Tag: corporations

DEI Fellows and the Weird Wish Lists of Literary Gatekeepers

As big companies like Walmart shuffle their DEI initiatives out of view, others are holding fast and keeping them out front. Last week, Penguin Random House, one of the world’s biggest book publishers, posted a job listing for a “DEI Fellow.” The notice reads:

For a one-year role, the Penguin Random House DEI team seeks a Research and Partnerships Fellow. [sic] to work on our Latinx Voices project in collaboration with One World.

Relaunched in 2017, One World is home to award-winning and bestselling authors who are collectively leading the cultural conversation. Our authors include Ta-Nehisi Coates, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Trevor Noah, Cathy Park Hong, Bryan Stevenson, Nikole Hanna-Jones, and Victor LaValle.

Our ideal Fellow will be a passionate advocate for Latinx authors and readers, responsible for researching, and then building connections with, Latinx organizations, influencers, media, and audiences. You’ll report into the Associate Director, DEI and work closely with both the DEI and One World teams on the Latinx Voices project, an initiative focused on connecting the company, authors, and titles with Latinx audiences and better supporting the publication of Latinx authors. One World, relaunched in 2017, is home to award-winning and bestselling authors who are collectively leading the cultural conversation.

Among the essential requirements listed are a strong “knowledge of Latinx audiences and community” and “proficiency in Spanish.” That’s not a statement of racial preference in hiring, but it’s close enough. Worse still is the fact that resources will be committed toward only assisting authors who belong to a specific minority group. It is outright unfair to everyone else, and any author who benefits from this effort will never be able to state with confidence that they were elevated based on merit rather than group membership.

Penguin’s DEI Fellow job listing is just one example of how deep the DEI problem goes in the publishing industry.

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Utility Companies Are Run By Technocrats Obsessed With Control Over Energy

Starting in the early 1930s, the Technocracy movement was obsessed with control over energy. The first two requirements laid down for Technocracy in 1934 were (1) Register on a continuous 24-hour-per-day basis the total net conversion of energy and (2) By means of the registration of energy converted and consumed, make possible a balanced load.” You could easily see this exact wording on your modern energy bill.

As I wrote in Technocracy’s Necessary Requirements,

Conversion of energy means creating useable energy from stored energy like coal, oil or natural gas; when they are burned, electricity is generated. Hydroelectric and nuclear also convert energy. There were two reasons to keep track of useable energy: First, it was the basis for issuing “energy script” to all citizens for buying and selling goods and services. Second, it predicted economic activity because all such activity is directly dependent upon energy. (Note that Technocrats intended to pre-determine how much energy would be made available in the first place.)

Once available energy was quantified, it was to be allocated to consumers and manufacturers so as to limit production and consumption. Technocrats would have control of both ends, so that everything is managed according to their scientific formulas.

The modern Smart Grid, with its ubiquitous WiFi-enabled Smart Meters on homes and businesses, is the exact fulfillment of these two requirements. The concept of “energy web” was first revitalized in 1999 by the Bonneville Power Authority (BPA) in Portland, Oregon. A government agency, BPA had a rich history of Technocrats dating back to its creation in 1937. The “energy web” was renamed Smart Grid in 2009 during the Obama Administration. Note that Smart Grid was a global initiative that intended to blanket the entire world with this new energy control technology.

If America were to face this reality, these Technocrat charlatans would be thrown into the dustbin of history. Unfortunately, policy leaders like Heartland Institute are blind to it. — Technocracy News & Trends Editor Patrick Wood.

When electric power was a novel idea and just beginning to be adopted in urban centers, the industry had a Wild West feel to it as multiple companies strung wires, opened power plants, and sold electricity on an unregulated market. Competition was fierce, but state and local governments concluded that the inefficiencies and redundancies endangered the public and imposed higher costs.

So states set up service territories with monopolistic or oligopolistic service providers, who were entrusted with providing reliable power and sufficient reserve for peak periods in return for being guaranteed a profit on rates proposed by the utilities but approved or set by newly established state public utility commissions (PUCs). These commissions were charged with ensuring public utilities served the general public universally within their territory, providing reliable service at reasonable rates.

Much has changed since then. Politicians began to supplant engineers to decide, based on self-interested calculations, what types of power should be favored and disfavored, and what types of appliances and modes of transportation Americans could use. As the 21st century dawned, a new consideration entered the picture: Climate change.

