March 23, 2021

Power shift: Several dramatic changes in American capitalism are all coming to a head.

The most dramatic change in American capitalism over the last half century has been the emergence of corporate behemoths like Amazon and the simultaneous shrinkage of organized labor. The resulting imbalance has spawned near-record inequalities of income and wealth, corruption of democracy by big money, and the abandonment of the working class.

All this is coming to a head in several ways.

Next week, Amazon faces a union vote at its warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. If successful, it would be Amazon's first U.S.-based union in its nearly 27-year history.
Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.

Conditions in Amazon's warehouses would please Kim Jong un – strict production quotas, 10-hour workdays with only two half-hour breaks, unsafe procedures, arbitrary firings, "and they track our every move," Jennifer Bates, a warehouse worker at Bessemer, told the Senate Budget Committee last week.

To thwart the union drive, Amazon has required Bessemer workers to attend anti-union meetings, warned workers they'd have to pay union dues (wrong – Alabama is a so-called "right-to-work" state that bars mandatory dues), and intimidated and harassed organizers.

Why is Amazon abusing its workers?

The company isn't exactly hard-up. It's the most profitable firm in America. Its executive chairman and largest shareholder, Jeff Bezos, is the richest man in the world, holding more wealth than the bottom 39 percent of Americans put together.

Amazon is abusing workers because it can.

Fifty years ago, General Motors was the largest employer in America. The typical GM worker earned $35 an hour in today's dollars and had a major say over working conditions. Today's largest employers are Amazon and Walmart, each paying around $15 an hour and treating their workers like cattle.











https://www.rawstory.com/several-dramatic-changes-to-american-capi/

March 2, 2021

I'm increasingly disturbed and disappointed at how many here are defending sexual harassment.

If there were reports and pictures of a Democrat in black face or using a"slant eyed gesture" or telling racist jokes, would you hold him to the same standard?

A hostile working place is a serious matter, whether it is sexual harassment or racism. We are Democrats, not republicans.

February 21, 2021

Whopping 46 Percent of Republicans Would Disown GOP for the Trump Party, Poll Says.

The Grand Old Party ain’t grand enough to keep devoted Trump fans from abandoning the party if the former president creates his own.

In a new Suffolk University–USA Today poll of Trump voters released on Sunday, nearly half — 46 percent to 27 percent — say they’d ditch the GOP for another if the twice impeached Trump were at the helm.

Also, over 50 percent of respondents said the GOP should be “more loyal to Trump.” And 58 percent believe the lie that the January 6th attack on the Capitol was “mostly an antifa-inspired attack that only involved a few Trump supporters.”

The insurrection “looked horrendous, but how are we to know who was actually taking part? You could have somebody planted there from the left … pretending to be a real Trump supporter,” one respondent told pollsters.

An astounding 73 percent say President Biden’s election win is not legitimate. This perhaps shouldn’t be surprising considering major news networks keep inviting prominent Republicans onto their airwaves to spread Trump’s election lies.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/poll-trump-republican-party-1130975/

February 21, 2021

Growing number of Republican donors aim to prise party from Trump influence.

Some four dozen Republican donors were on a fundraising conference call on 5 February with Liz Cheney, the congresswoman and only Republican House leader to vote for Donald Trump’s impeachment for his role in the mob attack on the Capitol on 6 January.

Many of the donors on the Cheney call are expected to donate the maximum amount of $5,800 to her 2022 re-election campaign before the end of the first quarter of this year, to ward off a primary challenge to her which Trump loyalists like congressman Matt Gaetz are encouraging, said Michael Epstein, a leading Maryland Republican donor.

“We want to show a really big cycle for her to scare off competition,” Epstein said in an interview. “We want people who make judgments based on what’s right.”

The number of donors on the call reflects in part a growing movement among Republican fundraisers to try to fight off threats from the Trump-supporting majority, which has maintained its hold on the Republican base, despite Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/21/republican-donors-aim-move-party-away-trump-influence

February 19, 2021

'Kimye' is no more: Kardashian files to divorce West

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Kimye” is kaput.

Kim Kardashian West filed for divorce from Kanye West in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday after 6 1/2 years of marriage, court records show.

Kim Kardashian West filed for divorce from Kanye West Friday after 6 1/2 years of marriage, court records show. The move brings an impending end to one of the most followed celebrity unions of the 21st century — the marriage of a reality TV superstar and a hip-hop and fashion phenomenon with four kids, a vast fortune to split and even more fame.

The couple began dating in 2012 and had their first child in 2013. West proposed later that year using the giant screen at the empty waterfront ballpark of the San Francisco Giants, and the two married May 24, 2014, in a ceremony at a Renaissance fortress in Florence, Italy.


https://apnews.com/article/kim-kardashian-divorce-kanye-west-e4af8e4dc42cea3a1a699790a4e4a5e5

February 18, 2021

Democrats introduce LGBTQ Equality Act in House and Senate - make clear Biden has 'made it a priorit

Source: Rawstory

The Equality Act remains a much-needed tool in the protection of LGBTQ people, women, and other minorities, because 29 states still do not protect these people in all areas, including employment, education, credit, jury service, federal funding, housing, and public accommodations, as Rep. Cicilline said in a statement Thursday.

