The Goat Pen

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is boosting its starting hourly wage to $11 and delivering bonuses to employees, capitalizing on the U.S. tax overhaul to stay competitive in a tightening labor market.

The increase takes effect next month and will cost $300 million on top of annual wage hikes that were already planned, the world’s largest retailer said Thursday. The one-time bonus of up to $1,000 is based on seniority and will amount to an additional $400 million. The company is also expanding its maternity and parental leave policy and adding an adoption benefit.

Wal-Mart’s decision makes it the latest corporate titan to plow expected tax savings into employee payouts. Boeing Co., AT&T Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. have all made similar announcements in recent weeks. Wal-Mart said it’s “early in the process of assessing potential additional investments” it could make.

My company implemented a profit sharing plan where they moved $400m to be divided among the employees. I think that works to about $26 for me.

bluetick wrote: Daniel Kibblesmith ✔ @kibblesmith

Your parents in 1996: Don't trust ANYONE on the Internet.

Your parents in 2016: Freedom Eagle dot Facebook says Hillary invented AIDS.

3:27 PM - Nov 19, 2016

one thing I've noticed is because we're old school in terms of internet, we pretty much know each other on facebook, but on here we're all still anonymous.

Facebook and here doesn't usually intersect

eCat wrote:Here is a piece of information I'm sure Cletus is fine with


https://www.projectveritas.com/2018/01/ ... -opinions/

and he's ecstatic about this

http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese- ... own-2018-1

More good news!

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/11/america ... ction.html

sardis wrote:

eCat wrote:Here is a piece of information I'm sure Cletus is fine with


https://www.projectveritas.com/2018/01/ ... -opinions/

and he's ecstatic about this

http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese- ... own-2018-1

Good. Maybe next time they’ll spend the money on something useful.

eCat wrote:btw, don't you make a living defending people that are accused of felonies by telling the world they are innocent?

Cletus is a lawyer?

That answers a lot of questions...

Strong reading comprehension

Well if you managed to pass the bar exam, you might have some of that.

Dear lord...

You can't make this shit up...

A cry for help to Washington Democrats from compatriots in one of the regions they regard as “shithole regions:”

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story ... ana-216273

That article nails it.

I'm not sure when the democratic party usurped the mantle of "party of the elites" from the repubs, but it happened in the blink of an eye. What's funny to me is all those people who were loyal repubs for decades (like Prof, for instance), voting for the "elite" candidates and verily thinking of themselves as such b/c of their party affiliation, now they're trying to pass themselves off as salt of the earth types, just the good ol common man. Which is true of pretty much everyone, of course, but it is odd to note the change in self-perception of a large bloc of the republican party these days.

Of course, there's still the old guard, William F. Buckley wing, many of whom are still in power (and have money, unlike this new breed of repubs), which is why I still say the repub party - as a unified party - is imploding. I can't see the old guard repubs flocking to the democratic party the way the old southern democrats, virtually in one election cycle, switched over to the republican party in the late 60's (I blame the hippies and of course the uppity negroes who were in the process of claiming all sorts of basic human rights, that was a bridge too far for a very large segment of those old southern yellow dog democrats), but given the current state of affairs, the center (if there is one) of the republican party cannot hold...

Surely someone has come out with a "Stable Genius" t-shirt by now?

S M L or XL?

Trump wanted to own his shithole comments, but Fox & Friends hung their heads and called him on it. So now he's making a mess of these 'quasi-denials'.

Somebody should work out a deal whereby Trump can spend the remainder of his term at Mar a Lago or at one of his resorts. If he's still in office, maybe come back to DC to light the big Christmas tree.

The best part about the shithole comment was listening to various announcers enunciate it last night. I think this guy wins the prize:

[youtube]DuTReBPNx88[/youtube]

eCat wrote:

DooKSucks wrote:You're using the website ran by a convicted felon? The same website that has been shown to mislead people by cutting and editing videos?

That's the intellectual integrity I expect from the right these days.

so does he put words in people mouths and make them lie?

btw, don't you make a living defending people that are accused of felonies by telling the world they are innocent?

First, there is a heck of a lot of difference between accused and convicted. Oftentimes, my job isn't to say that a client didn't commit a crime. My job in criminal defense is ensuring that law enforcement followed the law and didn't violate my client's rights and ensuring that the state can prove their case as allowed by law. After weighing those factors, we determine the best course of action.

Felony defense is only part of what I do. The majority of what I do is family law and civil litigation (our firm does a lot of personal injury work, and I do some general civil litigation for a few businesses). However, now that I'm opening our office in Fayetteville, it's as if I'm fresh out of law school and taking whatever comes in the door (except real estate closings and transactions), and that's loads of fun.

Also, you and I both know you can edit tape and comments to take things out of context and be downright misleading.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/haitia ... ump-tower/

Trump companies reportedly sold $35 million in real estate last year alone — mostly to secretive shell companies that open the president up to possible influence peddling.

According to the Buzzfeed News report, the Haitian government complained in the 1980s that former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier laundered money stolen from the Caribbean nation’s treasury by purchasing an apartment in Trump Tower. Duvalier, nicknamed “Baby Doc,” was overthrown in 1986, but three years earlier used a Panamanian shell company called Lasa Trade and Finance to buy apartment 54-K in Trump’s Manhattan tower for $446,875 cash.

Trump, the future U.S. president, signed the deed of sale.

Federal prosecutors charged a Russian native in 1984 with laundering the proceeds from a gasoline bootlegging operation through five Trump Tower condos purchased for $4.9 million.

David Bogatin pleaded guilty in 1987 and served eight years in federal prison.

Trump Taj Mahal casino was charged under anti-money laundering regulations 106 times in 1990 and 1991 by failing to identify gamblers who bought or cashed out more than $10,000 in chips.

Those reports are required to help authorities identify gamblers who may be laundering money, and Trump’s casino paid a $477,000 fine to the Treasury Department in 1998 without admitting wrongdoing.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is boosting its starting hourly wage to $11 and delivering bonuses to employees, capitalizing on the U.S. tax overhaul to stay competitive in a tightening labor market.

You can fact check me but the bonuses from what I've heard are only going to employees with 20 years exp or something, i.e., they're mostly meaningless. I hope the 11/hr is legit and permanent. They should have been doing that for a while now and this should not have required a huge giveaway from Trump. I think they made something like 17 billion in profits a few years ago and their business model was to have a huge chunk of employees on food stamps, i.e., the biggest private employer in the country raking in billions yet making tax payers like you and me subsidize most of their employees. Thanks Wal-Mart.