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Record labels unhappy with court win, say ISP should pay more for user piracy

The big three record labels notched another court victory against a broadband provider last month, but the music publishing firms aren’t happy that an appeals court only awarded per-album damages instead of damages for each song.

Universal, Warner, and Sony are seeking an en banc rehearing of the copyright infringement case, claiming that Internet service provider Grande Communications should have to pay per-song damages over its failure to terminate the accounts of Internet users accused of piracy. The decision to make Grande pay for each album instead of each song “threatens copyright owners’ ability to obtain fair damages,” said the record labels’ petition filed last week.

The case is in the conservative-leaning US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. A three-judge panel unanimously ruled last month that Grande, a subsidiary of Astound Broadband, violated the law by failing to terminate subscribers accused of being repeat infringers. Subscribers were flagged for infringement based on their IP addresses being connected to torrent downloads monitored by Rightscorp, a copyright-enforcement company used by the music labels.

The one good part of the ruling for Grande is that the 5th Circuit ordered a new trial on damages because it said a $46.8 million award was too high. Appeals court judges found that the district court “erred in granting JMOL [judgment as a matter of law] that each of the 1,403 songs in suit was eligible for a separate award of statutory damages.” The damages were $33,333 per song.

Record labels want the per-album portion of the ruling reversed while leaving the rest of it intact.

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Woman Fired For Refusing COVID Vaccine Wins Record $12 Million From Rogue Employer

A woman fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine has won a record $12 million settlement from her employer.

Lisa Domski, who worked at the insurance company Blue Cross Blue as an IT specialist for over three decades, was fired from her position for refusing to take the jab, which has since been proven to have been neither safe nor effective.

After suing the company for religious discirmination against her Catholic faith, Domski was awarded significant damages by a federal jury in Detroit, according to the Associated Press.

The ruling included $10 million in punitive damages against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, as well as $1.7 million in lost wages and $1 million in noneconomic damages.

Her lawyer, Jon Marko, pointed out that during the so-called pandemic, Domski always worked remotely. Even before the virus broke out, the vast majority of her work was carried out remotely.

“Our forefathers fought and died for the freedom for each American to practice his or her own religion. Neither the government nor a corporation has a right to force an individual to choose between his or her career and conscience,” Marko said in a statement after the verdict was confirmed.

“Lisa refused to renounce her faith and beliefs and was wrongfully terminated from the only job she had ever known,” he continued.

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Everybody Knows: Do They?

When the polls closed on Tuesday, November 5th, I was sound asleep, like a baby rocking gently in his cradle, lost to the frenzied rants or joyful shouting of the different political claques. Even though I missed the results of what the mass media had been telling us was the most important election in our lifetimes, I was happily oblivious to their cant.

I remember hearing that nonsense many times before.

I gave up on my country’s electoral system more than fifty years ago.  Every presidential election is a contest between two sides of the ruling monied elite, chosen to represent their interests.  It is corrupt beyond repair and was so even then.

Do most people have a clue that their country is owned and run by a small group of the super-rich and ten or so financial institutions, such as BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, etc., the big banks and financial interests that in 1947 formed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to spearhead the US warfare state around the world in support of its economy that is reliant on endless war?

The electorate continually puts its hope in the performers that the spectacle’s producers put up to front for their interests, failing to grasp that the rulers’ interests are not theirs. Arguing and anguishing over certain policy differences between Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, they fail to see that both exist to serve global capital, not regular people, that exchanging presidents is a counterfeiter’s con-game with the voters the scammers’ marks.

Trump’s current victory is an example of that, as was Biden’s in 2020.  If Harris had won, it would have proven the same.  They are two sides of one coin.  That the system is rigged by the oligarchs should be obvious but isn’t.  Or maybe it is obvious but people secretly harbor a perverse liking for it.  Stranger things are true, as on personal levels people embrace the symptoms of their neuroses because the symptoms are their disguised solutions, their ways of staying stuck because change is hard and frightening and requires admitting repressed realities.

The cliché that all politics is local has a certain appeal and a trace of veracity, but 99 + % of the truth lies elsewhere.  Apprimately 145 + million Americans just lined up to vote like puppies looking for a bone to be thrown their way by the people who own the country.  They do get a bone here and there, which keeps them looking for the meat, but that is reserved for the fat cats, as always.

