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06 Dec 02:26

Immigrants Eligible for Welfare in São Paulo

by Rio Gringa

In an unprecedented move, São Paulo's mayor announced today that immigrants will be eligible and encouraged to apply for Bolsa Família, a Brazilian cash transfer program that began in 2003. Though earlier iterations of this welfare program existed previously, Bolsa Família is credited with helping to lift millions of Brazilians out of poverty over the last decade.

BolsaFamilia
O Globo
reports that up to 50,000 people could benefit from the new eligibility. São Paulo is home to at least 360,000 immigrants, though officials estimate that the total number including the undocumented could be as high as a million. Haitians and Bolivians are expected to be the largest number of beneficiaries.

To be eligible, immigrants must bring proof of registering as an immigrant or of asking for asylum, as well as a CPF, akin to a social security number. Like Brazilians, immigrants must make less than R$140 ($54) per person a month, and must keep kids in school and get them regular vaccinations. By signing up with the government's central registration system, immigrants will also be eligible for other government programs, like the housing program Minha Casa, Minha Vida.

 

"It's not charity; it's in the city's interest that these immigrants develop and produce to make São Paulo grow. And that's why it's necessary to give them the minimal conditions [to make that happen]," the city's human rights secretary told the media. The idea is also to prevent vulnerable immigrants living in extreme poverty from resorting to modern-day slavery conditions.

Though it's the first time there's been a concerted effort to give immigrants this benefit, foreigners have received Bolsa Familia in the past and have technically always been eligible under Brazilian law. According to Estado de São Paulo, over 6,000 immigrants were recipients in 2009, though the majority of those beneficiaries lived on or near Brazil's borders.

The move couldn't stand in starker contrast to what's happening in the United States, where Congress voted today to block the president's executive action on immigration. And even Obama's immigration announcement, considered extreme by some on the right, includes nothing about welfare or government financial support for immigrants.

Image: Senado Federal, Flickr.

06 Dec 00:05

How the world’s biggest companies bribe foreign governments—in 11 charts - The Washington Post


Money talks. (Alexandre Meneghini/AP Photo)

Corruption knows no boundaries, or borders, according to a new study released by The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The OECD analyzed 427 foreign bribery cases that were closed between 1999 and 2014. What the researchers found is a steady stream of illicit money exchanges between multinational businesses and public officials in both poor and rich countries.

"We have learned that bribes are being paid across sectors to officials from countries at all stages of economic development," the researchers wrote. "Corporate leadership is involved, or at least aware, of the practice of foreign bribery in most cases, rebutting perceptions of bribery as the act of rogue employees."

Although the number of foreign bribery cases resulting in a punishment has fallen since its peak in 2011, it remains historically high.


And there have been cases  affects at least 86 countries around the globe.


That should raise an eyebrow. After all, these are business executives and government officials who have actually been caught, meaning that they likely only represent a fraction of the total number involved in under the table cash exchanges. While the report doesn't name any of the corporations, finding one currently embattled by corruption accusations isn't hard. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailers, is currently being probed for bribery in a number of countries, after the company disclosed potential violations in Mexico.

But what is truly unique about the study is the level of detail it uncovers about how the bribes are being paid, where they are being paid, why they are being paid, who is offering them, and to whom they are being offered.

Large multinational companies, for instance, appear to be much fonder of offering illicit cash for quiet favors than smaller corporate entities.


There are also certain industries, which appear more comfortable with—or, at least, familiar with—the practice than others. Nearly 60 percent of the foreign bribery cases observed happened in just four sectors: extractive (i.e. mining), construction, transportation and storage, and information and communication.

Senior management—sometimes even very senior management—was aware of, or complicit and even instrumental in more than half of the foreign bribery observed.

There are trendsnot only among the givers of bribes, but also among the takers.

The sorts of foreign public officials who were offered or solicited bribes ranged from employees of state-owned or controlled businesses to customs, health, defense, tax, and transport officials, and even heads of state. Some—namely, the employees of state-owned or controlled businesses—were much likelier to be involved in foreign bribery cases.

While employees of state-owned businesses were also the likeliest to actually accept a bribe, they comprised a much smaller percentage (some 27 percent) of all public workers who pocketed illegal money. Customs officials (11 percent) were second likeliest; health officials (7 percent), third; and defense officials (6 percent) were fourth.

The most common reason observed among the bribes was that companies wanted to gain an advantage landing public contracts with foreign governments—more than half of the time, the bribes were offered to win public procurement contracts. But a significant percentage—some 12 percent—were related to customs clearance—and another 6 percent were offered in exchange for favorable tax treatment.

In all, the bribes—whether merely offered or also accepted—amounted to more than $3 billion. Sometimes the bribes were huge—the costliest foreign bribe observed totaled more than $1.4 billion. Sometimes they were much smaller—the skimpiest was just $13.17.

Frequently, however, they significantly increased the cost of business. Bribes, on average, equaled more than 10 percent of the total transaction value and over a third of profits inherent in each transaction.

Multinational companies in the extractive (or mining) sector tended to pay largest bribes relative to the value of the related business, according to the OECD's findings, followed by those in the wholesale and retail sector, and those performing administrative service activities.


These extra (and illegal, for that matter) costs aren't always shouldered by the company—they can be levied onto the company's workers too. "In this context, the average of 10.9% of the transaction value spent on bribes means that the bribing individual or company would have to somehow recover or offset those costs," the researchers wrote. "Some companies might do this by paying employees less in countries with weaker employment laws."

But the costs are also borne by society, more broadly.

By bribing officials, multinational companies are in turn perpetuating a system that undermines the relationship between businesses and governments around the world, creating a form of corporate inequality where cash-rich corporations get all the breaks. In other words, it undermines both democracy and law, and funnels money away from otherwise moral companies and governments, and into the hands of corrupt officials and business owners.

