[ Reader Comments: GOP Cant Decide...; Starbucks Latest; DeSantis
Targets Teachers; JetBlue to Pay Flight Attendants $3.6 Million; How
Under Paid Are Teachers in Your State?:U.S. Foreign Policy Resource
Guide; more ....]
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TIDBITS – AUG. 18, 2022 – READER COMMENTS: GOP CAN’T DECIDE…;
STARBUCKS LATEST; DESANTIS TARGETS TEACHERS; JETBLUE TO PAY FLIGHT
ATTENDANTS $3.6 MILLION; HOW UNDER PAID ARE TEACHERS IN YOUR
STATE?:U.S. FOREIGN POLICY RESOURCE GUIDE; MORE …  
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August 18, 2022
xxxxxx
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_ Reader Comments: GOP Can't Decide...; Starbucks Latest; DeSantis
Targets Teachers; JetBlue to Pay Flight Attendants $3.6 Million; How
Under Paid Are Teachers in Your State?:U.S. Foreign Policy Resource
Guide; more .... _

Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, Shorts, AND
cartoons - Aug. 18, 2022, xxxxxx

 

Re: Starbucks’s Latest Union-Busting Tactic: Demand the Suspension
of NLRB Elections Nationwide (Marcus Aurealeus; Rafael Arturo
Guariguata)
Re: Florida Has an Outrageous New Law Targeting Teachers. Here’s Why
I’ll Be Breaking It. (Gayle Matthews Martz; Ed Violette)
GOP Can't Decide  -- cartoon
Benedict Arnold - Replaced  --  cartoon by Randy Bish
Re: Meet Mandela Barnes, the 35-Year-Old Candidate Working To Oust Ron
Johnson (Jennifer Nouri)
Re: Washington Wants a New Cold War…That’s a Bad Idea (Eileen
Joyce)
Re: Pentagon Contractors in Afghanistan Pocketed $108 Billion Over 20
Years (Charles Patrick Lynch)
Re: Immigrant Detainees Strike Over $1 a Day Pay, Working Conditions
(Charles)
Re: The Right-Wing Plot To Destroy Public Libraries (Nora Lapin)
Re: Work, Work, Work—So a Few Can Be Rich (Mariam Alunkal; Greg de
Bourgknecht)
Re: Tackling the Housing Crisis With Public Power (David Berger)
JetBlue to pay flight attendants $3.6M over long-running wage lawsuit
(Jean Lim in Aerotim Hub)

RESOURCES:

How Underpaid Are Teachers In Your State? (Economic Policy Institute)
"Some are trying to inflame those people"  --  cartoon by Duff Jones
Updated Resource - U.S. Foreign Policy History & Resource Guide

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

HISTORY REVEALED: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY - SEPTEMBER 15 (EAST SIDE
FREEDOM LIBRARY)

 

RE: STARBUCKS’S LATEST UNION-BUSTING TACTIC: DEMAND THE SUSPENSION
OF NLRB ELECTIONS NATIONWIDE
 

Call in sick, walk out, strike, shut them down.

Marcus Aurealeus
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

      =====

"It’s not enough for Starbucks to carry out a scorched-earth
campaign to destroy workers’ union organizing campaign. The company
is now implementing Trump-like attacks on the legitimacy of union
elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board."

Rafael Arturo Guariguata
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: FLORIDA HAS AN OUTRAGEOUS NEW LAW TARGETING TEACHERS. HERE’S WHY
I’LL BE BREAKING IT.
 

I applaud this teacher!!

Gayle Matthews Martz
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

      =====

He would fire EVERY teacher if he had his choice.

He doesn't believe in public education.

Republicans don't really believe that all men are created equal,
that's why they don't believe in democracy or public education.

He's a fascist and he needs to be ridden out on a rail...

Ed Violette
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

GOP CAN'T DECIDE  -- CARTOON
 

 

BENEDICT ARNOLD - REPLACED  --  CARTOON BY RANDY BISH

 

Randy Bish
Bish Toons
[[link removed]]
August 16, 2022

 

RE: MEET MANDELA BARNES, THE 35-YEAR-OLD CANDIDATE WORKING TO OUST RON
JOHNSON
 

At 35 it sounds like he's already had a lifetime of experience. More
power to him. We need a younger mentality in the Senate and especially
in Wisconsin.

