National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Drugs. The figure above is a bar chart showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving prescription drugs from 2001 to 2014. The chart is overlayed by a line graph showing the number of deaths by females and males. From 2001 to 2014 there was a 2.8-fold increase in the total number of deaths.
National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers. The figure above is a bar chart showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers from 2001 to 2014. The chart is overlayed by a line graph showing the number of deaths by females and males. From 2001 to 2014 there was a 3.4-fold increase in the total number of deaths.
Doctors need to become aware that maybe they are vulnerable to strong man sales techniques.
ProPublica found that doctors nationally who accepted payments from manufacturers were two to three times as likely to prescribe high rates of brand-name drugs. The higher the payments on average, the higher the rate of brand-name prescribing.
The NYT in an article by SABRINA TAVERNISE on Dr. Arias, who is preparing a larger study of mortality trends over the past 15 years, said drug overdoses, liver disease and suicide were the main drivers of the gloomy trends among whites in recent years, a pattern also found by other researchers. Life expectancy for whites had been rising for decades, but it has stagnated in recent years. It inched up in 2010 and 2011, and was flat in 2012 and 2013. But new federal data, drawn from all deaths recorded in the country in 2014, showed that life expectancy for whites dropped to 78.8 years in 2014
Particularly Oxycontin has caused addiction which often leads to abuse of Heroin. It is a deadly drug.
Unless you are already dying from an incurable cancer, there is really no reason to take a drug that can cause you to become a drug addict. As a dying person it is okay only because you are going to die anyway. Before even considering taking an opioid make sure you internalize the consequences for short-term relief.
Side Effects and Warning for Oxycontin
Never take this medicine in larger amounts, or for longer than prescribed. Do not crush or break an extended-release Oxycontin tablet. Swallow it whole to avoid exposure to a potentially fatal dose.
OxyContin is be habit-forming, even at regular doses. Take this medicine exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Never share the medicine with another person. MISUSE OF NARCOTIC PAIN MEDICATION CAN CAUSE ADDICTION, OVERDOSE, OR DEATH, especially in a child or other person using the medicine without a prescription.
Tell your doctor if you are pregnant. Oxycodone may cause life-threatening withdrawal symptoms in a newborn if the mother has taken this medicine during pregnancy.
Do not drink alcohol. Dangerous side effects or death could occur.
“The sanctions are targeted, not sectoral, and will have a very limited impact,” said Thomas Wright, a fellow and director of the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institute. “This will not deter Putin from interfering in French or German elections in 2017.”
Thomas Wright also suggests that: “Trump is opposed to America’s alliance arrangements, he is opposed to the open global economy, and he is pro-authoritarian and pro-Russian. That it is pretty clear this is the most important election anywhere in the world since the two German elections of 1932,” he wrote, in reference to the parliamentary elections that ultimately resulted in Adolf Hitler coming to power. “No other election has had the capacity to completely overturn the international order—the global economy, geopolitics, etc.”
In the Atlantic Monthly article Thomas Wright further explains: “Trump’s isolationist ideology has three components, according to Wright: 1) opposition to U.S. alliances; 2) opposition to free trade; and 3) support for authoritarianism. In Wright’s view, these three beliefs, if translated into policy in a Trump administration, could do away with the liberal international order that the United States helped design after World War II and has led ever since. Full Article
Thomas Wright explains in a report for the Lowy Institute for International Policy: “To understand Donald Trump’s foreign policy, we must distinguish between his three core beliefs that he has held for many decades and rarely if ever wavered from, the central themes of his campaign, and other issues. His core beliefs are opposition to America’s alliance arrangements, opposition to free trade, and support for authoritarianism, particularly in Russia. If he is elected president and governs in a manner consistent with these beliefs, the United States will be transformed from the leader of a liberal international order into a rogue superpower that withdraws from its international commitments, undermines the open global economy, and partners with Putin’s Russia.” Full Report
How the GOP responds to the Trump and Putin alliance forged to transform the US into a rogue country that works solely for a few chosen corporation – just like Russia is now – will determine our future and the future of the free world.
Source: Thomas Wright quotes from a variety of sources. For more information feel free to contact him directly at The Brookings Institute
The US Government released a report and recommends that all citizens and companies take pre-cautions.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recommends that network administrators review the IP addresses, file hashes, and Yara signature provided and add the IPs to their watchlist to determine whether malicious activity has been observed within their organizations. The review of network perimeter net flow or firewall logs will assist in determining whether your network has experienced suspicious activity. When reviewing network perimeter logs for the IP addresses, organizations may find numerous instances of these IPs attempting to connect to their systems. Upon reviewing the traffic from these IPs, some traffic may correspond to malicious activity, and some may correspond to legitimate activity. Some traffic that may appear legitimate is actually malicious, such as vulnerability scanning or browsing of legitimate public facing services (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP). Connections from these IPs may be performing vulnerability scans attempting to identify websites that are vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) or Structured Query Language (SQL) injection attacks. If scanning identified vulnerable sites, attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities may be experienced.
Commit to Cybersecurity Best Practices
A commitment to good cybersecurity and best practices is critical to protecting networks and systems.
Here are some questions you may want to ask your organization to help prevent and mitigate against attacks.
1. Backups: Do we backup all critical information? Are the backups stored offline? Have we tested our ability to revert to backups during an incident?
2. Risk Analysis: Have we conducted a cybersecurity risk analysis of the organization?
3. Staff Training: Have we trained staff on cybersecurity best practices? 4. Vulnerability Scanning & Patching: Have we implemented regular scans of our network and systems and appropriate patching of known system vulnerabilities?
5. Application Whitelisting: Do we allow only approved programs to run on our networks? 6. Incident Response: Do we have an incident response plan and have we practiced it?
7. Business Continuity: Are we able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Have we tested this?
8. Penetration Testing: Have we attempted to hack into our own systems to test the security of our systems and our ability to defend against attacks?
For the full document with more valuable advice: Click
Icahn and Trump are well known for expressing their feelings and opinions without filters.
Bravo? They are not politically correct and that is what their voters wanted, right?
It is obvious for people in the know to see what attracts them to each other. They are both single-mindedly focused on their own profit. They are both honest about it and have a devil make care attitude. They are completely unapologetic about any trails of victims they may leave in their wake. They are bullies and they are honest about it. If they can get away with something they not only will try the practically must try. They love the “Game of Business.” Trump promised to get rid of lobbyists and by golly he sure seems to keep his promise. Instead of having lobbyists who want who appeal to Congress to create lenient laws that allow for more profit for the 1%. They indeed get rid of the lobbyists and replace them with the 1%. What a practical idea. The Trump voters must be so very pleased. Trump is keeping his promise to drain the swamp of middle men. The swamp of government is now honestly run by and for the corporations and venture capital firms and banks, and the 1% who have paid for everything anyway. The honesty that Trump brings to government is laudable indeed. No more pretense. Just making sure that the hyper-wealthy get what they need and want more efficiently and faster than ever.
Just one thought. We know that these old men don’t care about the future because in the future they are most likely dead. They are old and they will die and this is one last fling before they go. But what about the 40, 30, 20, 10 year olds in the world?
A world that run by people who lack humanity typically erodes healthy middle class. The old men may not care, but without a middle class you have no stability. If we look at countries who lost their middle class we are always looking at war. Trump wants to spend a $1 Trillion dollars on improving the nuclear arsenal – without even getting intelligence briefings. We wonder what Mnuchin, Gingrich, Tillerson, and Icahn think about that? We hope to find out soon what vision these creators of the new gilded age have in mind for the US and the world. Hopefully they have a vision that goes beyond their own bank accounts.
