Ah, the "independent contractor" economy. "Drivers delivering parcels for online retail giant Amazon often work more hours than is legally allowed and earn below the national minimum wage, an undercover reporter has claimed… In order to meet the company’s expectations, some van drivers said they felt compelled to break speed limits and urinate and defecate in their vehicles." How's the Brexit working out for you all? (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
The jobs aren't coming back, because they (except for some notable sectors like clothing) never really left. "But the decades-long decline of U.S. manufacturing employment and the highly automated nature of the sector’s recent revitalization should also be high on the list of explanations. The former is an unmistakable source of the working-class rage that helped get Trump elected. The latter is the main reason Trump won’t be able to 'make America great again' by bringing back production jobs." We make more now (in monetary terms, adjusted for inflation) than we ever did. We're just doing it with fewer people. (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)
But there are a lot of people who don't believe that. And they think Trump will bring their jobs "back" or revitalize "coal". Sorry, folks, it really isn't happening. And you just voted to hand even more power the fuckers who created the economic incentives to move your jobs to automation, or start new industries that obsoleted the ones you're eating to get jobs in. They're also the assholes who are going to cut your safety net (reduce jobs training, SNAP, Medicaid/Medicare, etc).
"A Republican state lawmaker is proposing a bill that would allow authorities to charge protesters with committing 'economic terrorism.'" I'm sure they would only use this law in the most judicial and reserved way. Not. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"Still trailing his Democratic challenger by about 5,000 votes, Gov. Pat McCrory (R) on Thursday announced 50 new elections complaints alleging that votes were cast by people who were either dead, convicted felons, or had already voted." So I guess strict voter ID laws don't actually work then.
It's the new administration's playbook, "No, I didn't say that, I'm shocked you brought it up, it's all the media's fault anyway." Get used to it, I expect it to be used often.
"Trump supporters have started asking for their Starbucks drinks under Trump's name as a movement against the coffee giant… After a viral video showing a Trump supporter yelling at a barista gained traction on Wednesday, other supporters have banded together to protest what they view as political and anti-white discrimination." Dear sweet baby Cthulhu, talk about your victimization mentality. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"'An explanation of climate change from a Nobel Prize-winning physicist looks exactly the same on your Facebook page as the denial of climate change by somebody on the Koch brothers’ payroll,' (President) Obama said. 'And the capacity to disseminate misinformation, wild conspiracy theories, to paint the opposition in wildly negative light without any rebuttal—that has accelerated in ways that much more sharply polarize the electorate and make it very difficult to have a common conversation.'"
"Perhaps nowhere is that possibility more obvious than Trump’s newly renovated hotel a few blocks from the White House, on Pennsylvania Avenue. Rooms sold out quickly for the inauguration, many for five-night minimums priced at five times the normal rate, according to the hotel’s manager." The Presidency as product placement opportunity. And he hasn't even taken the oath of office yet. (Grokked from Ann Leckie)
A tweet storm on how the poor, rural poor actually see themselves. Living among them, and having come from working class poor, yes, this. The resonance of Calvinism that runs through our cultural zeitgeist is incredibly strong. (Grokked from Fred Clark)
"Park dedicated to Adam MCA Yauch vandalized with pro-Trump swastikas." Pro-Trump swastikas. Pro-Trump. Swastikas. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"'Vice President Elect Pence, welcome,' he read. 'Thank you for joining us at Hamilton-An American Musical. We are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights. We hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values, and work on behalf of all of us.'… President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter to say that Pence was "harassed" at the show by the cast… Dixon replied to Trump's tweet, telling the President-elect that 'conversation is not harassment.'… It's unclear is Pence heard the statement, as Dixon noted Pence was walking out before he spoke." I think what they're mostly upset about here is the audience responding to a lot of the song/story plots which seem relevant and antithetical to the political believes of the president and vic-president elect.
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