Pudzer who is responsible for such misogynist ads, withdraws over conflicts
Puzder who fought for lower minimum wages or automation in the fast food industry finally realized that even some Republicans are more pro-worker than he planned to be. He has been sued numerous time for underpaying workers, which is illegal. The Labor Department claimed that in 2,561,000 earned $7.25 or less per hour. Please note that all minimum wage workers who live in states with a higher minimum wage than the Federal Minimum wage rate are not even included in the statistics. Chart
Puzder fights against raising the minimum wage for his workers while paying himself more very well. Meanwhile, according to CKE’s final public disclosure after going private—Puzder made more than $4 million in salary and bonuses.
Mother Jones reported in December: “Back in 2004, the company agreed to pay $9 million to settle claims that it had not paid overtime to store managers. In 2013, CKE was hit with a class-action suit for “allegedly failing to pay its general managers overtime, even while requiring them to be on call 24 hours a day,” reports Law 360.”
In response to the proposal to raise minimum wage, Puzder vowed to replace workers with machines. This is what he sarcastically said about machines: “They’re always polite, they always up sell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.”
Donald J. Trump strongly defends Andrew F. Puzder, his chosen secretary of labor who is an outspoken critic of the worker protections enacted by the Obama administration. Trump, accused under oath of raping his first wife, defends Puzder and claims that he is treated “unfairly.” Really?
Puzder’s ex-wife Lisa Henning was terribly abused by him. She said that Puzder in a widely reported interview that “attacked me, choked me, threw me to the floor, hit me in the head, pushed his knees into my chest, twisted my arm and dragged me on the floor, threw me against a wall, tried to stop my call to 911 and kicked me in the lower back,” according to a 1989 Riverfront Times article.
At last Puzder withdrew his name from the nomination.
Now that Trump, Bannon and Puzder had been accused of spousal abuse, we really need to start wondering. We know that the best predictor for terrorist is a history of family violence. Hmmm. Maybe we need to look at our government through the lens of Domestic Violence. Article
Valentine’s Day makes us contemplate the meaning of love
Some people wonder how to stay with a war hero husband. Of course when your spouse is on the front you are afraid of loosing him or her. It is easy to feel the potential loss as ever deeper and growing true love. The fear of loosing him or her, may actually grow your commitment to be there for your spouse, and to love your spouse with all your heart and soul. You care for and love your spouse so very, very, very much.
Later you are so glad that they survived, so thrilled that they came home with out loosing life or limb. You are so happy when they come home to you and your kids.
Veterans returning home.
Trouble is that if he or she is suffering from a severe case of PTSD, your life will change as well. PTSD when expressed in a volatile and dangerous way is contagious.
Here is a true story:
A man, a vet came home from the war. He was such a lovely, intelligent and charming man. When he was conscious, that is.
When he wasn’t conscious, he turned into a hurtful, brutal and dangerous man.
In fact, because he was from a very good family, he was raised with the believe that a woman should be protected and cherished. He had many sisters and was raised to be protective of them as well. When he fell in love a deep calling rose up in him and he knew that he could be good for something, he could be a hero caring for his little woman. Even after all the atrocities he had witnessed during his service. He could protect that this lovely and shy girl who would be his bride.
The lady was raised in a Christian home and as a proper women who would love and cherish her husband. She was raised to believe that a husband and wife were bonded in the commitment to make marriage not just a holy sacrament, but also to obey and honor her spouse and support him in every possible way, in sickness and in health. And she was raised to support her husband’s growth in his career and standing in the community. In short a lovely and very proper woman.
And, OMG, it really worked. They started life together and enjoyed it fully, they worked hard, and bought a little home. They planted a garden and had common hobbies. He took her to romantic dinners, and was very proud of his “little woman.” They were very much in love and looked forward to a bright future with a lovely family.
What she had not realizes when they had this whirlwind romance, was that somehow during their romance, he didn’t experience any of the symptoms of the PTSD he had sustained in the war. His parents and siblings thought the young woman was a blessing in all their lives.
Then after they married he experienced some stress at work and the PTSD that the woman knew nothing about returned. The trouble is, when you are married to a man who has PTSD, no matter how many flowers you receive, no matter how many declarations of love you received, no matter how sincere these declarations actually are, the man may turn on a dime.
