Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Demovictory9
Demovictory9's Journal
Demovictory9's Journal
October 3, 2019
How can any American trust the Department of Justice anymore?
?1553464716
Of all the wounds Donald Trump has inflicted on our sacred institutions, probably the most enduring will be his administration’s utter desecration of the rule of law as it formerly existed in the United States of America.
William Barr, Donald Trump’s selected head of the U.S. Department of Justice, has thoroughly defaced not only the office but the very idea of an “attorney general.”
As Washington blew up last week over President Trump’s campaign to pressure Ukraine into becoming a disinformation arm of the GOP, his attorney general was nowhere to be found.
With the President of the United States now facing an inquiry demanding his response to looming charges of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that could justify his removal from office, where was the head of this country’s so-called arm of legal enforcement (or “Justice,” to use a term now becoming increasingly quaint)? This being the same person who is implicated in the scandal as acting as an instrument to cover-up this president’s potential crimes?
You would think such a person would go to ground, and huddle up with his own lawyers, considering that his own involvement may lead to his disbarment, a prison sentence, or worse. At the very least you would think that he would be striving to preserve his institution’s imprimatur of respectability for the rule of law, assuming he had any legal grounds to stand on.
Oh, but he was in Italy, tilting at Fox News windmills.
From The Daily Beast:
Of all the wounds Trump has inflicted on our sacred institutions, probably the most enduring will be
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/1/1889404/-How-can-any-American-take-the-Department-of-Justice-seriously-anymoreHow can any American trust the Department of Justice anymore?
?1553464716
Of all the wounds Donald Trump has inflicted on our sacred institutions, probably the most enduring will be his administration’s utter desecration of the rule of law as it formerly existed in the United States of America.
William Barr, Donald Trump’s selected head of the U.S. Department of Justice, has thoroughly defaced not only the office but the very idea of an “attorney general.”
As Washington blew up last week over President Trump’s campaign to pressure Ukraine into becoming a disinformation arm of the GOP, his attorney general was nowhere to be found.
With the President of the United States now facing an inquiry demanding his response to looming charges of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that could justify his removal from office, where was the head of this country’s so-called arm of legal enforcement (or “Justice,” to use a term now becoming increasingly quaint)? This being the same person who is implicated in the scandal as acting as an instrument to cover-up this president’s potential crimes?
You would think such a person would go to ground, and huddle up with his own lawyers, considering that his own involvement may lead to his disbarment, a prison sentence, or worse. At the very least you would think that he would be striving to preserve his institution’s imprimatur of respectability for the rule of law, assuming he had any legal grounds to stand on.
Oh, but he was in Italy, tilting at Fox News windmills.
From The Daily Beast:
October 3, 2019
I Worked at Capital One for Five Years. This Is How We Justified Piling Debt on Poor Customers.
---
Annie and I worked together at Capital One for three years. For a few months, I was her boss. I oversaw the bank’s “secured card” product—a credit card marketed to people whose credit is so bad they can’t get a credit limit of $300 at a 27 percent interest rate without putting down a security deposit. Ironically, at Capital One, the more of a positive-energy type you were, the more likely it was that you’d work in the subprime division. There, people like Annie and myself reasoned, the choices you made could, hypothetically, make things easier for struggling families. We told ourselves that such families likely didn’t have any better lending options. And for poor, under-banked households, many lending options are far worse than Capital One.
The real question, of course, isn’t whether a credit card with a 27 percent interest rate and a $39 late fee is better than a payday loan. It’s whether Capital One’s marketing campaigns push people into debt who would have otherwise avoided it; whether it is actually in a person’s best interest, desperate though they may be, to borrow money at an exorbitant rate; and whether this enterprise is ethically defensible—in particular, for the decent, hard-working employees who toil every day to make Capital One’s mercenary strategy a reality. Because the ugly truth is that subprime credit is all about profiting from other people’s misery.
In 2012, the year I started my first Capital One internship, the company’s acquisition of HSBC’s credit card business went through, making it one of the largest subprime credit card issuers in the U.S. The decision to double down on those Americans struggling to get by has paid off handsomely.
