The Best People™
Cushy ambassadorships go to donors, so now a chiropractor is handling the fallout over Greenland

When relations with a traditional U.S. ally hit a rough patch, it is always good to have a capable ambassador on the scene to attempt to smooth things over. One who has extensive experience in dealing with subluxation, for instance, can help get the bilateral relationship realigned in no time.

Wait. What?

Well, if it’s as some chiropractors believe and a subluxated spine is the root of all illness, couldn’t it also perhaps be the key to working out a diplomatic spat? One has to hope, as the let’s-buy-Greenland brouhaha in the United States’ relationship with Denmark is being left to an ambassador whose résumé is devoid of governmental or international experience. She did, however, work as a chiropractor before marrying a now-deceased multimillionaire — and as a soap-opera and B-movie star. Who can ever forget her role in “Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell”?

Ambassador Carla Sands, whose generous donations to Donald Trump no doubt brought her to the attention of the White House Personnel Office after his election, is not unique in her experience. Her predecessor, appointed by President Barack Obama, had been a Hollywood actor and had his own reality TV show as ambassador. In fact, of the 20 men and women who have served as our ambassador in Copenhagen over the past 60 years, only two of them were career diplomats. The Danes are used to envoys with, to put it diplomatically, interesting backgrounds.

The selling of certain ambassadorships is as much a time-honored tradition entrenched in both political parties as it is thinly veiled corruption. Even Congress’s explicit intervention — a 1974 law saying ambassadorships should go to non-career diplomats only in exceptional circumstances and never with regard to political contributions — didn’t dismantle it. Before the law, noncareer appointees made up about 31 percent of the ambassadorial nominees. After it was enacted, the figure dropped to 30 percent. (...)

Jim Mattis rejoining General Dynamics board of directors

Mussolini’s birthplace cashes in on the surge of far-right tourism

 R_P wrote: 
seems like the sauds are buying weapons from everyone these days

i thought i read where spain and canada are selling to them too

what the hay?

The Trump Administration Is Declaring a Fake Emergency to Sell Weapons to Saudi Arabia

Under the 1976 Arms Export Control Act, the State Department must notify Congress 30 days before concluding an arms sale, which gives Congress the chance to vote on halting the weapons transfer. Under the rarely used provision, however, the president can certify that “an emergency exists” and that an immediate transfer is necessary for “the national security interests of the United States.”

 R_P wrote:

Corporations also are not immune to pressure for change emanating from stockholders and the general public. For example, “ethical investing” is a significant phenomenon with a real bottom-line effect; according to The Wall Street Journal, over the last three years $20 billion flowed into so-called sustainable equity funds in the United States, which invest with a social, political, or environmental purpose in mind—an evident reaction to the 2016 presidential election and its runup. This represents a 25 percent increase from 2014, and inflows in this category significantly outstrip those into traditional mutual funds. Saudi Arabia has been affected by growing pressures to divest from its stock market due to concerns about its behavior, with foreign investors dumping a little more than $1 billion in Saudi stocks in one week of October—among the biggest selloffs since the Kingdom admitted foreign investors in 2015. Improving corporate governance, a growing concern of investors, implicitly encourages the maintenance of a good business reputation, which can be leveraged to take into account human rights concerns in international business dealings.

The private sector has not always acted as a good global citizen. There are certainly many examples where it has not. But corporations are not, in the end, entirely unaccountable. By means of a variety of actions—whether driven by governments, investors, or public opinion—the private sector can be encouraged to do more to support free societies and free peoples.

the huge problem with authoritarian governments is that the people can't say no

they can't or aren't allowed to disagree with authoritarians and their supporters/benefactors

really bad ideas/dogma are postured and violently enforced in the name of the greater good/god

currently you and i can still say no or disagree with our rulers on some stuff

businesses/vendors exposed to markets have to put forth a good product at a fair price or we can say no and move on to someone/products we agree with

regards

How the Private Sector Supports Authoritarians in the Arab World

 siriuss wrote:
 
Sure, but don't forget to fold twice before...

 R_P wrote:
 
But butt but can I still wipe with my newspaper /

Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder

Trump reverses course, tells Pentagon to boost budget request to $750 billion
The president had previously called for a cut in defense spending.

We appreciate the government’s proactive action and partnership to maintain supply chain stability, reduce costs and ensure deliveries remain on track to meet growing demand around the globe

Amazon HQ2 Will Cost Taxpayers at Least $4.6 Billion, More Than Twice What the Company Claimed, New Study Shows

Amazon’s announcement this week that it will open its new headquarters in New York City and northern Virginia came with the mind-boggling revelation that the corporate giant will rake in $2.1 billion in local government subsidies. But an analysis by the nation’s leading tracker of corporate subsidies finds that the government handouts will actually amount to at least $4.6 billion.

Crisis actors?
Actors were paid to support Entergy’s power plant at New Orleans City Council meetings

Teenagers Defeat Trump’s Move to Kill Climate Change Lawsuit

A group of 21 youths who accuse the U.S. government of failing for decades to properly address climate change defeated the Trump administration’s attempt to keep the dispute out of court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Wednesday that a novel and sweeping case, which the Obama administration first tried to extinguish in 2016, can proceed toward a trial. Trump’s Justice Department is expected to ask the Supreme Court to shut it down.

The group of mostly teenagers in Oregon alleged in a 2015 complaint that government policies have exacerbated global warming in violation of their rights — and those of future generations — under the U.S. Constitution.

They claim that for more than 50 years, the office of the president and eight federal agencies promoted regulations to support the U.S. energy industry’s proliferation of fossil fuels, accounting for a quarter of the world’s carbon emissions. They asked the court to force the government to formulate a formal plan to change course. (...)

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
what we need to bring folks around 

a) some real media coverage (see the death and destruction)

b) a war tax (have to stroke a check for it)

hey, it's my hallucination...

 miamizsun wrote: 
Exactly. It's all about money and jobs.

 R_P wrote: 

it's almost like we could put anyone in the white house and the wars never miss a beat

Afghanistan Surge v3.0

Trump to Announce $350 Billion Arms Deal During Saudi Arabia Visit
White House Will Present Sale as Targeting Iran

Over the past few weeks there’ve been multiple reports of President Trump planning to unveil a massive arms sale to Saudi Arabia during his Riyadh visit, and the figures have kept rising. What was $100 billion earlier this week is now, according to the most recent reports $350 billion.

That would make it one of the largest arms deals in US history, and realistically in world history, and indications are that President Trump intends to present this as part of the push for the creation of “Arab NATO,” and by extension make it about Sunni Arabs confronting Iran.

This single deal would dwarf President Obama’s arms deals throughout his entire term in office, which are estimated at $200 billion, and are themselves the biggest amount of arms sales by any administration in the post war era. Saudi Arabia was a large buyer then, as well.

With Saudi Arabia locked in a seemingly endless war in Yemen, they’re going to continue to throw money at more costly US munitions and weaponry in hopes of winning what they thought would be a simple war, and all indications are that the current administration will be just as eager as the last one to sign off on them.