With a nightmare, with some trigger you were unfamiliar with, you might get hurt, beaten, strangled and severely physically compromised. The emotional pain is insufferable. A proper women may try coping mechanisms that they are taught. This woman tried to cope with the danger and pain by praying. She forgave him, she loved him, and she was determined to stand by her man.
The praying really did help her to keep her calm, but it didn’t keep her safe. Eventually she ended up in the hospital with a severe cut in her head, bruises all over her body, and she needed to get stitches so quickly to stop the severe bleeding, that she ended up with 27 stitches on her shaved skull without anesthesia.
Love alone is not enough. So if you have a good reason, a wonderful reason to love a man, a mighty and wonderful man. and he hurts you. Stop, in the name of love! Stop. Stop pretending it will get better, stop thinking that it is your fault. Stop. Stop the lies that keep you bonded to such an unhealthy situation.
Get help!!! Help is out there, and you can be free of an abuser. Even if you know that it is not his fault that he experienced such terrible hardships and pain. It is not your fault either and you don’t have to deal with it on your own.
PTSD is recently acknowledged as a potential result of war engagement. But if you are just a kind woman who loves your man, you may need some serious help to keep you and the children safe. Love alone will not heal this potentially dangerous condition. And, as many people found out, the constant stress and danger of living with an unpredictable, hurtful, disrespectful man, causes the spouse PTSD as well. Unfortunately it is contagious.
So get help. He needs therapy. There are some forms of therapy that are promising. But while he is in therapy, you and the kids may have to watch out for your own safely. The lady in the story eventually knew that she had to leave him, so he would not turn into her murderer. She did this after he held her at knife point of a long kitchen knife for 1 and 1/2 hours talking like a crazy man, wondering aloud if his pain would stop, if he killed her. She finally realized that it was her god given duty not to help him ruin his life entirely. She realized that she could best help him by being away from him.
The shock of loosing her helped him. He got therapy for PTSD and after 10 more painful years, he slowly got better. He told her that he was glad for both of them that she had left when she did. By leaving him she helped him to stop the negative spiral he was on. The loss of her and her love woke him up to the fact that he had a serious problem. Before she left him, he thought “she was the problem.” He thought if she was kinder, or more strong willed, or funnier or not as afraid of him, or not as angry, he would not have had to punish her all the time.
He told her that he strongly believed he may actually have killed her eventually, if she didn’t leave him. A study in 2015 showed that 94 percent of women killed by men were murdered by someone they knew. Of the victims who knew their offenders, 62 percent were wives or other intimate acquaintances of their killers.
On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.1
1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of [some form of] physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime. More
Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is get away from someone you love. For the rest of us, who are in a wonderful and happy relationships that works or can be nurtured into working, we may wish to support those who are not so lucky. Support the National Coalition Against Family Violence
Ms. Priscilla Chan is a former grade school teacher and a recent medical school graduate training to become a pediatrician. She has a strong commitment to health and put’s her wealth toward the common good. Her parents came as refugees to seek a better life. Now she is one of the top Billionaires who is committed to make life better for everyone.
In an interview with Today, Priscilla Chan recalled: “If you’re the first generation to go to college, sometimes you don’t realize your potential until others point it out.” For her, those individuals were her public school teachers, whom she credits for “getting me excited about learning.” Priscilla spoke Cantonese growing up, learned English in school and life, and studied Spanish to server her patients better.
Her commitment to health is genuine and unsurpassed. She met her husband Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard where they were first class mates and later they dated. They dated for 10 years before deciding to get married to form their family.
She and her husband donated $600 Million dollars through her charity organization CZI to create a Biohub together with University of California at San Francisco, Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley, which will be headquartered next to UCSF’s Mission Bay
campus in San Francisco.
She is an amazing woman who is one of the best examples of what America genuinely stands for. Immigrants who seek a better life and in turn make life for the rest of Americans a better place. Thank you Ms. Chan Zuckerberg for sharing your big heart, brilliant mind, and wealth for the greater good.
The National Education Association expresses deep concerns
A recent study provided that only 41% of Cyber Schools were deemed “academically acceptable.” The graduation rate on private Cyber Schools was less than half of that of brick & mortar public schools. So why is the new head of education so interested in providing an easy platform of proven tax dollar theft?
This is not “liberal hysteria” this is a genuine concern based on real facts.
