Love Me, I’m A Liberal


Roll Phil Ochs

Liberalism is all well and good for papered staff at elite educational institutions when it doesn’t actually cost them anything personally:

Georgetown University this week refused to support a movement by graduate students to unionize, arguing that teaching and research assistants are students, not employees.

The decision arrives a month after the Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees asked university president John DeGioia to support their union campaign. The students said that embracing a union would align with the school’s Jesuit values affirming the dignity of labor. University leaders, however, maintain the work that graduate students contribute is fundamental to their studies and should be considered part of their education.

Georgetown’s decision echoes opposition to graduate student unions at other prestigious universities. Yale University, Boston College and Columbia University have railed against a 2016 National Labor Relations Board ruling that granted teaching and research assistants the legal protection to unionize. Yale, Columbia and Princeton posted information on their websites warning students that unionizing could alter their relationship with faculty and limit their individual rights once a union becomes their collective voice.

In a letter sent this week to the school’s graduate student alliance, Georgetown provost Robert M. Groves and Edward B. Healton, the school’s executive vice president for health sciences, said the university is “eager” to address issues that affect graduate students, but not through collective bargaining.

………

The union organizers want to join the American Federation of Teachers. To do that, they need to file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for an election. Organizers say they wanted the university’s backing, but will forge ahead regardless.

“We were hoping to negotiate with Georgetown administrators about the terms of the election, but now we’ll have to proceed on our own, without their help and anticipating their active push-back,” said Hailey Huget, a doctoral candidate in philosophy and a member of the graduate student alliance. “We hoped that Georgetown would be better than this.”

University leaders say they have discussed the collective bargaining campaign with the faculty senate, academic departments and the executive committee of graduate studies, the principal policy-making body for graduate programs. That committee has since passed a resolution affirming the position that students enrolled in degree programs are students and should be treated as students, not employees.

Silly grad students, don’t you realize that respect for human dignity and labor rights is only for OTHER people, and that it cannot be allowed to INCONVENIENCE the august denizens of the ivory towers of academy.

You need to focus on the bad people, you know  ……… The “Deplorables”.

20 Years

Michael Slager, the former North Charleston, SC police officer filmed shooting Walter Scott in the back, and then planting his Taser on the body, has been sentenced to 20 years in a federal prison for civil rights violations after the judge determined that the underlying misconduct was murder:

Michael T. Slager, the white police officer whose video-recorded killing of an unarmed black motorist in North Charleston, S.C., starkly illustrated the turmoil over racial bias in American policing, was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison, after the judge in the case said he viewed the shooting as a murder.

The sentence, which was within the range of federal guidelines, was pronounced in Federal District Court in Charleston about seven months after Mr. Slager pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Walter L. Scott when he shot and killed him in April 2015. The case against Mr. Slager is one of the few instances in which a police officer has been prosecuted for an on-duty shooting.

“We have to get this type of justice, because being a police officer is one of the most powerful jobs in the country, and it should be respected,” L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer for Mr. Scott’s family, said after the hearing, which was punctuated by tears and grief. “But that doesn’t mean you’re above the law. That doesn’t mean you can do as you please.”

Federal prosecutors had urged that Mr. Slager be sentenced to life in prison for a shooting that they contended amounted to second-degree murder. Mr. Slager’s defense lawyers, as well as the United States Probation Office, had recommended that the judge, David C. Norton, treat the shooting as akin to voluntary manslaughter.

On Thursday, the fourth day of the sentencing proceedings, Judge Norton said he had concluded that the killing should be considered murder for the purposes of determining Mr. Slager’s punishment. The shooting, he said, was “reckless, wanton and inappropriate.”

………

“I see him with a Taser in his hand as I see him spinning around,” Mr. Slager, who was 33 at the time of the shooting, testified later about the skirmish with Mr. Scott, who was 50. “That’s the only thing I see: that Taser in his hand.”

But Mr. Scott soon broke away, unarmed, and began to run again. Mr. Slager raised his pistol, pointed it at Mr. Scott’s back, and fired eight shots. Mr. Scott, who was at least 17 feet from Mr. Slager when the officer opened fire, fell to the ground. Moments after the shooting, Mr. Slager approached Mr. Scott and dropped his Taser near him, an action that prosecutors believed was an attempt to plant evidence and skew the investigation.

