Chris Hayes explains why House Speaker John Boehner is calling governors, including one Republican governor, cheats and frauds.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Rush Limbaugh Plays Captain Obvious
By karoli March 15, 2014 8:30 am
"...and what are those pensions? Those are payments to people who are not
working!"
Thus spake Rushbo, and behold, all his listeners nodded fiercely at their radios in rapt agreement.
Shorter Rush: Damn moochers.
Rush, on the other hand, collects a hefty paycheck for not working, making him the King Moocher of the Western Hemisphere.
In case you don't want to listen to the whole thing, the crux is this: Rush is on a tear because property taxes in Illinois may increase, and they may increase because of huge pension liabilities which have been accumulated over time. When cities and states do not make contributions for a number of years in order to balance their budgets by not raising taxes, those liabilities accumulate and the obligation is still there.
At some point the piper must be paid, but Rush would rather sit around, bash unions and working people for working all their lives and expecting to receive the pension they were promised in exchange for lower wages.
They really pay this guy millions for insights like this?
Thus spake Rushbo, and behold, all his listeners nodded fiercely at their radios in rapt agreement.
Shorter Rush: Damn moochers.
Rush, on the other hand, collects a hefty paycheck for not working, making him the King Moocher of the Western Hemisphere.
In case you don't want to listen to the whole thing, the crux is this: Rush is on a tear because property taxes in Illinois may increase, and they may increase because of huge pension liabilities which have been accumulated over time. When cities and states do not make contributions for a number of years in order to balance their budgets by not raising taxes, those liabilities accumulate and the obligation is still there.
At some point the piper must be paid, but Rush would rather sit around, bash unions and working people for working all their lives and expecting to receive the pension they were promised in exchange for lower wages.
They really pay this guy millions for insights like this?
Site Claims SEALs Shot Bin Laden 100 Times
Navy SEALs 'took turns dumping HUNDREDS of bullets' into Osama bin Laden's dead body, a new report reveals
- Special Ops sources have claimed that the Navy SEAL team unloaded multiple magazines full of ammunition into the dead terror leader's corpse
- Some think the alleged excessive treatment is the reason why the Obama administration has not released the 'death photos' of the al Qaeda leader
- White House has always said that any photos of his dead body or sea burial would be used as propaganda by terror cells
PUBLISHED: 16:35 EST, 14 March 2014 | UPDATED: 05:51 EST, 15 March 2014
Special operations sources have claimed that the terror leader was shot more than one hundred times in the fatal 2011 raid.
A new report from a website known within the intelligence and armed services community claims that the sheer number of times that Osama bin Laden was shot is the reason why the government has never released photos of his dead body.
Citing two confidential sources, The Special Operations Forces Situation Report tells how 'operator after operator took turns dumping magazines-worth of ammunition into Bin Laden’s body'.
The site goes on to argue that while the Navy SEALs may have felt it was 'morally, legally, and ethically appropriate to shoot the body a few times to ensure that he is really dead and no longer a threat,' that does not justify the extent of this damage.
'What happened on the Bin Laden raid is beyond excessive. The level of excess shown was not about making sure that Bin Laden was no longer a threat. The excess was pure self-indulgence,' author Jack Murphy writes.
At the time of the assassination, President Obama and his administration argued that they were justified in never releasing the photos of the dead body or the burial at sea because they could be used as propaganda for al Qaeda.
The new theories, however, suggest that they are just trying to avoid retribution for allegedly being excessive.
Scroll down for video
+7
Hollywood interpretation: Zero Dark Thirty imagined the events leading to Bin Laden's capture
+7
Mission: The Al Qaeda leader was killed at this
compound in Abbottabad by U.S. Special Forces and new reports suggest
that the excessive force that was used may be why his death photos have
not been released
+7
Photos that have been released: Images of bin
Laden, like these which are being used as evidence in the ongoing trial
against his son-in-law, have prompted debate among military veterans and
good government groups
Details about the classified mission were unearthed in SEAL Team Six member Mark Bissonnette's book which differ from the SOFREP account, but Murphy writes that Bissonnette's version 'is perhaps the most measured and polite description that one could give'.
In his book, Bissonnette does not put a firm number on the amount of bullets used but it sounds far less excessive than the latest reports.
'In his death throes, he was still twitching and convulsing. Another assaulter and I trained our lasers on his chest and fired several rounds,' Bissonnette wrote in No Easy Day which was published in September 2012.
'The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless.'
+7
Incorrect depiction: The latest information
suggests the raid of the Bin Laden compound went down very differently
to the events since fictionalized in Hollywood in films like Zero Dark
Thirty, pictured
+7
His version: Mark Bissonnette, who was a member
of SEAL Team Six who was at the raid described them using far fewer
bullets to kill the elderly terror leader
+7
Tension: The raid of bin Laden's Abottabad
compound was watched by President Obama and his closest advisers in the
Situation Room of the White House
Murphy argues that the number of bullets used is less of a issue pertaining specifically to this particular case but grows problematic if it represents a changing attitude within the Navy SEALs.
'Gone unchecked, these actions get worse over time,' the Army Special Operations veteran writes.
'The real issue is not that Bin Laden was turned into Swiss cheese, but rather that this type of behavior has become a Standard Operating Procedure in this unit.'
Dole Expands Bagged Salad Recall to the U.S. Due to Listeria
By
News Desk |
The product code and use-by date are in the upper right-hand corner of the package; the UPC code is on the back of the package, below the barcode.
The salads were distributed in 15 U.S. states: Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. They were also distributed in three Canadian provinces: New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec.
No illnesses have been reported in association with the recall. However, due to the time involved in tracing a foodborne illness back to a specific food product, it is impossible to say whether or not anyone has fallen ill.
