Worth noting: the 68,000 public employees in Florida who lost their union representation are excluded from protection by the NLRB, because they are public employees. Not sure exactly which union(s) got screwed, but I'm betting on some or all of the following:
Not the point, but now I'm thinking about whether it would be better to drink a cup of warm piss, room temperature, or chilled.
I zoned some of the debate out, so maybe I missed something later on, but I feel like Harris missed a big chance to push back right at the start when Trump mentioned unions. That's a huge area where this NLRB has been better than previous presidents and on a concrete level has been better for unions and organizing.
Also, this type of elementary reporting can be more important than the deep dives. Every day new people are learning about unions (or any other issue) and are looking for up to date introductions and basic facts about important topics.
The Boeing strike should be fun for both Team R and Team D. Seattle Times and Dominic Gates reporting “A Boeing employee forwarded a message to The Seattle Times that was sent Monday by an engineering manager at the Auburn parts plant, stating that he was “asked to provide leadership with a list” of engineers willing to volunteer to perform work normally done by Machinists.” They will build any next airplane here, not because Managment is particularly smart about their workforce, but because machinists will shut them down forever if they don’t. Longshoreman teach the same lesson from contract to contract. It ain’t no “right to work for less” SC out here. School vouchers? DOA in our leg. Same with the thieving in the charter school movement. So, if Republicans want an airline industry, they will have to bend the knee.
I know this comment will seem deliberately obtuse, but imma make it anyway. How is it that Police and Firefighter Unions operate separately from the rest of organized labor? They do all the work other unions do (negotiate working conditions and benefits, advocate for their members) but deliberately operate outside of the rest of the organized labor ecosystem, and indeed in some cases in opposition to it. How does the brain of everyone who's involved with this not implode under the weight of the contradiction?
I'm waiting for the day some conservative pundit or pol notices the inherent contradiction in allowing Police unions to exist while opposing every other public sector union and makes that case forcefully enough that every Republican's head explodes.
THANK YOU. Hard to believe some people don't know this! But I've learned I'm too old to assume what people do or don't know. Some people are very young, so weren't around when some stuff was happening that would show you this. Some are new to thinking about politics, and maybe weren't paying attention until recently. There's an active attempt (a bizarrely successful one) on the part of the media and Republicans to deceive us about the question of what Republicans are for. For sure, our education system teaches most kids almost NOTHING about the labor movement.
So I've concluded shouldn't assume everyone SHOULD know stuff. About anything! But especially about how society is structured, how it got that way, and the forces working on us constantly to hold us back. Because there is always a massive attempt to conceal that, and some people who fall for it might do so in good faith, due to the fact they haven't been given other resources. We should just always try and teach them more, like you do here, and in your other posts.
Teaching about the labor movement in public schools??!! Hell, as I have learned over these past several years of being fanatically politically involved, they apparently haven’t been teaching the subjects of Government or Civics for many years. I find myself becoming totally exasperated at some of the comments or questions on TikTok. Example: “I dont know why you guys are blaming Trump for overturning Roe, it happened during Biden’s presidency?” Then when I reply & explain about Supreme Court appointments, etc, the comeback is
“But Biden & Harris have been in office for 4 yrs, why haven’t they fixed it?”
Things like that aren’t isolated incidents, so we have tons of folks out there that have no clue how our govt functions. It’s really a massive failure.
And just this morning, WSJ headline blares: “Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg Pleads With Union Not to Strike: Workers at 737 factory are voting Thursday on potential damaging walkout”. Cash talks, bullshit walks, Kelly. Stephanie Pope complaining by telling workers the company is giving all it can given its mounting debt pile, which topped $60 billion at the end of June. Betcha she STILL has no steel toed shoes.
Because of money & lots of it. Also playing the long game over decades to get Republicans installed as the majority in state legislatures & then when the census gets done & it’s time to reapportion districts, they can gerrymander the sh!t out of them to make them into “safe” R districts.
We have tons push & shove the DNC, DSCC, DCCC, DLCC, etc to start spending some of their treasure chest in red states like TX & FL. TX has a huge & young Latino population that are citizens eligible to vote, I think it’s about 40%. Democrats must spend money to persuade them to become Democrats.