California
Jessica Calefati of the San Jose Mercury News provided in-depth research about the for profit company K12 Inc. which lead to a $168.5 Million settlement with California. There are proven claims that the Virginia-based Charter School manipulated attendance records and overstated its students’ success. The SJMN stated in its article: “Harris’ office found that K12 and the 14 California Virtual Academies used deceptive advertising to mislead families about students’ academic progress, parents’ satisfaction with the program and their graduates’ eligibility for University of California and California State University admission.” Over a twelve year period the fraudster charged the State of California $310 Million dollars.
Despite these findings the Atlantic Monthly reports:
“DeVos invested in the online charter-school operator K12, which targeted the growing home school market. But K12’s overly expansive business model made it both significantly less profitable and more prone to regulatory and operating deficiencies than smaller, less ideologically driven competitors. K12 still trades below its IPO price from 2007. K12 was one of dozens of companies originally backed by Michael Milken’s ambitiously named Knowledge Universe, as part of an expansive effort to revolutionize education.”
Pennsylvania
Account Neal Prence, 61, admitted guilt in defrauding the government by helping with illegal accounting practices. AP reported that Nicholas Trombetta, 61, acknowledged using the school’s money to fund a lavish lifestyle, including buying a Florida condominium, homes for his girlfriend and mother and a jet airplane, while socking most of the money away for retirement. Trombetta used Avanti Management Group, the National Network of Digital Schools and other companies Trombetta also created to perpetrate the scheme. The fraud was uncovered thanks to the tireless work of the FBI.
What seems surprising is that despite the fact that they absconded admittedly with $8 Million dollars the maximum sentence the law allows is: “The law provides for a maximum total sentence of 100 years in prison, a fine of $3,250,000, or both for Trombetta and five years’ imprisonment, $250,000, or both for Prence. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant. Assistant United States Attorneys James R. Wilson, Robert S. Cessar and Stephen R. Kaufman are prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.” More
Ohio
Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow lost appeal to allow the state to audit the attendance of their online charter school. The Columbia Dispatch reported on November 13, 2016: “ECOT could not substantiate nearly 60 percent of full-time students were getting the minimum 920 hours of “learning opportunities” required by the state, meaning the state could ask the school to repay more than $60 million of the $106 million it received in state funding last year. Eight other smaller e-schools also were unable to justify their reported enrollment totals.” It seems House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, was not worried about ECOT or Ohio’s other online schools potentially defrauding Ohio. He simply excused their behavior by saying: “There are always two sides to the story.” His comment implies that there may be many more sides than that. Why would a House Speaker support Ohio citizens being defrauded?
These are only very few examples. Now with DeVos and her side kick Jerry Fallwell Jr. in charge of “education” we can be sure there will be many more major thefts. We are now in the era that US founders wanted to avoid:
It is 49 words in Article I of the Constitution.
“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
And the Congress is working feverishly on abolishing the oversight office of ethics to aid the business interests of their now fellow leaders. Here is a great link to a speech Walter M. Shaub, Director, U.S. Office of Government Ethics, gave at the Brookings Institute in January 2017. Link
Most people’s best and oldest friends are from our early schools days. DeVos is known to take the life long pleasure of socialization so that if a child or parent signs in online for 1 minute the “privateering school” seems legally is entitled to steal tax payers money. If tax dollars earmarked for education go to pay for private homes of girlfriends instead of education, it should be wrong. But DeVos disagrees and the GOP gives her free reign to create theft rings. More
Eli Broad who sponsors the best and most high performing charter schools in the country tried to stop her plan to defraud the public much like her brother Eric Prince did with his billions Dollar thefts in war of Iraq with his privateering military company Blackwater. To this day Eric Prince finds it offensive that people hold him accountable as to how he spent taxpayers money. Eric Prince said in recent interviews in an Alt-Right media company that he should not be accountable because the missing Billions and Billions of dollars were spent in a “private” military company and therefore he should not have to disclose the where the missing money went nor where it is now.
The only lesson the public can learn is how bottomless the sense of entitlement has become under our dysfunctional government that provides no oversight and no accountability of how and where our rapidly disappearing taxes and pensions has become. Unrepentant thieves have overthrown the government. DeVos will be a disastrous example of self righteous thievery of billions of taxpayers money due to funneling American public funds into “private” pockets. Another billion dollar heist is underway and sanctioned by Paul Ryan and McConnell. No wonder they want to silence the voices of reason.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence
Since this nation was started it strongly associated with certain principles. During a time when a very large part of Americans brought in a man who seems to hold no respect the principle of freedom in his heart, we do well to remind ourselves what Freedom actually means and why the US wanted to be free from arbitrary rules of George III of England, who did not respect Americans as enjoying these inalienable rights. Somehow nearly half of Americans seem to have forgotten and are now promoting Trump and his compadre Putin’s style of government which does not promote Freedom.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declarationof the thirteen unitedStates of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
Bazerman helps you how to recognize your own blind spots and how to avoid the habits that lead to poor decisions and ineffective leadership in the first place.