Jennifer Nouri
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: WASHINGTON WANTS A NEW COLD WAR…THAT’S A BAD IDEA
 

It ain’t cold

Eileen Joyce

 

RE: PENTAGON CONTRACTORS IN AFGHANISTAN POCKETED $108 BILLION OVER 20
YEARS
 

The obscuring of the flow of money is not just oops, where did I put
that? It deliberately allows money to flow outside of any controls or
auditing. For years, we read that the Pentagon is unable to be
audited, and that is true for overseas military spending as well.
Auditing is not that difficult. If managers don't keep good accounts,
fire them. Suddenly accounts will begin to be kept. The US MIC
(Military Industrial Complex) lives on corruption and lack of
transparency. We must at the very least demand a public accounting of
all of this spending, and Congress must take the lead in doing so.

Charles Patrick Lynch
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: IMMIGRANT DETAINEES STRIKE OVER $1 A DAY PAY, WORKING CONDITIONS
 

Private Prisons in the US need to be outlawed. Their very existence is
tailor-made for abuse. We can outlaw them little by little or Congress
can do it. Who will step up?

Charles
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: THE RIGHT-WING PLOT TO DESTROY PUBLIC LIBRARIES
 

Thank goodness that I live in California.

Nora Lapin

Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: WORK, WORK, WORK—SO A FEW CAN BE RICH

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])

Over 5 years ago, Thomas Frank's book 'Listen, Liberal' was published.
It was a searing indictment of what the Liberals did to the trade
unions with their emphasis on absurd educational degrees (I am sadly
one of those too). It all however started with that disgrace of a
POTUS - Reagan.

Mariam Alunkal
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

      =====

when I think about it ( and I try not to) almost all the disgraceful
failures in our sad country these days can be traced back to the Actor
in chief.

Greg de Bourgknecht
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: TACKLING THE HOUSING CRISIS WITH PUBLIC POWER
 

It’s not a monumental first step. It’s a sop.

David Berger
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

JETBLUE TO PAY FLIGHT ATTENDANTS $3.6M OVER LONG-RUNNING WAGE
LAWSUIT 

 

by Jean Lim
August 16, 2022
Aerotime Hub
[[link removed]]

JetBlue Airways will pay $3.6 million to over 500 of its flight
attendants as settlement over a wage lawsuit that began in 2015. 

The flight attendants accused JetBlue (JBLU) of violating California
law by failing to pay the workers when they were forced to skip
breaks.

In a plaintiff’s notice of unopposed notion, attorneys of JetBlue
(JBLU) flight attendants recalled that in 2015, their clients filed a
case against their employer, JetBlue Airways, for the following claims
under the California Labor Code:  failure to pay minimum wage,
failure to pay overtime, waiting time penalties, and failure to
provide itemized wage statements.

The lawsuit was part of a litigation over whether California's strict
and detailed wage laws apply to flight attendants who are based in the
state, but spend the vast majority of their time in the air.

“This $3,600,000 settlement will provide a meaningful payment to the
LWDA and significant individual settlement payments to approximately
568 members of the settlement classes,” the plaintiff’s attorneys
said. 

The attorneys continued: “The settlement also provides payment to an
overtime and final pay class consistent with this Court’s ruling in
Plaintiffs’ favor on those claims. The settlement is non
reversionary and is not on a claims-made basis.”

The lawsuit was part of a litigation over whether California's strict
and detailed wage laws apply to flight attendants who are based in the
state, but spend the vast majority of their time in the air.

Reuters reported that US District Judge Jeffrey White had dismissed
many of the claims in 2016 and 2017, but stayed the case pending
appeals in several similar lawsuits. After the plaintiff-friendly
rulings, White in 2020 changed his stance and revived several claims
against JetBlue (JBLU).

The case is Booher v. JetBlue Airways Corp, U.S. District Court for
the Northern District of California, No. 4:15-cv-01203.