The recall was issued after one sample of Dole Italian salad yielded a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes in a random sample test conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Although the product is past its use-by date, retailers should check their inventories and store shelves to confirm that none of the product is mistakenly present or available for purchase by consumers or in warehouse inventories. Dole Fresh Vegetables customer service representatives are already contacting retailers and are in the process of confirming that the recalled product is being removed from the stream of commerce.
Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause foodborne illness in a person who eats a food item contaminated with it. Symptoms of infection may include fever, muscle aches, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea. The illness primarily impacts pregnant women and adults with weakened immune systems. Most healthy adults and children rarely become seriously ill.
The products being recalled are Dole Italian Blend (UPC
7143000819), Fresh Selections Italian Style Blend (UPC 1111091045),
Little Salad Bar Italian Salad (UPC 4149811014) and Marketside Italian
Style Salad (UPC 8113102780) coded A058201A or B, with use-by date of
March 12, 2014.
The product code and use-by date are in the upper right-hand corner of the package; the UPC code is on the back of the package, below the barcode.
The salads were distributed in 15 U.S. states: Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. They were also distributed in three Canadian provinces: New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec.
No illnesses have been reported in association with the recall. However, due to the time involved in tracing a foodborne illness back to a specific food product, it is impossible to say whether or not anyone has fallen ill.
The recall was issued after one sample of Dole Italian salad yielded a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes in a random sample test conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Although the product is past its use-by date, retailers should check their inventories and store shelves to confirm that none of the product is mistakenly present or available for purchase by consumers or in warehouse inventories. Dole Fresh Vegetables customer service representatives are already contacting retailers and are in the process of confirming that the recalled product is being removed from the stream of commerce.
Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause foodborne illness in a person who eats a food item contaminated with it. Symptoms of infection may include fever, muscle aches, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea. The illness primarily impacts pregnant women and adults with weakened immune systems. Most healthy adults and children rarely become seriously ill.
Christie: ‘I could make up an answer at any time'
Talking about New Jersey's budget woes on Thursday, Gov. Chris Christie boasted
that he's a “trained lawyer” who could make up “convincing” answers at any time.
HEY, CHRIS CHRISTIE!
HEY, CHRIS CHRISTIE!
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Even Before Fort Lee Lane Closings, Port Authority Was a Christie Tool
By KATE ZERNIKE and MATT FLEGENHEIMER
For
a state that lost hundreds of lives on Sept. 11, the gifts were
emotionally resonant: pieces of steel from the ruins of the World Trade
Center. They were presented by the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey to 20 carefully chosen New Jersey mayors who sat atop a list of
100 whose endorsements Gov. Chris Christie hoped to win.
At
photo opportunities around the mangled pieces of steel, Bill Baroni,
Mr. Christie’s top staff appointee at the Port Authority, told audiences
how many people wanted a similar remnant of the destroyed buildings,
and how special these mayors were.
Mayors
lower on the list of 100 — such as Mark Sokolich, of Fort Lee, at No.
45 — received other Port Authority perquisites: an intimate tour of the
National September 11 Memorial, or the new World Trade Center
construction site, or Port Authority money for jobs programs or new
firefighting equipment, even in towns far from the port.
Mr.
Christie and his allies at the Port Authority are now entangled in a
scandal over the closing of lanes leading to the George Washington
Bridge — apparently a politically motivated move aimed at Mr. Sokolich,
who had declined to endorse the governor. But long before the lane
closings, the Port Authority — a bistate government agency financed by
tolls and taxes — had already been turned into a de facto political
operation for Governor Christie, a review of the agency’s operations
since Mr. Christie took office suggests.
Turning
wreckage of the twin towers into politically motivated gifts before Mr.
Christie’s 2013 re-election was only one example. The authority became a
means to reward friends (or hire them) and punish adversaries, and a
bank to be used when Mr. Christie sought to avoid raising taxes. Major
policy initiatives, such as instituting a large toll and fare increase
in 2011, were treated like political campaigns to burnish the governor’s
image.
These
maneuvers emboldened the Christie team, former Port Authority
colleagues say, to close down the lanes on the world’s busiest bridge —
ensnaring them in state and federal investigations.
Mr. Christie’s allies at the agency were public, even proud, about their mandate to reshape the agency.
Shortly
after he was hired by Mr. Baroni to be director of interstate capital
projects, David Wildstein walked into a colleague’s office at the
agency’s headquarters on Park Avenue South in Manhattan and gestured
toward the window. “You know, that used to be Tammany Hall,” he said,
referring to the New York Film Academy below on East 17th Street,
according to a person who witnessed the scene. “That’s the seat of all
corruption in New York.”
Waiting a beat, he added, “And the Port Authority is right here.”
Jobs for an Inner Circle
The
Port Authority was formed in the 1920's to run the various ports,
tunnels and bridges shared by New York and New Jersey, with each state
choosing its own administrators and directors, who were supposed to work
together.
As
chairman of the board of commissioners, Mr. Christie appointed David
Samson, a well-connected former state attorney general who had led the
governor’s transition team. When Mr. Christie appointed Mr. Baroni, a
state senator who had been a loyal Christie lieutenant, as deputy
executive director soon after he was elected in 2009, the governor noted
that the agency offered “significant opportunities for funding projects
in the State of New Jersey.”
Mr.
Baroni delighted in his role as the agency’s chief ambassador in his
home state, where he often headlined local officials’ events to
publicize Port Authority projects in their towns. “For the Port
Authority, the World Trade Center wasn’t just a building that we built,”
he said in a speech in 2011.
“It was our home.”
