New Book About Facebook, Reveals Unusual Employment Rules

Martinez reveals how Zuckerberg declared ‘total war’ on Google in 2011 when it launched Google Plus, its ill-fated rival social network in his new book Chaos Monkeys.

[From article]
Facebook has long been accused of being a sexist workplace and letting founder Mark Zuckerberg rule with an iron fist in a velvet perk-filled glove.
But as far as one ex-employee is concerned, the glove is now definitely off.
Antonio Garcia Martinez, a former Facebook advertising manager who was fired two years ago, claims that working at the social network was like being in a cult akin to North Korea with Zuckerberg its unquestioned leader.
Female employees were told not to wear clothing that might be ‘distracting’ to male workers,
Human resource managers gave a speech during initiation for new employees in which they told women that there was a dress code which they had to stick to.
They also pulled women aside and ‘read them the riot act’ if their skirts were too short.
Men do not appear to have been given the same treatment according to Martinez' new tell-all book, ‘Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley’, published by Harper Collins



Martinez takes the title from a term used in the tech world for a tool used by computer developers to identify problems before they crop up.
But for Martinez, there were problems aplenty at Facebook, not least the KGB-like internal police force called ‘The Sec’ which monitored everything that staff did.
Facebook has long faced allegations its workplace culture is sexist and still mirrors the Frat House style environment that harks back to social media's early days.
Facemash, for example, was a crude ‘hot or not’ style game that went viral in Harvard, where Zuckerberg studied.
Since then former employees have claimed that little has changed and that it is more like Mad Men when it comes to equal rights.
Martinez, who was sacked by Facebook in 2013 after two years working on targeted advertisements, describes how new employees went through a series of talks to induct them into the company’s way of thinking.
The author recalls being told by Chamath Palihapitiya, one of the stars of Facebook: ‘Look, we’re not here to f*** around. You’re at Facebook now and we’ve got lots to do’.
After 20 minutes more of lecturing he finished off with another missive: ‘Just f*****g do it’.
But 'doing it' had its limits.
Martinez says that Facebook's Human Resources told them that the policy on asking co-workers out was that you got one try and if they said no you had to leave it.
‘Next was a warning to the womenfolk,' writes the author.
‘Our male HR authority, with occasional backup from his female counterpart, launched into a speech about avoiding clothing that ‘distracted’ coworkers.
‘I’d later learn that manager did in fact pull aside female employees and read them the riot act. One such example happened in (advertising) when an intern who looked about 16 coming in regularly in booty shorts.’
Such attitudes toward women got senior staff into trouble with Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer at Facebook and one of the few female boardroom executives.
On one occasion, she was evaluating a presentation of a new tool that used pictures of cats instead of users’ pictures.
When Sandberg asked why they were all cats, the product manager Dan Rubenstein said: ‘Well, you know, kittens and cats are like pu…’
Sandberg did not need to hear the word ‘pussy’ and replied: ‘Got it!’ followed by a sharp intake of breath,
She said: ‘If there were women on that team they’d NEVER EVER choose those photos as demo pics. I think you should change them immediately’.
Rubenstein duly scribbled in his notepad: ‘CHANGE PUSSY PHOTOS NOW!’
Martinez, a former Goldman Sachs trader who had an on-off relationship with the mother of his three children, has his own chauvinistic issues.
He writes: ‘Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of s**t.
‘They have their self-regarding entitlement feminism and ceaselessly vaunt their independence but the reality is, come the epidemic plague or foreign invasion, they'd become precisely the sort of useless baggage you'd trade for a box of shotgun shells or a jerry can of diesel’.
Martinez admits that he once tried to have sex in a closet on the Facebook campus after getting drunk in the bar on site called ‘Shady Lady’.
He admits that he had his ‘fair share of scares’ with women nearly getting pregnant after having unprotected sex with many women.
Martinez writes: ‘I was on season four of the show where a tear-filled woman X shows up two weeks after the shag saying she had ‘missed her period’ (sort of in the same way I'd say I ‘missed my bus’).
‘Nothing had ever come of it and after the third showing you just wanted to say: ‘Look, woman, unless you've got a screaming infant in your arms and it looks like me, we have nothing to talk about’.
In another passage about his pre-Facebook says Martinez says that trying to attract venture capital funding with an ongoing lawsuit against was like ‘walking into a singles bar with a T-shirt announcing: ‘I’m HIV positive’’.
The day that an employee joined Facebook is called their ‘Faceversary’ and is marked by celebrations akin to how Christians celebrate the day they are baptized.Martinez says that working for Facebook is like being in a cult with Zuckerberg as its leader who is followed by ‘true believers’ who have a Messianic zeal to get everyone in the world onto the social network.
