#our country being called the philippines is an indication of our history! and the struggles our people has gone through! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jowjitsu · 3 years

Text

The struggle of the ordinary

Les Miserables (2012)

Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men? It is the music of a people Who will not be slaves again!

Les Miserables, did not use the revolution as its main plot, although the setting occurred around it, the film engrossed itself on a story of a man struggling to create his own narrative despite the titles that was forced upon him by the people and the authority. Although in this discussion, I would mainly focus on the revolution itself and the struggles of the people to overthrow the authoritarian monarchy that centralized the power for themselves -- the nobles, the main plot of this film also portrays a very interesting message that incorporate itself to the very essence of what I am trying to say.

It is a clear interpretation, dissecting from the movie’s setting, that the film took place in France and within the middle of the historical French revolution itself. This said revolution is one of the events in history where it truly caused a paradigm shift in the essence of good governance and the equalization of the standing between the masses and with those in power. In this particular event, the French people showed discontent to the centuries-old political setting of the absolute-monarchy. The masses, through the act of bloody revolution, caused an upheaval to uproot these old centralization of power and redesigned their landscape in an act to birth democracy in their country.

Les Miserables, even if the revolution was not its main essence of a plot, really did a great job of representing it, from the scenes of camaraderie and brotherhood between people fighting for the same cause, the tragedies of loss, and the sweet victory brought upon these sacrifices. The movie presents a more of a “from the ground” point of view of these characters struggling against the status quo.

One of the most memorable part of the film is the scene where the revolution is just starting to take place, when the nobles are parading themselves in the city -- to which it indicates that they will be the main focus of that setting -- the masses then started to chant and sing to what they call “the song of angry men”, that is revealed to be titled as “Do you hear the people sing?”. In this act of rebellion, the focus is then shift from the nobility to the masses themselves, to the “lower” men, to the ordinary people. This was not magically given, and similar to history, it was taken through force, but instead of pure brutish act, it was rather mixed with gracefulness brought upon the iconic lyrics of the said song.

This song, even though it was mainly introduced through this movie within the context of a representation of the French revolution, it was very impactful that several countries adapted it. It was used as the anthem of the people that are currently in a struggle against bad governance with an intent of monopolizing power and controlling the masses; most notably, it was sang by the Hong Kong protestors amidst battling a losing battle against China’s colonial attempt to their country. I remember seeing students chanting this song in the middle of being forced to sing the Chinese national anthem. It was a very powerful moment that even with threats to their own lives, these people’s purpose never dwindled down, and this is expressed elegantly through their commitment on their reason in a way of using this particular song as a declaration of their vows for achieving democracy.

Additionally, with the current happenings in The Philippines, the Filipinos started to adapt the song, and Filipino translations of “Do you hear the people sing?” started to rise, that several years later it was then adapted by notorious people -- even celebrities -- wherein they made videos of themselves singing this song as a protest to the current administration of Duterte -- wherein they coined it as an act of reviving dictatorship in the country.

Las Meninas as interpreted by Michel Foucault tells the same story.

Velazquez painting of Las Meninas is a clear indicator of how brilliant he is. Its mystery brought thinkers from several centuries into debating and refuting each other in the act of deciphering what the painting truly sends. However, Michel Foucault’s interpretation was rather unconventional, from his lenses, the painting represents an usurpation of the nobility’s power as the main subject of a portrait. To give context, portraits of nobilities of this specific era are mainly focused on the nobles only, they are the subject themselves and the artwork will always be centralized to them.

By giving a bit of a philosophical interpretation of the figures within the artwork on how these characters acted and how the setting was represented, he concluded that even if this a painting that mainly should have represented the King and the Queen at that time, there is a problematic lack of focal point within this artwork. He argued that the nobles themselves are not present inside of it, and they were seen as a mere reflection of a mirror not an actual “piece” let alone be the central piece of the painting. This then tells us that there will be a lack of a main “subject” within the artwork. Foucault then interpreted this act as a chance that gave the viewer to notice to the unnoticeable part of the painting. To which he means, that there is a decentralization of focus from the supposed subjects of the painting -- which are the nobles -- and shifted it to the other figures which tells and reveals the unsaid stories of this artwork. It is an act of revolt that gave ordinary men, or figures in this context, the power to tell its own narrative without being overwhelmed by centralization.

Whether by force, or through a song, or through a message of an artwork, the Man, whether considered to be ordinary by some, will always fight for his right to tell a story, and it is also our right to listen to them, as they listen to us. Even if one man, a noble, tries to silence the story of the masses it will never be as powerful as the voice of the people, for it is the voice of God himself.

1 note · View note

phroyd · 4 years

Link

Hours after President Trump’s incendiary post last month about sending the military to the Minnesota protests, Trump called Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

The post put the company in a difficult position, Zuckerberg told Trump, according to people familiar with the discussions. The same message was hidden by Twitter, the strongest action ever taken against a presidential post.

To Facebook’s executives in Washington, the post didn’t appear to violate its policies, which allows leaders to post about government use of force if the message is intended to warn the public — but it came right up to the line. The deputies had already contacted the White House earlier in the day with an urgent plea to tweak the language of the post or simply delete it, the people said.

Eventually, Trump posted again, saying his comments were supposed to be a warning after all. Zuckerberg then went online to explain his rationale for keeping the post up, noting that Trump’s subsequent explanation helped him make his decision.

The frenzied push-pull was just the latest incident in a five-year struggle by Facebook to accommodate the boundary-busting ways of Trump. The president has not changed his rhetoric since he was a candidate, but the company has continually altered its policies and its products in ways certain to outlast his presidency.

Facebook has constrained its efforts against false and misleading news, adopted a policy explicitly allowing politicians to lie, and even altered its news feed algorithm to neutralize claims that it was biased against conservative publishers, according to more than a dozen former and current employees and previously unreported documents obtained by The Washington Post. One of the documents shows it began as far back as 2015, when as a candidate Trump posted a video calling for a ban of Muslims entering the United States. Facebook’s executives declined to remove it, setting in motion an exception for political discourse.

The concessions to Trump have led to a transformation of the world’s information battlefield. They paved the way for a growing list of digitally savvy politicians to repeatedly push out misinformation and incendiary political language to billions of people. It has complicated the public understanding of major events such as the pandemic and the protest movement, as well as contributed to polarization.

And as Trump grew in power, the fear of his wrath pushed Facebook into more deferential behavior toward its growing number of right-leaning users, tilting the balance of news people see on the network, according to the current and former employees.

Facebook is now confronting a mounting advertiser boycott that has pushed down its stock price as companies demand stricter policies against hate speech. Starbucks became the latest on Sunday to say it would hit pause on social media advertising.

Facebook is also facing a slow-burning crisis of morale, with more than 5,000 employees denouncing the company’s decision to leave Trump’s post that said, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” up.

Bowing to those pressures on Friday, Zuckerberg announced a rash of new policies aimed at better policing content on the site. That includes affixing labels on posts that violate hate speech or other policies — even on those from political leaders.

But the company said the post wouldn’t have qualified.

As the United States heads into another presidential election while facing a pandemic and civil unrest, the latitude given to Trump may afford him a potential advantage. In recent months, he has used Facebook and other platforms to tout misleading information about coronavirus cures, election fraud and the motives of protesters, frequently targeting a left-wing movement as a cause of violence without citing evidence.

