The Weekly Watch
Laboring to Understand
I've been struggling to understand human behavior and actions this week (maybe every week). As it's Labor Day weekend I was thinking about the current labor strikes in our prisons. Really it is a strike against inhumane conditions and out right slavery. So why is it humans are so cruel to one another, to our fellow lifeforms, to our ecosystem at large. I usually explain it as greed, but I fear it is something deeper ... a fatal flaw in the nature of our species. It seems we lack the ability to act now for our future tomorrow. The corporate media can be blamed in part, but some things have become pretty obvious. How about the wild weather we've been having world wide? But we still keep pouring carbon into the air and pushing for more fossil fuel...basing most of the worlds economy on its extraction and use...driving absurd wars in the middle east and blatant efforts at regime change in Venezuela. Is it willful ignorance, or are we truly blind?
If you think you've got it bad, imagine what the striking prisoners are enduring around the US. Perhaps we should first consider who is in prison...it ain't the criminal banksters nor the obviously guilty Hillary. It is mainly poor folks of color. Ever noticed who the police pull over? The guy in the Lexus going 90 MPH? No it's the poor Hispanic person driving a beat up Ford with a cracked windshield or a busted tail light. The police learn that it doesn't help their career to challenge power. They feel entitled to shoot you in the back if you run away. Those targeted people often end up staying in jail cause they can't make bail...spending months there without even being convicted. You would think we would work to reform inmates...but no, it is a self perpetuating punitive for-profit system designed to capture and retain...not to reform and rehabilitate. We should all be striking against this system....but until it is us, it's just them...no worries. This is the aspect of our nature I'm trying to address this week.
It speaks volumes about our culture and nation that we imprison the most people in the world. We're 5% of the global population with 25% of the world's prisoners. Is it our puritanical past that leads us to be such a punitive society? Or does it just serve TPTB to enrich themselves by incarcerating the weak and vulnerable?
Amani Sawari, prison strike organizer working on behalf of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, talks about the ongoing movement. (video or text)
Prisoners are striking against an innately violent climate. The way that prisons are operated do incite violence, due to understaffing, also the lack of rehabilitation programs. Prisoners are calling out against these sort of conditions that incite violence. There isn’t much to engage the mind. There is no emotional services, no mental services, no mental health services, things that could occupy the prisoners’ time and help them with their development while they’re in prison. They want to have access to jobs that are valuable, jobs that give them the skills that they need and prepare them for being on the outside. The lack of these types of funding and rehabilitation programs towards that types of funding keep violent conditions going. And staff are complicit in this, either because they’re too tired or too overworked to respond effectively to incidents of violence
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/30/update_on_prison_strike_demanding...
Thirteen prisoners died in Mississippi in August.
And in Mississippi, throughout—and similarly, throughout the country, the private facilities are generally the worst and most violent facilities, because they’re generally understaffed, purposefully, so that gangs control the facilities, in which case the officers cannot respond to incidents. In this instance, this 24-year-old young man lost his life due to a fight with another inmate. Oftentimes it’s very difficult to get any information about what happens in these prisons. They have no constituency. They have no champion. They have no legislative or city council support.
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/30/mississippi_is_failing_as_prisone...
Pastor Kenneth Glasgow is the Founder of the Ordinary People Society; Convener of the National Criminal Justice Coalition and Co-chairman of Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People Movement. He speaks about this strike and the 2016 effort. (video or text)
https://therealnews.com/stories/prisoners-across-the-us-strike-to-end-mo...
...many participants have been hit by prison officials with swift and vicious reprisals, advocates, prisoners and their families said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/31/us-inmates-prison-strike...
Because of my refusal to work, and the efforts I’ve made to organise strikes and publicise the horrors that go on behind bars, I have faced regular reprisals. In recent years I’ve been bounced around from state to state in an attempt to silence me: they sent me from Virginia to Oregon, from there to Texas and Florida, then back again to Virginia.