It was essentially treated as a second birthday and everyone would congratulate you and give you balloons.
The day people leave Facebook is considered their ‘death’ and they would post a picture of their battered ID card as their Facebook profile to show they were going out the door.
In Facebook’s first office, one conference room was called Ping and the one next door was called Pong.
When Facebook moved to its sprawling campus in Menlo Park signs were put up which read: ‘Our work is never done’, ‘Embracing change isn’t enough’, ‘Make it faster’, The journey 1% finished’ and ‘What would you do if you weren’t afraid?’
Zuckerberg’s office became known as ‘The Aquarium’ because of its all glass walls while Sandberg’s conference room became dubbed ‘Only Good News’, apparently because that is all she wanted to hear.
Staff were expected to work 20 hour plus days, Martinez claims, and eat all their meals at the cafeteria, which developed to cater for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Not every initiative was a success though and when Zuckerberg asked staff to paint the walls of their new office he was furious because after two days the place was covered with obscene drawings.
Martinez says the gist of the email Zuckerberg sent round to staff was that ‘I trusted you to create art and what you f*****g did was vandalize the place’.
According to Martinez Zuckerberg was obsessed with secrecy. When one employee leaked details about a new product launch Zuckerberg responded by sending a chilling email round to every single worker with the subject line: ‘Please resign’.
The email was designed to cause alarm to anyone who received it - in this case the whole company.
Zuckerberg was so angry at the employee who leaked details about the new product that he 'excoriated' the individual in the message - attacking the person for his or her 'base moral nature' and how he/she had 'betrayed the team'.
The book says: 'The moral to this story, a parable of a prodigal son but with an unforgiving father, was clear: F*** with Facebook and security guards would be hustling you out the door like a rowdy drunk at a late night Taco Bell'.
[. . .]
Zuckerberg made decisions that affected Facebook's 1.6 billion users based on 'gut feel' and 'whatever historical politics were at play' rather than a considered judgement, Martinez claims.
[. . .]
A lot of the change appears to be the work of Sandberg, who arrived in 2008 having previously been at Google and been mentored by former Federal Reserve chairman Larry Summers while studying at Harvard.
She instituted what Martinez calls the ‘Supreme Court of Sheryl’, or a system for improving targeted advertising that she controlled.
The book says: ‘She clearly knew her boss inside and out. Here was a boss who excelled in the role of gatekeeper and shepherd to difficult and powerful men, whether that role was chief of staff for prickly US Treasury Secretary Larry Summer, or COO of and for Zuck’.
One of Sandberg’s tricks for hiring the right staff was to make them think they were missing an unmissable opportunity.
[. . .]
A colleague told Martinez: ‘She basically convinced me by saying: ‘Look, I either hire you now and you come work for Facebook, or a year from now I’ll hire you to work for the guy whose job I’m offering to you right now’. And that’s what convinced me’.
Martinez reveals how Zuckerberg declared ‘total war’ on Google in 2011 when it launched Google Plus, its ill-fated rival social network.
Martinez claims that this hit Zuckerberg like a ‘bomb’ and that he put the entire company on Lockdown, meaning that they were not able to leave the building.
In a speech in front of the entire company Zuckerberg quoted Cato the Elder, one of his favourite philosophers, and told that Carthage must be destroyed, referring to Google.
According to Martinez: ‘Everyone walked out of there ready to invade Poland if need be’
[. . .]
The Facebook Analog Research Laboratory turned Zuckerberg’s catchphrase into posters in bold type with a Roman centurion’s helmet which were put up all over the campus
When it became clear that Google had been inflating the figures for how many people were using Google Plus and it was not a threat.
Martinez is not the first former Facebook employee to highlight its workplace culture.
In ‘The Boy Kings: A Journey into the Heart of the Social Network’ Katherine Loose claimed that it was deeply sexist and stuck in a 1950s mentality.
She wrote that female workers at the social network were propositioned for threesomes or given crude insults like ‘I want to put my teeth in your a**’.
Lower ranking employees who were invariably female were banned from a conference unless they worked as coat checkers whilst there.
In the book she compared Zuckerberg to Napoleon and branded a ‘little emperor’ who created a company where his staff could ‘idol worship’ him.
Loose was employee no.51 and worked her way up from customer relations to a senior marketing role before becoming the speechwriter for Zuckerberg.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3666501/Mark-Zuckerberg-s-hostile-emails-Sheryl-Sandberg-s-Good-News-conference-room-s-wanted-hear-Dress-codes-no-booty-shorts-women-Life-Facebook-exposed.html