It also places Facebook in growing conflict with its counterparts in Silicon Valley. Twitter has labeled several presidential tweets as abusive and misleading, and social media platform Snapchat curtailed the reach of the president’s account.

“The value of being in favor with people in power outweighs almost every other concern for Facebook,” said David Thiel, a Facebook security engineer who resigned in March after his colleagues refused to remove a post he believed constituted “dehumanizing speech” by Brazil’s president.

Facebook contends the use of incendiary populist language predates social media. Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president for global affairs and communications, said in a statement that populism wasn’t invented in Silicon Valley, pointing to centuries of political history before social media companies‘ existence.'

“From the Arab Spring to local candidates challenging political incumbents, social media has also helped to open up politics, not favor one side over the other,” Clegg added. “Studies have shown the drivers of populism are complex and cannot be reduced to the use of social media, in fact political polarization has fallen in many countries with high internet use.”

Facebook declined to make Zuckerberg available for an interview, although it pointed out that Zuckerberg opposed Trump when his Muslim immigration ban went into effect. The White House declined to comment.

Zuckerberg talks frequently about making choices that stand the test of time, preserving the values of Facebook and subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram for all of its nearly 3 billion monthly users for many years into the future — even when those decisions are unpopular or controversial.

At one point, however, he wanted a different approach to Trump.

Setting the stage

Before the 2016 election, the company largely saw its role in politics as courting political leaders to buy ads and broadcast their views, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking.

But that started to change in 2015, as Trump’s candidacy picked up speed. In December of that year, he posted a video in which he said he wanted to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. The video went viral on Facebook and was an early indication of the tone of his candidacy.

Outrage over the video led to a companywide town hall, in which employees decried the video as hate speech, in violation of the company’s policies. And in meetings about the issue, senior leaders and policy experts overwhelmingly said they felt that the video was hate speech, according to three former employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Zuckerberg expressed in meetings that he was personally disgusted by it and wanted it removed, the people said. Some of these details were previously reported.

At one of the meetings, Monika Bickert, Facebook’s vice president for policy, drafted a document to address the video and shared it with leaders including Zuckerberg’s top deputy COO Sheryl Sandberg and Vice President of Global Policy Joel Kaplan, the company’s most prominent Republican.

The document, which is previously unreported and obtained by The Post, weighed four options. They included removing the post for hate speech violations, making a one-time exception for it, creating a broad exemption for political discourse and even weakening the company’s community guidelines for everyone, allowing comments such as “No blacks allowed” and “Get the gays out of San Francisco.”

Facebook spokesman Tucker Bounds said the latter option was never seriously considered.

The document also listed possible “PR Risks” for each. For example, lowering the standards overall would raise questions such as, “Would Facebook have provided a platform for Hitler?” Bickert wrote. A carveout for political speech across the board, on the other hand, risked opening the floodgates for even more hateful “copycat” comments.

Ultimately, Zuckerberg was talked out of his desire to remove the post in part by Kaplan, according to the people. Instead, the executives created an allowance that newsworthy political discourse would be taken into account when making decisions about whether posts violated community guidelines.

That allowance was not formally written into the policies, even though it informed ad hoc decision-making about political speech for the next several years, according to the people. When a formal newsworthiness policy was announced in October 2016, in a blog post by Kaplan, the company did not discuss Trump’s role in shaping it.

In an interview, Bickert said the company ultimately made a call to maintain Trump’s Muslim ban video because executives interpreted Trump’s comment to mean that the then-candidate was not speaking about all Muslims, but rather advocating for a policy position on immigration as part of a newsworthy political debate. She said she did not recall the document where the options were presented.

Facebook’s Bounds added that the “newsworthiness” policy was added in 2016 after content reviewers removed a photo of a naked girl fleeing a napalm attack during the Vietnam War. “Our goal was to recognize the essential public benefit of preserving content that in other contexts wouldn’t be allowed,” Bounds said. “In the case of elected officials, it also ensures that they will be held to account for their words,” so that people can judge for themselves.

In spring of 2016, Zuckerberg was also talked out of his desire to write a post specifically condemning Trump for his calls to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, after advisers in Washington warned it could look like choosing sides, according to Dex Torricke-Barton, one of Zuckerberg’s former speechwriters.

The political speech carveout ended up setting the stage for how the company would handle not only Trump, but populist leaders around the world who have posted content that test these boundaries, such as Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Narendra Modi in India.

“Though [Facebook] has cracked down on misinformation, the most problematic influencers are politicians,” said Claire Wardle, U.S. director of First Draft, an organization dedicated to fighting misinformation that has a partnership with Facebook to fact-check news articles. “You can do all the fact checking in the world, but these influencers have a disproportionate impact.”

Trump presented a unique challenge, she added. “Until then, no one would have considered a president who would have said those things.”

Protecting the right

After the election, it became clear Russia had used social media to sow disinformation. Facebook soon after became a frequent target of the president’s ire. He tweeted that the social media giant was “anti-Trump” and trying to undermine his victory.

At the same time, GOP leaders stepped up criticism that platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, with leadership ranks full of liberals, sought to limit the reach of right-leaning voices.

“There’s no credible research supporting Trump’s claim that social platforms suppress conservative content, but he still succeeded in getting them to revise their rules for him,” said former Facebook spokesman Nu Wexler, who left the company in 2018.

As Facebook scrambled to tackle foreign interference and misinformation, its executives in the nation’s capital argued that caution and deference was necessary to survive the new political environment, according to three people familiar with the company’s thinking.

Facebook’s security engineers in December 2016 presented findings from a broad internal investigation, known as Project P, to senior leadership on how false and misleading news reports spread so virally during the election. When Facebook’s security team highlighted dozens of pages that had peddled false news reports, senior leaders in Washington, including Kaplan, opposed shutting them down immediately, arguing that doing so would disproportionately impact conservatives, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. Ultimately, the company shut down far fewer pages than were originally proposed while it began developing a policy to handle these issues.

How conservatives learned to wield power inside Facebook

A year later, Facebook considered how to overhaul its scrolling news feed, the homepage screen most users see when they open the site. As part of the change to help limit misinformation, it changed its news feed algorithm to focus more on posts by friends and family versus publishers.

In meetings about the change, Kaplan questioned whether the revamped algorithm would hurt right-leaning publishers more than others, according to three people familiar with the company’s thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. When the data showed it would — conservative leaning outlets were pushing more content that violated its policies, the company had found — he successfully pushed for changes to make the new algorithm to be what he considered more evenhanded in its impact, the people said.

Isolated and divided

With the 2020 election on the horizon, Facebook and Zuckerberg’s hands-off approach to free speech was leaving it increasingly isolated in Silicon Valley.

In May 2019, Zuckerberg, citing free speech, refused to take down a doctored video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that made her appear drunk.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg reached out to Speaker Pelosi. She hasn’t called him back.

That summer, company leaders held a meeting to revisit its newsworthiness exception, which until then had been determined on a case-by-case basis, with the most controversial calls made by Zuckerberg. Internally, some were unclear how far that leeway extended, according to two people.

Clegg, the company’s new head of global affairs and communications and a former British deputy prime minister, announced the outcome of that meeting at a speech in Washington in September 2019. Aside from speech that causes violence or real-world harm, Facebook would allow politicians to express themselves virtually unchecked on social media. Facebook’s network of independent fact-checkers, which had been established as a key part of the company’s response to disinformation, would not evaluate their claims and the community guidelines would largely not apply to politicians.

