Kraft Heinz Co is Melting Down

Kraft Heinz Co reported earnings February 21st and the results were well, not great, Sales were up, but they literally cooked the books as far as compliance goes, slashed the dividend, and wrote down the value of their products.

Before I break down that long sentence I’ll give a little background. Heinz was bought out by Warren Buffett and his Berkshire Hathaway Investment arm back in 2013 for 23 billion. He partnered with a Brazilian PE Firm 3G Capital and gave them a mandate to cut expenses. 3G obliged and what used to be a great place to work and make a living turned into hell on wheels at Heinz.

Gordon Ramsey–Hell on Wheels who unlike Buffett tried to help people

Manufacturing plants were closed, employees could no longer have free products or a mini-fridge at their workstation. To make a copy, employee’s had to ask permission from their supervisor; plus, they couldn’t print in color and were required to print double sided. Essentially employees were made to feel like they were back in school, under a ruthless teacher.

Cost cutting class is in session

Every expense was questioned and if unjustified, it was denied. Executives installed by Buffett and 3G used to scold employees saying there is no work/family balance, you should devote all your time to Heinz. Layoffs were plentiful and executives were never afraid to swing the axe. After about 2 years of doing this, and out of ideas they bought Kraft. Buffett & friends, combined the companies and well…lather, rinse, repeat the same process. The combined company now loaded with debt, was aggressively trying to dig its way out…then the problems occurred.

Kraft Heinz fell victim to a corporate profit mentality. They are run by people who have zero experience in the consumer packaged goods field and the results show it. Jim Cramer of CNBC said it best, “Look at these products they make. They are tired and old and not healthy for you. Don’t believe me, look at the ingredients, could win a lot of scrabble games with some of those words!”

Jim Cramer–Mad Money Man

In today’s health conscious society people are reaching for products that are “organic, no antibiotics ever, and even buying the farm to fork lie.” Sadly this company offers nothing as far as those choices go. That being said, the advertising and development budget was essentially cut to zero, so I guess it’s a race to see how many bottles of Heinz Ketchup one can sell each quarter?

This the editor’s go to combo for eating mac and cheese, lots of ketchup

Kraft Heinz also competes in way to many segments where competition is stiff. Just a couple examples: look at the salad dressing market, it’s basically a race to the bottom, look at the competition and there is no more pricing power. The point I’m making is the store brand is selling for $1, it’s very hard to sell your product for $3. While the brand may be worth something, once you taste the cheaper brand and you see there is not much quality difference it’s not hard to make a switch. As a result Kraft Heinz was forced to lower their price to $1, and the margin on products sold for a dollar cannot be very high, likely you see a couple pennies in profit. The company has lost its way.

On to the disaster quarter. They cut the dividend 40%! Keep in mind, while people like Buffett get rich off this money, many retirees depend on it to subsidize their lifestyle. In addition Kraft Heinz was viewed as a stable company, not flashy, but stable in a sense they weren’t going broke like Sears. Also, heck everyone has at least 1 Kraft or Heinz product in their house. Kraft Heinz also wrote down the value of Oscar Meyer and Kraft by 15 billion, essentially saying the brands they paid for aren’t worth near what they thought they were. So in essence they loaded a company with unsustainable debt and now the brands aren’t even worth much anymore. Even more concerning was the report that they are being investigated by the SEC for accounting irregularities. I will say one thing, I don’t want the SEC investigating me for anything because they are not just a regulator agency; they can literally bring your company to their knees. To add insult to injury, the NASDAQ stock exchange has filed a report that the company is not in compliance with their rules after failing to file a 10-K report at the end of the calendar year. Ouch. Employee morale no longer exists, as evidenced by a 20 percent employee turnover rate annually. Also they have explored the idea of selling brands to try to pay down debt.

