Historical blessings from the internet of yore.
I chatted with Boeing strikers about this.
The contract proposal was announced on Halloween, with the strikers getting contract details in a conference call that night (while many were either out trick or treating with their kids or otherwise having fun). The vote was scheduled for Monday, the day before a massively monumental election.
They didn’t get the pensions they wanted most. This entire thing was timed for maximum anxiety and distraction.
This is what voter suppression looks like.
I grew up in Missouri before moving to Washington state. When I reached voting age, it was (and still is) ridiculously common to see polling places in rural and suburban areas with no waiting to vote. Meanwhile, in the cities (which happen to vote more democratic), you’ll see loooong lines extending outside. When voting facilities and staff are not proportionally distributed to accommodate voter density, you get shit like this; voters in different districts receiving different treatment. And people who live there never know any better to ask for something different.
This all blew my mind after living first in a suburban area, then an urban one, and now living in a state that has done voting my mail for decades. I love voting by mail. It’s unconcionable to me at this point for people to stand for in-person voting anymore.
Oh oh, don’t forget about vocalization of anti-transgender viewpoints: https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2023/new-york-times-bias-reporting-transgender-people/
The phrase I've seen bandied about for this is "world-class bullshit." Very fitting.
Key pull quote from TFA:
Post chief executive Will Lewis, in an online explanation of the decision, wrote, “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election.”
“We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates,” Lewis wrote.
“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility,” he wrote. “That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects.”
Reposting from elsewhere:
Seattle started the movement for a $15 minimum wage in 2014. It passed and was slowly phased in, finishing the rollout in 2021. It’s also aligned to inflation, so the current minimum wage (in 2024) is $20.76 per hour.
Seattle started the movement for a $15 minimum wage in 2014. It passed and was slowly phased in, finishing the rollout in 2021. It’s also aligned to inflation, so the current minimum wage (in 2024) is $20.76 per hour.
Any minimum wage legislation not tied to inflation is a half measure. Demand what you deserve.
It’s all about results. That said…
Obligatory:
I’m Comic Sans, Asshole by Mike Lacher from McSweeney's Short Imagined Monologues June 15, 2010
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Ahh the New York Times, never missing an opportunity to throw trans folks under the bus.
Gov. Beshear talks a big game about vetoing anti-LGBTQ legislation, but the article they even link to about it points out (in the headline no less) that every one of those vetoes were overruled (and that doing so is trivial in Kentucky). He is describing a pantomime of concern for the queer community, wrapped in dog-whistle language (“all children are children of God”), while functionally doing as little as possible to actually help them.
This is a lesson for despondent Democrats in how they can softly give up on protecting a persecuted community to get what they want.
As a trans person, I agree the Democratic party’s messaging on trans issues has been lackluster and easy to counter.
The kids sports talking point was so effective because is brought up a good point that blanket trans acceptance hadn’t considered. Testosterone is literally a performance enhancing drug, so maybe going through male puberty makes someone ineligible to compete on a women’s team. That sucks, but in the same way that it sucks that other medical conditions would also keep you off the team. Being trans is not a disability, but the disqualification can be a point of disappointment as opposed to actual injustice.
I’m a late-transitioning trans lady, and I’m willing to concede that. These are the kinds of discussions that I’ve had with conservative family members that are very compelling, but they get bulldozed by broad, non-nuanced talking points that the media slaps against one another.
I’m also not a politician or an expert communicator. It is so frustrating that the people I literally rely on to do those jobs for my benefit are doing this so poorly.