From Robert Reich
Federal regulators today approved Charter Communications’ $65.5 billion acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, thereby allowing the creation of America’s second-largest broadband provider with 19.4 million users and the third-largest cable television provider with 17.4 million customers. In a handful of years, the cable industry has gone from hundreds of regional outfits to just three major players — Comcast, Charter, and Altice, (the European company that recently made a deal for Cablevision) — with huge power over the nation’s broadband and entertainment infrastructure.
And you wonder why the U.S. has some of the highest broadband prices among advanced nations and among the slowest speeds? It’s called monopoly power. Cable broadband might eventually face competitors such as upgraded DSL, next-generation wireless, and very-high-speed fiber. But none of these alternatives is likely to be available for some time -- and Comcast, Charter, and other cable corporations are spending millions each year to keep it that way, lobbying and contributing to political campaigns, and providing jobs to former public officials. The market is rigged.
https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/?fref=nf
This blog will focus on political images I have found all around the Internet, though I will intersperse some commentary and quotes that I find interesting.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Republican Election Clerk Suspended Over New York Voter Roll Purges
By Colin TaylorPosted on April 24, 2016
The tumultuous investigation into the mystery of New York’s missing voter rolls has taken a turn down the rabbit hole. Concerned citizens across the country protested when it was revealed that over 125,000 New Yorkers had been mysteriously purged from the voter rolls, on top of a wide swath of other vote suppression issues – long lines, polling locations that never opened, those who suddenly found that their party registration had changed.
The New York Board of Elections have announced that the chief clerk of the New York Board of Elections, Diane Haslett-Rudiano, a Republican, has been suspended “without pay, effective immediately, pending an internal investigation into the administration of the voter rolls in the Borough of Brooklyn.”
The New York Daily News found that Rudiano was in charge of making sure that voter rolls were up to date, but had fallen six months behind on her task – and that her efforts to cover up her inefficiency lead to 8% of Brooklyn’s voters being purged from the rolls. While some may be inclined to believe that this could have been part of a Republican plot to disenfranchise Democrats, others aren’t so sure. “It sounds like they cut a deal to make the Republican the scapegoat and protect [Democratic voter roll caretaker Betty Ann Canizio]” says one anonymous Democratic elected official.
No matter who is at fault here, it is clear that something is very wrong with our election process. New York state is home to some 20 million people, which is more population than many European democracies have at all – but only 19.7% of eligible voters cast a ballot, the second lowest turn out in the country after Louisiana. How can we continue with this pretense that we have a healthy and functioning democracy if only barely one-fifth of the population gets a chance to vote? Why do we still have closed primaries, for which you must change your registration six months in advance? Why have the closed primaries gone overwhelmingly in favor of the establishment candidates? Why are our voters being removed from the ballot?
America, we must demand answers.
http://occupydemocrats.com/2016/04/24/republican-election-clerk-suspended-new-york-voter-roll-purges/
The tumultuous investigation into the mystery of New York’s missing voter rolls has taken a turn down the rabbit hole. Concerned citizens across the country protested when it was revealed that over 125,000 New Yorkers had been mysteriously purged from the voter rolls, on top of a wide swath of other vote suppression issues – long lines, polling locations that never opened, those who suddenly found that their party registration had changed.
The New York Board of Elections have announced that the chief clerk of the New York Board of Elections, Diane Haslett-Rudiano, a Republican, has been suspended “without pay, effective immediately, pending an internal investigation into the administration of the voter rolls in the Borough of Brooklyn.”
The New York Daily News found that Rudiano was in charge of making sure that voter rolls were up to date, but had fallen six months behind on her task – and that her efforts to cover up her inefficiency lead to 8% of Brooklyn’s voters being purged from the rolls. While some may be inclined to believe that this could have been part of a Republican plot to disenfranchise Democrats, others aren’t so sure. “It sounds like they cut a deal to make the Republican the scapegoat and protect [Democratic voter roll caretaker Betty Ann Canizio]” says one anonymous Democratic elected official.
No matter who is at fault here, it is clear that something is very wrong with our election process. New York state is home to some 20 million people, which is more population than many European democracies have at all – but only 19.7% of eligible voters cast a ballot, the second lowest turn out in the country after Louisiana. How can we continue with this pretense that we have a healthy and functioning democracy if only barely one-fifth of the population gets a chance to vote? Why do we still have closed primaries, for which you must change your registration six months in advance? Why have the closed primaries gone overwhelmingly in favor of the establishment candidates? Why are our voters being removed from the ballot?
America, we must demand answers.
http://occupydemocrats.com/2016/04/24/republican-election-clerk-suspended-new-york-voter-roll-purges/
Elizabeth Warren busts Goldman-Sachs for handling of union pensions
Rss@dailykos.com (mark Sumner) · Saturday, April 23, 2016, 5:37 pm
Goldman-Sachs and Northern Trust ?charged the Teamsters Union $41 million in fees for handling the beleaguered Central States Pension Fund. The same pension fund where 400,000 retirees are facing drastic cuts.
What did the fund managers do to earn their millions? They put the fund in unnecessary danger through risky investments.
While part of the Teamsters issues have to do with a declining union workforce — resulting in fewer employers contributing into the fund — Smith says the financial market collapse and the riskier-than-average investments made by the fund contributed to losses.
Or as Warren put it.
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/vL8fF-16pLs/-Elizabeth-Warren-busts-Goldman-Sachs-for-handling-of-union-pensions
Goldman-Sachs and Northern Trust ?charged the Teamsters Union $41 million in fees for handling the beleaguered Central States Pension Fund. The same pension fund where 400,000 retirees are facing drastic cuts.
What did the fund managers do to earn their millions? They put the fund in unnecessary danger through risky investments.
While part of the Teamsters issues have to do with a declining union workforce — resulting in fewer employers contributing into the fund — Smith says the financial market collapse and the riskier-than-average investments made by the fund contributed to losses.
Or as Warren put it.
Goldman Sachs & Northern Trust got $41M to manage workers’ pension funds, & they recklessly gambled it on junk bonds & toxic mortgages.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 20, 2016
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/vL8fF-16pLs/-Elizabeth-Warren-busts-Goldman-Sachs-for-handling-of-union-pensions
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