Best Buy apologizes for big mistake of price-gouging Texans for water - after their stock tanks

$43 pack of bottled water being sold at a Houston Best Buy (Photo via Ken Klippenstein).

Electronics retailer Best Buy is apologizing to outraged consumers after a social media storm of complaints against a Houston area store charging $42 for a case of case of bottled water.

The image, which raced across the internet, shows $42.96 cases of Dasani bottled water, next to a “limited supply” of “Smart Water” for $29.98 a case.

“As a company we are focused on helping, not hurting affected people,” Best Buy told Business Insider. “We’re sorry, and it won’t happen again.”

The company claims the “big mistake” was caused by an employee multiplying the price of a single bottle. The company says the price-gouging signage was only up on Friday and that the Cypress, TX store in question is now closed due to Hurricane Harvey.

Best Buy stock fell 11 percent Tuesday, in heavy trading.

Below is a sampling of social media criticism:

One Houston resident sent me a pic of water he saw being sold for *$42* at a nearby Best Buy. They were kind enough to offer $29 bottles too pic.twitter.com/8dKz3sJJM1

— ken klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) August 29, 2017

Hey @BestBuy, check out what one of your locations in Houston is doing. Pretty sick stuff. https://t.co/WQqstnTotr

— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) August 29, 2017

Rot in hell, @BestBuy. pic.twitter.com/Jj7xUfoUp4

— jordan 🌹🌹 (@JordanUhl) August 29, 2017

Hey @BestBuy you want to explain why this store of yours in Houston is illegally price gouging? pic.twitter.com/803tuo4XLm

— Max Cotterill 🚩 (@mcotteri) August 29, 2017

Greedy Best Buy Gouges Hurricane Plagued Texas Residents; Sells Cases of Water for $42 https://t.co/HNs8XnkEVh

— Thomas Paine (@Thomas1774Paine) August 29, 2017

The @BestBuy at Houston charging $40 for a pack of water bottles is a disgrace. People are in need, shame on you #bestbuy #shame #greed

— Panda (@4kec4) August 29, 2017

@BestBuy this was happening by me in Houston this past week. Safe to say I will never shop in your stores again. pic.twitter.com/1wAUhnks14

— James DeCicco (@bobbyd914) August 29, 2017

Only bcause they got caught. Sum1 HAD 2 authorize the sign, sell & purchase of the #gouging , stop blaming the wrkr bees Fire Mgmt @BestBuy pic.twitter.com/OFKRfeotea

— MoreMusicMoreMoney (@MoreMusicMoreMo) August 29, 2017

In response to my article, Best Buy issues apology, saying the pricing was "a big mistake" & "it won't happen again" https://t.co/AcLuHkp0y1

— ken klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) August 29, 2017

Is The Street Wrong? What Best Buy $BBY Is Doing Right (video) https://t.co/sgNCaLZoXg @BestBuy #stocks #BestBuy #Retail #investors pic.twitter.com/WoL0DYuLK5

— Domain Mondo (@DomainMondo) August 29, 2017

By Bob Brigham

Ex-Producer Reveals The Truth About Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson is actually a terrible person.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/put-that-on-the-air-and-it-will-cost-this-ministry-millions-producer-reveals-pat-robertson-more-concerned-with-money-than-jesus/

Donald Trump's Plans For A Russian Trump Tower In Moscow Just Revealed

In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse Dollemore addresses the just revealed plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow, Russia which were previously concealed by Donald Trump.

Add to the mix, Felix Sater, who has deep mafia ties and connections to heavy hitters in the Russian government.

Ted Cruz blusters when asked why he opposed Hurricane Sandy relief then, but wants Harvey relief now

When Hurricane Sandy caused widespread damage in New York and New Jersey in 2012, the Senate Republican absolutely nobody likes, Sen. Ted Cruz, was one of the loudest voices opposing federal disaster aid for the region.

Now that he is asking for disaster relief for his own state in very similar circumstances, he is naturally being asked about the apparent contradiction.



He finds this annoying.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/28/1694047/-Ted-Cruz-blusters-when-asked-why-he-opposed-Hurricane-Sandy-relief-then-but-wants-Harvey-relief-now

The Desperate Neediness Of Donald Trump, Even In The Midst Of A Hurricane

Posted by Rude One

(Yeah, yeah, I'll be getting to Arpaio and Russia and whatever other clusterfucks of doom happen, but first, let's deal with the big damn Harvey in the room.)