EXCLUSIVE: ‘I trusted you to create art and what you f***ing did was vandalize!' Mark Zuckerberg’s hostile emails…Sheryl Sandberg’s 'only good news' room… Dress codes (no booty shorts) for women. Life at Facebook exposed!
FIRED Facebook advertising manager Antonio Garcia Martinez has written a tell-all book about his time at the social network
Zuckerberg fired off angry email after he asked staff to paint the walls and the place was covered with obscene drawings
When one employee leaked details about a new product launch Zuckerberg sent a chilling email to every worker. Subject: ‘Please resign!’
Staff who stepped out of line were monitored by a 'KGB-like' internal police force called ‘The Sec'
'F*** with Facebook and security guards would be hustling you out the door like a rowdy drunk at a late night Taco Bell,' Martinez writes
He claims female employees had a strict dress code so as not to distract men - who had no code at all
The day that an employee joined Facebook is called their ‘Faceversary’ and is marked by celebrations akin to Baptisms
By DANIEL BATES FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 07:55 EST, 30 June 2016 | UPDATED: 12:00 EST, 30 June 2016

BBC Charged With Anti White Bias In Hiring

BBC's MediaCityUK in Salford... more BBC 'diversity' in action
Getty Images

[From article]
It advertised two £25,000 junior scriptwriting roles for shows like Holby City, but said they were only for people from “ethnic minority backgrounds”.
One outraged job-hunter said: “It’s racial discrimination and just wrong.
“If you applied for a position and got a reply saying it was only open to white applicants you’d quite rightly not be happy.
“This is exactly the same.”
The Sun can reveal the Beeb is running four recruitment schemes open only to black, Asian or ethnic minorities.
It has recruited 17 presenters and ten writers in two years via the Creative Diversity Talent Fund, Senior Leadership Development (Clore) Programme, Assistant Commissioner Development Programme and Creative Access Trainee Scheme.
Under the Equality Act it is illegal to discriminate against job applicants on grounds of race, unless crucial to the role.
The BBC last night insisted the positions were not jobs, but trainee schemes.
And it said the scriptwriter pay was an allowance rather than a wage.
But Dr Jonathan Lord, Salford University’s lecturer in HRM & Employment Law, said: “Using trainee contracts is common practice to get around employment legislation.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/7190752/Auntie-is-anti-white-Applicants-anger-over-telly-jobs-just-for-minority-groups.html

Auntie is anti-white: Applicant’s anger over BBC telly jobs just for minorities
BBC blasted for rejecting work applicants because they are white
June 2, 2016

Comparing Unemployment Rates, Citizens vs. Illegal Aliens

[From article]
A new study by George Borjas from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University reveals what many have long been concerned about when it comes to illegal immigration into the United States.
According to Borjas' paper, the "employment rate of undocumented men is 86.6%, as compared to 73.9% for natives and 77.8% for legal immigrants," and this gap has been widening since the mid-1990s.
More evidence that illegal immigrants are both taking jobs away from legal Americans and undercutting their wage bargaining power.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/03/study_employment_rate_of_illegal_immigrant_men_far_higher_than_for_legal_immigrants_and_natives.html

March 26, 2016
Study: Employment rate of illegal immigrant men far higher than for legal immigrants and natives
By Sierra Rayne

History of Union Dues, and The Supreme Court of The United States

[From article]
The U.S. Supreme Court is now considering a case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, brought by ten teachers in California, concerning the First Amendment to the Constitution. The teachers oppose the requirement forcing public sector workers to support unions. They want the Court to overrule the 1977 case, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education that allows unions to levy charges on non-members of unions. Some 23 states, mostly Democratic, and the District of Columbia allow such charges to occur.
The objection of the California teachers, is based on two factors: opposition to the political position that unions take; and simple refusal to join a union if inclined to see unions as unnecessary or irrelevant.
[. . .]



