Michelle Moquin's "A day in the life of…"

Good morning!

From the Daily Kos. It’s not only amazing, it is shocking, sickening…you name it. It’s nazism in the works…and if the “plans” in the video were true, they would be building the ovens as I write this blog. Just noticing.

Donald Trump supporters watching outrageous fake Trump campaign ads is amazing

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog has been running a “Triumph Summer Election Special 2016” on Hulu. It’s kind of amazing. One of the bits Triumph and crew did was bring in a group of Trump supporters, ostensibly to be a “focus group” for a new set of campaign advertisements that Donald Trump wanted to roll out. However, the advertisements are outrageous—even for Donald Trump (maybe?).

The first advertisement takes on the issue of transgender people and bathrooms. A voice actor doing a pretty good Trump impression can be heard over the commercial. The turn in this first ad is the proposal to put guns in every women’s bathroom.

The second ad takes on the “women’s issue” for Trump. It starts with a voice over by Trump:

I’m a big fan of women and they’re big fans of me. Some want to vote for Crooked Hillary just because she’s a woman … but it (sic) she?

From there it goes into a series of conspiratorial questions wondering aloud whether Barack Obama is actually a woman and Hillary Clinton is actually a man. It’s kind of extraordinary. At every point, they show the people being “focused grouped” try to bend their minds to the concepts being put forth in these “advertisements.”

The advertisements from there continue forward:

• One about building an “invisible electric fence” while we wait for the famous wall to be built.
• Locking Mexican people in porta pottys and then trucking them over the border to Mexico.
• Locking illegal domestic servants in fake homes, transporting them back into Mexico and then selling them the house they were locked in, for pesos.
• Creating casino/abortion zones in the United States—you have to see it to believe it.

It is very funny and it is very dark as the Trump supporters work their minds into a lather trying to make sense of these crazy Trump ideas, and go along with them.

Watch it: 

👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼

Readers: In my opinion, it would be funny if it wasn’t true. But these are real people contemplating these ideas and instead of thinking, “This man is crazy – there is no way I’m going to go along with his ideas and vote for him as president” – They’re either ignorant and stupid, which many are…they’re thinking what Trump is saying because they’re racist, which many are….they’re playing a “Paul Ryan” and voting for him anyway, in spite of his ridiculous and sickening plans, for “party” loyalty…or all of the above.

These kinds of pin-brained people make decisions with no real thought about the ramifications they will have on our country. And it goes without saying the affect it would have on OTWS.  Yet, they’ll be the first ones later on to bitch about everything that’s going on, and how much suffering they’re going through (who cares about the OTWS!) because the Donald fucked things up so bad.

Well, if you’re not going to stick up for your neighbor and instead stick them with solvents, don’t go complaining when someone wants to do something horrific to you, (Disgusting beyond the pale. ) and others follow along. Because it just might happen.

You’ve got to believe that if someone had the power to open up the ovens, they would.  What these whites don’t realize is that they could and would be next. If you’re half white or even a quarter white you’re going to the ovens next. If you’re fat or sick,  you’re butt would be going too. Germany did it back then; don’t think it wouldn’t be the same now. )

Thoughts? What are you Just noticing? Blog me. 

Ruth, AF: So happy to hear you are doing well. How’s Harris? Lex? I don’t know when I’ll be able to visit. Hopefully soon. I will let you know. I’m excited to see the girls…excited to see all of you, especially before they run off with all those boys. :) Love you.

Happy Sunday, Everyone.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

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All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning!

Well, it picked up a bit didn’t it? Here I thought perhaps everyone was out kissing instead of blogging. But I see you were doing both. :) Loved the history and interesting stats too. It just shows us how much kissing means to all of us that it’s so worth studying.

Since all the talk is about lips, it seemed only natural to blog about something delicious that passes through them.

I LOVE avocados. I eat them regularly. I try to buy local/organic as much as possible but I have to admit I am one who has bought them from Mexico too. But now I know better.

From Think Progress:

Your Guacamole Is Hurting Mexican Forests

Eating avocados has been linked with better diet quality and nutrition for years, well now it seems a surging love for this fruit is driving deforestation in Mexico.

