Corporate Activism Gives You Economic and Political Power!

In my 20s, I was convinced by many of the rich and powerful that I met that Corporate Activism was the answer to economic and political power to the Black, poor, and economic disadvantaged. I took my ideas to the NAACP. But they told me that economic power was not their mission. They are a civil rights organization.  I can't understand why the rich and powerful through economic power would not give people civil rights. I never seen a person heading large corporations plead for civil rights. That is when I understood that organizations such as the NAACP is self serving. It is not the National Organization for the Advancement of Color People.

Activist Shareholders

An activist shareholder uses an equity stake in a corporation to put public pressure on its management. The goals of activist shareholders range from financial (increase of shareholder value through changes in corporate policy, financing structure, cost cutting, etc.) to non-financial (disinvestment from particular countries, adoption of environmentally friendly policies, etc.). The attraction of shareholder activism lies in its comparative cheapness; a fairly small stake (less than 10% of outstanding shares) may be enough to launch a successful campaign. In comparison, a full takeover bid is a much more costly and difficult undertaking.

Shareholder activism has gained popularity as management compensation at publicly traded companies and cash balances on corporate balance sheets have risen. Not only are the aggregate dollars invested in the activist asset class continuing to grow, but activists are also generating significant positive attention from mainstream media by taking more sophisticated approaches to identifying their platforms and running their campaigns. Once derided as corporate raiders, shareholder activists are now the recipients of admiration for sparking change in corporate boardrooms, leading to corporate boards developing best practices for responding to shareholder activism.

Shareholder activism can take any of several forms: proxy battles, publicity campaigns, shareholder resolutions, litigation, and negotiations with management. Daniel Loeb, head of Third Point Management, is notable for his use of sharply written letters directed towards the CEOs of his target companies.

Some of the recent activist investment funds include: California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), Icahn Management LP, Santa Monica Partners Opportunity Fund LP, State Board of Administration of Florida (SBA), and Relational Investors, LLC.

Due to the Internet, smaller shareholders have also gained an outlet to voice their opinions. In 2005, small MCI Inc shareholders created an online petition to protest the MCI Inc/Verizon merger.

Carl Icahn

Activist Investors

During the 1980s, notable activist investors such as Carl Icahn and T. Boone Pickens gained international notoriety and were often perceived as "corporate raiders" for acquiring an equity stake in publicly owned companies, like Icahn's investment in B.F. Goodrich, and then forcing companies to take action to improve value or rid themselves of rebel intruders like Icahn by buying back the raider's investment at a fat premium, often at the expense of the other shareholders.

In an Opalesque.TV interview with notable activist investor Phillip Goldstein of Bulldog Investors, Goldstein describes the role of an activist investor as that of a catalyst unlocking value in an underlying security. He goes on to say that the public perception of activist investors has changed, and this image of "corporate raiders" has dissipated.

Notable activist investors:

• Carl Icahn
• Daniel Loeb
• Ralph V. Whitworth
• Kirk Kerkorian
• Warren Lichtenstein
• Alexey Navalny
• Stephen Mayne
• T. Boone Pickens, Jr.
• Sister Patricia Daly
• Phillip Goldstein
• Thomas Strobhar
• Theo Botha
• Barington Capital
• David M. Webb
• William Ackman
• Guy Wyser-Pratte

Shareholder Investing

Taking an activist approach to public investing may produce returns in excess of those likely to be achieved passively. A 2012 study by London-based research firm Activist Insight showed that the mean annual net return of over 40 activist-focused hedge funds had consistently outperformed the MSCI world index in the years following the global financial crisis in 2008.

^{What  if a group of investors wanted more Blacks and minority hiring in the corporation?his actually happened with Season-all Industries  in Indiana County in Pennsylvania in the 1970s. I put a motion on the ballot and stockholders had to vote on it. The resolution lost but it got the attention of EEOC who investigated their hiring activities. The result, the government demanded that they hire minority workers before they could get anymore Federal Contracts.}

Organizations such as the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and Ceres use shareholder resolutions, and other means of pressure, to address issues such as sustainability and human rights.

Shareholder rebellion

Shareholder rebellion occurs when the owners of a corporation work to throw out management or oppose their decisions. Shareholder rebellion may occur at a corporate annual meeting or through a proxy battle. Shareholders may also threaten to collapse a firm's stock price through concentrated selling. In 1998, the Rockefeller family led a shareholder revolt against Exxon over its climate change policy. In 2005, Michael Eisner retired after Walt Disney's nephew, Roy Disney, led a shareholder revolt, claiming Eisner was a micromanager who had caused a creative brain drain. In 2010, British Petroleum and Shell faced a shareholder revolt over its Canadian tar sands policy.