Every one had a negotiation fall apart or had it provide a less positive outcome than hoped for. Often this is because a critical piece of information and detail was missed or overlooked. How can you avoid that from happening again? Should you have noticed?
Max Bazerman, an expert in the field of applied behavioral psychology, draws on three decades of research and his experience instructing Harvard Business School MBAs and corporate executives to teach you how to notice and act on information that may not be immediately obvious. Bazerman suggests you explore your cognitive blind spots, identify any salient details you are programmed to miss, and then take steps to ensure it won’t happen again.
In psychology a blind spot is defined as aspects of our personalities that are hidden from our view. These might be annoying habits like interrupting or bragging, or they might be deeper fears or desires that are too threatening to acknowledge. One place that blind spots can be found is in strong reactions. An unusually strong negative or positive reaction or stance may suggest an engagement in a process Freud called reaction formation. Reaction formation involves unconsciously transforming an unacceptable or undesirable impulse into its opposite. This tendency is not confined to sexuality. Harsh judgments of others’ behavior may show a personal insecurity – such as, that highly ambitious co-worker may especially irritate you because of your own unexpressed ambitions. Blind spots in these cases need not be objectively negative traits, just traits that are experienced as personally shameful or unacceptable. Full Article
Simine Vaziere stated in an abstract of her research: “According to the self-other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model, the self should be more accurate than others for traits low in observability (e.g., neuroticism), whereas others should be more accurate than the self for traits high in evaluativeness (e.g., intellect). In the present study, 165 participants provided self-ratings and were rated by 4 friends and up to 4 strangers in a round-robin design. Participants then completed a battery of behavioral tests from which criterion measures were derived. Consistent with SOKA model predictions, the self was the best judge of neuroticism-related traits, friends were the best judges of intellect-related traits, and people of all perspectives were equally good at judging extraversion-related traits.”
The great part about the Max Bazerman’s book is that he provides a step-by-step guide to breaking bad habits and spotting the hidden details that will change your decision-making and leadership skills for the better. The key is to learn what a blind spot is and why you are programmed not to notice it. What is the perceived value to your subconscious?
Additionally, you will learn how to pay attention better not only to what is going on but also to what is “NOT” going on. Often what is not going on is more illuminating than what is going on. By realizing and acknowledging that both you and the person you are negotiating with come from a place of self-interest — you will be able to identify possible compromises that take both your and the other parties’ interests into consideration. This helps to close the best possible deal and it will expand your life’s enjoyment as well.
National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Drugs. The figure above is a bar chart showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving prescription drugs from 2001 to 2014. The chart is overlayed by a line graph showing the number of deaths by females and males. From 2001 to 2014 there was a 2.8-fold increase in the total number of deaths.
National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers. The figure above is a bar chart showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers from 2001 to 2014. The chart is overlayed by a line graph showing the number of deaths by females and males. From 2001 to 2014 there was a 3.4-fold increase in the total number of deaths.
Doctors need to become aware that maybe they are vulnerable to strong man sales techniques.
ProPublica found that doctors nationally who accepted payments from manufacturers were two to three times as likely to prescribe high rates of brand-name drugs. The higher the payments on average, the higher the rate of brand-name prescribing.
The NYT in an article by SABRINA TAVERNISE on Dr. Arias, who is preparing a larger study of mortality trends over the past 15 years, said drug overdoses, liver disease and suicide were the main drivers of the gloomy trends among whites in recent years, a pattern also found by other researchers. Life expectancy for whites had been rising for decades, but it has stagnated in recent years. It inched up in 2010 and 2011, and was flat in 2012 and 2013. But new federal data, drawn from all deaths recorded in the country in 2014, showed that life expectancy for whites dropped to 78.8 years in 2014
Particularly Oxycontin has caused addiction which often leads to abuse of Heroin. It is a deadly drug.
Unless you are already dying from an incurable cancer, there is really no reason to take a drug that can cause you to become a drug addict. As a dying person it is okay only because you are going to die anyway. Before even considering taking an opioid make sure you internalize the consequences for short-term relief.