Avocados grow best in the same climate and altitude as the pine and oyamel fir forests in Michoacan, a state that produces 88 percent of Mexico’s avocados. The Associated Press reported Tuesday avocado demand is driving local growers to slash and burn forest to plant avocados, a crop that has enjoyed exponential prices in recent months.

The U.S. is a major importer of Mexican avocados. And over the past several months, demand across the country has increased as some major national avocado growers in California have experienced heat waves that have hurt local production. In a time of increasing trade between the two countries, U.S. consumption is likely boosting prices and encouraging Mexican growers to expand into new territories.

“Even where they aren’t visibly cutting down forest, there are avocados growing underneath [the pine boughs], and sooner or later they’ll cut down the pines completely,” Mario Tapia Vargas, researcher at Mexico’s National Institute for Forestry, Farming and Fisheries Research, told the Associated Press.

Encroachment has already reached natural reserves for Monarch butterflies, a severely endangered species that spends its winters in Michoacan before it migrates to as far north as Canada. In the past few years, the numbers of Monarch butterflies that migrate across the United States have dropped to all-time lows. What’s more, oyamel forest is Mexico’s most endangered ecosystem. Just about 2 percent of the original oyamel forest remains.

Transforming forest into avocado orchards also puts Michoacan water resources at risk. Avocados are water-intensive fruits that when massively produced can demand more water than a natural dense forest. Growing a pound of avocados in Mexico needs nearly 32 gallons of water, Mother Jones reported.

“Beyond the displacement of forests and the effects on water retention, the high use of agricultural chemicals, and the large volumes of wood needed to pack and ship avocados are other factors that could have negative effects on the area’s environment, and the well-being of its inhabitants,” Greenpeace said in a statement.

According to government data, avocado land use is making Michoacan lose some 1,200 acres of forest a year. (One acre is roughly the size of a football field.) But the effects of deforestation go beyond Mexico’s borders. Losing forests exacerbates climate change because trees function as carbon sinks that withhold CO2 from the atmosphere.

A Monarch butterfly sits on a branch at the Sierra Chincua Sanctuary, in the mountains of Mexico’s Michoacan state. High avocado prices in 2016 have fueled deforestation in Michoacan state, where farmers cut down pines to clear the way for more avocado trees. Michoacan’s forests contain much of the wintering grounds of the monarch butterfly. CREDIT: AP Photo/ Marco Ugarte.

But the Mexican government is taking action. Last month, federal police in Morelia, the Michoacan state capital, detained a dozen people, seized avocado plants, and vehicles used to switch a deforested area into an orchard.

The federal government also invested about $500,000 six years ago in a program that pays rural communities in Michoacan to conserve water-capturing forests like the ones now under threat. But in a state that has been battered with drug violence and poverty rates of nearly 60 percent for years, conservation programs may be insufficient given the need.

“Avocado farming is very attractive, because of the prices being the way they are,” Tapia Vargas said.

U.S. avocado consumption is likely playing role in Michoacan deforestation. Over the last year, avocado prices skyrocketed in the United States, according to the Haas Avocado Board, pointing to a clear spike in demand. One Haas avocado — the type of avocado Michoacan grows — cost $1.50 on average in July. That’s 50 cents more than same time last year.

The U.S. is a net importer of Mexican avocados. In fact, Mexico supplied most of the avocados the U.S. imported last year. This comes as trade deals like NAFTA allow avocados from approved orchards in Mexico to be distributed around the country.

Meanwhile, recent record-breaking high temperatures in California burned some of the state’s avocado production, and may have also harmed next year’s crop. California, already struggling with drought, is by far the largest avocado producer in the country. If California can’t supply the market, the U.S. might have to rely more on Mexican avocados to fulfill the growing demand that a recent study attributed to millennials, the nation’s largest living generation.

The connection between climate change and avocados is not new. Companies like Chipotle, which thrives on millennial consumers, have already included climate change-triggered avocado shortages in their business plans. In 2014, the company told investors climate change could force prices for raw produce like avocado to jump, pushing their guacamole off the menu. ClimateProgress broke the story and prompted many headlines and an assurance from Chipotle that the disclosure of climate risk was a “non-issue.” Yet two years later, with higher prices and drought conditions forcing avocado supply shifts, Chipotle’s risk disclosures may still prove prudent.

