November 7, 2016

Tech workers give 60 times more cash to Clinton than to Trump

For every $1 that employees at the world's biggest technology companies donated to Donald Trump, they gave $60 to Hillary Clinton.

People who work at Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon.com sent a total of $3 million to the Democratic presidential nominee ahead of the 2016 election on Tuesday, compared with just over $50,000 to her Republican challenger, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Said differently, as of Oct. 19, Clinton attracted 97 percent of big tech money, with the remaining 3 percent split between Trump, Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.

Silicon Valley and Seattle, home to the technology giants, have long leaned blue, but this sort of one-sidedness is unprecedented and speaks to the technology industry's rejection of Trump's attitudes toward minorities and women and concern around pressing issues like climate change (which he called a hoax) and immigration.

"Ninety-seven percent support of Clinton is mindblowing and really suggests that we're pounding the table," said Kate Mitchell, a partner at venture firm Scale Venture Partners in Foster City, California. "We think her business policies are going to be friendlier."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/07/tech-workers-give-60-times-more-cash-to-clinton-than-trump.html

November 7, 2016

Hundreds of Companies Are Giving Workers Election Day Off

http://takeoffelectionday.com/

November 7, 2016

JPMorgan expects 3% stock market rally WHEN Clinton wins

JPMorgan analysts expect the S&P 500 to recover 3 percent from Friday's close if Hillary Clinton wins the U.S. presidential election Tuesday.

If Clinton wins, the S&P 500 should move back toward 2,150, and European and emerging market stocks should rise 3 to 4 percent, Mislav Matejka and other JPMorgan analysts said in a Monday note. They agreed with the consensus view that a Clinton victory remains more likely than a Donald Trump win.

The S&P 500 closed at 2,085.18 on Friday, posting a nine-day losing streak for the first time since 1980 as the race between Trump and Clinton appeared to tighten. The index fell about 3 percent over that time.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/07/election-jpmorgan-expects-3-sp-500-stock-market-rally-if-clinton-wins.html

November 5, 2016

NASA images show Utah’s Great Salt Lake shrinking dramatically

The good folks at NASA never miss a chance to let us know when vital bodies of water around the world are shriveling up and vanishing. First it was Lake Mead. Then it was the Aral Sea.

Now it’s poor Utah’s turn.

Earlier this week, NASA’s Earth Observatory posted satellite images showing the dramatic decline of Utah’s Great Salt Lake over the past five years. As the two images below from 2011 and 2016 show, water levels at Farmington Bay have plummeted, exposing three-fourths of the lakebed and threatening a key waterfowl habitat:
(NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey)

Suffice to say, that’s not good. The Great Salt Lake is one of the natural wonders of the West. It’s a terminal bay, which means rivers and streams flow in, but there’s nowhere for water to leave — except through evaporation. As a result, the minerals left behind just keep piling up. Today, the lake’s water is three to five times saltier than the ocean’s, creating a rich ecosystem that sustains brine shrimp, millions of migratory birds, waterfowl hunting, and so on. Mineral industries rely on it. It’s a key part of Utah’s economy, worth some $1.2 billion per year.

http://www.vox.com/2016/11/5/13528698/great-salt-lake-drying

November 5, 2016

Watch Episode One: The Messy Truth - Van Jones talks to Trump supporters about Civil War

http://addictinginfo.org/2016/11/05/van-jones-has-powerful-conversation-with-trump-supporters-about-the-possibility-of-civil-war-video/

The possibility of a civil war has been on a lot of people’s minds as the election gets closer. CNN’s Van Jones decided to sit down with a family of Trump supporters to discuss this very issue. Fittingly, the family he met with lived in Gettysburg, the site of the bloodiest battle of Civil War.

November 4, 2016

Citi predicts possible 5% drop for S&P 500 if Trump wins, warns on recession

A Donald Trump win could spark an immediate sell-off of up to 5 percent for the S&P 500, according to analysts at Citi, who also warn on slower growth or even recession for the U.S.

A survey run in September by the U.S. investment bank showed Wall Street strongly believes Hillary Clinton is set to clinch victory in next week's vote but the poor performance of U.S. equity markets in the wake of last Friday's news of the latest FBI probe into the Democratic candidate's emails, shows concerns of a Trump win are mounting.

According to the latest note out from global equity strategists at Citi Friday, fears for stocks after a Trump victory are two-fold.

In the longer-term says the research team, "A Trump win risks slower growth or recession if trade is restricted and fiscal expansion plans curtailed. Uncertainty alone could hit the economy. Global growth will also be impacted if uncertainty rises, U.S. growth is hit and U.S. financial conditions tighten."

Yet even in the immediate aftermath of the vote, markets could drop, according to Tobias Levkovich, the chief U.S. equity strategist at Citi.

"If Donald Trump were to win, that outcome would have been unexpected and thereby may cause a jump in the equity risk premium with negative P/E (price –to-earnings) multiple repercussions. We think a Trump victory could spark a 3-5 percent setback in the S&P 500," summarizes the Citi note.