Since unions are more popular than ever in America, why aren’t union leaders pushing for state referenda regarding repealing right to work laws and the other bullshit barriers erected to thwart unions? I know not every state allows citizen-led initiatives, but a whole lot of the red, anti-worker ones do including Florida. If people are serious about this and since the federal government is such a clusterfuck currently, it seems that state level initiatives might be the direction since the PRO ACT’s passage is far from certain even if the Dems win a trifecta in November. I recognize doing this on a state by state basis is not ideal and would be expensive, but in lieu of federal legislation, what other choice is there if people want change?
And as I found out this year, due to reading about the right to abortion ballot initiatives in 8-10 states; it’s very expensive. That’s why initiatives proposed by corps get passed much more frequently than true grassroots citizen led ones, the huge amt of cash they have to raise. So I tried to donate to all of them, & I’ve donated as much as I possibly could to many Democratic senate races; especially in FL & TX.
I get weekly posts from the Rail Workers Union. About once a month there is a report of a recent on-the-job rail worker death. Let us not forget who smothered the efforts of the Rail Worker Union to lead a much-needed national strike: Joe Biden and the Democrats. UAW's Shawn Fein -- who I do admire in many ways -- has made no mention of that betrayal and the steady death tally among rail workers in his fawning support of Harris.
No, neither party really gives a damn about American workers or their unions. Instead of trying to convince and cajole a few crumbs off the corporate-owned Democratic Party banquet table, workers and unions should be coming together to conduct a series of general strikes to absolutely shut down the economy and FORCE the corporations and servile Democrats to give workers what they deserve. What they have EARNED.
I won't vote for either corporate-owned party that together make up the dominant CU: the Corporate Uniparty.
The rail strike is a more complicated issue than you think. I don't believe the rail workers wanted to or were ready to actually strike. Their plan all along was to get a deal with the administration, which they successful achieved. Eventually, Biden gave them most of what they wanted.
Then there's this, showing rail company budget cutting has been impacting their ability to keep workers for a long time: "The low staffing levels are a sign that carriers need to pay better and adopt less punitive attendance policies, among other things, Regan said — or else risk more attrition and further disruption to the economy.
“'It would have been rare, say a decade ago, for somebody to start off as a railroader, build their seniority, build their experience, and then walk away from the job mid-career,” Regan said. “But we’re seeing people walk away now and mid-career in part because of the business practices the railroads are doing.'”
All unions need to understand that when push comes to shove, the Democrats will abandon them when the corporations tell them to. Workers and their allies need to fight back against both political parties (it's actually one, the CU ... Corporate Uniparty).
The only thing that will make a change are general strikes, slowdown actions, targeted boycotts and withdrawing political support. Until the Democrats fear you, workers, they will screw you.
In the meantime, railworkers die and are regularly injured.
If you notice, you won't find any quotes of the actual Union saying Biden betrayed them. A few squabbles from unsatisfied members, but overall the Union got what they wanted, which is why they never denounced the imposition of the deal. It's what they were angling for all along
"UAW's Shawn Fein -- who I do admire in many ways -- has made no mention of that betrayal"
Strategically keeping mum was a smart move. You simply cannot be all things all the time to all people. You really do have to pick your fights. Also Fain Created a very strong reward structure for Democratic support. When Democrats are given warm fuzzies when they do the right thing, the more likely they will do the right thing further on down the line. A way Of creating a kind of precedent
Keep in mind the Democrats have become a party that caused the war in Ukraine by telling Ukraine to back out of its signed peace agreement with Russia, engineered the largest act of industrial sabotage and eco-terrorism with the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline and now sends off 2,000-lb bombs to be dropped on refugee camps in Gaza where current estimates are 200,000 have died and about of a third -- most children -- have life altering injuries.
This is the party that will watch out for workers?
This is the party that cares about families? (forget universal healthcare)
This is the party that keeps their campaign promises?
Oh, please.
It's one political party in the US ... the UP: Uniparty.
Until whatever few people are still on the left and workers stop[ falling for the grimy Dem/GOP/UP party lies and realize the political system is dead and done and ACT with strikes, boycotts, filling the streets like happens in France, the collapse of the United States and the working and middle class will accelerate.
In the meantime, keep the dead and maimed rail workers sacrificed for corporate profits and Dem Party power in your thoughts.
