demmiblue
demmiblue's JournalBREAKING: Arizona Senator Jeff Flake announces that he will not run for re-election in 2018
O'Reilly dropped by talent agency amid sexual harassment allegations: report
Source: The Hill
Bill O’Reilly was dropped by his talent agency after a new report revealed that he paid $32 million to settle a sexual harassment claim at Fox News, The Hollywood Reporter reported Tuesday.
United Talent Agency (UTA) reportedly informed O’Reilly on Monday that the agency will no longer represent him once his contract with them expires at the end of the year.
The decision came just days after The New York Times revealed that O’Reilly had settled a sexual harassment complaint at Fox News for $32 million, shortly before the network renewed their contract with him.
O’Reilly spokesman Mark Fabiani told THR that O’Reilly already had “lined up new representation” but declined to say which agency had signed him.
Read more: http://thehill.com/media/356911-oreilly-dropped-by-talent-agency-after-report-of-sexual-harassment-settlement-report
President Donald Trump and Bob Corker Set for Presumably Very Awkward Lunch Date
Source: Newsweek
Corker's assessment of the president came about an hour after Trump unleashed a Twitter attack on him, remarking that his fellow Republican "couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee."
Croker responded to the Trump tirade on Twitter: "Same untruths from an utterly untruthful president." He included the hashtag #AlertTheDaycareStaff, which references his earlier assessment that the White House is merely “an adult day care center” designed to respond to Trump's Twitter outbursts.
http://www.newsweek.com/president-donald-trump-bob-corker-awkward-lunch-date-691540?utm_campaign=NewsweekTwitter&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social
I would pay to be a fly on the wall!
Small Montana firm lands Puerto Ricos biggest contract to get the power back on
Source: The Washington Post
The company, Whitefish Energy, said last week that it had signed a $300 million contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to repair and reconstruct large portions of the island’s electrical infrastructure. The contract is the biggest yet issued in the troubled relief effort.
Whitefish said Monday that it has 280 workers in the territory, using linemen from across the country, most of them as subcontractors, and that the number grows on average from 10 to 20 people a day. It said it was close to completing infrastructure work that will energize some of the key industrial facilities that are critical to restarting the local economy.
The power authority, also known as PREPA, opted to hire Whitefish rather than activate the “mutual aid” arrangements it has with other utilities. For many years, such agreements have helped U.S. utilities — including those in Florida and Texas recently — to recover quickly after natural disasters.
...
Whitefish Energy is based in Whitefish, Mont., the home town of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Its chief executive, Andy Techmanski, and Zinke acknowledge knowing one another — but only, Zinke’s office said in an email, because Whitefish is a small town where “everybody knows everybody.” One of Zinke’s sons “joined a friend who worked a summer job” at one of Techmanski’s construction sites, the email said. Whitefish said he worked as a “flagger.”
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The scale of the disaster in Puerto Rico is far larger than anything Whitefish has handled. The company has won two contracts from the Energy Department, including $172,000 to replace a metal pole structure and splice in three miles of new conductor and overhead ground wire in Arizona.
Shortly before Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, Whitefish landed its largest federal contract, a $1.3 million deal to replace and upgrade parts of a 4.8-mile transmission line in Arizona. The company — which was listed in procurement documents as having annual revenue of $1 million — was given 11 months to complete the work, records show.
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Under the contract, the hourly rate was set at $330 for a site supervisor, and at $227.88 for a “journeyman lineman.” The cost for subcontractors, which make up the bulk of Whitefish’s workforce, is $462 per hour for a supervisor and $319.04 for a lineman. Whitefish also charges nightly accommodation fees of $332 per worker and almost $80 per day for food.
Only eight contracts larger than $20 million have been approved for Puerto Rico by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, with half of those for shipments of food and bottled water. Whitefish’s contract surpasses the $240 million contract the Army Corps awarded to engineering giant Fluor to “augment ongoing efforts” to repair the power grid.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/small-montana-firm-lands-puerto-ricos-biggest-contract-to-get-the-power-back-on/2017/10/23/31cccc3e-b4d6-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html
A lot to unpack here. And not the least bit fishy.
Thanks Intech, because calling out the misogyny in sports is of national interest...
ESPN on Monday announced that it is canceling its late-night sports show, “Barstool Van Talk,” less than a week after the program featuring Barstool Sports personalities Dan Katz, otherwise known as Barstool Big Cat, and PFT Commenter debuted.
“Effective immediately, I am cancelling ‘Barstool Van Talk’,” ESPN President John Skipper said in a statement. “While we had approval on the content of the show, I erred in assuming we could distance our efforts from the Barstool site and its content. Apart from this decision, we appreciate the efforts of Big Cat and PFT Commenter. They delivered the show they promised.”