“In 2021, every American should be treated with respect and dignity," Cicilline says in a press release. “Yet, in most states, LGBTQ people can be discriminated against because of who they are, or who they love. It is past time for that to change. I'm proud to introduce the Equality Act today, and I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Merkley to get this bill signed into law."

In 2019 the Equality Act passed the House in a historic 236-173 bipartisan vote. But then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refused to even allow it to be taken up in a committee.

“All of us go to work and school, go home, and go shopping, and none of us should have to keep our families hidden or pretend to be someone we're not to do those things," Merkley added. “But in 29 states, Americans can still be evicted, be thrown out of a restaurant, or be denied a loan because of who they are or whom they love. We all love the vision of America as a land of freedom and equality, but are we willing to take the steps to make that vision closer to reality? Let's make 2021 the year the Equality Act crosses the finish line and is signed into law by President Biden."

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/democrats-introduce-lgbtq-equality-act-in-house-and-senate-make-clear-biden-has-made-it-a-priority/

February 16, 2021

Boycotting Publix? Let them know.

https://www.publix.com/contact/contact-us


Publix Heir’s Funding of the Capitol Trump Rally Leads to Boycott

The grocery chain denies any connection to the event, but has made corporate donations to conservative politicians in the past

Publix is facing calls for a boycott after reports revealed that Julie Jenkins Fancelli, heir to the regional supermarket chain and daughter of its late founder George W. Jenkins, donated $300,000 to the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” Donald Trump rally that preceded the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Fancelli contributed the bulk of the $500,000 needed to fund the rally where Trump refused to concede the election and called on supporters to go to the Capitol and “take back our country,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 30. Fancelli herself directly contacted far-right pundit Alex Jones — who pledged seed money for the event — and offered to contribute to the rally, organizers told the Journal.

Fancelli, a GOP megadonor, contributed a total of $171,100 to a pro-Trump PAC in 2019, as the Miami New Times reported. This was on top of the personal maximum donations that Fancelli and multiple family members gave to Trump’s campaign. Through a trust, Fancelli also donated more than $50,000 to a PAC for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis from 2018 to 2019.



Leon County Democrats are calling for boycott too.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/02/leon-county-democrats-republicans-opposite-sides-publix-debate/4355679001/


Petition at MoveOn.

https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/boycott-of-publix-for-promoting-radical-republicans-who-are-willing-to-subvert-democracy?source=facebook-share-button&time=1612197438&utm_source=facebook&share=b0c73986-71ad-4a4a-96ec-41d8a95a4cf1&fbclid=IwAR2u5Vw6vdLYLR4YYqxQHCLT8mgUrhAewuffHjbzkNOINxhqIqnbS73Oais

February 13, 2021

Former Clinton official lays out roadmap for making Trump accountable for the Capitol riot.

The United States Senate is an inadequate forum to hold Donald Trump accountable, but he can still face justice, former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart argued on Saturday.]

"For everyone disappointed by the lack of witnesses, the truth is going to come out. Our justice system will get to the bottom of this and those who helped incite the insurrection will be investigated, prosecuted and convicted. And juries will pass judgement, not old R Senators," he wrote.

"For me, I'd rather have Trump in a real courtroom with a real judge and real jurors facing time in prison for what he did. Calling witnesses in the Senate would not bring justice because the Republican party is so morally bankrupt there is no justice there. See [you] in court Trump," he explained.
Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.

"I understand activists being upset and disappointed with Dems decision, but reporters shouldn't be tweeting their shock and disappointment. Stick to covering the news, not making it," he argued after Democrats refused to call witnesses.


https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-capitol-insurrection-2650528970/

February 13, 2021

You can take the assholes out of the gop, but you can't take the gop out of the assholes.

Young men were “wizards" while young women were “girls." Political rivals were “pussies" or “cocksuckers" or “faggots." By the time the staff convened in Park City, the situation had become so “toxic," according to more than a dozen accounts, that at least two co-founders, neither of whom remain at the project, had tried unsuccessfully to intervene to improve working conditions.

Staff had also complained that some of the project's ads, specifically some related to Ivanka Trump, were sexist. There was dissatisfaction among the ranks when Ben Howe, billed as the wunderkind behind some of the Lincoln Project's earliest ads, was brought back by Wilson. Howe had been fired after The 19th reported that in a series of tweets, he had used offensive slang for female anatomy to insult political rivals.

There were few women in Lincoln Project's leadership, and those who were there were treated differently than the men, multiple people said. Horn was left out of meetings and not consulted about key decisions or public statements. At points, others within the organization had to persuade her not to quit entirely.



https://www.rawstory.com/lincoln-project-2650523061/

February 13, 2021

Look at this lovely ballerina fly.

I wanted to post something inspirational on this day. I love ballet and this dancer is exceptional.

Girl born without arms chasing her dream as a ballerina

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2021/02/12/brazil-ballerina-born-without-arms-orig-bdk.cnn