Open Season: He Got Away With It
I said in an earlier post that it was "open season" on our streets because of the Zimmerman trial. And according to Fox News, people are rioting in the streets, boycotting Florida, and all civilization is coming to an end (it always is in Foxworld, that's how they keep the ratings up...) It's anarchy out there, according to them.
But it's been anarchy for quite some time now. Not for rioters in streets, or looters of store fronts. There's been anarchy on Wall Street, in the banking industry, in the corporate world. BP and Hallibuton killed 11 people and possibly destroyed large swathes of the Gulf of Mexico forever, and paid a fine they could well afford. No one went to jail. The LIBOR scandal was blatant theft of billions, no one went to jail. The real estate scandal involving Countrywide, and the big five banks destroyed the economy, sent thousands of people into the street, and made tens of billions for the thieves that perpetrated the scam, and again, no one went to prison. If you're old enough to remember, Union Carbide killed 2,500 and injured a quarter of a million in Bhopal, India in the 1980's and paid restitution of what amounted to pennies of what they earn daily. What they saved on the bottom line by hiring what would be slave labor in this country and skirting safety and environmental regulations (even as lax as they were in India) would have amounted to thousands of times what it cost them in fines when the whole thing went kablooie. Negligent homicide of thousands, and attempted negligent homicide of hundreds of thousands of people, and no one even went to trial for it. And there are thousands of examples of thefts like this EVERY DAY.
The Daily Show With John Stewart, Jason Jones discusses American investment banking with a Canadian banker:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-24-2013/money-boo-boo---the-canadian-banking-system
LIBOR:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor_scandal
Bhopal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
Wages are suppressed, jobs are sent overseas, assets are off-shored to avoid taxes while our infrastructure is decaying, and it's all a few line items in an accounting sheet. And people are out of work, or underemployed, all so the "%1ers" can transfer more of the nation's and the world's assets into their pockets.
The GOP had stonewalled any and all legislation to put "cops on the beat" for the SEC, for the NLRB, for the banking regulators, for the EPA, for anything that would stop the wealthiest and most criminal among us to get away with robbing us blind.
There is now a scandal with McDonald's figuring out that they can pay their wage earners through fee-ridden debit cards, so the banks can profit, and kick-back in the form of lowered processing fees for the corporation. This works out to a service tax on their lowest paid employees who can least afford it.Why would they? Because they could. And it's not just McDonald's. I went through training with an up-and-coming chain restaurant that has aspirations of being national that did the exact same thing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/17/mcdonalds-pay-fees-debt-card_n_3454298.html
This kind of legal theft and malfeasance goes all through the F&B world. It's "legal". But I've also gone to work for a small independent restaurant that kept no records, did not pay training wages, did not pay overtime, did not pay taxes, and would trim hours worked on a whim. I checked with the labor board, the press, and anyone that listen. I was told they didn't have the resources to look into it. Would it be illegal if it was true? I was told, yes. They blatantly broke the law and stole from their employees. Why? Because they could. A part of it could have been pure ignorance of the law on their part (if you really stretch giving them the benefit of the doubt). Most of it, I suspect, is that they could. Simply that they knew they could get away with it.
http://com.ohio.gov/laws/docs/dico_MinimumWagePoster2012.pdf
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm
So, yes, George Zimmerman was able to hunt and kill Trayvon and he got away with it. Justice failed Trayvon's family. Trayvon got killed by a guy that was his (cliched) judge, jury and executioner solely on suspicion. Let me repeat and clarify that. One guy SUSPECTED that Trayvon might have been a petty thief, and WAS WRONG, and Trayvon died, and the guy got away with it. But justice has failed all of us. It does all the time. The Zimmerman case just reminded us.
So do whatever you want. Steal what you can. There is no law. No one to hinder your rapaciousness, your greed, your paranoia, your violence. Unless you're poor, or darker skinned, or have no power. Then you're going to get caught. And you're going to go away. It's what keeps our privatized prison industry in business.
I was going to talk about how Occupy Wall Street was basically killed off by massive police harrassment, how any "lefty" protest is met with violence and gross disregard of Constitutional rights and liberties, how the police are there to protect and serve the thieves, but the whole thing is so maddening and exasperating, that I'm out of juice.
And we have a whole talk radio industry, and good ole' Fox News to rationalize the whole thing for us.
My regrets to Abraham Lincoln. This country, for the people, and by the people has already perished from the earth.