Facebook did not want to be an arbiter of truth in political debate, he said, echoing Zuckerberg’s long-standing position.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says in interview he fears ‘erosion of truth’ but defends allowing politicians to lie in ads

The speech angered some employees, triggering more than 250 of them to sign a petition disagreeing with the decision because they thought it gave politicians a pass.

One former executive, Yael Eisenstat, who worked to improve the political ads process, wrote in The Post that the controversy was “the biggest test of whether [Facebook] will ever truly put society and democracy ahead of profit and ideology.”

She said that she routinely experienced how the company’s efforts at integrity were often undermined by “the few voices who ultimately decided the company’s overall direction.”

Meanwhile, in October, as Facebook faced more potential regulation and political troubles, Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan went to the White House for a private dinner with Trump, a part of the CEO’s effort to cultivate personal relationships in Washington.

Tweetstorm

As the pandemic and civil unrest dominated the first half of this year, Trump continued to turn to social media platforms to spread misinformation. He touted the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine as a possible cure for the coronavirus and claimed without evidence that the left-wing antifa movement was behind the violence at George Floyd protests.

Meanwhile, Facebook employees began challenging the company’s decisions.

Two months before Trump’s ”looting, shooting“ post, the Brazilian president posted about the country’s indigenous population, saying, “Indians are undoubtedly changing. They are increasingly becoming human beings just like us.”

Thiel, the security engineer, and other employees argued internally that it violated the company’s internal guidelines against “dehumanizing speech.” They were referring to Zuckerberg’s own words while testifying before Congress in October in which he said dehumanizing speech “is the first step toward inciting” violence. In internal correspondence, Thiel was told that it didn’t qualify as racism — and may have even been a positive reference to integration.

Thiel quit in disgust.

In May, following years of internal debate of its own, Twitter chose to go in the opposite direction. It labeled two misleading tweets by Trump about mail-in ballots with a fact-check label.

Twitter’s decision to label Trump’s tweets was two years in the making

Trump responded two days later with an executive order that could hurt social media companies by removing a key exception that limits their liability for content posted on their sites.

The next day, Trump tweeted about the Minnesota protests. Twitter quickly labeled the tweet for violating rules about glorifying violence, and Snapchat stopped promoting Trump’s account the following week. YouTube told The Post that it holds politicians to the same standards as everyone else.

Facebook, on the other hand, chose to haggle with the White House, asking for a deletion or a change, said the people. Axios first reported the call, which Facebook’s Bounds confirmed to The Post.

As employees raged on internal message boards and externally on Twitter, Zuckerberg told workers that Facebook’s policies might change again in light of Trump’s post. The company had rules allowing for “state use of force,” he said, but they were vague and didn’t encompass the possibility that such pronouncements could signal harmful aggression. Bickert’s team planned a series of policy meetings for the weeks ahead.

In June, Facebook removed a swath of Trump campaign ads with Nazi symbolism, after an initial internal assessment that found the ads did not violate the company’s polices, according to documents viewed by The Post. In meetings, senior executives argued that not removing them would be perceived as pandering too much to the president, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Last week, the advertiser boycott picked up steam. Hershey, Verizon, Unilever, Coca-Cola and others said they were temporarily pulling ads.

On Friday, Zuckerberg told employees in a live-streamed town hall that he was changing the company’s policy to label problematic newsworthy content that violated the company’s policies as Twitter does, a major concession amid the rising tide of criticism. He also said in the most explicit language ever that the company would remove posts by politicians that incite violence and suppress voting. Still, civil rights leaders said his assertions didn’t go far enough.

“There are no exceptions for politicians in any of the policies that I’m announcing today,” Zuckerberg said.

Phroyd

#trump #fqcebook

14 notes · View notes

newstechreviews · 4 years

Link

All cities have gone through the ebb and flow of social distancing and lockdowns, with regulations repealed as cases decline and hurriedly re-imposed when cases return. But few urban residents likely feel as dislocated as those living in Manila. The capital of the Philippines went through a three-month lockdown, starting in mid-March and ending in early June. Then, as residents started to return to work, a spike in cases in early August led the government to reimpose lockdown measures. Yet these measures were repealed merely two weeks later, as the economic pain of shutdown began to take hold—evidenced in a record 45.5% adult unemployment rate.

Manila is just one example of how the economies of megacities—cities with large and growing populations, often exceeding ten million—in developing countries have struggled to protect their residents and keep their economic engines running. It is an indication of the flaws inherent in an economic model focused on rapid and widespread urbanization. Megacities are not the future because they thrive on cheap labor and government policies fuel this abuse. Stagnant rural economies encourage people to move to the cities, hollowing out rural communities and leaving a hole often replaced by an increasingly concentrated and industrialized agricultural system.

Singapore, on the other hand, is a good case study of how even the most modern cities are vulnerable to those who they most rely on, and who they take for granted. In March, Singapore was being hailed as a model for beating the virus. Cases were low and the city remained open—until it was discovered that the virus was running rampant through the city’s migrant worker dormitories.

In cities across the world, migrant worker and minority communities have been hit hardest from the coronavirus. One U.K. report found that those from its ethnic minority community were 50% more likely to die from COVID-19. Data from the United States shows that minority communities, especially Black, Latinx, and Native American communities, see significantly higher rates of cases and deaths.

Photo by CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images A girl covers her ears as people disinfect an area at the Babilonia favela, in Rio de Janeiro on April 18, 2020.

These are advanced economies with ample resources (though maybe not the political will to apply them universally). But with the prominent exception of the U.S., today’s COVID-19 hotspots are found throughout the developing world. In Brazil, favelas in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are organizing their own support networks due to the lack of adequate government infrastructure. Cities in Colombia have seen spiking death rates as medical systems collapse. One recent study in Mumbai’s slums found that over half of slum dwellers had antibodies for SARS-COV-2.

Some commentators have looked at the pandemic and asked whether the time of the “superstar city” is over, as the pandemic makes population density look like a danger rather than an opportunity for productivity gains. They’ve suggested that the pandemic may finally lead to an exodus from cities, as young professionals, fed up with the high cost of living and nightmare commutes, and freed by the shift to remote work, leave for rural communities.

But this idea is focused on advanced economies and, specifically, on the upper and upper-middle classes within them. In growing economies, mass urbanization will remain the focus, as it is still seen as the best, if not the only, vehicle for economic development, moving people from the “unproductive” countryside to the more productive cities. By emptying rural hinterlands with its demand for low-paid workers, this urbanization ultimately leads to more unstable, more damaging, and more unequal economies.

Read more: The Photos Show Life in the Poorest Towns in America

World economic growth in recent history has been centered on a few superstar cities: New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris and more recently Shanghai, for example. London makes up 30% of the UK’s economy, has 13% of its population and is more than eight times as populous as the country’s second largest city, Birmingham. So-called emerging markets have relied upon urbanization to drive growth. Turning rural labor into urban labor was seen as a positive for productivity.

But the pandemic has highlighted the inequality and unsustainability of these cities. A population of urban professionals, with safe and secure lifestyles, is supported by a large and poorly-paid service sector. These people work in the grocery stores, hair salons, restaurants, bars, and gyms, and live in poor neighborhoods or even slums. They deliver food, fix homes, cut hair, dispose waste, keep transport systems running, clean suburbs, look after children, and walk dogs. These underpaid workers have either seen their livelihoods evaporate in recent months, or have been forced to risk their health by providing essential services, because they do not have the choice of the privileged work-from-home crowd. After all, you cannot work from home if your job is keeping the hospitals working or the sewers in operation.

Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images Residents wait to get themselves checked during a COVID-19 coronavirus screening in the Dharavi slum in Mumbai on August 11, 2020.

Even before the pandemic, these workers tended to live unstable lives. The high-cost of living in megacities forces many of them to live in slums or peripheral communities. The expansion of cities beyond the ability of infrastructure to cope means these communities have lower-quality housing, worse access to education, poor provision of electricity and clean water, bad sanitation, traffic congestion, dead spots for internet and mobile access, and “food deserts.” Worse, urban lifestyles are increasingly oriented around the so-called innovation of the gig economy: service workers now lack even the basic protections afforded to proper employees.

Read more: ‘It’s a Race to the Bottom.’ The Coronavirus Is Cutting Into Gig Worker Incomes as the Newly Jobless Flood Apps

Yet in times of crisis, like the pandemic, these workers are seen as a disposable, redundant or even a threat. Without protections, they are unceremoniously expelled from the city. The lockdowns in India led to a huge and uncontrolled migration of day laborers back to their homes in rural communities—a reaction that almost certainly worsened the spread of the pandemic.

In addition, the massive amount of resources used to power urban economies have significant social and environmental effects on rural communities throughout the world. The effects of urban pollution and waste—from landfills to smog to dirty water—are also disproportionately placed on rural communities. Even when cities are sincere in their efforts to improve their environmental impact, they often ignore the ways they harm the countryside and the free ride they enjoy from the under-priced services of the hinterland.

Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images An abandoned house is spray painted “Trump!” on August 14, 2016 in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. This Northeastern Pennsylvania region has a rich coal mining history, but the majority of nearby coal mines have closed.

This leads to political discontent: a feeling that urban communities benefit from the resources and work of rural communities, while imposing rules and regulations on them. This is part of the background behind political phenomena like Brexit, the Donald Trump presidency and the rise of European populism.

Whether or not pandemic-driven de-urbanization happens on its own, governments should leverage this period to create a balance between urban and rural economies that is sustainable. While the impacts of remote work and other digital technologies are probably not as great as their promoters claim, it is true that they reduce the unique value that density provides and may finally dent the allure of large cities for white-collar workers.

Governments should consider three policies in particular:

Greater investment in rural areas to make them more compelling places to live. This does not just mean utilities, education systems and health care services, but also cultural institutions to help balance the significant soft power major urban centers hold.

Support for small businesses, including protections against competition from larger firms. Rural economies live off small business, but a hollowed-out economy and greater competition from national and global firms run them out of business. A lack of local economic vibrancy encourages people to leave for the city. This replaces small business and the family farm with large-scale industrial agriculture and big companies, which reduces social mobility and industrializes the food-supply chain.

Redistribution of income between urban and rural areas. Governments should funnel public revenues raised from urban areas towards resolving burdens placed on rural areas by cities. And it must also ensure that revenues are directed towards addressing imbalances, whether through building new infrastructure or resolving some of the external costs that are placed on rural communities, such as groundwater contamination or loss of arable land.

Cities will always be useful to national economies, but they have grown into unmanageable Frankensteins. Yes, there really are some things that can only be done in a dense, urban environment but that does not mean turning a blind eye to growing megacities with over five million people. Countries probably don’t need the extreme urbanization we’ve seen over the past few decades, nor should we be strangely resigned to the notion that urbanization is inevitable and a net good. The time has come to rethink whether we should continue to place cities at the heart of our nations, turning them into large parasitic centers which practice economic apartheid.

#Blogger

0 notes

phgq · 4 years

Text

Republicans re-nominate Trump for 2020 election

#PHnews: Republicans re-nominate Trump for 2020 election

WASHINGTON – Republicans formally re-nominated US President Donald Trump for the 2020 national election on Monday as the party's four-day convention kicked off.

The official naming of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence as the party's presidential ticket followed a roll-call vote of state delegates who backed the president as he now formally enters the race against Democratic nominee Joe Biden as the underdog.

A CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday indicates Biden is leading the incumbent president by a formidable 10 points nationally among likely voters with just 71 days until the Nov. 3 election.

Many other polls, including in battleground states, have shown Biden enjoying sizable leads as the US under Trump continues to struggle with the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 176,000 in the country.

In unannounced, but widely expected remarks, Trump continued to cast doubt on the daunting numbers, saying he is "up by massive figures on enthusiasm," a reference to voter enthusiasm.

"They're taking all of that enthusiasm that our party has, and we have tremendous enthusiasm, I think we have record enthusiasm, we have a base the likes of which nobody has seen," he said.

"They have no enthusiasm for their candidate," Trump added about Democrats. "This is the most important election in the history of our country. Don't let them take it away from you."

The president continued to tout his achievements in office, drawing repeated chants of "four more years" and "USA" from the assembled crowd.

Earlier addressing the convention, Pence continued to charge Biden and vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris as being "overtaken by the radical left," claiming the country cannot risk a change in administration.

"Not just the Republican Party, but America needs four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House," Pence said. "Today is about four more years. This week we will take our case to the American people."

Trump is expected to address the convention each day before formally accepting the nomination from the White House Thursday night. (Anadolu)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Republicans re-nominate Trump for 2020 election." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1113258 (accessed August 25, 2020 at 05:14PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Republicans re-nominate Trump for 2020 election." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1113258 (archived).

#Philippines #News #Filipino #Pinoy #Tourism #Politics #Culture #Editorial #Environment #Society #History

0 notes

panicinthestudio · 4 years

Link

A music video produced by China to promote its support for neighbours battling the coronavirus has backfired in the Philippines, attracting a flood of public criticism and an online petition that is fast attracting signatures.

China's embassy released the song by diplomats, singers and an actor last week, but the lyrics and title "Iisang Dagat", or "One Sea" in the Philippine language, has not gone down well with some Filipinos, many of whom see China as a maritime aggressor in disputed waters.

By Monday afternoon, the video posted last week on YouTube with the hashtag #CNPHHealAsOne had 149,000 dislikes compared with 2,100 likes, while a Change.org petition demanding the video be taken down attracted thousands of supporters.

Social media critics vented their fury at what they saw as Chinese propaganda to conceal bullying in the South China Sea and branded Filipinos involved in the song as traitors.

"We have to stop the evil of China spreading", wrote one, Leonard Anthony Arcilla. "We do not unify with China", said Elna Lynda Acuerdo, while Venus Liwanag said the video was "slapping the faces of each Filipino".

The song is dedicated to front-line health workers of both countries, some of whom appear in the video with footage of Chinese doctors and donated health supplies, including hundreds of thousands of protective masks and testing kits.

The lyrics include lines like "because of your love that flows like waves hand in hand, we move to a bright future, you and I are in one sea".

The Philippine response is another indication of China's coronavirus diplomacy struggling against a history of disputes and mistrust, particularly in Southeast Asia, where its assertive maritime presence, and building of islands and military installations, has unnerved neighbours.

Some people were instead trying to generate likes and shares for a music video from last year produced by artists from the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia called "save our seas", which takes aim at China's maritime conduct.

The Philippines last week filed diplomatic protests accusing China of locking radar on a Philippine navy boat and rejecting its formation of an administrative unit in disputed areas, following a similar move by Vietnam.

