Trump administration reportedly offers Oracle cheap end to $400m wage discrimination case United States labor secretary Eugene Scalia has reportedly personally intervened in Oracle’s wage discrimination case and suggested it could settle for a modest sum. The case started with a 2013 investigation into Oracle’s hiring practices that led the Department of Labor to initiate a 2017 lawsuit alleging the company pays …
Everything in life is a "quid pro quo". Without details of the case and the proposed settlement, you can't judge what's going on here.
From the article: "Why might this have come about?"
What I think: The monetary settlement of $400 million didn't have enough regulatory oversight, and so the labor secretary wants to get THAT [which would help prevent future discrimination] in lieu of CASH. Oracle has a LOT of cash last I checked, though maybe not so much these days as it used to have.
If you want to punish a company that can AFFORD to pay out huge lawsuit settlements in lieu of ACTUALLY SOLVING problems, you don't go for a CASH settlement. Instead you offer them a concession, as Sun Tzu would recommend, something you can AFFORD to lose, but in doing so you put YOURSELF in a position of advantage.
So let's say the labor secretary wants to MONITOR the internals of Oracle. Well, they'll fight it to the ends of the earth, right? So you offer them a sweet deal, 1/10 the proposed amount, and in return, you get frequent AUDITS and other oversight, access to their internal paperwork, interviews with employees, yotta yotta yotta.
And yet, Oracle might just reject it and pay the $400 million... (or try for a different settlement). L[aw]yers. Go fig.
Still we do NOT know what's going on. We are intentionally left OUT of the loop on this. But if I apply my "Trump 'Art of the Deal' strategy projection" to the situation, this is what I come up with.
Let's see what actually happens!
but I do not believe they are actually corrupt
You should read this: It's taken just 12 months for Boris Johnson to create a government of sleaze
"They are a bunch of incompetent public school boys who are easily conned by "consultants" - but I do not believe they are actually corrupt."
I strongly disagree. :)
In practice they are *very* competent at looking after themselves, their cliques, their donors, school chums, and their mates.
The evidence indicates that competence in their appointed role isn't actually necessary or required in order for them to continue to enjoy a successful career in government and politics.
In Today's UK government we are seeing are a bunch of ministers that are sponsored to enact particular policies by 'Thinktanks'. They don't actually need to have any competence or interest in the policies at all - their appointed "consultants"/SPADs are there to do the legwork for the 'Thinktanks' so they don't have to. Anyone stands in the way of the implementation of those policies because they put their duty to their appointed role before compliance with the wishes of the 'Thinktanks' are persecuted, hounded out or replaced with a malleable crony.
Not every politician follows this mode of operation, but sadly the current cabinet are very much on board with the 'Thinktanks' doing the policy making - all the folks who didn't toe the line have been forcibly removed.
Agree.
A lot of this started in education. That was the test ground, because it was an easy target.* There are/were organisations who saw rich pickings if as much as possible could be privatised out of the hands of the local authorities, exam boards etc.
They set up "Think tanks" that created lots of failure myths and Demons (and some true stuff, of course) and some even more mythical solutions. Which were then taken up by " independent" pressure groups that seemed to have a very similar, if not exactly the same, composition. They all quoted each other as "evidence" for what were never more than assertions, or even flew in the face of evidence. We do not, for example, actually read by decoding words letter by letter- it's not how our brains work. But it's easy to believe that we do. So it's easy to claim that we were doing poorly with literacy (true) and that this can be resolved with teaching "back to basics" Phonics (untrue, both educationally and historically). This was backed up with straw man arguments (e.g. " Teaching Look and Say is a failure". Which would have been true if it had had much use since about 1975, So we need to bring back Phonics....etc.)
We now have big publishers earning LOADSAMONEY selling exam papers, support materials, curriculum packages and of course Phonics packages. The ideal product is the Phonics package. Because they can be designed on the back of a fag packet in minutes, with all the actual investment going on graphics and marketing. They can be validated because they are the ultimate teach to the test materials. All they need to test is that the stuff has been learnt - and since it's pure behaviourism that's not going to be a problem- they don't need to test whether the kids become independent, motivated fluent readers.
We have "academy chains". We have endless freelance advisors of varying quality ( but good sales talk) charging huge sums for stuff the local authority used to provide for free and so on.
*People have been complaining about falling education standards since before the 19th C. They've always been falling. it's amazing anyone can read or do sums. And since everyone has been to school and most have had kids at school everyone thinks they know how to do it right if only they could be allowed to run things. Fertile ground for for this bunch.
It's now 244 years since the people of the United States freed themselves from the rule of George the Third. In 2016 they seem instead to have voted in Charles the First with his claim to the "Divine Right of Kings"
That did not go well for him and I hope and believe that Trump will duly get kicked out come November. There seems no end to what Trump dreams he has the power to do:
Pardon convicted criminals. Tick. See Roger Stone. OK. I know it was a commutation not a pardon but the principle still applies.