 

HOW UNDERPAID ARE TEACHERS IN YOUR STATE? (ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE)

 

Depending on the state, teachers make between 3.4% and 35.9% less than
other comparable college-educated workers

Prior to the pandemic, the long-trending erosion in the relative wages
and total compensation of teachers was already a serious concern. The
financial penalty that teachers face discourages college students from
entering the teaching profession and makes it difficult for school
districts to keep current teachers in the classroom. Trends in teacher
pay coupled with pandemic challenges may exacerbate annual shortages
of regular and substitute teachers.

Providing teachers with compensation commensurate with that of other
similarly educated professionals is not simply a matter of fairness
but is necessary to improve educational outcomes and foster future
economic stability of workers, their families, and communities across
the U.S.

[link removed]

KEY FINDINGS

* INFLATION-ADJUSTED AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES OF TEACHERS HAVE BEEN
RELATIVELY FLAT SINCE 1996. The average weekly wages of public school
teachers (adjusted only for inflation) increased just $29 from 1996 to
2021, from $1,319 to $1,348 (in 2021 dollars). In contrast,
inflation-adjusted weekly wages of other college graduates rose from
$1,564 to $2,009 over the same period—a $445 increase.
* THE RELATIVE TEACHER WAGE PENALTY GREW TO A RECORD HIGH IN
2021. It was 23.5% in 2021, up from 6.1% in 1996. The penalty for men
rose from 18.6% to 35.2% over that period. Women had a slight wage
premium of 1.3% in 1996 but faced a wage penalty of 17.1% in 2021.

* THE BENEFITS ADVANTAGE FOR TEACHERS HAS NOT BEEN ENOUGH TO OFFSET
THE GROWING WAGE PENALTY. The teacher total compensation penalty was
14.2% in 2021 (a 23.5% wage penalty offset by a 9.3% benefits
advantage). The bottom line is that the teacher total compensation
penalty grew by 11.5 percentage points from 1993 to 2021. 
* THE RELATIVE TEACHER WAGE PENALTY EXCEEDS 20% IN 28
STATES. Teacher weekly wage penalties estimated for each state range
from 3.4% in Rhode Island to 35.9% in Colorado. In 28 states, teachers
are paid less than 80 cents on the dollar earned by similar
college-educated workers in those states.

TEACHERS’ WEEKLY WAGES HAVE REMAINED RELATIVELY FLAT FOR 25 YEARS

[link removed]
Economic Policy Institute [[link removed]]
225 Eye St. NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC xxxxxx
Phone: 202-775-8810 • [email protected]

 

"SOME ARE TRYING TO INFLAME THOSE PEOPLE"  --  CARTOON BY DUFF JONES

 

"There is a sub-group of Americans who are very angry"
Duff Jones
2018
After the El Paso shooting a political cartoon of Duff Moses is
spreading all over the world. Although he drew it back in 2018, it is
still relevant. In „Cicero
[[link removed] ]“
he talks about destructive power words can have

INTERVIEW WITH DUFF MOSES August 6, 2019
Cicero
[[link removed] ]
(Germany)

MR. DUFF MOSES, YOUR POLITICAL CARTOON HAS BEEN SHARED ALL OVER THE
WORLD IN SOCIAL NETWORKS SINCE THE CRUEL TERROR ATTACK IN EL PASO,
TEXAS. WHAT DO WE SEE IN YOUR DRAWING?
We are standing behind a flaming matchstick that is apparently
speaking to a crowd of angry bombs.

THE FLAMING MATCHSTICK LOOKS VERY SIMILAR TO A PERSON WHICH IS KNOWN
VERY WELL ALL OVER THE WORLD, RIGHT?
I leave that to your interpretation.

SO, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SHOW US WITH THAT CARTOON?
I think, what I was trying to express, was the ability of demagogues
to insight the fears and angers of many people.

YOUR CARTOON IS FROM 2018. WHAT EVENT MADE YOU THINKING ABOUT DRAWING
IT?
It was an emotional response to the events in Charlottesville,
Virginia. I drew the cartoon very quickly. And yes, I was very
emotional, when I did it.

WHERE HAS IT BEEN PUBLISHED FIRST?
Only on my Facebook page and on my Instagram account.