There are, of course, significant obstacles in the way of correcting the system, and dissuading both multinational companies and government employees around the globe from offering, soliciting, and, ultimately, exchanging bribes. Among them is the reality that corrupt practices can be part of a culture.

"China is an environment where petty corruption is common and tolerated," Daniel C.K. Chow, a law professor at Ohio State University., told Bloomberg last year, in reference to China's "bribery culture."

Both Brazil and Mexico, two other developing economies, have also had to face uphill climbs in their bouts with corruption.

But it'd be a mistake to assume that bribery affects just developing countries. Nearly half of the bribes observed by the OECD, after all, were paid not to officials in poor countries, but rather to ones in particularly rich nations.


Another part of the problem is that a lot of foreign bribery—and corruption more generally, for that matter—is hard to track, for obvious reasons. In lieu of concrete, reliable data, other organizations, like global corruption watchdog Transparency International, have created corruption indices based on perception, rather than proven reality. As the OECD notes, studies like theirs are but the tip of a much, much larger iceberg. A good deal of the data for even the concluded cases was unattainable.

"These preliminary findings indicate that the pressure on governments to step up their enforcement of anti-bribery laws and ensure that penalties for this crime are effective, proportionate, and dissuasive, is well-placed," the researchers conclude. "There has, indeed, been progress in the fight against foreign bribery, but clearly, much more must be done to be successful in this fight."

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05 Dec 23:57

A herança do ódio

A ferocidade da campanha eleitoral deixou frutos. Parafraseando Nelson Jobim, os bárbaros perderam a modéstia. Proclamam seus ódios imbecis e acreditam – isto é o pior: acreditam sinceramente – que o adversário político tem de ser fisicamente liquidado. Na opinião deste povo, Stalin e Hitler eram para os fracos.

Não faz muito tempo, morreu o filho de um jornalista famoso. Há menos tempo ainda, o irmão de um magistrado cujas posições partidárias eram anteriormente muito definidas foi acusado de alguma irregularidade.

Incrível: o noticiário sobre as acusações sempre puxou, na manchete, o “irmão de Fulano”. Havia alguma ligação entre ambos? Não; os mais duros adversários do magistrado reconhecem que não há rigorosamente nenhuma ligação de atividade política ou administrativa entre eles. São parentes – e daí? Houve algum favorecimento? Houve alguma interferência? Há qualquer indicação de que o irmão mais poderoso soubesse das atividades do outro irmão? Não – logo, fazer a ilação de que se é amigo é cúmplice não passa de canalhice. É usar suspeitas infundadas contra um irmão como arma política contra o outro, cujo principal crime é ter, ou ter tido, preferências partidárias diferentes das de quem o ataca.

Um antigo e excelente livro, Introdução ao Jornalismo, de Fraser Bond, já alertava contra os riscos de dar ao parente, ou amigo, o protagonismo de uma notícia da qual não participava. Algo como “Tio-avô de Fulano atropela e mata três”. Se não há relação entre o parente e o fato, por que citar o parente? No caso de que tratamos, do irmão do magistrado, a citação é uma forma de atingir aquele que é encarado como adversário político.

O outro caso é mais grave: alguns cretinos fundamentais saíram nas redes sociais manifestando sua alegria pela morte de um filho do jornalista que consideram inimigo. Frases do tipo “Filho do canalha (...)” se espalharam. Um internauta fez a pergunta óbvia: e por que Fulano de Tal é canalha? A resposta foi claríssima: porque é adversário político. Ou, conforme o caso, porque se opôs à reeleição de Dilma Rousseff. Ou por trabalhar numa rede de TV que não é a da preferência do grupo que festeja a morte dos outros.

A coisa chegou a tal ponto que um internauta, Allan Pitz, cansado das agressões a quem não podia se defender, reagiu com dureza à ofensiva de difamação contra o morto e seu pai: “(Fulano – nome do autor dos insultos), que o Universo lhe retribua em dobro tudo aquilo que você despeja sobre as pessoas. Desejar a morte de alguém porque não concorda com o seu partido político, desrespeitar a dor de um pai, é no mínimo uma declaração de loucura ou canalhice aguda. Que bons ventos o levem para onde você merece”.

Outra internauta, Fátima Antunes, bateu forte: “Affff!!!! Nem ao pior inimigo se deseja ou se vangloria com tamanha tragédia. Seguindo essa linha seríamos muito mais abjetos que nossos inimigos”.

Houve puxa-sacos que, para defender o agressor, insistiram em dizer que a notícia da morte era falsa, porque não mencionava a empresa em que trabalhava o pai do falecido. Imbecilidade, é óbvio. Entre outros motivos porque a notícia era verdadeira e já estava confirmada há horas.

Esta nota começou parafraseando uma frase do ex-ministro Nelson Jobim: os bárbaros perderam o pudor. Mas pode ser encerrada com a frase exata de Jobim: os idiotas perderam a modéstia.

O pecado da defesa

Os comentários sobre a morte de Márcio Thomaz Bastos foram, em larga medida, baseados em posições partidárias, sem levar em conta as inúmeras facetas de um ser humano inteligente, preparado e vivido, sem levar em conta a posição de um advogado na vida do país. Infelizmente, continua popular a tese de que determinadas pessoas não deveriam encontrar quem as defendesse – embora a lei determine que ninguém pode ser julgado sem um advogado que o defenda.

Márcio foi criticado por:

1. Defender dirigentes petistas em diversos casos (esquecendo-se, convenientemente, de que foi advogado de Antônio Carlos Magalhães), e de diversas pessoas pré-condenadas pela imprensa e pela opinião pública.

Esqueceu-se que a função do advogado é defender a aplicação da lei sem que isso atinja o direito de defesa do acusado. Márcio foi um dos fundadores do Instituto de Defesa do Direito de Defesa e nunca escolheu o partido de quem iria defender: sempre, como qualquer bom advogado, atendeu a quem necessitasse de seus serviços.

