HAB911
HAB911's JournalTrump plan could create incentive for governors to rebrand stadiums as infrastructure
I followed up on Monday’s quick take on what Donald Trump’s infrastructure tax-break plan could mean for stadium subsidies with a longer investigation for Vice Sports, and after speaking to a half-dozen experts in the field, the conclusion is: This is mostly a plan to coerce states into outsourcing roads and other big public projects to private companies, but if it means funneling money to things like stadiums and calling it “infrastructure,” they’ll probably take that too.
While some [public-private partnerships] have worked out well, the failures have been of epic proportions. A few years ago, Texas contracted out State Highway 130 to a private developer, which skimped on construction costs by installing cheaper asphalt rather than sturdier concrete, resulting in what the Austin Statesman described as “a rumbling, dangerous washboard effect that tends to last for a couple of seconds each time.” Despite a much-ballyhooed 85-mile-per-hour speed limit, the road’s builders filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, sticking the federal government with a half-billion-dollar tab for its piece of the P3.
Under Trump’s proposal, more for-profit companies getting involved in building public roads would probably be the best-case scenario. Without strict limits on what qualifies for the Trump tax breaks, all sorts of projects for private benefit could end up being rebranded as “infrastructure.” We’ve already seen mayors and business leaders propose everything from affordable housing (this from the mayor of D.C.) to “Internet of Things technology” (this from the CEO of IBM, which makes—you guessed it—said technology) as infrastructure projects…
You can probably see where this is going. John Q. Governor decides that he wants a slice of that sweet, sweet Trump money so he can show voters that he can get benefits for his state. He doesn’t need another toll road, and no private investors are looking to build a new sewage system because sewage doesn’t pay the bills (and also, ick). However, the local arena shuffleboard team is asking for a new stadium, and shuffleboard arenas are infrastructure, right? Like, the kids can use them to practice for pro shuffleboard careers? Plus, jobs. Jobs are totally infrastructure!
Do I think that Trump is definitely going to unleash billions of dollars of federal sports subsidies on top of the couple billion a year currently being spent by local governments? No. Do I think that he’s set to open a giant loophole that every sports team owner is going to try to figure out how to drive a stadium through? Yeah, that one.
http://www.fieldofschemes.com/2016/11/23/11843/trump-plan-could-create-huge-incentive-for-governors-to-rebrand-stadiums-as-infrastructure/
Change.org petition NYC refusing third lady costs of $1M/day
http://occupydemocrats.com/2016/12/01/50000-fed-new-yorkers-launch-petition-get-rid-melania-trump/Pence abandons Reaganomics
“The free market has been sorting it out and America’s been losing”In an interview with The New York Times, the leaders of the GOP reveal a shift away from free-market capitalism
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/business/economy/trump-carrier-pence-jobs.html
http://www.salon.com/2016/12/02/mike-pence-abandons-reaganomics-the-free-market-has-been-sorting-it-out-and-americas-been-losing/
Langone to Trump: "the US is a free economy"
Republican billionaire businessman Ken Langone told CNBC on Friday that Donald Trump should not make a habit of pressuring companies to keep jobs in the United States.
"Trump has to understand, and he will no doubt about it, ... we don't have a managed economy. We don't say to companies you can't go and you won't go. That's scary,"
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/02/ken-langone-to-trump-the-us-is-not-a-managed-economy.html
Electors start fundraising committee in Colorado
An upstart group of Electoral College voters have formed a political non-profit organization to fund a campaign to deny Donald Trump the presidency.
But while a campaign organizer says the movement has secured one anonymous Republican, it remains an unlikely, last-ditch effort for opponents of the president-elect.
The paperwork filed Tuesday with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office creates a “527” group, which can raise unlimited donations from individuals, corporations and labor unions for political activities.
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/11/30/anti-donald-trump-electors-fundraising-colorado/
Man who tried to join ISIS attended Pence's voucher funded madrasa
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028325033Tom Ford won't be dressing third lady Melania Trump
He joins a growing list of designers including Marc Jacobs and Sophie Theallet, who wrote an open letter urging her peers to avoid working with the new first lady.
https://twitter.com/sophietheallet/status/799378444249399300/photo/1
Breitbart SQUEALS After Levi Strauss respectfully ask people not to bring firearms
Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh posted this message on LinkedIn:
The debate in the U.S. over gun safety and gun rights is as complex as it is divisive. As a former army officer, a father and business leader, I’ve heard the arguments from all sides. And, as CEO of a 163-year-old company whose products and presence rest at the intersection of culture and community in more than 110 countries around the world, I feel a tremendous responsibility to share our position on the issue, now, at a time when clarity is paramount.
Providing a safe environment to work and shop is a top priority for us at Levi Strauss & Co. That imperative is quickly challenged, however, when a weapon is carried into one of our stores. Recently, we had an incident in one of our stores where a gun inadvertently went off, injuring the customer who was carrying it.
So, while we understand the heartfelt and strongly-held opinions on both sides of the gun debate, it is with the safety and security of our employees and customers in mind that we respectfully ask people not to bring firearms into our stores, offices or facilities, even in states where it’s permitted by law. Of course, authorized members of law enforcement are an exception.
With stores in Paris, Nice and Orlando, and the company’s European headquarters in Brussels, I’ve thought more about safety in the past year than in the previous three decades of my career because of how ‘close to home’ so many incidents with guns have come to impacting people working for this company.
We operate in hundreds of stores across every state in the U.S., and laws are different in each one. We know that the presence of firearms in our stores creates an unsettling environment for many of our employees and customers. We also know that trying to enforce a ban could potentially undermine the purpose of the ban itself: safety. With that in mind we’ve made this decision as a business – a request not a mandate – and we sincerely hope responsible gun owners will respect our position.
It boils down to this: you shouldn’t have to be concerned about your safety while shopping for clothes or trying on a pair of jeans. Simply put, firearms don’t belong in either of those settings. In the end, I believe we have an obligation to our employees and customers to ensure a safe environment and keeping firearms out of our stores and offices will get us one step closer to achieving that reality.
BMWs Departure from Breitbart advertising
Other brands, including Allstate and Warby Parker, have pulled back from Breitbart. BMW said on Wednesday that it too wouldn’t be running targeted ads on the site.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-01/breitbart-urges-boycott-of-kellogg-after-brand-leaves-news-site
Breitbart primarily uses Google AdSense, which mostly positions its clients’ ads based on the reader’s browsing history and by a site’s subject content. Pulling “targeted ads” from a site doesn’t necessarily mean that the brand will no longer appear at all. That requires a site-specific block by the advertiser.
Scottie Nell Hughes: Theres no such thing, unfortunately, anymore of facts.
n an appearance on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show on Wednesday, Trump spokesperson Scottie Nell Hughes asserted that in today’s information landscape, “There are no such things as facts.”
She was appearing alongside Atlantic editor James Fallows, Politico‘s Glenn Thrush and Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post in a discussion of the role of journalists in a prospective Donald Trump presidency.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/trump-booster-scottie-nell-hughes-gets-blasted-on-npr-after-saying-theres-no-such-thing-as-facts/
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