Now I’m on death row, even though I’m not a death row prisoner, which is about as total a condition of isolation you can get. Yet I still found a way to get this article to the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/23/prisoner-speak-out...
California is about to end its cash bail system. However, the new law, which will take effect January 1, 2020, is coming under some criticism from those who think it may adversely affect vulnerable communities in the justice system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epxzaQbu8Qs (2.5 min)
Lee Camp discusses the prison strike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGyjbRUL4lg (6 min)
I'm laboring to understand how we treat fellow humans so badly. Once again the system seems too overwhelming to address. However, we can act as individuals (I hope I don't sound like a broken record). There are several organizations that line up pen pals from prison. Here are a few:
https://writeaprisoner.com/
http://prisonpenpals.com/
https://www.meet-an-inmate.com/
How about some good news and a little humor after that focus on prisons?
You may remember the BC pipeline fought to s stand still till Trudeau nationalized it? Well the courts have stopped it. Trudeau is Canada's Obama, saying he'll fight climate chaos while promoting fossil fuels. (no text, 14 min video)
https://therealnews.com/stories/major-legal-victory-canadas-kinder-morga...
California appears to be poised to insure net neutrality in their state. Jimmy and Ron tell the story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB6-Gz4HZKc (7.5 min)
This story from CNN is so absurd it's funny. Jimmy, Ron and Nick Branna do a great job spoofing this story that sounds like something from the Onion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoLmEb1MH-4 (17.5 min)
Glenn Greenwald also dissects the CNN story
https://theintercept.com/2018/08/28/cnn-credibly-accused-of-lying-to-its...
More from Jimmy and Ron on CNN's Russiagate hype
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkJrDZCBTAk (16.5 min)
Despite the constant Russiagate narrative, people aren't buying it, Jimmy and Ron explain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6asqzcS-fQk (13 min)
The Economy
It’s not that “Capitalism isn’t working,” as Noah Smith recently argued in Bloomberg. It’s that it’s working all too well.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/capitalism-is-beyond-saving-and-americ...
As tariffs and sanctions are increasing globally many nations are dealing with reeling financial issues and the near collapse of local currency. Investors are concerned Latin Americas third largest economy, Argentina, could collapse after the country unexpectedly asked for the early release of a $50 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. At the same time nations like Canada and Venezuela are dealing with growing inflation. Former UK member of parliament, George Galloway discusses the situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80bPnizT5CM (9 min)
Chris Hedges explores the question "What will the consequences of this inequality be economically and politically?" https://www.truthdig.com/articles/becoming-serfs/
The Ecosystem...
Check out the Thursday open thread by magiamma "Hot Air" for all the climate news you can handle. Nothing makes my point better than our approach to our impending extinction...willful ignorance and acceptance.
https://caucus99percent.com/content/hot-air-3
I dropped this two minute clip in a comment on the hot air OT...from 1958.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-AXBbuDxRY
The models developed in the 70's and 80's have been pretty accurate. It is amazing anyone can be in denial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL92L0tSGGI (14 min)
Education is the best approach to solving our problems.
The public does not agree with many of the criticisms leveled at public education by think tanks and public officials. The public’s respect for teachers is well-nigh overwhelming, but parents see the profession as undervalued. And the closer individuals get to a real school, the more they like what they see.
http://pdkpoll.org/perspectives/school-critics-are-not-listening-to-the-...
In Louisville KY citizens are fighting against a state take over of their schools.
https://progressive.org/public-school-shakedown/is-louisville-ground-zer...
Meanwhile we place our young folks deep in debt for worthless degrees.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/graduates-of-poor-performing-programs-...
Many schools are little more than a pipeline to prison.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/civil-rights-devos_us_5b7b2dd3e4b01...
http://www.justicepolicy.org/news/8775
A Quick Look Around the World...
