Amazon puts 7,000 jobs on hold because of a tax that would help Seattle's homeless population

5 years ago
"The only way that I can see to deploy this much financial resource is by converting my Amazon winnings into space travel. That is basically it," Bezos said.

What Bezos does not want to spend money on at all is helping the homeless population in the city where his company is located.

On Wednesday, Amazon announced the company would halt the construction of a new building in downtown Seattle it was planning to build, jeopardizing some 7,000 jobs.

Why? Because the company opposes a tax being considered by the City Council. [...]

The city estimates the tax would raise an estimated $75 million annually, with Amazon paying roughly $20 million in 2019 and 2020. One might think for a company that pulled in $1.6 billion last quarter, they could afford to help out the city of Seattle and its most vulnerable residents, especially considering the extent to which Amazon's presence in the city has exacerbated the housing crisis there. [...]

Amazon has come under fire in recent weeks after it was revealed the mega-corporation paid no taxes on its 2017 profits, which totaled roughly $3 billion dollars. [...]

The company has also been criticized for how it treats its employees. Amazon workers have reported sub-par working conditions, including below zero temperatures in the winter and sweltering heat in the summer inside the warehouses, sustaining on-site injuries, and long hours with below minimum wage pay.

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Yub Jub Means "Devour the Weak"

5 years ago
An Authoritative Study of Ewoks, From the Field Notes of Davo Atten-Boru and Pladdo Cardigun, Exo-Naturalists

After several cycles of exhaustive fieldwork, we can unequivocally report that Ewoks are not the naïve companionable canopy dwellers initially reported by Alliance military sources, but rather a singularly violent, cunning species, driven by perpetual internecine combat and territory acquisition. [...]

Contrary to New Republic reportage, Ewoks possess a varied culture, centered on shamanistic cannibalism, carnal brutality, and the divi slatu, or "divine slaughter" -- their religio-cultural term for the hostile subjugation and ritualized consumption of rivals. [...]

Now the Ewoks have acquired access to starships, blasters, and other advanced Alliance technology -- as well as a penchant for consuming other sentient species -- we believe they will easily subjugate the other moons of Endor, and will expand their nascent power base into nearby habitable systems.

Furthermore, we believe a new boru warru or "blood-anointed warlord" may well appear in the next few galactic cycles, leading a divu slatu across the galaxy and literally devouring all who oppose them. As C3QP eloquently voiced in his final stilted communication, "There is a storm coming: a storm of fur and fury."

A counterpoint to the 1997 classic, "The Endor Holocaust":

The circumstances at the end of Return of the Jedi lead inevitably to an environmental disaster on the Endor moon. The explosion of a small artificial moon in low orbit sends a meteoric rain onto the ewok sanctuary, on a scale unmatched since Endor formed. [...]

No animal larger than a few kilograms and incapable of long sheltered hibernation could survive the Endorian calamity. The air might even have been poisoned and deoxygenated for a few years until simple plant life could return to growth. If so then it is possible that all animal life perished. In any case any ewok on the surface who was not equipped with impressive high-technology survival gear and a nuclear shelter must have died.

For those unfortunate beings not painlessly obliterated by the impact concussions, the initial night of celebration would linger on and on with days of darkness. A chill would fall, the waters would turn to ice and the vegetation would wilt into death or dormancy, depending on species. Provided that radioactivity was insignificant and the air remained modestly breathable (a very generous assumption) the doomed ewoks might survive for days or weeks huddling around bonfires, until they starved. [...]

The ewok population is effectively extinguished. Most were killed in a mass-extinction event affecting life on their homeworld, due to unavoidable fallout and debris from the destruction of the Death Star II. The Rebel Alliance is culpable but perhaps innocent. All ewoks would have been better off if the tribe which made contact with the rebels continued with their original plan of killing and eating the commando team's leaders. However once the shield fell and Jerjerrod began his attack, the ewok's best interests were served by the Alliance naval forces bringing about a swift destruction of the battle station; the chance of ecological devastation ameliorated by partial evacuation and rehabilitation is better than near-instantaneous obliteration of the whole moon.