Hillary Clinton is gone and many agree that her loss was due to due to a confluence of factors and successful efforts to sabotage her campaign. People just didn’t like her very much. The FBI didn’t like her, Putin didn’t like her, the Public didn’t like her, even Democrats didn’t like her, her campaign staff fought about her, and the media certainly didn’t like her. She was a hard worker, but people didn’t warm up to her. The warmed up to Trump. They were amused by Trump. No one was amused by Hillary, not even SNL. Her portrayal was often nasty and a bit weird. Trump’s portrayal was that of an all familiar American Uncle, reminiscent of Rob Reiner’s politically incorrect TV dad in the show “All in the Family.”
Not many people really know Hillary as she keeps very private and opens up to very few people, many of whom are also intensely private. The acclaimed and award-winning Investigative Reporter for the New York Times and The Washington Post, Ronald Kessler, sheds light on how she how Hillary Clinton was perceived by the service details who spent much time with her. It could explain why the Secret Service seemed so adamant that she ought not be president unless it was unavoidable: Why the West was Lost – First Family Detail
Whatever we may think about Trump at least he is honest about being corrupt. Maybe that is a step forward? Or, perhaps we will have Trump, the politically incorrect man and his politically incorrect friends run the country into the ground – honestly.
Huffington Post now committed to attracts Fox News audiences.
Huffington Post under Verizon Board’s management now targets media toward Fox News Audiences
Today the Huffington Post had a live Facebook interview with Linda McMahon of Worldwide Wrestling Fame. It seems confusing to people who used to think that the Huffington Post was a “liberal” media that reported on culture and politics. It greatly delighted the new audiences of “Winners who are making America Great Again” through their vote for the Trump administration. This pivot toward the middle class and investors and the Democratic Party mistakenly calls the working class is understandable when you read AOL’s mission. Code the company is all about code – measuring audiences, gaining audiences, redirecting audiences and undoubtedly listening in to audiences every move. The CEO of Verizon was in charge of NSA’s largest listening program. Naturally, the number of people must expand, and the editorial has to be low brow indeed.
But why is that confusing? If you keep up with the news, AOL purchased the Huffington Post years ago for $350,000,000 dollars. Currently AOL serves 500,000,000 people globally. AOL’s mission, according to their website, is:
"We live in a time when culture defines code and code defines culture. Code is about the evolution of technology, the natural force of human ingenuity that moves culture forward. Culture is about the content experiences that make technology meaningful, enhancing our lives both online and off. Culture + Code is our North Star — the philosophy that guides the way we organize, run and grow our business."
AOL has always been part of the world in which ethics don’t necessarily mean as much as earnings. AOL started as a services provider that overcharged people. They still owe me close to $700 that were deducted from my Bank Account automatically. I only could stop the monthly theft them by closing the Bank Account, back in 1996.
Then later they fancied themselves a “Unicorn” and “bought Time Inc.” during a time when every other media company paid millions for small tech companies, like AOL. AOL purchased Time Inc. for $162 Billion, but allowed them to keep their name and their board of directors, and most of their managers. Only one of my very good techie media friends and I thought it was funny when they fell for that brilliant Time Inc. move. Most people were very impressed. Needless to say, my funny friend and I, thought it was equally funny when AOL was spun out again from the company they had “bought.”
Their first success was more a matter of being at the right place at the right time and squeezing money out of their customers with vastly overpriced product offerings and illegally taking money that was not theirs. I still want my close to $700 dollars back, that AOL deducted from my bank account for several months after I cancelled their overpriced service.
After they were spun out from Time Inc. they went through a lot of reiterations and finally were led by a very good CEO, Tim Armstrong. Before joining the “Cable Business and Telecom” Industry he used to be a formidable media / new media guy. Tim spent almost a decade at Google, where he served as President of Google’s Americas Operations and Senior Vice President of Google Inc. as well as serving on the company’s global operating committee. Tim started in his career by co-founding a newspaper in Boston, MA before moving into the Internet industry, where he has worked as a team member, investor or co-founder at many companies, including Starwave (sold to Disney / ESPN / ABC Internet Ventures), Snowball (IPO), Associated Content (sold to Yahoo), and Patch (sold to AOL). Tim has also been an active investor in the start-up community, both on and offline.
Tim Armstrong is smart, hard-working and has vision. Living in the world where he is undoubtedly in a bit of a creative straight jacket, reporting to military, telecom and “healthcare” executives must be hard sometimes. He is channeling his “good man” energies by supporting an amazing amount of causes. He works with a Charter school, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation, IAB Education Foundation, and more. Tim was honored by the Ad Council with their 60th Annual Public Service Award in 2013. The past few years must have challenged him, despite the amazing financial success he brought to his investors. Buy-outs are always challenging.
He reported to a board that consisted a few old media execs and large corporate advertisers (Knight Ridder and PepsiCo, etc.) and of Eve Burton, a lawyer who grew her chops at Hearst Corporations and perhaps more importantly at a legal firm called Weil, which has extensive experience working with international media and entertainment companies and investors in transactions as diverse as mergers and acquisitions and related financings, cross-border transactions, spin-offs, IPOs, intellectual property licensing and counseling, royalty, debt and equity offerings, and restructurings. Their experience encompasses all areas of global media, publishing and telecommunications in matters of industry-wide significance. Their media and entertainment transactional practice involves particularly close collaboration among our M&A and Private Equity, Capital Markets and Technology & IP Transactions practices.
Essentially Weil attorneys are a team of globally connected mercenaries who wrote the book on Restructuring, Chapter 11, Buy Outs, with an army 1100 lawyers strong and an alumni group that stretches into 150 government agencies, financial sector, etc. Weil is an amazingly knowledgeable firm that helps private equity investors make the most of their money and assists families keep their money while dancing knowledgeably around the laws, often having their Alumni’s create the laws. Ms. Burton surely had a lot to do with the sale to Verizon since Weil advised Verizon on the $4.4 billion dollar buy-out. What ana amazing return of investment. Under Tim Armstrong’s leadership AOL grew quite a bit. Weil also has a prominent white-collar defense unit.
In 2012 the rest of the board of AOL consisted of actual media executives and officers in large corporations who were typically very large advertisers. Now he reports to a telecom based intelligence firm.
Down the Rabbit Hole we go.
Verizon is run by an ex Naval Officer, Lowell C. McAdam, who most likely oversaw the creation of one of the most in-depth surveillance program for the NSA, initially at Pacific Telesis under the Bush Administration, and eventually via AirTouch, under the Obama Administration. Other members of the board include:
Karl-Ludwig Kley, a German Industrialist, who held leading positions at Merck, E-On, Deutsche Bank, Bertelsmann, and now Lufthansa. Martha Francis Keeth, an attorney who was previously employed as Independent Director by Peabody Energy Corp., Executive Vice President-Chemicals by Royal Dutch Shell Plc, President & Chief Executive Officer by Shell Chemicals Ltd., President & Chief Executive Officer by Shell Chemicals LP, and Chief Accounting Officer & Controller by Mobil Corp.
Shelley Archambeau is Chief Executive Officer of MetricStream, Inc., a leading provider of governance, risk, compliance and quality management solutions to corporations across diverse industries. Prior to joining MetricStream in 2002, Ms. Archambeau served as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Sales for Loudcloud, Inc., Blockbuster, and IBM. Interestingly Loudcloud is told to have been the server provider for the initial NSA surveillance program.
Mr. Mark Bertolini is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aetna Inc., a Fortune 100 diversified healthcare benefits company. Prior to assuming the role of Aetna’s CEO in 2010 and Chairman in 2011, Mr. Bertolini served as President from 2007, responsible for all of Aetna’s businesses and operations across the company’s range of healthcare products and related services, and as Executive Vice President and head of Aetna’s regional businesses before that. He joined Aetna in 2003 as head of Aetna’s Specialty Products after holding executive positions at Cigna, NYLCare Health Plans and SelectCare, Inc.