2. Ganhar dinheiro com a profissão. Este é um objetivo, admita-se de quase todos os prestadores de serviços. Ora, ao defender causas mais complexas, o advogado pode pedir honorários mais compensadores. Quem o paga é o cliente. Quem paga a acusação (e, recordemos, bons salários) é o Tesouro. Se os clientes achassem que seus serviços não valiam o preço, certamente procurariam outro. E houve casos em que Márcio defendeu clientes gratuitamente – ou, no jargão profissional, pro bono.

3. Ser amigo do ex-presidente Lula. Pois é. O Ricardo Kotscho é amigo de Lula e este colunista é amigo do Ricardo Kotscho. Qual o crime de ser amigo de Lula? Este colunista sempre se deu muito bem com José Dirceu e gosta de Clara Ant. Ambos apreciam Lula. E daí?

4. Ter criado a linha de defesa do Governo no caso do mensalão. Ou seja, ter agido como advogado, buscando as saídas possíveis dentro da lei. Este colunista faz uma restrição ao trabalho de Márcio Thomaz Bastos, embora jamais tenha tido oportunidade de conversar com ele sobre o caso: foi em sua gestão no Ministério da Justiça que se iniciou a nociva prática de invadir escritórios de advocacia, algo profundamente perigoso para o Estado de Direito.

No mais, atacar Márcio por seus amigos, por seus clientes, por seus honorários nada mais é do que rejeitar suas opções político-partidárias. Se é para atacar Márcio, por que não por seus problemas, e sim por problemas de outros?

Guarde a data

Terça-feira, dia 9/12, está marcado o início de duas importantes exposições: as de Renata Bueno (serigrafias) e de Lygia Eluf, artista plástica e professora universitária. Qual das duas? Ambas: as duas se realizam na Galeria Gravura Brasileira, Rua Dr. Franco da Rocha, 61, São Paulo, de segunda a sexta das 10h ás 18h e aos sábados das 11h às 13h. Abertura: dia 9, das 19 às 22h. Entrada gratuita.

Um livro para ter em casa

A historiadora Maria Luiza Tucci Carneiro, da Universidade de São Paulo, lança um livro essencial para entender o antissemitismo e sua persistência: Dez mitos sobre os judeus (Livraria da Vila, Shopping Higienópolis, das 18h30 às 21h30, na quarta-feira, 4/12). O livro será lançado em 2015 no Rio, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Porto Alegre e Brasília. Alguns dos mitos analisados na obra: “Os judeus mataram Cristo”; “formam uma entidade secreta”; “dominam a economia mundial”; “controlam a mídia”; “não existem judeus pobres”. O livro tem o rigor da historiadora, numa linguagem acessível, direta e agradável. É, portanto, adequado a todos os que se interessem pelo assunto.

Como...

De uma grande revista, orgulhosa da qualidade de seu texto:

** “As startups são o seguimento com maior apelo entre os jovens”

Não é difícil entender o que se queria dizer com a frase: basta, em vez de “seguimento”, ler a palavra correta, “segmento”.

...é...

De um grande portal noticioso, ligado a um dos maiores grupos editoriais do país:

** “Suspeito confessa ter esquartejado homem com quem saiu em SP”

Trata-se de um novo tipo de criminoso: o suspeito confesso. Ele mata, esquarteja, conta como foi, leva os policiais aos locais onde escondeu os pedaços do corpo, mas continua sendo apenas um suspeito.

...mesmo?

De um grande jornal impresso, de circulação nacional, esquecendo que o cacófato é um vício de linguagem que gera palavras ridículas, obscenas ou totalmente fora de contexto:

** “A estética homossexual (...)”

Não, aí não há cacófato. Para não repetir o que o jornal efetivamente escreveu, este colunista utilizou outra palavra. O jornal, em vez de homossexual, preferiu o termo “gay”.

Frases

>> Do jornalista Palmério Dória: “Pense na grana preta que você ganhou não caindo na cilada da Black Friday.”

>> Do jornalista Gabriel Meissner: “Notícia: ‘Dilma nomeia Hannibal Lecter’. CartaCapital: ‘Escolha acertada. Inteligente, bom estrategista, tem gostos refinados’.”

>> Do jornalista Cláudio Tognolli: “Manchete tucana: ‘Tempestade erradica favelas em São Paulo’.”

>> Do jornalista Sandro Vaia: “Isso que dá ficar brincando de aprendiz de feiticeiro. Depois é preciso chamar profissionais para limpar o estrago.”

E eu com isso?

Agora chega: aqui ninguém fica desejando a morte dos outros porque não concorda com sua opinião política, aqui ninguém está preocupado em saber se o ladrão é parente de alguém importante, aqui todos querem ser felizes, curtir, passear, aparecer em fotografias, surgir meio pelados e botar a culpa no fotógrafo.

** “MC Gui é flagrado em boate na companhia da irmã de Neymar”

** “Bradley Cooper é flagrado andando de metrô em Nova York”

** “Repórter gata exibe tatuagem secreta e mostra que tem talento para curtir férias”

** “Robert Pattinson dá apalpada no bumbum da namorada em L.A.”

** “Bruna Marquezine confessa: ‘Sou vaidosa, sim’”

** “Beyoncé usa saia curtinha em reunião de negócios”

** “Cissa Guimarães curte banho de mar no Rio”

** “Selena Gomez e Nicki Minaj apostam em looks ousados”

** “Jéssika Alves descobre Nova York ao lado de seu amor”

** “Nicole Kidman troca beijos com o marido durante estreia de seu novo filme”

** “Cláudia Raia leva os filhos para passear em Buenos Aires”

** “Kris Jenner confia plenamente no novo namorado”

** “Eliana aproveita o domingo de folga para curtir com toda a família”

** “Angelina Jolie tem ‘dia de meninas’ com as filhas em Nova York”

** “Sophia Abrahão compra ingressos para o cinema”

** “Namorada ser hermafrodita chocou Phelps”

** “Em praia, Kathy Perry fica irada com fotógrafos”

O grande título

O forte da semana são as manchetes difíceis. Ou pelo texto, ou por só poderem ser entendidas por quem conhece algum assunto específico. Como

** “Prestes a desembarcar no Brasil, anão de Hobbit torce por flerte com elfa”

Ou o grande título, em que a dificuldade é entender o que é que ele diz:

** “Sabesp planeja reserva para o RJ para usar rio”

Alguém deve saber do que se trata.