Side Effects and Warning for Oxycontin
Never take this medicine in larger amounts, or for longer than prescribed. Do not crush or break an extended-release Oxycontin tablet. Swallow it whole to avoid exposure to a potentially fatal dose.
OxyContin is be habit-forming, even at regular doses. Take this medicine exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Never share the medicine with another person. MISUSE OF NARCOTIC PAIN MEDICATION CAN CAUSE ADDICTION, OVERDOSE, OR DEATH, especially in a child or other person using the medicine without a prescription.
Tell your doctor if you are pregnant. Oxycodone may cause life-threatening withdrawal symptoms in a newborn if the mother has taken this medicine during pregnancy.
Do not drink alcohol. Dangerous side effects or death could occur.
“The sanctions are targeted, not sectoral, and will have a very limited impact,” said Thomas Wright, a fellow and director of the Project on International Order and Strategy at the Brookings Institute. “This will not deter Putin from interfering in French or German elections in 2017.”
Thomas Wright also suggests that: “Trump is opposed to America’s alliance arrangements, he is opposed to the open global economy, and he is pro-authoritarian and pro-Russian. That it is pretty clear this is the most important election anywhere in the world since the two German elections of 1932,” he wrote, in reference to the parliamentary elections that ultimately resulted in Adolf Hitler coming to power. “No other election has had the capacity to completely overturn the international order—the global economy, geopolitics, etc.”
In the Atlantic Monthly article Thomas Wright further explains: “Trump’s isolationist ideology has three components, according to Wright: 1) opposition to U.S. alliances; 2) opposition to free trade; and 3) support for authoritarianism. In Wright’s view, these three beliefs, if translated into policy in a Trump administration, could do away with the liberal international order that the United States helped design after World War II and has led ever since. Full Article
Thomas Wright explains in a report for the Lowy Institute for International Policy: “To understand Donald Trump’s foreign policy, we must distinguish between his three core beliefs that he has held for many decades and rarely if ever wavered from, the central themes of his campaign, and other issues. His core beliefs are opposition to America’s alliance arrangements, opposition to free trade, and support for authoritarianism, particularly in Russia. If he is elected president and governs in a manner consistent with these beliefs, the United States will be transformed from the leader of a liberal international order into a rogue superpower that withdraws from its international commitments, undermines the open global economy, and partners with Putin’s Russia.” Full Report
How the GOP responds to the Trump and Putin alliance forged to transform the US into a rogue country that works solely for a few chosen corporation – just like Russia is now – will determine our future and the future of the free world.
Source: Thomas Wright quotes from a variety of sources. For more information feel free to contact him directly at The Brookings Institute
The US Government released a report and recommends that all citizens and companies take pre-cautions.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recommends that network administrators review the IP addresses, file hashes, and Yara signature provided and add the IPs to their watchlist to determine whether malicious activity has been observed within their organizations. The review of network perimeter net flow or firewall logs will assist in determining whether your network has experienced suspicious activity. When reviewing network perimeter logs for the IP addresses, organizations may find numerous instances of these IPs attempting to connect to their systems. Upon reviewing the traffic from these IPs, some traffic may correspond to malicious activity, and some may correspond to legitimate activity. Some traffic that may appear legitimate is actually malicious, such as vulnerability scanning or browsing of legitimate public facing services (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP). Connections from these IPs may be performing vulnerability scans attempting to identify websites that are vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) or Structured Query Language (SQL) injection attacks. If scanning identified vulnerable sites, attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities may be experienced.
Commit to Cybersecurity Best Practices
A commitment to good cybersecurity and best practices is critical to protecting networks and systems.
Here are some questions you may want to ask your organization to help prevent and mitigate against attacks.
1. Backups: Do we backup all critical information? Are the backups stored offline? Have we tested our ability to revert to backups during an incident?
2. Risk Analysis: Have we conducted a cybersecurity risk analysis of the organization?
3. Staff Training: Have we trained staff on cybersecurity best practices? 4. Vulnerability Scanning & Patching: Have we implemented regular scans of our network and systems and appropriate patching of known system vulnerabilities?
5. Application Whitelisting: Do we allow only approved programs to run on our networks? 6. Incident Response: Do we have an incident response plan and have we practiced it?
7. Business Continuity: Are we able to sustain business operations without access to certain systems? For how long? Have we tested this?