Mr. Carrión has served for over 20 years as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Popular, Inc., a diversified bank holding company. He also served as a director of NYNEX Corporation, one of Verizon’s predecessor companies, from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Carrión provides our Board with financial, operational and strategic expertise developed during his long tenure as Chairman and CEO of Popular, Inc. This experience, combined with his board service at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2008 to 2016, also provides our Board with deep risk management expertise.
Verizon’s Executives are teaming with members of GSMA an organization that specializes in “intelligence” gathered about Mobile Customers around the globe. Data Driven content will play a relatively minor part of the new Bot, AI, and machine learning world. From now on AOL will be all about the Code that holds, influences and tracks a global audience – legally.
So good-bye Huffington Post,and hello “Brave New World” Aldous Huxley Style.
President Vladimir V. Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said they would proceed with a natural-gas pipeline under the Black Sea. Credit Emrah Gurel/Associated Press
Both Mr. Putin and Mr. Erdogan have had recent troubles with Washington. Putin has been accused of war crimes in Syria for killing hundreds of civilians. Erdogan is killing Kurds and escalating the conflict, whereas the US is relying on Syrian Kurds to stem the Isis tide.
On December 19, 2016 the Russian Ambassador, Andrei Karlov, was shot and killed as he gave a speech at an embassy-sponsored exhibit in Ankara. Eye-witnesses were reported to have heard eight shots. The gunman shouted out: ‘‘Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!’’ referring to the Syrian city where Russian bombardments have helped drive rebels from areas they had occupied for years during the war. He also shouted ‘‘Allahu akbar,’’ the Arabic phrase for ‘‘God is great’’ and continued in Arabic: ‘‘We are the descendants of those who supported the Prophet Muhammad, for jihad.’’ The attacker also smashed several of the framed photos hung for the exhibition and an additional three people were injured during the attack.
‘We consider this to have been a terrorist attack,’’ Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. ‘‘Terrorism will not pass. We will fight it decisively.’’
The attack comes a day before a meeting of Russian, Turkish and Iranian foreign and defense ministers in Moscow to discuss Syria. Russia and Iran have backed Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the nearly six-year conflict, while Turkey has supported Assad’s foes. The Kremlin suggested Turkey, Russia and Iran should come together for a solution, initially over Aleppo, but which could also be enlarged to include other parts of Syria, Reuters quoted a Turkish official as saying.
Melih Gokcek, the mayor for Ankara, told reporters outside the exhibition center that the ‘‘heinous’’ attack aimed to disrupt newly-re-established relations between Turkey and Russia.
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan have co-sponsored the evacuation of civilians and rebels from Aleppo and also discussed the prospect of organizing a new round of peace talks in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana. Now this incident threatens to derail the evacuations of civilians from Aleppo.
The last time a diplomat was killed in Turkey was in an attack in 1971. Israel’s consul-general to Istanbul, Efraim Elrom. Until recently Turkey has been considered a relatively safe place for diplomats. This streak has been broken after the assassination of Ambassador Karlov, however, in view of the fact that the Erdogan administration is entirely dependent on Russian energy, relations will continue among the governments. Recent instability in Turkey and the fact that it is dangerous to be there has severely curtailed the tourist trade. Revenue from tourism fell by 32.7 percent to $8.28 billion in the third quarter of the year.
Despite the death of the Russian’ Diplomate we expect Putin to continue to guide Erdogan’s foreign policy.
Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has been characterized as increasingly undemocratic marked by attacks on freedom of expression. Despite outlawing competitive political parties, and a declining economy, he seems popular among the rural undereducated Turks. Turkey will stay in close collaboration with Russia for many years to come, despite their “hot-headed” relationship. Erdo?an is completely dependent on Russia for natural gas. Over the past 30 years the imports of natural gas from Russia into Turkey have nearly doubled. After Germany, Turkey is Russia’s second-largest natural gas client in Europe.
Gas imports into Turkey, Natural Gas World
According to Natural Gas World: “After the European Union’s stance about competition on Russia and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Russia declared its intention to diversify its demand route by creating a new direct pipeline that runs through Turkish territory. The construction of the Turkish Stream pipeline was first discussed between Gazprom and BOTAS in December 2014. With an annual capacity of 63 billion m3, this pipeline will replace the South Stream, since the construction was suspended over the European Union’s stance about competition. According to initial plans, the Turkish Stream will extend from Russia, through Turkey and stop at the Greek border, giving Russia access to the southern European market. 14 billion m3 natural gas was planned to be consumed in Turkey.” (full article)
Putin and Abe meet about Japan / Russia Relationships
Japan and Russia’s world leader meeting promises to foster close European-Asian economic and cultural ties.
Putin announces in a press release through his TASS new agency that the meeting Abe was a great success:
“Russia and Japan signed more than 60 various deals in which Japan will invest over $2.5 billion during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the country, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported citing a senior Japanese government official. Abe said he and Putin had agreed the two countries have “unlimited opportunities for development of relations in all areas in case of common effort.”
The talks between the officials reiterated their commitment to continue discussions about economic cooperation on the four Kuril islands that both countries claim. However Russia will still call the shots. According to Peter Shelakhaev, the head of the Russian Far East Investment and Export Agency, Japan is expected to pay taxes and fees for any money earned on the four islands that are in dispute since the end of the war.
After World War II in 1945 Russia seized four Japanese islands as they call it the “spoils of war.” Japan has tried to have these islands returned ever since then. Now Abe and several of his Russia-Japan Relations experts have decided that after 60 years of occupation it is time to accept reality with a new perspective.
Nobuo Shimotomai, Russia-Japan expert at Hosei University in Tokyo, recommended: “Getting the four islands back was a Cold War slogan for the Japanese, but after 60 years, we need a new approach towards Moscow. It could be some kind of shared sovereignty.”
Trans-Siberian Railroad courtesy Daily Mail (full article)
Economic, Scientific and Cultural ties will be supported by the Trans-Siberian Railroad
The Japan Times informs that the areas of cooperation between Russia and Japan will include the fields of the countries’ health ministries in the fields of medicine and health care; expanded cooperation on development and production in the energy sector, including oil and gas; cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear power; cooperation in promoting diversity and raising productivity in Russian industry; cooperation in promoting industry in the Russian Far East and turning it into a base for exports to the Asia-Pacific; Cooperation in the fields of information and communications and postal services; Enhanced cooperation in agriculture and fisheries; Cooperation between the countries’ patent offices on industrial property rights; and hygiene standards for Russian livestock farms exporting products to Japan. (full article)
This is one of the most expansive cooperation between Russia and Japan since the 19th Century. One of the most life changing and culturally interesting developments is that Russia agreed to expand the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Japan. If both countries follow through, these new agreements will usher a new historic era that will impact the world economy and political landscape for many decades to come.
The Investment Bankers, Energy Industry Execs and Politicians have always marched in lock step. These days the “old guard” is fighting the “new guard” and while it is obvious to many that the “new guard” is winning, the old guard is going through a “fight to the death” thingy. In a recent interview between Ezra Klein the CEO of Stripes, Patrick Collison, stated that the US Election was kind of a Primal Scream for the old guard.
It is unfortunate the older infrastructure companies are fighting innovation so much, despite the fact that it and always has been the best way to strengthen a society. It doesn’t have to be that way. But old men, especially old men who grew up wealthy and thought they would always be in charge, be the captain of their ship, their city, their country and yes, the world, they just have a hard time understanding that the Industrial Era is over. Kaputt. Finished. So to say. The factories and the financiers that brought their grandfathers such amazing wealth, so much wealth that they are still spending that money today, have been moved to countries that have a more affordable life style to allow people to “live off” menial labor.