WHY YOU WERE DRAWING TRUMPS LISTENERS AS BOMBS? IS EVERY TRUMP VOTER
POTENTIALLY EXPLOSIVE?
Obviously every voter in the United States who supports the current
administration is not a public danger. But there is a sub-group of
Americans who are very angry. And some are trying to inflame those
people for their own political interests

WHY DO YOU THINK, PEOPLE ARE ANGRY LIKE YOUR DRAWN BOMBS?
Let me say this. I believe that the current regime that is controlling
the United States represents the interests of the corporations and the
oligarchs who has successfully misdirected the angry white voting
block. By providing them with a false enemy to fear rather than
focusing on them, the real villains who has been offshoring their jobs
and reducing the social safe nets any modern economy depends on to
compete in the world market

IT IS AN IMPORTANT CURRENT QUESTION ALSO IN GERMANY. DO YOU THINK
WORDS CAN CAUSE PHYSICAL VIOLENCE?
I do believe that.

WHY IS THAT?
Because it has been shown to work very successfully. And Germans
should know this better than anybody else, how well that technique can
succeed.

DO YOU THINK, THE PRESIDENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN
EL PASO?
I think that the rhetorics that has being used in todays’ political
discourse are potentially very dangerous. And that worries me
terribly.

SOME HOURS AGO THE PRESIDENT HELD A SPEECH ABOUT THE SHOOTINGS. HE
SAID, HATE HAD NO PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT
THESE WORDS, SPOKEN BY HIM?
From the presidents lips to gods ears. Will you draw a cartoon about
El Paso? I think that my cartoon will be sufficient for El Paso and
other incidents.

 

UPDATED RESOURCE - U.S. FOREIGN POLICY HISTORY & RESOURCE GUIDE

 

Composite portrait:  (top) President George W. Bush aboard the USS
Abraham Lincoln announces the end of major combat in Iraq, May 1, 2003
(Stephen Jaffe, AFP); (middle right) U.S. Marines arrest Iraqi council
members (hooded) in Baghdad, Nov. 2, 2004 (Anja Niedringhaus, AP);
(bottom) Mosul’s Old City neighborhood reduced to ruins by U.S.
bombardments in a campaign against ISIS, July 14, 2017 (Andrea
Dicenzo, AFP)
Imagine if Belgium had been ruthlessly attacked by terrorists as the
United States had been on September 11, 2001.  Would Belgium have
launched two wars against other nations?  Not likely.  Not being a
military superpower, Belgium would have turned to the United Nations
and sought assistance from other countries, building an international
coalition to neutralize terrorist groups through intelligence sharing
and police cooperation.  This was an option for the United States as
well, but the George W. Bush administration had a larger agenda beyond
counterterrorism.

The U.S. “war on terror,” announced by President Bush on September
20, 2001, served some of the same functions as the Cold War against
“communism” (1946-1991).  It provided an overarching
justification for U.S. global power projection and hegemony, bolstered
U.S. military spending and the “imperial presidency,” and
refurbished national myths of grandeur and “exceptionalism.” The
Pentagon’s National Security Strategy of 2002 stated that U.S.
military forces must be “strong enough to dissuade potential
adversaries from pursuing a military-build-up in hopes of surpassing,
or equaling, the power of the United States.” That is the definition
of global hegemony.

Maintaining U.S. hegemony required an extensive network of military
bases and installations abroad – some 800 as of 2022 – along with
numerous military partnerships.  According to the Costs of War
Project at Brown University:  “From 2018 to 2020, the United States
government undertook what it labeled ‘counterterrorism’ activities
in 85 countries.”  In thirteen of those countries – Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Libya,
Cameroon, Niger, and Tunisia – U.S. personnel were engaged in some
form of combat, drone strikes, special forces missions, or planning
and control operations.  The U.S. conducted joint military exercises
in 41 countries and training operations in 79.  In 2021, U.S.
military expenditures totaled $801 billion (not including veterans’
health care costs), constituting 38 percent of $2,113 billion in
global military expenditures, far more than any other nation.  The
U.S. was also the world’s largest arms dealer, accounting for 39
percent of major arms deliveries worldwide between 2017 and 2021.

This multi-part essay reviews and analyzes U.S. foreign policies in
the two decades following the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on the
United States.  The next section (Section II) outlines five
operational missions undertaken by the U.S. in the name of
counterterrorism, ranging from the necessary protection of the
American people to unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. While it
is widely known that the Bush administration made false claims in the
lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, it is less well known
that the administration rejected opportunities to negotiate a peaceful
settlement in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001.

