Florida State Seminoles

[Jungle Rat]

These Mitch commercials are awful. He's so full of shit. What's your platform Mitch besides Russia and screwing your home state. 36 years. aTm wasn't even born then.

[Jungle Rat]

DOJ takes up Trump defense. What a fucking joke. Now we taxpayers have to pay for his pathetic defense instead of him. Absolutely horrible. He won't release his tax returns because he's broke. Again. Over a dozen sexual harassment allegations. Thanks Mr. Barr for keeping your job no matter what.

[eCat]

Ok, this is quite brazen in its ridiculousness.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... ost-public

Deutsche Post, Germany's largest employer, is using a non-profit foundation in Bonn to finance a think tank that lobbies against Germany's minimum wage and labor deregulation. The entity is headed by a former Post chief executive who was convicted of tax evasion in 2009.

“Not-for-profit” isn’t the first phrase that comes to mind when thinking about Klaus Zumwinkel, the disgraced former head of the state-run German postal service, Deutsche Post.

Yet despite his conviction in 2009 for tax evasion, the former executive is still in charge of a multi-million-euro, not-for-profit foundation and an influential non-profit economic research institute, both of which have links to Deutsche Post.

Mr. Zumwinkel, who is in self-imposed exile in Italy and London, founded the Deutsche Post Foundation in 1998 during his tenure as chief executive and chairman of the postal service.

But with the exception of a mailing address, little has been made public about this organization.

This is in contrast to the very public face of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). It describes itself as a “private independent economic research institute” that is supported by the foundation, and is presided over by Mr. Zumwinkel.

Deutsche Post at first refused to provide any information about an 'independent non-profit foundation.'

But this poses the ethical and legal question of whether Deutsche Post, Germany’s largest employer, is using a shell foundation to support a private non-profit think tank whose stated aims are to lobby for changes in labor policy.

Deutsche Post at first refused to provide any information about an 'independent non-profit foundation.' But after being confronted with evidence of its existence, a spokesman admitted that the foundation does receive direct payments from Deutsche Post.

Under an agreement that runs until 2022, the foundation is paid donations equal to a quarter of 1 percent of every thousand euros of Deutsche Post revenues, or a third of 1 percent of every thousand euros of personnel costs.

With the postal service achieving revenues of around €55 billion ($63.7 billion) in 2013, this means that the foundation received more than €13 million. When asked who monitors the use of these funds, the Post spokesman named the foundation’s supervisory authority and a public accountant.

The foundation has no website and no listed telephone number. But its mailing address in Bonn is the same as that of the IZA.

The institute is very influential in labor market research and policy, producing publications and appointing IZA policy fellows. It also oversaw the German government’s so-called Hartz 4 labor market reforms and its director, Klaus Zimmermann, is often featured in German media touting the dangers of a minimum wage and labor market deregulation.

Mr. Zumwinkel has been working almost since the establishment of IZA and the foundation as president of IZA, without it ever being clear what the job and authority of the president is.

To determine whether the foundation is simply a conduit through which Deutsche Post funnels cash to a labor market research institute, Handelsblatt posed several questions to the IZA’s “office manager.” These included whether the foundation has a board of trustees, whether it is true that it has no other employees, and if the foundation is the only or the main backer of IZA.

The office manager refused to answer the questions, citing an ongoing court case. This involves a lawsuit brought by Mr. Zimmermann against Werner Rügemer, a journalist, who alleged in a Handelsblatt article last month that IZA was not independent.

The case will be heard on January 30.

The foundation is not a party in the court case but seems to identify with IZA. This comes as little surprise considering that the two seem to share office space and personnel.

“The Deutsche Post Foundation and its organs, as well as its funding used to serve the public good, are not directed by the interests of the company,” said the IZA’s office manager. She added that “the executive committee and board of trustees of the Deutsche Post Foundation… regularly discuss with IZA its activities, without interfering with the independent research work.”

The IZA would not reveal the names of the foundation’s board members.

Mr. Zumwinkel has been working almost since the establishment of IZA and the foundation as president of IZA, without it ever being clear what the job and authority of the president is. It seems Mr. Zumwinkel is the only participant in the company’s board of partners.

Mr. Zumwinkel resigned as Deutsche Post's chief executive in 2008 after German prosecutors opened a tax evasion investigation into his personal dealings. In January 2009, a German court convicted Mr. Zumwinkel of tax evasion.

He was given a two-year suspended sentence and fined €1 million for investing in a foundation in Liechtenstein, a small Alpine tax haven sandwiched between Austria and Switzerland.

If the activities of the IZA overlap with the interests of Deutsche Post... questions arise about the altruism and with them the public benefit of the whole construction Ulrich Müller, Lobby Control

The IZA provides no information on the amount of money it receives from the foundation, though the development of its capital reserves is on its balance sheet for 2012. Under the entry “other additional payments” is the amount of €7.5 million, along with an entry of a similar amount listed under “withdrawals.”

It can be assumed that this is the Deutsche Post Foundation subsidy as the IZA does not name other sponsors.

Ulrich Müller of Lobby Control, an organization that promotes transparency and democracy in Europe, speculated that a possible role of the foundation may be to blur the close connection between Deutsche Post and IZA. “If the activities of the IZA overlap with the interests of Deutsche Post, and the Deutsche Post Foundation were only an empty shell, questions arise about the altruism and with them the public benefit of the whole construction,” he said.