Car Manufacturing Plant in 2016
Neither Change nor Letting Go is easy
All the posturing will not change the fact that this change from manual labor to robots guided by computers with fabulous microchips and brilliant software has happened. Anger about it will not roll back time. The old men who used their daddy’s and granddaddy’s money, which sometimes was earned by bankrolling energy deals to fund the enemy during wars, like the Scaife Mellon Money, or building Factories for Hitler like the Koch Brothers are not willing to bend their will to meet the needs of the middle classes nor the environment. Full Article
Despite dubious histories, some people adapted and learned, like young Ford. His granddad helped Hitler set up car manufacturing in Germany, but he decided to work with the American people and for the people. Ford was the only America Automaker firm that didn’t really need to be bailed out by the Obama administration. Full Article
Corporate Social Responsibility is in and it is good for business
Apple, Google and Microsoft are part of the top 10 global firms and they are in the top 15 of Corporate Social Responsibility ranking as per Forbes. Why is it that companies that have a higher level of Corporate Social Responsibility grow faster and better than companies in older industries where they lost the entrepreneurial spirit decline?
Psychological Mindset of the Wealthy
Why are the children of these very wealthy people so intent on damaging society by pushing their personal philosophies on them? The Scaife, DeVos, Koch Brothers? Is it because they have low self-esteem? Do they not feel loved by their fathers or mothers? Most likely that is indeed the cause according to a detailed article written by Suniya Luthar, of Columbia University, published in the PMC :
Children of affluence are generally presumed to be at low risk. However, recent studies have suggested problems in several domains—notably, substance use, anxiety, and depression—and 2 sets of potential causes: pressures to achieve and isolation from parents. Recognizing the limited awareness of these issues, the objectives in this paper are to collate evidence on the nature of problems among the wealthy and their likely causes. The first half of the paper is focused on disturbances among affluent children and the second half is focused on characteristics of their families and neighborhoods. Widespread negative sentiments toward the rich are then discussed, and the paper concludes with suggestions for future work with families at the upper end of the socioeconomic spectrum. PMC
Maybe they are trying to make up for their guilt on how their parents obtain their staggering wealth and are trying to make it okay by vehemently agreeing that they are inspired by god, thinking that only they are meant to have access to the tree of knowledge, and only they have a right to decide who lives or dies. Just like their grand parents.
Superpowers need Bankers, Oil Barons and Industrialists
Christopher Higham, a British Author of History book, explained in Trading with the Enemy:
"Here is the extraordinary true story of the American businessmen and government officials who dealt with the Nazis for profit or through conviction throughout the Second World War: Ford. Standard Oil, Chase Bank and members of the State Department were among those who shared in the spoils. Meticulously documented and dispassionately told, this is an alarming story. At its centre is 'The Fraternity', an influential international group associated with the Rockefeller or Morgan banks and linked by the ideology of Business as Usual.
Higham starts with an account of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland - a Nazi-controlled bank presided over by an American, Thomas H. McKittrick, even in 1944. While Americans were dying in the war, McKittrick sat down with his German, Japanese, Italian, British and American executive staff to discuss the gold bars that had been sent to the Bank earlier that year by the Nazi government for use by its leaders after the war. This was gold that had been looted from the banks of Austria, Belgium, and Czechoslovakia or melted down from teeth fillings, eyeglass frames, and wedding rings of millions of murdered Jews.
In the Past Oil-based fuels determined who ruled the sky and who could be a Superpower
As a highly developed industrial state, Germany was dependent even in peacetime on external sources for an adequate supply of oil. Even though Germany’s 1938 oil consumption of little more than 44 million barrels was considerably less than Great Britain’s 76 million barrels, Russia’s 183 million barrels, and the one billion barrels used by the United States, in wartime Germany’s needs for an adequate supply of liquid fuel would be absolutely essential for successful military operations on the ground and, even more so, in the air.For Germany, it was precisely the outbreak of the war in 1939 and the concurrent termination of overseas imports that most endangered its ability to conduct mobile warfare. Full Article
The Koch Empire
In the past old industrialists who ruled with wealth and provided access to large amount of money were in charge. The onset of the digital age changed that power and clearly infuriated the old guard.
In 2004 the Koch Brothers founded and funded Americans for Prosperity, a right-wing political advocacy group and by 2009 it become a political powerhouse which funded and launched the Tea Party. The brothers have a very strong and ideological commitment to world domination. Their father was in construction and built a major oil refinery in Nazi Germany which was approved by directly Adolf Hitler in person. While the Koch Brothers make a half-hearted attempt to deny this, there is a rather detailed book by Jane Meyer Dark Money. And Hitler himself wanted to try Mellon Bank for Treason for going back on some of their promises toward the end of the war. Ironically it was one of the Mellons who negotiated a deal with the Allies that American Companies should not loose all their assets in Germany, but instead Germany should be bailed out. Clearly this banker had a lot of pull with the US, UK and French governments.
Their new effort to “take over the world” perhaps rooted in the principles with which they were raised by their successful and highly disciplined father have prepared them. According to the Center for Public Integrity, Americans for Prosperity spent a $122 million as it unsuccessfully attempted to defeat President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats in 2012. $83 million was spent on communications, ads, and media. Clearly the Koch Brothers commitment to spend money to influence Americans has rapidly increased since their humble beginnings in 2004.
In a Mother Jones article we find that the Koch Brothers’ meddling with the US Government, Education, the Election, Health Care has grown to an over $400 Million dollar endeavor.
While bankers, corporations and politicians are necessarily tied with each other, it will be a good idea for us to watch carefully, regularly and attentively who is meddling in unison. Trump’s appointment of the CEO of Exxon, Betsy DeVos, the wife of Eric Prince, to the Department of Education, the appointment of an admitted Neo Nazi, Steve Bannon, combined with Michael Flynn’s relationship with Putin is of grave concern.
In the end this effort to overthrow the democracy will not work since the new economy and the American people are going to deal with this challenge successfully. No one will succeed in selling America out to the Russians, Chinese or any other aspiring super power.
First Republic Bank’s Motto is that it is a privilege to serve their customers.
First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC), today announced it has acquired Gradifi Inc., a Boston-based student loan repayment technology platform to assist the nation’s 44 million student loan borrowers.
Gradifi pioneered the SLP PlanTM (Student Loan Paydown), a technology and service platform used by employers to make direct contributions to employees’ student loans, reducing their overall repayment time and lowering the total cost of the loan. This employee benefit is becoming increasingly popular among employers to help attract and retain key talent, particularly Millennials who are now the largest generation in the workforce and are uniquely burdened by student debt. Gradifi operates a very user-friendly and secure online platform to handle such benefit programs.
Gradifi serves many employer clients from small businesses to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Natixis Global Asset Management, and Penguin Random House.
“We completely support Gradifi’s mission in assisting with the country’s student loan challenge,” said Jim Herbert, Chairman and CEO of First Republic Bank. “They have become a market leader with their outstanding team, innovative repayment programs, and state-of-the-art technology. As education costs and student loan debt continue to rise, offering a student loan repayment benefit for employees is increasingly valuable. Companies are realizing the power of a student loan repayment assistance benefit for both recruiting and retaining employees. As such, Gradifi has a terrific opportunity to assist companies and their employees.”
First Republic is committed to helping individuals and families manage student debt through both innovative refinance and repayment solutions. Earlier this year, First Republic implemented a student loan repayment assistance benefit for its employees, utilizing the Gradifi platform. The response has been overwhelmingly positive from employees, and First Republic has since increased the value of the benefit even further.
“First Republic is the perfect partner to help Gradifi meet the growing demand for our student loan repayment solutions,” said Gradifi Founder and CEO Tim DeMello. “In addition to its commitment to help manage student debt, First Republic’s focus on extraordinary client service aligns with our approach. With client satisfaction ratings that are on par with the world’s most respected brands, First Republic has the commitment to service and entrepreneurial culture, plus the financial resources, to power our growth strategy.”