Any reaction to the first paragraph of my response?
Now, as for women and the Dems...
Reflect for a moment and ask why when Obama and the Democrats had both houses of Congress and Obama campaigned saying choice was a "top priority" they did ... nothing.
Here's why they did nothing: Women's choice is a reliable vote getter.
It's a great cause to cynically exploit to get campaign contributions every four years.
The Democrats will NEVER codify Roe because to do so would be to flush away their biggest vote getter and fundraiser.
I say all this as a former active Democrat. I was co-chair of my county Democratic Party and volunteered on campaigns, staffed the headquarters, went to state Dem conventions and blew away more money than I should have donating to shitheel dem candidates like Obama. Fortunately, I eventually awoke to reality.
The first step in building any kind of political resistance is to know and understand your enemy and the Democrats are in many ways the more cynically destructive wing of the Uniparty.
The Republicans are honestly dishonest while the Democrats are dishonestly dishonest.
I did a cartoon recently on the one MAJOR difference between the two parties: CARTOON: The Big Difference Between Republicans & Dems Exposed:
Then there is the number one issue the two parties argue about: CARTOON: EXCLUSIVE DEBATE PREVIEW!! .... Trump & Harris set to battle over THE issue dividing both political parties.
"Any reaction to the first paragraph of my response?"
Nope
It's too much of a Gish Gallop there...Pick a lane.
Thing is, I AGREE with most of your points...But you offer no solutions...no 'outs'...You're just making observations...TRUE observations, but the fact remains, one of the two candidates is gonna be POTUS...Given that fact, the democratic choice is the better of the two
Per Ukraine, the 'peace deal' offered by Putin included Ukraine giving up part of Ukraine without a fight...Ask Zelenski what he thought of that...If he thought the US was to blame for getting Ukraine into this mess, he's have said so...
There are three lanes and they are all on the Dem/GOP/UP Neocon Interstate Highway to Hell. So far over a million dead in Ukraine/Russia and over 200,000 (and counting) dead in Gaza.
But hey, at least we're all okay here, right? See you at Starbucks for the local Democratic Party coffee hour!
It's always interesting how you Democrats can't engage in addressing inconvenient truths of what the Dem Party has done. Usually the response is to ignore challenging facts (your first response). When that fails it is to gaslight (your second response). If you can't stand up and deal with the truths then party can't be reformed and its supporters become part of the problem of party corruption.
I know you think Kamala is good because she is a more 'joyful' genocider. She is making the same promises Trump is making to keep the killing going on. Truth is, there is no "nicer" genocider. Hell, Hitler did a lot of good stuff for his people, created jobs after the Great Depression, built the Autobahn and NONE of that outweighed the crime and immorality of his regime. And nothing Harris babbles on about outweighs her complete support for the genocide. Nothing.
You have some homework to do on the Biden/Boris Johnson killing of the peace agreement and the machinations begun by the US and Nato beginning with Bill Clinton to expand Nato through Ukraine and up to Russia's borders to trigger a war for resources with Russia. And if you think Zelinski is gonna say anything Biden/Harris don't want to hear you don't understand his life is just day by day.
As for solutions you must have skipped over what I wrote: "Until whatever few people are still on the left and workers stop[ falling for the grimy Dem/GOP/UP party lies and realize the political system is dead and done and ACT with strikes, boycotts, filling the streets like happens in France..."
Read up on history of the labor movement in the 20s and 30s. Roosevelt's New Deal came out of that movement. Many of the ideas came straight out of the labor unions, Socialist and Communist parties.
Bottom line, trying to get the very system that is killing you to save you will...kill you.
No Biden was excellent on labor and unions. Most pro-union President in decades. Biden is a populist. His family foreign policy is awful but that’s true of both parties.
All that "Scranton Joe" crap is a pure con. There is a reason he was known as the "Senator From MBNA" (the credit card company). He ACTIVELY crushed the Rail Workers Union strike. Workers -- I'm sure nobody in your family -- are dying because of that. Then there is the corruption. Since Biden loves dropping bombs on children, here are a few truth bombs:
Now, let's say Biden and his family hadn't done any of the above.