The crux of the issue is whether it is unconstitutional for a non-member of the unions to be made to pay for union activities that, among other things, involve not only activities that benefit the non-member, such as negotiating for higher wages and benefits, but in addition involve activities that may be abhorrent to the non-member. The latter involves the First Amendment: should individuals be forced to contribute to avocation of positions with which they disagree?
In the Abood case, the Supreme Court made a fine line distinction. On one hand, it held that it was a violation of the First Amendment for unions to make non-members pay for political activities. On the other hand, it was constitutional for union to obtain a fee from non-members to help pay for collective bargaining activities.
Abood has since been qualified in a number of cases. In a limited ruling on June 30, 2014, in Harris v. Quinn, Governor of Illinois, the Court narrowly held, 5-4, that partial public employees, such as homecare aides who are paid by Medicaid, cannot be required to contribute to union fees.
Similarly, political actions have limited union powers and funds. The Michigan right to work law of March 2013 prohibited new contracts from requiring union dues as a condition of employment, and another Michigan law prohibits school districts from deducting union dues for salaries of teachers. The impact was immediate. Union membership fell by 50,000 in one year.
[. . .]
About one-third of public sectors employees belong to unions compared to six per cent of private sector employees.
[. . .]



Since 1913, trade unions in Britain can maintain political funds. [. . .] there has been a historic connection for over a century between the two. Trade unions provide about 20 per cent of the funding of the party. [. . .] However, union members could “contract out” of the affiliation and therefore not pay the fee. Those who do not “contract out,” cannot decide on the use of their individual contribution. The use of political funds is a matter of union policy.
The system was changed as result of the General Strike in 1927. Parliament passed the Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act that replaced opting or contracting out with “contracting in,” meaning that those who wanted to contribute to affiliation had to make a positive decision in favor of it.
The result was a catastrophic drop in union membership. In 1947, the Labour government reintroduced the “contracting out” requirement, with the predictable result that affiliation of union membership increased from 39 per cent to 60 per cent within two years.
[. . .]
The British Parliament today is currently debating the issue of requiring “contracting in” or “opting in” to pay the levy to the Labour Party. The decision is important because of the sustained decline in union membership from 13.2 million in 1979 to 7.5 million today.
[. . .]
There is of course a difference between rights and obligations, and the issue of free speech, in Britain and in the U.S. [. . .] In the U.S. the issues are more problematic due to the rights granted by the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment. From early hearings it is likely that the Supreme Court in Friedrichs will again narrowly decide this major issue. But one may predict that, whatever the decision, union membership in the U.S. will decline as it has done in Britain.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/01/the_state_of_the_unions.html

January 17, 2016
The State of the Unions
By Michael Curtis

Criminal Background Checks, Loopholes, Unintended Consequences

[From article]
It’s a truism that any law with more than 15 words contains at least one loophole. This is a lesson liberals seem incapable of learning. They doggedly pass laws intended to benefit favored constituencies but which in practice accomplish the polar opposite.
Unlike sheep, people have free will. They change their behavior to adapt to changed circumstances. Thus, when tax increases or new mandates affect their pocketbooks, they find workarounds. This often means that the intended beneficiaries of liberals’ largesse are worse off than at the status quo ante.
[. . .]
The Ordinance prohibits City agencies and private employers with at least one employee from inquiring about criminal background and arrests on the application for a position. The employer may perform a background check following a conditional offer of employment.
Should a background check reveal a criminal conviction within the last seven years (excluding periods of incarceration), the employer must consider the nature of the crime, the time that has passed since the offense and the duties of the job when determining whether to offer a job.
To a skeptic, the Ordinance might alternatively be called the Philadelphia Anti-discrimination Lawyers’ Full Employment and Early Retirement Ordinance.
However, because the Ordinance contains more than 15 words, there is at least one loophole.
[. . .]



Visitors, residents, and City employees alike, especially women, can rest easy in knowing that the City of Brotherly Love is giving violent criminals and substance abusers a second chance to work and play in their midst.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/01/banning_criminal_background_checks_and_the_law_of_unintended_consequences.html

January 10, 2016
Banning Criminal Background Checks and the Law of Unintended Consequences
By Gerald K. McOscar

Join Freelance Union Campaign Freelance Isn't Free

White Supervisor At DPW, Sues Washington DC For Racial Harassment, Employment Discrimination

Abusive note: Christopher Lyons says he was called 'cracker' and 'big white boy' while deputy fleet administrator at the Department of Public Works. When he was fired, this note was left on his office door.