***

Carlos Brickmann é jornalista, diretor da Brickmann&Associados Comunicação

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05 Dec 23:56

catsbeaversandducks: "Why?"

05 Dec 23:55

xticnt: Family’s Butcher Shop, 1978 



xticnt:

Family’s Butcher Shop, 1978 

04 Dec 23:38

Unquote

by Greg Ross

“It is true that that may hold in these things, which is the general root of superstition; namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.” — Francis Bacon

04 Dec 22:01

12/01/14 PHD comic: 'Quantum Knots'

Piled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham
www.phdcomics.com
Click on the title below to read the comic
title: "Quantum Knots" - originally published 12/1/2014

For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!

04 Dec 21:19

paintraincomic: The bullies are evolving.



paintraincomic:

The bullies are evolving.

04 Dec 21:18

Guia para entender os protestos contra a polícia em NY

by gustavochacra

Por que há protestos em Nova York?

Porque parte da população da cidade se revoltou contra a decisão do Grande Júri de Staten Island de não indiciar o policial Daniel Pantaleo pela morte de Eric Garner, pai de seis filhos

O que é Staten Island?

Staten Island é um dos cinco Boroughs (regiões) que formam a cidade de Nova York. As outras são Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx e Queens

O que aconteceu?

Garner vendia cigarros sem licença (um crime leve) quando foi abordado por policiais. Em determinado momento, Pantaleo (um policial a paisana) dá um mata-leão e começa a estrangular Garner, que grita dizendo que consegue não respirar. Ele fica desacordado e morre pouco depois. Tudo foi filmado (vídeo abaixo)

 

O que a perícia indicou?

Segundo a perícia, Garner foi vítima de homicídio. Por ser asmático, obeso e ter problemas cardíacos, ele não teria resistido ao estrangulamento

A polícia pode estrangular uma pessoa?

A NYPD (polícia de NY) determinou em 1993 que os policiais não podem estrangular ninguém. Pantaleo violou esta regra

Garner não tentou resistir?

Não, em nenhum momento ele tentou resistir fisicamente, embora tenha entrado em discussão verbal, sem ofender os policiais em nenhum momento

Por que há uma conotação racial neste episódio?

Porque Garner, a vítima, era negra. E Pantaleo, o policial, branco. Além disso, ocorre dias depois de em Ferguson um episódio parecido ter ocorrido, com o não indiciamento de um policial branco que matou um jovem negro

Há diferenças entre os casos de Ferguson e Staten Island?

Sim, em Staten Island tudo foi filmado

 Por que o Grande Júri não indiciou o policial?

A decisão do Grande Júri não foi tornada pública

O que é este Grande Júri afinal?

O Grande Júri é formado por habitantes do distrito (Staten Island) que decidem se um acusado será levado ou não a julgamento. O objetivo é evitar o julgamento de acusados que dificilmente serão condenados

Isso significa que o policial sequer foi processado?

Exato, ele não chegou a ser indiciado, o que aumentou a revolta

O que os líderes americanos falaram?

O presidente Barack Obama, o prefeito de Nova York, Bill de Blasio, e seu comissário de polícia, Bill Bratton, lamentaram a decisão do Grande Júri. O secretário de Justiça dos EUA, Eric Holder, tentará buscar um processo no âmbito federal

Quem protestou?

Habitantes de Nova York, de diferentes origens e classes sociais. Os protestos ocorreram em lugares como a Grand Central Station, Columbus Circle, Times Square, Bryant Park, Union Square e partes do Harlem

 

04 Dec 16:24

All the World's a Stage

by Grant

04 Dec 10:58

Organized Crime Pays | VICE United States

The 2008 arrest of Antonio Iovine, a Camorra boss who reportedly ran the Casalesi family’s hugely profitable waste-disposal business. Illustration by Jacob Everett

In the American imagination, being involved in organized crime means living in beautiful mansions, having beautiful cars, and being surrounded by beautiful women. Nothing could be further from the truth. The life of a mafioso is horrendous, bleak, and almost monastic. What people don’t realize is that being a mafioso, even a boss, means living like a rat in a sewer. They are forced to hide the riches they have earned, risking their own lives and those of their relatives. They become fugitives, dwelling in tiny underground bunkers just a few square feet in size, and rarely see daylight or their loved ones. They understand, from the moment they go down that road, that it ends in two possible ways: Either they’ll be in prison, or their enemies will murder them.

I’m speaking specifically of today’s mafiosi, the current generation of powerful, rich, and influential Italian criminals. They live in pursuit of only two objectives: power and money. That doesn’t mean, however, that they immediately get whatever they want.

When you join the Mafia, you begin with a low starting salary. Your title would be picciotto d’onore (“boy of honor”) if you were in the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta, or guaglione (“boy”) if you were in the Neapolitan Camorra—whatever you were called, you wouldn’t be making all that much, though you’d probably earn more than you could at a legal job in those parts of Southern Italy. You might bring in $2,500 to $4,000 a month to start. Then, as you took on more responsibility (and if you managed to survive), your salary would increase to around $6,500 to $13,000 a month. If you worked your way up to become one of the boss’s right-hand men, you could get a monthly stipend of $32,000 to $38,000. If you were a vicecapo, second-in-command to the boss, you’d receive about $130,000 a month. And bosses—well, it’s impossible to even guess how much they can take in.

