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16 Dec 2011 12:04

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Offbeat: Bell ringers test society’s collective patience for a good cause

  • 36 hours straight — the record for Salvation Army bell ringing source
  • » And ringers are trying to break it. Bell ringers, such as San Francisco-based Salvation Army Capt. Marcelino “Butch” Soriano, are currently attempting to break the record. He aims to ring his donation bell for 48 hours. Why? “If you’re going to go for a record,” Soriano said, “you might as well shatter it.” Tip to Mr. Soriano: Wear earplugs. Tip to people who pass by Mr. Soriano: Donate generously — you can afford it. You’re going to Macy’s, guys. Drop a couple bucks in.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Nov 2011 21:21

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World: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, stuck with huge tax bill, gets huge donations

  • $2.4M the size of the fine China gave to firebrand artist Ai Weiwei — to be paid in just 15 days
  • 20k number of people who have offered Weiwei donations to help pay this insane tax bill
  • $550k amount of money these people have given the artist in just five days; impressive source
  • » This on top of a long arrest earlier this year: Ai Weiwei spent 81 days in jail on tax evasion charges, but claims all authorities wanted to talk about was his pro-democracy record. The fine Ai has been forced to pay is more than three times the size of his tax bill — and he needs help paying. The surprising part is that he actually got said help. “It’s surprising; it has really changed my perspective on people,” he said, noting that people traveled long distances to give him financial help — in person. Ai prefers to think of the payments as loans, and turned down a $157,000 payment from a businessman, saying he preferred smaller loans.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Sep 2011 00:54

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Politics: When it comes to fundraising, Obama’s still got the magic touch

  • $5 million in donations in two days; he’s makin’ it look kinda easy source
  • » So far, so good for Obama: With a successful West Coast swing (helped in large part by an up-to-$35,800-a-plate dinner in San Diego), President Obama is well on his way to reaching his goal of $55 million in the third quarter of 2011, which Reuters claims is “a more modest total that they say reflects the fact he was stuck in Washington for most of July by a bitter budget debate with Republicans.” Sure, modest total.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Aug 2011 23:34

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Biz, Politics: Rick Perry: Totally backed that AT&T merger with T-Mobile

  • $500,000 from AT&T to Rick Perry source
  • » AT&T’s contributions = Rick Perry’s support? Back in May, Rick Perry told the FCC he backed the AT&T/T-Mobile merger. “I believe that this merger will continue to provide for great consumer choice, offer a wide range of service options, and spur continued innovation,” he wrote. He might’ve had a little help from those campaign contributions over the past decade. AT&T has a bit of a history of going out of its way to turn public favor its way, going so far as to bizarrely convince GLAAD to support the merger. With the Justice Department coming out against the merger and AT&T’s contributions to Perry coming under scrutiny, will Perry back down? (Strangely enough, BTW, the Justice Department’s James Cole made a statement that reads like the polar opposite of what Perry wrote: “We believe the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers all across the United States facing higher prices, fewer choices, and lower-quality products for their mobile wireless services.” Hrm.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Apr 2011 14:54

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World: Japan’s victims not seeing direct results from donations

  • $1 billion the total donations for Japan’s earthquake relief to the Red Cross
  • none the amount of those donations that have gone directly to victims  source
  • » Yukiyo Edano says speed it up: Edano, the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, explained that the standard procedure is for independent panels throughout the prefectures to decide how to handle the money; basically, distribution at the local level. This can slow the whole process when these communities are in such disarray, though, which is why Edano believes the central government should set up an independent committee. The Red Cross, it bears mentioning, has sent over 200 crisis relief teams into stricken areas. And it must be said in the strongest possible terms that we don’t mean to discourage people who either have, or want to donate to Japan’s relief efforts. Rather, we think it’s worth understanding the functional realities that can hamstring those efforts. But the donations are nonetheless noble, vital, and necessary; none of this changes that.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Mar 2011 15:00

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World: Donations flood in for Japan’s earthquake relief effort

  • $7.75
    million     the amount donated to the Red Cross specifically for the Japan quake
  • $1.1
    million     the amount donated to the Red Cross via text messaging alone source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Nov 2010 21:07

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Politics: Posted without comment: Keith Olbermann’s open letter to you guys

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

05 Nov 2010 14:01

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Politics: MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann suspended for campaign donations

  • I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.
  • MSNBC President Phil Griffin • Announcing that Keith Olbermann has been suspended for donating to three political campaigns, one of which happened immediately after he interviewed the candidate (Raul Grijalva of Arizona) on the show. While Olbermann noted that he “did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level,” clearly that wasn’t enough for MSNBC. On Tumblr, me and Mark Coatney (formerly of Newsweek, now of Tumblr) had a little bit of a debate on all this, and while I didn’t come on Keith’s side here for ethical reasons, I honestly thought he was untouchable (and that it wasn’t bad enough to force MSNBC’s hand). Guess not. The mighty fall, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Sep 2010 17:58

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Culture: Can’t we just say Mark Zuckerberg’s a nice guy for donating $100M?

Mark Zuckerberg 26 year old founder of FaceBook donates 100 million to The Newark New Jersey School system.. Please RT this is AMAZING!!Thu Sep 23 21:34:53 via webTyrese Gibson
Tyrese

  • Know how you know you did something great? Because you have a cool, confident guy with a million followers turning into a total fanboy. That’s how impressive Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark, New Jersey’s dilapidated school district was. On a side noote, can we just say that anyone giving Zuck crap over this is a scumbag? We know that makes the NY Post, New York Magazine and Gawker or mortal enemies, but at least Arianna Huffington still likes us. Oh, and Tyrese. He thinks we’re cool, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2010 22:42

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U.S.: NYC cabbie stabbing victim Ahmed Sharif needs your help

  • My guess is that he’ll be unable to work for at least four months. He can’t even pick up his baby because of the wounds to his arms. He can’t turn his neck.
  • New York Taxi Workers Alliance spokesperson Bhairavi Desai • Regarding the physical and mental anguish he’s suffered as a result of the attack last week. And he’s broke and can’t work; he needs the money to feed his child. Donations have been low so far; as soon as we saw the story, we donated $30. We recommend (and hope) you do the same. Fight hate with your wallet. Help Ahmed feed his baby. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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