[From article]
A former white Washington D.C. official is suing the city, claiming he was harassed by black colleagues and was eventually fired over race.
Christopher Lyons says he was called 'cracker' and 'big white boy' while deputy fleet administrator at the Department of Public Works.
According to the lawsuit, colleagues also spat and threw paint on his truck while it was parked in the work lot.
His contract was terminated in September 2012 after just eight months and, on his last day in the office, he was left offensive notes on his door such as 'Get out white boy' and 'shut up honkey'.
The decision came after workers repeatedly refused to take orders from him, court documents seen by The Daily Caller suggest.
Lyons was hired on January 17, 2012 as the first and only white supervisor for DPW's Fleet Management Administration.
Lyons complained about the constant taunts to his boss Bill Howland. Instead of following up Lyon's concerns, Howland allegedly told colleagues he would fire him instead.
Howland, who resigned from his long-held post in June, also refused to discipline the employees Lyons accused of harassing him because, according to court documents, Howland 'liked them'.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3181467/White-ex-DC-official-sues-city-claiming-fire-race-black-colleagues-harassed-refused-orders-honkey.html

White DC official sues city claiming he was fired because of race after black colleagues harassed him and refused to take orders from a 'honkey'
Christopher Lyons was fired from Department of Public Works in 2012
He was the first and only white supervisor working for the agency
Claims he was harassed during eight months as deputy fleet administrator
Lawsuit states colleagues threw paint and spat on his truck in work lot
Was fired after he complained about the alleged abuse to boss Bill Howland
He allegedly refused to discipline staff behind abuse because he 'liked them'
By Wills Robinson For Dailymail.com
Published: 10:32 EST, 31 July 2015 | Updated: 13:00 EST, 31 July 2015

Chinese Factory Employs 90 Percent Robots Increases Efficiency

[From article]
In Dongguan City, located in the central Guangdong province of China, a technology company has set up a factory run almost exclusively by robots, and the results are fascinating.
The Changying Precision Technology Company factory in Dongguan has automated production lines that use robotic arms to produce parts for cell phones. The factory also has automated machining equipment, autonomous transport trucks, and other automated equipment in the warehouse.
There are still people working at the factory, though. Three workers check and monitor each production line and there are other employees who monitor a computer control system. Previously, there were 650 employees at the factory. With the new robots, there's now only 60. Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the company, told the People's Daily that the number of employees could drop to 20 in the future.



The robots have produced almost three times as many pieces as were produced before. According to the People's Daily, production per person has increased from 8,000 pieces to 21,000 pieces. That's a 162.5% increase.
The increased production rate hasn't come at the cost of quality either. In fact, quality has improved. Before the robots, the product defect rate was 25%, now it is below 5%.



http://www.techrepublic.com/article/chinese-factory-replaces-90-of-humans-with-robots-production-soars/

Chinese factory replaces 90% of humans with robots, production soars
Changying Precision Technology Company in Dongguan city has set up an unmanned factory run almost entirely by robots. The factory has since seen fewer defects and a higher rate of production.
By Conner Forrest

July 30, 2015, 11:30 AM PST

Iranian-American Environmental Engineer Sues NYU For Employment Bias

Mohammad Karamouz, 61, an award-winning environmental engineering expert who specializes in water resources.

But was their discrimination unlawful? Does he demand to be loved by his colleagues? Meanwhile in Iran, the population chants "Death to America. Death to Jews. Death to Israel." Americans are supposed to be better than terrorist nations. Ahem!

[From article]

Karamouz, who was born in Iran but became a US citizen in 2001, is suing for unspecified damages.
The professor brought his complaint to the state Division of Human Rights but the agency dismissed his case, finding Karamouz violated Labor Department laws regarding meal breaks and pay, and had created a “hostile work environment” for his staff.
“Professor Karamouz’s contract was not renewed because of his own conduct as an employee. Just as with his previous baseless claims, NYU is confident that we will prevail in this meritless case,” spokesman Matt Nagel said.
Karamouz lost his state complaint because he went in without a lawyer and “failed to put forward many of his most persuasive facts,” attorney Vincent White said.

http://nypost.com/2015/07/12/nyu-professor-claims-co-workers-discriminate-against-muslims/

NYU professor claims co-workers discriminate against Muslims
By Kathianne Boniello
New York Post
July 12, 2015 | 10:44am

How Long Before Man Is Obsolete?

[From article]
First, history is repeating itself. Robots are causing a new Industrial Revolution. Similar to what happened to farming, 70 percent (or more) of current jobs will be replaced by machines. Replacement by robots in most jobs is just a matter of time. As Kevin Kelly said:
This upheaval is being led by a second wave of automation, one that is centered on artificial cognition, cheap sensors, machine learning, and distributed smarts. This deep automation will touch all jobs, from manual labor to knowledge work.
[. . .]