There are also signs of growing solidarity among internet users in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asian with Taiwan and Hong Kong, with old tension being fanned by the emergence of the new coronavirus. (Reuters)

0 notes

charllieeldridge · 5 years

Text

Top 8 Best Places to Visit in Manila: A Guide for Travellers

If you are travelling to the Philippines, it’s likely that your first port of call will be Manila. While it’s largely a city overshadowed by the far more popular destinations within the same Philippines archipelago, the attractions and places to visit in Manila are plentiful.

Metro Manila is the metropolitan region surrounding the capital, Manila City. This region itself is composed of no less than 16 cities, all portraying a unique character. Although each possesses a different charm making them worthy of a visit, the older historic town is where most of the top places to visit in Manila are centred.

The Philippines was for many centuries a Spanish colony, and it comes as no surprise that the more historical places to visit in Manila have a Spanish flair, be it in the architecture, religion, or simply in the street name.

The top places to visit in Manila are mostly within walking distance of each other. If you are set on exploring the city by foot, you should also check out this post on a walkable day tour of Manila City.

1. Rizal Park

Named after the country’s national hero, inclusive of a huge commemorative monument, this park is a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle and traffic which plagues the city. Spread over an area of 58 hectares, this urban park has as a centerpiece the tallest flagpole in the Philippines (32m) commemorating the country’s independence.

The park is divided into three sections, with the middle section considered as the park proper, and home to an artificial lagoon equipped with a dancing fountain. The lower side of the park incorporates the Manila Ocean Park.

*Note: Goats On The Road doesn’t condone the captivity and cruelty of animals, and doesn’t agree with visiting aquariums and zoos. We urge you to be aware of where your tourism dollars are being spent. To learn more about being a responsible travellers, see our article here.

Entrance to the park itself is free and unrestricted, but at the sides, one can find a number of curated themed gardens which are worth visiting. The highlight amongst these is the Orchidarium which showcases the country’s rich variety of orchids alongside a butterfly pavilion.

The park is one of the more popular places to visit in Manila and you should expect the place to be very busy, particularly on Sundays and public holidays.

Looking for more articles about the Philippines?

Best Palawan Resorts in the Philippines

Top 10 Beaches to Visit in the Philippines

Solo Traveller’s Guide to Palawan

2. Arroceros Forest Park

It’s no secret that the city of Manila has a lot of traffic, and traffic pollution. To get away from that smog, head to the Arroceros Forest Park, an incredible green space in the city.

This 2.2-hectare (5.4-acre) park offers a breath of fresh air due to its 8,000 plants and 61 types of trees. Here you’ll find couples, families and solo wanderers just enjoying the natural beauty.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and wondering where to go in Manila to get some peace and quiet, the Arroceros Forest Park is the best place to do just that. The park is open from 7:30am to 6:00pm.

3. Intramuros (one of the best places to visit in Manila)

Intramuros, which literally translates to ‘within the walls’, is the fortified historical centre within Manila city. Within its perimeter, you’ll find both the Manila Cathedral and Fort Santiago, the latter forming part of the same defensive structure. The whole area is mostly closed off to vehicles, reserved only for residents and special permit holders.

Parts of the original wall structures are still visible, although the city itself was punished considerably in WW2. It is estimated that only 5% of the original buildings survived, and just about 40% of the wall was left intact.

Nevertheless, recognising the historical importance of the site, the government of the Philippines set up the ‘Intramuros Administration’, tasked with restoring and maintaining the buildings and the surrounding walls. They are doing a good job, making Intramuros one of the best places to visit in Manila.

4. Fort Santiago

Currently guarding the banks of a heavily polluted and stinky Pasig River, the fort has an even darker history. Named after St. James, the patron saint of Spain, the fort originally protected the regional Spanish authorities during their rule, and was an important centre for the international spice trade.

Over the years, the fort, moat and adjacent Intramuros walls have seen multiple alterations, particularly during the American rule, which saw the moat converted to a strategically important … golf course! The oddly sited abomination is still pretty active today.

The darkest period for the fort came during WW2. The Japanese Imperial Army used the cellars to keep prisoners of war in inhumane conditions, before slaughtering all closer to the end of the war. The cells have recently been refurbished and are open for visitation.

On the grounds of the fort, you may notice a trail of stainless steel footprints. More recently, at the turn of the 20th century, the fort was the location where the national hero and demigod Jose Rizal was imprisoned until his execution.

A mock-up of his cell has been reconstructed and the footprints indicate his last steps from the cell out of the fort towards his execution spot.

Where to Stay in Manila

Here is a list of the top 3 rated, affordable properties in Manila. Click on the links and check them out for yourself!

Gwentop Condotel at One Metropolitan Place Condominium – From $27 / Night, Rating 9.6. Click here to see the latest price on Booking.com

Gwentop Condotel at One Metropolitan Place Condominium 3

Gwentop Condotel at One Metropolitan Place Condominium 2

Gwentop Condotel at One Metropolitan Place Condominium 1

Affordable Luxury Scandinavian Studio – From $58 / Night, Rating 9.8. Click here to see the latest price on Booking.com

Affordable Luxury Scandinavian Studio 3

Affordable Luxury Scandinavian Studio 2

Affordable Luxury Scandinavian Studio 1

jKSUITES Manila Condos – From $78 / Night, Rating 9.4. Click here to see the latest price on Booking.com

jKSUITES Manila Condos 3

jKSUITES Manila Condos 2

jKSUITES Manila Condos 1

☞ Click here to see all accommodation options available in Manila on Booking.com

5. Manila Cathedral

Commanding great views from the Fort Santiago park, and situated in the Plaza de Roma (formerly Plaza Mayor), roughly in the middle of Intramuros, the next item on the top places to visit in Manila is the Manila Cathedral.

The elements were never very kind to the original sixteenth-century building. On several occasions and over the centuries the church has been destroyed by various natural calamities. It has always been painstakingly rebuilt by dedicated parishioners, even after WW2 when all but parts of the facade were flattened.

If you are wandering around the area at noon, the belfry is equipped with a carillon mechanism operating seven bells to some sweet tunes. The Cathedral was visited in 2015 by Pope Francis in what marked a huge event for a very Catholic Philippines.

6. Quiapo Church and the Black Nazarene

Another religious-themed landmark on the list of best places to visit in Manila is the statue of the Black Nazarene (Nazareno Negro). Together with the ‘Santo Nino’ statue in Cebu city, it’s the most revered religious icon in the Philippines.

The statue is thought to be miraculous at the touch. It was carved from mesquite, a dark wood, and depicts a dark Jesus on his way to the crucifixion. It has resided in the Quiapo church, known as the minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene since the 18th century, and is open for veneration twenty-four hours a day.

Indeed, the basilica never closes, acting as an after-hours shelter for the homeless. The place is cleaned early every morning and re-adopted as a place for veneration.

A small market that is set up just outside of the Basilica in Plaza Miranda sells mini reproductions of the statue as souvenirs. It is also home to more pagan activities like fortune-telling, magic potions and card reading.

7. Explore the Streets of Binondo (Chinatown)

It seems all major cities have their own piece of China, yet few can lay a claim to having the first Chinatown in the world. Established in the late sixteenth century, it was the Spanish who located this settlement for Chinese Catholics. It’s close to the Quiapo church, and not too far from Intramuros, allowing them to keep a watchful eye on their neighbour.

