Fresh Start Political Thread

[Giantone]

This is a Political comment?

[BaltimoreSkins]

Originally Posted by sdskinsfan2001

Haha, Joe Judge.

G1 is correct this does not belong here. This belongs in the common grounds thread. Mind your debating with the enemy etiquette SD

[nonniey]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazi...-crisis-526860


.........Parents who advocated for school reopening were repeatedly demonized on social media as racist and mischaracterized as Trump supporters. Members of the parent group I helped lead were consistently attacked on Twitter and Facebook by two Oakland moms with ties to the [B]teachers union[/B]. They labelled advocates’ calls for schools reopening “white supremacy” called us “Karens,” and even bizarrely claimed we had allied ourselves with Marjorie Taylor Greene’s transphobic agenda.........Some unions and districts are now using last year’s closures as a precedent. Recently, with the Omicron surge, several major school districts announced they were switching to remote learning for a week or more, including Newark and dozens of other New Jersey districts, Ann Arbor and Cleveland. Then last week, the Chicago teachers union voted for a sickout, followed by teachers in San Francisco and Oakland engaging in similar actions..........But I began to fear that even in-person school in fall 2021 was at risk because of the impossible demands of the teachers union (that schools remain fully remote until there were “near-zero” Covid cases in Oakland) and apathy of the school board and district; even after teachers were prioritized for vaccination, there was no urgency to get kids back to the classroom.....

[Giantone]

Originally Posted by nonniey

https://www.politico.com/news/magazi...-crisis-526860


.........Parents who advocated for school reopening were repeatedly demonized on social media as racist and mischaracterized as Trump supporters. Members of the parent group I helped lead were consistently attacked on Twitter and Facebook by two Oakland moms with ties to the [B]teachers union[/B]. They labelled advocates’ calls for schools reopening “white supremacy” called us “Karens,” and even bizarrely claimed we had allied ourselves with Marjorie Taylor Greene’s transphobic agenda.........Some unions and districts are now using last year’s closures as a precedent. Recently, with the Omicron surge, several major school districts announced they were switching to remote learning for a week or more, including Newark and dozens of other New Jersey districts, Ann Arbor and Cleveland. Then last week, the Chicago teachers union voted for a sickout, followed by teachers in San Francisco and Oakland engaging in similar actions..........But I began to fear that even in-person school in fall 2021 was at risk because of the impossible demands of the teachers union (that schools remain fully remote until there were “near-zero” Covid cases in Oakland) and apathy of the school board and district; even after teachers were prioritized for vaccination, there was no urgency to get kids back to the classroom.....

Ahhhhhhh, so this is your "union" experience. Teaches Unions trying to protect their members because parents want to send children to school who are sick. Glad you were looking out for everyone.

[nonniey]

Originally Posted by Giantone

Ahhhhhhh, so this is your "union" experience. Teaches Unions trying to protect their members because parents want to send children to school who are sick. Glad you were looking out for everyone.

Actually my Union experience comes from living in the UK from 1974-1977. They were destroying that country and I freely admit their behavior tainted me against Unions (and likely I can be unfair on occasion when unions are involved because of that). That said in this case I'm pretty certain I'm not being unfair to the teachers unions on this one (a zero covid case demand???? really?).

[Giantone]

Originally Posted by nonniey

Actually my Union experience comes from living in the UK from 1974-1977. They were destroying that country and I freely admit their behavior tainted me against Unions (and likely I can be unfair on occasion when unions are involved because of that). That said in this case I'm pretty certain I'm not being unfair to the teachers unions on this one (a zero covid case demand???? really?).

I said it before and it's not meant as a shot at anyone but you are sadly unaware of what Unions do for people and not just it's memebers.

How unions help all workers
Report • By Matthew Walters and Lawrence Mishel • August 26, 2003

https://www.epi.org/publication/briefingpapers_bp143/

Unions have a substantial impact on the compensation and work lives of both unionized and non-unionized workers. This report presents current data on unions’ effect on wages, fringe benefits, total compensation, pay inequality, and workplace protections.