"... robots will continue their migration into white-collar work." All jobs dealing with paperwork will be done by robots. "It doesn't matter if you are a doctor, lawyer, architect, reporter, or even programmer: The robot takeover will be epic."
[. . .]
When the robot revolution finally starts to happen, it's going to happen fast, and it's going to turn our world upside down.
Second, liberals blame labor-saving technology for unemployment and economic slowdown.
[. . .]



Obama blamed progress, in the form of robots, for the failure of his dreadful economic policies. And liberals are blaming robots for job losses and wealth inequality.
[. . .]
The liberal solution is to halt, or at least slow, progress. And they call themselves "Progressives!"
Sir Winston Churchill said, "Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." Okay, politicians of every stripe, technological advances changed America and the world 200 years ago. And it's happening today. So learn from the Industrial Revolution.
[Santayana wrote (in The Life of Reason, 1905) : “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/blog/churchill-quote-history/




no citation for Churchill]
[. . .]



Society must also learn from history. It's a "sink or swim" world. Swimmers will embrace robots and new technology, sinkers won't. With even high-skill "knowledge workers" being replaced by robots, what jobs will be left? Justin Reich of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society said, "I'm not sure that jobs will disappear altogether, but the jobs that are left will be lower paying and less secure than those that exist now."
To address that issue, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Andrew McAfee says that "the education system has to change to prepare young people for a world in which most of today's jobs are automated." But a new education system alone can't prepare society for what's coming. Individuals themselves must take advantage of the enhancements. Most won't, today's history tells us, if wealth is redistributed to them. Why work if they don't have to?



Liberals are already lining up to redistribute wealth. Liberals say that by embracing robots, the already rich entrepreneurs and top level management will get richer while the middle class and poor will be left behind. They advocate policies that have swimmers "pay their fare share." They are, in liberals' view, "society's lottery winners."
Socialism (or wealth redistribution, or whatever else liberals come up with) was not, is not, and never will be the answer. As Margaret Thatcher said, "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." So if politicians continue to pursue socialism by enabling the sinkers, the money is going to run out.
[. . .]



Another Industrial Revolution is coming (it may already be here!). History tells y'all what is going to happen. And experts tell y'all what to specifically expect. So the ultimate question is, "Will politicians (and society) learn from history?"

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/06/the_next_phase_of_the_industrial_revolution.html

June 10, 2015
The Next Phase of the Industrial Revolution
By Warren Beatty

NYC Home Depot Employee, Shoots Dead Manager

NYPD Outside Home Depot Store 
Photo: Splash News

[From article]
Esdaile had been arguing with the manager, 38, in Aisle 12 just before about five shots rang out, witnesses said.
“F–k you!’’ a witness said she heard one of the men shout before the shooting.
[. . .]
The manager was pronounced dead a short time later at Bellevue Hospital. Cops said he was shot three times, including at least once to the chest.
Esdaile, who at least one former coworker said may have recently been fired, was pronounced dead at the scene, where cops recovered a .38-caliber revolver.
A store employee said the manager had just returned from a vacation trip to France, where he was visiting his wife and child.
The shooter’s father, who lives in Queens, said he had no insight into his son’s motive.

http://nypost.com/2015/01/25/shots-fired-inside-crowded-home-depot-in-nyc/

Employee ‘fatally shoots’ manager, self at NYC Home Depot
By Frank Rosario, Larry Celona and Jamie Schram
New York Post
January 25, 2015 | 3:13pm

Dangerous Drugs Need To be Studied. New Idea In Massachusetts

Deaths from dangerous drug overdoses is one more public safety issue for which politicians commission studies by consultants. It keeps the otherwise academic theoreticians employed and is a way to spend taxpayer funds without killing the jobs. 