As with any respectable Chinatown, the tight roads frolic with all kinds of culinary adventures. You’ll also find busy fruit and vegetable markets, many cheap gadgets and original-imitation designer brands. All of this makes Binondo one of the most interesting places to visit in Manila.

Be warned though, the place can get very busy, and pickpocketing episodes are very common.

Binondo is also home to the Minor Basilica of Sto. Lorenzo Ruiz, dedicated to the Philippine’s first saint. As is the case with most of the churches in the Philippines, the landmark has been subjected to a history of earthquakes and calamities. WW2 was also again not too kind on this area.

8. Manila Waterfront

Last on this list of places to visit in Manila is a fitting conclusion to a busy few days exploring the city. Walk down to the Manila Bay waterfront and enjoy a relaxed stroll whilst chasing the amazing sunset. Enjoy interacting with the locals who will be eager to snap a picture with you, and discover the treasure that is Filipino hospitality.

The waterfront also offers many opportunities for adventurous foodies, as the street food is plentiful, and sometimes mysterious.

Ready to explore these must-visit places in Manila?

After spending some time in the remote areas, islands and beaches of the Philippines, Manila is the perfect spot for catching up with society. As with any respectable capital, it is a fast-paced city, struggling between deeply rooted tradition and an urge for modernisation.

This struggle creates many contrasts, the huge and modern mega malls on one side, versus poorer shacks a few blocks away. Combine all this with the city’s very rich historical background, and you get an almost surreal experience which is hard to ignore.

You will either love Manila or hate it, there’s really no in-between. But to help ensure you get a well-rounded picture of the city, make sure to check out the places to visit above.

Images in this article are courtesy of Shutterstock.com.

Like This Article? Pin it!

The post Top 8 Best Places to Visit in Manila: A Guide for Travellers appeared first on Goats On The Road.

Top 8 Best Places to Visit in Manila: A Guide for Travellers published first on https://travelaspire.weebly.com/

1 note · View note

raystart · 6 years

Photo

The Story Behind the Rainbow Flag

From Provincetown to San Francisco, and throughout much of the world, the rainbow flag has come to symbolize the power and inclusiveness of queer culture. Less than a half-a-century old, it was created with love and purpose by one man, Gilbert Baker, who through art and design helped to spearhead a movement of enduring pride and acceptance. Baker, a thriving artist and activist until his death last year from cardiovascular disease, is credited with helping to “define the modern LGBT movement” by former California state senator Scott Weiner. Today, the Museum of Modern Art considers his creation to be as recognizable and culturally significant as the ubiquitous recycling symbol. But who was the man behind the flag?

Baker was drawn to art and fashion from an early age. Born in Chanute, Kansas in 1951, he joined the U.S. Army to escape the stifling limitations of his small, conservative town, and was sent, serendipitously, to San Francisco just at the height of the gay rights movement. Here, he quickly threw himself into local culture and activist causes, working on the first-ever marijuana legalization initiative, California Proposition 19, and turning to sewing and graphics as a unique way to resist and protest. During this period, he created banners for gay-rights and anti-war protests, becoming a close friend of San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.

Spurred on by his community, Baker began to search for a symbol that could be used in the gay rights movement. The existing emblem, the pink triangle emblazoned on prison uniforms in Nazi Germany, was seen as too dark. “Artie Bresson, the filmmaker who created GAY USA, pushed Gilbert to come up with a symbol. He came upon the idea of a flag,” said Charley Beal, a longtime friend of Baker who currently oversees his estate. Beal explains that the 1976 bicentennial’s use of the American Flag was an important inspiration. “Soon after, Gilbert was dancing at the Cow Palace with Cleve Jones and, amidst the swirl of colored lights, he was overwhelmed with the diversity of people out dancing and came up with the idea of the rainbow flag. I believe there was LSD involved.”

“He had a very deep understanding of history and politics, and had quite an intellect to go along with the drama and glitter.”

In an attic of a San Francisco gay community center, Baker began to work with a band of volunteers and friends to dye and sew the first rainbow flags, the originals including eight colors representing different aspects of the community: sex, life, healing, sunlight, nature, magic/art, serenity, and spirit. Later, Baker removed pink (sex) and turquoise (magic/art) because those fabrics were harder to come by, leaving behind panels of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple to act as a universal beacon of pride for the LGBTQ community.

“Cleve Jones helped get the money from the parade committee for the flags,” continued Beal. “Fairy Argyle was the ‘queen of tie-dye’ who instructed him on proper dying techniques.” Others helped with the endless ironing. On June 25th, 1978 Baker and his community hoisted their banners in United Nations Plaza to fete that year’s San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

“We needed something beautiful, something from us,” Baker later said. “The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things. Plus, it’s a natural flag—it’s from the sky!”

“He was very delighted and excited that he had achieved his vision,” explained Cleve Jones, one of Baker’s closest friends and the mastermind behind AIDS Memorial Quilt project. “Rainbows have been used as long as people have been creating art. But it was Gilbert, and Gilbert alone, who imagined the rainbow flag as the symbol of the people now called the LGBTQ. It was his sole mission on this planet to spread that sort of symbol around the world.”

Over the decades, nothing brought Baker greater joy than seeing photographs of his flags in “unexpected” cities, from Moscow to Beijing and Havana. Gilbert, as friends described him, could be “quite difficult, quite challenging, often opinionated and quite imperious,” but with a gentle, caring side. “He was one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever known,” Jones told us. “He had a very deep understanding of history and politics, and had quite an intellect to go along with the drama and glitter.”

After the success of the rainbow flag, Baker began working for the Paramount Flag Company, his work catching the eye of then-mayor Dianne Feinstein, who later commissioned him to design flags, banners, and materials for her inaugural ceremony. Afterwards, Gilbert went on to create flags for the presidents of France, Venezuela, and the Philippines, the King of Spain, and numerous Gay Pride events across the country. But one of his proudest moments was when he designed flags for the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

In 1994, Baker moved to New York City where he crafted what, at the time, was the world’s largest flag, a mile in length, which was later carried by 5,000 people in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In 2003, to celebrate the Rainbow Flag’s 25th anniversary, Baker outdid his own record, crafting a gigantic flag for Key West Pride that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, and was later cut into sections and distributed across more than 100 cities around the world.

“I think Gilbert’s lasting importance is that he created a symbol of hope and inclusion for an oppressed minority at a time when their efforts at liberation were new,” said Beal. “He then worked tirelessly for almost 40 years to ensure that this symbol would be recognized and understood worldwide.”

“At that time, and in that location, it was an act of courage to display this symbol.”

“The rainbow flag has become such a potent and immediate symbol of pride and solidarity with the LGBTQ community,” says Tim O’Brien, Assistant Director of Exhibitions at the SFO Museum , which currently has up an exhibit of Baker’s work. “Many of us here in the San Francisco Bay Area take it for granted, as if the symbol has always been with us and has always been easily displayed. When I was growing up in a smaller town outside the immediate Bay Area, the flag made a tremendous impact. Just seeing it flying in front of a home or as a car’s bumper sticker immediately indicated that this person was a member of a tribe of sorts. At that time, and in that location, it was an act of courage to display this symbol.”