So while avocados are good for the body, and extra guacamole on a burrito is always great, it seems that there is such thing as having too much guac.

*****

Readers: Something to think about.

Happy Saturday! xxxxx

Blog me!

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Since it’s Friday, I couldn’t resist.💄

From Hello Giggles:

Science has some serious news about kissing and we’re all ears…or lips

Making out. Tonsil hockey. Perhaps the British alternative, snogging. Regardless of what you might call it, kissing plays a pivotal role in relationships, including feeling out (maybe literally!) a potential partner and determining if you’ll stay together.

Researchers at Oxford University surveyed 300 men and nearly 600 women from 18-63 years old to find out more about kissing. Participants were asked about the importance of kissing in both short- and long-term relationships.

According to Robin Dunbar, one of the authors of the study, “kissing plays a role in assessing a potential partner.”

But, what leads us to kissing anyway? In simple terms, evolution. More specifically, a group of genes called the MHC, or the Major Histocompatibility Complex. These genes form part of our immune system and are what compose our natural scent. Because of this, partners with opposite MHC make-ups mate and produce offspring who have stronger immune systems! It’s true what they say: Opposites attract!

While other degrees of chemistry influence a relationship as well, the study found that kissing has these profound effects:

Evaluate your partner’s suitability

This is geared toward those who may wish to conceive soon. Kissing helps to determine the “genetic quality of a mate.” MHC at it again!

(Ok, I just have to interrupt this posting of this write because this couple above is just too HOT!)

Establish feelings of attachment

A chemical cocktail of oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin is released when kissing. These three chemicals stimulate the pleasure center of the brain, which can cause feelings of euphoria and addictive behavior.

It’s not all about sex

Although the correlation is there, researchers found that kissing isn’t the primary factor in initiating sex. However, both sex and how often individuals kissed positively affected their relationships. This holds true for those in short-term and long-term relationships.

There you have it, folks. Go out there and kiss! For science!

💋💋💋

Readers: I don’t need science to give me an excuse to kiss. :) It’s one of my fave things to do with my man. When you’ve got a strong chemistry goin’ on and the kiss is ooh la la sweet and delicious, it’s an addiction that I am quite happy with, thank you.

However, when the kiss is just “meh,” you know…no sparks flying…well…more than likely the chances of any future relationship stops there with me.

And you?

Maria: I agree with Michael et al. You’re doing a wonderful service. Thank you. Let’s HOPE more Dems come your way too. And if they don’t, as Joan said they may be registering republican but when it comes time to vote…they are voting for Hillary. Every day Trump loses more support. By the time the elections come, I suspect he won’t have too many backing him anymore. But let’s not count on that. We still need to get out and vote.

Melley: Thanks for posting the write from the NYT. I am speechless. The readers pretty much covered and said what was on my mind. This election is certainly like no other.

Jade: I was thinking that exact same thing. He had so little campaign money and now…$$$$$.

Ruth, AF: Thanks for your addition to my post. This type of behavior would never be tolerated if Trump were not a white man.  Shocking how some are blinded by the white. How are you, Harry and the girls? Sending my love… ♥️

Mike, TM: How’s it going? HOPE you’re well.

1 of 2: An old fave that always gets me going. 💃🏽 Thanks!

Kissing and dancing…A perfect way to roll into the weekend. It’s Friday…you know what to do. Flap your lips and start kissing…or blog me…whichever you prefer.

Peace & Love.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

This just might interest you. Because it is absolutely criminal. You may be signing your life away so please read.

From American Progress:

The Case Against Mandatory Consumer Arbitration Clauses

Federal agencies are looking to limit rip-off clauses in fine print that deny access to justice.

Last October, a technological glitch left more than 132,000 RushCard users separated for days from the money in their accounts. Because the prepaid RushCard often works as a bank account substitute for those who do not have or do not want a traditional bank account, many people were ultimately unable to pay their bills or day-to-day expenses until the problem was resolved.

In response, users might be expected to sue. Even if individual victims did not choose to sue because of the costs involved, an attorney might file a class action lawsuit to represent thousands of wronged consumers. However, customers had already—largely unknowingly—agreed to a mandatory arbitration clause in the fine print of their card contracts. This effectively signed away their right to sue, individually or through a class action. Under such a clause, individuals waive their Seventh Amendment right to a civil trial by jury in favor of meeting with an arbitrator—someone chosen by the company involved—to act as judge and jury.

