Free Republic

| Share Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 THE ZEIT GIST Threatened Goldman Japan workers unionize Financial giant butts against tough domestic labor law as it seeks to slim down workforce By JAMES MCCROSTIE The past year has been anything but business as usual for the financial industry. Faced with a frosty economic climate, financial service companies have been busy chopping dead wood. Last year, 200,000 financial service jobs ended up on the cutting block worldwide. In Japan, that meant layoffs at famous firms including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, Mizuho Financial Group, and the not-so-famous, such as Spanish bank Bilbao Vizcaya...

The best thing about democracy is that elected officials are expected to care about voters’ wellbeing and to be willing to provide help when voters are in need. But New York City Councilperson John Liu Democrat did not seem to care when he shut out some of his constituents who came to complain about attacks and death threats from pro-communist mobs that occurred in Liu’s district...Falun Gong practitioners contacted Liu shortly after the attacks started, only to be rebuffed again and again. Meanwhile, they found Liu’s door was wide open to their attackers. Besides meeting with the attackers, Liu also...

Article written on 20th about an asset mgr investing in Taiwan because he is sure KMT candidate Ma will merge Taiwan's market with China. Bloomberg link

KMT candidate Ma Ying-Jeou confirmed to hold US Green Card, despite his protestations otherwiseFrom China Times, March 17th, page A4, lower right. Taiwan activist Tong-Ren Tsai filed this press release about the KMT Candidate's Green Card and got back this response (in English): It has been confirmed through US immigration sources that the subject has an active Alien Registration number and is confirmed to be a permanent legal resident of the United StatesFor a backgrounder, Taiwan's presidential election is on March 23rd, this Saturday. Ma Ying-Jeou is the Hong Kong born mayor of Taipei, current head of the KMT party,...

An aide to former Queens Assemblyman Jimmy Meng was charged yesterday with rigging voter addresses during a primary battle in 2004. Simon Ting, 42, who was registering voters for the Flushing Democrat, whited out the addresses of Asian-American voters ..

March 3, 2006 -- Brian McLaughlin, head of the Central Labor Council and a Queens assemblyman, is in big trouble. FBI agents swooped down on CLC offices yesterday, carting off documents by the boxload in what they confirmed was an ongoing probe of McLaughlin (and who knows how many others). The investigation reportedly targets bid-rigging involving at least $162 million in city contracts for street-lighting projects over just the past two years. The news sent shock waves through both political and labor circles. But it really shouldn't surprise anyone. The CLC, an umbrella group for nearly 400 public- and private-sector...

The feds have launched a criminal probe of powerful New York Central Labor Council AFL-CIO head and Queens Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin as part of an alleged city bid-rigging scam involving hundreds of millions of dollars in street-lighting contracts. FBI spokesman James Margolin confirmed the investigation after agents searched the Central Labor Council's offices on West 15th Street yesterday, hauling off suitcases filled with financial records. Margolin declined further comment. The actions sent shock waves through New York political and union circles. As a state lawmaker and labor boss, McLaughlin, a top Democrat, dealt with nearly all the city's elected officials...

Time for the last post By Trevor Butterworth Published: February 17 2006 14:01 | Last updated: February 17 2006 21:54 On a winter-cold morning last autumn, before the leaves could summon up the energy to burn and fall, the barbarians entered the gate. A group of feisty young writers, known only to millions of readers by their blog names - Gawker, Gizmodo, Wonkette and Defamer - were in a soigne studio in New York’s Chelsea district to be photographed for the February issue of Vanity Fair magazine. ADVERTISEMENT They represented the cream of Gawker Media - a mini-empire of clever,...