Some of the conclusions are:

Unions raise wages of unionized workers by roughly 20% and raise compensation, including both wages and benefits, by about 28%.
Unions reduce wage inequality because they raise wages more for low- and middle-wage workers than for higher-wage workers, more for blue-collar than for white-collar workers, and more for workers who do not have a college degree.
Strong unions set a pay standard that nonunion employers follow. For example, a high school graduate whose workplace is not unionized but whose industry is 25% unionized is paid 5% more than similar workers in less unionized industries.
The impact of unions on total nonunion wages is almost as large as the impact on total union wages.
The most sweeping advantage for unionized workers is in fringe benefits. Unionized workers are more likely than their nonunionized counterparts to receive paid leave, are approximately 18% to 28% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are 23% to 54% more likely to be in employer-provided pension plans.
Unionized workers receive more generous health benefits than nonunionized workers. They also pay 18% lower health care deductibles and a smaller share of the costs for family coverage. In retirement, unionized workers are 24% more likely to be covered by health insurance paid for by their employer.
Unionized workers receive better pension plans. Not only are they more likely to have a guaranteed benefit in retirement, their employers contribute 28% more toward pensions.
Unionized workers receive 26% more vacation time and 14% more total paid leave (vacations and holidays)


https://districtcouncil20.org/our-vo...thank-a-union/
Employers and Corporations did not feel generous and decide to give you two days off every week to have a social/personal life. (We now call them weekends). Corporations did not just feel like being nice one day and give their employees paid vacations. CEOs didn’t get together in a boardroom and say “Let’s give our employees more rights at work” or “Maybe there should be laws to limit our power over an employee”.


36 Reasons Why You Should Thank a Union
1. Weekends
2. All Breaks at Work (Lunch)
3. Paid vacations
4. FMLA
5. Sick Leave
6. Social Security
7. Minimum Wage
8. Civil Rights Act/ Title VII (Prohibits Discrimination)
9. 8- Hour work day
10. Overtime Pay
11. Child labor laws
12. Occupational Safety & health Act (OSHA)
13. 40-hour work Week
14. Worker’s compensation (Worker’s Comp)
15. Unemployment Insurance
16. Pensions
17. Workplace Safety standards and Regulations
18. Employer Health Care Insurance
19. Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees
20. Wrongful Termination Laws
21. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
22. Whistleblower Protection Laws
23. Employee Polygraph Protect Act
24. Veteran’s Employment and Training Services (VETS)
25. Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises)
26. Sexual Harassment Laws
27. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
28. Holiday Pay
29. Employer Dental, Life, and Vision insurance
30. Privacy Rights
31. Pregnancy and Parental Leave
32. Military Leave
33. The Right to Strike
34. Public Education for Children
35. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011
36. Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States

So, if you don’t have faith in unions would you give up all 36 of these union fought rights?

[Giantone]

Originally Posted by nonniey

Actually my Union experience comes from living in the UK from 1974-1977. They were destroying that country and I freely admit their behavior tainted me against Unions (and likely I can be unfair on occasion when unions are involved because of that). That said in this case I'm pretty certain I'm not being unfair to the teachers unions on this one (a zero covid case demand???? really?).

Yes , it's called negotiating or the collective barging process you ask for zero walk away with 5,10 or 15%.1974-77 in Europe and you compare them to all Unions in the US ?

[Chico23231]

Of all the L the Biden administration took yesterday….Kamala’s Michael Scott - like Craig Melvin interview, K.S. Speech about filibuster, The Court’s correct ruling on mandates, Biden’s approval numbers….something else happened which is truly hilarious

The Democrats successfully filibustered a bill aimed at sanctions against Russia…

You heard that right…the filabuster which is Jim Crow was used by the Dems yesterday to give the Russians a pass.

Don’t ever talk about GOP being soft on Russia again. It didn’t happen before…never…and it’s not happening now.