A barber who was walking to work, Feidin Santana, recorded the shooting and its aftermath on his cellphone. Mr. Santana did not immediately come forward with his recording, and the authorities initially believed Mr. Slager’s account of the encounter with Mr. Scott. But Mr. Santana’s footage transformed the case.

………

But the plea agreement with the Justice Department left open a central issue — whether the killing of Mr. Scott had been tantamount to second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. More than semantics was at stake: The answer was crucial to calculating what is known as a guidelines range for sentencing in the federal courts. Until Thursday morning, it was not clear how Judge Norton would rule.

Prosecutors argued for murder because Mr. Slager “acknowledged he willfully used unreasonable force when he shot Walter Scott, even though Scott was unarmed and posed no threat.” They also said that the judge should increase Mr. Slager’s sentence because Mr. Slager had violated Mr. Scott’s civil rights under color of law and because he had “willfully obstructed justice.”

Slager dropped the Taser moments after shooting Mr. Scott in the back 8 times.

This wasn’t manslaughter, and the judge was correct in his assessment of the underlying acts that led to the civil rights violation.

Here’s hoping that there are more successful prosecutions of bad cops.

Snark of the Day

Ireland To Receive €13bn From Apple After Getting Unlocked By Chinese Guy In Market

The Irish government will finally be able to collect the €13bn in taxes owed by the Apple corporation, after having the entire country unlocked by a Chinese guy working out of a shop in Moore Street called Extra Good Phone Unlock & Afro Caribbean Hair Product Store.

………

[Irish Minister for Finance Paschal] Donohoe proudly announced that the newly unlocked Ireland was now free of the tax loopholes that allowed the massive multinational corporation to pay next to no tax for a number of years, and that the 50 euro bill for the unlocking would be subtracted from the Department of Social Protection’s budget next year.

“We’ve now got a country that is not stuck in contract, so we can do whatever we want,” beamed Donohoe, picking up a few punnets of cherries while waiting on Moore Street for the country.

 This if f%$#ing brilliant.

Linkage

One of Monty Python’s weirder sketches:

This Ain’t Political Support, This is Looting


A Little Florid, but On Point

The folks at The Young Turks have come across a memo from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which appears purpose designed to ensure both that small dollar candidates are disadvantaged, and that consultants extract maximum money from the campaign:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is making several demands of candidates preparing for the 2018 House elections, according to an internal memo obtained by TYT. The memo dictates policies on campaign spending and sexual harassment, and outlines requirements for Democratic Party “unity.” An email accompanying the memo gives campaigns until Thursday, December 8, to respond.

The memo was sent by DCCC Executive Director Dan Sena on December 1 to candidates and campaign managers. Sena did not respond to a request for comment, nor did DCCC Communications Director Meredith Kelly.

Although the memo does not mention the highly contentious 2016 presidential primary, it includes a requirement that the campaigns must agree “not to engage in tactics that do harm to our chances of winning a General Election.” The memo does not identify what tactics it is prohibiting.

Candidates also must “hold a unity event with their primary opponents following a primary,” the memo says. What would constitute a “unity event” is also not made explicit.

………

The document also requires that candidates “establish a strong written sexual harassment policy for their campaign and all staff” and “complete an extensive online sexual harassment training, to be offered through the DCCC by a third-party vendor.” Rep. Ruben Kihuen, a freshman Democrat from Nevada, has been called on to resign by current DCCC Chairman Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi after allegations surfaced that he sexually harassed his campaign’s finance director in 2016. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the longest-serving member of the House, announced his “retirement” Tuesday after a slew of harassment allegations.

So, you have to pay THEIR consultant for training, even though there are a slew of non-profits out there that would do this at a minimal cost.

The memo requires that candidates hire “professional staff and consultants who can help execute a winning campaign” and says that the DCCC “will provide staff resumes and a comprehensive list of consultants” to help satisfy this requirement.

