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![Amazon, America, and Driving: Jason Hickel
@jasonhickel
This story is a real bombshell. Reporter Ryan Grim
reveals that one of the biggest culprits of Amazon
destruction is a US company, Blackstone, whose CEO
is close friends with Trump and bankrolls the US
Senate leader Republican Mitch McConnell
A Top Financier of Trump and McConnell Is a Driving Force Behind Amazo...
Steve Schwarzman is the CEO of the Blackstone Group, which partially owns
a Brazilian firm that is helping transform the Amazon from jungle to ...
theintercept.com
3:27 AM Aug 28, 2019 Twitter Web App
6.5K Likes
6K Retweets
spaceconveyor:
feelingbluepolitics:
feelingbluepolitics:
catbirdseat4u:
ā£ Ā Go HERE for the dirt Ā āĀ Thereās plenty.
Highest recommendation.
https://theintercept.com/2019/08/27/amazon-rainforest-fire-blackstone/
āThe companies have wrested control of land, deforested it, and helped build a controversial highway to their new terminal in the one-time jungle, all to facilitate the cultivation and export of grain and soybeans.ā
āSchwarzman, a founder of Blackstone, owns roughly a fifth of the company, making him one of the worldās richest men. In 2018, he was paid at least $568 million, which was, in fact, a drop from the $786 million he made the year before. He has been generous toward McConnell and [t]rump with that wealth. In 2016, he gaveĀ $2.5Ā millionĀ to the Senate Leadership Fund, McConnellās Super PAC and put Jim Breyer, McConnellās billionaire brother-in-law, on the board of Blackstone. Two years later, Schwarzman kicked in $8 million to McConnellās Super PAC.Ā
āBlackstone employees have given wellĀ over $10 million to McConnell and his Super PAC over the years, making them the biggest source of direct financing over McConnellāsĀ career. McConnellās Senate campaign declined to comment.
āSchwarzmanĀ is a close friend and adviser to [t]rump, and served as the chair of his Strategic and Policy Forum until it fell apartĀ in the wake of the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally, inĀ which [t]rump famously praisedĀ 'very fine people, on both sides.ā In December 2017, as the final details of the GOP tax cut were being ironed out, Schwarzman hosted aĀ $100,000-a-plate fundraiser for [t]rump. Some of [trumpās] dinner companions complained about the tax bill, and days later, [t]rump slashed the top percentage rate in the final package from 39.6 to 37.Ā
ā¦"Bolsonaro has plans to pave significantly more roadsĀ in the Amazon that have otherwise been impassable much of the year, a project made feasible by international financing.
ā¦"Of course, Hidrovias is also involved in paving B.R.-163 and other development projects in the region. Those projects, such as the paving of the highway, have additional indirect ā though entirely predictable ā consequences, as they spur side roads that make previously difficult-to-reach areas of the Amazon accessible for mining, logging, or further deforestation.
ā¦"A Blackstone spokesperson noted that the fund only owns 9.3 percent* of Hidrovias. But that ignores the 55.8 percent of Hidrovias that is owned byĀ PĆ”tria Investimentos. OnĀ Hidroviasās website,Ā PĆ”tria is described as a company āin partnership with Blackstone,ā and it is known in theĀ financialĀ industry to be a Blackstone company.ā
*Pay no attention to claimed percentages of ownership. What goes on behind ownership curtains is fluidly incestuous. For example, from April 2019:
Blackstone Transfers 35% Stake in Brazilās Alphaville Urbanismo to PĆ”tria (em portuguĆŖs)
āBlackstone transferred its 35% stake in Brazilian real estate developer Alphaville Urbanismo to its partner PĆ”tria Investimentos. Blackstone and PĆ”tria originally invested R$1.4b in June 2013 for a 70% stake in the company. The two firms formed a partnership in 2010 and Blackstone retains a 40% stake in PĆ”tria.ā
āā
Keep in mind,
Itās not like this graft flows directly, or just one way.
Trump USDA is paying millions to a shady Brazilian meatpacking company under DOJ, SEC investigation
Brazil Subsidiary Hoovers Up $62 Million In Trump Trade War Aid Intended For Farmers
Every American farmer who has lost their Chinese market for soybeans ā all of them ā should be wondering how it was that trump āwoke upā one morning with his idea of a trade war with China. Had his close friend Schwartzman told trump the Brazilian road and terminal were ready?
There is no question that the Amazon rainforest is burning right now to open new farm land in order to meet Chinaās soybean market.
I wanted Blackstone to get fucked prior to this, nowā¦now I want them to
SUFFER.](https://pics.ballmemes.com/jason-hickel-jasonhickel-this-story-is-a-real-bombshell-reporter-62717870.png)
![Bad, Children, and Facebook: did you know?
did-you-kno.tumblr.com
Michael the gorilla was taught sign language
by Koko, the first signing gorilla. He began
signing "Squash meat gorilla. Mouth tooth
Cry sharp-noise loud. Bad think-trouble look-
face. Cut/neck lip (girl) hole." Researchers
believed this was a description of the
poaching death of his mother.
did-you-kno.tumblr.com
didyouknowblog.com
Cohen Gi n facebook.com/didyouknowblog
death-limes:
venipede:
osteophagy:
endcetaceanexploitation:
Washoe was a chimp who was taught sign language.
One of Washoeās caretakers was pregnant and missed work for many weeks after she miscarried. Roger Fouts recounts the following situation:
āPeople who should be there for her and arenāt are often given the cold shoulderāher way of informing them that sheās miffed at them. Washoe greeted Kat [the caretaker] in just this way when she finally returned to work with the chimps. Kat made her apologies to Washoe, then decided to tell her the truth, signing āMY BABY DIED.ā Washoe stared at her, then looked down. She finally peered into Katās eyes again and carefully signed āCRYā, touching her cheek and drawing her finger down the path a tear would make on a human (Chimpanzees donāt shed tears). Kat later remarked that one sign told her more about Washoe and her mental capabilities than all her longer, grammatically perfect sentences.ā [23]
Washoe herself lost two children; one baby died shortly after birth of a heart defect, the other baby, Sequoyah, died of a staph infection at two months of age.
more about Washoe:
after the death of her children, researchers were determined to have Washoe raise a baby and brought in a ten month chimpanzee named Loulis. one of the caretakers went to Washoeās enclosure and signed āi have a baby for you.ā Washoe became incredibly excited, yelling and swaying from side to side, signing ābabyā over and over again. then she signed āmy baby.ā
the caretaker came back with Loulis, and Washoeās excitement disappeared entirely. she refused to pick Loulis up, instead signing ābabyā apathetically; it was clear that the baby she thought she was getting was going to be Sequoyah. eventually Washoe did approach Loulis, and by the next day the two had bonded and from then on she was utterly devoted to him.
*information shamelessly paraphrased from When Elephants Weep by Jeffrey Masson.
Even more interestingly, after Washoe and Loulis bonded, she started teaching him American Sign Language the same way that human parents teach their children language. It only took Loulis eight days to learn his first sign from Washoe, and aside from the seven that his human handlers learned around him, he learned to speak in ASL just as fluently as Washoe and was able to communicate with humans in the same way she could.
now if y'all donāt think this is the tightest shit you can get outta my face](https://pics.ballmemes.com/did-you-know-did-you-kno-tumblr-com-michael-the-gorilla-was-taught-sign-62004761.png)