“Its rebuilding is a passion to the Port Authority, and it’s a passion to our governor and lieutenant governor,” he added.
Remarks
like that rankled New York colleagues at the Port Authority, who felt a
tug of war with New Jersey over money to rebuild the site after Mr.
Christie’s allies conveyed a clear rule: If New York got something, New
Jersey had to get something, too. In exchange for the World Trade
Center, for example, New Jersey secured projects including the $1
billion raising of the Bayonne Bridge and the rebuilding of the Pulaski
Skyway — an unusual undertaking for the Port Authority, because it does
not connect the two states.
Mr. Baroni’s lawyer did not return calls seeking comment, and Mr. Wildstein’s lawyer declined to comment.
Mr.
Wildstein, a onetime anonymous political blogger who, like Mr. Baroni,
has resigned in the wake of the lane closings, was hired in 2010 and
quickly developed a reputation as the governor’s enforcer at the agency.
He was known to schedule meetings with subordinates early on Monday
mornings — never specifying the topic, leaving them to fret for the
weekend — then cancel. He seemed to appear from nowhere in officials’
doorways, staring until they invited him in.
Mr.
Wildstein helped end the practice of letting former Port Authority
commissioners have free tolls for life, after Mr. Christie had railed
against it.
The
Port Authority had long been accused of patronage, something longtime
agency employees said that the Christie administration had continued.
The
administration recommended dozens of people with close ties to the
governor or his inner circle — often without relevant experience — for
jobs at the agency. These hires included a gourmet food broker and
longtime Republican donor, who was given a job as a financial analyst,
and the co-author of Mr. Baroni’s self-help book, “Fat Kid Got Fit: And
So Can You!” — who received a part-time job as publications editor that
paid more than $50,000 per year.
A Problem-Solver
Mr.
Christie also used the agency to help him out of political jams. When
he came into office, his state’s Transportation Trust Fund,
traditionally financed by the gas tax, was nearly empty. But Mr.
Christie, as a candidate, had pledged not to raise taxes. The Port
Authority’s involvement in a major project, it turned out, presented a
perfect solution.
In
2010, Mr. Christie canceled construction on a planned railroad tunnel
under the Hudson River that would have eased congestion for Amtrak and
New Jersey Transit trains, and used $1.8 billion that the Port Authority
had planned to spend on it to fill the trust fund.
As
a Republican administration in a blue state, the governor’s team began
considering strategies for his re-election early in his first term.
The
agency’s spending served Mr. Christie well as he campaigned, all with
an eye to building a broad coalition that would allow him to seek the
Republican nomination for president. The governor’s push for projects
like raising the roadbed of the Bayonne Bridge helped win endorsements
from unions that had backed his opponent in 2009. The agency spent
millions of dollars on projects in towns Mr. Christie wanted to win. For
example, $25 million went to a new PATH station in Harrison, where
Mayor Raymond J. McDonough became the first Democratic official to
endorse Mr. Christie.
Christie News Conference on Bridge Flap
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said he
took no part in the lane closings at the George Washington Bridge, but
acknowledged the involvement of some of his close aides.
Mr.
Baroni, often accompanied by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, one of Mr.
Christie’s top aides, delivered the World Trade Center steel to
communities like Secaucus and Tenafly where the campaign sought
endorsements. Mr. Baroni also frequently gave tours of the construction
site, with guest lists that included Democrats whose support the
governor was seeking. A tour last year on Aug. 23 included Mr.
McDonough, and Dawn Zimmer, the Democratic mayor of Hoboken; the
governor’s campaign wanted her to support Mr. Christie — or at least,
not endorse his Democratic opponent.
Some
tour attendees detected a subtext during their visits. “I viewed it as
trying to build relationships and make us feel like we had a place at
the table,” said Richard LaBarbiera, the Democratic mayor of Paramus,
N.J., “with a possible end in mind.”
Mr. LaBarbiera added
that when he informed the campaign that he would not endorse the
governor, his relationship with the administration did not change.
Toll Threats
Perhaps
the boldest use of the Port Authority as a political tool, a complex
sleight-of-hand that raised questions at the time but succeeded anyway,
involved large toll increases at the Hudson River crossings in 2011, at
the end of Mr. Christie’s first year in office. The episode has recently
drawn scrutiny in several major New Jersey newspapers.
At
the time, the agency wanted to raise money on the bond markets. But it
was becoming apparent that it would not be able to raise enough without a
toll increase.
No
governor wants to raise tolls, even by an agency shared with a
neighboring state. But the issue was particularly nettlesome for Mr.
Christie because he had branded himself a fiscal conservative.
An
account fleshed out by several participants describes what was
essentially a political campaign to convince voters that Mr. Christie
had lowered the tolls rather than maneuvered to raise them. While
officials in New York signed off on the maneuver, the participants said,
the Christie administration was the driving force.
Mr.
Baroni took charge. He set up a confidential war room on the 15th floor
of the building on Park Avenue South and put restrictions on who could
enter. Inside, agency employees ran numbers for various proposed
increases, and set up computers to monitor news coverage of the plan.
The
initial projection for car tolls had been an increase of $4, spread
over two years. But on Aug. 3, Mr. Wildstein, Mr. Baroni and Mr. Samson
went to Trenton and met with the governor and five senior staff members,
including his chief of staff, his chief counsel, and Deborah
Gramiccioni, the head of the authorities unit (who was named to Mr.
Baroni’s post at the Port Authority when he resigned as the bridge
scandal burgeoned in December).
Mr.
Christie instructed the group to propose a plan for a $6 increase for
cars by 2014. He told them that he would publicly rail against it, and
that the agency would then agree to a lower number, easing the
inevitable political fallout while still getting new income, according
to a person who was briefed by an attendee on the participants and what
was said.