How to fix the company

If I were in charge, I would ask Buffett to buy the company outright. I would urge him to take us private and then we could work on the accounting and legal issues without being under intense scrutiny. There would be no dividend being paid out so that money could be put toward debt extinguishment. I would ramp up innovation and advertising dollars because it has become clear the brand power is no longer selling itself. Kraft Heinz has exactly two new products they have launched in the past decade, both were successes; Devour frozen food, and Just Crack an Egg by Ore Ida. This shows the company still has it when it comes to innovation. I would raise employee pay and while this may take a short term hit on profitability, I want employees productive and not looking to jump to a competitor. 20% employee turnover is something only a jerk would be proud of. Also there would be a moratorium on closing plants. Employees are the life blood of the company. I would create an incentive plan to bonus all workers based on production and quarterly sales goals.

As far as selling products for a dollar, that is gone. Advertising should be poured in to make our products worthy of customers trading up for value as opposed to buying it for a dollar because it’s on sale. When it comes to Oscar Meyer meats chock full of bad ingredients, the damage is done, I would create a different brand, with clean, simple ingredients and market it and price it as such. Regarding the current product mix, I would eliminate/sell several. Look at the barbecue sauce aisle alone; Kraft BBQ, Bull’s Eye, Heinz BBQ, and Jack Daniels line are all sold by the same company! In essence you are competing with yourself! Holy smokes, even the most uneducated will tell you they will reach for the cheapest one. Look at this example. Say the Chief kills a wild boar and brings it to Williams for a BBQ. William won’t care what kind of sauce I brought unless it’s a horrible tasting or very obscure one. Eliminating brands will go a long way to simplification and increase profitability. Paying down the debt and increasing employee morale, rather than looking for the next acquisition will go a long way toward getting back to prosperity.

The Chief

Man with Sword Shoots Police

Yes, that was my first thought too when I saw this headline to the website for local TV station KCRA.

Ok, based on the headline, this is how I picture this going down:

The man with the sword was clearly a real life Jedi. The police confront him and he refused to drop the sword. He moves toward them and fearing for their lives, the police open fire. The guy with the sword, in a move reminiscent of a Bruce Lee movie or a Star Wars battle, uses the sword to deflect the bullet and it hits the offices instead. One officer is struck in the hand and the other is hit in the arm. At this point, the Jedi turns to flee and is struck from behind with a bullet in the head which ends his life.

Remember that the winners write the history so here is the account from the police per Associated Press:

Two officers were wounded and a suspect was killed during a shootout after police responded Wednesday to reports of a man with a sword entering the Church of Scientology in Inglewood, California, authorities said.
The suspect was shot in the head and died at a hospital, Inglewood police Lt. Oscar Mejia told reporters at the scene. He was not immediately identified.
Gunfire erupted around 3:30 p.m. inside the front entrance of the church after police approached the man, who was wearing a hooded sweat shirt and wielding the sword, officials said.
One officer was struck in a hand, and the other was hit in an arm, officials said. They were hospitalized in good condition with non-life-threatening injuries, police Chief Mark Fronterotta said. Both officers are in their late 20s, the chief said.
Officials didn’t say who fired first or whether a gun was recovered from the suspect.

Link: 2 California officers shot after confronting man with sword

Please note that nothing in the story indicates that the man was armed with anything other than a sword. So he either got the cops to shoot themselves or it happened like I said. I’ll let you decide.

Barbara Bush: Trump Killed Me

Barbara Bush went to her eternal reward a few years ago but that hasn’t stopped the Bush’s feud with President Trump from making headlines, at least if you believe the article in yesterday’s USA Today. As a teaser for a book being released next week about Barbara Bush, the following was published by the newspaper that only hotels seem to subscribe to. (I have added emphasis to a few choice parts.)

Barbara Bush blamed Donald Trump for her heart attack.
It wasn’t technically a heart attack, though she called it that. It was a crisis in her long battle with congestive heart failure and chronic pulmonary disease that hit her like a sledgehammer one day in June 2016. …The tumultuous presidential campaign in general and Trump’s ridicule of son Jeb Bush in particular had riled her. “Angst,” she told me.