Recently, shareholder rebellions have occurred over the issue of executive compensation at Cable and Wireless and Shell; Shell in response unveiled a plan to curb executive compensation and bonuses. According to some analysts, institutional shareholders have been lax about holding management accountable because they were concentrating on picking correct stocks rather than protecting their interests in the stocks they owned. With many firms showing poor performance, shareholder revolts are becoming more common.

 
In the 1970s, I was the darling of the financial industry in the Pittsburgh Area. My idol at that time was a smart German Jew,  Siggi Wilzig. We use to talk on the phone when he became the head of Wilshire Oil Company of Texas.

Born in Kronjanke in West Prussia, Siggi Wilzig was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp when he was 16. He came to the United States in 1947 and got his first job shoveling snow in the Bronx after a blizzard that winter.

Mr. Wilzig stopped shoveling snow, and in the 1950's pursued a number of trades. Early on he was a gluer and presser in a Brooklyn sweatshop. He was a traveling salesman; he managed a furniture store in Hillside, N.J. But unlike others of modest means, instead of putting his meager savings in the bank, Mr. Wilzig invested in the stock market.

 

The investment he and more affluent colleagues made in the oil and gas producer grew so large that in 1965 Mr. Wilzig was elected a member of Wilshire's board. Six months later, at age 39, he was elected president and chief executive.

 

A Day in Havre De Grace on Oct. 29, 2014

I live here!

Today was a good day in Havre de Grace. The weather was good and the boats were out in the bay. People were out walking their dogs. And I took my walk around the City. I took a video but I am having trouble publishing it. So I found some videos that other people have made. They are better than the video that I made.


Published on Dec 22, 2012

Havre de Grace is a city in Harford County, Maryland, USA, situated at the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the head of Chesapeake Bay. It is named after the port city of Le Havre, France, which in full was once Le Havre de Grâce (French, "Haven of Grace"). The population was 12,952 at the 2010 census

In 1789, Havre de Grace was in serious consideration to be the permanent capital of the United States.

 

Havre de Grace - Maryland  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkgjw92EqMY

 

Destination Havre de Grace MD  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO92XYwbFTY

 

Tidewater Marina Havre de Grace,MD  

 

This is my hangout in the summer!

 

Why Does the Police Need Assault Weapons?

Displayed at the 8th Annual running of the Run For the Team 5K in Newberry Township

My spelling and grammar is not that good. But I write about things that I feel is important to me and that I feel people should know about. Many times I get emails telling me about the spelling and grammar mistakes that I have made. Very few people that care about the grammar and spelling mistakes comment about the content of the message. That is because these people care about how things are said and not about what was said.

 

It seems that most people who use public media and texting on cell phones have the same problem. Many people will write, "r u going to the store" instead of "Are you going to the store?" In both sentences, I understand the content but in the first one, I can blast the author for bad grammar and spelling mistakes.

 

Well keep commenting on my grammar and spelling mistakes while I continue to inform the public about things that I believe will affect them. In this blog, I tell people about a problem that I think the public needs to focus on.


This is what the Police Website said about the proceeds of this 5K event. "This event benefits the members of the York County Quick Response Team (QRT) to offset the cost of training and equipment. This county asset is essential in maintaining safety and order during high risk police incidents and arrests. Your support of the QRT by participating and/or sponsoring the 5k Run/Walk directly provides officers with the tools needed to perform their duties as members of the team."

You should be asking yourself the question, "Why would a borough with a population of 362 people need military style equipment? Why would you show this type of equipment off to children when in many places, just playing Cowboys and Indians on school property off school hours can land the children on suspension? "

But this is the small picture. Look at the big picture.  Many small municipalities around the country are receiving such equipment? Read the article below (click on the link) about this issue.

 

http://www.newsweek.com/how-americas-police-became-army-1033-program-264537

How America’s Police Became an Army: The 1033 Program

You should be asking, "Is this level of force in our communities necessary? Can such power stop the drug trade? Is this excuse for using such deadly force equipment hiding a real threat to the people of this country?"

Spending Time with the Derrs

Every few months, I have to spend a few days with the Derr and Pentz Family. I consider myself  one of the family. Many of them feel the same way.  Kathy and I do a lot of fighting. That is just our nature.

We are in Northern Pennsylvania. I call this place "Derr Country."  