The first and only episode of “Barstool Van Talk” aired Wednesday at 1 a.m. on ESPN2. It drew an overnight rating of .05 and 88,000 viewers. Sam Ponder, the host of ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown,” was among those who criticized Barstool Sports for its history of misogynistic blog posts after the site’s partnership with ESPN was announced. A day before “Barstool Van Talk” debuted, Ponder tweeted about such a post that Barstool Sports once wrote about her. In audio that has since been removed from Barstool’s site, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy also repeatedly referred to Ponder as a slut. ESPN issued a statement about those comments last week.
“The comments about Sam Ponder were offensive and inappropriate, and we understand her reaction,” Burke Magnus, the executive vice president for programming and scheduling, said in an email to The Washington Post. “She is a valued colleague and doing a great job for us. As stated previously, we do not control the content of Barstool Sports. We are doing a show with Big Cat and PFT, and we do have final say on the content of that show.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/10/23/espn-cancels-barstool-van-talk-after-one-episode/
Reference: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141896119
Indian village run by teenage girls offers hope for a life free from abuse
In Thennamadevi young daughters are forging a new destiny beyond their alcoholic fathers and human traffickersSource: The Guardian
Thennamadevi is racked by alcoholism. Most of its 150 male inhabitants participate in ruinous daily drinking sessions. Around 90 women with families in the village have been widowed. The youngest husband to die was 21.
However, over the past six months something remarkable has happened to break the cycle of squalor and despair: the teenage daughters of the drunken men have taken over the running of the place. And it’s working.
A self-titled “young girls’ club” has fixed the street lights, completed a health audit of the village and ensured that mobile clinics visit Thennamadevi. A library is being built where well-thumbed books promote the virtues of learning and independence. The phenomenon of teenage female self-help has made aid agencies and politicians across the state sit up and take notice.
In the communal building, beneath the glow of a single lightbulb, the girls assembled earlier this month for a debate on further improvements. A petition urging better transport links – no buses pass near the village – has been drafted to be put to the local council.
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For the teenagers running Thennamadevi it is the possibility of change that inspires them. Senior club member Gowsalya Radhakrishnan said: “By not accepting our fate we will give others the knowledge they can shape the future.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/oct/21/india-villagers-child-abuse-trafficking-alcoholism?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
These are incredibly strong young women. Awe-inspiring, really.
3 Charged With Attempted Murder After Allegedly Firing On Spencer Protesters
Source: TPM
Three men who came out to support white nationalist Richard Spencer’s Thursday speech at the University of Florida were arrested on charges of attempted murder after one of them allegedly fired at protesters, according to arrest reports from the Gainesville Police Department.
Texas residents Colton Fears, William Fears and Tyler Tenbrink all were charged with attempted homicide and were being held in the Alachua County jail. Tenbrink received an additional second-degree felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
After departing Spencer’s event Thursday, where they had spoken to local press about their willingness to “push back” on those who oppose their message, the three men pulled their car up to a bus stop where a small group of protesters was waiting, according to the arrest reports. The report states they began shouting “Hail Hitler” and yelling at the seated protesters, one of whom hit the vehicle’s rear window with a baton.
The car sped ahead a few feet and came to an abrupt stop, at which point Tenbrink emerged with a handgun, according to the report. William and Colton Fears allegedly yelled, “I’m going to fucking kill you” and “shoot them.”
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/william-colton-fears-tyler-tenbrink-arrested-after-white-nationalist-richard-spencer-speech?utm_content=bufferc2721&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Who are the white supremacists assaulting people at rallies in Berkeley, Charlottesville and...
https://twitter.com/ProPublica/status/921097661633220608Completely infuriating.
This is what the FBI needs to concern themselves with, not the BLM bullshit they are trying to peddle.
Hilton El Conquistador cancels plans to host upcoming white nationalist VDare conference
Source: Media Matters
The Hilton El Conquistador in Tucson, AZ, has canceled plans to host an upcoming “immigration conference” by the white nationalist group VDare. It is the third time this year that VDare has unsuccessfully attempted to schedule a conference.
VDare runs a racist website that’s been heavily criticized by civil rights groups for pushing white nationalism. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the white nationalist site “regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites.” The Anti-Defamation League wrote that VDare is a racist site that “posts, promotes, and archives the work of racists, anti-immigrant figures, and anti-Semites.”
Headlines on VDare include: “One Problem With These Hispanic Immigrants Is Their Disgusting Behavior,” “Indians Aren`t That Intelligent (On Average),” “Diversity Is Strength! It’s Also…Hispanic Immigrants Taking Over FBI’s Ten Most Wanted,” “America Does Not Need ANY Immigrants From Africa,” and “Roll Over, JIHAD—There’s Also HIJRA, Muslim Conquest By Immigration.”
VDare is so bad that even the editor in chief for Breitbart privately called it “racist,” according to reporting by BuzzFeed (despite that private condemnation, Breitbart has publicly defended VDare).
Read more: https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/10/20/hilton-el-conquistador-cancels-plans-host-upcoming-white-nationalist-vdare-conference/218277
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