How did she think things were going in the USA in the Age of Trump?
“I’m trying not to think about it,” she said in an interview as the first anniversary of Trump’s election approached. “We’re a strong country, and I think it will all work out.” Even so, she was dismayed by the nation’s divisions and by the direction of the party she had worked for, and for so long.
Did she still consider herself a Republican?
In an interview with me in October 2017, she answered that question yes. When I asked her again four months later, in February 2018, she said, “I’d probably say no today.”
That was a stunning acknowledgment. Barbara Bush had been one of the most recognizable faces of the Republican Party through two presidencies. She was the matriarch of one of the GOP’s leading families. But after Trump’s rise, she saw it as a party she could not continue to support, a party she no longer recognized …

…Barbara Bush couldn’t quite imagine that Trump was going to win the White House on his own.
“I don’t understand why people are for him,” she said in one interview. In another, she expressed astonishment that women could support him. George Bush ended up voting for Hillary Clinton, the first time in his life that he had cast a ballot for a Democrat for president. Barbara Bush wrote in Jeb’s name on the last day of early voting. “I could not vote for Trump or Clinton,” she wrote in her diary.

Those weren’t the letters Bush had expected to write after the 2016 election. She had drafted a funny congratulatory letter to send to Bill Clinton – assuming that he would take over the role of presidential spouse. “It said, ‘Welcome to the First Ladies Club,’ ” she told me. “ ‘We can’t wait to initiate you.’ ” She never mailed it.
“I woke up and discovered, to my horror, that Trump had won.”

She didn’t hide her horror from those close to her. After Trump was elected, a friend in Kennebunkport gave her a Trump countdown clock as a joke. The red, white, and blue digital clock displayed how many days, hours, minutes and seconds remained in Trump’s term. She parked it on the side table in her bedroom, next to the chair she would sit in to needlepoint or watch television.
She liked the countdown clock so much that when the Bushes returned to Houston that October, she brought it with her. It sat on her bedside table, where she could see it every day. It was there to the day she died.

Link: Barbara Bush: Did she still consider herself a Republican? ‘I’d probably say no today.’

Donald Trump and George H. W. Bush

Barbara Bush and her clan never could understand or relate to Conservatives. They were always part of the Country Club Republicans in the good ole boy network. If you look at what both Presidents Bush did, they were liberals in their policies regardless of what we called them. The first Bush gave us the largest unfunded mandate ever passed into law in the history of the world, the Americans with Disabilities Act. This poorly written and worse implemented law has cost billions in unnecessary expenses.

George Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

But the Bush clan also gave us the Savings and Loan bailout, Medicare Part D, The “too big to fail” bailouts, two incomplete wars in Iraq, and many weak-kneed Supreme Court appointments.

Mrs. Bush seems to have soured on the Republican brand by the end of her days. Politics has been a full contact sport for a long time. Have you seen what it was like when Lincoln was President? Marquess of Queensberry Rules only work when both sides agree to them. Both her husband and sons tried to follow them unilaterally against a Party bent on the total destruction of American values and institutions. They came out on the short end.

Apparently the last straw for Mrs. Bush was the fact that Jeb crashed and burned in New Hampshire. She went to her grave blaming Trump that America was Bushed-out and wanted a new face in the White House not named Bush or Clinton. In 2016, America wanted a warrior not a whim so they voted for Donald Trump.

But this interview doesn’t surprise me. I remember back to an interview that I saw many years ago with Barry Goldwater. Barry was angry at Conservatives. Yes, the guy that was the supposedly “The Conservative” in 1964, had no use for Conservatives in the 1990’s. He hated Christians being involved in the political process and finding a home in the Republican Party; especially, the Pro-Life ones. Goldwater had absolutely nothing good to say about them. Goldwater was angry and bitter at the end of his life. He repudiated what the Republican Party had become.

It’s really kind of pathetic that the only Republican that is challenging Trump to his face has been dead for two years. All the rest prefer to stab him in the back when they think no one is watching.

Facebook Fights to Track Non-users

Folks I’m just gonna excerpt two paragraphs and commend that you look at the source article for more.