This is entirely legal, due to the Federal Arbitration Act, a 1925 law designed to help businesses resolve their contractual disputes quickly and easily outside of court by validating agreements made by private arbitrators. Over the past three decades, courts have taken a broader view of arbitration clauses to include relationships between businesses and individuals; since then, these clauses have become ubiquitous in contracts, determining how potential disputes will be handled long before a dispute arises. The clauses may include bans on participating in class action lawsuits, as well as requirements that individual disputes go to arbitration.

Many everyday products contain these hidden clauses. In 2014, General Mills famously reversed course after attempting to require that anyone who even liked Cheerios on Facebook agreed to arbitration for future disputes. And as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, was charged with studying these clauses in financial products. It found that they are everywhere: For example, roughly half of all checking accounts and credit cards have such clauses. And for consumers using products that are often targeted at lower-income or more vulnerable populations—such as prepaid cards and payday loans—the vast majority of products studied by the CFPB contained these clauses. The usage of these clauses, however, goes far beyond financial products. During the 2013–2014 school year, approximately 98 percent of students who received federal financial aid to attend for-profit colleges had contracts requiring that disputes go to arbitration as well. Figure 1 shows the prevalence of these clauses for different products. Employment contracts, too, may contain similar clauses: Some employment lawyers estimate that as many as one in three nonunion workers is under a mandatory arbitration agreement.

Ultimately, victims of last fall’s RushCard outage narrowly avoided disaster. In a surprising and unusual response to public pressure, the company waived its own arbitration clause and recently reached a $19 million settlement with everyone affected. Millions of victims in other cases are not likely to be so lucky, and most companies are not likely to be so benevolent. Fortunately, some federal agencies and members of Congress are looking to reverse this practice to make sure people are not locked out of the courthouse when harmed by a product or service—although they face an uphill battle in doing so.

Mandatory arbitration often falls short

When large numbers of people are wronged, as in the RushCard case, class action lawsuits are one way to resolve claims and punish wrongdoing. If a class action is successfully resolved in favor of the victims—either by trial or in a settlement—it can have two beneficial effects. First, it provides financial relief to the victims. Second, the threat of a significant monetary penalty may also incentivize changes in behavior. While class actions can have their own limitations and drawbacks—particularly when class members’ individual concerns and needs may differ—they remain a powerful tool for accountability.

Proponents of arbitration have argued that it, too, can adequately execute individuals’ legal rights and ensure that they effectively have access to justice in response to wrongdoing. Court cases have long considered whether arbitration provides effective vindication of individual rights. The concept of arbitration is theoretically appealing: Instead of going to court, two parties attempt to resolve their differences privately with a neutral arbitrator. There are many instances where this makes sense, such as when both parties select the arbitrator, an action that helps ensure an arbitrator is trusted and respected by both sides.

Baseball arbitration’s balancing act

Professional baseball players sometimes use a form of final-offer arbitration in which representatives for a player and the team each propose a salary to a third-party arbitrator, who then hears evidence and picks one side or the other. The arbitrator cannot choose an amount between the two that are given. Because neither party wants to suggest a figure that might be rejected out of hand, this encourages both sides to make reasonable proposals, knowing they will have to live with one or the other. It also encourages both parties to reach an agreement beforehand if either side is concerned that it will not get a favorable outcome from an arbitrator.

However, in cases where the two parties may not be on equal footing, using arbitration to effectively vindicate consumers’ rights is more challenging. To be effective, arbitration needs to be both cost-effective and accessible. This is not always the case. In 2013, Yvonne Cardwell, a part-time dishwasher at a Whataburger restaurant in El Paso, Texas, sued her employer after suffering injuries at work. Company policy dictated that the case go to arbitration instead, which would have taken place several hours away in Dallas. It was difficult and expensive for Cardwell to travel to Dallas to meet with an arbitrator when the matter could have been handled locally in court. And in this case going to court could have been cheaper. The trial judge reviewing the arbitration clause found that it would cost the company $20,000 to pay for the arbitrator, an expense it would not face inside the local court system. Cardwell’s case is still in deliberation in the courts, but it is illustrative of how arbitration can be a more expensive and time-consuming resolution that makes it harder for victims to pursue their claims.

