Category: Essays

  • Colorado voted to keep the Slavery Act in the Colorado Constitution in the 2016 Election

    Colorado voted to keep the Slavery Act in the Colorado Constitution in the 2016 Election

    Stephen Bannon and the people he promotes in Breitbart want to bring the Nazi Era back

    Slave labor was celebrated by the Nazi’s and the US prison system is already overloaded.  The Colorado support for Slavery, literally and legally, is a bad omen.

    To simply assume that “Labor Prison Camps” can’t happen in the US is the easy way out, since there are already exist today and have since forever.  For instance, in a CNN Money report we found that Barrett, 36, sued the Florida Department of Corrections for negligence after an mentally ill prison mate gouged out one of his eyes.  The department responded with a “cost of incarceration lien” of $54,750 — the total cost of Barrett’s 1,095 day stay in the prison at $50 a day.  “They charged me for me being in prison,” Barrett said. “Yeah I was surprised.”  Dee Taylor, was released after serving a three-year bid in various Florida prisons, he also got a bill for around $55,000 from the Florida Department of Corrections.  A recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law found that these types of fees, where inmates can be charged for room and board, have been authorized in at least 43 states. In 2014, for example, an appellate court in Illinois ruled that a Chicago inmate named Johnnie Melton would have to pay nearly $20,000 to the Illinois Department of Corrections for the cost of his incarceration.

    In Arizona, an inmate’s friends and family can be charged $25 just to visit them. In 35 states, facilities can charge inmates for medical services. Some of these charges can be taken directly out of a prisoner’s commissary account while the person is still incarcerated. In some cases, the commissary account itself is subject to fees. CNN

    Why should we care?

    Currently prisoners in Colorado work for 60 cents a day, clearly way below the minimum wage.  This is legal in Colorado, in fact they could work for no pay, since slavery inside a prison is still legal in Colorado, and confirmed in the November 2016 election.

    This is breaking families apart because some children have to pay $1/minute to talk to an incarcerated parent. Why? Because prisons and jails profit by granting monopoly telephone contracts to the company that will charge families the most. In Colorado for $55 a night, the wives, mothers and children of Prison Valley inmates often stay at the Riviera motel in Florence. Dabrowska is a gentle house mother to families in need — for women like one named Joy, who for years came to visit Kaczynski until she died of cancer.  Prisons are big business for instance in a security advertisement by Securus it is stated that investing in Prison Services is great business.  Echelon was founded in 1996 started in the first year with $0.1 profit and when public in 2006 with a profit of $41 Million.  This telephone company that overcharged the poorest of the poor – namely the families that are left behind by prisoners was sold in 2007 for $708 Million dollars. Not bad for 10 years of work. Now Robert E. Pickens is expanding his reach as president of Securus.   Securus has 2,600 customers (prisons) in 46 states.  They recruit investors by explaining that they are in a recession proof $78 Billion dollar industry.  They explain that their EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) grew by 274% from 2007 to 20014.  Amazing growth or earnings indeed!  They promise that they will experience organic growth through numerous initiatives that are already underway.

    From a press release from Securus from April 30, 2014 we learn:

    “Richard A. (“Rick”) Smith, current President and Chief Executive Officer announced today the promotion of Robert E. Pickens, Chief Operating Officer to President of Securus Technologies effective May 1, 2014.  Mr. Smith will retain the Chief Executive Officer title.  “I have worked with Mr. Pickens for over 15 years – in the telecommunications, telecom systems, and high tech government services sectors and he possesses the positive attributes of commitment to the firm, a high level of business integrity, business intellect, and the ability to get results over long periods of time,” said Smith. Mr. Smith continued, “At Securus, Mr. Pickens held the positions of Vice President of Marketing and Chief Operating Officer, and also held these same positions at the previous company Eschelon Telecom, Inc. – a Minneapolis, Minnesota competitive local exchange carrier where he and I worked together for approximately nine (9) years.  Because of our tenure working together, I am sure that Mr. Pickens will continue to deliver good results as a higher level executive.  “We have completed nine (9) strategic acquisitions of assets, patents, technologies, and companies over the last twenty-four (24) months – and Mr. Pickens represents a perfect match for effectively managing this expanded set of entities and assets along with his classic Securus responsibilities.”  Securus Technologies, Inc. is one of the largest providers of detainee communications, parolee tracking, and government information management solutions, serving approximately 2,600 correctional facilities in 46 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and Mexico, and more than 1,000,000 inmates. A recognized leader in providing comprehensive, innovative technical solutions and responsive customer service, Securus’ sole focus is the specialized needs of the corrections and law enforcement communities. Securus is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, including four regional offices in the Dallas metro area as well as one in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information please visit the Securus website at www.securustech.net.

