will Someone pls notify Bezos
his Employees are NOT
Robots (yet)?

could billionaire Bezos last
even one wee Week on one
of his Fulfillingmental Floors?

Let's see, the $7,000 fine, as a fraction of Bezos' net worth - $202.3 billion per Forbes - would be .000000034
or about 2 shares of AMZ stock!

If you thought Biden/Harris would be progressive, at all, on Latin American migration you are fucking stupid. With one of the original founders of the drug war, as we know it, and a fucking prosecutor running the show what did you expect? But hey, at least the staffer that does his ghost tweeting stears clear of racisms better than Trump!

Here it is, your moment of AmaZen

They are never going to change. They dont have to. Even progressives love free two day shipping.

Bezos is a billionaire
Workers must hold pee
Here's a plastic jar for you!

Amazon raked in over $70 BILLION last year during the pandemic. They could give a fuck about a $7,000 fine. They could be fined that every minute of every day and still not care. And when their employees get sick or hurt and have to leave the job they'll just be accused of not being "AmaZen" enough.

AmaZen - I almost tipped over as my eyes rolled

OH and no mention of the Republicans' grand plan to win in 2022 and 2024? They're proposing raising the retirement age to 69, including Medicare eligibility. Should be a total hit with their #1 demographic!!!

House Republicans commit in writing to raising Medicare, Social Security eligibility to 69

The party that blew an $8 trillion hole in the federal debt is looking around for savings and realized the easiest thing to do was to put voters on the hook for their costly mismanagement.

"We make the mistakes, you just pay for them!"—another 2022 GOP gem!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/24/2031966/-Delay-retirement-Scrap-Medicare-Scrap-Medicaid-Republicans-float-lots-of-good-ideas-for-2022

@5 -- Depends ON!

oh and speaking of Eating Healthy: adequate
intake of H2O is IMPERATIVE so
Zen OUT in your Depends
so Bezos can get ever
RICHER.

'cause on what Planet would a lousy
TWO HUNDRED BILLIONS
Ever be Enough for
just one man?

Speaking of velcommen to the Land of Kings
here’s the Top Comment on nyt’s Paul Krugman’s
‘Bursting the Billionaire Bubble’ from 2019:

Wealth inequality will (or should be) the single greatest issue confronting us for the next presidential election. Healthcare is, of course, an issue that will never go away until either the ACA's flaws are repaired or the entire system is remade; and I don't see that happening in my lifetime.

I don't have anything against the über wealthy. But they need to understand that they don't live in a world of their own creation.

They cannot be allowed to dictate how the rest of us live by hiring on their political appointees to write the tax and housing and banking laws and environmental regulations as though the rest of us do not exist.

Ronald Reagan is generally regarded as the last, great Republican. It was, let us not forget, his hostility to labor unions that began the downward spiral of the incomes of the white working class, a voting bloc that couldn't get to the polls fast enough to vote for him--twice--in overwhelming electoral victories.

Nothing has "trickled down" to us mere mortals except the Republicans' ideology and stern admonition that "you're not trying hard enough."

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have resonated with a great many citizens when they declare that the rich should pay their fare share.

But Republicans turn that inside-out with "socialism" and "welfare" and other social programs to which many Americans are repulsed as give-aways to "those others."

Overturn Citizens United (2010) and, maybe one day, we'll have a shot at evening the score.

Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ’18; Boston, Nov. 11, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/opinion/michael-bloomberg-billionaires.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article#commentsContainer

@11 totally agree but we need to stop confusing wealth with income. These uber rich aren't getting paid a bunch of money every year. They are wealthy because the equity they have in whatever company they founded/invested in has grown exponentially. This isn't a sign that they themselves have too much wealth, it's a sign that the company whether it be Amazon, Facebook, Google has become too dominant in their industry. If the government took steps to either break up or rein in the power of these tech giants their value would be impacted and thus the wealth of the Bezos, Zuckerbergs et all would be diminished. We are in a new gilded age and like the Standard Oil and AT&T of old the best thing the government could do is to diminish the power of these companies and allow capitol to flow to other investments. This will in turn allow the economy to grow and create new wealth versus the alternative of having the government confiscate this wealth through taxes for redistribution. That is probably the most ineffective method of income redistribution and will only serve to make the government all powerful versus the corporations. No thanks.

@12 -- so, No More Monopolies?

well that's a BINGO
& a damn good start.

oh and WE are the Government
and we currently have Corps
overseeing US look no
further than Congress.

@8:

What's even more unabashedly mendacious about the GOP's proposal is that Social Security has absolutely NOTHING to do with our national debt or deficit spending, since it's all funded completely separately through payroll deductions and employer contributions. So, not only are they trying to burn older workers - and not for the first time - this will have absolutely ZERO impact on the federal deficit/debt. They simply don't want old, retired people to live with even a modicum of dignity or self-sufficiency in their "golden years", but would rather they live in dilapidated hovels or have them warehoused in substandard care facilities, eating cat food or whatever institutional slop they serve in those places.

And yet, the olds continue voting these deplorables into office...

@14 are WE the gov or do corps control Congress? That seems contradictory. I guess you could also argue WE are the corporations since most shares are held by investors 401k plans. It doesn't change the fact that some of these companies hold too much power over the market. If you decreased their power and wealth you would similarly decrease their ability to influence Congress right?

@16 -- "@14 are WE the gov or do corps control Congress? That seems contradictory." another Bingo. well done!