Baker’s flag has also left an impression on younger members of the LGBTQ community. Jordan Eagles, 41, is an artist whose work highlights the plight of gay men who pursue blood donation. In the United States, gay men must remain celibate for a full year before being eligible to donate, which most members of the community see as discrimination, given advanced screening processes. Like Baker, Eagle uses art and design to combat oppression and celebrate queer culture. “I don’t remember the first time I saw a pride flag. I feel like it has been in my consciousness forever. I haven’t always found it to be visually appealing, yet I have always understood that it stands for something good, and that is the most important. Gilbert Baker’s flag is iconic and a symbol of gay pride and probably will be forever.”

Mike Devlin, manager of the Blood Equality, a pro bono campaign by FCB Health, is a fellow artist who’s been working with Eagle to fight the blood ban, both legally and ideologically. “Our message is, if we’re serious about LGBTQ rights, it’s time to get serious about Blood Equality. And selectively choosing some rights to support, while ignoring others, does not equate to actual support.” So far, Devlin and Eagles’ work has garnered praise and press and, more importantly, brought the government to the table to discuss and advance policy. “We’re in the midst of hopefully executing research and studies that will spark the conservative (i.e. slow) decision makers to action, providing the evidence they say they need to lift the ban.”

While Devlin is pleased with the campaign’s successes, he realized that he needed an easily recognizable signifier to serve as an icon for this struggle. Inspired by Baker, he has helped to conceptualize and create BLOOD FLAGS, a series of all-red banners to be unfurled at this year’s Blood Donor Day. “The pride flag was the centerpiece of our team’s inspiration: the colors meant to symbolize and unify, yet the colors of the national flags in which LGBTQ men remain stigmatized sits in sharp contrast to the strength of the pride flag below. All in the context of the one color – red – the color of all of our blood. We are the same, one in our blood, yet our blood is not seen as equal.”

Today, a full range of identity-driven flags exist, from those celebrating the leather community to asexuality, to a modification of the rainbow flag itself with additional black and brown stripes added to protest discrimination against people of color in Philadelphia gay bars.

Ultimately, Baker was a street activist who saw the use of protest banners and flags as a political tool. “Gilbert worked his entire adult life to make this happen,” says O’Brien. “I’m sure if he were here today, he’d take understandable pride in this achievement. But I’m guessing he’d read the news about someone somewhere being harassed, abused, evicted, etc. for displaying the rainbow flag, and he’d remind us all that the work remains unfinished.”

#startups #text #startup #advice #busieness #howto #news #tech #love

0 notes

frontstreet1 · 7 years

Text

Girlfriend Of Las Vegas Killer Says He Left Her In The Dark

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/media:a8bd5a2b1c3342b4bf7081c2a2cd1f33/576.mp4

LAS VEGAS — The girlfriend of the Las Vegas gunman said Wednesday that she had no inkling of the massacre he was plotting when he sent her on a trip abroad to see her family.

Marilou Danley issued the statement after returning from her native Philippines and being questioned for much of the day by FBI agents still trying to figure out what drove Stephen Paddock to open fire on 22,000 fans at a country music festival from his 32nd-floor hotel suite.

“He never said anything to me or took any action that I was aware of that I understood in any way to be a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen,” Danley said in a statement read by her lawyer outside FBI headquarters in Los Angeles.

Danley, who was overseas for more than two weeks, said she was initially pleased when Paddock wired her money in the Philippines to buy a house for her family. But she later feared it was a way to break up with her.

“It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone,” she said.

Danley, 62, who has been called a person of interest by investigators, said she loved Paddock as a “kind, caring, quiet man” and hoped they would have a future together. She said she was devastated by the carnage and would cooperate with authorities as they struggle to get inside Paddock’s mind.

Two sisters of Marilou Danley say Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock sent Danley away so that he could plan the shooting. (Oct. 4)

Investigators are busy reconstructing his life, behavior and the people he encountered in the weeks leading up to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said. That includes examining his computer and cellphone.

But as of Wednesday, investigators were unable to come up with a motive for the attack Sunday night.

“This individual and this attack didn’t leave the sort of immediately accessible thumbprints that you find on some mass casualty attacks,” McCabe said.

Paddock killed 58 people and wounded more than 500 others before killing himself in his room at the Mandalay Bay hotel casino, authorities said. The Associated Press previously reported that 59 victims were killed, but has received revised information from the Clark County coroner.

The 64-year-old high-stakes gambler and real estate investor specifically requested an upper-floor room with a view of the music festival when he checked in last Thursday, according to a person who has seen hotel records turned over to investigators.

Paddock wasn’t able to move into the room until Saturday, said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and disclosed the information to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The room, which goes for $590, was given to Paddock free because he was a good customer who wagered tens of thousands of dollars each time he visited the casino, the person said.

It was just another indication of how methodically he planned the attack. Authorities have said he brought 23 weapons in 10 suitcases into the room and set up cameras inside and out to watch for police closing in on him.

But investigators had little to work with in trying to determine what set him off.

While he had a passion for high-stakes gambling at Nevada casinos, his game of choice was video poker, a relatively solitary pursuit with no dealer and no humans to play against. And while neighbors described Paddock as friendly, he wasn’t close to them.

“He was a private guy. That’s why you can’t find out anything about him,” his brother, Eric Paddock, said from his home in Florida. As for what triggered the massacre, the brother said, “Something happened that drove him into the pit of hell.”

Occasionally, Paddock shared news of his gambling winnings, his brother said, recalling a photo text message he received showing a $40,000 payout.

Casino regulators are looking closely at Paddock’s gambling habits and checking their records to see whether he had any disputes with casinos or fellow patrons. In addition, investigators are examining a dozen financial reports filed in recent weeks when he bought more than $10,000 in casino chips.

It was in a casino where Paddock met his girlfriend, who was a high-limit hostess for Club Paradise at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, Eric Paddock told The Washington Post.

Stephen Paddock wired $100,000 to the Philippines days before the shooting, a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly because of the continuing investigation said on condition of anonymity. Investigators are trying to trace that money.

Danley’s sisters in Australia said in a TV interview that they believe Paddock sent her away so she wouldn’t interfere with his murderous plans.

Paddock had no known criminal history. Public records contained no indication of any financial problems, and his brother described him as a wealthy real estate investor.

“I believe, based on what I have been told, the issue was not that he was under financial stress,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump met privately with victims at a Las Vegas hospital Wednesday and then with police officers and dispatchers, praising them and the doctors who treated the wounded.

“Our souls are stricken with grief for every American who lost a husband or a wife, a mother or a father, a son or a daughter,” he said. “We know that your sorrow feels endless. We stand together to help you carry your pain.”

Paddock had stockpiled 47 guns since 1982 and bought 33 of them, mostly rifles, over the past year alone, right up until three days before the attack, Jill Snyder, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told CBS on Wednesday.

By KEN RITTER, MICHAEL BALSAMO and BRIAN MELLEY - Oct 4 6:57 PM EDT

___

Melley reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Philippines; Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles; and Richard Lardner, Eric Tucker, Sadie Gurman and Tami Abdollah in Washington contributed to this report.

___

For complete coverage of the Las Vegas shooting, click here: https://apnews.com/tag/LasVegasmassshooting .

___

This story has been corrected to show that the death toll is 58, not including the gunman, based on revised information from the Clark County coroner.