The
possibility of a similar ploy — announce an outrageously high increase,
and then knock it down — had been considered before toll increases were
proposed in November 2007, in a meeting between Port Authority
officials and the administration of Gov. Jon S. Corzine, according to
two people involved in the discussions, but it was dismissed as too
contrived.
Not
this time. The plan was announced three days after the meeting in
Trenton, on Aug. 6, a Friday afternoon. Within two hours, Mr. Christie
and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York produced a joint statement
expressing “obvious and significant concerns.” Mr. Christie described
his first reaction as, “Are you kidding me?”
The
day before the Port Authority board was to vote on the increase, Mr.
Christie and Mr. Cuomo released a letter declaring that they had found a
way to lower the toll increases — for cars, the cost would go up $4.50
by 2015, rather than $6 by 2014. “We are pleased that our work together
resulted in lowering of the original toll increase,” they said.
The board approved the increase unanimously.
Shouts After Whispers
Among
Mr. Christie’s allies at the agency, the campaign was considered a
success. Mr. Baroni hung a photograph of participants on his office
wall.
It
was not quite over. The travel organization AAA sued, but was blocked
when it tried to gain access to communications between the agency and
the governor’s office.
The
transportation committee of the New Jersey State Assembly also tried
and similarly failed to obtain information. But this effort led to what
could be the longest-lasting significance of the toll-increase ploy: The
Assembly was given subpoena power, which it eventually used to gather
evidence in the recent lane-closing scandal, including the infamous
email from one of Mr. Christie’s aides that read, “Time for some traffic
problems in Fort Lee.”
In
April 2012, Mr. Baroni went to Washington to answer questions from a
committee hearing called by the late Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New
Jersey, a Democrat and frequent critic of the governor. The hearing
devolved into a shouting match.
Aides
to Mr. Christie cheered Mr. Baroni’s performance. In private, though,
Mr. Baroni expressed ambivalence about the confrontation with Mr.
Lautenberg. He sent word through mutual friends to people on Mr.
Lautenberg’s staff that he regretted the scene.
The instructions, he explained, had come from Trenton.
McDonald’s Manager To Sick Employee: ‘Just Put A Bullet In Your Head’
By Rika Christensen
A manager of a Chicago McDonald’s told employee Carmen Navarrette to put a bullet in her head for being sick. Navarrette is diabetic, and had asked to go home after having a severe diabetic episode.
Navarrette, who’s been an employee at that McDonald’s for nine years, went to the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago with the incident.
She also told her story to the Organizing Committee for Chicago Women Caucus, where there were similar stories from other people. That’s prompted a rally on Saturday, where workers were demanding an end to verbal abuse and respect from their managers. Several Chicago aldermen attended the rally as well.
So far, McDonald’s corporate hasn’t commented on the matter.
Last year, they began cracking down on staff and managers for poor
customer service. One in five customer complaints has to do with not
receiving friendly or speedy service, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. As
yet, though, there’s little evidence that they’ve been pressing their
franchisees to train managers to treat employees better.
In 2013, CTU was pressuring that McDonald’s restaurant to sit down with them and work something out so that workers would receive better treatment. At the time of their posting, the restaurant had not responded to their letters.
There are a few that have to do with bad working conditions.
Perhaps the problem is, at least in part, our society’s disdain for fast-food workers. You see it all over the place, especially when talking about raising the minimum wage.
These jobs are low-skill, requiring minimal training, and for some reason we associate that with a person’s worth as a human being. If they were better people, they’d have better jobs. Since they don’t, there must be something wrong with them that just makes them “beneath” the rest of us.
It’s not just customers who think it’s their right to step all over a fast-food worker like they aren’t human. As Navarrette’s story shows, the managers and franchisees do it, too.
The Wall Street Journal article discusses how trying to raise the level of customer service across the board has had limited success. One McDonald’s franchisee said, “I think it’s an ongoing problem, and always will be.”
The question there is, why? The franchisees are addressing the issue by increasing staffing and introducing new order systems to speed things up. Why doesn’t employee treatment factor into this at all?
Treating employees with respect, and letting them know their value to the organization as a whole, can go a very long way towards how well they perform.
But even if the returns were small, treating your employees with disrespect is just bad management.
Anybody who’s so disrespectful that they would tell an employee to put a bullet in their head because they’re sick shouldn’t be a manager to begin with.
However, that absolutely does not give him the right to tell her she should kill herself. If her health is causing that much of a problem with her attendance or performance on the job, then he needs to schedule a meeting with her to discuss her options (including things like light duty, and possibly disability).
If, however, her diabetes is not causing problems with her attendance and on-the-job performance, then his behavior is even worse because that level of frustration is entirely unwarranted. But regardless, no manager, no matter how frustrated they are, has the right tell anyone to just put a bullet in their heads.
Navarrette has a petition on Moveon.org regarding her situation, and the situation of all McDonald’s workers who’ve had to endure abuse from their managers. If McDonald’s is serious about improving their customer service, technology is only one step. They need to better train their franchisees to ensure store managers are leaders, and not just overseers.
A manager of a Chicago McDonald’s told employee Carmen Navarrette to put a bullet in her head for being sick. Navarrette is diabetic, and had asked to go home after having a severe diabetic episode.
Navarrette, who’s been an employee at that McDonald’s for nine years, went to the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago with the incident.
She also told her story to the Organizing Committee for Chicago Women Caucus, where there were similar stories from other people. That’s prompted a rally on Saturday, where workers were demanding an end to verbal abuse and respect from their managers. Several Chicago aldermen attended the rally as well.