The social network is heading to court in Belgium on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports. Its goal is to fight a court order that would force it to stop using cookies and other tracking technology to follow its users as they navigate around the internet to serve them ads–at least until Facebook explains exactly how and why it collects data and what it does with the information. The original court order required the social media giant to stop tracking users, delete all data it had gathered illegally on Belgian citizens–including people who were not Facebook users themselves–or face fines of up to €250,000 ($281,625) a day.
It may be a tough slog, as Facebook’s tracking technology is applied not only to people who willingly signed up for the site, but also to millions of people who aren’t signed up or have closed their accounts. Belgium’s court order, meanwhile, may be bolstered by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which allows penalties as large as 4% of a company’s annual revenue.

Link: Facebook fights for the right to follow users–and nonusers–around the web

2020 Election Begins

I know that many Democrats have already declared their candidacy for President, but this is not what I’m referring to in this case. Now that the Mueller Report was released and found Trump did not collude with Russia—which we knew 2 ½ years ago—we can begin to see what Trump will do between now and the next election.

The theme for the 2020 campaign will be this: American Values versus California Values.

Trump will be for freer markets, changing the structure of the bureaucracy, and getting as many promises as he can codified by Congress. Trump will champion traditional American values. Also, adding more judges to the Federal Bench.

The Democrats will try to out do each other promising a Socialist Utopia on the one hand and looking to add even more felons and illegal immigrants to both the dole and voter rolls. Heck in just one speech last week, candidate Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren promised one trillion dollars in new spending if she is elected as the next President.

Symbol of National Socialist Party

The other reason it will be equating Democrats with California Values is that in the heartland nothing is more toxic than comparing anything to California. We may have great weather but the ideas that are popular here are insanity to right minded people.

California is hostile to God, patriotism, American history, free markets, personal property, individual freedom, free speech, religion, traditional values, the elderly, unborn, academic freedom, business, and common sense.

Ronald Reagan campaigned against Jimmy Carter on the question, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” In that spirit, Trump may very well ask if you will be better off after four more years of my leadership as opposed to what is offered by the Democrats? This election will hinge on a right direction, wrong direction question. I think Trump will win by a larger margin even with all the election fraud and tampering that the Democrats are interjecting into the process. (See California, Virginia, and Florida.)

Blacks are better off under Trump than they were under Obama. Ditto for Hispanics, Asians, business owners, and on down the line. Trump will continue to offer disruption to business as usual in Washington while Democrats will offer disruption of our lives, livelihood, and freedom.

In my opinion, should Trump fail, the Republic is over. It may be over anyway, but Trump is our last, best hope before we go over the demographic, ideological, and fiscal cliffs. Literally the point of no return.

I fear that we are in the decline analogous to the decay of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the Old Testament. You know what I mean. King (insert name here) did more evil than all his predecessors. He died and the next guy was even worse. Every so often, a king would be a bit of a rest from the trend, but he too would fail and then the decline would continue. Finally, the nation was overrun by their enemies, sacked, and the population enslaved.

Democrats are offering to skip the enemy invasion and enslave us themselves. No, I haven’t forgot about the border invasion. Democrats are ok with those folks as long as they can enslave them and control them too. If people come to America wanting freedom, they will not be welcome here.

We are balanced on the knife edge of history; one side will prevail. Our only hope is that God, in his mercy, will tilt things in the direction of grace not continued judgement.

News Reactions: By Troll

Bloggers note: Troll loves to crawl out from under his bridge and no one is immune from his satirical attacks! He will react to the news and give his award-winning commentary.

First up: The College Bribery scandal

Troll says: The real winner here is University of Southern California (USC) this is the first time they have ever been referred to as an “elite university.”
We are all stunned “Aunt Becky”–who by the way is a (pound) #metoo member in Troll’s eyes–was involved in purchasing college admission for her otherwise unqualified daughter. It must be horrible your daughter couldn’t use her looks to get into school and needed your cash to be popular.