In general, criminal organizations have a lot of members, but most of them don’t actually earn that much money, even though their jobs may be very dangerous. But zone bosses (those who control a “piazza,” or a fixed territory) and capos can earn truly significant sums. Members of La Santa, a secret society that’s made up of the highest-ranking members of the ’Ndrangheta, make a reported $130,000 a month. The monthly salaries of zone bosses in Scampia (the fulcrum of Neapolitan drug trafficking) range from $65,000 to $130,000. And along with the money come various benefits like cars, properties, and shares of their legitimate companies.

Then each clan offers its own form of insurance. If you have a disabled child, your base salary rises. If (or when) you are killed, your family receives money for your funeral and a “death allowance.” When a member of a powerful clan is killed, the family can decide to receive a lump sum of $130,000 to $260,000 or a monthly stipend, which is paid to the dead man’s widow, mother, or girlfriend (provided she is the mother of his children). There are also prison allowances.

I will never forget a scene I witnessed a few years ago in a courtroom in Naples. They were sentencing a Camorra family, and I went, as I often do, to watch the trial. When they read the sentence, I saw one of the defendants, only 24 or 25 years old, cover his face with his hands as he heard that he’d received eight years in prison. He was in the cage, the cell from which detainees participate in the trial. One of my police bodyguards, after seeing how young he was, tried to comfort him: “If you behave, your sentence will be reduced—you’ll see,” he said. “Plus, this is only the first level. The sentence could still change.” (In Italy there are three levels of court, and the first two allow for appeals.)

The guy raised his head and responded: “And now? Who’s going to tell my wife that they only gave me eight years?” It turned out that he was upset because, according to the rules of his organization, if he had gotten a sentence of ten years his family would have received almost $4,000 a month, but since he got only eight their allowance would be, at most, half that.

Growing up in the Camorra’s territory, I have always understood that even murder doesn’t pay particularly well. Executions are special assignments, separate from the daily business of organized crime, that earn killers a bonus—usually about $3,200 to $4,000—as well as other perks. After a hit, the killer is immediately moved to someplace more secure, outside the area where he normally works. One time, years ago, a hit man murdered a young woman in Naples for $2,600: She was tortured, killed, and burned, and he was sent to Slovakia, where the authorities couldn’t find him.

In many ways, joining a criminal organization is a lot like getting a job at a law firm or another large institution: You start out making barely enough to live, but you know that you’re paying your dues. The tasks, at the beginning, are routine and sometimes humiliating, but your assignments will become more prestigious as you become wealthier and more important. The $2,500 a month that a picciotto earns today could become millions of dollars if he becomes a boss—a process that, with luck, might take only a few years. There’s a certain logic as well to becoming a Mafia hit man—killing someone will almost certainly further your career ambitions, because you can’t become a Mafia boss if you don’t have both military talent and economic vision. If you are simply a soldier or only a white-collar professional, you can never be a boss.

Occasionally, a clan might run out of money, possibly because it has been under pressure from the media and the police. To deal with this, they raise capital by extorting more money from businesses. At Christmas, for example, a clan might force stores to double the price of panettone (a typical Italian Christmas cake) in order to pay the end-of-the-year bonuses for their incarcerated members. In some extreme cases, when the clan is really in a pinch, it may authorize robberies. It’s very rare, however, for the Italian Mafia to commit robbery—like prostitution, that crime is considered “dirty,” i.e., not honorable. (On the other hand, the Mafia has no problem receiving a percentage of any profits from such activities when they take place in their territories.)

The number one thing criminal organizations like the Mafia offer their members is security. If you do well, you’re rewarded. If you make a mistake, you die or go to prison for a long time. But even then, someone will take care of your family, and someone will pay for your lawyers. That sort of deal is fairly rare in this day and age—how many workers are guaranteed to get money if they’re injured on the job? How many people labor honestly for decades in the same job without getting a decent raise? This is the true power, and appeal, of the Mafia.

Translated from the Italian by Kim Ziegler

Roberto Saviano is an Italian writer and journalist. He is the author of Gomorrah and Zero Zero Zero. For the past eight years, he has lived under police protection because of death threats against him made by the Camorra. The film Gomorrah, based on the book, won the Gran Prix at Cannes in 2008 while the TV series, which premiered in 2014, has been distributed in 50 countries. Follow him on Twitter.

Bookmarked at brandizzi Delicious' sharing tag and expanded by Delicious sharing tag expander.
04 Dec 10:35

Dilma e seus inimigos ocultos

Na segunda, a polícia de São Paulo prendeu um auditor da Aneel, acusado de extorquir dinheiro de um empresário do ramo de geração de energia (Aneel é a Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica, reguladora do setor). Na semana passada, a Polícia Federal deu dezenas de batidas em busca de provas e depoimentos de auditores da Receita Federal acusados de extorsão em troca de alívio de impostos. Depois do Petrolão, tudo isso parece troco.

Mas é difícil saber de antemão se, numa dessas operações, a polícia não acaba por chegar a um doleiro ou lavador de dinheiro, estourando a banca de mais um prestador de serviços para roubanças maiores. Grandes escândalos começaram assim, um choque de um fio desencapado de uma grossa meada. Há fios desencapados demais, no entanto.

Imagine-se então que tenham fundamento as acusações que os delatores do Petrolão vêm fazendo, com mais e mais frequência, a respeito de roubanças outras em negócios grandes do governo, como no caso já tradicional de obras viárias ou, novidade, na Eletrobras. O tamanho da encrenca, claro, seria ainda maior, bidu.

Pois bem. O governo fez cara de paisagem durante alguns meses depois que se tornou público o Petrolão, escancarado pela Operação Lava Jato da Polícia Federal. A fase mais recente da Lava Jato, a operação Juízo Final, levou mais negócios para o ventilador de denúncias e esquentou outras tantas.

