Category: Businesses / Corporations / Industry
Again clips from The Majority Report that I feel are important.
An update on the engine that the dealership claimed we needed to replace.
So first I thank all of you who read and responded to the post about how the dealership was trying to extort my 70 yr old husband into giving them the car and either buying a $10,000 engine for a 7-year-old car, or trying to force him into buying a set of hybrids they have not been able to sell … the 1.5 hybrid engine which no one wants. I learned a lot from each of you. I am clueless about engines.
A couple of years ago when the dealership smashed the front of our car due to a worker taking it for the butler service that we paid for that touched up the paint and applied a new clear coat, they wanted us to take one of the 1.5 engine hybrids. We wanted to have the same 2.0 engine we had only in the hybrid model. However they had a three-year waiting list for them. They dicked us around for nearly five months with each call telling us how they could put us in one of those stuck on the lot. We did not give in.
So everyone knows how they tried to get Ron to leave the car. I did not realize until today they asked that while Ron was in the service line. The guy took the car information and then told Ron they would gladly take him home he shouldn’t wait. Ron told them he wanted only an oil change so it shouldn’t take much time. They then pulled the thing of making him wait two hours then coming to tell him the engine was blown and needed to be replaced, so they would take him home. Ron at that time told them he drove it in and he would drive it home. I learned today that he told the service rep, “See those windows? They will be iced over and blocked by 8 feet of snow before I leave my car here. Bring it out to me as I am driving it home”.
It still took them an hour to return the car to him. They claimed not to have done anything other than hook the diagnostics thing to it despite Ron telling them not to. They took $100 off the price because Ron told them not to do it, still they charged us $260 for the diagnostic. All they claimed to have done is the oil change and rotate the tires along with checking fluids. It took over three hours.
Which makes what I am going to write next make them even more sinister. So Monday Ron called the guy that fixes cars at his home on his driveway or comes to your home with his fully equipped van. He told Ron to bring it over on the next day, Tuesday morning. We did, I followed Ron to his home. He had six vehicles in his driveway but he moved a car out and put ours in his driveway.
He had a tablet with programs that could diagnose the car issues. He showed us how the cylinders were firing. #2, #3, #4 were firing normally. He shut # 1 off and even I could hear how the car smoothed out. I just never noticed it before. The number 1 plug was not working well, firing only a bit of the time. I got panicked. Then he told us that it looked to him that the car needed the plugs changed. He asked if we noticed smoke or other stuff and we had not.
Ron sent me home and he and the guy went and got the four new plugs. The guy put them on his account so we would get his discount and Ron paid for them. So they were $10 dollars apiece and it cost us around that price. Then he took the plugs out and put the new ones in. Then he checked it on his tablet and showed Ron how all cylinders were firing as they should. He then asked Ron to drive the car around for ten or 15 minutes to see if it was running right.
Ron said the car was running perfectly so he went to pay the guy. Remember Ron bought the plugs at the guy’s discount, so the guy told Ron that all his work over 3 or 4 hours were only costing $80 dollars. Ron bless his heart and I love him doing what I would have done had I been there. He said sorry, but no. You took our car in with only one day’s notice, put it first, worked with us to keep us from all the things the dealership wanted to do to us. You need more than $80 dollars. Ron gave him $100 because the guy wouldn’t accept anything more. But he did say that he was willing to work on our van that has the issue of the lights on the A/C part of the dash not working.