Internet search says this is Aunt Becky but I’ve never seen the show so here’s hoping–Editor

I am stunned because let’s revisit the cast of that show and see how Troll thinks should have been targeted in this case:
Uncle Jesse: This slicked-back hair looking Fonzi wannabe would have been my first guess, he looks like he is so dirty you would have to take a shower after dealing with him. However, his being married to Aunt Becky makes him an accomplice.
Bob Sagat: This guy is as pure as Aquafina, unless someone took a dump upstream, but no reason to suspect him.
Uncle Joey: That dude was always coked-out on something every show he was on. Making weird noises and voices, and the kids all loved him, I would have suspected him honestly.
Kimmy Gibbler: no chance, but she trolled as hard as I did the entire show, so yeah, I guess you better include her.

Colorado AG says Sheriffs who won’t enforce anti-gun law must re-sign

Colorado’s attorney general testified last week that county sheriffs vowing not to enforce the state’s proposed anti-gun “red flag” bill should “resign” — a challenge that threatened to ramp up tensions between state officials and local leaders who were already creating droves of so-called Second Amendment “sanctuary counties” to resist the legislation.
Democrat Phil Weiser made the remarks, which were first reported by The Colorado Sun, while testifying before a state committee on Friday. Weiser has said that the red flag legislation, which would permit a court to the seizure of weapons from people determined to be a threat to others or themselves, would save lives, particularly in domestic violence situations.

“If a sheriff cannot follow the law, the sheriff cannot do his or her job,” Weiser said. “The right thing to do for a sheriff who says, ‘I can’t follow the law’ is to resign.”

Link: Colorado sheriffs who won’t enforce anti-gun ‘red flag’ law should ‘resign,’ state AG says

Troll says: This clown AG Phil Weiser should be the poster boy for why expectant mothers should refrain from using alcohol. I take that back, he looks like a hairline receding black haired Howdy Doody. By the way, the Troll is most offended by this comment: “If a sheriff cannot follow the law, he or she must resign.” How completely insensitive! How can you possibly assume the genders don’t include one of the other five! (72 if you believe Facebook). You racist, sexist, idiot! Thanks for mansplaining all this to me. Yes, disarming citizens is brilliant, you ignorant chump. Anyone want to take bets this useless human has armed security with him at all times?

R. Kelly bailed out of jail for the second time accused of sexually assaulting minors.

On Friday evening, hours after the charges were announced in a press conference by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Kelly turned himself in to Chicago police. On Saturday, Kelly attended bond court, where the judge set his bond at $1 million — or, $250,000 for each of the four alleged victims. EW has confirmed that on Monday evening, Kelly posted the $100,000 bail and left police custody. Per the Associated Press, a condition of his release is that he is forbidden from having any contact with females under the age of 18.

Link: R. Kelly pleads not guilty to sexual assault charges

Kelly said, “I promise you we are going to straighten all this stuff out.”
Troll says: He was bailed out by a restaurant owner, is sausage on the menu there? Why didn’t this Kelly guy take up a job in the clergy? I believe this kind of behavior is a promotable offense! All the young boys your heart desires. I guess you could say he was keeping the spirit of Christmas going year-round? Tis far better to give then receive? Or perhaps he was just channeling his inner Michael Jackson.

Editor’s note: I can’t tell if Troll was just trolling R. Kelly or getting him confused with the comments this week by Barbra Streisand.
Streisand defended Michael Jackson like no one else.

She also said, of Jackson, “His sexual needs were his sexual needs, coming from whatever childhood he has or whatever DNA he has,” she said. 
You can say ‘molested,’ but those children, as you heard them say, they were thrilled to be there,” she said. “They both married and they both have children, so it didn’t kill them.”
“It’s a combination of feelings,” she said. “I feel bad for the children. I feel bad for him. I blame, I guess, the parents, who would allow their children to sleep with him.”

Link: Barbra Streisand says Michael Jackson’s accusers were “thrilled to be there”

Tyson foods recalls 69,000 lbs of ready to eat chicken due to metal contamination.