We know that Donald Trump is a man whose ego must be constantly stroked, like the head of a grumpy baby who won't go to sleep. Any chance any of his administration has to praise him, praise him they must or they will face the jowly gaze of disapproval and probably some kind of stupid-ass threat at a public gathering. They gotta blow this fuckin' guy so often that they get assigned government-issue knee pads.

So it was that during Hurricane (now Tropical Storm) Harvey, which is wrecking the fuck out of the lives of millions of Americans, Trump not only stayed for the weekend at Camp David, but he teleconferenced into situation room meetings. That gave us photos of an old man in an ill-fitting suit and stupid, over-sized "USA" hat, alone at a table, talking over speakers to those who were genuinely engaged beyond watching footage on TV and tweeting, "Wow, that's a whole bunch of rain!" or whatever the fuck Trump said.

Today. Trump's most voracious chowder-guzzler, Vice President Mike Pence, made the rounds of talk radio to show just how enthusiastically he gargles on Trump's nutsack. Seriously, the amount that Pence praised Trump for his actions during the hurricane makes it sound like the president was personally out in his yacht, rescuing people. Instead, what really is occurring is that Barack Obama's FEMA was, so far, doing a pretty good job for Texas.

But here's Pence, on a Houston news station, just licking his lips in anticipation of Trump dick. "Trump made his decision on Friday night, before landfall, to issue an emergency declaration with regard to Texas" and later, Louisiana, Pence said. "Trump and our entire administration have been working closely with Governor Abbott...Trump assembled the Cabinet twice... I can tell you that from Friday night forward, Trump has been continuously engaged in this."

Then, on another station, Pence fellated on about "the swift response by Trump" and "Trump’s direction" in the crisis. "I couldn’t be more proud of Trump’s leadership," Pence asserted, obviously.

We get it. You wanna make sure the spin is that Trump's not fucking it up like Bush during Katrina. But a real leader would tell his people to knock that praise shit off, that it's not necessary, and that, frankly, the effort to save southeast Texas and, likely, parts of Louisiana is just beginning, and there's still plenty of time to fuck it up. The nauseating amount of appreciation that his staff and cabinet heap on Trump is tough to take in non-catastrophic times. Now, it just comes across as needy and selfish on the part of Trump, putting himself at the center of the story when, at best, he's a tangential element, someone who would serve everyone best by staying the fuck out of everyone's way while grown-ups are working here.

Put him in a corner. Give him the remote. Put a big boy hat on him. And ignore him.

 

Trump Two Step

There's a 'mountain of evidence' that Trump is unstable

• Congresswoman calls for Trump's removal from office through the 25th Amendment
• Democrat Jackie Speier is "concerned about him having his finger on the button that could send nuclear warheads around the world."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/23/politics/speier-trump-unstable-cnntv/index.html

Donald Trump just resurrected Joe Arpaio from irrelevance

By Editorial Board, The Republic | azcentral.com

Editorial: Donald Trump said he was going to pardon former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. But knowing in advance didn't soften the blow to Latinos - and equal justice.

While America was talking about tearing down monuments that offend historically oppressed people, Donald Trump effectively erected yet another one.

His pardon of Joe Arpaio elevated the disgraced former Maricopa County sheriff to monument status among the immigration hardliners and nationalists in Trump’s base.

This erases any doubt about whether Trump meant to empower them after the violence in Charlottesville.

Arpaio is their darling. Arpaio is now back on his pedestal thanks to their resident.

Expecting the pardon doesn't make it better

This insult wasn’t a surprise. Trump told us it was coming during his rally-the-base speech in Phoenix Tuesday.

But that doesn’t lessen the sting or diminish the significance of Trump’s decision to put Arpaio back on the national stage.

Maricopa County had a bellyful of this showboat sheriff and voted him out of office last year.

ROBB: Facts don't matter to either side of the Arpaio pardon debate

A federal court found Arpaio in criminal contempt for ignoring a judge's order in a long-running case over racial profiling of Latino motorists.

It was a dose of hard-won justice for a too-flamboyant sheriff who showed little respect for the Constitution as he made national news as an immigration hardliner – and let real crimes go uninvestigated.