Let's even say he had followed through on campaign promises and the Democrats had gotten us Medicare For All and a living minimum wage. NONE of that would outweigh Biden's active support/participation for the US/Israel Genocide, the intentional sabotage of the Russia/Ukraine peace agreement that has led to over a million dead, and bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline, which has crippled the European economy and was the largest single act of eco-terrosim.
Hitler did some good for the German people and even built the Autobahn, but none of that outweighed his genocide.
Same thing with Joe Biden -- one of the biggest monsters to have ever stained the US government.
“All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.
Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.”
-FDR, the liberal lion, would have supported DeSantis.
If a union cannot prove its value and earn the voluntary support of members, what is moral about using government to force those members to fund the union that doesn’t support them?
Worth noting: the 68,000 public employees in Florida who lost their union representation are excluded from protection by the NLRB, because they are public employees. Not sure exactly which union(s) got screwed, but I'm betting on some or all of the following:
911 dispatchers
Crossing guards
DPW
City/county clerks
Building code inspection and enforcement
Municipal court workers
Public library employees
Public school staff
And many more!
Well, we definitely know how much DeSantis & Republicans hate books & libraries; so I’m sure you’re correct on that.
Unions are ESSENTIAL to every worker on this planet.
Not the point, but now I'm thinking about whether it would be better to drink a cup of warm piss, room temperature, or chilled.
I zoned some of the debate out, so maybe I missed something later on, but I feel like Harris missed a big chance to push back right at the start when Trump mentioned unions. That's a huge area where this NLRB has been better than previous presidents and on a concrete level has been better for unions and organizing.
Also, this type of elementary reporting can be more important than the deep dives. Every day new people are learning about unions (or any other issue) and are looking for up to date introductions and basic facts about important topics.
maybe the distinction should be clear vs yellow instead of hot vs cold, but I don't want to taste test to find out
"this NLRB has been better than previous presidents and on a concrete level has been better for unions and organizing"
Still won't help the public workers in Florida
The Boeing strike should be fun for both Team R and Team D. Seattle Times and Dominic Gates reporting “A Boeing employee forwarded a message to The Seattle Times that was sent Monday by an engineering manager at the Auburn parts plant, stating that he was “asked to provide leadership with a list” of engineers willing to volunteer to perform work normally done by Machinists.” They will build any next airplane here, not because Managment is particularly smart about their workforce, but because machinists will shut them down forever if they don’t. Longshoreman teach the same lesson from contract to contract. It ain’t no “right to work for less” SC out here. School vouchers? DOA in our leg. Same with the thieving in the charter school movement. So, if Republicans want an airline industry, they will have to bend the knee.
Boycott flights with Boeing airplanes, not just for union solidarity, but for your own safety.
This too. 👍
My son worked in Fredrickson and on the wing line in Renton. The stories he shared. Privilege is no longer flying.
I know this comment will seem deliberately obtuse, but imma make it anyway. How is it that Police and Firefighter Unions operate separately from the rest of organized labor? They do all the work other unions do (negotiate working conditions and benefits, advocate for their members) but deliberately operate outside of the rest of the organized labor ecosystem, and indeed in some cases in opposition to it. How does the brain of everyone who's involved with this not implode under the weight of the contradiction?
The firefighters are generally okay or at least better. The police unions are just bastards.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/police-unions-florida-desantis-labor-wga-strike
I'm waiting for the day some conservative pundit or pol notices the inherent contradiction in allowing Police unions to exist while opposing every other public sector union and makes that case forcefully enough that every Republican's head explodes.
THANK YOU. Hard to believe some people don't know this! But I've learned I'm too old to assume what people do or don't know. Some people are very young, so weren't around when some stuff was happening that would show you this. Some are new to thinking about politics, and maybe weren't paying attention until recently. There's an active attempt (a bizarrely successful one) on the part of the media and Republicans to deceive us about the question of what Republicans are for. For sure, our education system teaches most kids almost NOTHING about the labor movement.
So I've concluded shouldn't assume everyone SHOULD know stuff. About anything! But especially about how society is structured, how it got that way, and the forces working on us constantly to hold us back. Because there is always a massive attempt to conceal that, and some people who fall for it might do so in good faith, due to the fact they haven't been given other resources. We should just always try and teach them more, like you do here, and in your other posts.