When Geraldine Derr, her mother was still alive, I would come in saying hello when passing through the living room and go directly to her refrigerator to eat her food. Sometimes she would come into the kitchen and cook me something to eat.  If she did not, her daughters would cook me a meal.

I just went to her brother's funeral, Leroy C. Pentz, at St. John Lutheran Church in Montgomery Pa not to long ago. The Pentz family told me that I am one of the family and that I am always welcome.

That would not have been the case if this was the year 1780. My people, the Cherokees fought along side the British. The Indians killed many of the settlers including many members of the Peter Pentz family. Peter, a Revolutionary War Veteran who served under George Washington, put a price on the Indians head in Pennsylvania after that war. So I would not have been near the Pentz family, 235 years ago.

This is Kathy Derr of Washingtonville, Pa. As I was waiting for the Little League World Series to start, we went to the PPL Lake near Washingtonville to see the Amish and the scenery.

 

After this, we went to Lyn's house, Kathy's sister to see the start of the Little League World Series. Then we went to Kathy's other sister, Deb house. I spent a lot of time with Lydia another sister.

 

I had to do my lobbying for the next girl that will come as a Great Grand Daughter under Lydia. I want someone to name the next girl in that line Lydia. Why? Because Big Lyd as they call her is named after her Grandmother Lydia Pentz. Big Lydia's child is named Lydia (Little Lyd). So to keep the chain going, I want to see a Little Little Lyd. Little Lyd's son said that he will name his daughter Lydia once he gets married. He is still in public school. That means that I will remind him of what he said in the future.  

 

It is Kathy's sister Linda who can pick up two full size tables at one time and through them in a truck. Deb's husband is in the Pennsylvania history books as one of the greatest fishermen in the state.   

 

So this family has a lot of Pennsylvania history behind them.   

 

 

How Elections Can Help You

Introduction

In this blog we are going to explore what is in elections for you.  You have been told over and over again that people died so that you can have the right to vote.  Many people tell me that they are going to the polls to vote. I ask them why? The answer is always because it is the right thing to do. People died for that right. Then I ask, "What do you expect to get out of your vote?" Here is where I get nothing but silence or they mention something about Dr. Martin Luther King.

We are going to examine three types of elections that you may get involved in. You  may run for public office or vote for someone in office. You may belong to a home association, running for a board seat or supporting someone for the board. You may live in a town where most of the people work for corporation X. You may want to run for a board seat here or vote your stock for a friend wanting to be on the board. We will explore what is in it for you in all three situations.

 

Government Elections

So you want to run for office? You may want to start with running for something local to get some experience in running. Positions such as City Council, Judge of Elections, and ETC. You may want to consider running for a party office such as Committee member. People have different reasons for running or supporting people for office. The government wants you to vote because it gives you the voter the idea that you have a stake in the outcome. Candidates usually have large egos and want to be loved by the community. You the voter may feel that you will get something out of the candidate winning the election such as getting your road fixed, a better school for your children, or free health insurance.

 Before you run, think about supporting someone who is running and learning while working on the candidates campaign. Pay attention to what the candidate is doing when it is time to;

• Circulate petitions to run for office -- you or your candidate will have to get signatures on the petition to run for office. The petition must be filled out correctly or it will be thrown out.

• Filing petitions to run for office -- You or your candidate must file the petition in the proper office on time.

• Going through the petition challenge -- Others have the right to look at your petition and will file a challenge against you or your candidate, saying that your petition is not in order. You must be prepared to beat back the challenge.

• Running for office in the primary -- You or your candidate should have started raising money to run for office a year before you started circulating petitions. The election committee should have been put in place by that time. Your election organization should be out knocking on doors and getting the word out that you or your candidate is running.

What about your position on issues? Most people running for local office give the public generally a copy of their resume. That is because they do not take the time to figure out what the public wants to see in a candidate.  What does the public want to hear concerning the needs of the community?

It is easier to expose the opponent to the voters. The opponent may be in office and has mismanaged the City or  township. If you tell the public what is going on and how it is affecting them, you and your candidate would stop the opponent from getting votes and will give your organization more votes.

The objective of the race is to get one more vote than the other candidate.     

Association Elections

If you live in a community that is govern by an association, you or your friends may want to have a board seat. Most Government offices pay you something for serving such as a meal, $25, or a real salary. But when serving under an association, you get to do the work and pay for your own meals. Most don't get any pay.

Most people serve because they want to keep their community beautiful as well as keep their property values high.  They may want to serve to make sure that they are kept in the loop when it comes to Condominium income and expenses.