    Peter Wagner an expert on the prison system tells us:  “There are 3,283 jails in America, yet jails receive scant attention. The legislative, judicial and executive decisions that have fueled the explosion of our state prison populations are becoming well-known; but the myriad of subtle policy decisions that have sent our jail populations upwards are off the public’s radar.

    For instance do you know that capturing innocent people, keeping them in jail for a while before giving them a hearing, after which they are released is BIG, BIG business?  In the U.S., which has the largest pretrial detention population in the world, 20 percent of detainees eventually had their case dismissed or were acquitted. According to American Quarterly.  Being imprisoned often comes with a very high price.  The U.S. has estimated that at least 13 percent of inmates have been sexually assaulted.  Too often, jails and prisons across the Americas have become warehouses for individuals who are undereducated, unemployed, addicted to controlled substances, and/or have medical or mental health needs.

    Racial Bias in the Prison System is now computerized

    The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 was introduced in the United States Congress and both Republican and Democratic senators backed the ambitious bill.  A proposed program instructs the U.S. attorney general to establish what the bill calls a “post-sentencing risk- and needs-assessment system” for federal prisoners, which would assign inmates a low, moderate, or high score based on their likelihood of recidivism. “Dynamic risk factors”—including “indicators of progress and improvement, and of regression, including newly acquired skills, attitude, and behavior changes over time”—would determine the ratings.  The language of the bill indicates that an inmate’s score will affect housing assignments, telephone and visitation privileges, and be consulted in making assignments to anti-recidivism programs like vocational training, faith-based programming, and drug- and alcohol-recovery classes.  Those who are considered low-risk inmates are eligible for reduced sentences would receive 10-days credit for every 30 days of successful participation, while other “high-risk” inmates receive only 5 days credit.

    The very concept of predicting crime challenges the presumption of innocence, a central tenet of the American criminal-justice system.

    Police still patrol streets and knock on doors, but computers, rather than humans, decide which streets and which doors. Essentially, this is crime forecasting: Police are trying to stay ahead of potential criminals, who may or may not be about to violate the law.

    The trouble with this bill is that it has racial bias built into a system that is sure to create the proof of this racial bias. “The categorical exclusion of over half the prison population is unwarranted, and would have a disparate impact on African American and Native American inmates. Risk factors correlate with socioeconomic class and race, and studies show that African Americans are more likely to be misclassified as high risk than White or Hispanic offenders. The exclusion is also contrary to the goal of increasing public safety. Many of the excluded inmates have the greatest need to participate in programming, but would have no meaningful incentive to do so. With or without time credits, they will serve lengthy sentences and then be released. By failing to encourage them to participate in programs shown to reduce recidivism before releasing them to the community, S. 467 fails to promote the stated goal of enhancing public safety. ” Federal Defender Analysis Report   Source: Atlantic Monthly

    If you can’t afford bail you will be rated worse than if you can, even if you are innocent.

    Incarceration Front Door Statistics, Vera Institute for Justice
    Incarceration Front Door Statistics, Vera Institute for Justice
    Prisoners who are let go due to the fact that they are innocent still get charged the cost of incarceration fee.

    Currently 3 out of every 5 people in jail are unconvicted and are presumed innocent, they are there because they are too poor to post bail while they await their trial.

    The Prison and Labor Camp Industry is thriving

    The LA Times reported in 2015 that in the place known as Prison Valley, Colorado is home to 11 state and federal lockups, more than 7,500 inmates do time near two communities that have the feel of college towns — an odd coupling that can create tension and conflict perhaps found nowhere else in America.  Fremont County (population 46,000) has Colorado’s biggest per capita population of prison inmates, a rate that’s also one of the nation’s highest.

    The United States Holocaust Museum tells us:

    From its rise to power in 1933, the Nazi regime built a series of detention facilities to imprison and eliminate so-called “enemies of the state.” Most prisoners in the early concentration camps were German Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, Roma (Gypsies), Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and persons accused of “asocial” or socially deviant behavior. These facilities were called “concentration camps” because those imprisoned there were physically “concentrated” in one location.

    Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its allies established more than 40,000 camps and other incarceration sites. The perpetrators used these sites for a range of purposes, including forced labor, detention of people thought to be enemies of the state, and mass murder. The total number of sites is based upon ongoing research in the perpetrators’ own records.