Section III examines the themes and arguments used to frame and sell
the “war on terror” to the American people, beginning with a
review of historical antecedents.  To a large degree, the Bush
administration’s “war on terror” followed the playbook of the
Reagan administration’s “war on terrorism” in the 1980s, but
with greater effect.

Sections IV and V examine the conduct and costs of the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively.  Both wars devolved into
long-term occupations with harsh counterinsurgency measures resulting
in large numbers of civilian casualties. Section VI surveys U.S.
global counterterrorist operations, which included extrajudicial
rendition (kidnapping), indefinite detention (holding prisoners
without trial), torture, and assassination of suspected terrorists by
armed drones, all of which violated international humanitarian laws,
undermined cooperation with other nations, and were largely
ineffective.

Section VII surveys various aspects of the “homefront,” including
veteran issues, government surveillance, anti-Muslim prejudice, and
peace protests and politics.  The last section probes what lessons
may be learned from America’s misadventures and suggests
alternatives to Pax Americana.

The purpose of this commercial-free educational website is to provide
an accessible, accurate, principled, and resource-rich history of
United States foreign policy.  The website was launched in October
2015 by Roger Peace, author of the Home page.  The Historians for
Peace and Democracy became a sponsor the following month, and the
Peace History Society, in June 2016.

The HISTORIANS FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY
[[link removed]] (formerly Historians Against
the War) was founded in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq War. “As
historically minded activists, scholars, students, and teachers, we
stand opposed to wars of aggression, military occupations of foreign
lands, and imperial efforts by the United States and other powerful
nations to dominate the internal life of other countries.”

The PEACE HISTORY SOCIETY [[link removed]] is
dedicated to peace research and education. “The Peace History
Society was founded in 1964 to encourage, and coordinate national and
international scholarly work to explore and articulate the conditions
and causes of peace and war, and to communicate the findings of
scholarly work to the public.”

 

HISTORY REVEALED: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ DAY - SEPTEMBER 15 (EAST SIDE
FREEDOM LIBRARY)

 

_Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Traditions & Celebrations_
Dr. Kate Phillips

_History Revealed_ Series
Thursday, September 15, 2022, 7:00 pm CDT

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY & ROSEVILLE
LIBRARY
Live presentation on Zoom
Register in advance for this meeting, REGISTER ON ZOOM HERE.
[[link removed]]
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing
information about joining the meeting.
For questions, please email [email protected]

The second Monday in October is a day to honor Native American people,
their histories, and cultures. People mark the day with food, dancing,
and songs. Dr. Kate Phillips will share the history and the multiple
traditions that this holiday can have, and how it can be celebrated in
all with family and friends in many ways.

Dr. Katrina Phillips is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake
Superior Ojibwe. She earned her BA and PhD in History from the
University of Minnesota, and she teaches Native American history and
the history of the American West at Macalester College.

MAKING MINNESOTA: NATIVES, SETTLERS, MIGRANTS, AND IMMIGRANTS
The Ramsey County Historical Society, in partnership with the East
Side Freedom Library, the Ramsey County Roseville Library and other
community organizations, will present a series of programs and events
during 2022 that will center on the experiences of indigenous people,
African Americans, and immigrants in Ramsey County from the 1800s
through the current day. programs which focus on the too often lost,
erased, forgotten or misrepresented histories and stories of Ramsey
County and the state of Minnesota. We expect these presentations to
enrich and complicate our understanding of the development of the
county and the state that we call home.

East Side Freedom Library [[link removed]]
1105 Greenbrier Street
St. Paul, MN 55106
651.207.4926
 

* Readers Comments
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* Donald Trump
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* FBI raid
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* 2022 Elections
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* GOP
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* Starbucks
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* Starbucks Workers United
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* Florida
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* Ron DeSantis
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* Teachers
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* Education
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* JetBlue Airways
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* airlines
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* Flight Attendants
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* U.S. foreign policy
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* Cartoons
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* resources
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* Announcements
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* Indigenous peoples
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*
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INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

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