Rule by decree. Tick. See Executive Order ordering the investigation of Facebook, Google etc. concerning Sec. 230.
Pack regulatory bodies with sycophants and yes-men. Tick. See FCC.
Then there is the constant denigration, insults and sheer lies used against his supposed enemies many of whom have neither the power or ability to respond.
Finally there is the grotesque narcissism. Which tells me that not only did the US elect Charles l they also got Louis XIV thrown in for good measure. "L'état, C'est Moi."
Now this should only be of concern to the people of the USA but given the power and influence the US has over the rest of the world it becomes a problem for everyone.
I hope that common sense will prevail on election day and that we will all be freed from someone who has rightly been called "The most dangerous man on Earth."
You need more than luck, you need everyone who has a vote to ensure that they will be able the use that vote.
If some of the articles I have read are true, there are a lot of obstacles to the votes of certain parts of the electorate being either allowed or the voters even getting their registration in time.
Checking that you actually have a vote should be done as soon as possible.
Notice Kanye is running for president, with a lot of help from Republicans? Overlapping lawyers, and same Republican campaign groups?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West_2020_presidential_campaign
Picture the scene, election day, Kanye is demanding polling stations in black districts be closed, because 'his people's iz dying'. That would give Republicans cover to close those polling stations, with Kanye giving fake consent on behalf of 'his people'. Citing Coronavirus as excuse to close polling stations is something Republicans trial-ran in Ohio:
https://crawfordcountynow.com/local/polling-locations-for-primary-election-are-ordered-closed-by-ohio-health-director/
"Shortly after 10 p.m. Monday evening, Ohio Governor Mike Dewine announced on Twitter that Ohio Health Director Amy Acton will order all polling locations closed as a health emergency due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus."
First they ran a fake legal challenge, actually from Dewine, but using former State employees as front. That failed, they did it anyway using Amy Acton, nobody fought back, hence they've established their working precedent.
----
Or, Trump undermines the mail-in ballots, they cannot be counted in time for the electoral college. Republicans submit a 100% Republican ticket, Dems sue, Kanye sues, Kavanaugh led kangeroo court agrees a 49% Republican, 49% Democrat, 2% Kanye "fair" result. Republicans shit themselves at how easy it was to take over US democracy.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/13/donald-trump-usps-post-office-election-funding
"Trump admits he is undermining USPS to make it harder to vote by mail"
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Or Trump issues some executive shit, and Bill Barr enforces it as if it was an actual legal document:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/08/trump-wants-to-cut-mail-in-voting-the-republican-machine-is-helping-him-392428
I suspect this election will come down to how much of a mob can be raised, and how many of that mob, Trump can kill. Yes kill. So many people dead already, just to keep the virus spreading till election time, what's a few thousand more.
Godwin's law only applies when you attempt to make a comparison to Hitler/Nazi that has no similarity of any kind.
But we have seen a wave of populism wash across the world in the last decade that has not been seen on this scale since the 1930's... from openly using the same tactics and symbols, to the portrayal of certain groups as the enemy... from the media to anyone who doesn't explicitly agree with the 'supreme leader'.. and any person or group that isn't one of the rich, white, male elite.
We're seeing more of the opposite: there are a lot of people in the US who are afraid of saying they're conservative or Trump supporters because of the potential violent response this will draw. That's why it's hard to predict who will vote Republican; they feel they have to hide it.
Oh buddy, we're just getting started!
Nevermind the Nazis openly walking the street, we're going to do a whole tour of history this decade. Guillotine's are already being built, but we expect the Nazi's to still put up a fight. They'll probably have the sadistic police on their side, but we'll have the military members itching to collect the most Nazi scalps. It'll be a good, old fashioned brother-against-brother Civil War again, to see if America can finally decide if black people are really people or not. And to finish it all off at the end, The Great Depression 2: Another One?
The appointment of Louis DeJoy (Businessman and Republican fundraiser) as Postmaster General in May 2020 was obviously a deliberate move. And oh look, The Post Office Is Deactivating Mail Sorting Machines Ahead of the Election
As Senator Patrick Leahy tweeted:
This is beyond mere corruption. This is an outright attack on democracy.
Pardon convicted criminals
Presidents have always had this power, its in the Constitution. He was within his right to pardon Roger Stone, even though it was totally unethical. Which shows that the open ended language in the Constitution should be tightened up, but then again he's exposed a lot of flaws inherent in the system if you put a slimeball with no principles and no shame in the oval office.