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“It Really Doesn’t Matter”: BlackRock CEO Says Wall Street Benefits Regardless Who Is President

The billionaire CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has said it “really doesn’t matter” who wins the US presidential election, because both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be good for Wall Street.

“I’m tired of hearing this is the biggest election in your lifetime. The reality is over time it doesn’t matter”, said BlackRock chief Larry Fink at an October 21 conference hosted by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, according to the Financial Times.

“It really doesn’t matter”, Fink reiterated. He revealed that, at BlackRock, “we work with both administrations and are having conversations with both candidates”.

BlackRock has $11.5 trillion assets under management, making it the biggest investment company on Earth.

BlackRock has a revolving door with the US government. Veterans of the asset manager have held high-level roles in the Joe Biden administration’s Treasury. A BlackRock executive has likewise served as a prominent economic advisor for Kamala Harris.

Trump’s Treasury, on the other hand, was run by Goldman Sachs’ former chief information officer, Steven Mnuchin, who made a fortune as a hedge fund manager.

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Buffalo Bills Security Sparks Outrage, Tells Fan He Can’t Wear Trump T-Shirt at Game

A Buffalo Bills fan was confronted by security personnel at Highmark Stadium on Sunday before the team’s matchup against the Miami Dolphins.

The fan, proudly sporting a navy “Trump 2024” shirt emblazoned with the slogan “Keep America First!” was informed that he could not wear the shirt due to NFL policy prohibiting political attire.

Erie County GOP quickly took to X, expressing outrage over the incident.

“WIDE LEFT! Buffalo Bills security telling a fan he can’t wear a Trump T-shirt at the game? What a joke! If anyone knows this proud Trump supporter, send us a message – we’d love to hook him up with some Trump gear!”

Despite the fan’s insistence that he was exercising his rights in a free country, security personnel remained firm in his stance.

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Intel might be too big to fail — Washington policymakers are already discussing potential solutions if the chipmaker cannot recover

American lawmakers have quietly been discussing options on how they could help Intel get back on its feet should its financial situation deteriorate. According to a Semafor report, sources say this possible rescue package will be above and beyond the scope of the CHIPS Act, which would award the company at least $8.5 billion before the end of 2024.

It should be noted, though, that these are just precautionary discussions of backup plans in case the company folds. After all, the company had reported a strong outlook on its third quarterly earnings call for 2024.

These discussions show how much Washington, D.C. values Intel, primarily as the U.S. competes with China for global dominance in advanced technologies. Although both AMD and Nvidia, semiconductor giants in their rights, are also American companies, Intel is the only one that both designs and manufactures chips. “Intel is the only American company that designs and manufactures leading-edge chips and is playing a critical role in enabling a globally competitive semiconductor ecosystem in the U.S.,” said an Intel spokesperson to Semafor.

If Intel were to fail, the U.S. would have to rely on TSMC and Samsung to make its most advanced chips. Even though both of these companies already have fabs in the U.S., they only provide a fraction of their total output. Furthermore, although both companies have headquarters based in allied countries, South Korea and Taiwan are at risk because of their proximity to China.

Another reason why the Capitol and the White House wouldn’t want to see Intel fail is because it’s one of America’s top exporters, with its export revenue in 2023 exceeding $40 billion. Aside from that, the company is also working with the Pentagon’s Secure Enclave program to build leading-edge chips for the military, making it crucial for the country’s economy and security. It’s also a major employer — even though it’s in the process of laying off over 16,000 people, it still has over 120,000 employees on its payroll.

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FTC finally investigates John Deere’s creepy repair restriction scheme

Deere caught in headlights — the US Federal Trade Commission is finally investigating farm equipment giant John Deere over its questionable repair policies. The company has made a habit of making it extremely difficult to outright impossible for its customers to repair the Deere products that they themselves own. This infringement on a customer’s right to repair is now being scrutinized by the guys in charge. Oh happy day!

Reuters reports that the probe “focuses on repair restrictions manufacturers place on hardware or software.” According to Reuters, Deere “signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation last year that would allow farmers to fix their equipment, or go to a third-party repair shop.” The investigation will examine whether Deere violated the Federal Trade Act’s section 5, which “prohibits unfair or deceptive practices affecting commerce.”

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