Donald Trump’s pardon elevates Arpaio once again to the pantheon of those who see institutional racism as something that made America great.

It's a slap for Latinos - and everyone else

Many will characterize it as a slap to the Latino community – and it is.

The vast majority of Latinos in Arizona are not undocumented, yet they all fell under heightened scrutiny as Arpaio honed his image.

The pardon was a slap to those who worked through the judicial system to make Arpaio accountable, too. It robbed the people hurt by his policies of justice – even before a judge could mete out a sentence.

The pardon was a sign of pure contempt for every American who believes in justice, human dignity and the rule of law.

MONTINI: Trump violates his oath to pardon Arpaio

This isn't about one group of people. It’s about all Americans.

Arpaio was a lawman who scorned his duty to treat all people equally. He made it law enforcement policy to profile people based on their heritage.

It played well in Arizona, then it turned hollow.

Arpaio was riding high in 2010 when then-Gov. Jan Brewer signed Senate Bill 1070, a draconian law written to intimidate people. Then Arizona came to its senses. It recognized the dangers of scapegoating – or at least the economic risks of alienating a growing demographic group.

Institutional racism is clearly Trump's goal

Then came Trump. He resurrected Arpaio’s rhetoric and made a hit on the national stage. He used Arpaio as a warm-up act during campaign rallies and modeled his own speeches on Arpaio’s rambling populist routine.

Many hoped the country would tire of this toxic folly – just as Arizona had.

After Trump was elected, many hoped he would abandon his habit of appealing to the worst instincts of disaffected white Americans who have been left behind by economic changes that had little to do with undocumented immigration.

ROBERTS: Trump pardon packs a punch (right in the nose)

Many hoped Trump would decide to become the resident of all the people.

But Trump spent last week demonstrating that he wants to be resident of the few.

By pardoning Arpaio, Trump made it clear that institutional racism is not just OK with him. It is a goal.

That should trouble every American who believes that our duty as a nation is to continue working on behalf of equal justice.

We want to hear from you! Send us a letter to the editor to respond to this editorial. Also be sure to sign up for our free, emailed opinion newsletter.

MORE EDITORIALS:

If Trump wanted to unite the nation in Phoenix, he failed

Trump's Phoenix visit will test him - and us

8 truths from Charlottesville

North Carolina County Official Indicted For Rigging The 2016 Election For Donald Trump

A former elections worker in North Carolina was indicted by a grand jury on Monday for purposefully changing ballot results during the March 2016 primary election.

Richard Robert Rawling, 59, of Cary, was charged with felony counts of failing his duties and obstruction of justice after allegedly skewing the vote tallies to help elect Donald Trump and other conservative candidates.

Rawling allegedly ordered subordinates to run provisional ballots through tabulators more than the correct number of times, and then made manual changes so that the results of the provisional canvass would match the tally of total ballots.

Elections board officials found the smoking gun during an audit of primary results in April.

According to the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement, Rawling’s actions were a desperate attempt to hide his tampering with results. Rawling resigned less than a month after the primary results were tallied.

“The State Board’s top priority is ensuring the integrity of elections so voters have confidence in the process,” the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement said in its remarks to the media.

http://www.rawprogressive.com/2017/08/22/breaking-north-carolina-county-official-indicted-rigging-2016-election-donald-trump/

White House anti-drug office asks Mass. for medical Marijuana data

An arm of the White House’s anti-drug office has asked Massachusetts and several other states where medical marijuana is legal to turn over information about registered patients, triggering a debate over privacy rights and whether state officials should cooperate with a federal administration that appears hostile to the drug.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/08/25/white-house-anti-drug-office-asks-massachusetts-for-medical-marijuana-data/FIiAccGpbD7az3wfUyoMbK/story.html

Trump Threatens Economic Disaster Over Stupid 'Fucking Wall'

Donald Trump wants to build a wall, Donald Trump is threatening to not raise the debt ceiling. Both of these things are a disaster. Jeff Waldorf breaks it down.



http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/23/trump-republicans-border-wall-241931

‘Remedy is impeachment’: Harvard Law prof blasts Trump pardoning Joe Arpaio

By Bob Brigham

Donald Trump committed an impeachable offense with his late Friday pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, according to a prominent Harvard Law Professor.