8. Penetration Testing: Have we attempted to hack into our own systems to test the security of our systems and our ability to defend against attacks?
For the full document with more valuable advice: Click
We have a lot to be thankful for. We enjoyed eight years of relative peace. Yes, even though the stock market has reached new all-time heights, mostly only the top 25% within the world economy are affected by that. However, during the Obama administrations many people in the middle class and even the impoverished have made small strides. More
Hope that we can improve our own lives.
The housing crisis and the cost of education problems have not been adequately addressed, but at least everyone knows about it. People are no longer suffering in silence, all alone. There are amazing new companies who are working hard on addressing it. For instance the Khan Academy provides assistance for free that literally change people’s lives. Here is one example of their many Thank You letters the Khan Academy deservedly received. Robyn, December 4, 2013: “I am currently in high school, trying to get into university for engineering. I just recently started using Khan Academy, and I am already hooked. I just wanted to say that it is truly amazing what you are doing. If there was ever such a thing as a saint: you would be one. Providing the world with easy access to education is something that nations upon nations have failed to do, yet you accomplished starting with just some simple videos available for any one to access. Thank you for restoring my faith in people.” More
Amazing scientific breakthroughs that will change our future
In 2016, Scientists have tested the world’s first minimally invasive brain-machine interface, designed to control an exoskeleton with the power of thought and gets people with paralysis back on their feet. More
In 2016, 3D Printing research shows promises for medicine and manufacturing that are mind-boggling. In the future organs and bone may well be printed from your own tissues and thus move medicine into an entirely different sphere. More
Artificial Intelligence had several major breakthroughs, not least of which is that Google’s AI engine reorganized “itself” to write a better translation system. And this indicates that AI is here to stay at an entirely different level. More
Social Trends that bring families together
At the home front things have changed as well. Now for the first time in since the year of 1880 more children and young adults (18 to 34 year olds) live with their parents than live away from their parents. More The economy that squeezes the life-style of most Westerners (75%) financially, combined with the aging of the baby boomers is moving families closer together.
Yes, the share of the middle class has been shrinking and unless corporate officers start waking up to the fact that a shrinking middle class means a shrinking customer base, this trend will continue for years to come. More
We enjoy enough food, clean water (most of us, ahem, Flint), a roof over our heads and more of us have our families with us. Life is good, we can always go online and improve it ourselves. So now think about all the good things in your life and share them with your family over some cookies. Merry X-mas or Happy Holidays, whichever you prefer.
Trump fan and cover song singer Beau Davidson agrees to entertain at Trump Inauguration
Trump proves at inauguration that he is “one of the people.”
The International Business Times: “A bank established by President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, once tried to foreclose on a 90-year-old Florida woman over a $0.27 payment mistake, reported Politico Thursday. Critics in the story allege that OneWest, founded by Mnuchin and partners, took advantage of the 2008 housing collapse by buying out risky loans from mortgage lender IndyMac and, in turn, getting help from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to cover the costs.” (full article)
And now they report: “Democrats are focusing on Mnuchin’s tenure at OneWest, a bank he took over at the height of the financial crisis that has been dubbed a “foreclosure machine” that profited from the real estate collapse. The Wall Street Journal said no Republicans have expressed any opposition to Mnuchin, who likely will be vetted by the Senate Finance Committee. Bloomberg reported Mnuchin, 53, already has met with Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Chuck Grassley of Iowa.”
Clearly this proves that Mnuchin is the best possible person to “Make America Great Again.” Those old ladies don’t need their homes and the value their husbands created while the husbands were still alive can “trickle down” much easier when the Banks repossess the properties, instead of allowing the survivors to remain in her home until their deaths. Sure she could have gifted the property to her 40 something year-old grandchildren, who may be able to pay off some of their student loans. Anyway, a Bankers’ job is to keep as much money as they can and Mnuchin is so worthy of being admired for his “sticky fingers.” He took a 27 cents error and gained all the equity for the bank from that 97 year old lady’s home. What astounding commitment to business!