A group of women in my Association wanted to run a woman for a board seat. They said that no one on my street was represented on the board and they look upon the current board as a "click." But they had no idea how to conduct a campaign to put the lady on the board. They waited until the announcement came out about the annual meeting to write a letter to the association nominating the lady to run.

That was a good move to write a letter of nomination however let the woman know that she is being nominated. Make sure that the nominating letter has the candidates name spelled correctly. The candidates name must match exactly the name on the Association Registry. Send this letter before the Proxy letter to the residents are sent out. That way the candidates name is on the Proxy so that the residents and circle it and send it in.

Once the candidate is on the ballot, the Proxy is mailed out to every home in the Association. This is not a one vote one person style of election. This is a corporate election meaning that it is one vote per one home in the Association. In my Association we have 54 condominiums or 54 votes. Anyone that does not vote by the time of the closing of elections at the Annual meeting, the Association board votes these shares.

In my case, the lady nominated herself at the meeting after the proxy papers were in. Only 17 votes came to the meeting. So the board controlled at least 37 votes.  Needless to say, the woman did not have a chance.

What they should have done was;

1. Called the Association Manager to find out when the nominations should be in to place the candidates on the Proxy.

2. Before the deadline, find out who wants to run for a board seat and have them send a letter in to the Association Manager before the deadline.

3. Once the Proxy letter are sent out, go door to door asking for each condominium vote, have them sign their proxy and take it from them at that point.

4. Take the proxy letters to the Association Manager's office or give the manager the letters at the Annual Meeting before the "Call for Nominations."

Doing it this way, you and your candidate will have enough votes (if you received enough proxies) to when the election.  Then you and your friends can volunteer for all the work.  

 

Public Corporation Elections

 

Public Corporation Elections are run very much like Association Elections. The difference is that each share of common stock has one vote. So you can have 5,000 shares meaning that you have 5,000 votes.  This is where stock clubs comes into play. The more people that you have in your organization buying stock in the company , the more votes your organization will receive at Annual meetings.

Your organization may want to make sure that a group of people in the community is given jobs in the company. Your organization may want to make sure that the company stays in the community.  Then again, your organization may want to take over the company for the purpose of family control.

Make sure that;

1. Your organization continues to buy common stock in the company.

2. Know and honor all SEC laws.   

3. Make sure your organization goes to Stockholders Meetings.

4. Keep in contact with board members.

5. Let the company know that your organization intends to be active at Annual Meetings with the objective of having board seats.

6. Later once your organization is established run your candidate for a board seat. Remember that you must find out from stockholder relations or the SEC the rules for doing so.  One rule is that the organization must have the company Common Stock in members name, your name, Street Name, or the Stock Clubs name. Having stock in a mutual fund that your organization owns is not your voting stock. The first thing management will do is check the stock registry to see if the stock is in the names that you say that they are in.               

I am going to put you in jail

Darnell L Williams

The founding fathers

 

I hear a lot of people say that the constitution guarantees the right to free speech. That might be true but who guarantees your right to be free from retaliation for what you said?  You can say whatever you want but someone can come along and take away your job, your basketball team, or your TV show because of it.  In other words, they can stop you from making a living. They will tell you that in other countries they will just kill you. Wow, I guess we should be happy about that.

 

 

Edward Snowden

 

We have all heard about Edward Snowden, the trader to this country. Where did you get that information about Snowden being a trader? It came from the media who got it from the government.

 

We are use to thinking that the government speaks with one voice. It doesn't at all. We have a Supreme Court, a Congress with two houses. The Senate has 50 members while the House has 435. We have a President that is the Chief Executive of the government. They all run the government through committees, subcommittees, and other organizations that is made up of representatives of corporations and foundations.

 

After you see this video, think about what I said about who runs the government and your freedom of speech. Things are not always what they seem to be.

 

 

Is NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden a CIA Asset?

 

 

 

I saw the interview given by Snowden. The media claims that he is just now breaking his silence. If that is the case, why can I get on YouTube and count over 30 individual interviews given to media around the world over the past year? Here are two of them;

 

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden

Think back to the video before you saw this one. Ask yourself this question: Why is Snowden giving this interview? Think back to the video before you saw this one.

FULL VIDEO – Edward Snowden on German TV

Just in case you don't know, all government agencies sell your personal information to corporations for profit. This is one way that they can help pay the bills.

 The conclusion of what I am telling you is that when you see something on the news, the first thing you have to ask yourself is, why are they telling you this?