A decent man well worth paying. This is the third time we have used his service, and each time we are stunned by how great he is at repairing the problem and the low cost. The dealership wanted to charge us $360 for doing the diagnostics. This man did it for free with a tablet that showed him everything and he could shut the plugs off with it showing us the difference with the bad plug out of the system. No $360 dollar charge. Our friend James who lived with us and still sends me texts calling me dad … oh how I wish … is having car troubles and Ron is sending him this guy’s information. I think the world is not as dark as I thought a week ago. There are still some people willing to do good in this world of darkness. Hugs
‘Appeased To Meet You’, and more in Peace & Justice History for 5/21
| May 21, 1930 Sarojini Naidu, a renowned Indian poet, was arrested as a leader of the nonviolent “raid” on the Dharasana Salt Works, a salt production facility. She had assumed leadership of the effort to break the salt monopoly after the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi. She and as many as 2500 filled the local jails for their civil disobedience. Column after column of Indians advanced toward the gates and had been severely beaten by the native police under British direction. Not one satyagrahi (one who works for justice with courage and sacrifice but without violent force) raised a hand to defend himself; many lost consciousness, and some died. The British Raj, the ruling colonial authority, controlled all production of salt, a dietary necessity in the tropics; the government taxed it as well. Gandhi decided to focus attention on salt as an example of unfair British oppression in his effort toward national independence for India. British public opinion was deeply affected by the Dharasana nonviolent movement, which revealed the violence inherent in the British colonial system.  Sarojini Naidu More on the Dharasana Salt Works The Pinch Heard “Round the World” |
| May 21, 1956 The United States conducted the first airborne test of an improved hydrogen bomb, dropping it from a B-52 bomber over the tiny island of Namu, part of the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The United States first detonated a hydrogen bomb in 1952 in the Marshall Islands, also in the Pacific. This bomb was far more powerful than those previously tested and was estimated at 15 megatons or larger (one megaton is roughly equivalent to one million tons of TNT). Observers said that the fireball caused by the explosion measured at least four miles in diameter and was “brighter than the light from 500 suns.” |
| May 21, 1981 The U.S. Senate approved a $20 billion program to return the U.S. to full-scale production of chemical and nerve-gas weapons (CW).  President Reagan’s Special Envoy to the Mideast Donald Rumsfeld meeting Saddam Hussein in 1983. Rumsfeld had become a member of the President’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control the previous year. Though the U.S. maintained a public policy opposing chemical weapons, it extended financial and military assistance to Iraq in its war against Iran (1980-88), despite the Iraqi military’s frequent use of such weapons. Iraq had developed its “CW production capability, primarily from Western firms, including possibly a U.S. foreign subsidiary” (from a memorandum to Secretary of State Alexander Haig). Watch a video on the U.S./Saddam Hussein partnership |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may21
Trump & The Press: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Republicans caused or did this. We should ban them.
Photo: Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro, who also serves as Kennedy Space Center director, a post she assumed in 2021. Trump elevated Petro to lead NASA after he ousted former Sen. Bill Nelson for believing in climate change.
As previously reported here, European governments have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to lure US scientists.
Newly-released data shows that Oklahoma ranks 46th in per-pupil spending, but Walters, who is eyeing a run for governor, has called for cuts to his state’s “wasteful” education spending, including $250,000 to provide school districts with emergency inhalers.
In his KFOR interview, Walters did boast about getting new teachers a signing bonus, but as was widely reported the time, $290,000 of that money had to be clawed back because it had gone to teachers who did not qualify. Some of those teachers had already spent the money.
The SPLC’s report is here. The February 2024 report linked below shows that the same thing is happening in the UK.
Guess who donated to the Texas Republicans behind the new law?
Something something free speech.
Rep. Beth Lear first appeared here in January 2024 when she defended her anti-trans bathroom bill by citing the “millstones” bible verse which calls for drowning anyone who hurts children.
She later blamed “depraved monster” Alfred Kinsey, liberals, and the ACLU for transgender people even existing.
Rep. Josh Williams first appeared here in July 2024 for his bill that would criminalize drag shows in the presence of children. Williams reintroduced his bill last week.
Alliance Defending Freedom: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
They are doing it. Gross, corrupt, and hateful
Kent, a twice-failed House candidate and self-professed fan of the Proud Boys, last appeared here when he declared that he would be keeping a $8600 campaign donation from a Capitol rioter then-facing felony assault charges. We first heard from Kent in 2022 when he gave an interview to a white nationalist Nazi podcaster.
Fox Host Agrees With Oklahoma Schools Chief That Students Should Be Taught 2020 Election Was Stolen
“And they’re like, ‘Yeah, yeah. Look, we’re doing it.’ But all the sodomites are still there and we’re not going to talk about that. And I need a guy there, I need a minister there who’s gonna say, ‘Oh, but we are. Obergefell is next, we’re coming for that,’ so that you calibrate the Christians in DC by the word of God and not by whatever the present administration can tolerate.
“We’re gonna come for feminism. We’re going to go after sodomy. Those are the sins in that town. Those are sins that are acceptable among both parties in that town. And we want to plant that flag and say the Bible has something to say about this.” – Christian nationalist pastor Joe Rigney.
Food rations that could supply 3.5 million people for a month are mouldering in warehouses around the world because of U.S. aid cuts and risk becoming unusable, according to five people familiar with the situation. The food stocks have been stuck inside four U.S. government warehouses since the Trump administration’s decision in January to cut global aid programmes.
Those who give to America250, a committee created to support what Trump envisions as a large national celebration next year for America’s 250th birthday, will be given special access to three events, according to a pitch shared with donors. Those include a military parade Trump is planning on his birthday, a “military readiness” event he is leading at Fort Bragg military base with thousands of troops and an Independence Day celebration in Washington, the people said.
https://x.com/jdawsey1/status/1923335215700758761
On his first day on the job, Richardson threatened staffers, telling them “I’ll run right over you” if they object to his orders.