    Millions of people were imprisoned and abused in the various types of Nazi camps. Under SS management, the Germans and their collaborators murdered more than three million Jews in the killing centers alone. Only a small fraction of those imprisoned in Nazi camps survived.

    Isn’t it time that we start paying attention?

     

  • What is the Trump phenomena about?

    What is the Trump phenomena about?

    http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36253275Why do rural blue color workers and rural college educated people love Trump?

    The Guardian’s Thomas Frank, pointed out on March 7, 2016:  “..what motivates the supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump? I call it a “mystery” because the working-class white people who make up the bulk of Trump’s fan base show up in amazing numbers for the candidate, filling stadiums and airport hangars, but their views, by and large, do not appear in our prestige newspapers. On their opinion pages, these publications take care to represent demographic categories of nearly every kind, but “blue-collar” is one they persistently overlook.” Full Article

    The Atlantic Monthly received letters from a range of people who support Trump for president in August 2015.  The reasons they quote are similar:

    A self proclaimed Liberal who voted for Obama wrote: “Rather, I genuinely believe that Trump feels the need to fight for the country he loves. There once was a time when people could actually feel proud to be Americans, and Trump comes from a generation that experienced that feeling. Now, many are embarrassed to be associated with this country. Jobs are being outsourced with reckless abandon and this country is literally being hollowed out. Economic statistics do no justice to this reality, and the average American knows this to be true.”

    An undecided voter writes: “..the preeminence of political correctness among the culture class indicates a momentous shift away from formerly prominent middle-class cultural values and towards something entirely different. Even if Donald Trump were to accomplish little in his presidency, I think there is a hope that were he president, he could in some way alter that prevailing Washington/media culture and set a new cultural tone. Many would probably question why, of all people, a decadent, rude, and pompous billionaire should be trusted to meddle with American culture? I think it comes down to a perception that America has already drowned in a post-modernist nightmare of moral relativism, from which extreme political correctness and protest culture stem. Trump, on the other hand, is all absolutes.”  Full Article

    Kathy Kramer shared with Kevin Drum in an interview for Mother Jones, November 8, 2016, that her political science study showed this:

    “What I was hearing was this general sense of being on the short end of the stick. Rural people felt like they not getting their fair share. That feeling is primarily composed of three things. First, people felt that they were not getting their fair share of decision-making power….Second, people would complain that they weren’t getting their fair share of stuff….And third, people felt that they weren’t getting respect….So it’s all three of these things — the power, the money, the respect. People are feeling like they’re not getting their fair share of any of that.” Full Article

    So let’s take a close look and let’s see if what they feel is true.

    The Brookings Institute states that Republican States have more entrenched poverty than Democratic States. Republican districts have more poor residents overall: 25.1 million poor people lived in red districts in 2010-14 compared with 22.7 million in blue districts.

    Between 2000 and 2010-14, the poor population grew faster in red districts than blue. The number of people living below the poverty line (e.g., $24,230 for a family of four in 2014) in Republican districts climbed by 49 percent between 2000 and 2010-14 compared with a 33 percent increase in Democratic districts. As a result, Republican districts accounted for 60 percent of the increase in the nation’s poor population during that time. At the same time, poverty rates rose by similar margins in both red and blue districts (3.3 and 3.2 percentage points, respectively).

    Table 1. Congressional Districts with the Fastest Growth in Poor Population, 2000 to 2010-14

    Party State District Representative Percentage Change in Poor Population   Share of Poor in Suburbs
    R NV 3 Heck, Joseph J. 268.4% 51.0%
    R GA 7 Woodall, Rob 223.6% 100.0%
    D GA 13 Scott, David 213.1% 100.0%
    R AZ 8 Franks, Trent 188.5% 93.5%
    R AZ 5 Salmon, Matt 177.7% 50.4%

    Source: Brookings Institution analysis of decennial census and American Community Survey data

    Hunger in Rural Communities is higher than Urban

    According to the United States Department of Agriculture report, Household Food Security in the United States in 2014, 14% of U.S. households were food insecure at least some time during the year. The prevalence of food insecurity was higher in rural areas than metropolitan areas.

    Food Insecure Households

    Source: Household Food Security in the United States in 2015, page 14.