Gradifi, a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Republic Bank, will continue to operate under the Gradifi brand. Founder Tim DeMello will remain the company’s Chief Executive Officer, with extended employment contracts in place for him and several other senior management members. As part of this acquisition, Gradifi will remain headquartered in Boston and have employees based in New York, Los Angeles, Palo Alto and San Francisco.
The transaction was funded by First Republic Bank with cash on hand. Impact to earnings or capital is currently not material, and further terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Greenhill & Co. served as financial advisor to First Republic on the transaction.
First Republic Honored for Addressing Income Inequality
“NAAC is pleased to honor First Republic and Rosana Han for thinking outside the box in addressing income and wealth inequality,” said NAAC Executive Director Faith Bautista. “First Republic cares for the underserved community. Working in partnership with the NAAC and National Diversity Coalition, First Republic has helped expand home ownership in areas where no bank will make loans. First Republic has also been instrumental in supporting micro businesses and nonprofits, such as NAAC.”
First Republic is different than most banks
The business model at First Republic is distinctly different from most other companies. While they certainly want to grow and make a profit, they also realize that the best way to do that is through hard work and exceptional client service. Because of this operating philosophy, they are driven by a core set of values that define what they must do every day to best serve th clients.
Trump’s website declares: “Mr. Trump will stop China from stealing our jobs, renegotiate NAFTA, cut unneeded regulations and make America the best place in the world to do business and hire workers. Putting America First — and not globalism — will keep jobs and wealth in America.”
The Obama Whitehouse website explains: “The rules-based international economic system has helped to propel China’s unprecedented economic growth over the past 35 years, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. The United States has also benefited from the emergence of a global middle class that, by 2030, is projected to include more than 3 billion consumers in Asia alone. U.S. exports of goods and services supported approximately 12 million jobs in the United States in 2014. China has a strong stake in the maintenance and further strengthening and modernization of global financial institutions, and the United States welcomes China’s growing contributions to financing development and infrastructure in Asia and beyond.” Full Article
Trump will stop China from “taking” jobs from the US.
Trading Floor in China
China Experts at the Brookings institute let us know that China is now the economic superpower they set out to become in the early 90s. They hold the world by the proverbial financial purse strings. Their strategy has been to provide amazingly affordable goods and thus wipe out competition in many countries the world over. With the money they made they have purchased raw materials and have a corner on several core commodities. For instance the Wall Street Journal reported that during the first four months in 2016 the trading volume on the Shanghai and Dalian exchanges had more than doubled over the year before. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Dalian-traded iron and ore futures generated approximately the same dollar volume as gold futures in New York. Full Article
Trump now is pursuing an extreme protectionist strategy that puts the U.S. commitment to open trade severely in doubt. There is already the widespread view in China that the United States is withdrawing from the global economy. China and investors all around the world believe that the US is in decline economically and this is borne out in reality. The Balance reported in October 2016: “China’s economy produced $19.5 trillion in 2015 (based on purchasing power parity). It’s the world’s largest economy. The European Unionis second, at $19.1 trillion. The United States fell to third place, producing $17.9 trillion.” The US produces the value of $56,300 per person per year which is roughly four times as much as China produces with $14,300 per person per year.
China has 1.37 billion people as to compared to 325 Million people in the US. Even though 1 half of the Chinese people live very impoverished lives in the country side, there are over 1 Billion more Chinese than Americans. That will not change anytime soon.
The Middle Class in China is growing steadily, it is actually a rather small fraction of the Chinese population. In 2013, China accounted for 35 percent of the world’s total online shopping. By 2018, it is estimated that China’s spending will exceed the rest of the world’s combined, and will account for one in every five yuan spent in China, according to Bloomberg. This is not because the lifestyle in China is higher than it is in the US, but it is due to the fact that there are so many people. And there are so many unmarried men who can spend all their money to make up for their loneliness, created by the questionable 1 Child Policy the Chinese government had pursued. There are 33% more men than women in China. So how does Trump plan to assist American firms to out-maneuver the highly sophisticated and highly educated middle class from China?
So far Trump wants to dismantle our already faltering education system even further. Most jobs these days require superior math skills and all the tariffs in the world that Trump and his team want to impose on China, will not change the fact that China outperforms the US in math and science skills by a HUGE MARGIN. The 2012 PISA study shows: “Percentages of top performing 15-year-old students (those scoring at level 5 or above) in mathematics literacy ranged from 55 percent in Shanghai-China. In the United States, 9 percent of 15-year-old students scored at proficiency level 5 or above, which was lower than the OECD average of 13 percent.” China on a percentage basis out performs the US by a margin of 6. And when you add the fact that China has so 4 times as many people than the US, the US is simply no longer competitive and will not become competitive unless it starts to focus on repairing the education gap. Tariffs don’t make people more educated.
If the US due to the fact that the current administration is terrible in math, cannot realize that if they add tariffs, Chinese products will get more expensive. This means that the products US manufacturers produce with Chinese parts will get more expensive. The end result is that the US manufacturers may loose the few jobs they were able to keep. The world is a competitive market and all countries compete. Wishing it were not so will not change that fact. Even Trump agrees and he purchases his products all around the world and uses the underpaid and unemployed American Consumer as customers while providing the earning capacity to countries who have a better educated workforce.
Americans suffer due to lack of education, due to lack of health care and due to the fact that their hard earned taxes are used in wars all around the world instead of on infrastructure and basic human needs at home. Trump promised he will fix this situation. He claimed he is the “only one” who can fix it. So far he brought in DeVos who plans to ruin the rest of the countries education the way she ruined it in Michigan. He has tasked Paul Ryan with is pet project of robbing the American people of what is left of their Medicare payments, and he wants to abolish Affordable Health Care.
He has empowered Pharma companies to raise their pricing to completely irresponsible levels that surely will end up literally killing the lower income people. He has brought in more military personnel than any previous administration since the Civil War. We are still waiting for him to provide us with signs that he is intent on following through any any one of his promises. Making America Great Again? What does that even mean? The media never received an answer from him. Unfortunately we will find out very soon and the damage will last a long time.
Built on Willis Carrier’s invention of modern air conditioning in 1902, Carrier is the world leader in heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions. Their corporate websites informs us: “We create comfortable and productive environments, regardless of the climate. We safeguard the global food supply by preserving the quality and freshness of food and beverages. We ensure health and well-being by enabling the proper transport and delivery of vital medical supplies under exacting conditions. We provide solutions, services and education to lead the green building movement.” Carriers Corporation is one of the United Technologies companies which employs 197,200 Employees, brings in an adjusted net sales volume of $56.5B*, pays out $6.3* an adjusted diluted earnings per common share from continuing operations $3.9B. UTC’s Total R&D investment includes company- and customer-funded around the world. The US government and other governments around the world are included in these pre-sales earnings.
From what we can tell the company is doing great work in India for instance. They are working hard on assisting companies reduce their food waste, which is a worldwide issue indeed. Food Waste is a major issue in a world where so many people go hungry every day, and it is also known to be a major contributor to Green House Gases. Pence and Trump who don’t believe in protecting the environment, are planning to donate even more money to United Technologies, Carriers Corporation.
Let’s celebrate the positive when we can.
We know that United Technologies has “supported” to create a study that will allow Carriers Corporation sell their products in India. BIO Intelligence Service for the Global Food Cold Chain Council (“GFCCC”) with support from United Technologies (“UTC”). This Report presents an assessment of the potential of the cold chain sector to reduce GHG emissions through food loss and waste reduction. The report educates:
"In monetary terms, the most recent global food loss estimate is a staggering $1 trillion in retail value, or about twice the gross domestic product of Norway 2 , equivalent to the Gross Domestic Product of Switzerland. Further, such loss aggravates food insecurity and malnutrition in a context of growing population and increasing food demand3 . And finally, this food wastage represents a missed opportunity to mitigate environmental impacts and use of resources from food chains. The carbon footprint of food produced and not eaten is estimated to be 3.3 Gtonnes of CO2 equivalent: food loss and waste would rank as the third top GHG emitter after USA and China if it were a country. This amount is more than twice the total GHG emissions of all USA road transportation in 2010."