The credit card titan’s newly-constructed 31-story glass headquarters in McLean, Virginia, is but one lavish testimonial to the success of its bottom-feeding business model. Capital One collects $23 billion in interest per year—an average that works out to $181 from each family in America. Of course, not every family has a Capital One account, and most public surveys say roughly half of people with credit cards pay them in full and accrue no interest. So simple math tells you that many families are paying Capital One at least $800 in interest every year.
Capital One’s decision to double down on those Americans struggling to get by has paid off handsomely.
And most of that interest gets paid by the families who can least afford it. According to data from a 2018 Federal Reserve survey, people who report an unpaid credit card balance “most or all of the time” were nearly five times as likely to describe themselves as “struggling to get by” or “just getting by” than the people who paid their credit card bills in full every month. They were nearly 50 percent more likely to have an income under $50,000, 2.5 times as likely to describe the economic conditions in their community as “poor,” and three times as likely to have skipped prescription medicine or doctor’s visits because of cost.
I Worked at Capital One for Five Years. This Is How We Justified Piling Debt on Poor Customers.
https://newrepublic.com/article/155212/worked-capital-one-five-years-justified-piling-debt-poor-customersI Worked at Capital One for Five Years. This Is How We Justified Piling Debt on Poor Customers.
---
Annie and I worked together at Capital One for three years. For a few months, I was her boss. I oversaw the bank’s “secured card” product—a credit card marketed to people whose credit is so bad they can’t get a credit limit of $300 at a 27 percent interest rate without putting down a security deposit. Ironically, at Capital One, the more of a positive-energy type you were, the more likely it was that you’d work in the subprime division. There, people like Annie and myself reasoned, the choices you made could, hypothetically, make things easier for struggling families. We told ourselves that such families likely didn’t have any better lending options. And for poor, under-banked households, many lending options are far worse than Capital One.
The real question, of course, isn’t whether a credit card with a 27 percent interest rate and a $39 late fee is better than a payday loan. It’s whether Capital One’s marketing campaigns push people into debt who would have otherwise avoided it; whether it is actually in a person’s best interest, desperate though they may be, to borrow money at an exorbitant rate; and whether this enterprise is ethically defensible—in particular, for the decent, hard-working employees who toil every day to make Capital One’s mercenary strategy a reality. Because the ugly truth is that subprime credit is all about profiting from other people’s misery.
In 2012, the year I started my first Capital One internship, the company’s acquisition of HSBC’s credit card business went through, making it one of the largest subprime credit card issuers in the U.S. The decision to double down on those Americans struggling to get by has paid off handsomely.
The credit card titan’s newly-constructed 31-story glass headquarters in McLean, Virginia, is but one lavish testimonial to the success of its bottom-feeding business model. Capital One collects $23 billion in interest per year—an average that works out to $181 from each family in America. Of course, not every family has a Capital One account, and most public surveys say roughly half of people with credit cards pay them in full and accrue no interest. So simple math tells you that many families are paying Capital One at least $800 in interest every year.
Capital One’s decision to double down on those Americans struggling to get by has paid off handsomely.
And most of that interest gets paid by the families who can least afford it. According to data from a 2018 Federal Reserve survey, people who report an unpaid credit card balance “most or all of the time” were nearly five times as likely to describe themselves as “struggling to get by” or “just getting by” than the people who paid their credit card bills in full every month. They were nearly 50 percent more likely to have an income under $50,000, 2.5 times as likely to describe the economic conditions in their community as “poor,” and three times as likely to have skipped prescription medicine or doctor’s visits because of cost.
October 3, 2019
These 526 Voters Represent All of America. And They Spent a Weekend Together.
long article about their discussions and how it changed them in the end
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/02/upshot/these-526-voters-represent-america.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
October 3, 2019
Sure, I voted for the Face-Eating Party ... but
https://twitter.com/itsreallyalexb/status/1179620539955986434
October 3, 2019
Job applicant outraged after company shares her bikini photo on Instagram as 'PSA': 'This is not doing you any favors'
Emily Clow, a 24-year-old from Austin, Texas, recently applied for a marketing coordinator internship at Kickass Masterminds, an Austin-based marketing company founded and primarily run by women that says it is "hell-bent on helping entrepreneurs grow businesses faster than they could on their own."