Jimmy, Abby Martin and her partner look at the push for a war with Iran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DTDZrJFP3I (19 min)
Just 48 hours after Defense Secretary James Mattis attempted to obscure America’s direct role in Saudi Arabia’s ongoing massacre of Yemeni civilians by proclaiming that the U.S. is merely “watching” the deadly conflict, journalist Ken Klippenstein reported for The Young Turks (TYT) on Thursday that the Pentagon is currently preparing to train Saudi military pilots on U.S. soil. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/u-s-planning-to-train-saudi-pilots-on-...
Pakistan's new PM faces crisis from the get go
https://therealnews.com/crunch-time-in-pakistan
Less than a week in office, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has made blasphemy one of his first issues, empowering militants and initiating international moves, long heralded by Saudi Arabia, that would restrict press freedom by pushing for a global ban after a Dutch competition for cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed was announced.
https://therealnews.com/playing-politics-with-religion-imran-khan-puts-h...
African colonization is continuing in a new way. Chris Hedges talks with Lee Wengraf about her new book Extracting Profit: Imperialism, Neoliberalism, and the New Scramble of Africa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1_1s9PRYfA (25.5 min)
Recent months of deadly unrest in Nicaragua have fractured splits in the Sandinista movement, with critics accusing President Daniel Ortega of autocratic rule, and supporters accusing the opposition of attempting a US-backed soft coup. We host a debate between Dr. Mary Ellsberg of George Washington University and Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone Project
https://therealnews.com/stories/debate-who-is-behind-nicaraguas-turmoil-...
Lee Camp talks about Nicaragua and other US coups. Lee continues to get better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5qt6W7nxuQ (12 min)
Brazil is in a weird place. Lula, the country’s former two-term president — is virtually certain to have his candidacy judicially barred due to the fact that he’s currently in prison after a criminal corruption conviction: the result of a judicial process that even many of his critics who believe him to be corrupt regard as a highly flawed and politically motivated trial and appeal. If Lula were to run, it is close to certain that he would win. Glenn Greenwald explains the situation.
https://theintercept.com/2018/08/31/watch-interview-with-one-of-brazils-...
Abby Martin and Papantonio discuss media and Venezuela
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ7jeoB845s (6 min)
Abby Martin and Mike Prysner lay out exactly what happened to teleSUR and Empire Files on Jimmy's show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1glTX3c8ttY (23 min)
More from Mike Prysner on active duty war resistance with Lee Camp (1st 15 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIIbrLoMgA4
So a final clip about the survival of democracy. Historian, David Van Reybrouck, in his new book “Against Elections," identifies modern day examples of Aristotle's "drawing lots" underway in Iceland, Ireland and Australia marking innovation in democracies. He thinks democracy only can survive if innovation occurs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbluj0WlvHs (25 min)
In closing I hope you are all having a great holiday weekend. Really the holiday itself is a distraction from the May 1 international Labor Day based on the Haymarket incident in Chicago... from wiki
The date of May 1 (an ancient European folk holiday known as May Day) emerged in 1886 as an alternative holiday for the celebration of labor, later becoming known as International Workers' Day. The date had its origins at the 1885 convention of the American Federation of Labor, which passed a resolution calling for adoption of the eight-hour day effective May 1, 1886. While negotiation was envisioned for achievement of the shortened work day, use of the strike to enforce this demand was recognized, with May 1 advocated as a date for coordinated strike action. The proximity of the date to the bloody Haymarket affair of May 4, 1886, further accentuated May First's radical reputation.
There was disagreement among labor unions at this time about when a holiday celebrating workers should be, with some advocating for continued emphasis of the September march-and-picnic date while others sought the designation of the more politically-charged date of May 1. Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland was one of those concerned that a labor holiday on May 1 would tend to become a commemoration of the Haymarket Affair and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements that backed the May 1 commemoration around the globe. In 1887, he publicly supported the September Labor Day holiday as a less inflammatory alternative. The date was formally adopted as a United States federal holiday in 1894.