Disrespect isn’t unique to this particular McDonald’s.
Another Chicago McDonald’s is under fire for poor employee treatment, age discrimination, unsanitary conditions, and failure to provide proper safety equipment. Centro De Trabajadores Unidos (CTU) Immigrant Worker Project says that several women at the McDonald’s at 92nd and Commercial Avenue, on Chicago’s south side, frequently deal with verbal abuse, along with stress so bad it affects their health outside of work.In 2013, CTU was pressuring that McDonald’s restaurant to sit down with them and work something out so that workers would receive better treatment. At the time of their posting, the restaurant had not responded to their letters.
McDonald’s might benefit more from treating their workers with some decency.
Perhaps the problem is deeper than just rude workers. It can be very hard to put a smile on your face when not only does your boss treat you like you’re nothing, but customers do also. Business Insider has a list of McDonald’s horror stories from 2012, and most of them have to do with customers.There are a few that have to do with bad working conditions.
Perhaps the problem is, at least in part, our society’s disdain for fast-food workers. You see it all over the place, especially when talking about raising the minimum wage.
These jobs are low-skill, requiring minimal training, and for some reason we associate that with a person’s worth as a human being. If they were better people, they’d have better jobs. Since they don’t, there must be something wrong with them that just makes them “beneath” the rest of us.
It’s not just customers who think it’s their right to step all over a fast-food worker like they aren’t human. As Navarrette’s story shows, the managers and franchisees do it, too.
The Wall Street Journal article discusses how trying to raise the level of customer service across the board has had limited success. One McDonald’s franchisee said, “I think it’s an ongoing problem, and always will be.”
The question there is, why? The franchisees are addressing the issue by increasing staffing and introducing new order systems to speed things up. Why doesn’t employee treatment factor into this at all?
Employee engagement and well-being brings in a higher profit margin.
Organizations that actively participate in employee well-being and engagement, and invest time and energy in providing good working environments, tend to see greater returns and greater profits than companies who treat their employees like mere cogs in a machine. This isn’t something that only applies to certain industries; it’s true across all industries. It isn’t necessarily about wages, either.Treating employees with respect, and letting them know their value to the organization as a whole, can go a very long way towards how well they perform.
But even if the returns were small, treating your employees with disrespect is just bad management.
Anybody who’s so disrespectful that they would tell an employee to put a bullet in their head because they’re sick shouldn’t be a manager to begin with.
This McDonald’s manager really should just be fired for that.
There’s no information available as to how often Navarrette was absent from work due to her diabetes. If it was quite frequent, then frustration on the part of her manager is to be expected.However, that absolutely does not give him the right to tell her she should kill herself. If her health is causing that much of a problem with her attendance or performance on the job, then he needs to schedule a meeting with her to discuss her options (including things like light duty, and possibly disability).
If, however, her diabetes is not causing problems with her attendance and on-the-job performance, then his behavior is even worse because that level of frustration is entirely unwarranted. But regardless, no manager, no matter how frustrated they are, has the right tell anyone to just put a bullet in their heads.
Navarrette has a petition on Moveon.org regarding her situation, and the situation of all McDonald’s workers who’ve had to endure abuse from their managers. If McDonald’s is serious about improving their customer service, technology is only one step. They need to better train their franchisees to ensure store managers are leaders, and not just overseers.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Ralph Nader’s unwarranted presidential advice
Earning the title of Ed Schultz's Pretender, failed
Green Party Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader pens an unsolicited, negative
letter to Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Hundreds of Native Women Missing in Canada
New database lists 824 murdered, missing native women in Canada
By Mary Agnes Welch
Some of the names are familiar, such as Cherisse Houle, the 17-year-old found lying face down in a creek just outside Winnipeg.
Some are forgotten, such as Constance Cameron, whose murder 30 years ago has never been solved.
One name is famous -- Helen Betty Osborne, whose death is emblematic of violent racism in Manitoba.
Those names and hundreds more appear on a new public database, the first of its kind, created by an Ottawa researcher. It pegs the number of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada at 824.
That's significantly higher than the widely used and often-criticized number of 582, cobbled together by the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC).
The NWAC's list was never public and could not be scrutinized or validated, but it helped catapult the issue of violence against indigenous women onto the national agenda.
The new research, which dug deeper into the past and the public record, shows the number of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Manitoba is 111, up from NWAC's oft-quoted figure of 79.
"I'm not shocked at the number and I know the community is not going to be shocked at the number because we've always said it was more," said Nahanni Fontaine, the province's special adviser on aboriginal women's issues. "And of course, each year, tragically, those numbers go up."
The new database is the first comprehensive and fully public list of missing and murdered aboriginal women, but activists in Ontario are working on a similar one for that province. The database was created by federal civil servant Maryanne Pearce and forms part of her PhD thesis for the University of Ottawa's law school.
The thesis, along with the database, were submitted last fall and are available online.
To gather a complete list of names, Pearce spent seven years cross-referencing newspaper articles, police websites and reports, court documents and other public sources, much as the NWAC did.
Pearce identified thousands of missing and murdered women and was able to determine 824 were Inuit, Métis or First Nations. Her list includes 115 Manitoba women, but further research suggests four young women listed as missing have been found, two recently.
Pearce could not be reached for comment this week, but her thesis advisers are two well-regarded experts in aboriginal law and social science research.
When contacted about Pearce's work, they called it "excellent."
Among her findings, Pearce found 80 per cent of missing or murdered aboriginal women were not in the sex trade. That's despite the perception most cases involve prostitutes or women engaged in high-risk behaviour.