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Kirby vs. Sagan

5 years ago
The inventor of Galactus says:

I would have included no further information than a rough image of the Earth and its one moon. I see no wisdom in the eagerness to be found and approached by any intelligence with the ability to accomplish it from any sector of space. In the meetings between 'discoverers' and 'discoverees,' history has always given the advantage to the finders. In the case of the Jupiter (Pioneer) plaque, I feel that a tremendous issue was thoughtlessly taken out of the world forum by a few individuals who have marked a clear trail to our door.

My point is, who will come a-knocking -- the trader or the tiger?

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The Chronicle isn't very good at this "journalism" shit.

5 years ago
Jane Kim: It's oppo dump time.

If you aren't familiar with the term, it's what happens when a rival campaign collects opposition research and dumps it into the hands of a journalist eager to make a saucy headline.

This oppo dump closely follows billionaire Ron Conway launching his negative attacks and it means the same thing: our campaign has real momentum. [...]

  • You're listed in records at the secretary of state's office as the agent of service for Ivy Enterprises, a subsidiary of Kiss that your father helped found. Were you paid to do that and if so, why don't you report that income?

    That's not me; it is a different Jane Kim. Kim is actually a very common Korean name. Even though we received these questions less than 24 hours ago, my team Googled "Jane Kim" and "Ivy Enterprises," called the company and spoke to this other Jane Kim who confirmed her employment. I would suggest the Chronicle also verify information received from opposition research in the future. [...]

  • What would it normally cost to hire a lawyer to do that?

    I have no idea. Ask the other Jane Kim.

Reminder: find out what Vulture Capitalist Ron Conway wants, and always do the opposite. He is the "AirBnB Lobby", and was the hand firmly lodged up Ed Lee's butt. The fact that he is endorsing London Breed means that he owns her, and that he can rely on her to continue facilitating his companies' raiding of the commons for private enrichment.

Conway funds nasty attack ad on Jane Kim:

Ron Conway, the tech titan, plutocrat, and political bully, said in March that he was "too busy" to get involved in the SF Mayor's race. He had already endorsed London Breed, but his strong-arm antics have made him unpopular in some parts of town, and Breed has made an effort to say she is not his pawn.

But apparently Conway's wife, Gayle -- whose wealth comes largely as a result of her marriage -- is not too busy. She has just funded a new independent expenditure committee that is attacking Sup. Jane Kim. [...] The ad says that it has "major funding" from Gayle Conway. The Chron reports that Gayle Conway put up $200,000. [...]

The reality is that Conway opposes Kim and supports Breed because Kim has voted to more tightly regulate Airbnb and other companies that Conway has invested in, and Breed has voted against those regulations.

Conway email tells allies how to put unlimited corporate money into supporting London Breed:

In the letter, he essentially tells donors how to get around campaign finance rules and run unlimited corporate and individual money through a state PAC, Progress SF, which will then donate it to independent-expenditure committees supporting Breed.

You may remember Conway from such 2016, 2015 and 2014 hits as:

Tech Billionaire Ron Conway Getting "Every Tech Employer" To Send Workers His Voter Guide:

While yes it is technically legal it is hella shady. The main difference between an activist group or a union sending out a voter guide is that they do not employ the people they are targeting. Ron Conway has invested in over 500 tech companies and while none of those are listed in the letter, the "and many others" obviously implies he will be sending this to the CEOs of the companies who need Ron Conway's money for more backing. That is some fucked up shit!

It's also shady that he's asking the CEOs pretend that it's just some random voter guide they came across instead of one sent to them BY THE GUY WHO PAYS THEM MONEY. Come on Ron we knew you were a slimy creep but this is taking it too far.

What kind of slimy creep? I'm glad you asked! Ron Conway is also the guy who bank rolled Ed Lee's Reelection campaign -- after Ed Lee enacted tax breaks for the companies Ron Conway invests in (like twitter and AirBnB). Ron Conway also drops hundreds of thousands of dollars into local campaigns to smear the reputations of solid progressive candidates who are running against people Conway backs. Independent expenditure committees funded by Conway have put out propaganda in this election suggesting that a vote for Jane Kim is an endorsement of domestic violence. He did the same thing against David Campos in 2014.

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