Teaching about the labor movement in public schools??!! Hell, as I have learned over these past several years of being fanatically politically involved, they apparently haven’t been teaching the subjects of Government or Civics for many years. I find myself becoming totally exasperated at some of the comments or questions on TikTok. Example: “I dont know why you guys are blaming Trump for overturning Roe, it happened during Biden’s presidency?” Then when I reply & explain about Supreme Court appointments, etc, the comeback is
“But Biden & Harris have been in office for 4 yrs, why haven’t they fixed it?”
Things like that aren’t isolated incidents, so we have tons of folks out there that have no clue how our govt functions. It’s really a massive failure.
I like your elementary writing!! And I learned something about what’s going on in Florida (I’m in MN)
And just this morning, WSJ headline blares: “Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg Pleads With Union Not to Strike: Workers at 737 factory are voting Thursday on potential damaging walkout”. Cash talks, bullshit walks, Kelly. Stephanie Pope complaining by telling workers the company is giving all it can given its mounting debt pile, which topped $60 billion at the end of June. Betcha she STILL has no steel toed shoes.
Republicans do not want democracy to work. And they are getting away with it, even though they are the minority party. I don't get it.
Because of money & lots of it. Also playing the long game over decades to get Republicans installed as the majority in state legislatures & then when the census gets done & it’s time to reapportion districts, they can gerrymander the sh!t out of them to make them into “safe” R districts.
We have tons push & shove the DNC, DSCC, DCCC, DLCC, etc to start spending some of their treasure chest in red states like TX & FL. TX has a huge & young Latino population that are citizens eligible to vote, I think it’s about 40%. Democrats must spend money to persuade them to become Democrats.
Since unions are more popular than ever in America, why aren’t union leaders pushing for state referenda regarding repealing right to work laws and the other bullshit barriers erected to thwart unions? I know not every state allows citizen-led initiatives, but a whole lot of the red, anti-worker ones do including Florida. If people are serious about this and since the federal government is such a clusterfuck currently, it seems that state level initiatives might be the direction since the PRO ACT’s passage is far from certain even if the Dems win a trifecta in November. I recognize doing this on a state by state basis is not ideal and would be expensive, but in lieu of federal legislation, what other choice is there if people want change?
They have in fact done this in some states. It's a heavy lift in red states but it is definitely on the radar of unions.
And as I found out this year, due to reading about the right to abortion ballot initiatives in 8-10 states; it’s very expensive. That’s why initiatives proposed by corps get passed much more frequently than true grassroots citizen led ones, the huge amt of cash they have to raise. So I tried to donate to all of them, & I’ve donated as much as I possibly could to many Democratic senate races; especially in FL & TX.
I get weekly posts from the Rail Workers Union. About once a month there is a report of a recent on-the-job rail worker death. Let us not forget who smothered the efforts of the Rail Worker Union to lead a much-needed national strike: Joe Biden and the Democrats. UAW's Shawn Fein -- who I do admire in many ways -- has made no mention of that betrayal and the steady death tally among rail workers in his fawning support of Harris.
No, neither party really gives a damn about American workers or their unions. Instead of trying to convince and cajole a few crumbs off the corporate-owned Democratic Party banquet table, workers and unions should be coming together to conduct a series of general strikes to absolutely shut down the economy and FORCE the corporations and servile Democrats to give workers what they deserve. What they have EARNED.
I won't vote for either corporate-owned party that together make up the dominant CU: the Corporate Uniparty.
The rail strike is a more complicated issue than you think. I don't believe the rail workers wanted to or were ready to actually strike. Their plan all along was to get a deal with the administration, which they successful achieved. Eventually, Biden gave them most of what they wanted.
I'll take what the rail workers had to say about it: "Some rail workers say Biden 'turned his back on us' in deal to avert rail strike" https://www.npr.org/2022/12/02/1140265413/rail-workers-biden-unions-freight-railroads-averted-strike
Then there's this, showing rail company budget cutting has been impacting their ability to keep workers for a long time: "The low staffing levels are a sign that carriers need to pay better and adopt less punitive attendance policies, among other things, Regan said — or else risk more attrition and further disruption to the economy.