The price-to-earnings ratio is a key valuation metric for stocks which gauges how much an investor must pay on the stock market for each cent of earnings.

The overwhelming majority of commentators also see the same trajectory for the S&P 500, with analysts at Barclays warning markets could drop between 11 and 13 percent in the case of a Trump win as opposed to a 2 to 3 percent bounce if Clinton emerges victorious.



However, in a New York Times article on Monday, Lawrence G. McDonald of ACG Analytics reportedly suggested there was a silver lining to all the current apprehension and negativity.

According to McDonald, "Trump will create a colossal panic, but the relief rally will be outstanding."

"Trump's bark found in his anti-globalization position in reality will be a lot worse than its bite in terms of actual implementation," he continued.

November 4, 2016

Starbucks Cup Panic Is the Apex of Christian Entitlement

In what is fast becoming a festive year-end tradition, many people took to social media on Wednesday to express their outrage over a new Starbucks cup. Not only was it not Christmas-y enough for them, but it also pushed an evil liberal agenda of — wait for it — unity. Like, with other people. Who may not even be white Christian Republicans. Quelle horreur!

Conservative outpost The Daily Wire said that Starbucks was “at it again,” perhaps deliberately trying to court controversy by not giving the people the holiday cup they want and deserve. Which I can only assume has a Nativity scene on it so that a foam Jesus may rise from within.

Of course, the outraged was misplaced. It turns out this is just a temporary cup and that new super holiday-y cups will come out in a few weeks. And they will indeed be red. CRISIS AVERTED!

We’ve all been spared from yet another Joshua Feuerstein video.

There’s a saying — I’m not sure who originated it. Probably just someone on the internet — that goes like this: “When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” In this situation, certain Christians feel that if they’re not made to feel special (i.e. being the only religious group ever honored in store displays or cups or festive toilet paper or what have you), they must be oppressed. That if everyone doesn’t pretend to be a Christian, it’s an attack on their faith.

By suggesting a somewhat cheesy celebration of the unity of all people, Starbucks somehow insulted those people… because, I guess, if everyone is included then no one is special. How long will it take for those Christians to find a better way to feel special that doesn’t require so much validation from paper coffee cups?

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/11/03/starbucks-cup-panic-is-the-apex-of-christian-entitlement/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/starbucks-green-cup-holiday-design-unity-twitter-politics_us_5819f0c1e4b01f610e3934d2

November 3, 2016

Notes on the 10th day of early voting in Florida

good stuff:

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/226239-steve-schale-notes-tenth-day-early-voting-florida

November 3, 2016

Trump Probably Avoided His Medicare Taxes, Too

In the final debate, Hillary Clinton said she would secure Social Security and Medicare by raising taxes on high-income earners, including herself and her opponent, Donald J. Trump, “assuming he can’t figure out how to get out of it.”

As we’ve learned in the past few weeks, Mr. Trump has used all kinds of extravagant maneuvers to get out of paying taxes. Without Mr. Trump’s returns, we can’t know for certain whether he figured out a way to get out of paying into Medicare and Social Security. But we have some clues.

The only public information he has offered about his finances is buried in the 2015 Financial Disclosure Form 278e that he filed when he entered the Republican primary. According to his financial disclosure, Mr. Trump owns and controls an extensive business empire.

Given that, it seems incredible that he reported only $14,222 in total salary on his 2015 financial disclosure form, all of it paid by 208 Production LLC, which made his reality show “The Apprentice.” He claims that the other part of the form, which asks about “Sources of Compensation Exceeding $5,000 in a Year,” is “not applicable.”

That means that he was paid no salary by the more than 200 corporations that he owns and runs — corporations that own or manage businesses having more than a billion dollars in value and hundreds of millions of dollars in income.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/opinion/trump-probably-avoided-his-medicare-taxes-too.html?emc=edit_th_20161103&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=50533710&_r=0

November 3, 2016

Maybe The Military Will Arrest Hillary Clinton To Save The Republic

Direct from the nut-sack, far-right, alt-universe:

Far-right radio host Rick Wiles insisted yesterday that Americans shouldn’t count out the possibility that the military will arrest Hillary Clinton in the week before the presidential election in order to avert a “constitutional crisis” involving an FBI investigation into her use of a private email server and “save the republic from a collapse.”

Wiles insisted that the 650,000 emails found on the laptop of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of a top Clinton aide, some of which may have some connection to Clinton, “potentially have enough evidence to bring down the entire political establishment, including the Republican Party.”

When asked by one of his cohosts if “realistically” anything could “happen in seven days” before the election, Wiles responded that the military could well start making arrests in order to save America.

“The U.S. military may make arrests. Don’t count that out,” he said. “This is a constitutional crisis. The U.S. military could act in order to save the republic from a collapse.”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-maybe-the-military-will-arrest-hillary-clinton-to-save-the-republic/