The perception that many missing or murdered women put themselves in harm's way has been used to unfairly discount the problem, said Derek Nepinak, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
Shawna Ferris, a University of Manitoba gender studies professor, agreed, saying much of the reporting on missing and murdered aboriginal women focuses on whether the victims are involved in the sex trade. Mug shots and details of a woman's street life or addictions don't help to cultivate
public concern.
"Shouldn't we be aiming for a city where regardless of the trials people are going through, they're not killed?"
Nepinak said a comprehensive list that can been tested and validated makes it difficult for government, especially Ottawa, to sidestep the issue, and helps bolster the case for a national inquiry into the epidemic of violence against aboriginal women.
"We've only scratched the surface of what happened here," Nepinak said.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
Some are forgotten, such as Constance Cameron, whose murder 30 years ago has never been solved.
Canada's Missing and Murdered Women
As part of her PhD thesis, federal civil servant Maryanne Pearce created her own database of missing and murdered women in Canada, cross-referencing newspaper articles, police websites and reports, court documents and other public sources. We’ve created an online database based on Appendix F of her thesis – a list of more than 3,300 cases of missing or dead Canadian women. See the database.MANITOBA'S MISSING AND MURDERED ABORIGINAL WOMEN AND GIRLS
- 111 missing or murdered dating back to Jean Mocharski's murder near the Alexander Docks in 1961.
- 83 aboriginal women have been murdered over the last 50 years. About a third of the murders are unsolved.
- 28 women are missing, including 18 in the last decade.
- 10 children (aged 11 and under) were murdered, including Phoenix Sinclair.
- 20 is the average age of the missing and murdered women (among those whose ages are known).
- 6 women were murdered by their husband or boyfriend.
Related Items
One name is famous -- Helen Betty Osborne, whose death is emblematic of violent racism in Manitoba.
Those names and hundreds more appear on a new public database, the first of its kind, created by an Ottawa researcher. It pegs the number of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada at 824.
That's significantly higher than the widely used and often-criticized number of 582, cobbled together by the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC).
The NWAC's list was never public and could not be scrutinized or validated, but it helped catapult the issue of violence against indigenous women onto the national agenda.
The new research, which dug deeper into the past and the public record, shows the number of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Manitoba is 111, up from NWAC's oft-quoted figure of 79.
"I'm not shocked at the number and I know the community is not going to be shocked at the number because we've always said it was more," said Nahanni Fontaine, the province's special adviser on aboriginal women's issues. "And of course, each year, tragically, those numbers go up."
The new database is the first comprehensive and fully public list of missing and murdered aboriginal women, but activists in Ontario are working on a similar one for that province. The database was created by federal civil servant Maryanne Pearce and forms part of her PhD thesis for the University of Ottawa's law school.
The thesis, along with the database, were submitted last fall and are available online.
To gather a complete list of names, Pearce spent seven years cross-referencing newspaper articles, police websites and reports, court documents and other public sources, much as the NWAC did.
Pearce identified thousands of missing and murdered women and was able to determine 824 were Inuit, Métis or First Nations. Her list includes 115 Manitoba women, but further research suggests four young women listed as missing have been found, two recently.
Pearce could not be reached for comment this week, but her thesis advisers are two well-regarded experts in aboriginal law and social science research.
When contacted about Pearce's work, they called it "excellent."
Among her findings, Pearce found 80 per cent of missing or murdered aboriginal women were not in the sex trade. That's despite the perception most cases involve prostitutes or women engaged in high-risk behaviour.
The perception that many missing or murdered women put themselves in harm's way has been used to unfairly discount the problem, said Derek Nepinak, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
Shawna Ferris, a University of Manitoba gender studies professor, agreed, saying much of the reporting on missing and murdered aboriginal women focuses on whether the victims are involved in the sex trade. Mug shots and details of a woman's street life or addictions don't help to cultivate
public concern.
"Shouldn't we be aiming for a city where regardless of the trials people are going through, they're not killed?"
Nepinak said a comprehensive list that can been tested and validated makes it difficult for government, especially Ottawa, to sidestep the issue, and helps bolster the case for a national inquiry into the epidemic of violence against aboriginal women.
"We've only scratched the surface of what happened here," Nepinak said.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
College Board announces SAT overhaul
Chris Hayes discusses the newly announced overhaul of the SATs with
NYU’s Pedro Noguera, Seppy Basili of Kaplan Test Prep, and education
activist Julie Cavanagh.
Friday, March 7, 2014
12 Common Dreams and What They Supposedly Mean
By Meredith Danko
Despite
Freud’s well-documented beliefs, dream interpretation isn’t a
straightforward method. In fact, the majority of modern scientists and
psychologists accept dreams and their meanings as unsolved mysteries.
Regardless, there are some extremely common dreams that we all keep
having.
Though most psychologists disagree with the current
state of dream interpretation, people still choose to consult so-called
dream experts. Often times, these analysts disagree. To get a clear
picture, we will examine the viewpoints of four authors. Lauri
Loewenberg has written three books on this topic and has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show and Anderson Cooper 360. Ian Wallace is a dream psychologist who wrote The Complete A to Z Dictionary of Dreams. Russell Grant published The Illustrated Dream Dictionary, which connects symbols in dreams with waking life. Finally, Lauren Lawrence has a New York Daily News column on dream analysis and was the host of the show Celebrity Nightmares Decoded. Based on these four sources, here are 12 common dreams and interpretations.
1. Falling
Loewenberg calls
this dream a “red flag from your subconscious.” She believes this dream
is common in people who are having a major life problem with work,
relationships, or elsewhere. Grant’s work concurs with this viewpoint,
even citing the same examples.