Yesterday Duffy also posted a video about moving a painting of Jesus “out of the basement” at the Merchant Marine Academy.
https://x.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1923120841413521425
Kid Rock: Birth Rate Is Low Due To “Ugly Ass Broke Crazy Deranged TDS Liberal Women” And Gay Men
He continued, “I mean, you look at these rallies, it’s like a bunch of women that no guy wants to sleep with and a bunch of dudes that want to sleep with each other.”
You’ll note that Watters did not ask Kid Rock about sending his undocumented kitchen staff home to evade arrest by ICE.
Trump Admin Fires 600 Voice Of America Employees And Puts Organization’s DC Headquarters Up For Sale
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1923053942759358935
This is as close as Hitler got to the Tower. He couldn’t go up it because the French had cut the elevator cables.
BTO and Pork Chops
Freak Off Crypto by Clay Jones
How much Trump Crypto to keep Diddy out of prison? Read on Substack
I was reading some of my colleagues’ work this morning at GoComics, and I came across a cartoon by Gary Varvel defending Trump’s bribes (also, Gary, plane tires don’t have treads). An idiot in the comments section wrote, “So they gave him a bribe and then they gave him trillions of investments? I don’t think you know how bribes work.” The idiot doesn’t know how bribes work… or facts.
None of these three bribing nations, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, or Saudi Arabia, is investing trillions, which is a lie mentioned in the cartoon. A good way to tell if a cartoonist is instead a propagandist is when he/she rely on Trump for their research.
A lot of the “deals” Trump announced were actually made by President Joe Biden, while the rest aren’t binding, and won’t take effect until Trump is “supposed” to leave office, like that 747, Bribe Force One, won’t be ready until then either.
By the way, Qatar had been trying to sell that plane with no takers for over five years. Grifting, er, I mean gifting it to Trump will save them millions in storage fees. The entire world is moving away from that type of jet, including Qatar, which no longer includes it in its fleet of aircraft. This jet will now cost us more than its asking price to refit it.
This is like giving a dog a pork chop to make it like you, but in this case, the pork chop is a 747 jet. Also, the Qataris could have just given Donald Trump a pork chop.
What these nations really want from Trump is the arms deals and being legitimized by an American president (sic). It’s true they like Trump more than they liked President Biden or President Obama. The Crown Prince, who had Jamal Khashoggi murdered, rarely greets visitors when they arrive at the airport. He didn’t greet Biden at the airport, but he met Trump. Naturally, corrupt fascists governing monarchies without elections, who are also murderers, would love Trump. It’s like being loved by mobsters, Jason Vorhees, Jeffrey Epstein, and Roger Stone.
They also love Trump because they got a sucker who is easy to play.
Trump has been using his entire second regime to enrich himself. He’s fired the people who root out corruption in government, and then he got busy.
Our Attorney General, Pam Bondi, ruled that accepting Qatar’s gift of a jet doesn’t violate the Emoluments Clause, but she took a bribe from Trump years ago to stop investigating Trump University in Florida, and she used to be a lobbyist for…wait for it…Qatar.
By accepting the gift, Trump announced to the rest of the world that he’s open for business, and corruption is his business. If you thought his first regime was corrupt, as Bachman-Turner Overdrive would say, you ain’t seen nothing yet, B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Baby.
In the first regime, Trump and the Trump Organization said it wouldn’t create “new” business with foreign nations. In Trump 2.0, they announced that they WILL take in new business from foreign nations, and they just secured a bunch of golf resorts and other real estate deals in the three nations Trump visited this week, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Trump Org. is now involved in six Middle Eastern real estate projects sponsored by Dar Global, the international subsidiary of a Saudi-based firm with close ties to the Saudi royal family. It gets worse.
Don Sniffy Jr. and his buddies have created a new private club in Washington, DC that costs $500,000 to join. It’s called the Executive Club. The purpose of the club is to sell access to Trump and officials in the regime. Remember when Republicans howled about Hunter Biden selling access to his father, and felt the need to waste a lot of our money investigating it? There’s no investigation needed here because they’re doing it out in the open.
And then there’s $Trump Crypto.
Trump used to hate crypto and has posted in the past, “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air.”
He also said, “Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”
And he said that bitcoin “just seems like a scam,” and it’s a “disaster waiting to happen,” and “I think they should regulate them very, very high.”
It must be true that it’s a scam that can facilitate unlawful behavior because now, Trump LOVES crypto and has created his own. In fact, $Trump Crypto was created in January, three days before he was inaugurated, and promised to make the United States “the crypto capital of the planet.” And then the crypto industry donated $18 million to his inauguration, where donations go to disappear…which is much like how crypto works.
Foreigners are jumping to donate to $Trump, including a tiny TikTok e-commerce company with ties to the Chinese government that has zero revenue, yet found the funds to buy $300 million of $Trump Crypto, just when Trump is delaying the shutdown of TikTok in America. Now we know why the delay was instituted. Maybe that’s why he’s delaying tariffs on China for 90 days. There are 90s days to bribe Trump not to place 145 percent tariffs on China.