“'It would have been rare, say a decade ago, for somebody to start off as a railroader, build their seniority, build their experience, and then walk away from the job mid-career,” Regan said. “But we’re seeing people walk away now and mid-career in part because of the business practices the railroads are doing.'”
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-shift/2022/05/16/the-supply-chains-little-known-weakest-link-railroad-workers-00032624
All unions need to understand that when push comes to shove, the Democrats will abandon them when the corporations tell them to. Workers and their allies need to fight back against both political parties (it's actually one, the CU ... Corporate Uniparty).
The only thing that will make a change are general strikes, slowdown actions, targeted boycotts and withdrawing political support. Until the Democrats fear you, workers, they will screw you.
In the meantime, railworkers die and are regularly injured.
If you notice, you won't find any quotes of the actual Union saying Biden betrayed them. A few squabbles from unsatisfied members, but overall the Union got what they wanted, which is why they never denounced the imposition of the deal. It's what they were angling for all along
More likely, as with all American unions, they folded before power.
Until unions understand how power and politics work and tell the Democrats "Give us A, B, C AND D or screw off!" they will continue to get betrayed.
Interesting!
"UAW's Shawn Fein -- who I do admire in many ways -- has made no mention of that betrayal"
Strategically keeping mum was a smart move. You simply cannot be all things all the time to all people. You really do have to pick your fights. Also Fain Created a very strong reward structure for Democratic support. When Democrats are given warm fuzzies when they do the right thing, the more likely they will do the right thing further on down the line. A way Of creating a kind of precedent
Keep in mind the Democrats have become a party that caused the war in Ukraine by telling Ukraine to back out of its signed peace agreement with Russia, engineered the largest act of industrial sabotage and eco-terrorism with the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline and now sends off 2,000-lb bombs to be dropped on refugee camps in Gaza where current estimates are 200,000 have died and about of a third -- most children -- have life altering injuries.
This is the party that will watch out for workers?
This is the party that cares about families? (forget universal healthcare)
This is the party that keeps their campaign promises?
Oh, please.
It's one political party in the US ... the UP: Uniparty.
Until whatever few people are still on the left and workers stop[ falling for the grimy Dem/GOP/UP party lies and realize the political system is dead and done and ACT with strikes, boycotts, filling the streets like happens in France, the collapse of the United States and the working and middle class will accelerate.
In the meantime, keep the dead and maimed rail workers sacrificed for corporate profits and Dem Party power in your thoughts.
Ask women if they are the same...
Any reaction to the first paragraph of my response?
Now, as for women and the Dems...
Reflect for a moment and ask why when Obama and the Democrats had both houses of Congress and Obama campaigned saying choice was a "top priority" they did ... nothing.
Here's why they did nothing: Women's choice is a reliable vote getter.
It's a great cause to cynically exploit to get campaign contributions every four years.
The Democrats will NEVER codify Roe because to do so would be to flush away their biggest vote getter and fundraiser.
I say all this as a former active Democrat. I was co-chair of my county Democratic Party and volunteered on campaigns, staffed the headquarters, went to state Dem conventions and blew away more money than I should have donating to shitheel dem candidates like Obama. Fortunately, I eventually awoke to reality.
The first step in building any kind of political resistance is to know and understand your enemy and the Democrats are in many ways the more cynically destructive wing of the Uniparty.
The Republicans are honestly dishonest while the Democrats are dishonestly dishonest.
I did a cartoon recently on the one MAJOR difference between the two parties: CARTOON: The Big Difference Between Republicans & Dems Exposed:
https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-the-big-difference-between
Then there is the number one issue the two parties argue about: CARTOON: EXCLUSIVE DEBATE PREVIEW!! .... Trump & Harris set to battle over THE issue dividing both political parties.
https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-exclusive-debate-preview
Democrats? Republicans? Nah, time to move on.
Or we all die.
Now again, that first paragraph of my last note...
"Any reaction to the first paragraph of my response?"
Nope
It's too much of a Gish Gallop there...Pick a lane.
Thing is, I AGREE with most of your points...But you offer no solutions...no 'outs'...You're just making observations...TRUE observations, but the fact remains, one of the two candidates is gonna be POTUS...Given that fact, the democratic choice is the better of the two
Per Ukraine, the 'peace deal' offered by Putin included Ukraine giving up part of Ukraine without a fight...Ask Zelenski what he thought of that...If he thought the US was to blame for getting Ukraine into this mess, he's have said so...