    The Digital Divide created by lack of Internet Access

    55 percent of people living in rural areas have access to the speeds that currently qualify as broadband, while 94 percent of the urban population does. As of 2015, 74 percent of households in urban areas of the U.S. had residential broadband connections, compared with only 64 percent of rural households. This gap has persisted over time. Research reveals that  adoption can help improve the economy in these rural areas (including increasing income, lowering unemployment rates and creating jobs). In addition, we know that roughly 40 percent of the rural-urban adoption gap is because rural areas don't have the same level of broadband access. This is because large providers are not interested in serving these communities and in some instances have refused Federal Subsidies to get rural communities connected.

    Source:  http://phys.org/news/2016-06-technology-rural-broadband-access-problem.html#jCp

    Suicides in Rural Areas are double of those than in Cities

    A study by the JAMA states that Suicide is a serious public health problem. For youths between the ages of 10 and 24 years, suicide was the third leading cause of death in 2010 behind only unintentional injuries and homicide.1 Males are at higher risk, accounting for 81% of suicide deaths in the 10- to 24-year age group. Suicide risk increases with age, with 6% occurring in individuals younger than 15 years, 34% in those between 15 and 19 years, and 60% in young adults aged 20 to 24 years.1

    Rates of suicide also vary by rural-urban residence, with higher rates in rural compared with urban areas. Suicide rates among rural men were higher than those of urban men, with rural-urban differences widening over time. Higher rates of suicide attempts have also been reported8 among rural compared with urban adolescents. The studies conclusion stated Although low population density per se may be operative, efforts to improve access to mental health services and offer social support at the local level could narrow the gap in risk for youths in rural as opposed to urban settings. Additional study is warranted and of potentially great public health significance. Full Article

    Rural communities as our research shows are genuinely struggling with problems that are not adequately addressed by neither the major political parties nor the major media outlets.  It seems that one of Trump’s appeal is that at least give this audience the feeling they are seen and heard. While this does not qualify him to do anything about the issues he has succeeded in mobilizing millions of Americans to vote for him to “stick it to the elite.”  Rural people are angry for having been ignored as their lives have grown ever more depressing. Trump has pulled them out of this feeling of helplessness and he has unleashed their anger.

    Next we will investigate why a supposedly educated people would vote for Trump.

  • Patrick Henry said: “United we Stand, divided we fall.”

    Throughout history there have always been ill mannered, dishonest men and women.  It is up to us if we let them tear us apart, or whether we use them as an inspiration to improve the fabric of our society.

    For the past 40 years, we have allowed our wages to dwindle, our integrity as people and as states, and a country to dwindle.  We have stood by as investors have sucked ever more money out of the economy, and as the entertainment industry allowed philanderers, sexual predators and adulterers become pop idols.  We have allowed men and women into politics who abused their power for personal gain, and who have used blackmail to gain ever more power.

    We all agree that this is not a wonderful situation.  Young women are raped at colleges, young men are raped in the army, unarmed people are shot in the streets and in parks, and management no longer is urged to build strong companies but instead they are representing themselves and the investors, who view themselves more and more as the “ruling class.”   Workers’ rights have diminished through lack of organization, and because many Union leaders are not reasonable and often corrupt.

    We can be overwhelmed and start the “blaming” game, or we can pull together and hold ideals that we cherish up high for all to see.  We can stand together to give “the people” a voice once more.  This is not a matter of right wing or left wing.  This is not a matter of North or South, coastal states or inland states.

    This is a matter of getting a back bone and uniting to stand up for what we know is right.  It is time that we stop the excesses of all the people who take advantage of those weaker than themselves.  It is time to unite to keep freedom of the press alive and to stop all people who think that dishonesty in whatever shape or form it takes, from holding positions in public office. Let’s evaluate one person at a time.  We know that when we are called to turn a blind eye to people who support those who have no regard for truth, justice and honor we are complicit.  This has nothing to do with politics. It is a matter of personal responsibility and decency.  If we don’t stand up for this free country, we will lose our freedoms.

    Violence, dishonesty, adultery, sexual assault, oppression, slavery, should be pointed out in every corner of this country. When we shine the light on the truth and on what is really going on, we can make room for leaders who actually care and who are smart and honorable.

    Right now one thing should be clear to everyone who is upset about what is going on, is that we all have a lot of work to do to clean up the mess we allowed this beautiful country to become.  As Patrick Henry said:  United we stand and divided we fall.  He also said:  “Give me liberty or give me death.”

    The idea that we have to be silent about abuse, disgusting behavior, and oppression, greed, public theft, excesses, and sexual assault, assault on our water, earth, and air, about anything that is just plainly wrong, has been shaped by those who want to silence us so they can take advantage of us and take our rights away.