A ventania é forte sobre obras do setor elétrico. O governo estaria torcendo para ver se ninguém repara no elefante na sala, na esperança cega de que não exista nenhuma roubança elétrica ou de que a polícia não esbarre nisso, de que não se descubra outra rede de propina e lavagem de dinheiro?

Há um universo policialmente inexplorado de nomeações "políticas" para diretorias de tantas empresas públicas. Isto é, nomeações para "diretorias que furam poço", na frase imortal de Severino Cavalcanti, o deputado do baixíssimo clero eleito presidente da Câmara em 2005, que caiu poucos meses depois, acusado de extorquir dinheiro da lanchonete do Congresso, uma diretoria do misto quente. Cavalcanti sabia do que estava falando quando reivindicou uma diretoria gorda da Petrobras. Mas não apenas na petroleira há "diretoria que fura poço".

A gente sempre se pergunta o que um partido quer com a nomeação de um diretor de banco estatal. Implementar suas políticas de ampliação de crédito, discutir a adequação do banco às normas de Basileia, incrementar a bancarização?

Rosemary Noronha, funcionária menor da Presidência da República nos anos Lula, foi capaz de indicar diretores da Agência Nacional de Águas e da Aviação Civil, todos acusados de tráfico de influência nesse escândalo revelado em 2012, indício de que pode haver cadáveres plantados em várias hortas do governo.

Há ministros e ex-ministros, suas famílias e agregados, sob suspeita de rolo grosso em escândalos recentes e diversos. Há dezenas de parlamentares acusados pelos delatores do Petrolão. Quantos deles nomearam diretores de estatais, agências reguladoras ou algo assim?

Dilma Rousseff já ordenou a passagem de pente-fino seguido de limpa, se for o caso? Ou vai começar seu governo caminhando inadvertida pelo campo minado?

03 Dec 23:12

Photo



03 Dec 22:40

Laptop girl stock photo

by Negative0
03 Dec 22:39

Photo



03 Dec 22:35

"My daughter has not seen her biological dad since she was four. She’s 11 now. When she was two he..."

“My daughter has not seen her biological dad since she was four. She’s 11 now. When she was two he contacted me and asked if I would allow him to terminate his parental rights so he could stop paying child support and I agreed.. I wanted to spare her the heartache of a revolving door father and the sacrifice of the financial support was well worth him never being able to disappoint her again. I never lied to her about where he went or who her dad was.. I have always answered her questions in the most age appropriate way possible. When she was four he contacted me and told me he has been diagnosed with cancer and would like to see her. I set aside a day and we met in the park. He had asked for two hours. He stayed 20 minutes and we never heard from him again.. Over the summer we ran into somebody that knows him and they commented on how she looks like his other children. They elaborated that he has settled down and has a family now. My stomach tied itself in knots thinking of how hurtful that must be to my daughter.. I cut the conversation short and we got in the car to leave and that’s when I saw her smiling. She said “mom.. He figured out how to be a dad. That’s such a nice thing. I’m happy for his kids.” And that’s the day an 11 year old taught me all I need to know about forgiveness”

- A comment on this Humans of New York post (via aboutme-g)
03 Dec 22:33

Jurassic Park: The Loser World

by boulet
03 Dec 22:26

How to Build the World’s Simplest Electric Train

by Christopher Jobson

How to Build the Worlds Simplest Electric Train trains magnets electricity batteries

The AmazingScience YouTube channel demonstrates how to build a ridiculously simple electric “train” with the help of a few magnets, a battery, and a copper coil. You can also use the same materials to build a little spinning motor-like contraption. (via Twisted Sifter)

03 Dec 22:17

Mentirinhas #736

by Fábio Coala

mentirinhas_725

Nem a morte dará fim a zoeira.

O post Mentirinhas #736 apareceu primeiro em Mentirinhas.

02 Dec 20:54

In a Word

by Greg Ross

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5aday_salad.jpg

acetarious
adj. used in salads

02 Dec 19:47

"When I was a freshman, my sister was in eighth grade. There was a boy in two of her periods who..."

“When I was a freshman, my sister was in eighth grade. There was a boy in two of her periods who would ask her out every single day. (Third and seventh period, if I remember correctly.) All day during third and seventh she would repeatedly tell him no. She didn’t beat around the bush, she didn’t lie and say she was taken—she just said no.
One day, in third period, after being rejected several times, he said; “I have a gun in my locker. If you don’t say yes, I am going to shoot you in seventh.”
[[MORE]]
She refused again, but right after class she went to the principal’s office and told them what happened. They searched his locker and there was a gun in his backpack.
When he was arrested, some of my sister’s friends (some female, even) told her that she was selfish for saying no so many times. That because of her, the entire school was in jeopardy. That it wouldn’t have killed her to say yes and give it a try, but because she was so mean to him, he lost his temper. Many of her male friends said it was “girls like her” that made all women seem like cockteases.
Wouldn’t have killed her to say yes? If a man is willing to shoot someone for saying no, what happens to the poor soul who says yes? What happens the first time they disagree? What happens the first time she says she doesn’t want to have sex? That she isn’t in the mood? When they break up?
Years later, when I was a senior, I was the only girl in my Criminal Justice class. The teacher, who used to be a sergeant in the police force, told us a story of something that had happened to a girl he knew when she was in high school. There was a guy who obviously had a crush on her and he made her uncomfortable. One day he finally gathered up the courage to ask her out, and she said no.
The next day, during an assembly, he pulled a gun on her in front of everyone and threatened to kill her if she didn’t date him.
He was tackled to the ground and the gun was taken from him. When my teacher asked the class who was at fault for the crime, I was the only person who said the boy was. All the other kids in the class (who were all boys) said that the girl was, that if she had said yes he would’ve never lost it and brought a gun and tried to kill her. When my teacher said that they were wrong and that this is what is wrong with society, that whenever a white boy commits a crime it’s someone else’s fault (music, television, video games, the victim) one boy raised his hand and literally said; “But if someone were to punch me and I punched him back, who is at fault for the fight? He is, not me. It’s self-defence. She started it, so anything that happens to her is in reaction to her actions .It’s simple cause and effect.”
Even though he spent the rest of the calss period ripping into the boys and saying that you are always responsible for your own actions, and that women are allowed to say no and do not have to date them, they left class laughing about how idiotic he was and that he clearly had no idea how much it hurt to be rejected.
So now we have a new school shooting, based solely on the fact some guy couldn’t get laid, and I see men, boys, applaudin him, or if they’re not applauding him, they’re laying blame on women as a whole. Just like my sister’s friends did. Just like the boys in my Criminal Justice class did.
This isn’t something that’s rare. This isn’t something that never happens, or that a select group of men feel as if they are so entitled to women that saying no is not only the worst possible thing a woman can do, but is considered a form of “defence” when they commit a crime upon them (whether it be rape or murder-as-a-reaction-towards-rejection).
Girls are being killed for saying no to prom invites. Girls are being killed for saying no to men. They are creating an atmosphere where women are too scared to say no, and the worst part is? They are doing it intentionally. They want society to be that way, they want women to say yes entirely out of fear. Even the boys and men who aren’t showing up to schools with guns are saying; “Well, you know, I wouldn’t do that, but you have to admit that if she had just said yes …”
If you are a man and you defend this guys’ actions or try to find an excuse for it, or you denounce what really happened, or in any way lay blame on women, every girl you know, every woman you love, has just now thought to themselves that you might lose your shit and kill them someday for saying no. You have just lost their trust. And you know what? You deserve to lose it.”

