November 26, 2019

General election 2019: No apology from Jeremy Corbyn over Labour anti-Semitism claims

Source: BBC

Jeremy Corbyn has declined to apologise to the UK Jewish community after the chief rabbi criticised how the party deals with anti-Semitism claims.

In a BBC interview with Andrew Neil, the Labour leader was asked four times whether he would like to apologise.

Mr Corbyn said his government will protect "every community against the abuse they receive".

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis claimed "a new poison - sanctioned from the very top - has taken root" in Labour.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50564965

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Labour has been beset by allegations of anti-Semitism for more than three years. Even during an election, Corbyn can not bring himself to apologize the the party's inadequate response.

November 26, 2019

Bloomberg on the Public Sector : Cut entitlements, pensions, and job security protections.

Across the country, taxpayers are provinsions, benefits and job security protections for public workers that almost no one in the private sector enjoys. Taxpayers simply cannot afford to continue paying these costs, which are growing at rates far outpacing inflation.

Benefits agreed to 35 years ago that now are unaffordable should be reduced. Similarly, work rules that made sense 70 years ago but are now antiquated should be changed.

Limit Pay, Not Unions
Michael R. Bloomberg, Feb. 27, 2011
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/opinion/28mayor.html

"To reduce the deficit we must cut entitlements"

... keep in mind, no program to reduce the deficit makes any sense whatsoever unless you address the issue of entitlements, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, interest payment on the debt, which you can't touch, and defense spending. Everything else is tiny compared to that.

https://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Mike_Bloomberg_Social_Security.htm

Limit Pay, Not Unions includes a 'defense' of unions right to collective bargaining. What the Mayor was interested in was a 'right' to bargain away benefits and protections legislated by the NY State government.

But in some cases, we believe expanding collective bargaining would be more beneficial than trying to eliminate it.

For example, in New York, state government — not the city — has the authority to set pension benefits for city workers, but city taxpayers get stuck with the bill. The mayor cannot directly discuss pension benefits as part of contract negotiations with unions, even though pension benefits could be as much as 80 percent of an employee’s overall compensation. In addition, members of the State Legislature pass pension “sweeteners” for municipal unions that help attract support for their re-election campaigns.

Bloomberg was also seeking a 'collective bargain' which would enable him to 'eliminate teachers who have been rated unsatisfactory'.

November 25, 2019

Micheal Bloomberg announcement speech

November 25, 2019

Bloomberg: Trying to legalize marijuana "is perhaps the stupidest thing we've ever done".

https://twitter.com/DJJudd/status/1087891294519730177

November 25, 2019

Bloomberg: "I've never been in favor of raising the minimum wage"

You don't solve the problem (of wealth inequality) by taking things away from the rich

November 24, 2019

Bloomberg News: Will not do in-depth investigations of Mike Bloomberg

Luckily, they have decided to swear off 'in-depth' investigations of other Dem candidates too
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/24/business/bloomberg-media-presidential-campaign.html

November 24, 2019

Bloomberg: NYPD Stops-And-Frisks Too Many White People, Not Enough Minorities.

Bloomberg Thinks NYPD Stops-And-Frisks Too Many White People, Not Enough Minorities

Mayor Bloomberg went full troll during his weekly radio appearance on Friday, offering his opinion that too many white people are being stopped-and-frisked...but the NYPD has really been lax when it comes to stop-and-frisking minorities! "I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little. It's exactly the reverse of what they say," Bloomberg said, referring to the City Council passing two NYPD oversight bills intended to check the NYPD's allegedly unconstitutional enforcement policies (bills he's already vowed to veto). "I don't know where they went to school but they certainly didn't take a math course. Or a logic course."

Where to begin: how about the fact that more than 86 percent of people stopped during the Bloomberg administration were black or Latino, according to an analysis by the NYCLU based on an extrapolation of Police Department data. And 4.4 million of these stop-and-frisk encounters, or 88 percent, were of innocent people who were not arrested or issued a summons. During Bloomberg's first year in office, the NYPD conducted 97,296 street stops; in 2012, they racked up 533,042—down from 685,724 in 2011.

Only nine percent of stops were white people. Still, Bloomberg was undeterred in his assessment: "That may be, but it's not a disproportionate percentage of those who witnesses and victims describe as committing the murders," he said, adding, "most serious crimes in this city are committed by male minorities [age] 15 to 25." So does Bloomberg think it's good to "instill fear" in minorities?

Bloomberg also didn't address the fact that as stop-and-frisks have gone down over the last year—due to several major lawsuits and NYPD "policy considerations"—shootings and murders have also gone down in tandem.

https://gothamist.com/news/bloomberg-thinks-nypd-stops-and-frisks-too-many-white-people-not-enough-minorities

November 24, 2019

"Don't bash Democratic public figures"

So let me welcome Mike Bloomberg into the race with appropriate civility. I hope W comes back and campaigns for him in the primaries. One good turn deserves another. As Joe would say, Real Solid Guys.

Mike Bloomberg
Monday, August 30, 2004
Republican National Convention

I want to thank President Bush for supporting New York City and changing the homeland security funding formula and for leading the global war on terrorism.

(APPLAUSE)

The president deserves our support.

(APPLAUSE)

We are here to support him.

(APPLAUSE)

And I am here to support him.

(APPLAUSE)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46503-2004Aug30.html

November 23, 2019

Reddit: 'Jeremy Corbyn & Bernie's Speeches Are Almost Identical And It Is Amazing'

https://www.reddit.com/r/WayOfTheBern/comments/e0gyr2/jeremy_corbyn_bernies_speeches_are_almost/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

Does not amaze me. Democratic Socialism.

November 23, 2019

Why did 'real Americans' support trump in 2016?