To be an effective deterrent, the results of arbitration would need to be transparent. Yet they are typically confidential, making it difficult for victims to recognize common problems that a company may have already resolved for other customers. While the lack of transparency makes it difficult to pinpoint outcomes, there is some evidence that consumers are also less likely to win in arbitration than in class actions. One analysis of California labor cases in the mid-2000s found that employees won only 21 percent of cases in arbitration, but they won 36 percent of federal employment discrimination cases and more than half of all state court cases. Successful lawsuits also typically resulted in awards roughly 5 to 10 times larger than those reached in arbitration. Similarly, the CFPB’s analysis of arbitration agreements found that within its sample, between 2010 and 2012 consumers received a total of $172,433 as the result of arbitration, plus $189,107 in debt forbearance. Yet during the same time period, class action settlements resulted in more than $1 billion to consumers through cash and in-kind relief, after fees. While some of these settlements were quite large and involved tens of millions of class members, the vast majority of cases in the CFPB’s analysis were for smaller classes and total sums of $10 million in relief or less. For example, 21 million bank account holders were members of 37 class action settlements between 2008 and 2012, but the median class size was only 8,136 and the average was 568,000.

The consequences of arbitration clauses

At a minimum, mandatory arbitration clauses may dissuade victims from pursuing claims. In just one example demonstrated by a New York Times analysis of 57 million Sprint customers nationwide, only six customers sought arbitration between 2010 and 2014. It is unlikely that so few customers would pursue a complaint against a large company. Of course, not all customer complaints will result in legal action. Internal customer service practices may potentially resolve many concerns before reaching that point. However, recognizing that they are unable to take the company to court, many customers may decide to drop their claims rather than pursue an arbitration process that has low odds of success.

When arbitration is a required mechanism from the start rather than a voluntary way to settle disputes with consumers and workers, it gives companies a free pass for low quality and abusive practices. When the risk of being held accountable is low, there is less incentive for companies to do the right thing. In addition, because arbitrators are likely to want to do business with a company in the future, they have a built-in reason to side with the company over the consumer.

The most economically vulnerable individuals are also the most likely to be affected by these clauses. Just as Yvonne Cardwell, the Whataburger employee, was told she would need to travel several hours if she wanted to be present when an arbitrator reviewed her case, products targeted to low-income families are often more likely to include arbitration clauses. A recent report by The Century Foundation found that 98 percent of students receiving federal funds to attend for-profit schools have an arbitration clause in the enrollment agreements that students are required to sign before attending school. Notably, virtually no public or nonprofit higher education institutions in the study used forced arbitration clauses in their enrollment agreements—only for-profit institutions. Given for-profits’ poor track record, this is troubling: Among students who enrolled at these schools in 2001 and 2002 and received federal financial aid, 57 percent were earning less than $25,000 annually 10 years later, suggesting that the economic benefits of their programs were limited. Just as prepaid cards and payday loans frequently contain arbitration clauses, these clauses at for-profit colleges reduce institutional accountability for places that serve those who are most economically vulnerable.

In some cases, these clauses shift risk to victims and to taxpayers. When victims such as Yvonne Cardwell face procedural hurdles to exercise their legal rights, their financial challenges in the meantime may leave them in a worse position. On the national level, taxpayers are on the hook for billions of federal aid dollars that went toward for-profit colleges with very poor outcomes for students. Appellate attorney Deepak Gupta of Washington, D.C., who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on arbitration clauses, has suggested mandatory arbitration clauses may even result in a wealth transfer from harmed consumers and workers to the firms that commit wrongdoing. In addition, when bad behavior is less likely to be identified and punished, practices such as unfair or deceptive consumer practices and the use of wage theft are more lucrative. Issues that have not seen the light of day in a courtroom may also elude the attention of regulators and policymakers who have the power to take their own public enforcement actions in response to wrongdoing.

