Mammon category archive
Where There’s Fire, There’s Smoke
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In the Bangor Daily News, Philip Duffy reports that some Congresspersons want to take jurisdiction over the laws of chemistry, likely at the behest of the lumber industry (emphasis added):
The amendment would mandate that all federal agencies treat the burning of wood from forests as a “renewable energy resource” that is “carbon neutral,” meaning it does not add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Reality is more complex, but forest bioenergy certainly is not carbon neutral. The carbon footprint of bioenergy should be measured scientifically on a case-by-case basis rather than broadly specified by legislation.
Follow the link to see Duffy delve into the lamer rationale for this endeavor.
I don’t quite know what’s worse about this: the stupid or the craven.
Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Trumpled 0
Dick Polman considers the procedures as defined on Law and Order: Celebrity Apprentice. He takes Donald Trump’s complaints about the judiciary to its logical conclusion (emphasis added):
More jurisprudence at the link.
And You Thought “OPM” Meant “Office of Personnel Management” 0
Rick Holmes repeats some lessons he’s learned from Trump U. One learning:
More learning at the link.
Nor Any Drop To Drink, Reprise 2
Retail beverage bottled water is a con and a scam.
It is one of the pettest of my pet peeves.
H/T to reader James for the image.
Why Am I Not Surpised? 0
Documents indicate that Trump University made the Popeil Ronco Pocket Fisherman look like a good investment.
Afterthought:
My heavens, there still seem to be marks willing to buy the Popeil Ronco Pocket Fisherman.
I used to have a friend who was an avid fly fisherman. He tied his own flies. Indeed, he was so skilled at tying flies that he had a little side business tying flies for other persons, including a number of local celebrities. I think–it was a long time ago–he once tied some flies for Charles Kuralt.
If I wanted to wind him up, all I needed to do was mention the Popeil Ronco Pocket Fisherman . . . .
Your Military-Industrial Complex at Work 0
Read the tale of “Fat Leonard.” Here’s just a tiny bit:
He exploited the intelligence for illicit profit, brazenly ordering his moles to redirect aircraft carriers to ports he controlled in Southeast Asia so he could more easily bilk the Navy for fuel, tugboats, barges, food, water and sewage removal.
Over at least a decade, according to documents filed by prosecutors, Glenn Defense ripped off the Navy with little fear of getting caught because Francis had so thoroughly infiltrated the ranks.
The company forged invoices, falsified quotes and ran kickback schemes. It created ghost subcontractors and fake port authorities to fool the Navy into paying for services it never received.
Francis and his firm have admitted to defrauding the Navy of $35 million, though investigators believe the real amount could be much greater.
The Super Stadium Scam 0
The AP’s Paul Newberry calls out the NFL for its strategy of dangling Super Bowls in front of cities to get free stadiums. (Cities seem to be easy marks for the NFL’s con game.) A snippet:
Nothing much has changed since then, but cities keep playing the game.
Where’s the ref to throw the flag on illegal use of hand-outs?
Two Sets of Rules 0
Writing at The Observer, Evgeny Morozov explores self-serving double standards of tech titans who would have you run naked through the internet while, secluded behind high walls with turrets and towers, they watch you cavort.
Here’s just a couple of examples; follow the link for much, much more.
They are digital carrion crows; under cover of providing a “service,” they pluck the bodies of their users and sell them for profit.*
In their world, openness is for others, a commodity to mined and traded.
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*As the regards the “services” they provide, I would argue that Google’s search is far more valuable and useful to those who use it–it is an actual “service”–than, say, Facebook’s or Instagram’s nattering nurseries of narcissism.
The Student Loan Scam Is Working Out So Very Nicely, Is It Not? 0
Welcome to the brave new old way of financing an education.
How Stuff Works, the Defense Procurement Process Dept. 0
My local rag tells the story of a captain who went down with his slip.
Loving said her orders were clear: She needed risque photographs with Riedel so the company president could use them as leverage over the officer who oversaw acquisition for the troubled littoral combat ship program, which Austal had been awarded a $3.5 billion contract to build in 2010.
I think it can be argued that the Navy officer got his foot caught in a military-industrial complex. (Much more at the link.)
The Snaring Economy Comes to the Big Screen 0
Moved below the fold because it may autoplay on some systems.
Note: If you catch something autoplaying on the front page here, use the email linke, over there
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on the sidebar to let me know and I’ll bury it below the fold.
Crafty Beers 0
You know that craft brewery? There’s a good chance it’s not. Fred Grimm describes how he got gulled.
What I didn’t notice, as I stormed the ramparts – supposed microbrew in hand – was that the Blue Moon Brewing Co. actually belongs to MillerCoors, which was sold to Molson Coors by SABMiller last year so the Justice Department would look kindly on SABMiller’s giant merger with Anheuser-Busch InBev. And all that.
. . . I’ve been an unwitting consumer of America’s leading anti-craft beer, taken in by an international conglomerate’s ploy to fend off these upstart microbreweries.
I reckon the message is that, if you want to be a been snob, know what you are being snobbish about. Me, I’ll stick to Scotch.