So here's another brilliant thing from the world of protesting - some SJWs want to hold a protest in Houston because the QB of the Houston Texans (who's black) wasn't asked about the hiring of their new GM.


This is "protest creep" - the things people start protesting become more and more ridiculous until protesting loses whatever meaning it had and people just start ignoring them.

It's actually "moral hysteria creep", in which right-wingers repeatedly point to unimportant fringe incidents and insist they're the coming endgame of antifa SJWs if we don't stop them.

This was most recently seen when right-wingers were FREAKING OUT about the "cancellation" of Paw Patrol (a made up story that never happened) and Confederate statues and Aunt Jemima, insisting they were a slippery slope leading to fascism or something (lol)

If you're truly concerned about this, I think you're in a pretty small minority. There have always been, and always will be, ridiculous protests. The "problem" takes care of itself nicely - the more ridiculous the protest, the less people show up for it. Every once in a while, a dumb protests gets an oversized crowd, just like some good causes get undersized ones at times. And when people hear about protests, they tend to decide whether they care or not based on whether they believe it's a worthy cause. I don't expect any number of stupid protests about things almost no one cares about will have even the slightest effect on the next protest about gun rights or abortion or civil rights.

This is completely missing the context. Their black QB is one of the top 5 or 6 players in the league in terms of age, position and skill. There has been tons of reports that he wants to be traded. I'm sure the protests are as much about football fans not wanting to lose their most valuable player as it is "SJWs".

GOP Rep. Andy Harris Tries To Bring Gun Into House Chamber.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house...b674575ae423ae

Classy.

Both Russia and Biden have stated that they favor extending the New START nuclear non-proliferation treaty for five years, which expires on Feb 5.

Well, let us hope that passes. The world doesn't really need a new intercontinental nuclear arms race.

There is something very reminiscent of the cold war by Russia and USA doing treaty negotiations with one hand and sanctions with the other.

CNN Daniel Dale:
"Twitter has permanently suspended the account of Mike Lindell, the pillow businessman, fervent Trump devotee and serial utterer of false claims about the election, for repeat violations of its policy on election misinformation."

WSH Post David Fahrenthold:
"PGA selects replacement venue in Oklahoma for 2022 PGA championship, having left former President Trump's Bedminster course following the Capitol attack."

Remember, the out of touch elitists are always dems



In Dinesh's defense, he's a pretty horrible elitist. He is currently in a spat with a Princeton history professor Kevin Kruse who apparently can't be as smart as Dinesh because he went to UNC Chapel Hill and Dinesh has a BA from l Dartmouth. He also brags about writing more books than Kruse. Of course that are published by some junk conservative publisher as opposed to Princeton University Press etc that wouldn't touch the trash Dinesh publishes with a 10 foot poll.

I mean, they all give away the game every time they try to insult AOC by calling her a bartender

"Military takes control of Myanmar; Suu Kyi reported detained"

https://apnews.com/article/aung-san-...bd44d19eac9cd1

"Myanmar military television said Monday that the military was taking control of the country for one year, while reports said many of the country’s senior politicians including Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained.

An announcement read on military-owned Myawaddy TV cited a section of the military-drafted constitution that allows the military to take control in times of national emergency. It said the reason for takeover was in part due to the government’s failure to act on the military’s claims of voter fraud in last November’s election and its failure to postpone the election because of the coronavirus crisis."

I suspect the usage of "fraud" is hardly a coincidence. With such accusations being thrown around frivolously in US politics, it will give less oomph behind a potential US diplomatic response.

Glad to see someone out there knows how to stop a steal. Now we'll see if they lock her up.

Too funny:

Twitter shutters MyPillow account after banned CEO Mike Lindell tries to circumvent his personal account banning by tweeting under his MyPillowUSA corporate account.

https://twitter.com/MyPillowUSA

https://mashable.com/article/mypillow-twitter-ban/

LOL. Obviously he has enough money that he doesn't care about his company's fortunes as much as his lunacy. Or he's unhinged enough that he somehow didn't realize this would be the end result. Likely a bit of both.

Regardless, he would seem to fall into a category of someone who truly believes this nonsense.

Wait till his brother Spike.... Tindell logs in to tweet.

Absolutely, Mike Lindell is certifiably insane, the guy wanted to impose Marshall Law to keep Trump in. It's amazing how many people are insane enough to believe Trump's lies, versus just faking it for the White Supremacist angle, and lols.

Amazon will have a new CEO as Jeff Bezos transitions to executive chair later this year

Andy Jassy is set to replace Bezos as CEO
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO and transition to a new position at the company as executive chair of the Amazon board in Q3 2021. Andy Jassy, who currently serves as CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), will replace Bezos as Amazon CEO.

“Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it’s consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to put attention on anything else,” commented Bezos in an email announcing the change. “As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions.”...

I'm guessing the new relationship has something to do with it too.

To be fair, first they discontinued Aunt Jemima and then this happened :

AP:

I was going to start a 'Corporate Malfeasance' catch all thread but perhaps this is better here.


FTC says Amazon took $62 million in tips from drivers

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is paying nearly $62 million to settle charges that it took tips from its delivery drivers.

The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that Amazon didn't pass on tips to drivers for more than two years, even though it promised shoppers and drivers it would do so. The FTC said Amazon didn't stop taking the tips until 2019, when the company found out about the FTC's investigation...

...Amazon took elaborate steps to mislead its drivers and conceal its theft, sending them canned responses that repeated the company’s lies.”

The drivers were part of Amazon's Flex business, which was founded in 2015 and allows people to deliver Amazon packages with their own cars. The drivers are independent workers, and are not Amazon employees.

The FTC said Amazon at first promised workers that they would be paid $18 to $25 per hour. It also told them they would receive 100% of tips given to them by customers on the app.

But in 2016, Amazon started paying drivers a lower hourly rate and used the tips to make up the difference, according to the complaint. Amazon didn't disclose the change to drivers, the FTC said, and the tips it took from drivers amounted to $61.7 million...

...The FTC said the money Amazon is paying for the settlement will go back to delivery drivers whose tips were taken.


----------------------------


There needs to be the ability to impose significant 'punitive penalties' for stuff like this so that the threat of such penalties makes it not worth risk doing it. If the only penalties are 'you have to give it back if caught', and only a fraction of them are caught, then it makes it worth the corporate gamble.

Agreed. The financial penalty (or other penalties) must at a minimum make the risk offset the fraudulent income.

It is also shameful, this is one of the world’s biggest companies.

McKinsey, adviser to businesses around the world, agrees to pay $573.9 million to settle charges for its role in opioid epidemic

Totally normal to shell out half a $billion when you did nothing wrong