The memo mandates that candidates preserve at least 75 percent of all funds they raise for “paid communications”—which is seen as code for T.V. advertising, a method viewed by much of the new generation of Democrats as outmoded, especially for mobilizing young and minority voters who could be critical in 2018.

Again, you have to spend money on their favorite consultants, and dedicate 75% of your campaign funds to TV, which corresponds to about 22% of your campaign funds to consultants who are paid commission on ad buys.

Seriously, don’t give to the DCCC, don’t give to the DSCC, don’t give to the DNC, give directly to campaigns, and when you do, try to ensure that they aren’t overspending on overpaid Washington, DC consultants.

Right now, the entire Democratic Party establishment resembles a f%$#ing racket.

They are corrupt and incompetent.

Do not feed the flim flam men.

If There Were Only Some Proxy for Value That Could Be Use to Address Labor Shortages

Over at the NPR program Morning Edition this morning, they were reporting on the Trump administration ending the temporary protected status (TPS) for some refugees because conditions have improved in their countries

They were  because wringing their hands because ending the program might cause shortages of construction workers.

We can argue whether or not TPS status should actually be temporary, but this argument is complete crap.

If there is a shortage of construction workers, the solution is Econ 101:  You pay them more, and you pay to train them.

I understand that people like, for example, NPR correspondents don’t like the idea of paying a few bucks more to have a Jacuzzi installed on their back porch, but for the rest of us, it’s not a huge deal.

I am a Complete Whore, So Where is My Money

It appears that it is a not uncommon practice for brands to buy coverage on blogs.

Despite my solicitations for such filthy capitalist lucre on the front page of my blog, (right hand column toward the bottom) I have not received any offers:

Please, send me free stuff, and I will consider doing a review.

I am a complete whore, so assume that any review is the result of free stuff, and/or under the table payments.

I will do my level best to reveal such conflicts when I remember to.

I am feeling very neglected right now.

Talk About Mixed Emotions

Donald Trump just officially declared US recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel.

This has been reality for 70 years, and I am a proud member of the reality based community, but I feel slightly nausious agreeing with the inverted traffic cone at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue:

President Trump on Wednesday formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and setting in motion a plan to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City.

“Today we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital,” Mr. Trump said from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. “This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It’s something that has to be done.”

The president cast his decision as a break with decades of failed policy on Jerusalem, which the United States, along with virtually every other nation in the world, has declined to recognize as the capital since Israel’s founding in 1948. That policy, he said, brought us “no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.”

“It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result,” Mr. Trump declared.

The failure of the conventional wisdom on this matter is clear, but I am less sanguine about Donald Trumps less-conventional stupidity in solving this, or anything.

The president said the decision to recognize Jerusalem should not be construed as the United States taking a position on whether, or how, the city might ultimately be shared. But he offered little solace to the Palestinians, making no mention of their long-held hopes for East Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state.

Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has been a fact for 70 years. It’s an incontrovertible fact.

However, the disposition of EAST Jerusalem, which became Israeli territory only after the 6-Day War is NOT a fact, and IS up for negotiation.

At least one former Obama administration official also weighed in with sharp criticism. John O. Brennan, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said in a statement that Mr. Trump’s action was “reckless” and would “damage U.S. interests in the Middle East for years to come and will make the region more volatile.”

Well, now we know the position of the House of Saud, because Brennan has been the Saudi Princes’ bitch since early in his CIA career.

Jerusalem is one of the world’s most fiercely contested swaths of real estate, with each side disputing the other’s claims. Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, and most of the world considers it occupied territory. Jerusalem’s Old City has the third-holiest mosque in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism, making the city’s status a sensitive issue for Muslims and Jews alike. Jerusalem is also sacred ground to Christians.

Hence the need to clearly state, which he did, that there are still negotiations to be had on this matter.

I don’t think that this will make any difference in the long term situation, because I don’t think that ANYTHING will make a difference in the long term situation.

It will be interesting to watch the Palestinian Authority’s response.

Auferre Trucidare Rapere Falsis Nominibus Imperium, Atque Ubi Solitudinem Faciunt, Pacem Appellant

I am of course quoting Tacitus:

To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.

