corporate bastards

OxyContin maker's lies led people into addiction
Tom Swiss Thu, 05/26/2016 - 12:00

Big Pharma delenda est.

(static.latimes.com)

But OxyContin’s stunning success masked a fundamental problem: The drug wears off hours early in many people, a Los Angeles Times investigation found. OxyContin is a chemical cousin of heroin, and when it doesn’t last, patients can experience excruciating symptoms of withdrawal, including an intense craving for the drug.

The problem offers new insight into why so many people have become addicted to OxyContin, one of the most abused pharmaceuticals in U.S. history.

The Clintons' shell companies

Posted on: Thu, 04/14/2016 - 09:53 By: Tom Swiss

One of the reasons that we haven't heard much about Americans in the Panama Papers scandal is because they don't need to go to Panama. We have Delaware. It's not illegal for the Clinton's to use a on-shore haven to dodge taxes, but it's their usual hypocrisy to do so while promising to go after other millionaire tax dodgers.

The Clintons are using 5 shell companies to save on taxes in Delaware (theweek.com)

The Clintons and their family foundation have at least five shell companies registered to the address 1209 North Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware — which is also home to some 280,000 other companies who use the location to take advantage of the state's low taxes, limited disclosure requirements, and other business incentives.

screw the forest, we need another Walmart!

<headdesk>

Endangered Florida Forest Lands To Be Bulldozed For A Walmart (The Huffington Post)

In a move that’s enraging environmentalists, the University of Miami in early July sold 88 acres of endangered pine rockland in Miami-Dade County. The purchaser, Palm Beach County developer Ram Realty Services, will clear out much of the area and punch in a 158,000-square-foot Walmart, as well as an LA Fitness, Chik-fil-A, Chili’s and 900 apartments, the Miami Herald reports.

Preservationists worry the development will strip the land of its rare plants and harm its threatened and endangered animals, including two rare butterflies, the bald eagle, the indigo snake and the Florida bonneted bat, per the Herald.

Tom Swiss Tue, 07/22/2014 - 11:08

censoring bastards at Apple are at it again

Posted on: Tue, 04/09/2013 - 22:16 By: Tom Swiss

The censoring bastards at Apple are at it again, this time banning a comic e-book issue for a portrayal of gay sex:

Though graphic material is indeed prohibited as per Apple's guidelines, as Vaughan points out, Saga and other titles have done far worse than what's shown in Saga #12. Let alone the amount of extreme violence that's found in most mature-readers comics

Facebook bans author of "F.B. Purity" browser extension

Posted on: Fri, 12/28/2012 - 11:12 By: Tom Swiss

F.B. Purity is a browser extension that, in its author's words, "helps you to take control of the News Feeds on your Facebook home page. It does this by filtering out the application spam, such as quizzes and games etc, and also the messages such as 'x became a fan of y'". It also allows you to fix FB's broken "Timeline" layout. I don't use it myself -- I use a combination of other browser tools to filter Facebook -- but I have friends that swear by it.

The author of this software reports that he's now been banned from Facebook:

Outlawed by Amazon DRM (Martin Bekkelund)

Posted on: Tue, 11/27/2012 - 11:09 By: Tom Swiss

I've previously written about the evils of Amazon; here's another to add to the list. Martin Bekkelund reports on a woman who was Outlawed by Amazon DRM:

A couple of days a go, my friend Linn sent me an e-mail, being very frustrated: Amazon just closed her account and wiped her Kindle. Without notice. Without explanation. This is DRM at it’s worst.

In Leaked Docs, Honeywell Cites Obama Ties As Key to Anti-Union Strategy - In These Times

Posted on: Thu, 11/22/2012 - 00:46 By: Tom Swiss

More evidence (as if any was needed) that Obama is not a progressive: In Leaked Docs, Honeywell Cites Obama Ties As Key to Anti-Union Strategy

The third section, on Government Relations (GR), reveals Honeywell's hopes that its influence with the Obama administration can be leveraged to help combat union activity. Slide 18 of the confidential document states that Honeywell (HON) should “continue to grow positive relationships with elected officials, with federal agencies, focusing on local branches." These relationships, the document explains, "can be directed at union activity, if needed.” The plan suggests that Honeywell's Government Relations division can be used to “break up union cohesion across the country.” A picture of President Obama speaking at a Honeywell plant is included (see above), with a caption reading “HON has great relationships with Federal officials, focus is needed at the State and local levels."

The Post-Election Politics Of The Revolving Door - In These Times

Posted on: Fri, 11/09/2012 - 10:45 By: Tom Swiss

In These Times reports on a little noticed aspect of the corrupt revolving door between government and the corporate world: The Post-Election Politics Of The Revolving Door

The implications of all this should be self-evident. If, as a regulator, you know you can be paid better by working for companies you are regulating, you are more likely to go easier on those companies in hopes of landing that more lucrative job. Likewise, if you see managing campaigns as a gateway to a higher-paid post-election job in corporate PR, you are more likely to urge your political clients to pursue strategies that go easy on businesses you hope will soon be paying you a retainer. And if you are splitting time between advising candidates and shilling for special interests, your counsel will inevitably tilt towards those interests.

Inside Walmart's Secret Strike Plan (The Huffington Post)

Posted on: Sun, 10/14/2012 - 18:40 By: Tom Swiss

More on the Walmart strikes (previously mentioned here and here), and the reaction from the Walmonster, over at The Huffington Post: Exclusive: Inside Walmart's Secret Strike Plan

Walmart launched a large-scale response this week to a series of unprecedented labor strikes, according to a confidential document obtained by The Huffington Post.

... The strikes were the first by Walmart retail employees in the company’s 50-year history.

The memo makes clear that Walmart, the world's largest private employer, views the labor protests as a serious attack, a message that runs contrary to the company's public comments that the strikes are mere "publicity stunts," as Walmart's vice president of communications David Tovar told The Huffington Post Tuesday.

Striking workers are demanding that Walmart end retaliatory practices against employees who attempt to organize by Nov. 23, Black Friday. If not, they will strike again on the biggest shopping day of the year, according to Colby Harris, a Walmart worker from Dallas, who participated in Tuesday’s strike.

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