So this holiday weekend I continue to labor with my thoughts on human nature and our seeming inability to create a harmonious and sustainable existence. Sadly those goals are not part of the fabric of our nation and most of the world. Wishing you all best in all your labors...may to find just rewards in all your efforts!
Comments
Good Sunday morning, Lookout ~~
It's a beautiful morning, after 12 hours and 80/100" of rain yesterday. It is fresh outside!
Thanks for the info on the prison strike. Of course, trying to find anything about it is tough, in the msm environment. I'm grateful for alternative sites (and your) coverage.
I've been meaning to read the book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," by Harari, to try and get a better grip on our species and try to find an answer to or at least understand why we do the things we do. If that is possible.
Lots to learn today at the WW. Many thanks, as always, for the effort it takes to bring this to us.
Have a beautiful Sunday, everyone!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
We've dried out for two weeks now...
...and could do with another rain.
There are protest encampments today around prison labor camps - bet you don't see them on the news today. https://incarceratedworkers.org/news/labor-day-call-action
and I neglected to drop a primary link -
https://incarceratedworkers.org/campaigns/prison-strike-2018
but at some point I start thinking I'm including too much info so the big stories get swallowed in the bulk of the essay.
Thanks for reading! All the best.
EDIT:
This was meant as a reply to RA but I didn't click reply...oh well.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Ableism and how it's internalized
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LHNwzLa-88]
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Really another type of prison isn't it?
Confined to a chair. I had a friend in a chair. He was a botanist, an excellent taxonomist. Although he was limited in getting into some field situations, people sent him specimens from all over the world. We all have limits to our abilities. I think the trick is to make the best use you can of the skills you possess.
Hope you're doing well in the land of flowers.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Even without a chair it's a prison of sorts.
I've never been able to get a drivers' license because I can't react quickly enough. And because of that, most 'skilled' jobs are closed to me in the shit state of Flawer'Duh.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
so sorry that is the case...
Seems to me that as long as you show up for work it doesn't matter if you drove yourself or took a bus. What an insane system.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I just checked Florida statutes re: employment
If it's a law, I couldn't find it, but that doesn't mean it's not there somewhere. I looked in the Driver's License area and Employment area. Of course, anything relating to a waiver had to do with criminal history and hardship licenses for underage kids, and child labor. Oh, and there's a whole section for fucking golf carts. Oy!
That said, I've also seen, with my own eyes, jobs near you, that you'd qualify for, requiring a DL for the non-driving jobs. It's assinign and insane!
There has to be an agency that can help, but I'm at a loss as to which one.
Maybe someone else will take a stab at it.
Driver's License section:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&U...
Employment section:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&U...
Good morning, Lookout.
Hey, between your work, joe's and other's, c99 is becoming a virtual paper of record; providing so much information often missed by the MSN.
Appreciate the work, brother.
Cheers for the pm, just responded.
Posted the news of the Village Voice closing on el's OT and am posting it here as well so as not to be missed. Its passing carries, potentially, a bad omen for our culture's future.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/aug/31/the-village-voice-ceases-p... https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-closing-of-the-villag...
A sad day, thank you Mailer and all the writers for leading us, enlightening us, feeding us. You will be missed.
a sad passing
We are losing our voice in the main stream. Thankfully we still have our voices here. Enjoyed your poetry and OT from yesterday ...just got to it this am.
I appreciate you dropping in.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
A forgotten prisoner...Julian Assange
I forgot to mention Julian and his ordeal this morning. Here's an excellent piece about his situation.
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/09/01/an-online-vigil-in-defense-of-juli...
and another excellent story about prison...
While serious prison reform in the United States has long failed there is a new force to be reckoned with from an unlikely source that should be taken seriously, says John Kiriakou.