In German law, altruism must be demonstrated to gain legal recognition for acting in the common good. If IZA were not deemed to be working for the common good, the non-profit Deutsche Post Foundation would not be allowed to support it.

Mr. Müller points out that it is not clear whether the foundation supports any other institutions besides IZA and the University of Bonn, which closely cooperates with IZA. Its internal structure is also fuzzy, he adds.

The question remains as to whether an institute can be described as non-profit and working for the public good when it is financed by Germany’s largest employer, the Deutsche Post, directly or solely through a possible funds-funneling foundation.

This is especially the case if the organization is committed to policy change and giving “recommendations for reforming unemployment insurance, modernizing free collective bargaining and opening up the labor market,” as Mr. Zimmermann states in the brochure "15 Years of IZA."

The finance ministry in North Rhine-Westphalia, the state in which Bonn is situated, refused to comment on such questions, citing tax confidentiality. But the ministry said it regularly checks to ensure companies are meeting the conditions of non-profit status.

The IZA said: “Science and research serve to answer specific questions. Such a question is also contained in the preamble of the articles of association of the IZA, namely how labor and employment can be organized for the common good. From a common good legal perspective, the public demands answers to such questions.”

[hedge]

This will cause some heads to explode.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegr ... prize/amp/

We’ll see if CNN will report.

Not really. Some ultra far-right Norwegian nominated him. I'd put his chances at actually winning it at less than zero. It's like if I "nominated" Crotch to be Queen Elizabeth's social secretary. But I'm sure it's good for his ego to have been nominated...

[hedge]

About the guy who nominated Trump:

"He was severely criticized in 2011 when he suggested that Muslims were by nature more aggressive than Norwegians, and has also previously compared the hijab head covering for women to the robes of the Ku Klux Klan."

Man, Trump supporters are going to be torn over this one. On the one hand, they'll all agree that muslims are more aggressive by nature than (fill in the blank). But comparing the hijab to a KKK robe? That's a bridge too far...

[Jungle Rat]

Profs head just exploded

[eCat]

Schiff has yet another whistleblower

Jesus man, get a new act

[Jungle Rat]

Don't be scared.

[bluetick]

"Damn - I wish those tapes had come out sooner." - Herman Cain

[aTm]

Schiff has yet another whistleblower

Jesus man, get a new act

This is not a "whistleblower" although they want to act like he is. Notice that they have no problem giving out his name and identity, which previously they acted like was sacred for whistleblower. This is probably someone who is offering up evidence or testimony to try and help himself out in regard to a separate investigation.

https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updat ... protesters

The Department of Homeland Security has reassigned its top intelligence official, according to media outlets, following news that his office compiled intelligence reports on journalists and protesters in Portland, Ore.

...

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff issued a statement Saturday saying the committee had been conducting an investigation into Murphy and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis for more than two weeks before the reassignment.

[eCat]

a young idealist named Samuel Crankshaw who works for the Kentucky ACLU put their nuts in a vice by expressing his opinions on facebook about his Alma-mater accepting a conservative student.

in principle, his comments were against everything the ACLU stands for, but in practice he was exercising his first amendment rights, which is also what the ACLU stands for.

if they had any integrity, they would condemn his statements while recognizing he has a right to say them, and Mr. Crankshaw would quietly find a job somewhere else 4-6 months from now. But since its a conservative that is the target and not a human being with actual rights in their eyes, its just another Tuesday.

Its must be a real quandary to say you represent integrity and yes abandon it for politics. That ethical high ground is quicksand.

[hedge]

Can you give us a little more detail?

[eCat]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/aclu-staffer ... ool-report

[Jungle Rat]

Schiff has yet another whistleblower

Jesus man, get a new act

This is not a "whistleblower" although they want to act like he is. Notice that they have no problem giving out his name and identity, which previously they acted like was sacred for whistleblower. This is probably someone who is offering up evidence or testimony to try and help himself out in regard to a separate investigation.

https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updat ... protesters

The Department of Homeland Security has reassigned its top intelligence official, according to media outlets, following news that his office compiled intelligence reports on journalists and protesters in Portland, Ore.

...

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff issued a statement Saturday saying the committee had been conducting an investigation into Murphy and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis for more than two weeks before the reassignment.

aTm reminds me of the kid I once was.

[hedge]

Bozo?

[hedge]

[hedge]

[Jungle Rat]

Glad you found prof. I was not worried

[eCat]

Protesters just showed up outside St. Francis Hospital in Los Angeles where two LA County Sheriff’s Deputies are fighting for their lives after they were ambushed and both shot in the head, inside their patrol SUV Saturday night in Compton.

The deputies in critical condition include a 31-year-old wife and mother of a 6-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man.

Protesters yelled to sheriff’s deputies, who were standing watch outside and keeping protesters from breaching the hospital, “Y’all gonna die one by one, this ain’t gonna stop.”

Protesters also shouted, “Oink, oink, oink” to sheriff’s deputies and said, “We hope that bitch dies,” referring to the female deputy who was shot. They then told hospital staff and those outside blocking them from storming the hospital, “I wanna deliver a message to the family (inaudible). I hope they f*****g die. I hope they f*****g die.”

------------------------------------


i wonder if BLM is going to denounce people showing up at a hospital and wishing death on a policeman ambushed? Somehow I don't think they will.

if they don't, BLM can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. They are trash.

[sardis]

Biden better win...or else.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... de/616321/