#Gunman Stephen Paddock #Marilou Danley #Philippines #Vegas Killer’s Girlfriend #Wired $100K

0 notes

inbonobo · 7 years

Photo

The managers at #Oxfam, a #charity, are no fools when it comes to garnering headlines for #poverty #inequality #wef

They have issued a press release, reminding the world that the globe’s eight richest people own half the world’s wealth, to coincide with the annual gathering of the rich and powerful at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week. Oxfam says these rich men generally have corporate tax-dodging, mean wage policies and political power to thank for their riches. The names on the list will not surprise anyone, with Microsoft founder Bill Gates topping the list. He is a philanthropist, giving away vast sums of his wealth; nevertheless, questions are raised about Microsoft’s ability to take advantage of weaknesses in the global capitalist system in the first place to amass huge sums. Investment sage Warren Buffett also features on this list as do global internet entrepreneurs Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, and Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook co-founder and the company’s American chairman. Amazon and Facebook are among the companies criticised for taking advantage of loopholes in global legal systems to pay little to no tax in jurisdictions where they generate huge revenue. The clever people at Davos have fixed the system to ensure their best interests are at the centre and it is long overdue for some smart thinking on how to close the gap between rich and poor, is the message from Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International. Byanyima has been campaigning for some years against the inequality that is trapping societies. Big business and the super-rich the world over make sure that government policy works for them, she will be reminding delegates at Davos – yet again. – Jackie Cameron

From Oxfam*

Just 8 men own same wealth as half the world

Eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, according to a new report published by Oxfam today to mark the annual meeting of political and business leaders in Davos.

Oxfam’s report, ‘An economy for the 99 percent’, shows that the gap between rich and poor is far greater than had been feared. It details how big business and the super-rich are fuelling the inequality crisis by dodging taxes, driving down wages and using their power to influence politics. It calls for a fundamental change in the way we manage our economies so that they work for all people, and not just a fortunate few.

New and better data on the distribution of global wealth – particularly in India and China – indicates that the poorest half of the world has less wealth than had been previously thought. Had this new data been available last year, it would have shown that nine billionaires owned the same wealth as the poorest half of the planet, and not 62, as Oxfam calculated at the time.

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International, said:

“It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day. Inequality is trapping hundreds of millions in poverty; it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy.

“Across the world, people are being left behind. Their wages are stagnating yet corporate bosses take home million dollar bonuses; their health and education services are cut while corporations and the super-rich dodge their taxes; their voices are ignored as governments sing to the tune of big business and a wealthy elite.”

Oxfam’s report shows how our broken economies are funnelling wealth to a rich elite at the expense of the poorest in society, the majority of whom are women. The richest are accumulating wealth at such an astonishing rate that the world could see its first trillionaire in just 25 years. To put this figure in perspective – you would need to spend $1 million every day for 2738 years to spend $1 trillion.

Public anger with inequality is already creating political shockwaves across the globe. Inequality has been cited as a significant factor in the election of Donald Trump in the US, the election of President Duterte in the Philippines, and Brexit in the UK.

Seven out of 10 people live in a country that has seen a rise in inequality in the last 30 years. Between 1988 and 2011 the incomes of the poorest 10 percent increased by just $65 per person, while the incomes of the richest 1 percent grew by $11,800 per person – 182 times as much.

Women, who are often employed in low pay sectors, face high levels of discrimination in the work place, and who take on a disproportionate amount of unpaid care work often find themselves at the bottom of the pile. On current trends it will take 170 years for women to be paid the same as men.

‘An Economy for the 99 percent’ also reveals how big business and the super-rich are fuelling the inequality crisis. It shows how, in order to maximize returns to their wealthy shareholders, big corporations are dodging taxes, driving down wages for their workers and the prices paid to producers, and investing less in their business.

Oxfam interviewed women working in a garment factory in Vietnam who work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week and still struggle to get by on the $1 an hour they earn producing clothes for some of the world’s biggest fashion brands. The CEOs of these companies are some of the highest paid people in the world. Corporate tax dodging costs poor countries at least $100 billion every year. This is enough money to provide an education for the 124 million children who aren’t in school and fund healthcare interventions that could prevent the deaths of at least six million children every year.

The report outlines how the super-rich use a network of tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of tax and an army of wealth managers to secure returns on their investments that would not be available to ordinary savers. Contrary to popular belief, many of the super-rich are not ‘self-made’. Oxfam analysis shows over half the world’s billionaires either inherited their wealth or accumulated it through industries which are prone to corruption and cronyism.

It also demonstrates how big business and the super-rich use their money and connections to ensure government policy works for them. For example, billionaires in Brazil have sought to influence elections and successfully lobbied for a reduction in tax bills while oil corporations in Nigeria have managed to secure generous tax breaks.

Byanyima said: “The millions of people who have been left behind by our broken economies need solutions, not scapegoats. That is why Oxfam is setting out a new common sense approach to managing our economies so that they work for the majority and not just the fortunate few.”

Entirely wrong that Oxfam lumps in Bill Gates in its condemnation of the super-rich. He is one of the greatest benefactors in human history.

— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) January 16, 2017

“Governments are not helpless in the face of technological change and market forces. If politicians stop obsessing with GDP, and focus on delivering for all their citizens and not just a wealthy few, a better future is possible for everyone.”

Oxfam’s blueprint for a more human economy includes:

Governments end the extreme concentration of wealth to end poverty. Governments should increase taxes on both wealth and high incomes to ensure a more level playing field, and to generate funds needed to invest in healthcare, education and job creation.

Governments cooperate rather than just compete. Governments should work together to ensure workers are paid a decent wage, and to put a stop to tax dodging and the race to the bottom on corporate tax.

Governments support companies that benefit their workers and society rather than just their shareholders. The multi-billion Euro company Mondragon, is owned by its 74,000 strong workforce. All employees receive a decent wage because its pay structure ensures that the highest paid member of staff earns no more than 9 times the amount of the lowest paid.

Governments ensure economies work for women. They must help to dismantle the barriers to women’s economic progress such as access to education and the unfair burden of unpaid care work.

Oxfam is also calling on business leaders to play their part in building a human economy. The World Economic Forum has responsive and responsible leadership as its key theme this year. They can make a start by committing to pay their fair share of tax and by ensuring their businesses pay a living wage. People around the global can also join the campaign at www.evenitup.org.

The world’s 8 richest people are, in order of net worth:

Bill Gates: America founder of Microsoft (net worth $75 billion)

Amancio Ortega: Spanish founder of Inditex which owns the Zara fashion chain (net worth $67 billion)

Warren Buffett: American CEO and largest shareholder in Berkshire Hathaway (net worth $60.8 billion)

Carlos Slim Helu: Mexican owner of Grupo Carso (net worth: $50 billion)

Jeff Bezos: American founder, chairman and chief executive of Amazon (net worth: $45.2 billion)

Mark Zuckerberg: American chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Facebook (net worth $44.6 billion)

Larry Ellison: American co-founder and CEO of Oracle (net worth $43.6 billion)

Michael Bloomberg: American founder, owner and CEO of Bloomberg LP (net worth: $40 billion)

Oxfam’s calculations are based on global wealth distribution data provided by the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Data book 2016.

The wealth of the world’s richest people was calculated using Forbes’ billionaires list last published in March 2016.

JACKIE CAMERON

(via Oxfam: Tax-dodging helps these 8 rich men own half world's wealth - Fair or foul? - BizNews.com)

#oxfam #income inequality #billionaires #poverty #taxes #taxation #tax dodgers #ethics #winnie byanyima #wef

0 notes