It is a quote that he attributes to a speech by Celtic chieftan Calgacus, in his biography of his father in law,  Gnaeus Julius Agricola, though the whole speech is almost universally considered to be a literary creation of Tacitus.

The Agricola is more than a history though, it is a critique of the corruption and lack of freedom of the Roman Empire.

I also see it as a metaphor for Hillary Clinton, whose history evokes the Calgacus speech.

Whether it’s her failure as Chair of the Task Force on National Health Care Reform, her support of the Iraq war well past its sell by date, her advocacy for the destruction of Libya, her vociferous support of gutting welfare and making war on minorities through the crime bill, her 2008 campaign, her 2016 campaign, etc. she is an avatar of a hapless ruling class in a corrupt empire.

She is unable, and likely unwilling, to think beyond the conventional wisdom, she values loyalty over competence, and her staff has been the proverbial bucket of crabs, where internal conflict results in the failure of all.

This has created a record of failure, and generate a reputation for intellect, that rivals that of Richard Bruce Cheney.

She is a marker of imperial decay.

The same cannot be said for Donald Trump.  He is the very archetype of the barbarian at the gate.

He’s is like the Visigoths who sacked Rome.

If you are wondering why I am drawing parallels with the decline and fall of Rome, it is because I see the something very similar going on now in the United States.

John Conyers Has Left the House

Representative John Conyers Jr., under intense pressure to resign amid multiplying allegations that he sexually harassed former employees, announced Tuesday that he would leave Congress immediately, and he endorsed his son John Conyers III to succeed him.

Mr. Conyers, 88, the “dean” of the House and the longest-serving African-American representative in history, acquiesced to weeks of pressure from fellow Democrats. But by trying to keep his Detroit-area seat in the family, he touched off a family feud between his 27-year-old son and his great-nephew Ian Conyers, a state senator from Michigan who also plans to run in a special House election.

In a phone interview, Ian Conyers said that his great-uncle encouraged him to run for the seat days before deciding to step down. Now the two younger Conyerses will most likely face off in what may become a battle over the legacy of Mr. Conyers, considered an icon to many black people.

“I said, ‘Sir, if you decide that you’re going to retire, give me a heads-up because I’m going to run for your seat and keep doing the work that you have been up to,’” Ian Conyers said. “He said, ‘Absolutely. You go for it. Run.’”

I will note that this sh%$ HAD to have become common knowledge in the Congress at some point in the past 52 years he has served.

Who were his enablers?

Somehow or Other, They Are Going to Get Rat F%$%Ed

The Indian pharmaceutical company Laurus Labs is planning to start selling low cost HIV drugs in the US as they come off patent:

Among the coconut plantations and beaches of South India, a factory the size of 35 football fields is preparing to churn out billions of generic pills for HIV patients and flood the U.S. market with the low-cost copycat medicines.

U.S. patents on key components for some important HIV therapies are poised to expire starting in December and Laurus Labs Ltd. — the Hyderabad, India-based company which owns the facility — is gearing up to cash in.

Laurus is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of ingredients used in anti-retrovirals, thanks to novel chemistry that delivers cheaper production costs than anyone else. Now, its chief executive officer, Satyanarayana Chava, wants to use the same strategy selling his own finished drugs in the U.S. and Europe. He predicts some generics that Laurus produces will eventually sell for 90 percent less than branded HIV drugs in the U.S., slashing expenditures for a disease that’s among the costliest for many insurers.

………

“The savings for U.S. payers will be so huge when these generic combination drugs are available in the U.S.,” he said in an interview at the factory outside the Southern Indian city of Visakhapatnam. Payers will save “billions of dollars,” he said.

The patent expiries are starting this month when Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Sustiva loses protection. Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Viread follows next month. Both companies didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Would expect to see another round of evergreening, along with regulatory and judiciary road blocks to stop this.

After all, it’s only people’s lives, and the profits must be protected.

Metaphor of the Day

Over at Naked Capitalism, I suggested in the comments that, as I have here, given the problems creating a majority coalition, Frau Merkel* should at least make a proforma effort to bring in Die Linke (The Left) into the coalition.