Efforts to reform mandatory arbitration clauses

In a series of decisions since the early 1980s, the Supreme Court has increasingly defended the use of forced arbitration clauses when they exist in contracts. These arguments have concluded that the Federal Arbitration Act supersedes other consumer and worker laws and protections on the books. In response, a number of federal agencies seek to restrict the use of these clauses in contracts to protect consumers and workers. Here are just a few examples:

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule in May 2016 to prohibit financial institutions from including language in any new consumer contracts, such as those for bank accounts and credit cards, that would limit consumers’ ability to pursue class-action lawsuits. The proposal would also require data collection when individual arbitration takes place in order to provide transparency about the arbitration process and outcomes for consumers, to possibly inform future rulemaking in this area.
• The U.S. Department of Education in June 2016 released proposed regulations that would retain consumers’ right to sue institutions of higher education. The proposed rule prohibits class action bans and mandatory arbitration for students who take out Direct Loans to attend colleges and universities that receive federal funding, and should be extended to a wider range of claims by students receiving federal financial aid. This is particularly important in the wake of abuses by for-profit colleges that required students to waive their right to sue. If students had that right, fraud and abuse in the higher education marketplace could be identified and corrected much faster.
• The U.S. Department of Defense in July 2015 banned arbitration clauses in loans made to service members under the Military Lending Act. First passed in 2006, the act limits the interest rate that lenders can charge on certain types of loans to 36 percent annually, preventing harmful loans that may trap military families in debt and even risk individuals’ security clearances. This arbitration ban is particularly relevant given that service members may be away from home for long periods of time and may find it difficult to exercise their legal rights while they are away.
• The U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule on conflicts of interest in retirement investment advice, released in April 2016 and commonly known as the fiduciary rule, contains a best interest contract for financial advisers and their clients. This contract prohibits bans on class actions when savers and retirees receive financial advice about their retirement funds. It does, however, permit mandatory arbitration for individual disputes. The availability of “private rights of action” is expected to help enforce the rule, which requires advisers to act in their clients’ best interest rather than their own.
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, is finalizing new rules for payments to nursing homes that receive federal funding through Medicare and Medicaid that may include restrictions on the use of arbitration clauses in residents’ contracts. These provisions are particularly critical both as a form of accountability and as a way to ensure that elderly residents and their families are not forced to sign nonnegotiable contracts with language that they do not understand, or forced to sign without giving full, informed consent. In one Mississippi case involving a resident who was illiterate, a judge ruled that that factor alone would not invalidate an arbitration clause. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia requested that CMS block funding to nursing homes that use these clauses in residents’ contracts.
• The U.S. Department of Labor and the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council are finalizing new rules to implement President Barack Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. Once implemented, the order will require companies with more than $1 million in federal contracts not to bind their employees to enter into arbitration agreements for claims related to sexual assault or harassment.

Some members of Congress have also introduced legislation to limit the use of arbitration clauses. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) have introduced the Arbitration Fairness Act, a bill that would restore arbitration to its historical role as a business-to-business dispute mechanism and would allow courts, rather than arbitrators, to determine whether arbitration should apply. Another bill, the Restoring Statutory Rights and Interests of the States Act sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and others, would uphold state laws limiting the use of forced arbitration and ensure that victims’ rights under federal or state law can be exercised in court.

However, both regulators and members of Congress concerned about arbitration clauses face an uphill battle. In 2015, Congress considered blocking the CFPB’s arbitration rule as part of its year-end budget deal, and it may happen again this year. Meanwhile, Congress has attempted to block the Department of Defense from implementing President Obama’s executive order allowing military contractors to sue their employer for civil rights claims and claims related to sexual assault or abuse. Arbitration as a blunt instrument for dealing with disputes may not be going away on a large scale anytime soon.

Conclusion

Mandatory arbitration clauses, which are increasingly upheld by the courts, have in many cases tipped the scales of justice away from consumers and workers by making it more difficult for them to successfully challenge wrongdoing. Taking matters to court often results not only in better outcomes for victims, but in deterring future bad behavior. By limiting the use of these clauses in contracts, regulators and policymakers can reverse a trend of restricting legal remedies and thereby encourage accountability in the marketplace through the realignment of incentives.

Joe Valenti is the Director of Consumer Finance at the Center for American Progress.

*****

Readers: People don’t police themselves. Corporations are less likely to either. Good luck in getting them to do the right thing when the risk of being held accountable is low. It’s just not going to happen. Preying on students, OTWs, seniors – This is corrupt and downright greedy.