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/31/the-unlikely-force-behind-us-priso...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Excellent WW is right
the prison complex is as bad as it gets
for amerikans, but then on has to consider them
selves lucky to make it to prison instead of
getting shot before even having that lucky chance
to serve time
This ALEC article makes me leary of any chance
reform is coming
https://www.thenation.com/article/hidden-history-alec-and-prison-labor/
And I tried finding out which of our brave
clowngresspricks are heavily invested, couldnt
find any info.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
sadly I think we all are confined in a prison of sorts
Caitlin thinks we can still have a voice. I hope so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFprL7aC0Vk (18 min)
Thanks for the link. Our prison system is truly a reflection of our culture. Ever heard this one Mark Graham's "I can see your aura and its ugly"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piFIID-iE-w (2.5 min)
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thanks for no I haven't
and ya, the hatred, racism, lives on
as was said upthread Jim Crow if not what came
before is still alive.
What really gets me though is how the black
leadership was so easily bought. It's so sad.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
When John Lewis $hilled out
along with the rest of the black leadership, I knew they sold out.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
This is one of your best WW
I second what Smiley said. Your WW, Joe's EBs and the other members here are doing a great job distilling the crap out of the news.
The prison idea needs to be reworked because it shouldn't be a reason for companies to make a profit and it doesn't work. Making prisoners do work without properly being compensated is the definition of slavery which was said to have been eradicated here in the 1860's. It hasn't
From a comment on the Common Dreams article on the prison strikes:
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Many thanks but...
I find your voice and research to be some of the best on our site. Thanks for your work and insights. Much appreciated and very beneficial!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thanks for the video about James Hansen and happy labor day...
this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL92L0tSGGI
A couple of points... Hansen was incredibly brave to speak out and did so against great resistance.
In the clip Andrew Dressler mentions that the 1990 IPPC report said that the global system was warming, but that the warming was also consistent with natural variability.
Flannery says about Jim Hansen (2007):
And about that IPPC report... it just happens it was done by consensus...
edit
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
There has been a hit job by the fossil fuels fools
on scientists that do real research that explain our dilemma.
You might enjoy this interview too. Text of video
https://therealnews.com/stories/new-climate-study-warns-of-dangerous-hot...
All the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thanks. Interesting...
The real take away is at the end. He actually gives us a to do list for survival. Maybe unrealistic but there it is.
Dr. Will Steffen, co-author of Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene. The following steps need to be taken to avoid crossing the Paris Agreement threshold of 1.5 -2 degrees centigrade:
• We must meet the Paris targets. (He says 1.5 C not 2C)
• We must absolutely not open up any more fossil fuel resources around the planet-- no coal, oil, gas--convention or unconventional.
• We need a definite phase out plan for fossil fuels for planet in a two to three decade period.
• These must be replaced with renewables. Other types of transport systems, run-off electricity, run-off biofuels (not sure what he means by run-off).
• All this need to be underpinned by new value systems that values stabilizing the earths systems as the highest priority that any economy must strive for. So, any economic efficiency or GDP growth must take second place to stabilizing the system.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
We have solutions...we could mitigate
I just don't see it happening. We still have our individual actions. I'm planting more trees this winter. All we can do is what we can do.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
yep...
not likely, but gonna keep on keepin' on. Got some willow starts to put in the ground down by the stream in the wildlife preserve.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
we can't delude ourselves
We ain't gonna save the world but we can limit our personal destruction. I'm going for chestnut trees this year. They ain't cheap but they were the dominant tree in our forest 100 years ago.
http://www.chestnuthilltreefarm.com/store/c/31-Dunstan-Chestnut-Trees.aspx
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thanks for another excellent Weekly Watch, Lookout.
The focus on prisons was much appreciated. More than any other social edifice, prisons are a direct reflection of who and what a nation is really about. It is their soul on display.
