Yesterday was a busy day . . . I took my mother to a specialist doctor which was a 4 hour affair (including transport) for her, and then I had a Family Council meeting at her care facility. I did not arrive home until 22:30. I was "exhaustipated"! Since I was so late and so tired, I did not finish the Open Thread. I just fed the furbabies and myself, then slept instead. Today was another 2.5 hours of physio therapy including 30 minutes of bike riding. Somebody made a comment about me being saddle sore because I often ride for a half hour. No problem — it's a recumbent bike so very comfortable and better for the knees.
Short Take
Politico — The Supreme Court appeared ready Monday to bar public-sector unions from collecting "fair-share" fees from non-members, a move that could deal a political blow to Democrats by reducing union membership drastically and draining union coffers.
At oral arguments in a case brought by California public school teachers who object to the requirement, the court's conservative wing appeared deeply skeptical of a 1977 high court decision upholding the constitutionality of such fees. …
Under current law, public employees covered by union contracts may opt out of paying any fees toward the political activity of their union. But states may pass laws that require those dissenting members to pay a fee to cover their portion of collective bargaining costs. Such provisions, on the books in about two dozen states, are being challenged in the case by Rebecca Friedrichs and eight other California teachers.
The fair-share or "agency" fee is widely seen as a compromise between the First Amendment rights of public employees who may not wish to join a union and the material interest of the unions, which are required by law to bargain on behalf of all members of a given unit, regardless of membership status.
Now that arguments have been heard, we'll have to wait to see how SCOTUS rules. Just playing devil's advocate a bit, what if the unions were required to only bargain on behalf of its members, and all non union members had to individually bargain for their wages/benefits etc? Certainly the employer is not going to want to negotiate with a lot of different people due to the time and costs involved. The settlements are likely to be smaller. So, can Friedrichs logically say she would negotiate her contract and come out as well or better than she would have paying the agency fee?
Think Progress — Sue Berkowitz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, which advocates for low-income residents, told ThinkProgress that poverty is a huge issue in her state, largely a result of conservative policies that have been tested and proven ineffective.
“I don’t expect them to touch on anything that is realistic,” she said about the event.
Berkowitz pointed out that the summit is being held in a city with the highest number of diabetic related amputations in the country. Overall, South Carolina’s poverty rate is ranked ninth highestin the nation, with more than 860,000 people living below the poverty line in 2013. The state alsoranks seventh in the percentage of people living in poverty areas. Twenty-seven percent of the state’s children live in poverty and 25 percent live in a food-insecure household, putting it in 45th place in the nation for the well-being of its children. …
“To take SNAP and start talking about things like block granting and making it a work program is just not understanding what’s going on with the low-income community,” Berkowitz said. “At least if you want to get rid of these programs, talk about them honestly. Talk about why you’re doing it and don’t make it look like you’re doing something compassionate and helping people out of their misery. Because the only way we help people out of the misery of poverty is to ensure they’ll have living wages or living stipends to allow them to afford the things that they need.”
The only ones that the Republicans will help are themselves and the 1%. As Berkowitz says, "At least if you want to get rid of these programs, talk about them honestly." Honesty is not in the Republican lexicon.
The Nation — On a brisk November 13 night in Paris, armed gunmen killed 130 people and shocked the world. Global media snapped into full focus, covering the attack with a frequency and depth unmatched by coverage of any terrorist attack since the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris earlier that year. Just hours earlier, in Beirut and Baghdad, terrorist attacks had claimed the lives of dozens. In Lebanon and Iraq, many were equally shocked, not simply by these attacks, but by what they perceived as a comparable lack of media attention to them. That week marked one crescendo in critiques on media institutions for allegedly covering terrorism more often and more in depth when it occurs in Western countries than when it occurs in non-Western ones.
Is the media creating, or at least substantially contribuuting to the climate of fear in the West with its lopsided coverage of terrorist attacks?
My Universe —
Nannies to a new born pitbull rejected by its mother.
6 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 12/01/2016”
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You do not have to excuse yourself for waiting with finishing this Open Thread until the next day because you were too busy to do so, Lynn. I rather hear that you caught up on some sleep than that you fell asleep on the keyboard 😉
Politico: Is this the same case as TomCat had on his blog last week? I thought that one was about being forced to join a union on accepting a job, and this one is about the fair-share fees employees in other states have to pay if they reap the benefits of the bargaining of a union they're not a member of. If they are indeed two separate cases taken on by SCOTUS, that makes me suspect immediately the 1%/GOP is behind them and that doesn't bode well for unions in general. If they rule against the unions on both, the whole fundament of unions is at risk in one sweep. Let's hope I'm wrong and this is about one case only.
Think Progress: One can only hope that Sue Berkowitz's plea is heard in South Caroline, but chances of that are slim and before the poor know what is happening the Republicans will have taken more of the little they had away from them, all the while smiling at them and saying they're doing it for their own good. A new year, but the same sickening stories coming from the right hand corner.
The Nation: Allegedly? There have been "critiques on media institutions for allegedly covering terrorism more often and more in depth when it occurs in Western countries than when it occurs in non-Western ones"? You've got to be kidding. There's nothing alleged about it, reports on terrorist attacks are as one-sided as most everything else in the West, the media covering in Europe and Australia only marginally better where terrorist attacks are concerned.
My Universe: How utterly adorable…
I lost my comment, ugh!
TP: What bothers me is that the ID's won't even go into the communities to help and talk to these folks. Sadly, many are uninsured as they are in that coverage gap. They don't make enough money to afford coverage through the Affordable Care Act, but also make too much to afford Medicaid. I wish that it could be better, but I don't see any Repugs extending their hand, and helping these people. That's so sad.
The Nation: I don't watch a lot of TV, but I can see this bias in media coverage. I usually have on the old movie channel, or PBS on. I listen to BBC news, as I get better coverage also.
My Universe: That little baby will get so much love. Animals have that unique way of caring for little ones that need care! Adorable picture!
You are very busy!! Hope that you take breaks, and get a chance to relax for yourself too. Take care, and Thanks, Lynn.
When you're overloaded, it's OK to take the day off.
I'm not optomistic about the outcome.
Exactly!
Yes!
The kitty is fattening-up the dawg until it's time for supper.
Actually, the pup's mother ate 2 of his siblings just after birth, and then chewed off the left front paw of this little guy just before he was rescued from the jaws of death, literally.
Politico – I think it's one case. I also keep thinking that, hmmm, police unions are public employee unions too – and unlike other public unions are big bullies towards the public. Could this be a solver lining in the cloud? Or, could it be the deal breaker that protects other public unions? Either way, probably too much to hope for.
Think Progress – Republicans remain Republicans. This is the kind of thing which to my mind puts into question whether it is really people with guns who kill the most people, or whether it is old white men in suits and ties.
Nation – The media's reporting on terrorism is so twisted I couldn't even begin to describe it, let alone explain it.
Universe – I knew a cat once who took a Pekeapoo under his wing and taught him how to cat. Ever seen a Pekeapoo use a litter box?
If only humans could do what cats, and most dogs, do for each other!
Politico- this SCOTUS, and unions, my expectations are very low.
South Carolina- My expectations are VERY low!
The Nation: the media,as a whole, is very biased, some more subtley than others. Mr. Hearst, of California, virtually created Billy Graham's popularity out of whole cloth (no pun intended) when he had some of his people cover the once unknown tent preacher, and thus brought him out of the obscurity he had lived in, pumped up the story, and the guy wound up helping to bridge the gap between church and state, with St. Reagan's help.