-

cry laugh feel love peace panic:  

"Wouldn’t have killed her to say yes? If a man is willing to shoot someone for saying no, what happens to the poor soul who says yes? What happens the first time they disagree? What happens the first time she says she doesn’t want to have sex? That she isn’t in the mood? When they break up?" -vampmissedith.tumblr.com

THIS IS MANDATORY READING!

(via feminist-space)

EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND READ THIS.

(via stfueverything)

02 Dec 18:15

cliffe: ryanestradadotcom: I have had the honor of working on...















cliffe:

ryanestradadotcom:

I have had the honor of working on two different comics projects with Don Hertzfeldt. Flight, and Fusion Future. But this is the story of my first interaction with the man.

Best possible answer

02 Dec 18:06

Furry furniture that looks like taxidermied Dr. Seuss creatures


Golden Corral and Beast Guests, 2014
 
Texas twins Nikolai and Simon Haas desperately wanted to see the Ralph Bakshi flop, Cool World as kids, but their parents wouldn’t let them. Mom and dad were right. Not only was the the...

02 Dec 17:59

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways

by Christopher Jobson

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways water light painting kayaking Canada
Kayaking

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways water light painting kayaking Canada
Canoeing

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways water light painting kayaking Canada
Kayaking

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways water light painting kayaking Canada
Kayaking

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways water light painting kayaking Canada
Kayaking

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways water light painting kayaking Canada
Canoeing

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways water light painting kayaking Canada
Kayaking

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways water light painting kayaking Canada
Kayaking

The Motions of Kayaking and Canoeing Recorded through Light Painting on Canadian Waterways water light painting kayaking Canada
Swimming

Ontario-based photographer Stephen Orlando is fascinated with human movement and uses programmable LED light sticks attached to kayak paddles, people, racquets, and other objects to translate that movement into photographic light paintings. The act of recording motion on the surface of water surrounded by reflections creates a surprisingly unique effect, almost sculptural in nature. You can see many more photos in his kayaking, canoeing, and swimming galleries.

02 Dec 15:14

Quem estava errado sobre a Síria?

by gustavochacra

Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro escreveu corretamente na Folha de S. Paulo de hoje que houve países mais preocupados com a queda de Bashar al Assad do que no fim da violência na Síria. Presidente da Comissão Independente Internacional de Investigação das Nações Unidas, ele conhece como pouco o cenário sírio.

Lembro bem como era em 2011, 2012 e 2013. Países como a França, Turquia, Arábia Saudita e Reino Unido apenas defendiam a queda de Bashar al Assad, ignorando completamente o radicalismo de grupos rebeldes. O Brasil, de fato, condenava tanto Assad quando os rebeldes, enquanto a Rússia e a China optavam por defender o líder sírio.

Quem seguia a Síria sabia que Assad não era o único responsável pela violência. Ele não matou 200 mil pessoas – este é o total de mortos por todos os lados na guerra, incluindo um número elevado de soldados, de milicianos pró-Assad e de civis simpatizantes ou não do regime que foram mortos pelos rebeldes. Sim, seu regime matou dezenas de milhares assim como rebeldes também mataram dezenas de milhares.

O ISIS (Grupo Estado Islâmico) não surgiu de um dia para o outro. Antes de ganhar destaque na mídia, com outras denominações, já lutava dentro da Síria. Não apenas o ISIS, como vários outros grupos opositores perseguiam cristãos bem antes de isso chegar às manchetes. Eu escrevia neste blog cansativamente desde 2011 que os cristãos eram perseguidos pelos rebeldes sírios. Muitos deles, por não ter outra opção ou mesmo genuinamente, optaram por se aliar a Assad. Há milícias cristãs defendendo o regime ao redor do país.

Israel, embora inimigo de Assad, Líbano e Iraque foram os únicos países mais realistas na região que sabiam dos riscos de derrubar Assad. Sabem o que ocorreu na Líbia depois de derrubarem Muamar Kadafi, com grupos ligados à Al Qaeda hoje controlando Trípoli.