Corps Bought OUR Congress &
Wrote our Laws to make it Legal

from @11: They [billionaires and Corps] cannot be allowed to dictate how the rest of us live by hiring on their political appointees to write the tax and housing and banking laws and environmental regulations as though the rest of us do not exist.

and yet
the DO.

"I guess you could also argue WE are the corporations since most shares are held by investors 401k plans."

well that's Interesting as well
'specially when Shareholder Value
becomes thee Prime Directive in all things
Earthly and Damn the Biosphere and/or Bust.

do we getta Vote on that shit too?

Feeding squirrels who show up at your door results in more squirrels showing up at your door.

Human rights orgs and two medical consultants within the President's own administration say the practice needs to stop because it encourages "parents to send their children to cross the border alone, since Mr. Biden has chosen not to immediately turn away minors and instead is processing them into the United States," the New York Times reports.

I know I can't begin to imagine the horrors that sort of poverty and fear must be like - enough of it to make you uproot yourself and/or your family for something that has to be better up north. But I find it harder to conceive of a parent who could their seven-, eight-, nine-, or ten-year-old kid off into the great unknown alone hoping for the best. I couldn't do that. Could you?

Anyway, I hope these children, who have had enough misery in their lives, have happy endings.

who could send

"Bezos' sin is giving consumers what they want, and what the most consumers vote for, with the most dollars."

That's a pretty drastic oversimplification of what is a nearly incomprehensibly vast and dynamic socioeconomic issue. The feature frontline did on amazon/him really was pretty interesting, regardless of your opinion on him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVfJVj5z8s

Speaking of Minneapolis did you see the news today? During a live news report from the Minneapolis autonomous zone some homies did a drive-by. Nearby someone fired off 30 rounds. I hope there were some unarmed public safety social workers nearby to investigate.

@25 -- see
@11, @22.

it shows us we can be
Greedy Motherfuckers
if left to our Own devices

ain't that why we Chose
to Govern our own Selves?

Overturn "'Citizens' United"
& 'Buckley v. Valeo' and
get BIG MONEY tfoutta
Politics or Velkommen
to a 1000-year-Reich.

@24 exactly right and probably the most compelling reason why Amazon needs to be broken up. Having AWS as a fallback allows them to subsidize the retail business and undercut competition either through direct price or amenities like free shipping. Without the benefit of AWS Amazon's profit margin on the retail side is not all that different from Walmart/Target and other stores. I'd advocate for splitting AWS, Retail and the emerging media group assuming they end up buying MGM as is rumored.

@31 agree with that as well and I don't necessarily think all need to be broken up. In some cases new regulations would also serve to diminish their value. Facebook for instance basically makes their money by selling the data they have collected on all their users. Putting privacy regulations in place would completely blow up their business model. There are a variety of things that can be done that won't diminish the value they provide or stifle further innovation but also doesn't make them so powerful that they are dominant thus keeping capitol captive (what's the point in investing something that has no hope of success?). If the gov functioned like it should these would be no brainer type of things but we all know it doesn't.

Side note to all this, I just saw the AG in DC filed an antitrust suit against Amazon.

Rest in peace, George Floyd. One year later after being brutally murdered by Derek Chauvin.
Jesus wept. While I agree with the Black Lives Matter movement--we need to retrain excessively aggressive police officers---I cannot refer to anyone of African lineage as Black. Who among us really has black human skin, unless it has been singed or charred? I wear black yoga pants. The convertible top to my car is black. Why does the color of ANYONE'S skin "have" to be an issue? It does not. White supremacy and Trumpism must end NOW.

Jesus wept. $7,000.00 is a wrist slap! Hit Bezos where it hurts----fine the insanely wealthy sonofabitch $70 BILLION, not a mere $7,000.00--and redistribute it back to the workers.
@2 pat L: Agreed and seconded. I rest my case, Your Honor.

@8 xina and @15 COMTE: Agreed, seconded, and thirded. That's the RepubliKKKan Party of .00000000000000001% for ya---and the most woefully ignorant of U.S. citizens falls for their snake oil, smoke, and mirrors ploy every time the smiling KKKorporate exec in the expensive suit keeps on telling them to. Dumb 'em down and fatten 'em up. Soon those who cotinue to vote blood red won't care if they lose everything and die. They wuz exercising their Free Dumbs!

Immigrants who were promised by our federal government but denied citizenship after having honorably serving in the U.S. military should not be deported or denied VA benefits. We are nation of immigrants, and have been since 1775.
[ "Thank You, & Goodbye",The American Legion Magazine, June 2021 issue, Ken Olsen, pp. 18-28.] Olsen's article mentions that the Biden / Harris Administration has been made aware of this gross oversight. I am hopeful that it will be properly redressed.

I am saddened to learn that despite our regaining a REAL President and Vice President of the United States, instead of a white collar criminal pawn of Vladimir Putin, that a recent Biden policy is still separating families at the border.

@34: "that a recent Biden policy is still separating families at the border."

There are situations were such things could be erroneously extrapolated, but no, it is definitely not policy. Watching Fox and Friends are we now?

@35: HEL-LOOOOOOOOOO. Did you miss the headline? Biden's Policy Separates Families at the Border. Rich Smith. This article in The Stranger. THIS ONE WE'RE READING, ELMER.
---Oh, wait. You can't read. I forgot--you're totally illiterate. And I don't have a TeeVee, remember?
Awwww, shit! I guess your long term memory is failing, too.
Stop watching Fox and Friends, gluedrop, and maybe you wouldn't be such an ultra maroon..

Thank you, Amerwica, it was fun being Pwesident.
HUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUUHHhhhhhh....