#crony capitalism

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[odinsblog]

I’ve worked for the Washington Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist. I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations—and some differences—about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now.

The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump.

There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago. The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.

While it isn’t uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn’t correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon. To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary. That’s a game changer…and dangerous for a free press.

Over the years I have watched my overseas colleagues risk their livelihoods and sometimes even their lives to expose injustices and hold their countries’ leaders accountable. As a member of the Advisory board for the Geneva based Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and a former board member of Cartoonists Rights, I believe that editorial cartoonists are vital for civic debate and have an essential role in journalism.

There will be people who say, “Hey, you work for a company and that company has the right to expect employees to adhere to what’s good for the company”. That’s true except we’re talking about news organizations that have public obligations and who are obliged to nurture a free press in a democracy. Owners of such press organizations are responsible for safeguarding that free press— and trying to get in the good graces of an autocrat-in-waiting will only result in undermining that free press.

As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post. I doubt my decision will cause much of a stir and that it will be dismissed because I’m just a cartoonist. But I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, “Democracy dies in darkness”.

Thank you for reading this.

—Ann Telnaes

[weevil-mastermind]

There’s been a lot of talk lately about how tariffs raise prices, and that’s good, but there hasn’t been enough talk about how across-the-board tariffs create massive opportunities for corruption.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Executives at big real estate companies profiting off and even driving up high real estate prices across Canada are listed as donors to the federal Conservative Party, Elections Canada records show.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has been railing against high real estate prices and presenting himself as the solution to Canada’s housing affordability crisis, yet Poilievre’s party also appears to have received financial support from top executives at some of Canada’s biggest real estate investment trusts.

Housing experts and advocacy groups have blamed real estate investment trusts, or REITs, for the financialization of housing and skyrocketing rents across Canada. Property wealth is a massive source of inequality in BC and across the country.

The name of Richard Abboud, the CEO of an REIT called Forum Asset Management is listed as donating $7,875 to the federal Conservative party since 2017, according to Elections Canada records.

A Forum Asset Management property was recently criticized for a Vancouver viral video that showed a housing unit in a former single room occupancy hotel in the Downtown Eastside – that historically housed people at around shelter rates – was now a “micro suite” available for $2,000 a month. [...]

Continue Reading.

Note from the poster @el-shab-hussein: and how is this not considered lobbying? Because they're not elected? Because it's not the legislative branch of government? The law is a joke.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada, @vague-humanoid

[his-heart-hymns]

At the present time,I long only to sleep peacefully.I am sick of humanity.

[trump666traitor]

[dieletztepanzerhexe]

christianity listed as number one even befire judaism lol

[asagi-asagiri]

Imagine being dumb enough to blame the government for shrinkflation/inflation/other problems caused by shareholder greed.

[irreplaceable-spark]

Jordan Peterson Interviews Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy | EP 341

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson and Vivek Ramaswamy discuss ESG investing, the culture wars, the upcoming US presidential election, and Vivek’s recently announced candidacy. 

Vivek is an American business leader and New York Times bestselling author of “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,” along with his second book, “Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence.” 

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, he often recounts the sage advice from his father: “If you’re going to stand out, then you might as well be outstanding.” This set the course for his life: a nationally ranked tennis player, and the valedictorian of his high school, St. Xavier. He went on to graduate summa cum laude in Biology from Harvard and received his J.D. from Yale Law School while working at a hedge fund, then started a biotech company, Roivant Sciences, where he oversaw the development of five drugs that went on to become FDA-approved. 

In 2022, he founded Strive, an Ohio-based asset management firm that directly competes with asset managers like BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard, and others, who use the money of everyday citizens to advance environmental and social agendas that many citizens and capital owners disagree with.

[n0thingiscool]

Bobby Hill may have been misquoted here but I'd like to believe he truly said this...

[odinsblog]

From Wikipedia: “On December 12, 2024, SpaceX filed an official request to Cameron County authorities to have the site incorporated as a new city, named Starbase.”

Imagine, one greedy racist misogynistic oligarch controlling everything, from the schools, to daycare, to housing, to the police, to the hospitals - a town where the very government is all employed and controlled by Elon Musk.

👉🏿 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/24/us/starbase-texas-city-elon-musk-spacex.html

👉🏿 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/today-explained/id1346207297

👉🏿 https://www.foxbusiness.com/fox-news-education/elon-musks-montessori-preschool-reimagining-education-closer-fruition

[breadcrumbstoons]

Politicians hug cows in public with pride, why can’t we do the same? 

[jrlrc]

Economía mexicana: no entienden porque quieren creer

No se dice que todos sean tontos: es que muchos deciden por la comodidad de la creencia.

A quiénes me refiero? A quienes vuelven a su esperanza retorcida de que Sheinbaum sea la realizadora del México chavista. No sucedió con AMLO, como algunos siempre dijimos, y no sucederá con Sheinbaum. La economía chavista incluye expropiaciones generalizadas y empobrecimiento de ricos y clases medias (no sólo de los ya pobres). La economía obradorista no expropió nada realmente al capital y los ricos (los ricos-ricos, los verdaderos ricos, los más ricos) se volvieron más ricos, mientras a partes de clases medias y bajas les goteó un mínimo salarial que ellas mismas y los propagandistas oficiales han interpretado optimista y exageradamente. El México chavista que algunos antichavistas no quieren pero quieren que suceda no sucederá. Las recientes caídas del peso no significan eso.

Tampoco sucederá la profundización de la economía progresista. Porque esa economía -se dijo en el párrafo anterior- no existe en este país. Los obradoristas quieren creer que existe. Y sí: se les ha hecho creer que existe. Propagandistas nacionales y extranjeros se han empachado inventando una economía socialfantástica alrededor de los “programas sociales” y el salario mínimo, manipulando la palabra y concepto de pobreza y oscureciendo el problema de la desigualdad. Así se ha llegado no sólo a que un charlatán como Alfredo Serrano Mancilla engañe a medios de otros países hablando del “Estado de Bienestar de AMLO” sino a que Yannis Varoufakis crea y tuitee que Sheinbaum es radical en feminismo, ecología y economía. Es evidente que poca gente que habla sobre el México obradorista conoce la realidad de ese México: conocen la propaganda. Y la repiten. Es lo más exitoso que ha hecho López Obrador: hacerle creer a millones de mexicanos y a miles de periodistas e izquierdistas extranjeros que él ha producido un caso de éxito antineoliberal o hasta anticapitalista.

La realidad es otra, pero tanto unos como otros no quieren ni siquiera empezar a entenderlo: es el mismo capitalismo de cuates, en el que se conserva gran parte del neoliberalismo, con más clientelismo y más “goteo”. Además de peor autoritarismo político y peor militarización. Como esto es así, tanto AMLO como Sheinbaum han tenido y siguen teniendo relación con BlackRock, el fondo capitalista más grande del mundo que no opera sólo en democracias, que los Varoufakis denuncian y que ve bien (BlackRock) a Javier Milei. Ayer mismo se reunió su gerente mexicano con la próxima presidenta obradorista, no sólo para demostrar su relación sino para ayudarla ante las caídas del peso. Se ayudan porque se han ayudado y para seguir ayudándose.

No vamos a ser Venezuela, tampoco un ejemplo de éxito en progreso de la izquierda democrática. Vamos a ser, con toques y retoques del siglo XXI, lo que fuimos entre los años cuarenta y setenta del XX. Esa es la mezcla que está en “nuestro” futuro.

[amitshridhar]

Apeel

Apeel Sciences

03/01/2025, friday 03 january 2025, 07:43 a.m, indore, madhya pradesh, india.