Bill Moyers on why "and justice for all" is a lie:
http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-the-hypocrisy-of-justice-for-all/
ALEC: Where TRUE power resides:
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/What_is_ALEC%3F
Thomas Jefferson warned us, and here we are:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasjeff135362.html
Lavar Burton shows how to not get killed when DWB:
https://www.upworthy.com/know-an-american-who-thinks-were-equal-show-them-what-this-guy-does-when-hes-stopped-by-a-cop?g=3&c=ie
And then there's the strange case and timing of Marissa Alexander. No one got killed, and she got 20 years.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/11/marissa-alexander-sentenced_n_1510113.html
But it's been anarchy for quite some time now. Not for rioters in streets, or looters of store fronts. There's been anarchy on Wall Street, in the banking industry, in the corporate world. BP and Hallibuton killed 11 people and possibly destroyed large swathes of the Gulf of Mexico forever, and paid a fine they could well afford. No one went to jail. The LIBOR scandal was blatant theft of billions, no one went to jail. The real estate scandal involving Countrywide, and the big five banks destroyed the economy, sent thousands of people into the street, and made tens of billions for the thieves that perpetrated the scam, and again, no one went to prison. If you're old enough to remember, Union Carbide killed 2,500 and injured a quarter of a million in Bhopal, India in the 1980's and paid restitution of what amounted to pennies of what they earn daily. What they saved on the bottom line by hiring what would be slave labor in this country and skirting safety and environmental regulations (even as lax as they were in India) would have amounted to thousands of times what it cost them in fines when the whole thing went kablooie. Negligent homicide of thousands, and attempted negligent homicide of hundreds of thousands of people, and no one even went to trial for it. And there are thousands of examples of thefts like this EVERY DAY.
The Daily Show With John Stewart, Jason Jones discusses American investment banking with a Canadian banker:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-24-2013/money-boo-boo---the-canadian-banking-system
LIBOR:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor_scandal
Bhopal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
Wages are suppressed, jobs are sent overseas, assets are off-shored to avoid taxes while our infrastructure is decaying, and it's all a few line items in an accounting sheet. And people are out of work, or underemployed, all so the "%1ers" can transfer more of the nation's and the world's assets into their pockets.
The GOP had stonewalled any and all legislation to put "cops on the beat" for the SEC, for the NLRB, for the banking regulators, for the EPA, for anything that would stop the wealthiest and most criminal among us to get away with robbing us blind.
There is now a scandal with McDonald's figuring out that they can pay their wage earners through fee-ridden debit cards, so the banks can profit, and kick-back in the form of lowered processing fees for the corporation. This works out to a service tax on their lowest paid employees who can least afford it.Why would they? Because they could. And it's not just McDonald's. I went through training with an up-and-coming chain restaurant that has aspirations of being national that did the exact same thing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/17/mcdonalds-pay-fees-debt-card_n_3454298.html
This kind of legal theft and malfeasance goes all through the F&B world. It's "legal". But I've also gone to work for a small independent restaurant that kept no records, did not pay training wages, did not pay overtime, did not pay taxes, and would trim hours worked on a whim. I checked with the labor board, the press, and anyone that listen. I was told they didn't have the resources to look into it. Would it be illegal if it was true? I was told, yes. They blatantly broke the law and stole from their employees. Why? Because they could. A part of it could have been pure ignorance of the law on their part (if you really stretch giving them the benefit of the doubt). Most of it, I suspect, is that they could. Simply that they knew they could get away with it.
http://com.ohio.gov/laws/docs/dico_MinimumWagePoster2012.pdf
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm
So, yes, George Zimmerman was able to hunt and kill Trayvon and he got away with it. Justice failed Trayvon's family. Trayvon got killed by a guy that was his (cliched) judge, jury and executioner solely on suspicion. Let me repeat and clarify that. One guy SUSPECTED that Trayvon might have been a petty thief, and WAS WRONG, and Trayvon died, and the guy got away with it. But justice has failed all of us. It does all the time. The Zimmerman case just reminded us.
So do whatever you want. Steal what you can. There is no law. No one to hinder your rapaciousness, your greed, your paranoia, your violence. Unless you're poor, or darker skinned, or have no power. Then you're going to get caught. And you're going to go away. It's what keeps our privatized prison industry in business.
I was going to talk about how Occupy Wall Street was basically killed off by massive police harrassment, how any "lefty" protest is met with violence and gross disregard of Constitutional rights and liberties, how the police are there to protect and serve the thieves, but the whole thing is so maddening and exasperating, that I'm out of juice.
And we have a whole talk radio industry, and good ole' Fox News to rationalize the whole thing for us.
My regrets to Abraham Lincoln. This country, for the people, and by the people has already perished from the earth.
Bill Moyers on why "and justice for all" is a lie:
http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-the-hypocrisy-of-justice-for-all/
ALEC: Where TRUE power resides:
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/What_is_ALEC%3F
Thomas Jefferson warned us, and here we are:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasjeff135362.html
Lavar Burton shows how to not get killed when DWB:
https://www.upworthy.com/know-an-american-who-thinks-were-equal-show-them-what-this-guy-does-when-hes-stopped-by-a-cop?g=3&c=ie
And then there's the strange case and timing of Marissa Alexander. No one got killed, and she got 20 years.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/11/marissa-alexander-sentenced_n_1510113.html
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