Follow the money. Follow the shell game.
If you need further proof that Trump is taking bribes, then listen to this: If you buy enough of $TRUMP Criminal, oops… $Trump Crypto to become one of its top 220 investors, then you’ll get to attend an “intimate private” dinner with him later this month. If you buy enough to become one of the top 25, you will win a “VIP White House Tour.” And if you give him a plane, you’ll get to spend the night with Trump in the Lincoln Bedroom, and with guaranteed spooning time.
Trump is not even hiding that he’s selling access and using the White House to grift.
According to Bloomberg, $Trump Criminal, I mean Crypto, is nearing the value of $1 billion. Did you know the value of the Trump family has increased by nearly $4 billion since January? At that rate, their value will be $32 billion by the time Trump 2.0 is “supposed” to end. Also, at this rate, by the time 2029 gets here, Trump will have eight 747s.
And finally, the Justice Department disbanded a division dedicated to investigating cryptocurrency crimes, declared that meme coins are no longer subject to regulatory oversight, and paused a fraud case against a top crypto mogul who pumped $75 million into $Trump Criminal…oops, I mean Trump Crypto.
Now we know how Diddy can beat the rap, and getting a pardon from Trump is not out of the question. According to Rolling Stone, Diddy’s people are talking to Trump’s people.
Trump has attended Diddy’s parties, which are often called “freak offs.” Tiffany Trump has attended the “freak offs.” Trump and Diddy have both said they like each other. They’ve both been prosecuted in cases involving sex or sex abuse. They were both tried in Manhattan. They have a lot in common. They’re both criminals because Trump stole classified documents and Diddy stole Every Breath You Take by the Police.
How much $Trump Criminal can Diddy buy? Oops.
I meant $Trump Crypto.
Creative note: One of my concerns with this cartoon is that it may be too subtle. Well, too subtle for MAGAts maybe.
The bribe in the cartoon was originally a 747, but I realized I hadn’t hit the $Trump Crypto bribes yet. Oops.
I meant $Trump Criminal.
Music note: I listened to some tunes today that have been remastered, and they sounded much better before the remastering. Yo, remastering MoFos. Some of us like to hear the bass.
I did not listen to Diddy.
Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see it)
Busy Day in Peace & Justice History on 5/17, Including Outrage & Rebellion in Seattle, a Wedding in MA, & a SCOTUS Decision Desegregating Public Schools; So Much More-
| May 17, 1919 The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was formally established in Zurich, Switzerland. |
| May 17, 1954 In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling “separate but equal” public education to be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal treatment under the law. The historic decision, bringing an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin. Read more and more  Above: Nettie Hunt and her daughter Nickie on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1954.  George E. C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall and James M. Nabrit (left to right), the successful legal team, celebrate the Brown decision. . . three years later . . . |
| May 17, 1957 Martin Luther King, Jr. led 30,00 on a Prayer Pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. to mark the third anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education decision in which the Supreme Court declared racial segregation in education unconstitutional. |
| May 17, 1968 A group of anti-war activists who came to be known as the “Catonsville Nine,” including Philip and Daniel Berrigan, broke into the Catonsville, Maryland, draft board center and burned over 600 draft files.  The Catonsville Nine in a picture taken in the police station minutes after the action. From left to right (standing) George Mische, Philip Berrigan, Daniel Berrigan, Tom Lewis. From left to right (seated) David Darst, Mary Moylan, John Hogan, Marjorie Melville, Tom Melville. photo Jean Walsh Read more about the Catonsville Nine |
May 17, 1970 100 protesters staged a silent “die-in” at Fifth Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle to protest shipment through their city of Army nerve gas being transported from Okinawa, Japan, to the Umatilla Army Depot in eastern Oregon. Outrage and Rebellion |
| May 17, 1973 In Washington, D.C., the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, headed by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, began televised hearings on the escalating Watergate affair. One week later, Harvard Law Professor Archibald Cox was sworn in as Watergate special prosecutor. Flashback: On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. with the intent to set up wiretaps. One of the suspects, James W. McCord, Jr., was revealed to be the salaried security coordinator for President Richard Nixon’s reelection committee. |
May 17, 2004 Marcia Kadish, 56, and Tanya McCloskey, 52, of Malden, Massachusetts, were married at Cambridge City Hall in Massachusetts, becoming the first legally married same-sex partners in the United States. Over the course of the day, 77 other such couples tied the knot across the state, and hundreds more applied for marriage licenses. The day was characterized by much celebration and only a few of the expected protests materialized. Read more |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymay.htm#may17