United Technologies, and by extension Carrier, seemingly is doing a great job reducing food waste in India. Full Report
How is support of this international conglomerate “Making America Great Again?
Every day at United Technologies, nearly 200,000 people across the globe help move the world forward. In Europe they are quite competitive in the aerospace industry and in environmentally refrigeration units.
United Technologies and their brands Otis, Pratt & Whitney, UTC Aerospace Systems and UTC Climate, Controls & Security have recently initiated a $1.5 billion multiyear restructuring plan to improve our competitiveness in the global market. In 2015 they returned approximately $12 billion to shareholders in dividends and share buyback, including a $6 billion accelerated share repurchase program. In February 2016, Carrier announced it would close its Indianapolis factory due to ongoing cost and pricing pressures and to take advantage of and Carrier’s existing infrastructure and a strong supplier base in Mexico. They also initiated a $1.5 billion multiyear restructuring plan to improve competitiveness in the global market. They already operate out of Belgium, Canada, China, Israel, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, UK aside of their seven corporate offices in the US. The UTC companies conduct operations in more than 160 locations in 26 countries. Most of the manufacturing and parts businesses are outside the US already. Location
In the letter to the shareholders UTC President and CEO elaborates on his commitment to partake in the Middle Class growth in China, India and the Middle East. He is particularly interested in aviation as the middle class in Asia will nearly double the air travel industry in terms of carriers. Letter Aside of making air travel in Asia great again, UTC is a major supplier and repair contractor for the US Military. The company has enthusiastically agreed to a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases and is in the process of moving their core business to the aviation industry. Otis is still and will stay involved with elevators and escalators.
Announcement of Carriers plant shut down in February 2016.
In July Carrier and the United Steelworkers (USW) came to a generous agreement that the any of the 1,400 people who may be loosing their jobs, as they closed down old technology manufacturing lines. They would get a severance package and support with a scholarship fund to get retrained. It seems the company is planning to get out of the HVAC business as they have had lot’s of trouble with leaky freon. The CDC explains that the colorless, odorless gases released when freon leaks cause problems to skin, heart, central nervous system, cardiovascular system. The symptoms include: irritation skin, throat, drowsiness, dermatitis; central nervous system depression; In Animals: cardiac arrhythmias, narcosis.
Consumer Affairs is full of costumer reviews who are not at all pleased with the damage caused by Carrier products, i.e.: “I have two top of the line Carrier Furnaces. Both have been serviced annually. Both crapped out requiring major repairs after 6 years. Both were sold with 10 year parts warranties as they were high-end models. Now however, Carrier refuses to honor the warranty – even for parts. They claim a legal technicality buried in tiny fine print. Customer service was not responsive in any way. Both for reliability reasons and because of their unwillingness to honor their warranty, I would join the chorus of voices suggesting to avoid Carrier.” And another: “I replaced 13 year old Trane units that performed flawlessly for two Carrier Inverter units top of the line for top efficiency with the promise of quiet and reliable and an overall install cost of 50K. In year two one unit’s outdoor inverter caught fire and was backorder for nearly a month. While they paid for the part I had to pay $1200 of labor not covered and was without AC for a month. Then the second unit failed who was installed a year later with some freeze thermostat malfunction and a bill of 1400. Again labor not covered and a month delay on getting parts. So all the energy savings and huge investment barely pay for the repair bills. Clearly Carrier does not stand behind its products and I would never buy their units again. Additionally seeing the pictures of how the unit was burned to a crisp was very troubling and when the dealer said it happens sometimes, I lost faith in Carrier. The people who invented air conditioning forgot that customers have choices. Our family will never buy Carrier again.”
According to a July 2016 article Carrier was planning to eliminate 2,378 jobs as well as 1,400 jobs during a plant closure. “The decision to cut 2,100 manufacturing jobs across the state was financial, according to a statement from Carrier, which will begin eliminating its Indianapolis workforce in 2017 and continue the layoffs through 2019.” Full Article
According the recent reports there will be 1,000 jobs “saved” in 2017. What exactly does that mean? Does they mean they will be laid off in 2018 and 2019 as was already planned anyway. Or, will the jobs be saved for good and the long term? Neither the Trump/Pence team, nor Carrier have been very precise in their reports. If indeed manufacturing jobs would be saved for good at the current payment level that would be a major win for the Trump team. Service sector jobs pay an average of $39,338 a year, compared with $59,029 in manufacturing. Or it may be a misinformation campaign. The provide millions of free dollars to a multi-billion dollar company that moves forward anyway with the lay-offs as negotiated with the Steel Workers Union in July 2016. And, unless the quality of the furnaces improves and/or they are redesigned, it may just be a PR stunt for both the company and the new governmental administration, who are counting on the short memory of the public and the media alike. Perhaps the company may be doing it primarily to hold on to those Boing contracts. This is an exciting story to watch unfold. So far it sounds more like a PR stunt.
KTLA reported: “United Technologies collects about $5.6 billion in annual revenue from U.S. government contracts, according to company filings, which is equal to about 10 percent of its overall revenue. The government also pays for nearly $1.5 billion of the company’s annual research and development spending.” full story
All that said, the retraining programs that United Technologies offers their ex-employees are exemplary. Carrier offers their own private HVAC “University.” They donate money to their ex-employees (tax write-off) who are able to sign up online with their non profit company (low to no taxes) for a fee and instead of having the multi-billion dollar company pay for training, they charge the soon to be or already laid-off employees. Now if they could update the curricula to more modern and usable jobs that would be great. A well managed multi-billion dollar operation now receives even more money for keeping out-dated jobs that create unpopular products that leak toxic gases. (Consumer Affairs)
Their government sponsored (see paragraph above) commitment to move into new technologies that are environmentally friendly should not go unnoticed. Even though they help Europe, Singapore, India and China more than the US. We are going to stay tuned and report on how the Trump / Pence team will “Make America Great Again.” They get an A for media relations so far. Hope real jobs will follow in a verifiable way soon.
Mill Valley Artist Sudha Irwin creates timeless pieces of art to wear.
Sudha Irwin has chosen metal arts as her medium of expression for inspirations she derives from the natural world that surrounds her in Mill Valley, California and from her travels around the world. She has been working in silver, gold, and precious and semiprecious stones for over a decade. Sudha has travelled the world and written about natural beauty as a journalist for major magazines. After raising her kids, she now raises our standards for grace and beauty. Her timeless objects and art to wear will surely turn into heirlooms. Enjoy your visit www.sudhairwin.com
Fuente brings your hair’s natural beauty to life. Tell your favorite hairdresser.
Moroccan’ Rhassoul Mouse Shampoo with quinoa protein, magnetized lava minerals stop hairloss and promotes new hair growth. Luxury has reached a new level, naturally.
All FUENTE products are free of parabenes and are not tested on animals. Colors without ammonia, permanent waves without ammonia, shampoos without special sulphates and others.
The lava-based clay consists mainly of minerals with a high content of silicon dioxide, magnesium, potassium, iron, calcium which are magnetized to create a natural hair care product that enchants international hair stylists and especially their customers. When using Rhassoul Mousse Shampoo and the Mask Treatment hair begins to shine without becoming heavy like they do with oil treatments.
At the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra in Andalusia, one of the most beautiful and pristine landscapes in Spain, today’s Managing Director and company owner Paul Warmerdam found the first inspiration for a groundbreaking concept of create all natural products originally used all around the world. He discovered Rhassoul which as been used for hundreds of years in Marocco famous for the long shiny smooth hair of their beautiful Maroccan women.
