American Politics 3.0 - Back to Brunch

[Monahammer]

Isn't Theo a person of Metis descent? Not one to defend that peabrain at all, but in this case he did shove it on Tucker.

Also, how stupid is Tucker (I know he's super stupid, but this is next level) to take a mixed race person on his show and then talk about how the NHL is hoping to get less white... What?

[Dion]

Right wing extremists should read up on the law before making these asinine comments

https://twitter.com/user/status/1597570920167534594

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

No idea who the twitter account is, just posted for the clip

https://twitter.com/user/status/1598369548662722560

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

WTF?
Is that actually Kanye?

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

No idea who the twitter account is, just posted for the clip

https://twitter.com/user/status/1598369548662722560

That is, sadly, not the most outrageous thing he said during that interview. Absolute lunacy.

He denied the holocaust, said he loves Nazis, loves Hitler, and that the Jews control the banks and the history books and are out to kill people and take away his family.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

WTF?
Is that actually Kanye?

Yes. He’s retweeting a bunch of stuff relating to the interview on his Twitter account. It’s actually Kanye under there.

[MRCboicgy]

Drinking YooHoo...

[devo22]

Kanye West, Alex Jones and Nick Fuentes ... that is one hell of a #### sandwich.

EDIT:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1598377219352678400

[rubecube]

Despicable stuff from both parties. Props to the 15 senators who voted against the deal.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63829123

The US Senate has overwhelmingly approved a measure to block a strike by railway workers that could have a devastating impact on the US economy.

In an 80 to 15 vote, the Senate passed a bill that imposes a contract deal on a dozen unions representing railway workers.

It was passed in an expedited vote as US President Joe Biden urged lawmakeres to act quickly to avoid a strike.

An amendment to add paid sick leave for workers, however, failed to pass.

Hopefully they at least pass the House bill, but I have a feeling they won't.

The US House of Representatives passed a separate paid sick leave bill for railway workers on Wednesday, but the Senate has yet to vote on it.

The bill would guarantee workers seven days of paid sick leave each year. It has received opposition from some Republican lawmakers and the US Chamber of Commerce, who said a sick leave law "would impose an unworkable, one-sided modification to a labour agreement".

Paid sick leave became a contentious issue during prior negotiations, with the unions - which had previously expressed a preference for higher wages and strong disability benefits over sick days - arguing that the immensely profitable railroad companies could afford them with minimal impact.

[rubecube]

I suppose this is just more "union propaganda."

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022...ilroading.html

Since last winter, railroad unions and the managers of America’s seven dominant freight-rail carriers have been struggling to come to an agreement on a new contract. The key points of contention in those talks have been scheduling in general and the provision of paid leave in particular. Unlike nearly 80 percent of U.S. laborers, railroad employees are not currently guaranteed a single paid sick day. Rather, if such workers wish to recuperate from an illness or make time to see a doctor about a nagging complaint, they need to use vacation time, which must be requested days in advance. In other words, if a worker wants to take time off to recover from the flu, they need to notify their employer of this days before actually catching the virus. Given that workers’ contracts do not include paid psychic benefits, this is a tall order.

---------------------------------------------

All of which invites the question: Why do these rail barons hate paid leave so much? Why would a company have no problem handing out 24 percent raises, $1,000 bonuses, and caps on health-care premiums but draw the line on providing a benefit as standard and ubiquitous throughout modern industry as paid sick days?

The answer, in short, is “P.S.R.” — or precision-scheduled railroading.

P.S.R. is an operational strategy that aims to minimize the ratio between railroads’ operating costs and their revenues through various cost-cutting and (ostensibly) efficiency-increasing measures. The basic idea is to transport more freight using fewer workers and railcars.

One way to do this is to make trains longer: A single 100-car train requires less track space than two 50-car ones since you need to maintain some distance between the latter. More critically, one very long train requires fewer crew members to run than two medium ones.

Another way to get more with less is to streamline scheduling so that trains are running at full capacity as often as possible.

All this has worked out poorly for rail workers writ large. Over the past six years, America’s major freight carriers have shed 30 percent of their employees. To compensate for this lost staffing, remaining workers must
tolerate irregular schedules and little time off since the railroads don’t have much spare labor capacity left.

-----------------------------------------------------

With a combined $27 billion in net income, the railroads can afford to give their workers paid leave and hire more staff to ensure the stability of their operations. Tolerating such slack might well improve customer service by rendering the railroads more resilient against disruptions.

But that would require the railroads’ owners to accept a cut in their passive income. They do not want to do that. And if all goes well on Capitol Hill in the next few days, they won’t have to.

[photon]

Parler says the deal with Ye to purchase them is off, they're both going their separate ways. Probably unrelated to Ye's antics.

The GOP deleted their "Kanye. Elon. Trump." tweet too, also probably unrelated.

[troutman]

WTF is Ted Cruz doing on Poker After Dark?

[photon]

Also Arizona's Cochise County finally certifies its election results after a court order.

This part made me laugh.. if you plan to defy the law maybe get a lawyer lined up ahead of time.

"No attorney was present in the courtroom Thursday to represent the board, which had only approved a last-minute choice of a law firm less than two hours before Thursday's hearing."

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/01/11400...arizona-ruling

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I suppose this is just more "union propaganda."

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022...ilroading.html

Good thing we have people cheerleading 30% reductions in employment and harsh working conditions fighting for the greater good.

Man, I love people with such strong values!

[Swift]

Originally Posted by devo22

Kanye West, Alex Jones and Nick Fuentes ... that is one hell of a #### sandwich.

EDIT:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1598377219352678400

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I suppose this is just more "union propaganda."

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022...ilroading.html

What's funny is that everything described in there is the antithesis of what you'd want in a strong supply chain. Lack of redundancy, poor working conditions that will only exacerbate labor shortages (leading to less reliable transport), and very high operator profits (which means higher shipping costs) are all bad signs if you want reliable and cheap supply chains. Yet legislating a contract is being touted as some sort of supply chain necessity. Basically short-term thinking that kicks the can down the road.

And of course, the government's actions are exactly why this situation exists. Large companies know that the politicians they give money to will have their backs in these situations and will legislate everyone back to work, so why bother compromising or negotiating in good faith?

[Wormius]

Has Kanye just been transforming into the Clayton Bigsby character from Chappelle’s show?

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Has Kanye just been transforming into the Clayton Bigsby character from Chappelle’s show?

On that topic: I love Dave Chappelle and think he's subverting a lot of the dangerous areas of modern rhetoric, but the guy really needs to stop publicly defending the dumbass formally known as Ye.

Your friend is in crisis. Do something for him that is more constructive than racial commentary.

[devo22]

I'm the last person to dismiss mental health problems, but I don't see why some people us those to defend what he says. Mental health problems don't make you an antisemite and Hitler fanboy ... those things just mean you're a disgusting human being, period.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by GGG

The reason you support the workers right to strike is significant profit is being made by these companies and the workers have a right to demand a share of it. Perhaps we should regulate the price of shipping to prevent excess profit if you don’t want workers to be able to fight for it

If you have pissed people off enough they are willing to go without pay for weeks or months you probably are a ####ty employer.

And rail companies are basically the worst.

I just think if we use legislation to not allow them to strike, where does it lead next time?

But at the same time, rail workers are the LAST group I have ANY sympathy for.