There are three lanes and they are all on the Dem/GOP/UP Neocon Interstate Highway to Hell. So far over a million dead in Ukraine/Russia and over 200,000 (and counting) dead in Gaza.
But hey, at least we're all okay here, right? See you at Starbucks for the local Democratic Party coffee hour!
It's always interesting how you Democrats can't engage in addressing inconvenient truths of what the Dem Party has done. Usually the response is to ignore challenging facts (your first response). When that fails it is to gaslight (your second response). If you can't stand up and deal with the truths then party can't be reformed and its supporters become part of the problem of party corruption.
I know you think Kamala is good because she is a more 'joyful' genocider. She is making the same promises Trump is making to keep the killing going on. Truth is, there is no "nicer" genocider. Hell, Hitler did a lot of good stuff for his people, created jobs after the Great Depression, built the Autobahn and NONE of that outweighed the crime and immorality of his regime. And nothing Harris babbles on about outweighs her complete support for the genocide. Nothing.
You have some homework to do on the Biden/Boris Johnson killing of the peace agreement and the machinations begun by the US and Nato beginning with Bill Clinton to expand Nato through Ukraine and up to Russia's borders to trigger a war for resources with Russia. And if you think Zelinski is gonna say anything Biden/Harris don't want to hear you don't understand his life is just day by day.
As for solutions you must have skipped over what I wrote: "Until whatever few people are still on the left and workers stop[ falling for the grimy Dem/GOP/UP party lies and realize the political system is dead and done and ACT with strikes, boycotts, filling the streets like happens in France..."
Read up on history of the labor movement in the 20s and 30s. Roosevelt's New Deal came out of that movement. Many of the ideas came straight out of the labor unions, Socialist and Communist parties.
Bottom line, trying to get the very system that is killing you to save you will...kill you.
No Biden was excellent on labor and unions. Most pro-union President in decades. Biden is a populist. His family foreign policy is awful but that’s true of both parties.
All that "Scranton Joe" crap is a pure con. There is a reason he was known as the "Senator From MBNA" (the credit card company). He ACTIVELY crushed the Rail Workers Union strike. Workers -- I'm sure nobody in your family -- are dying because of that. Then there is the corruption. Since Biden loves dropping bombs on children, here are a few truth bombs:
Hunter Biden was paid consultant at age 21 to large credit card co. while dad helped credit card industry with legislation: https://www.bizpacreview.com/2019/10/14/hunter-biden-was-paid-consultant-at-age-21-to-large-credit-card-co-while-dad-helped-credit-card-industry-with-legislation-839084/
Hunter Biden Snagged a Cushy Bank Job After Law School. He’s Been Trading on His Name Ever Since: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/01/26/hunter-biden-first-nepotism-job-00137308
Biden's Cozy Relations With Bank Industry: https://www.propublica.org/article/bidens-cozy-relations-with-bank-industry-825
How Biden Helped Strip Bankruptcy Protection From Millions Just Before a Recession: https://www.gq.com/story/joe-biden-bankruptcy-bill
House of Cards: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/biden-bankruptcy-president/
MBNA Paid Biden's Son As Biden Backed Bill: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mbna-paid-bidens-son-as-biden-backed-bill/
Now, let's say Biden and his family hadn't done any of the above.
Let's even say he had followed through on campaign promises and the Democrats had gotten us Medicare For All and a living minimum wage. NONE of that would outweigh Biden's active support/participation for the US/Israel Genocide, the intentional sabotage of the Russia/Ukraine peace agreement that has led to over a million dead, and bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline, which has crippled the European economy and was the largest single act of eco-terrosim.
Hitler did some good for the German people and even built the Autobahn, but none of that outweighed his genocide.
Same thing with Joe Biden -- one of the biggest monsters to have ever stained the US government.
“All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.
Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.”
-FDR, the liberal lion, would have supported DeSantis.
If a union cannot prove its value and earn the voluntary support of members, what is moral about using government to force those members to fund the union that doesn’t support them?
I'm totally off topic here, but I wanted to note that New Jersey just lost probably its best organizer. https://radicalcarolstribute.com/
If you read the obit you'll see what I mean.