Thankfully, there’s been some good success in changing mandatory arbitration clauses to protect consumers and workers. However, our current Congress is not on the consumer and worker’s side. Another reason to turn around Congress. Vote out the republicans this November. Get the Dems in.

Thoughts? Blog me. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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GOOD MORNING!

I’ve been glued to the television, and staying up late to watch the Olympics. I literally just scanned all the comments. Whoa…lots of chatter about Trump. I guess it’s Trump week. Pretty easy considering how much there is to say about him.

Here’s the write from Think Progress:

Donald Trump’s Veiled Signals To White Supremacists

“You are not just responsible for what you say, you’re responsible for what people hear.”

That is how former NSA Director Michael Hayden reacted to Donald Trump’s recent call for “Second Amendment people” to stop Hillary Clinton. The Trump campaign responded as it always does after sparking outrage with an inflammatory remark: insisting the GOP nominee meant something completely innocent and blaming the media for negative spin.

But groups monitoring extremist communities in the United States say they’re increasingly worried about how such communities are interpreting Trump’s rhetoric, regardless of his intent. The non-partisan Southern Poverty Law Center sounded the alarm this week about white supremacist groups, on- and offline, citing Trump’s words and actions as signals of support.

The SPLC’s Heidi Beirich, who tracks the rhetoric and actions of hate groups, pointed to the Trump campaign’s pattern of following and retweeting influential white supremacists, giving interviews to explicitly racist media outlets, and repeatedly emphasizing the criminality of people of color and immigrants. She told reporters this treatment “reinforces the core beliefs of the white nationalist movement.”

“For the first time, they feel they have someone running for the highest office saying things they believe and want to see,” she said. “White nationalists desperately fear the demographic changes the country is going through, and they see Trump as their last stand and last best hope for controlling the country.”

‘Good Genes’

Since he entered the national political scene in 2011 by questioning whether the country’s first black president was a U.S. citizen, Trump has sent signals of approval to white nationalists and conspiracy theorists while elevating their ideas from fringe websites to a mainstream audience.

One of those signals, Beirich and others argued, is his repeated reference to his own superior genes.

Trump has long attributed his wealth and success to his genetic makeup. He told Playboy in 1990 that he is “a strong believer in genes” and that, because his children inherited those genes, they don’t need “adversity” to build skills and character. In 2010, he gave an interview in which he discussed his “breeding” at length and compared himself to a racehorse.

“I’m a gene believer,” he said. “When you connect two racehorses, you usually end up with a fast horse. I had a good gene pool from the stand point of that.”

Trump has also repeatedly cited his uncle, an MIT professor, as proof of his “good genes, very good genes.” He has done this so often that the New Yorker referred to the family connection as Trump’s “sort of eugenic guarantor of intelligence and breeding.”

Angelo Carusone with Media Matters for America, which has also been tracking white supremacist message boards, radio shows, and websites, says this obsessive talk of genetics reinforces and elevates the racist ideas found in those forums.

“It reinforces the idea that genetics are a legitimate qualification for leadership.”

“He constantly cites his own genetic background and argued that his brain is biologically better because of his genes,” Carusone said. “That could be Trump just being braggadocious, but it reinforces the idea that genetics are a legitimate qualification for leadership.”

Genetic intelligence, and its connection to race, is a common theme on white nationalist websites like American Renaissance and Stormfront. These groups, along with others like the American Freedom Party and the Council of Conservative Citizens, celebrated when Trump accused a Latino federal judge of being unfit for his job because of his “heritage” — essentially, his genes.

Ryan Lenz, the editor of the SPLC’s Hatewatch research project, told ThinkProgress that Trump’s emphasis on genes could be yet another of the many “dog whistle” messages he has offered far-right white nationalist groups.

“It has happened so many times now that if it’s not a strategy, it’s certainly a pattern,” he said.

The Trump campaign did not respond to ThinkProgress’ questions about these comments.

Social media footsie

Twitter has been a staple of Donald Trump’s campaign, allowing him to bypass the press and instantly communicate with millions of voters. But the social platform has also gotten him into trouble.

