Mammon category archive
Scooflaws 0
My local rag reports that Bird, the outfit that’s randomly dropping scooters all over the country, holds itself above the law (that’s my words, not theirs). Here’s a bit:
Bird now owes $362,800 to the University of Georgia and $32,000 to Santa Cruz, California. Virginia Beach has impounded 205 scooters and is owed $1,700, as of Oct. 31.
And that’s just the beginning. Bird scooters have been reported in the cities of Nashville, Cleveland, Denver, Salt Lake City, Ann Arbor and Greensboro, North Carolina, just to name a few, according to news reports. . . .
“I think it’s very difficult to look at one locality and see the big picture,” he (Graham Henshaw, executive director of the Alan B. Miller Entrepreneurship Center at the College of William & Mary–ed.) said. “What they’re trying to do is blanket the entire country in scooters.”
The story goes on to report that Bird does not respond to inquiries from government agencies and doesn’t seem interested in getting its scooters out of impound.
I’m not quite sure how the characterize this, but the phrase, “arrogant, greedy SOBs” comes to mind.
Silence Is Complicity 0
Dan Simpson is not amused with the United States’s passivity regarding the Khashoggi case and the Trump “administration’s” seeming wish that it all would just go away. Here’s a snippet from his column:
It used to be that the reliance of the world, including the United States, on Saudi oil served to give the kingdom a pass on humane behavior. In the case of the United States, there was also heavy U.S. oil company involvement in Saudi oil production. In the case of the United States, there was also heavy U.S. oil company involvement in Saudi oil production. U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia also became increasingly important to America over the years. . . .
Gilding the Polity, Reprise 0
Shorter Mitch McConnell: Pity the 1%.
Gilding the Polity 0
(Update: the embed is giving a 500 error as of 2018-10-16 22:30. I checked. It’s their error, not mine. One hopes it’s cleared up soon.)
The Pusher Men 0
I have high blood pressure. Fortunately, my medicines do not include extra added jet fuel. (Also, you will not see the medicines I’m prescribed advertised on TV because they are generic, cheap, and effective, with minimal side effects. They fail all the tests for drugs advertised on television!)
Learn more here.
“Weaponized Cognitive Dissonance” 0
David explores the right wing’s willingness to excuse Donald Trump’s financial shenanigans.
Heavy Metal 0
Mike looks at the latest from the Environmental Poisoning Agency and what it reveals about the hypocrisy of evangelical “Christians” (warning: language).
I had a coworker, a conscientious and good-hearted man, some years ago who became afflicted with mercury poisoning; it eventually ended his career and I lost touch with him. The cause was not fixed, but was believed to be defective dental fillings.
His decline was a horrible thing to witness.
The Entitlement Society 0
Law Professor Deirdre M. Bowen remembers.