Clow says shortly after filling out an online application, she was prompted to follow the company's Instagram account "for an advantage over other applicants." When she did so, she says she was shocked to find a photo of herself in a swimsuit on the company's story, along with a piece of unsolicited advice.
"PSA (because I know some of you applicants are looking at this)," the company wrote over Clow's photo. "Do not share your social media with a potential employer if this is the kind of content on it. I am looking for a potential marketer–not a bikini model."
"Go on with your bad self and do whatever in private," it added. "But this is not doing you any favors in finding a professional job."
https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2019-10/33f292f0-e53a-11e9-be8f-ad4f4ea6e105
Job applicant outraged after company shares her bikini photo on Instagram as 'PSA': 'This is not doi
https://www.aol.com/article/finance/2019/10/02/job-applicant-outraged-company-shares-bikini-photo-as-psa/23825560/Job applicant outraged after company shares her bikini photo on Instagram as 'PSA': 'This is not doing you any favors'
Emily Clow, a 24-year-old from Austin, Texas, recently applied for a marketing coordinator internship at Kickass Masterminds, an Austin-based marketing company founded and primarily run by women that says it is "hell-bent on helping entrepreneurs grow businesses faster than they could on their own."
Clow says shortly after filling out an online application, she was prompted to follow the company's Instagram account "for an advantage over other applicants." When she did so, she says she was shocked to find a photo of herself in a swimsuit on the company's story, along with a piece of unsolicited advice.
"PSA (because I know some of you applicants are looking at this)," the company wrote over Clow's photo. "Do not share your social media with a potential employer if this is the kind of content on it. I am looking for a potential marketer–not a bikini model."
"Go on with your bad self and do whatever in private," it added. "But this is not doing you any favors in finding a professional job."
https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2019-10/33f292f0-e53a-11e9-be8f-ad4f4ea6e105
October 3, 2019
Washingtonpost gathered today's meltdown bits into one video - he sounds like a mobster
October 2, 2019
Planned Parenthood will open a large facility in southern Illinois to help the women’s health-care provider meet a surging demand from Missouri, which has only one abortion provider for a state of more than 6 million people.
The 18,000-square-foot Fairview Heights facility was constructed in secret, CBS News first reported, and would be able to accommodate 11,000 patients a year. It will start taking its first patients later this month.
An existing, smaller Fairview Heights facility took care of 5,000 patients last year alone, according to Planned Parenthood’s announcement. The new facility would provide family planning as well as a wide array of women’s health-care services, including annual exams, breast cancer screenings and STD tests. It will offer both medical and surgical abortions.
Missouri has some of the most severe abortion restrictions in the country, while neighboring Illinois has expanded access to its residents. Planned Parenthood operates the only remaining abortion provider in Missouri, located in St. Louis. That clinic will remain open, according to the organization.
As Missouri restricts abortion, Planned Parenthood opens massive new clinic across the border.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/10/02/missouri-restricts-abortion-planned-parenthood-opens-massive-new-clinic-across-border/?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-health-science%3Ahomepage%2FcardPlanned Parenthood will open a large facility in southern Illinois to help the women’s health-care provider meet a surging demand from Missouri, which has only one abortion provider for a state of more than 6 million people.
The 18,000-square-foot Fairview Heights facility was constructed in secret, CBS News first reported, and would be able to accommodate 11,000 patients a year. It will start taking its first patients later this month.
An existing, smaller Fairview Heights facility took care of 5,000 patients last year alone, according to Planned Parenthood’s announcement. The new facility would provide family planning as well as a wide array of women’s health-care services, including annual exams, breast cancer screenings and STD tests. It will offer both medical and surgical abortions.