I would not be surprised to see him issue a blanket pardon for himself and his demon spawn on his way out the White House gates this January. Fortunately he can only pardon federal crimes, not state crimes like those currently being investigated by the state of NY. I think it would set a bad precedent to put a former president behind bars, unless he's committed murder or something. But I'd have no problem whatsoever with sending his kids there if they're found culpable for the crimes currently being investigated in connection with Trump's business.
I think it would set a bad precedent to put a former president behind bars
It would be a bad precedent to put someone behind bars just for no longer being president. In this particular instance though, if Trump fails to get reelected we should throw him a massive street party.
And then throw him in jail for be a corrupt, insidious cunt of a human being.
Roger Stone was NOT pardoned. His sentence was commuted. it's a little different. He's still guilty of a crime, but he won't have an excessively long sentence for it.
Similarly, when prison reform was being done, several "criminals" were either pardoned or had their sentences commuted. In at least one case an elderly black woman who was convicted of something early in her life, and received a VERY long prison sentence, finally got out of jail. I can't recall her name, but she was basically shown as one example of prison reform under Donald Trump, something that even OBAMA did not do... (and don't forget, Biden voted FOR some of the legislation that resulted in disproportionate sentencing of black convicts, which prison reform was intended to UN-do).
It's what chief executives do in the USA. Governors and Presidents can commute, pardon, re-sentence (but I think it has to be a shorter sentence), and so forth. it's a check/balance against the judicial branch.
Nobody is worried about the nobodies that a president pardons just because 60 Minutes did a segment about him and it looks like he was probably railroaded, or because he appears to have truly reformed and isn't going to kill his wife a second time. Maybe someone gets the ear of a congressman of the same party as the president and is responsible for making it happen, but typically it is just the usual "I should call my congressman" reason for that happening.
It is when you pardon the politically connected that it is a problem - especially when those people could testify against you if you were brought up on charges. I remember Clinton pardoned a couple people he had connections with and republicans went apeshit. Where's their outrage when Trump goes even further than that? Instead it is more whataboutism rather than facing the fact that your party's leader is as corrupt as they come.
Also, it isn't clear you need to have been convicted of a crime to be pardoned. The Supreme Court suggested that around 100 years ago, but the Constitution doesn't say it so there doesn't seem to be anything stopping a president from issuing a blanket pardon for past crimes without naming them or declaring that he was guilty of them.
It's called hypocrisy partisan politics. The Republicans will spare no effort denouncing a Democrat who does something shady, but if it's a Republican, then they will spare no effort to publicly state that everything is normal, fine, it wasn't done with that intention, etc.
It's political bullshit that has now been stretched so thin that you can easily see right through it, but since the Democrats are apparently helpless to stop Trump & Co, who cares ?
Not the Republicans.
It's now 244 years since the people of the United States freed themselves from the rule of George the Third. (and in summary: "More Trump-hate" following)
I believe that Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, who was elected on an ABOLITIONIST platform (because the Whig party was too fragmented to end slavery), received very similar treatment by many of his opponents during HIS term, as Donald Trump does now. Yet history tells a sightly more FAVORABLE story about Lincoln, doesn't it?
I should take your logic that says Donald Trump is some kind of king or dictator, and EASILY compare what he has done to what Obama had done before him. And of course, I believe Mrs. Clinton would have been WORSE (and Kamala if SHE ever takes the position... ~shudder~). And I think you will find that Trump follows the Constitution MUCH better than Obama EVER did.
So he's not a king, not a dictator, nor does he even REMOTELY act like one (think 'capricious tyranny' as an example - Trump does NOT do that). Trump is a leader, and a GOOD one. And yet, there is a LOUD minority out there who foment a LOT of Trump-hate, usually through un-true accusations and characterizations. And NOW, the USA is faced with a CLEAR choice between RADICAL SOCIALISM (or even COMMUNISM) and TRADITIONAL (i.e. CONSTITUTIONAL) AMERICA.
If THAT is not a "cross-roads" election, much like the ones in which Abraham Lincoln won, I don't know what else COULD be a cross-roads election. And of course, I will be voting for Republicans, including Donald Trump. I do NOT like socialism nor communism!. They need to be DEFEATED.
I suggest to you that if the USA "goes down" and becomes radically socialist or even COMMUNIST, under a Biden regime, that the U.K. and E.U. will go down WITH us. You don't want that. You should like Trump a LOT more... because of what he's STOPPING.
I bet it is instead used for free by the Trump team to optimally influence that part of the republican voter base that is still locked in the alterate FOX universe.
Because who cares about a pandemic when there are elections to win?
The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
- Douglas Adams - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
So, a person does her job and is rewarded by being shifted to another role. Gagging order, anyone ?
She was responsible for managing the case and complained about a shady, manipulative intervention by someone who should have known better (but hey, it's Trump government, so anything goes).
I fail to see the justification in moving her out.
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