[From article]
A task force created by Gov. Charlie Baker to tackle the state's heroin and prescription drug abuse crisis is getting to work.
The 17-member panel will hold a public meeting on Tuesday in Worcester, the first of four around the state.
Baker has called the overdose epidemic a public health emergency and one of the top priorities of his administration. He's asking the task force to report back to him by the end of May with strategies for dealing with addiction, treatment and recovery.
State officials say there were 978 opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts last year, a 46 percent increase over the previous year.
Tuesday's session will be held at Quinsigamond Community College. The other meetings are scheduled for March 19 in Greenfield, March 26 in Plymouth and April 2 in Boston.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/03/panel_to_hold_1st_public_meeting_on_overdose_epidemic

Panel to hold 1st public meeting on overdose epidemic
Saturday, March 7, 2015
By: Associated Press
Boston Herald

French Digital Company Advertises For Designer, "No Jews If Possible"

Olim arrive in Israel with Nefesh B'Nefesh
Flash 90


[From article]
An anti-Semitic job advert looking for a computer graphics designer who is 'not Jewish if possible' has sparked outrage after appearing on a French website.
The advert appeared on specialist jobs site www.graphic-jobs.com for 35 minutes on Monday, apparently posted by Parisian design agency NSL Studio.
But NSL Studio has since moved to distance itself from the advert - which was quickly taken down from the site - claiming it had been hacked on the company's Twitter account.[. . .]
The advert's appearance will no doubt pour fuel on existing tensions in France.
Jewish communities called for extra protection the in the wake of January's attacks, which left a total of 17 people dead, including the four in the Jewish deli.
Then today, three soldiers guarding a Jewish community centre in Nice were stabbed by a 'suspected jihadist'.
Some Jewish leaders have been advising Jews living in Europe to consider relocating to Israel, in the belief the continent is no longer safe for their community.[. . .]
Speaking at Paris' Great Synagogue two days after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: 'But Jews of our time have been blessed with another right, a right that did not exist for previous generations of Jews: the right to join their Jewish brothers and sisters in our historic homeland...
'Any Jew who wishes to immigrate to Israel will be welcomed with open arms and warm and accepting hearts.'
Meanwhile, French counter-terrorism experts have identified 64 suburbs in dozens of cities that act as breeding grounds for Islamic extremism.
The French government also believes that around 400 French citizens have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside militants from the Islamic State terror group.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2938528/No-Jews-possible-Design-company-Paris-sparks-outrage-allegedly-posting-discriminatory-job-advert.html

'No Jews if possible': Design company in Paris sparks outrage after allegedly posting discriminatory job advert
Anti-Semitic job advert appeared on a specialist French website on Monday
Job advert specified 'if possible, no Jews' among its criteria for applicants
Studio NSL, which allegedly posted it, has claimed on Twitter it was hacked
Company has approached the Paris prosecutor to help it investigate
'NSL is an agency which does not discriminate', it said in a statement
Jobs website www.graphic-jobs.com has also apologised for posting ad
By FLORA DRURY FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:59 EST, 3 February 2015 | UPDATED: 17:15 EST, 3 February 2015

White Male Teacher in Bronx, NY Sues School For Racial Discrimination

[From article]
A Bronx teacher is suing New York City and the city’s Department of Education claiming his race and gender made him a target for unfair treatment.
The New York Post reports Paugh William Shadow of Port Jervis, New York charges he was discriminated against at MS 391, The Angelo Patri Middle School – “a mostly black and Latino middle school.”
Among other things, Shadow claims he was denied a bathroom key for three years.
The 7th grade mathematics and science teacher says he was “falsely accused of corporal punishment, using derogatory language and leaving his post; and that school administrators refused to back him up on disciplinary matters and failed to reimburse him after he bought materials for his science-lab students.”
He was accused of marching 6th-graders up and down a set of stairs for more than five minutes as a means of discipline. That was dismissed, he claims.
The teacher says he “was humiliated in front of his peers” and that school officials “discriminated against [him] due to his gender and race,” according to the paper.

http://eagnews.org/white-male-teacher-sues-nyc-schools-claiming-discrimination/

White male teacher sues NYC schools claiming discrimination
December 29, 2014
KYLE OLSON

Less Men Working

Does this explain why women are being hired before men?

[From article]
Working, in America, is in decline. The share of prime-age men — those 25 to 54 years old — who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s, to 16 percent. More recently, since the turn of the century, the share of women without paying jobs has been rising, too. The United States, which had one of the highest employment rates among developed nations as recently as 2000, has fallen toward the bottom of the list.
[. . .]
Many men, in particular, have decided that low-wage work will not improve their lives, in part because deep changes in American society have made it easier for them to live without working. These changes include the availability of federal disability benefits; the decline of marriage, which means fewer men provide for children; and the rise of the Internet, which has reduced the isolation of unemployment.
[. . .]
Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, argues that the Internet allows men to entertain themselves and find friends and sexual partners at a much lower cost than did previous generations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/upshot/unemployment-the-vanishing-male-worker-how-america-fell-behind.html?abt=0002&abg=0