On another note, sentience comes with a forebrain. The forebrain offers the capacity to anticipate the future. The brain continues to evolve in vitro, and understanding the future consequences of actions — especially within a complex system — is one of those refinements that come with the evolution of consciousness or epigenetic changes in the brain. Some societies nurture this, some don't. It's haphazard on this planet, at best. Since epigenetic changes to the DNA cannot always be passed on through reproduction, longer lifespans help tremendously in harnessing and growing this meta-knowledge or wisdom. Language and recorded histories are no substitute. Much, much longer lifespans are needed. We should work on that very intensely if we hope to sustain the planet for any meaningful length of time going forward. It's the flaw in our species.
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
given our population
a longer lifetime might be problematic. Better education is my thought...of course as a retired teacher it would be.
We teach kids to recite rather than to analyze and think for themselves. Planning ahead has always been problematic. The future is too far away. However we are trainable.
Thanks for the visit and for reading. Prisons are depressing things to consider. They are where we display our inhumanity to one another at home and abroad - like Abu Ghraib. Many are black sites we don't even know about, and others are nothing more than profit centers. It is such a sad reflection on us all.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
no, au contraire, longer lifetimes are not needed
what is needed is the humility and acceptance of a natural occurring death and the willingness to 'live' with that. A society which sends their young into wars and with it their deaths, and at the same token cares for the elderlies into their hundreds can't sustain itself. Why not accept a natural death? Are you above God's and nature's will? If you are, you are a danger, imo.
Well, my mileage seems to vary with yours. It's just an opinion and afaik I can voice it here, right?
https://www.euronews.com/live
Thank you so much for the interview with Lee Wengraf
Chris Hedges had "on Contact" about her new book "Extracting Profit: Imperialism, Neoliberalism, and the New Scramble of Africa".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1_1s9PRYfA (25.5 min)
It brought up a lot of memories. My former husband, teenager during the independence years of his home country, Cameroon, later in life became an economist with the IMF and he had contracts with the world bank. What I sometimes miss is that people in general can't imgagine that you can work inside that system and still fight from within the policies and auterity measures imposed by both institutions ... with great personal impact on their own sanity. I can say that having to do that has destroyed quite some African's souls. Mine won some battles and lost his mind doing so. So, this discussion rang a lot of bells with me.
I can't really describe it here. I have seen several Africans within both institutions not supporting those institutions policies and trying their best to argue, write and fight against them from within. But that's too complex for the 'black and white simpletons'.
https://www.euronews.com/live
such is the role of a teacher
The education system constantly works against the need of students and for the convenience of administrators. Want to teach? You have to work within the system which is evolving toward a corporate (serve profit rather than children) system...much like today's discussion about prisons.
Been visiting memories lately too. The next couple of weekly's will share some of those.
All the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
UPS workers give in to Teamster bosses once again
You heard it here first? I don't know, tried to find a link to back up the gossip but maybe they are all on facebook and twitter... the open web has sound of crickets.
My neighbor drives for UPS, he has been a Teamster his whole working life and makes good wages with good bennies. Why would he vote to strike? The answer is, he would not. The deal is done, or so I heard. Every worker scratches and claws for every crumb they can get, there is no solidarity between tiers. That's the system.
https://teamster.org/upsupsf-contract-updates/ups-agreements-2013-2018
Northern California Supplement PDF
Now they will have three tiers for the next five years, I guess. Trail of tiers.
---nostalgiac
The Golden Gate ferry leaves Larkspur and floats past San Quentin before it goes across the bay to San Francisco. I was on the way to an Iraq War protest in Union Square one day, and the prisoners were out in the yard. I will never forget as long as I live the roar of cheers they sent us, and we replied in kind. STOP THESE FUCKING WARS! argh
same boat
thanks
nick branna is working with unions...
to create a third party.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u68PIhZe2sQ (16 min)
I wish him the best, but I ain't holdin' my breath. I've basically given up on a political solution. We need a new economy and I don't see how it happens through a political system. Meanwhile the climate is running wild at a pace we never imagined. You see it plainly in CA.
Here in AL new hire teacher don't get a pension...just an IRA...I hate the way we as a nation treat young folks...hell all folks.
Thanks for dropping by, always good to "see" you.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”