Tyson Foods has recalled 69,093 pounds of frozen, ready-to-eat chicken strips because the strips may contain metal fragments, according to the company and the Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

Link: Tyson Recalls 69,000 Pounds of Frozen Chicken Strips

Troll: Well if we need our children to eat a bit more iron, what better way than this? These bags of what is “allegedly” chicken and bits were produced 4 months ago…. what took so long? Also, the use by date is November this year? Are you telling me I can’t eat those chicken strips and I haven’t reached said date yet? Oh no!

Chicken strips listening to R. Kelly song

Conclusion

What a time to be alive, while R Kelly is out on bail Aunt Becky rots in jail for paying off an admission counselor, makes you wonder if she could have “worked it off as opposed to pay the admission councilor off, Hollywood seldom frowns upon those misdeeds.”
Troll

Mueller Report

If you want to bury a news story, everyone knows you need to release it at 5 P.M. on a Friday night. The fact that Robert Mueller has done just that (his report has been held since Monday) means that there is nothing to see. Trump has been exonerated as we knew that he would be.

Some “tells” include that NBC news and other MSN outlets have been saying that the report will be disappointing for the last two months, no indictments have materialized that lead to the President, and the Mueller team have been leaving for other assignments for the last several weeks. The Liberal worship at the chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Investigation has yielded no fruit. As promised weeks ago by Nancy Pelosi, there will be no impeachment.

While much political posturing will continue, the 2016 election is finally over just in time for 2020 to begin. Which brings up the obvious question, how long will it be until the report is released?

OK, there are technically two reports; the executive summary that the Attorney General will give the President and Congress and the actual report which many thinks will never see the light of day. Trump says release it but which one, the short version or the actual report? I will give you 50/50 odds that Trump will release it before Congress can.

Cory Booker

Why let Cory Booker leak this like he did with information from Brent Kavanaugh’s hearing last summer? The only thing missing from this report is the validation that Democrats hoped to find for their hatred of Trump.

This whole sordid episode of American history is all based on a lie from Hillary Clinton and perpetuated by John McCain to bring down a political outsider that doesn’t have the right pedigree to be a Washington politician. When push comes to shove, the ruling class will band together against insurgents that threaten their livelihood.

Trump is the enemy of both parties. Few Presidents can be compared to him. In some ways, he is in the same league as Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln. Trump is a different type of guy and one that is desperately needed in times like this. Can he change the trajectory of our decaying republic? I’m not sure anyone can but perhaps he can sew the seeds of change for a new generation.

If all Trump does is let the younger generation see an alternative to the headlong plunge into socialism, he will have done us all a huge favor.

The Chief is Really Right Again!

Earlier this week brought great news (as predicted in this space) regarding Bob Kraft–the Patriots owner who “allegedly” solicited a prostitute at a Florida massage parlor. Headlines announced that Kraft would get off.

Link: How Patriots owner Robert Kraft could get off in prostitution case

Horrible pun there but anyway, the prosecutors are offering him a deal that the charges would be dismissed but he would have to admit that he would have been found guilty if it went to trial. Isn’t that the same as pleading “no contest?” Essentially you are saying, “I’m not admitting guilt, but the evidence shows I would have been convicted?” Honestly I’m not quite sure I understand why the offer is so great that he should take it. Kraft isn’t married so it’s not like you have to be publically shamed and your marriage essentially ruined. If I am Mr. Kraft, I’d do the same thing he did with the Patriots when they were accused of spying on the opposing team and using deflated footballs, he did not plea or admit guilt choosing to fight his fines and suspensions each time!


Without going into additional details, Kraft really didn’t do much wrong in my eyes. He paid for a service and a consenting party agreed to the terms. As far as the women being held against their will, I’m not seeing much in the form of arrests. This is hardly the crime of the century but he happened to be a big fish, and sadly (as chronicled in this space), if you have a DA on a rampage looking to be elected to higher office, Bob Kraft is a great fish to get on the line. Now with the case unraveling the DA was forced to offer a “deal”.