[Giantone]

[nonniey]

Interesting read.

https://unherd.com/2022/01/how-long-can-humans-survive/

"In the deep ocean, occasionally, a whale carcass falls to the bottom of the sea. Most of the time, in the state of nature, creatures have just about enough to survive. But the first creatures to find the whale have more food than they could ever eat. These scavengers live lives of extraordinary plenty — some of the smaller, faster-breeding species might do so for several generations. There is enough to go around a thousand times over. For a while.

And then the whale is gone, and the creatures go back to their lives of crushing pressure, constant darkness, and an eternal knife-edge struggle for survival. As Thomas Malthus had it in his bleak vision: organisms, which increase exponentially in number, will rapidly outgrow their resources, which can only grow arithmetically. So of course, the excess population which has grown up on this brief glut must die off

We are currently living in a time of whalefall, suggests the scientist Vaclav Smil in his new book, How the World Really Works......."

[mooby]

Originally Posted by nonniey

Interesting read.

https://unherd.com/2022/01/how-long-can-humans-survive/

"In the deep ocean, occasionally, a whale carcass falls to the bottom of the sea. Most of the time, in the state of nature, creatures have just about enough to survive. But the first creatures to find the whale have more food than they could ever eat. These scavengers live lives of extraordinary plenty — some of the smaller, faster-breeding species might do so for several generations. There is enough to go around a thousand times over. For a while.

And then the whale is gone, and the creatures go back to their lives of crushing pressure, constant darkness, and an eternal knife-edge struggle for survival. As Thomas Malthus had it in his bleak vision: organisms, which increase exponentially in number, will rapidly outgrow their resources, which can only grow arithmetically. So of course, the excess population which has grown up on this brief glut must die off

We are currently living in a time of whalefall, suggests the scientist Vaclav Smil in his new book, How the World Really Works......."

Ah, you're a fan of letting the world burn too? I thought I was the only one.

[MTK]

The world is going to burn eventually no matter what we do, just a matter of time

[SunnySide]

Originally Posted by nonniey

Interesting read.

https://unherd.com/2022/01/how-long-can-humans-survive/

"In the deep ocean, occasionally, a whale carcass falls to the bottom of the sea. Most of the time, in the state of nature, creatures have just about enough to survive. But the first creatures to find the whale have more food than they could ever eat. These scavengers live lives of extraordinary plenty — some of the smaller, faster-breeding species might do so for several generations. There is enough to go around a thousand times over. For a while.

And then the whale is gone, and the creatures go back to their lives of crushing pressure, constant darkness, and an eternal knife-edge struggle for survival. As Thomas Malthus had it in his bleak vision: organisms, which increase exponentially in number, will rapidly outgrow their resources, which can only grow arithmetically. So of course, the excess population which has grown up on this brief glut must die off

We are currently living in a time of whalefall, suggests the scientist Vaclav Smil in his new book, How the World Really Works......."

Pretty interesting ... a bit circular, dropped me off right where it picked me up.

Fossil fuel = a fallen whale providing a limited source of energy but with energy efficiency we should be good and fossil fuel is still going to be needed to high energy purposes like making steel.

Ammonia thing was interesting, we only use 4% more water now vs the 60s even though there are a lot more of us.

I do believe in climate change and it being the end of human existence .. it is alarming to see it play out so rapidly in real time ... but it makes me laugh to think whether or not I drive a toyota vs an electric car makes a difference with all these companies, factories and countries not giving a shit.

Who cares is the US drops his car emissions if China and India gonna pollute their asses off.

[Giantone]

Originally Posted by MTK

The world is going to burn eventually no matter what we do, just a matter of time

[Chico23231]

Leader McConnell
@LeaderMcConnell
·
3h
Last week, the same Democrats who’ve been raging against the Senate’s 60-vote threshold used the 60-vote threshold to block Russia sanctions.

Today, they’re back to saying it’s an evil rule.

They've quit even pretending this is principled. They just want total one-party power.

Truth^

Seeing a lot of empty shelves at the stores…grocery store here flat out of all chicken. For the playoff game paid 14.99 for 10 chicken wings at wing stop.

Biden’s a fucking disaster on every front. He’s too chicken shit to hold an interview or take questions from the press. The least transparent president of my life time. Refuses to answer for the problems his policies have created.