Missouri has some of the most severe abortion restrictions in the country, while neighboring Illinois has expanded access to its residents. Planned Parenthood operates the only remaining abortion provider in Missouri, located in St. Louis. That clinic will remain open, according to the organization.
October 2, 2019
'We call it tent city': Trump once again rips into San Francisco
damn! SF is a world class city. pretty much all US large cities are majority democrat and their are the economic engines for the country. What good does it do for the POTUS to trash American cities?
--------------------
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/trump-san-francisco-speech-finland-president-tents-14486160.php
With President of Finland Sauli Niinistö in town, President Donald Trump addressed the media alongside his Finnish counterpart from the Oval Office.
Trump did all of the talking and none of it had anything to do with Finland.
Instead, Trump focused — once again — on a few of his favorite Californian targets: Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
"Do you see what's happening to her district?" Trump said of Pelosi's home district of San Francisco. "We call it tent city. It's terrible.
"There's needles and drugs all over the street. There's tents, there's people that are dying in squalor — in the best location, in San Francisco. It used to be a great city. Now you have to see what's happened to San Francisco."
The president often uses San Francisco's homelessness crisis as a talking point against Rep. Pelosi. San Francisco's homeless population was last estimated at 8,011 in January 2019, a roughly 1,200 person increase from two years prior.
October 2, 2019
tweeters are saying Trump started to fall asleep at the podium... did he?
https://twitter.com/STabbytosavit/status/1179465742242074625
October 2, 2019
A Trump hotel mystery: Giant reservations followed by empty rooms
The House is investigating whether groups tried to curry favor with Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never using them.
House investigators are looking into an allegation that groups — including at least one foreign government — tried to ingratiate themselves to President Donald Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never staying in them.
It’s a previously unreported part of a broad examination by the House Oversight Committee, included in Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, into whether Trump broke the law by accepting money from U.S. or foreign governments at his properties.
“Now we’re looking at near raw bribery,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a House Oversight Committee member who chairs the subcommittee with jurisdiction over Trump’s hotel in Washington. “That was the risk from Day One: foreign governments and others trying to seek favor because we know Trump pays attention to this. ... It’s an obvious attempt to curry favor with him.”
The investigation began after the committee received information that two entities — a trade association and a foreign government — booked a large quantity of rooms but used only a fraction of them, according to a person familiar with the allegation who isn't authorized to speak for the committee.
The emoluments clause of the Constitution forbids a president from profiting from foreign governments or receiving any money from the U.S. government except his or her annual salary.
Rep. Ro Khanna, (D-Calif.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, said if Trump or his staff solicited the hotel reservations, they could have broken the law. But even if they didn’t, it’s still a problem.
A Trump hotel mystery: Giant reservations followed by empty rooms - a form of bribery???
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/02/trump-hotel-empty-rooms-016763A Trump hotel mystery: Giant reservations followed by empty rooms
The House is investigating whether groups tried to curry favor with Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never using them.
House investigators are looking into an allegation that groups — including at least one foreign government — tried to ingratiate themselves to President Donald Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never staying in them.
It’s a previously unreported part of a broad examination by the House Oversight Committee, included in Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, into whether Trump broke the law by accepting money from U.S. or foreign governments at his properties.
“Now we’re looking at near raw bribery,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a House Oversight Committee member who chairs the subcommittee with jurisdiction over Trump’s hotel in Washington. “That was the risk from Day One: foreign governments and others trying to seek favor because we know Trump pays attention to this. ... It’s an obvious attempt to curry favor with him.”
The investigation began after the committee received information that two entities — a trade association and a foreign government — booked a large quantity of rooms but used only a fraction of them, according to a person familiar with the allegation who isn't authorized to speak for the committee.
The emoluments clause of the Constitution forbids a president from profiting from foreign governments or receiving any money from the U.S. government except his or her annual salary.
Rep. Ro Khanna, (D-Calif.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, said if Trump or his staff solicited the hotel reservations, they could have broken the law. But even if they didn’t, it’s still a problem.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: California
Member since: Tue Feb 27, 2018, 10:32 PM
Number of posts: 32,448