“This is the crime that Trump is suggesting he might pardon: willful defiance of a federal judge’s lawful order to enforce the Constitution,” explained Prof. Noah Feldman. “Such a pardon would reflect outright contempt for the judiciary, which convicted Arpaio for his resistance to its authority.

Trump has questioned judges’ motives and decisions, but this would be a further, more radical step in his attack on the independent constitutional authority of Article III judges.”

“An Arpaio pardon would express presidential contempt for the Constitution,” Prof. Feldman continued. “From this analysis it follows directly that pardoning Arpaio would be a wrongful act under the Constitution.”

Professor Feldman worried of a “a crisis in enforcement of the rule of law” if Republican congressional leaders refused to hold Trump to account.

“The Constitution isn’t perfect. It offers only one remedy for a president who abuses the pardon power to break the system itself. That remedy is impeachment,” Prof. Feldman concluded. “James Madison noted at the Virginia ratifying convention that abuse of the pardon power could be grounds for impeachment. He was correct then — and it’s still true now.”

.@NoahRFeldman: Arpaio pardon would show contempt for Constitution https://t.co/wtq60Vmupn via @BV

— Harvard Law School (@Harvard_Law) August 25, 2017

All Administration Personnel Need To Align Their Loyalties - America, Or Trump?

In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse Dollemore addresses the mass resignations of many CEO's who were members of Donald Trump's individual Economic Advisory Councils. He also calls on all other personnel, working in an agenda support capacity, to resign and choose country over hate.

People dumping Ivanka Trump products at Goodwill

Social media users proudly confess to dumping Ivanka Trump fashion items at Goodwill - many with the tags STILL ON - as one staff member reveals huge surge in donated items from her brand.

Trump Has Now Lied To The Public More Than 1,000 Times Since Taking Office

According to a report by The Washington Post, Donald Trump has passed the 1,000 lie milestone since being sworn in as President. Many of his lies have been repeated so often that a majority of his supporters actually believe them to be true, like Trump actually winning the popular vote. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.


IF TRUMP'S MOUTH IS MOVING, A LIE IS SPILLING OUT, IF HIS HAND IS MOVING, THE SATANIC 666 HAND GESTURE IS SHOWING YOU WHO HE WORSHIPS.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/08/22/president-trumps-list-of-false-and-misleading-claims-tops-1000/

A Millennial Takes On Trump, His Voters, And Whatever The Hell That Arizona Thing Was

Posted by R. Sharp

Yeah, I could rant about how the media and its loyal zombie followers (I’m looking at you, Fox) are dividing us up. I could go on and on about those deplorable Nazi-wannabes we saw in Charlottesville. But I feel I would just be adding fuel to the gigantic flaming shit storm that is America in 2017. No, I’m focusing on the ugly head of the Republican monster that’s been butt fucking us for the past 26 months (since it announced it was running). The creature is most recently responsible for giving those same hateful ideologies national attention.

On Tuesday night, the creature slithered on stage at the Phoenix Convention Center. It puffed its saggy orange chest out and smiled, knowing that the hordes of brainless morons were packed inside to see it perform. It lifted one of its tiny claws off the podium, opened its mouth, and began to spew bile all over the crowd. The loyal followers soaked up the bile and cheered the creature on. “I want more!” cried an old man with a red hat. “Soak me in your juices!” yelled the obese woman next to him. The creature gave them what they wanted. For 77 minutes, it threw up uncontrollably while the crowd licked the puke off the floor.

This horrific display of ignorance is what we’ve come to accept from the creature that calls itself resident and rhymes with "dump." This is just another distraction that this administration is creating. They’re putting up roadblock after roadblock trying to deter us from distinguishing reality from fiction. Even the kind and reasonable among us can get sidetracked. Whether it’s breaking news, an angry tirade, or a tweet, Americans are cruelly inundated with the media’s coverage of this administration. We find ourselves being enraged at one thing, and then the next day comes and something else happens. We haven’t even gotten over what happened in the first place, because we're pissed about something new. These distractions are building up, creating a seemingly impenetrable layer of bullshit.