Well, this engendered the following response, which is one for the ages:

Sid Finster:

Ain’t gonna happen. It would be the equivalent of asking ‘OK, which one of you just farted?” during an audience with the Pope.

Some things cannot be acknowledged, especially among Europeans, who have created a political system based almost entirely on pretense. Even if the assembled petitioners are turning green and retching from the rancid stank and the Holy Father has s stupid grin on his mug, everyone has to carry on like everything is normal.

Because Europe is so committed the pretense of “More Europe!”, to “fake it until you make it”, it is particularly bad form to point out that Europe is faking it.

I love the f%$#ing internet.

*Horses whinnying.

Schadenfreude, Bill O’Reilly Edition

One of Bill O’Reilly’s sexual harassment victims is now suing him.

There was a settlement with him some years back, but O’Reilly could not keep his mouth site, and the agreement included mutual non-disparagement clauses, so she gets another bite at the apple:

Looking for a biography of fired Fox News host Bill O’Reilly? Try this one, with the title: “The Man Who Would Not Shut Up.”

Prophetic. The fallen cable news star was sued Monday in a New York federal court for, essentially, failing to shut up. Some background: As the New York Times reported in a career-killing April 1 article, O’Reilly, along with his employer, had settled several cases with female colleagues alleging mistreatment and sexual harassment over a 20-year career at Fox News. One of them was Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, a producer who, in 2002, ended up on the wrong end of an O’Reilly tantrum. Sexual harassment was not alleged, though Bernstein reached a settlement and left Fox News.

………

The complaint filed Monday comes from Witlieb Bernstein, who alleges breach of contract — she and O’Reilly signed non-disparage and confidentiality agreements as part of the 2002 settlement — and defamation. Written by Neil Mullin and Nancy Erika Smith of Smith Mullin, P.C., it spits at O’Reilly’s attempts to save face. The statements published in the media, notes the complaint, try to paint O’Reilly as a “target” of extortionate claims. “This is false,” reads the complaint. “In fact, he is a serial abuser and Ms. Bernstein’s complaints against him were far from extortionate.” Another element of the complaint addresses O’Reilly’s oft-repeated insistence that he was never the subject of a complaint to human resources departments over his career. “I never mistreated anyone,” he said in one interview. He also alleged that the charges against him were “politically and financially motivated.”

“In fact, Mr. O’Reilly is the liar,” says the complaint, which also lists Fox News as a defendant. “He mistreated Ms. Bernstein. She was forced out of her job at Fox News and paid a settlement because of his mistreatment.” Contrary to O’Reilly’s claims, Witlieb Bernstein did indeed go to human resources and “other company executives” to raise her complaints about O’Reilly, argues the suit. That she apparently got nowhere isn’t a surprise: The HR department at the time was a captive hive of Fox News chief Roger Ailes, who was ousted in summer 2016 over sexual-harassment claims and died in May. In response to the Ailes and O’Reilly scandals, Fox News has strengthened its HR functions; the HR chief now reports to 21st Century Fox, and not to Fox News.

I am extremely amused.

Typical MSNBC

I’ve not watched MSNBC in a few years.

Between firing Olbermann, being in the tank for Clinton in the primaries, and Rachael Maddow’s Mort Sahl style conspiracy theory meltdown, I’ve given up on them.

Really, the only time I notice them these days is when the unresolved mommy issues that Joy Reid addresses with her boosterism of Hillary Clinton make the Twitter machine explode.

Well, now MSNBC has fired Sam Seder because of a Tweet mocking people who wanted Roman Polanski to avoid prosecution for rape because he is a marvelous director:*

MSNBC has decided not to renew its contract with contributor Sam Seder after an old tweet emerged in which Seder joked about Roman Polanski raping his daughter, TheWrap has learned.

Seder’s contract ends in February and he has no scheduled appearances between now and then, a spokesperson for MSNBC told TheWrap.

“Don’t care re Polanski, but I hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/a great sense of mise en scene,” wrote Seder in the now deleted tweet from 2009.