2. Teeth falling out
The experts greatly disagree on this one. Wallace views
teeth as a symbol of power and confidence. This dream is supposedly a
sign that something happened in the dreamer’s life that has caused him
or her to lose confidence. According to Grant, teeth are a bad omen and
represent a broken relationship. Lawrence has a Freudian answer to this
dream. For women, she believes the dream is an example of
wish-fulfillment—they want to become pregnant. For men, it is a desire
for sexual stimulation.
3. Showing up to work or school naked
The experts largely agree that this dream represents vulnerability and anxiety. Wallace’s research reveals that this dream is “common to people who have accepted a promotion, gone off to a new job, or who are coming into public view.”
4. Test-taking
Lawrence has observed that only perfectionists tend to have recurring stressful test-taking dreams. She alleges
that the dream reminds a person to stay alert. Loewenberg believes that
in adults, these dreams draw parallels between school and a job.
Because both places see a lot of pressure-filled situations, Loewenberg
associates this dream with work stress.
5. Dying
Lawrence’s interpretation
is that this dream “reveals the wish to terminate something in life: a
relationship, a job, a career path, or even the past.” Grant’s
dictionary emphasizes that this dream is not necessarily a nightmare.
Rather, he repeatedly states that it is a dream meant to encourage a
person to embark on a new endeavor or fresh start.
6. Meeting a celebrity
Getty Images
Wallace names this as one of the dreams his clients
have the most. He believes the actual celebrity is relevant and may
reveal what talents the dreamer values. In Dream on It, Loewenberg writes that celebrities are a symbol of a personal need for recognition.
7. Being chased
Despite the nightmarish feel of this dream, Wallace
considers it a positive sign. He believes that this dream is supposed to
encourage the dreamer to finally face a problem that has been hanging
over his or her head. Loewenberg encounters this dream more often in
women than men.
8. Partner is cheating
Most of these authorities agree that this dream should
not be taken as clairvoyance. According to Loewenberg, “The cheating
dream happens when your mate is spending too much time and attention on
something that does not involve you.” Similarly, Lawrence notes a lack of trust in a romantic relationship tends to spark this dream.
9. Showing up late to something
This dream might be a sign that someone is overwhelmed
and doing too much, according to Wallace. On a related note, Grant
interprets this lateness as a warning: “Don’t make promises you can’t
keep.”
10. Flying
Wallace claims
that the dream encourages a person to let go of current issues and
allow things to ”fall naturally into place.” Similarly, flying is a sign
that there is an out of control situation in real life, according to
Grant.
See Also: 6 Surprising Things That Can Influence Your Dreams11. Being pregnant
Grant understands this dream as a sign that the
dreamer is having problems. Lawrence views it as a need, either to start
a creative project or become a parent. Or the dream may be
representative of a new idea that has recently come to the person, as
Loewenberg believes.
12. Driving an out-of-control vehicle
The interpretations of this dream are just as cliché as expected. For example, Wallace writes,
“You may feel that you don’t have enough control on your road to
success.” Grant warns that this is a sign that a current bad habit may
become a long-term problem.
All images courtesy of Thinkstock unless otherwise noted.
‘I Am Prepared To Run For President Of The United States’
By Alan Colmes
The prepared person is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, hinted in November that he’d look at 2016.
The prepared person is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, hinted in November that he’d look at 2016.
…Sanders has begun talking with savvy progressive political strategists, traveling to unexpected locations such as Alabama and entertaining the process questions that this most issue-focused member of the Senate has traditionally avoided.
In some senses, Sanders is the unlikeliest of prospects: an independent who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate but has never joined the party, a democratic socialist in a country where many politicians fear the label “liberal,” an outspoken critic of the economic, environmental and social status quo who rips “the ruling class” and calls out the Koch brothers by name. Yet, he has served as the mayor of his state’s largest city, beaten a Republican incumbent for the US House, won and held a historically Republican Senate seat and served longer as an independent member of Congress than anyone else. And he says his political instincts tell him America is ready for a “political revolution.”The big question is whether Sanders runs as an independent, which he is, or as a Democrat, a party with which he caucuses, but with which he many differences.
……there is no question that the Democratic Party in general remains far too dependent on big-money interests, that it is not fighting vigorously for working-class families, and that there are some members of the Democratic Party whose views are not terribly different from some of the Republicans. That’s absolutely the case. But the dilemma is that, if you run outside of the Democratic Party, then what you’re doing—and you have to think hard about this—you’re not just running a race for president, you’re really running to build an entire political movement.And what is wrong with the nominee-apparent, Hillary Clinton?
…the same old same old [Clinton administration Secretary of the Treasury] Robert Rubin type of economics, or centrist politics, or continued dependence on big money, or unfettered free-trade, that is not what this country needs ideologically. That is not the type of policy that we need. And it is certainly not going to be the politics that galvanizes the tens of millions of people today who are thoroughly alienated and disgusted with the status quo.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
A middle-finger salute for the fracking king
By Jim Hightower
Rex Tillerson is mad. In fact, Fracking Mad.
This 61 year old farmer from Bartonville, Texas is another victim of Big Oil's fracking boom that has invaded people's homes and lives from upstate New York to Southern California. Polluted air, contaminated water, depleted aquifers, multiple health problems, and even an inexplicable epidemic of earthquakes are a few of the side effects caused by this massively-destructive drilling process.
But the frackers hadn't counted on Rex getting mad, speaking out, and suing the bastards. What ticked off Tillerson was the erection of a 160-foot-tall water tower built by a company that can provide millions of gallons of water for fracking gas wells. But Rex is no environmentalist, so his objection is not to the waste and contamination of people's water, nor does he object at all to fracking.
Rather, he's hopping mad because the 15-story tower stands above the tree line on his 83-acre, $5-million horse farm, spoiling his view.