Paul Warmerdam, Fuente's owner, explains the secret: "It can be compared with the adhesion of crystallized sugar and powdered sugar to the skin. If you hold your finger in crystal sugar, the crystals will almost all fall off again. The larger particles are first sliced by a device and then split. As soon as they are less than 1 mm, they are too small for the usual method and can not be reduced any further. Fuente allows the particles to be reduced to one hundredths or even one thousandths of a millimeter."
To purchase the product contact:
HGA Vertriebs GmbH
Jürgen Bleul, CEO
Klostergut Besselich, D-56182 Urbar
Telephone: +49 (0)261 – 988 235-0,
Fax: +49 (0)261 – 988 235 29
Mail: info@hga-cosmetics.com
Web: www.hga-cosmetics.com
To obtain high gloss photography for an article in print or more information your media contact is Ms. Gaby Günther (Guenther) at info@presseprojekte.de www.presseprojekte.de
Stephen Bannon and the people he promotes in Breitbart want to bring the Nazi Era back
Slave labor was celebrated by the Nazi’s and the US prison system is already overloaded. The Colorado support for Slavery, literally and legally, is a bad omen.
To simply assume that “Labor Prison Camps” can’t happen in the US is the easy way out, since there are already exist today and have since forever. For instance, in a CNN Money report we found that Barrett, 36, sued the Florida Department of Corrections for negligence after an mentally ill prison mate gouged out one of his eyes. The department responded with a “cost of incarceration lien” of $54,750 — the total cost of Barrett’s 1,095 day stay in the prison at $50 a day. “They charged me for me being in prison,” Barrett said. “Yeah I was surprised.” Dee Taylor, was released after serving a three-year bid in various Florida prisons, he also got a bill for around $55,000 from the Florida Department of Corrections. A recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law found that these types of fees, where inmates can be charged for room and board, have been authorized in at least 43 states. In 2014, for example, an appellate court in Illinois ruled that a Chicago inmate named Johnnie Melton would have to pay nearly $20,000 to the Illinois Department of Corrections for the cost of his incarceration.
In Arizona, an inmate’s friends and family can be charged $25 just to visit them. In 35 states, facilities can charge inmates for medical services. Some of these charges can be taken directly out of a prisoner’s commissary account while the person is still incarcerated. In some cases, the commissary account itself is subject to fees. CNN
Why should we care?
Currently prisoners in Colorado work for 60 cents a day, clearly way below the minimum wage. This is legal in Colorado, in fact they could work for no pay, since slavery inside a prison is still legal in Colorado, and confirmed in the November 2016 election.
This is breaking families apart because some children have to pay $1/minute to talk to an incarcerated parent. Why? Because prisons and jails profit by granting monopoly telephone contracts to the company that will charge families the most. In Colorado for $55 a night, the wives, mothers and children of Prison Valley inmates often stay at the Riviera motel in Florence. Dabrowska is a gentle house mother to families in need — for women like one named Joy, who for years came to visit Kaczynski until she died of cancer. Prisons are big business for instance in a security advertisement by Securus it is stated that investing in Prison Services is great business. Echelon was founded in 1996 started in the first year with $0.1 profit and when public in 2006 with a profit of $41 Million. This telephone company that overcharged the poorest of the poor – namely the families that are left behind by prisoners was sold in 2007 for $708 Million dollars. Not bad for 10 years of work. Now Robert E. Pickens is expanding his reach as president of Securus. Securus has 2,600 customers (prisons) in 46 states. They recruit investors by explaining that they are in a recession proof $78 Billion dollar industry. They explain that their EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) grew by 274% from 2007 to 20014. Amazing growth or earnings indeed! They promise that they will experience organic growth through numerous initiatives that are already underway.
From a press release from Securus from April 30, 2014 we learn:
“Richard A. (“Rick”) Smith, current President and Chief Executive Officer announced today the promotion of Robert E. Pickens, Chief Operating Officer to President of Securus Technologies effective May 1, 2014. Mr. Smith will retain the Chief Executive Officer title. “I have worked with Mr. Pickens for over 15 years – in the telecommunications, telecom systems, and high tech government services sectors and he possesses the positive attributes of commitment to the firm, a high level of business integrity, business intellect, and the ability to get results over long periods of time,” said Smith. Mr. Smith continued, “At Securus, Mr. Pickens held the positions of Vice President of Marketing and Chief Operating Officer, and also held these same positions at the previous company Eschelon Telecom, Inc. – a Minneapolis, Minnesota competitive local exchange carrier where he and I worked together for approximately nine (9) years. Because of our tenure working together, I am sure that Mr. Pickens will continue to deliver good results as a higher level executive. “We have completed nine (9) strategic acquisitions of assets, patents, technologies, and companies over the last twenty-four (24) months – and Mr. Pickens represents a perfect match for effectively managing this expanded set of entities and assets along with his classic Securus responsibilities.” Securus Technologies, Inc. is one of the largest providers of detainee communications, parolee tracking, and government information management solutions, serving approximately 2,600 correctional facilities in 46 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and Mexico, and more than 1,000,000 inmates. A recognized leader in providing comprehensive, innovative technical solutions and responsive customer service, Securus’ sole focus is the specialized needs of the corrections and law enforcement communities. Securus is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, including four regional offices in the Dallas metro area as well as one in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information please visit the Securus website at www.securustech.net.
Peter Wagner an expert on the prison system tells us: “There are 3,283 jails in America, yet jails receive scant attention. The legislative, judicial and executive decisions that have fueled the explosion of our state prison populations are becoming well-known; but the myriad of subtle policy decisions that have sent our jail populations upwards are off the public’s radar.
For instance do you know that capturing innocent people, keeping them in jail for a while before giving them a hearing, after which they are released is BIG, BIG business? In the U.S., which has the largest pretrial detention population in the world, 20 percent of detainees eventually had their case dismissed or were acquitted. According to American Quarterly. Being imprisoned often comes with a very high price. The U.S. has estimated that at least 13 percent of inmates have been sexually assaulted. Too often, jails and prisons across the Americas have become warehouses for individuals who are undereducated, unemployed, addicted to controlled substances, and/or have medical or mental health needs.
Racial Bias in the Prison System is now computerized
The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 was introduced in the United States Congress and both Republican and Democratic senators backed the ambitious bill. A proposed program instructs the U.S. attorney general to establish what the bill calls a “post-sentencing risk- and needs-assessment system” for federal prisoners, which would assign inmates a low, moderate, or high score based on their likelihood of recidivism. “Dynamic risk factors”—including “indicators of progress and improvement, and of regression, including newly acquired skills, attitude, and behavior changes over time”—would determine the ratings. The language of the bill indicates that an inmate’s score will affect housing assignments, telephone and visitation privileges, and be consulted in making assignments to anti-recidivism programs like vocational training, faith-based programming, and drug- and alcohol-recovery classes. Those who are considered low-risk inmates are eligible for reduced sentences would receive 10-days credit for every 30 days of successful participation, while other “high-risk” inmates receive only 5 days credit.
The very concept of predicting crime challenges the presumption of innocence, a central tenet of the American criminal-justice system.
Police still patrol streets and knock on doors, but computers, rather than humans, decide which streets and which doors. Essentially, this is crime forecasting: Police are trying to stay ahead of potential criminals, who may or may not be about to violate the law.
The trouble with this bill is that it has racial bias built into a system that is sure to create the proof of this racial bias. “The categorical exclusion of over half the prison population is unwarranted, and would have a disparate impact on African American and Native American inmates. Risk factors correlate with socioeconomic class and race, and studies show that African Americans are more likely to be misclassified as high risk than White or Hispanic offenders. The exclusion is also contrary to the goal of increasing public safety. Many of the excluded inmates have the greatest need to participate in programming, but would have no meaningful incentive to do so. With or without time credits, they will serve lengthy sentences and then be released. By failing to encourage them to participate in programs shown to reduce recidivism before releasing them to the community, S. 467 fails to promote the stated goal of enhancing public safety. ” Federal Defender Analysis Report Source: Atlantic Monthly
If you can’t afford bail you will be rated worse than if you can, even if you are innocent.