(emphasis mine)

It appears that alt-right bro-blogger Mike Cernovich, promulgator of the Pizzagate fraud, came across the tweet, and the Right wing rent a crowd swung into action, and MSNBC fired Seder.

By comparison, Joy “Mommy Issues” Reid was was found to use bigoted homophobic terms in an attempt to out former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, and management is still cool with her:

Recently resurfaced internet archives show political commentator Joy Reid wrote a dozen blog posts in 2007, 2008, and 2009 that contained homophobic conspiracies and anti-gay jokes.

The MSNBC weekend host ran a blog called The Reid Report — which is the same name as her now-defunct cable news show — a decade ago while she wrote for the Miami Herald. As first resurfaced by Twitter user Jamie_Maz, Reid wrote numerous bigoted blog posts smearing, mocking, and attacking former Florida governor Charlie Crist. These rants included calling Crist “Miss Charlie” and sarcastically using the tags “gay politicians” and “not gay politicians” — despite the fact that the twice-married, heterosexual man has never come-out as gay.

Reid went on to spread the crackpot conspiracy theory that Crist was actually a closeted gay man who refused to come out for fear that his sexual orientation would hurt his political career. Additionally, the AM Joy host claims Crist’s marriages to women are part of this elaborate cover up.

As bad as the conspiracy theory is in itself, Reid doesn’t just suggest Cris is gay — she assumes he is gay and proceeds to attack him for it. “Miss Charlie, Miss Charlie. Stop pretending, brother. It’s okay that you don’t go for the ladies,” wrote Reid in a 2007 post.

Casting homophobic slurs and attempting to out someone is OK, but showing the hypocrisy of people who think that the movie Chinatown is good enough to justify rape is somehow beyond the pale.

MSNBC has become a very f%$#ed up place.

*Actually, I do support an end to his prosecution, but not because of the quality of his movies.  I object to further prosecution because the misbehavior of the prosecutor(s) and judge(s) in this matter are so egregious to demand such an action. Sometimes why matters.

Something Good About the US Senate

Truth be told, I am not generally a fan of the Senate. I have referred to it as a Petri dish for narcissistic sociopaths in the past.

That being said, on rare occasions, its rather arcane rules occasionally yield positive results:

Congressional Republicans can’t use their tax cuts for the rich to define and codify the view that life begins at fertilization, according to the rules of the U.S. Senate.

The GOP’s initial tax proposals in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate each conferred 529 college savings plan benefits to an “unborn child…at any stage of development” in an unprecedented attempt to wield the tax code against reproductive rights. Republicans on Capitol Hill have long sought deeply unpopular fetal “personhood” bills that try to classify fertilized eggs, zygotes, embryos, and fetuses as “persons,” and to grant them full legal protection under the U.S. Constitution, including the right to life from the moment of conception. Personhood laws, repeatedly rejected by voters across the United States, would criminalize abortion with no exception and ban many forms of contraception, in vitro fertilization, and health care for pregnant people.

The latest fetal personhood effort ultimately violated rules associated with the fast-track process Republicans are using to pass their tax bill. Under “reconciliation,” Republicans need a simple 51-vote majority in the Senate instead of the 60-vote threshold typically required to bypass a filibuster and pass controversial legislation. But reconciliation is subject to the Byrd rule, which puts the kibosh on provisions that are “merely incidental” to the budget.

In other words, Congress can’t wield the reconciliation process for the sake of a political agenda.

This is a good outcome, but I would still like to see the Senate more like the House, because it is a truly dysfunctional body.

There, It Wasn’t So Hard

After much complaining, Apple agrees to pay over $15,400,000,000,00 in taxes to Ireland, and Ireland agreed to take it after complaining mightily.

Neither of them wanted that to happen.  Apple cut a tax deal with Ireland, that the EU deemed an illegal subsidy, and so Apple had to pay back taxes, which Ireland objected to even more than Apple.

Basically, Ireland’s economic model is to be an economic vassal of multinational corporations, and so they don’t want to collect taxes due.

Think of it as Amazon’s 2nd city competition writ even larger.

I’d call it corporate welfare, but it’s more like extortion.

Linkage

The care and feeding of cast iron cookware: