Too Venal for Words category archive
DudeBros 0
Well, there is some good news.
Prosecutors had accused Shkreli of repeatedly misleading investors about what he was doing with their money. Mostly, he was blowing it with horrible stock picks, forcing him to cook up a scheme to recover millions in losses, they said.
Much more at the link. The story does not mention a sentencing date.
The Snaring Economy, Dude-Bro Dept. 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Charles Johnson considers the culture of Uber (and many other Silicon Valley outfits). A snippet:
Bro culture fosters an environment where companies are run much like a fraternity house. It’s perfectly laid out in its infamous 14 core cultural values, which includes super-pumpedness, meritocracy/toe-stepping, and always be hustlin’.
A web search tells me that there is a lack of clarity as to what Uber’s “14 core values” may actually be. The clearest list(s) I was able to find are–er–somewhat less than coherent, as could be expected from a bunch of dude-bros with a morning-after hangover.
Afterthought:
On a radio show I heard recently, the host asked a caller, “What do you do for a living?” The caller responded, “I”m a Lyft driver.”
For Pete’s shake, if you do it for a living, it’s not sharing, it’s employment, and should be regulated accordingly.
The whole “sharing economy” thing is a con and a scam to avoid both obeying labor laws and treating employees like employees.
Legacy: From Nixon to Trump 0
Thom and Lamar Waldron follow the bread crumbs from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump. (Note: Some of Waldron’s assertions wander into rather screwy territory, so have a few grains of salt ready, but it’s still worth a listen).
Part One:
More of the interview is below the fold.
Jonesing the Idiocracy 0
Tony Norman tries to make sense of Megan Kelly’s decision to have Alex Jones on her NBC television snow job show.
Remember, NBC is the network that gave you Donald Trump’s various Apprentices and is arguably responsible for the creating the myth that he knows what the hell he is doing.
(Spoiler Alert: Norman can’t make sense of it, because there’s no sense to be made.)
Fly the Fiendly Skies 0
It don’t get much fiendlier than this.
The woman died Monday afternoon after being stricken in the bathroom while on the American Airlines Boeing 737 flying from Dallas to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said MSP spokesman Patrick Hogan. Authorities have yet to identify the woman or address what led to her death.
Art Endress was on the flight and said an emergency medical technician (EMT) came aboard with other responders and removed the woman from the back and had her by the hands as he “dragged her down the aisle” as she was faceup and naked from the waist down.
Mean Girls 0
Honest to Betsy (and I can attest that Betsy was appalled), you can’t make this stuff up.
Rex Stout was right.
Republican Health (Don’t Call It) Care 0
At Philly.com, Ronnie Polaneczky profiles a Medicaid recipient who is a potential victim of Trumpcare. She’s a seven-year old girl from a solidly middle-class family who suffers from Rett Syndrome. Here’s a bit of her article:
(snip)
Emma is only one of the countless thousands of Americans who rely on Medicaid when their luck runs out. Sick kids, disabled adults, the impoverished elderly – there is a real person, a real family, behind every dollar. Trump’s butchering of Medicaid would trade the well-being of these Americans for tax breaks for those who are already rich enough to buy and staff their own hospitals.
That possibility is not just immoral.
It’s grotesque.
True Confessions 0
Honest to Pete, you couldn’t make this stuff up.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Cassandram looks back on Donald Trump’s first 100 days in a post aptly–and distressingly–entitled 100 Days of White Supremacy.
Read it.
Then weep.
Doing the Wingnut Hustle 0
Aside:
The First Amendment right to free speech protects speech. Despite this argument, it neither mandates someone else to guarantee a platform nor requires anyone else to listen.