One core issue here is the creature’s ties to Russia. Robert Mueller’s special counsel is reportedly making progress, like when they raided former campaign manager and walking cadaver Paul Manafort’s home. Unfortunately, all the distractions created by the orange creature drown out any minimal good news. The attacks on the media the creature keeps shouting are focused on the wrong thing. The mainstream media concentrates on the bullshit show at the White House to the exclusion of so much else going on because they know it will bring up ratings. You wanna say how the media is bad? That's how it's bad right now.

Which gets us back to Mueller. Even though it’s fake news, The New Yorker’s Andy Borowitz made me laugh with his piece titled, “Millions Willing to Work for Mueller for Free If That Would Speed Things Up.” But it gives me an idea for an offer:

Mr. Mueller, I’ve been looking for a fall internship and I have a psychotic obsession with ending this grotesque creature’s administration. My legal skills are nonexistent, but I can write one hell of an email. I’ll even clean up your office. Please, let me send you my resume. I’ll do anything to help hurry things up and end this clusterfuck of a residency. 

Is This The Secret Russian Deal Trump Made?

Erik Prince sends mercenaries around the world to kill people on your tax dollar. Now he’s potentially involved in an international scandal involving Trump and Russia. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.



"Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, according to the officials, who did not identify the Russian.

Prince was an avid supporter of Trump. After the Republican convention, he contributed $250,000 to Trump’s campaign, the national party and a pro-Trump super PAC led by GOP mega-donor Rebekah Mercer, records show.

He has ties to people in Trump’s circle, including Stephen K. Bannon, now serving as the president’s chief strategist and senior counselor. Prince’s sister Betsy DeVos serves as education secretary in the Trump administration. And Prince was seen in the Trump transition offices in New York in December.

U.S. officials said the FBI has been scrutinizing the Seychelles meeting as part of a broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and alleged contacts between associates of Putin and Trump. The FBI declined to comment.”

Read more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html

Hosts: Cenk Uygur
Cast: Cenk Uygur

How Bad Of A Businessman Is Donald Trump? Here’s How Bad.

How bad of a businessman is Donald Trump? Two experts, and one person impacted by Trump’s business deals, discuss his record.

Marvin Roffman, an analyst, took Trump to court after getting fired for telling the Wall Street Journal that Trump’s plan for the Taj Mahal was financially irresponsible. Trump settled the case and Roffman won financial compensation.

Prudence Gourguechon, past president of the American Psychoanalytic Association, argues that Trump views his business partners and even the banks which lend him money as expendable, since he can just use them until he gets a better deal.

“Donald Trump’s handshake, his signature and his word mean absolutely nothing in Atlantic City,” says Paul Friel, whose father’s cabinetry business was never paid in full for the work it completed on Trump Plaza.

Roland Martin To Paula White: Be A Prophetic Voice And Don't Just Be A Profitable Voice

Roland Martin rips Pastor Paula White for her partisan comments about Donald Trump: Be a prophetic voice and don't just be a profitable voice.

Trump is acting like he is running out of time

By Josh Delk

Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman said Thursday that Donald Trump is acting in regards to the Russia collusion investigation as if he knows "time is running out."

"What we're finding is, as time goes on, we keep learning new, additional facts. But we don't know what [special counsel Robert] Mueller's staff knows. For all we know, we may just have the tip of the iceberg on this," Akerman told MSNBC's Ari Melber.

Akerman referenced a The Washington Post report that Trump had pushed back on legislation proposed in July that would block him from firing the special counsel investigating his campaign's ties to Russia without a federal judge's approval.

"Now it appears he's directly lobbying congress to try and ensure that he has a way to get rid of this investigation," Akerman said.

CNN reported this week that congressional investigators had unearthed an email from now-White House aide Rick Dearborn to campaign officials last year relaying information about a person who was trying to connect top Trump officials with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Federal and congressional investigators had already shown an interest in a meeting that Trump's eldest son Donald Jr. set up last summer between campaign officials and a Russian lawyer promising damaging information on his presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

"At the same time that we keep getting more evidence, we also learn that Donald Trump has consistently, from day one, tried to stop this Russia investigation," Akerman said.

Trump harshly criticized and later fired James Comey as FBI director amid the escalating Russia probe, and slammed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the ongoing investigation.

"All of this comes down to one simple fact," said Akerman. "You have someone who is acting extremely guilty, someone who is acting in a way that he realizes that time is running out, and he's taking all kinds of desperate moves to try and stop this investigation."