Shares of the Week: The Fled Cruz, The Last Responder Edition
Gig Workers are People Too
Uber drivers are workers not self-employed, Supreme Court rules UK - If your business model requires you to pay substandard wages and no benefits to your workers, you have a shitty business model and don’t deserve to exist. It remains to be seen if Uber will abandon the UK with their tails between their legs or choose to actually treat their workers as human beings.
When Hell Freezes Over
AOC, Beto O'Rourke Raise $5 Million for Texas, Dems Staff Houston Food Bank - While some who were actually elected by Texans may try to escape to Mexico as their people suffer in crisis, others like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez travel toward the disaster to offer their fellow Americans much-needed assistance. This is what public service, and patriotism, looks like.
Rick Perry Suggests Texans Voluntarily Go Without Heat to Fend Off Scourge of Socialism - Texas is looking more like a failed state than a libertarian’s utopia lately. Could it perhaps be due to their refusal to prepare their state for worsening climate change by investing in resilient public infrastructure for their people? Nah, it’s gotta be the fault of those “socialists” in California.
Taking the Money Out of Space
Billionaires Want to Be the Gatekeepers of the Solar System - There is nothing fun, imaginative, or ethical about the prospect of space being explored and colonized for the sole purpose of enriching a few people back on Earth. It seems like we need a reminder that the Elon Musks and Jeff Bezos of the universe were the villains in fiction - not the other way around. Any space exploration should be directed by democratic processes back on Earth, with companies like SpaceX working for the long-term needs of all humans and not just for the short-term profits of their shareholders or the egos of their bosses, otherwise we are doomed to a future that myriad tales warned us about.
Bonus: Perhaps We Should Regulate Deranged Billionaires Like Elon Musk - What could go wrong with one man controlling 30% (and counting) of Earth's satellites?
The Cult of Ignorance
Tory MP Cheryl Gallant accused of peddling ‘deranged conspiracy theories’ by Liberals - Trumpist intellectual dishonesty and conspiracy theories continues to spread into Canada with Conservatives now accusing Liberals of being both elitist and Marxist. The only thing more idiotic than the assertion that the ruling neoliberal party in Canada is Marxist in any way, is the associating of those same supposed-socialists with the elites, despite those two camps being the polar opposite of each other. Conservatives sure aren’t sending their best people.
Exploiting Workers
Ford, In the Middle of a Deadly Pandemic, Calls Paid Sick Days a ‘Waste of Taxpayers Money' Ontario - This is what modern conservatives think of any proven method to reduce poverty. The rich that bankroll their campaigns continue to rake it in while our society's most vulnerable are left to go at it alone, with many having to choose between their jobs and their health. That is the real waste.
Bonus: Ford rejects calls to apologize after comparing Horwath's criticism to 'nails on a chalkboard' - This gaslighting is exactly what conservatives want you to think of their official opposition. Instead of absolutely-necessary critiques of government for the sake of democracy, they want you to think the opposition is unpatriotic and incompetent, allowing them to avoid accountability and project their own inadequacies on to those who aren’t in power.
Many Americans, especially families, can’t live on a $15 minimum wage - The only thing radical about a $15 minimum wage is that it would actually fall well short of a livable wage for most Americans. The American economy will not recover unless more money is put in the hands of its workers, and a poor American economy is bad for Canada, where we aren't doing much better in terms of economic equity and livable wages.
Pedro Gonzalez: The CONSERVATIVE case for 15 dollar minimum wage USA YouTube - I loathe modern conservative politics but genuine conservative ideology isn’t always as terrible. Many conservatives still believe in family values. A higher minimum wage would allow our most vulnerable workers to work less jobs and spend more time with their families. So why are conservatives so against a livable wage?
The Police State
New Massachusetts Law Paves the Way for Police-Free Schools - I don’t think seeing cops on a regular basis is something we should strive for as a society, especially for children. All this does is normalize the police's presence in their lives making it that much easier for an authoritarian state to take hold, which is the opposite of what we should strive for in a free, safe, and democratic society. At the least, more money should be put into resources that actually helps students like teacher's assistants, nurses, social workers, and psychotherapists, instead of resources that criminalize and control them.
Chinese spyware code was copied from America's NSA: researchers - This is exactly what happens when backdoors are built into encryption schemes. All it does is make it easier for bad actors to compromise our communications and data, while making things less safe and secure for everyone.
Israel destroys Irish aid to Palestinian village community - Israel is an American-funded, colonial, apartheid state who's war crimes are being ignored by most of the Western world. What is happening to the Palestinian people is a tragedy and the fear of being labeled an anti-Semite is preventing real action from being taken against the violent, authoritarian Israeli regime. The Palestinian people deserve better.
Death Announcements
Limbaugh obituaries show the mainstream media still fawning over the people who poisoned politics - Rush can be credited for being a significant factor in the spread of the conspiracy theories and divisiveness that is plaguing the United States and throughout the world with his framing of conservatives as victims of what he calls liberal ideology. He was was an angry, vengeful, pathetic excuse of a human being who wanted the freedom to denigrate any group he wished to without consequence. The world is a better place without this despicable bag of fatty-meat who once celebrated the death of gay men to AIDS. Rest in piss, asshole.
