Tag Archives: lawyer.com

Credit Will Do “Fine”

Credit Problems Stacking Up?

The likes of Target and Starbucks are about to enter round 2 of the heavyweight fight against Visa and Mastercard.  The settlement, which is roughly $7.2 billion, will bring an end to 7 years of litigation concerning the credit card companies themselves and big merchants, such as Target, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart.  The large merchants are protesting the proposed answer over “swipe fees” that they are ordered to pay in return for granting their customers quick service to their credit cards.  The underlying issue is that the nearly 8 million merchants are saying the deal is unfair for them, claiming the credit card companies are in bed with the banks and are focused on monetizing with no regard for business.  The economics of the settlement are also in question, as well as the $550 million tied up in a preliminary deal between the two parties poised to stop the bleeding.

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Sex and the “Motor City”

Let me reiterate, “Welcome to Detroit.”

The “Motor City” has seen yet again another scandal in its Police Department.  Looks like they will be moving on to its 5th Police Chief in the past 4 years.  Ralph Godbee has resigned from his position as Detroit Police Chief after news of an affair with a subordinate.  Angelica Robinson, an internal affairs officer, and Godbee had been in a relationship for a year before she tried ending it with the former Police Chief.  He apparently was upset by the breakup and went to a conference in California with another woman.  Oh yeah, he’s also married.  Ms. Robinson must have been angry because she posted a picture of herself on Twitter with her weapon in her mouth threatening to end her life.  Authorities tracked her cell phone and have had surveillance on her since.  Mayor Dave Bing got wind of the incident and suspended Godbee for 30 days.  He decided to overrule the Board of Police Commissioners and discipline Godbee on his own, since he appointed him to Police Chief just two years ago.

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Hospital Whistleblower Files Organ Donation Lawsuit

Donors beware

Are you an organ donor?  If so, you may want to pay attention.  A lawsuit was recently filed against the New York Organ Donor network.  Whistleblower Patrick McMahon alleged that the Donor Network harvested organs prematurely.  Inside the lawsuit, McMahon explains how he witnessed a case where a patient was classified as brain dead, about to have their organs harvested, and then needed tranquilizer medication because they were not immobile.  Doctors are pressured to declare patients brain-dead when there still may have been a means to save the patient.  At the same time, families of patients were pressured give consent to the donor network if the patient was not already a donor.

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Look Who’s Holding The Hose Now

Firefighter

This week New York’s Fire Department hit headlines with a civil rights issue that has everyone heated!  The FDNY decided to administer a new entrance exam in an effort to hire new firefighters for the first time in 5 years.  However, some of the existing New York firefighters feel that the FDNY are pandering to minorities by lowering the standards of the entrance exam to accommodate diversity. The FDNY’s lack of racial diversity has been a subject of ridicule for the past several years. There is no doubt that the diversity in the FDNY is surprisingly pitiful, 91% white, and only 3% black, shocking I know!  But the department is walking a fine line between promoting equal employment opportunity and tilting the scales to help minorities.  Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that “retroactive seniority and priority hiring of 293 minorities” would begin “immediately”. This decision caused an uproar resulting in 200 firefighters protesting outside of the courthouse in Brooklyn, NY.

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President Obama Appeals Injuction to Stop NDAA

Constitutional rights

 

Federal Judge Katherine recently put in place a permanent injunction to block the Obama Administration from implementing the indefinite detention portions of the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act.  President Obama has appealed this decision. In this law, American citizens’ right of due process and trial by jury have been severely weakened if not destroyed.  Any citizen considered an ‘associated force’ to terrorism may be held indefinitely.  This ambiguous language has left many to question what specifically an ‘associated force’ means.

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