Trump is also proving that he is sincere about saving money, by hiring the lounge lizard Beau Davidson, who already has enchanted him at his private estate in Mar-a-Lago, a twenty acre membership club that offers dining, bridge, croquet, tennis, spa and entertainment shows. If Beau, who looks a little like a man who previously worked for the Chippendales in LA, is good enough for the millionaires and billionaires at Mar-a-Lago, he is good enough for Trump’s inauguration party. A Choir from Utah will sing as well to bring a type of Christian atmosphere to the celebrations. They will probably do it for (their) god, so it is in the budget. Surely the Trump children will be there but they will not set up meetings about gaining access. Just like they will do in their non-profit set up for the very purpose they will request that the donors provide proof of funds prior to having a lunch with them where they will hear them out about their concern that they hope their daddy can help them with. They are absolutely aware of the need to keep up appearances.
Obama meanwhile recently had his last extravaganza at the White House in October 2016. It was quite amazing and “élite.” Here you can watch it for yourselves, it was awesome, and the line up shows that Obama has a lot of amazing friends, it was all “Love and Happiness” there.
Trump signals with his celebration that times, are going to focus on the “economy” – kicking out 97 year old ladies from their homes for $0.27 errors in their checks. Trump has drained the swamp and has installed his oligarch friends at every corner. Judging by the celebratory tone of McConnell who forbade the voters to find out about the Russian hacking before the election, Times they are A’Changing. So go home and hug your family and know that you best enjoy your life right now. Happy Holidays and we’ll see you at the other side.
Icahn and Trump are well known for expressing their feelings and opinions without filters.
Bravo? They are not politically correct and that is what their voters wanted, right?
It is obvious for people in the know to see what attracts them to each other. They are both single-mindedly focused on their own profit. They are both honest about it and have a devil make care attitude. They are completely unapologetic about any trails of victims they may leave in their wake. They are bullies and they are honest about it. If they can get away with something they not only will try the practically must try. They love the “Game of Business.” Trump promised to get rid of lobbyists and by golly he sure seems to keep his promise. Instead of having lobbyists who want who appeal to Congress to create lenient laws that allow for more profit for the 1%. They indeed get rid of the lobbyists and replace them with the 1%. What a practical idea. The Trump voters must be so very pleased. Trump is keeping his promise to drain the swamp of middle men. The swamp of government is now honestly run by and for the corporations and venture capital firms and banks, and the 1% who have paid for everything anyway. The honesty that Trump brings to government is laudable indeed. No more pretense. Just making sure that the hyper-wealthy get what they need and want more efficiently and faster than ever.
Just one thought. We know that these old men don’t care about the future because in the future they are most likely dead. They are old and they will die and this is one last fling before they go. But what about the 40, 30, 20, 10 year olds in the world?
A world that run by people who lack humanity typically erodes healthy middle class. The old men may not care, but without a middle class you have no stability. If we look at countries who lost their middle class we are always looking at war. Trump wants to spend a $1 Trillion dollars on improving the nuclear arsenal – without even getting intelligence briefings. We wonder what Mnuchin, Gingrich, Tillerson, and Icahn think about that? We hope to find out soon what vision these creators of the new gilded age have in mind for the US and the world. Hopefully they have a vision that goes beyond their own bank accounts.
Hillary Clinton is gone and many agree that her loss was due to due to a confluence of factors and successful efforts to sabotage her campaign. People just didn’t like her very much. The FBI didn’t like her, Putin didn’t like her, the Public didn’t like her, even Democrats didn’t like her, her campaign staff fought about her, and the media certainly didn’t like her. She was a hard worker, but people didn’t warm up to her. The warmed up to Trump. They were amused by Trump. No one was amused by Hillary, not even SNL. Her portrayal was often nasty and a bit weird. Trump’s portrayal was that of an all familiar American Uncle, reminiscent of Rob Reiner’s politically incorrect TV dad in the show “All in the Family.”
Not many people really know Hillary as she keeps very private and opens up to very few people, many of whom are also intensely private. The acclaimed and award-winning Investigative Reporter for the New York Times and The Washington Post, Ronald Kessler, sheds light on how she how Hillary Clinton was perceived by the service details who spent much time with her. It could explain why the Secret Service seemed so adamant that she ought not be president unless it was unavoidable: Why the West was Lost – First Family Detail
Whatever we may think about Trump at least he is honest about being corrupt. Maybe that is a step forward? Or, perhaps we will have Trump, the politically incorrect man and his politically incorrect friends run the country into the ground – honestly.
National Overdose Deaths—Number of Deaths from Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers. The figure above is a bar chart showing the total number of U.S. overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers from 2001 to 2014. The chart is overlayed by a line graph showing the number of deaths by females and males. From 2001 to 2014 there was a 3.4-fold increase in the total number of deaths.
