@freelists.org

Question: Why does Amazon get Corporate Welfare?
Answer: Because Amazon is too wealthy to qualify for regular Welfare.

Frankly, I'm fed up listening to these huge corporations accusing the
lazy "Welfare Moms", and the "Ne'er Do Wells", of living off the fat
of the land.
The biggest welfare recipients, those who are getting the fattest off
our tax dollars, are the giant corporations. Just take a moment and
close your ears to their whining claims that your little apartment or
tar paper shack is where the tax dollars go, and look at their life
style. Then ask yourself, "Do I really enjoy supporting these people,
while I'm getting goose bumps from the cold air leaking through my
shanty walls? "Do I really get some secret pleasure from fighting
traffic going to and from my job, while my tax dollars are paying for
those fancy choppers that drop my boss off on the company roof?"
Do we really enjoy the feeling that everything we own, that we have
worked for, can be taken away from us if the Ruling Class desires it?
You say that it can't happen? Sorry, it has been going on all around
us for many years. And we don't need to go back to the huge land
grants our government gave to the railroads. Who do you think pays
when the government gives away our land, or special tax breaks to
businesses? And usually the jobs provided by these businesses are
funded at a level that keeps the workers in low income status. And
when your community condemns property to develop a new mall, or to
build a school, or to expand a highway, the little individual property
owners get short changed while the large investors rake in the
profits...your tax dollars.
We live in a System that is established to care for the needs of the
Ruling Class. This is why they are called, "The Ruling Class!" Under
the Ruling Classes government, sharing the wealth is not in their
vocabulary. Profit is the bottom line, and they share only as little
as it takes to keep the dollars rolling in.
While some of us have "done better" than others, All Working Class
People live at the mercy of the Elite, the Ruling Class.

Carl Jarvis




On 11/1/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Why Does Amazon Get Corporate Welfare?
> Published on
> Wednesday, November 01, 2017
> by
> Creators.com
> Why Does Amazon Get Corporate Welfare?
> Not satisfied with just taking your money, Bezos is coming after your tax
> dollars as well.
> by
> Jim Hightower
>
> "Uber-rich Amazon doesn't need and certainly doesn't deserve this giveaway,
> but officials in 238 cities have prostrated themselves in front of the
> welfare queen in an embarrassing bid to win her nod."
>
> Canonicalized/flickr/cc)
>
> Jeffrey Preston Bezos is the man of unbounded ambition who founded Amazon,
> the online retailing colossus that trumpets itself as "Earth's most
> customer-centric company." He's considered a model of tech wizardry for
> having totally reinvented retail marketing for our smart-phone,
> globally-linked age. Amazon peddles a cornucopia of goods through a
> convenient "1-click" ordering system, rapidly delivering the goods right to
> your doorstep.
> No one has imagined corporate domination more expansively nor pushed it
> harder or further than Bezos, and his Amazon stands today as the most
> advanced and the most ambitious model of a future under oligarchic control,
> including control of markets, work, information, consumerism, media and
> beyond. He doesn't merely see himself remaking commerce with his vast
> electronic networks, algorithms and metrics - but rebooting America itself,
> including changing our society's concept of a job, the definition of
> community, and even our basic values of fairness and justice. It amounts to
> a breathtaking aspiration to transform our culture's democratic paradigm
> into a corporate imperium, led by Amazon.
>
> Amazon's most recent announcement is that it wants to get inside your home
> -
> and, ironically, it's using "security" as its rationale. Rather than Amazon
> leaving products you order on your doorstep, the corporation wants a key to
> unlock your door so its delivery crews can do you the favor of placing the
> products you order inside your abode.
>
> Would you give your house key to a complete stranger, letting that person -
> whose name you don't even know - walk right into your home when you're not
> there? What could possibly go wrong with that? Other than your being
> robbed,
> of course, either by rogue Amazon employees or by hackers who will
> certainly
> gain access to the corporation's computerized key codes. Or maybe
> "Crusher,"
> your Pitbull, mauls the Amazon intruder and you get sued.
>
> Need I mention that Bezos expects you to pay for the privilege of having
> his
> employees enter your home? First, his dicey, open-sesame program, which he
> calls "Amazon Key," is available only to customers who shell out $99 a year
> to be "Amazon Prime" members.
>
> Second, you must buy a special internet-unlocking gizmo and a particular
> camera to join his corporate key club. And guess where you must go to buy
> this entry technology? Yes, Amazon - where prices for the system start at
> $250.
>
> What a deal! For Amazon, that is. Bezos' real goal (indeed, his only goal,
> always) is not to get inside your home, but inside your wallet.
>
> Not satisfied with just taking your money, Bezos is coming after your tax
> dollars as well.
>
> Many politicians across the country piously rant against giving a few bucks
> worth of jobless benefits to the needy, then turn around and shove billions
> of our tax dollars into corporate welfare for the greedy!
>
> And with Amazon, here we go again. We're presently witnessing the most
> disgusting spectacle yet of the politico-corporate cabal extracting money
> from the People's wallets to enrich themselves. The $136-billion-a-year
> internet colossus, has haughtily generated a shameful public bidding war
> over the location of its new corporate headquarters. The "winner"
> essentially will be the city and state that offers the most bribe money
> from
> their treasury.
>
> Uber-rich Amazon doesn't need and certainly doesn't deserve this giveaway,
> but officials in 238 cities have prostrated themselves in front of the
> welfare queen in an embarrassing bid to win her nod. In fact, their offers
> have been based on Amazon's very specific demands, including a
> "business-friendly environment and tax structure," plus free land, payment
> of its capital and operational costs, tax breaks, relocation grants for
> executives and workforce, reduced utility bills and construction fees
> and...
> oh yeah, also give us first-rate schools and an educated labor pool.
>
> As one analyst of Amazon's one-sided scams noted, "these incentives aren't
> free. There's no fairy godmother paying for them." The usual result of
> corporate giveaways is that the public cost exceeds any benefits we get
> back. Ironically, by demanding such corporate spoils, Amazon brands itself
> a
> common thief, stealing public trust in the fairness of the system and
> widening inequality in our society.
>
> C 2015 Creators Syndicate
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Jim Hightower
>
>
>
>
> Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and
> author of the book, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With
> The Flow. Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on
> behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families,
> environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
>
>
>
>
>