The booming crystal industry runs on a massively exploited workforce around the world.
One miner told the Wall Street Journal that she makes an average of $4 a day digging for cactus quartz — which can sell for as much as $40,000.
Thread.
Polished quartz can sell for anywhere from a few dollars to tens of thousands, depending on the color and size of the crystal.
Local dealers pay miners $6.50-$19 a kilogram, regardless the color and size, and then mark up the stones to sell to consumers. wsj.com/world/africa/h…
The crystal mining industry is largely unregulated.
Most of the world’s crystal quartz is mined in developing countries like China, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Myanmar, largely by informal miners without protective equipment like reinforced boots or helmets.
THREAD: The Supreme Court has now legalized bribery, kneecapped government regulations, and allowed Presidential crime.
That’s because so many justices are deep in the pockets of the rich and powerful.
2) Clarence Thomas has a long history of taking bribes from billionaire Harlan Crow, who has given Thomas all sorts of gifts including free plane rides and lavish vacations. Crow even paid the private school tuition for the grandnephew Thomas raised. propublica.org/article/claren…
3) Thomas has refused to recuse himself from cases that pose a conflict of interest due to his wife’s involvement in attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including last week’s case concerning prosecutions in relation to January 6th. theguardian.com/us-news/articl…
THREAD: Amazon is forcing warehouse workers across India to work without water or bathroom breaks as temperatures reach as high as an unprecedented and excruciating 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
Workers from the Manesar warehouse that are represented by the Amazon India Workers Association have told dozens of news organizations that they were forced to pledge to continue working without taking any breaks until their quotas were met.
Some were even punished for just resting.
When workers in these Amazon warehouses are able to rest, they take their breaks in rooms with no furniture or equipment to cool down the temperatures inside of their buildings.
The workers association documents incidents like these here.
THREAD: Last year, a woman who had just given birth at Massachusetts' third-largest hospital system died from internal bleeding.
Doctors reportedly could have saved her — but their tools had been repossessed after more than a year of unpaid invoices. bostonglobe.com/2024/01/25/bus…
Then Steward Health Care filed for bankruptcy.
State officials say the hospital system paid out investors and multi-million dollar salaries to top executives as it was running out of supplies to treat patients. wbur.org/news/2024/05/1…
Steward was bought by investors including CEO Ralph de la Torre from private equity firm Cerberus in 2020 for $335 million.
De la Torre then paid himself a $100 million dividend and bought a $40 million yacht, according to the American Prospect.
THREAD: Oklahoma just passed a law that lets corporations like Tyson and Cargill pollute water with no consequences.
That means 520,000 tons of chicken waste can seep into streams and rivers every year.
Instead of protecting our water, the GOP is protecting corporations.
This new law, which goes into effect in November, says if companies or farmers are “following state laws” then they are protected from litigation for their actions, even if their actions cause demonstrable harm or are proven to have polluted people’s water.
This is especially relevant in Oklahoma, where just last year there was a ruling which saw a dozen companies, including Tyson and Cargill, compelled to reach a settlement over their egregious pollution of the Illinois River. kfor.com/business/ap-bu…
Pennsylvania state law lets private companies buy public water systems and jack up rates.
Now the legislature is debating a bill to make that harder.
A GOP state rep. repeated industry talking points and called the idea that customers should be able to veto a sale "dangerous."
As we reported last month, the Chester Water Authority is an award-winning water utility whose officials have repeatedly shot down a sale.
But a subsidiary of a Blackrock-backed corporation is attempting to use the courts to force a sale against residents' will.
Once they buy systems, rates skyrocket.
The bill that the PA legislature is currently considering would require water companies attempting to buy public utilities to get approval from most of the towns (75%) getting their water from the public system.