Incarceration Front Door Statistics, Vera Institute for Justice
Prisoners who are let go due to the fact that they are innocent still get charged the cost of incarceration fee.
Currently3 out of every 5 peoplein jail areunconvicted and are presumed innocent, they are there becausethey are too poor to post bailwhile they await their trial.
The Prison and Labor Camp Industry is thriving
The LA Times reported in 2015 that in the place known as Prison Valley, Colorado is home to 11 state and federal lockups, more than 7,500 inmates do time near two communities that have the feel of college towns — an odd coupling that can create tension and conflict perhaps found nowhere else in America. Fremont County (population 46,000) has Colorado’s biggest per capita population of prison inmates, a rate that’s also one of the nation’s highest.
The United States Holocaust Museum tells us:
From its rise to power in 1933, the Nazi regime built a series of detention facilities to imprison and eliminate so-called “enemies of the state.” Most prisoners in the early concentration camps were German Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, Roma (Gypsies), Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and persons accused of “asocial” or socially deviant behavior. These facilities were called “concentration camps” because those imprisoned there were physically “concentrated” in one location.
Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies established more than 40,000 camps and other incarceration sites. The perpetrators used these sites for a range of purposes, including forced labor, detention of people thought to be enemies of the state, and mass murder. The total number of sites is based upon ongoing research in the perpetrators’ own records.
Millions of people were imprisoned and abused in the various types of Nazi camps. Under SS management, the Germans and their collaborators murdered more than three million Jews in the killing centers alone. Only a small fraction of those imprisoned in Nazi camps survived.
Why do rural blue color workers and rural college educated people love Trump?
The Guardian’s Thomas Frank, pointed out on March 7, 2016: “..what motivates the supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump? I call it a “mystery” because the working-class white people who make up the bulk of Trump’s fan base show up in amazing numbers for the candidate, filling stadiums and airport hangars, but their views, by and large, do not appear in our prestige newspapers. On their opinion pages, these publications take care to represent demographic categories of nearly every kind, but “blue-collar” is one they persistently overlook.” Full Article
The Atlantic Monthly received letters from a range of people who support Trump for president in August 2015. The reasons they quote are similar:
A self proclaimed Liberal who voted for Obama wrote: “Rather, I genuinely believe that Trump feels the need to fight for the country he loves. There once was a time when people could actually feel proud to be Americans, and Trump comes from a generation that experienced that feeling. Now, many are embarrassed to be associated with this country. Jobs are being outsourced with reckless abandon and this country is literally being hollowed out. Economic statistics do no justice to this reality, and the average American knows this to be true.”
An undecided voter writes: “..the preeminence of political correctness among the culture class indicates a momentous shift away from formerly prominent middle-class cultural values and towards something entirely different. Even if Donald Trump were to accomplish little in his presidency, I think there is a hope that were he president, he could in some way alter that prevailing Washington/media culture and set a new cultural tone. Many would probably question why, of all people, a decadent, rude, and pompous billionaire should be trusted to meddle with American culture? I think it comes down to a perception that America has already drowned in a post-modernist nightmare of moral relativism, from which extreme political correctness and protest culture stem. Trump, on the other hand, is all absolutes.” Full Article
Kathy Kramer shared with Kevin Drum in an interview for Mother Jones, November 8, 2016, that her political science study showed this:
“What I was hearing was this general sense of being on the short end of the stick. Rural people felt like they not getting their fair share. That feeling is primarily composed of three things. First, people felt that they were not getting their fair share of decision-making power….Second, people would complain that they weren’t getting their fair share of stuff….And third, people felt that they weren’t getting respect….So it’s all three of these things — the power, the money, the respect. People are feeling like they’re not getting their fair share of any of that.” Full Article
So let’s take a close look and let’s see if what they feel is true.
The Brookings Institute states that Republican States have more entrenched poverty than Democratic States. Republican districts have more poor residents overall: 25.1 million poor people lived in red districts in 2010-14 compared with 22.7 million in blue districts.
Between 2000 and 2010-14, the poor population grew faster in red districts than blue. The number of people living below the poverty line (e.g., $24,230 for a family of four in 2014) in Republican districts climbed by 49 percent between 2000 and 2010-14 compared with a 33 percent increase in Democratic districts. As a result, Republican districts accounted for 60 percent of the increase in the nation’s poor population during that time. At the same time, poverty rates rose by similar margins in both red and blue districts (3.3 and 3.2 percentage points, respectively).
Table 1. Congressional Districts with the Fastest Growth in Poor Population, 2000 to 2010-14
Party
State
District
Representative
Percentage Change in Poor Population
Share of Poor in Suburbs
R
NV
3
Heck, Joseph J.
268.4%
51.0%
R
GA
7
Woodall, Rob
223.6%
100.0%
D
GA
13
Scott, David
213.1%
100.0%
R
AZ
8
Franks, Trent
188.5%
93.5%
R
AZ
5
Salmon, Matt
177.7%
50.4%
Source: Brookings Institution analysis of decennial census and American Community Survey data
Hunger in Rural Communities is higher than Urban
According to the United States Department of Agriculture report, Household Food Security in the United States in 2014, 14% of U.S. households were food insecure at least some time during the year. The prevalence of food insecurity was higher in rural areas than metropolitan areas.
The Digital Divide created by lack of Internet Access
55 percent of people living in rural areas have access to the speeds that currently qualify as broadband, while 94 percent of the urban population does. As of 2015, 74 percent of households in urban areas of the U.S. had residential broadband connections, compared with only 64 percent of rural households. This gap has persisted over time. Research reveals that broadband adoption can help improve the economy in these rural areas (including increasing income, lowering unemployment rates and creating jobs). In addition, we know that roughly 40 percent of the rural-urban adoption gap is because rural areas don't have the same level of broadband access. This is because large providers are not interested in serving these communities and in some instances have refused Federal Subsidies to get rural communities connected.
Suicides in Rural Areas are double of those than in Cities
A study by the JAMA states that Suicide is a serious public health problem. For youths between the ages of 10 and 24 years, suicide was the third leading cause of death in 2010 behind only unintentional injuries and homicide.1 Males are at higher risk, accounting for 81% of suicide deaths in the 10- to 24-year age group. Suicide risk increases with age, with 6% occurring in individuals younger than 15 years, 34% in those between 15 and 19 years, and 60% in young adults aged 20 to 24 years.1
Rates of suicide also vary by rural-urban residence, with higher rates in rural compared with urban areas. Suicide rates among rural men were higher than those of urban men, with rural-urban differences widening over time. Higher rates of suicide attempts have also been reported8 among rural compared with urban adolescents. The studies conclusion stated Although low population density per se may be operative, efforts to improve access to mental health services and offer social support at the local level could narrow the gap in risk for youths in rural as opposed to urban settings. Additional study is warranted and of potentially great public health significance. Full Article
Rural communities as our research shows are genuinely struggling with problems that are not adequately addressed by neither the major political parties nor the major media outlets. It seems that one of Trump’s appeal is that at least give this audience the feeling they are seen and heard. While this does not qualify him to do anything about the issues he has succeeded in mobilizing millions of Americans to vote for him to “stick it to the elite.” Rural people are angry for having been ignored as their lives have grown ever more depressing. Trump has pulled them out of this feeling of helplessness and he has unleashed their anger.
Next we will investigate why a supposedly educated people would vote for Trump.
National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers. The figure above is a bar chart showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers from 2001 to 2014. The chart is overlayed by a line graph showing the number of deaths by females and males. From 2001 to 2014 there was a 3.4-fold increase in the total number of deaths.