After Trump shared a meme in July depicting what looked like a Jewish star resting on a bed of money, reporters and tracking groups discovered that the image came from an white supremacist online community.

Further digging revealed that the Trump campaign has a history of promoting messages and images from openly racist accounts.

“He has retweeted some of the most influential voices in the white nationalist community,” said Carusone, “and he has refused to disavow it.”

Katrina Pierson, the official spokesperson for the Trump campaign, also follows white supremacists on social media, including the leaders of the movement promoting the idea that there is a genocide currently being perpetuated against white people. Many of Trump’s state-level staff follow similar accounts.

When Fortune magazine hired an analytics company to comb through Trump’s Twitter history, they found that the mogul has retweeted at least 75 users who follow three or more of the top 50 influencers in the “white genocide” movement.

“Donald Trump and his campaign have used social media to court support within the white supremacist community,” Fortune concluded.

White supremacists themselves have been open about the message they take away from Trump’s online habits.

“Our Glorious Leader and ULTIMATE SAVIOR has gone full-wink-wink-wink to his most aggressive supporters,” the site Daily Stormer gushed after Trump retweeted several “white genocide” accounts.

The non-white criminal menace

The theme of non-white criminality has been central to Trump’s campaign, despite the fact that both undocumented immigration and violent crime are at their lowest rates in decades, and despite ample evidence that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S. nationals.

The hotel mogul launched his bid for president with a speech proclaiming that Latino immigrants are rapists who are “bringing drugs, bringing crime” to the United States. Last month, he accepted the GOP nomination with a speech rife with racial dog whistles and inaccurate statistics about the threat posed by illegal immigrants and inner-city criminals.

“These are literally the ideas that inspired Dylann Roof,” said Beirich, referring to the man who murdered nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina last year. Roof cited the Council of Conservative Citizens’ warnings about “brutal black on White murders” as inspiration for his massacre. (Incidentally, the the Council of Conservative Citizens openly supports Trump and has made robocalls on his behalf.)

Organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that monitor extremist groups say Trump is appealing to white nationalists thanks to his focus on black-on-white crime, calls for mass deportations, and discussions of bans on immigration based on religion or country of origin.

“Trump’s whole strategy is to single out people based on things they cannot change, and target them for exclusion,” said Ryan Lenz, the editor of the SPLC’s Hatewatch program. “And it is almost always presented in terms of national security.”

In particular, said Beirich, Trump’s proposal to deport millions of immigrants “resonates with those who want to ethnically cleanse parts of the United States.”

Loud and clear

Over the last year, prominent white supremacists have endorsed Trump, made robocalls for him, organized rallies for him, raised money for him, and became delegates for his convention. They have praised him as a “glorious leader,” the “best hope for white people” who is “doing the Lord’s work.” They say his win would be “a real opportunity for people like white nationalists.”

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke — a vocal Trump supporter — said he was inspired to run for a Louisiana Senate this fall after seeing Trump’s success espousing views similar to his own. “I represent the ideas of preserving this country and the heritage of this country, and I think Trump represents that as well,” Duke told NPR.

Duke is not the only white supremacist inspired by Trump to run for office. From Tennessee to Montana to Ohio, candidates with openly racist and antisemitic views have stepped up to seek local and statewide offices.

Rick Tyler, an independent running for Congress in Tennessee, has put up public ads referencing Trump’s iconic slogan. Tyler’s billboard read, “Make America White Again.” The candidate, who opposes interracial marriage and all non-white immigration, specifically credited Trump for “loosen[ing] up the overall spectrum of political discourse.”

Whatever message Trump is intending to send, Caruson argues, it’s important to pay attention to the message these white nationalist groups are hearing.

“Taken together, these incidents demonstrate to these communities that he is on their side,” he said. “It is marshaling them and signaling that he believes their ideas are valid.”

Some white supremacist sites have noted this phenomenon directly. In May, when Trump supporters began targeting Jewish journalists for harassment, and Trump refused to condemn the behavior, the white supremacist site Daily Stormer laid out their takeaway message.

“Trump responded to the request [to denounce the anti-semitic slurs] with ‘I have no message to the fans,’ which might as well have been ‘Hail Victory, Comrades!’”

👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼

I’ll catch up with you all soon. But don’t wait on me. :P Carry on…

Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"