The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind
DEC. 11, 2014
Binyamin Appelbaum

California Court Rules Teacher Tenure Rules Unconstitutional

[From article]
In a closely watched court case that challenged California's strong teacher employment protections, a group of nine students have prevailed against the state and its two largest teachers unions.
A Superior Court here on Tuesday found that all the state laws challenged in the case were unconstitutional. The verdict could fuel similar lawsuits in other states where legislative efforts have failed to ease rules for the dismissal of teachers considered ineffective.
The student plaintiffs in Vergara v. California argued that the statutes protecting teachers' jobs serve more often to keep poor instructors in the schools—hurting students' chances to succeed.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/california-teacher-job-protections-struck-down-in-students-suit-1402422428

California Teacher Tenure Laws Ruled Unconstitutional
Court Finds State Laws on Teacher Dismissal 'Unconstitutional'
By ERICA E. PHILLIPS
Updated June 10, 2014 3:45 p.m. ET

* * *

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-teacher-protections-ruling-20140610-story.html

Ruling on teacher job security 'wonderful' for students, lawyer says
















Judge rules teacher tenure policies unconstitutional




Lawsuit takes on California teachers' job protections

STEPHEN CEASAR,

Howard Blume

June 10, 2014, 4:34 p.m.

Mississippi Is Like The Rest of the U.S.

[From article]

The range of experience in New York or San Francisco—or in DC or Boston or LA or Chicago or sometimes Seattle or Miami or a few other places—is a staple part of American news and pop-culture coverage. But when somewhere in South Dakota, or Alabama, or Inland-Empire California, or Kentucky is in the news, it's usually because of:
• a disaster, natural or man-made: tornado, shooting, explosion, flood, drought, hate crime, sinkhole;
• a sporting event (NASCAR, Little League World Series) occasionally or a political event regularly: any place in Iowa or New Hampshire every four years in primary season, then Ohio and Florida in the general election campaigns;
• a "concept" piece— "meth in the heartland," "the new economy of prisons" "climate change hits the farm"—that involves picking out some Middle American location and using it as the narrative setting for your thesis.http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/from-a-lawyer-in-jackson-mississippi/372253/

Now That Mississippi Is In the News
Can the media avoid a freak-show tone?
JAMES FALLOWS
JUN 7 2014, 1:57 PM ET

Academics Focus On Black Employment, Ignore Disabled Persons, Republicans, Conservatives

How many men have been on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues? What about persons with disabilities? How many NFL coaches, post game pundits, quarterbacks, and how many NBA guards, coaches, play by play announcers have disabilities? When talking about discrimination, and victimhood, why do the special interest lobbyists for women and "minorities" omit this group of persons who are as numerous as homosexuals and black people? How many Republicans, conservatives are in management positions in Hollywood, or for that matter tenured faculty at UCLA, Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Stanford, etc.?

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ucla-diversity-study-blasts-hollywood-679871

UCLA Diversity Study Blasts Hollywood as 'Woefully Out of Touch'
2:48 PM PST 2/12/2014 

by Jonathan Handel

Indian Diplomat Arrested, Strip Searched

[From article]
The row follows the arrest last week in New York of Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in the city, who has been accused of visa fraud and of making false statements on an application for her housekeeper to work for her in the US.
Indian officials said she was arrested and handcuffed last Thursday as she dropped off her daughter at school, then strip-searched and kept in a cell with drug addicts before posting $250,000 bail.
[. . .]
A senior member of India’s main opposition party said India should arrest gay partners of US diplomats living in India.
[. . .]
He added: “Now, after the Supreme Court ruling, it is completely illegal in our country. Just as paying less wages was illegal in the US. So, why doesn’t the government of India go ahead and arrest all of them?”

The Indian Government could also argue selective enforcement of laws. Obama and Holder enforce laws capriciously and arbitrarily. Like Harvard University they promote laws as optional. Inconvenient laws may be ignored. These charges should be dismissed.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/indiaus-row-over-arrest-of-diplomat-devyani-khobragade-in-new-york-escalates-9011080.html

India-US row over escalates over arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York

ANDREW BUNCOMBE

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Government Fails To Prove Use of Credit, Arrest Records Is Discriminatory

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/17/feds-lose-another-case-against-employers-using-credit-criminal-reports-to/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fmost-popular+%28Internal+-+Most+Popular+Content%29

Feds lose another case against employers using credit, criminal reports to screen applicants
Published August 17, 2013
FoxNews.com