    The US is the first free country and we should shout that from the mountain tops and across the sea.  United we stand and divided we fall.  By urging us to pick sides they want to distract from what is wrong on each sides.  Let’s pick truth, honor, justice and liberty for all.  We the people have a right to pursue happiness and right now we are not happy at all.

  • Good Guy Billionaire: Who is Marc Benioff?

    Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce - a values-based leader
    Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce – values-based leader

    Marc Benioff is chairman and CEO of Salesforce, in a $106 Billion dollar industry, as businesses are expected to spend $106 billion on SaaS in 2016. He became a millionaire at age 25 and his ideas and followthrough have turned him into a billionaire.

    Benioff created the 1-1-1 model of philanthropy, which leverages the resources of Salesforce to improve communities around the world: donating 1% of Salesforce’s product, 1% of its equity and 1% of employees’ time to help nonprofits achieve their missions. Today, more than 700 companies have adopted the 1-1-1 model through the Pledge 1% movement. Benioff and his wife, Lynne, have focused their personal philanthropy on children’s health, including building UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland, as well as on public education, homelessness and other social issues. Marc and Lynne Benioff have made an extraordinary $100 million gift to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, which is officially renamed the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. See full press release and on Philanthropies.

    In his book “Behind the Cloud,” Marc Benioff explains that every company needs to integrate the Hawaiian Spirit of Mahalo.  The spirit of gratitude and praise.  He remembered that when he used to work for Apple, as a programmer on the MacIntosh, what made him happiest were the fact that he could have fresh fruit smoothies.  So when he started Salesforce he provide fresh and healthy foods in the kitchen, a fully paid gym membership and after every product release he ordered massages for all his technical team as a big thank you, free yoga lessons with a renowned teacher and discount tickets on Hawaiian Airlines.

    In order to inspire the team and create the all important team spirt, he created a peer reward system.  People could nominate their peers and the winners would receive $500 bonus checks for various recognition categories.  The most unusual award system were life size posters of distinguished employees for everyone so see and recognize.  One thing that always bothered him that in most industries sales people were “coin-operated.” They were rewarded exclusively with money.  At Salesforce everyone who met their sales quota would receive a 3 day fun filled experience in Hawaii with a friend or their partner.  It surely worked as between 45 to 65% of the sales people met the quota and received their trips.  In most sales organizations only the top 20% of the sales team is rewarded. By setting the bar within reach, the morale in the company soared creating a positive experience for the Salesforce team and their customers.

    A pioneer of cloud computing, Benioff founded the company in 1999 with a vision to create a new kind of enterprise software company, with a new technology model based in the cloud, a new pay-as-you-go business model and a new integrated corporate philanthropy model.  Salesforce has been named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies five years in a row by Forbes Magazine, one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies in the software industry and a Fortune Best Company to Work For. 

    Benioff has been widely recognized for his visionary leadership and pioneering innovations. He has been named one of the 50 World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune, Businessperson of the Year by Fortune readers, one of the Best CEOs in the World by Barron’s and received The Economist’s Innovation Award. Benioff is also a member of the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees.

    Benioff believes that businesses are the greatest platforms for change in the world. He has embraced World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab’s multi stakeholder approach to leadership, serving not only shareholders but all stakeholders–including customers, employees, partners, communities and the environment–to make the world a better place. Benioff is also inspiring fellow business leaders to do the same. He led a group of CEOs and business leaders in opposing state legislation that discriminated against LGBTQ communities, and instituted a company-wide salary assessment at Salesforce to ensure men and women were being paid equally for comparable work.

    Benioff is a 35-year veteran of the software industry. Prior to launching Salesforce, he spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation. He founded his first company, Liberty Software, which created video games, at the age of 15. He also worked as an assembly language programmer in Apple Computer’s Macintosh Division. Benioff received a B.S. in Business Administration in 1986 and an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2014 from the University of Southern California.

    He is the author of three books, including the national best seller, Behind the Cloud.

    He runs a most transparent company.  Enjoy his Keynote speech to his employees at the DX conference. Watch Marc Benioff, Chairman & CEO of Salesforce kick off the TrailheaDX 2016 Keynote. He interviews special guest Corinne Warnshuis, Executive Director, GDI about the organization’s partnership with Salesforce. Recorded live on June 7, 2016.

    Learn more on www.salesforce.com