Não sei como faz para publicar comentários. Portanto pediria que comentem no meu Facebook (Guga Chacra)  e no Twitter (@gugachacra), aberto para seguidores

Guga Chacra, comentarista de política internacional do Estadão e do programa Globo News Em Pauta em Nova York, é mestre em Relações Internacionais pela Universidade Columbia. Já foi correspondente do jornal O Estado de S. Paulo no Oriente Médio e em NY. No passado, trabalhou como correspondente da Folha em Buenos Aires

Comentários islamofóbicos, antissemitas, anticristãos e antiárabes ou que coloquem um povo ou uma religião como superiores não serão publicados. Tampouco são permitidos ataques entre leitores ou contra o blogueiro. Pessoas que insistirem em ataques pessoais não terão mais seus comentários publicados. Não é permitido postar vídeo. Todos os posts devem ter relação com algum dos temas acima. O blog está aberto a discussões educadas e com pontos de vista diferentes. Os comentários dos leitores não refletem a opinião do jornalista

Acompanhe também meus comentários no Globo News Em Pauta, na Rádio Estadão, na TV Estadão, no Estadão Noite no tablet, no Twitter @gugachacra , no Facebook Guga Chacra (me adicionem como seguidor), no Instagram e no Google Plus. 

02 Dec 15:12

"As early as the 1920s, researchers giving IQ tests to non-Westerners realized that any test of..."

“As early as the 1920s, researchers giving IQ tests to non-Westerners realized that any test of intelligence is strongly, if subtly, imbued with cultural biases… Samoans, when given a test requiring them to trace a route form point A to point B, often chose not the most direct route (the “correct” answer), but rather the most aesthetically pleasing one. Australian aborigines find it difficult to understand why a friend would ask them to solve a difficult puzzle and not help them with it. Indeed, the assumption that one must provide answers alone, without assistance from those who are older and wiser, is a statement about the culture-bound view of intelligence. Certainly the smartest thing to do, when face with a difficult problem, is to seek the advice of more experienced relatives and friends!”

- Jonathan Marks - Anthropology and the Bell Curve (via mgrable)
02 Dec 12:36

"Old Books," by Igor Belkovsky. Игорь Белковский. Старые...



"Old Books," by Igor Belkovsky.

Игорь Белковский. Старые книги.

02 Dec 12:36

What should a Bayesian infer from the Antikythera Mechanism?

That is the early “computer,” remember?:

Who made the famed Antikythera Mechanism, the astronomical calculator that was raised from an ancient shipwreck near Crete in 1901?

The complex clocklike assembly of bronze gears and display dials predates other known examples of similar technology by more than 1,000 years. It accurately predicted lunar and solar eclipses, as well as solar, lunar and planetary positions.

For good measure, the mechanism also tracked the dates of the Olympic Games. Although it was not programmable in the modern sense, some have called it the first analog computer.

We now learn that the calendar of this mysterious device begins in 205 B.C.  The key point, in my view, is that we have discovered no other comparable machine from antiquity or any other era other than modern times.  It took us until 2006 to even understand what the device was supposed to do, using advanced tomography, and we had been holding it since 1901.

So what to infer?  The first option is that this device was a true outlier, standing sui generis above its time.  Cardiff University professor Michael Edmunds “described the device as “just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind””.

As an artifact that is true, but is that so likely in terms of broader history?  It is pure luck that we fished this thing out of the Mediterranean in 1901.  (By the way, further dives are planned to search for more parts of it.)  The alternative possibility is that antiquity had many more such exotic devices, which have remained unreported, at least in the manuscripts which have come down to us.  That would imply, essentially, that we don’t have a very good idea of what antiquity was like.  In my view that is the more rational Bayesian conclusion.  It is more likely than thinking that we just lucked out to find this one unique, incredible device.  To put it another way, if you found some organic life on a traveling comet, you ought to conclude there is more of that life, or something related, somewhere else.

And to me, the Antikythera Mechanism does not to me sound like a “lone genius” kind of device: “The gear teeth were in the form of equilateral triangles with an average circular pitch of 1.6 mm, an average wheel thickness of 1.4 mm and an average air gap between gears of 1.2 mm.” (Wikipedia)  That suggests it was made by some kind of regular industrial process.  It also had some sophistications which modern Swiss watches do not.

Given this Bayesian conclusions, which other strange claims stand a decent chance of being true of antquity?  Which other surprises await us?

I find this an interesting passage: “the mysterious device was already pretty ancient by the time it went down some time around 85BC to 60BC with a ship carrying a bride and her dowry, io9 reports…”  You don’t find a lot of people carrying around a lot of ancient PCs today, so might there have been an Antikythera Great Stagnation way back when?  I think maybe so.

Here is a Lego model of the device.  Here is an introductory YouTube video.  Here is Wikipedia on the Antikythera Mechanism, a very good entry.

I owe thanks to Vic Sarjoo for pointers and Robin Hanson for a useful conversation on this topic.

Bookmarked at brandizzi Delicious' sharing tag and expanded by Delicious sharing tag expander.
02 Dec 12:36

Stars and Dust Pillars in NGC 7822 from WISE

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2014 December 1
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.

Stars and Dust Pillars in NGC 7822 from WISE
Image Credit: WISE, IRSA, NASA; Processing & Copyright : Francesco Antonucci

Explanation: Hot, young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust seem to crowd into NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, this glowing star forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. Within the nebula, bright edges and complex dust sculptures dominate this detailed skyscape taken in infrared light by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite. The atomic emission by the cluster's gas is powered by energetic radiation from the hot stars, whose powerful winds and light also sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse, but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cut off from their reservoir of star stuff. This field spans around 40 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 7822.

Now Available: APOD 2015 Wall Calendars
Tomorrow's picture: expanding cloud < | Archive | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Expanded from APOD by Feed Readabilitifier.
01 Dec 16:13

La diferencia entre poner o no una tilde por @CH14_

Adam Victor Brandizzi

Hoje descobri que 'tilde' em espanhol é o acento agudo. E realmente faz falta hahahah