Tillerson, you see, is not just some local dirt farmer. He says he and his wife moved here to have a weekend getaway so they can enjoy the rural lifestyle. He's not a farmer, at all – unless you count "farming the government" and harvesting billions of dollars in special tax breaks and subsidies. Rex (whose name means "king" in Latin), is the $40-million-a-year CEO of Exxon Mobil. Now, guess which oil giant is the biggest fracker in the USA. Right? Exxon Mobil.
So what we have here is a case of "phallic justice" – an upright, cylindrical water tower that's part of the fracking infrastructure, symbolically extending the middle-finger salute to Exxon's CEO every time he visits his horsey farm. How fitting that a guy who’s gained a personal fortune from the ugliness of fracking now has some of that ugliness right in his face.
"Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson gets 15 percent raise to $40.3 million," www.dallasnews.com, April 12, 2013.
"Exxon CEO Joins Suit Citing Fracking Concerns," www.wsj.com, February 20, 2014.
"Colorado Becomes First State to Regulate Methane Emissions From Fracking," www.alternet.org, February 25, 2014.
"Water tower suit involving Exxon's CEO prompts a fracking fracas," www.star-telegram.com, February 24, 2014.
"Exxon CEO Comes Out Against Fracking Project Because It Will Affect His Property Values," www.thinkprogress.org, February 21, 2014.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
CEO sues to keep fracking away from backyard
Chris Hayes looks at Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson’s lawsuit tied to fracking.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Mitch McConnell Tastes His Own Medicine in Attack Ad by Senate Conservatives Fund
By Brad Friedman
This is what politics now looks like inside the Republican Party, where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is staring down the double barrels of a very aggressive "Tea Party" primary challenge from Matt Bevin, and then a very close contest with Democratic general election candidate and Kentucky Sec. of State Alison Lundergan Grimes...
Remember, that ad is by fellow Republicans. In other words, the ridiculous and toxic (if too often effective) tactics they've been using for years against Democrats are now being deployed against each other.
As Josh Marshall said when flagging the ad above, "I guess you make your own bed." Or, perhaps, as the most most haunting movie ad ever said: "The call is coming from inside the house."
Good luck with that, Republicans. You are what you eat.
This is what politics now looks like inside the Republican Party, where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is staring down the double barrels of a very aggressive "Tea Party" primary challenge from Matt Bevin, and then a very close contest with Democratic general election candidate and Kentucky Sec. of State Alison Lundergan Grimes...
Remember, that ad is by fellow Republicans. In other words, the ridiculous and toxic (if too often effective) tactics they've been using for years against Democrats are now being deployed against each other.
As Josh Marshall said when flagging the ad above, "I guess you make your own bed." Or, perhaps, as the most most haunting movie ad ever said: "The call is coming from inside the house."
Good luck with that, Republicans. You are what you eat.
Scott Walker's weak attempt to avoid controversy
Wisconsin Govenor Scott Walker desperately tries to bury details of a new scandal, as his
past actions against unions makes headlines. Ed Schultz and panel discuss.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
President Obama says no to Social Security cuts
President Obama is doing what critics have urged him to do for years:
he’s saying what he wants. His new budget will say no to austerity and
no to Social Security cuts. Richard Wolffe and Joy Reid discuss.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Super Mario Bros 3 Hacked To Feature Save Game Functionality
By Cauterize
Super Mario Bros 3 is without a doubt one of the greatest games ever made - but can how can you improve a near flawless classic? One Nintendo NES fan decided to bring new functionality to the 1988 platformer, by introducing something retro gamers with busy lives will appreciate - built in save game functionality.
This simple yet effective ROM hack is the latest patch to hit the retro gaming scene, and one that will solve many classic gaming headaches. Given how expansive Super Mario Bros 3's many worlds are, the ability to power off the console and resume the action much later on is something we can all make use of.
Having said that, seasoned retro gamers will no doubt be questioning the point of using this ROM hack, especially when most Nintendo NES emulators out there support save states. The difference here is that owners of Nintendo NES flash cartridges (such as the Everdrive N8) wanting the more authentic experience can now make the most of this improved classic on the original hardware - saving their progress throughout the Mushroom World.
As usual, to enjoy this ROM enhancement patch you will need to have an original Super Mario Bros 3 Nintendo NES ROM file to which you can apply this patch to. Full instructions on how to patch this ROM can be found within the download, or you can refer to this handy ROM patching guide on YouTube.
Download Super Mario Bros 3 Save Game Patch
Super Mario Bros 3 is without a doubt one of the greatest games ever made - but can how can you improve a near flawless classic? One Nintendo NES fan decided to bring new functionality to the 1988 platformer, by introducing something retro gamers with busy lives will appreciate - built in save game functionality.
This simple yet effective ROM hack is the latest patch to hit the retro gaming scene, and one that will solve many classic gaming headaches. Given how expansive Super Mario Bros 3's many worlds are, the ability to power off the console and resume the action much later on is something we can all make use of.
Having said that, seasoned retro gamers will no doubt be questioning the point of using this ROM hack, especially when most Nintendo NES emulators out there support save states. The difference here is that owners of Nintendo NES flash cartridges (such as the Everdrive N8) wanting the more authentic experience can now make the most of this improved classic on the original hardware - saving their progress throughout the Mushroom World.
As usual, to enjoy this ROM enhancement patch you will need to have an original Super Mario Bros 3 Nintendo NES ROM file to which you can apply this patch to. Full instructions on how to patch this ROM can be found within the download, or you can refer to this handy ROM patching guide on YouTube.
Download Super Mario Bros 3 Save Game Patch
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