The prostitution case against Patriots owner Robert Kraft linked to a Florida sex-trafficking ring could be a long shot for prosecutors — partly because the women he was caught on video with are the 45-year-old spa manager and a 58-year-old licensed masseuse, according to legal experts.
Kraft is charged with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution after twice visiting Jupiter “rub and tug” massage joint Orchids of Asia Day Spa. Police say the business has ties to an international human-trafficking and prostitution ring, and some of the women at the Asian spa and five other affiliated Florida properties are sex slaves from China.
But it appears Kraft was caught on camera getting services from two women who are not victims of human trafficking: the 45-year-old manager of the spa, Lei Wang, and 58-year-old spa employee Shen Mingbi, also believed to be an operator of the business — both licensed masseuses and Florida residents.

My advice (keep in mind I have just 2 law electives under my belt) do not take the deal. No plea bargain. If you are offering to drop the charges you have no case! Clearly Kraft can run out the clock on this very weak offensive.

Final Thoughts:

This is merely a last ditch effort by a District Attorney desperate to save face, hoping Kraft agrees to the deal, and he can celebrate a “would have been conviction.” As said before, I tend to be more libertarian on these sorts of issues, and Kraft just got very unlucky in a sense it was a brothel under investigation by the police. Just drop the charges and quit wasting taxpayer dollars on this type of frivolous prosecution that is only being brought to advance a political career. If the prosecutor had a solid case he wouldn’t have made such a limp opening offer the Kraft.

By the way, did anyone see the look on Kraft after he heard the charges would be dropped…likely hasn’t been pleasured that much since…..well never mind.

Kraft Singles in action.

If I can offer some unsolicited advice to Mr. Kraft it would be this: avoid BJ’s Restaurant. While you may think they offer a certain something, they don’t; however I’ve heard some members of the wait staff can get you a “wet n reckless.” While some on this blog may wish to engage in a “wet and reckless” with employees at a local salsa bar, this particular “wet n reckless” leaves you broke and dry.

I’m starting to get tired of being right all the time…how about you William?

Facebook Rot Continues

More bad news following a very bad week, last week which was capped-off with a live Facebook broadcast of the shooting in New Zealand

Link: Zuckerberg’s bad week gets worse with FB live of Christchurch shooting

now emerges a story that Facebook has stored your password in plain text available to any employee and anyone with access to the house that Mark built. This has been their practice since 2012 and at least 600,000,000 passwords are involved.

“Security rule 101 dictates that under no circumstances passwords should be stored in plain text and at all times must be encrypted,” said cybersecurity expert Andrei Barysevich of Recorded Future. “There is no valid reason why anyone in an organization, especially the size of Facebook, needs to have access to users’ passwords in plain text.”
Facebook said there is no evidence its employees abused access to this data. But thousands of employees could have searched them. The company said the passwords were stored on internal company servers, where no outsiders could access them. But the incident reveals a huge oversight for the company amid a slew of bruises and stumbles in the last couple of years.
The security blog KrebsOnSecurity said some 600 million Facebook users may have had their passwords stored in plain text. Facebook said in a blog post Thursday it will likely notify “hundreds of millions”…

Facebook leaves millions of passwords readable by employees

Apple’s 5G Problem Revealed

Apple has no plans for a 5G phone in 2019. We have reported that several times on this blog but recently more information has come to light. The truth is Apple has no supplier for the technology. Why, because they have burned bridges with everyone.

Apple has four choices for 5G

  1. Qualcomm – Apple has disputes with this competitor. Source
  2. Intel – Apple is dropping Intel as chip supplier. Source
  3. Samsung – Apple’s direct competitor in cell phone mfg. Samsung #1 in the world, Apple #3
  4. Make their own – starting from scratch and not running afoul of existing intellectual property and patents is problematic and years from concept to production

As we have documented elsewhere, Apple has already bought folding screen prototypes from Samsung and now they might need their 5G chips too; and you wonder why I say Apple is the Me Too company?