 

In my opinion, some groups or individuals in the US Government want you to know that another groups of people are watching you, your family, and your friends. These people can do whatever they want with that information. It can be from arresting you for allowing someone with no license for using your car  --  to giving someone a ride to the bank not knowing that they intend to rob it. This is why many people go to jail without committing any crimes.     

 

Trying to warn the people  

 

Hopefully you learned that the people in government does not always do things to protect you. It could be to do something to you.

 

I tried warning people on face book about such tactics by our government. Some ignorant fools believe that I am the enemy and the government is their friend. So they attack me and I "unfriend" them from face book. It is these types of people who I don't care about, let them go to jail at the pleasure of powers to be.

 

In Scranton, Pa. not too long ago, the Federal Government broke up a ring of police and judges who arrested several juveniles, gave them records, had parents pay for their keep, and judges got kick backs for doing so.

 

I seen this same operation between a school district, media, and Police in Susquehanna Township, Pa. In this case, it was to show that the Susquehanna School District Supervisor was doing his job. Just before the incident in question, two elementary children walked out of school, went to a movie, and one got killed trying to cross Rt. 81 in rush hour traffic. The school did not know they were missing.  

 

Governor reducing the State Police Force

 

I just retired from the Pennsylvania State Police. Over the years, I noticed that the number of members on the State Police force was falling. The rural areas of the state depend on the State police for police protection. Many rural areas cannot support an independent police force so the state sales its services to them.

 

If the police force continues to fall, a small village in the state could be vulnerable to home invasions, robberies, and killings. These Republican Voters are the same voters that put the Republican Governor in office. But he was working against their interest. Now he is campaigning, telling people he is increasing the State Police Force.

 

Using public information, I showed the public through my blog what was going on. This got the governor and his friends pissed off. They tried to fire me. Instead, I agree to a three day suspension. That  way, I could talk time off and go on dates. But if we did not have people like me or Snowden, you would never find out the truth about your governments activities.

Stopping Mayor Reed

 

Mayor Reed's title was Mayor of Harrisburg for life. He was one of the worse mismanage functioning mayors that I have ever heard of. He ran the City into a financial hole that no one could get the City out of. But he had friends. The media never reported his bad activities. For 26 years, he ran City Council Candidates then when there 4 years was up, he ran candidates against them. The media helped out by reporting on the incumbent candidates in a bad light.

 

I wrote blogs about the mayor's activities and by election time, every voter in Harrisburg was reading what I had to say. The Mayor lost and he went to my employer to have me fired. There was a hearing on this. In my defense, I told the board that I have a right under the State and US constitution to partisan my government when I feel that they have done wrong to the people and I did just that. The case was dismissed.    

 

Your Communication Devices

Many of you don't know that some groups in the Federal and State have a mission to do something to groups of citizens and elected officials. I tried my best to tell the FBI about Mayor Reed and the $25 Million that turned up missing and the lack of auditing of the City books. They did nothing.

 

But when Linda Thompson was elected then they wanted to talk to me about her. Most people don't know that someone in the government has a program going on to remove Black officials from office. They will make accusations and use the media to spread rumors about what the FBI has found. Then they try to pressure the elected officer from power.

 

The FBI wanted to meet with me giving me the impression that they were finally going after Mayor Reed. I told the State Police, my employer that they wanted to meet with me to discuss activities in Harrisburg.  The state police called the FBI and the FBI got "hopping mad" at me. You can't operate a covert operation in the light of day. They never told me that they have me down in the FBI books as a unpaid informer.

 

Now remember what Snowden told you about tracking people. They can use your:       

 

• cell phone

• computers

• car

 

to keep track of you and your activities. That is what they started to do with me. They soon found out that I never call Linda Thompson so they had to get some lady in a Georgia prison to call me. There analysis of my computer and phone activity must have told them that I was a very lonely person and would take on a girlfriend in jail. They tracked me by using my cell phone. The phone always rang when I walked in the door. She talked to me at home one time and got nothing out of me. Once I knew her number, I refused to take any more phone calls. So that did not work.

 

The FBI tried calling me at work. I finally told them that I did not know anything about Harrisburg or the new Mayor and started asking them about aliens. They got the message and never bothered me again.   

 

 

To create a larger bureaucracy

 

Your government can be at least 25% smaller than what it is today. But in order to move up in the bureaucracy, the bureaucrats must show that they need more people. With no real enemies, your FBI, CIA, and NSA must show that we have enemies (before it was Blacks, Jews, Fascist, Socialist, Communist and today it is radical Islam) at the door. So by using this argument, they hire more people while raising their own paychecks. To do this, they create alliances with the gun lobby, the military industrial complex, and other groups to reach their objectives.