Linkee-poo late Wednesday Dec 29

Harry Reid and John Madden, and so it goes.

"Write a great book and you're a genius. Turn a book into a great film and you're a visionary. Turn a great film into a book...that's another story… Novelizations of films are regular best-sellers with cult followings -- some are even more beloved than the films that spawned them -- but respected they are not." On the Media podcast about tie-ins. Also, Disney Must Pay.

"Winter storms sweeping parts of the Western U.S. and the Pacific Northwest have brought heavy snow and record low temperatures in some areas — and there's more to come… A winter storm warning continues into Wednesday for parts of the border area of Northern California and Nevada." I'm waiting for the "the drought is over" stories. Hint, no it's not.

"The James Webb Space Telescope, on a long and winding journey to its job site a million miles from Earth, has begun the key task of unfurling a giant umbrella-like shield to protect its delicate instruments from the intense radiation of the sun." "New federal guidance shortening the recommended isolation periods for many infected Americans will provide relief to companies struggling with staffing shortages, businesses said Tuesday, but labor representatives warned that the move could push some employees back to work too soon." Ya think?!

Also, there's this… "What Delta's CEO wanted… Nelson's position is at odds with some airlines leaders. The CDC's decision comes days after Delta Airline's CEO sent Walensky a letter advocating for a shorter isolation period… In the letter, CEO Ed Bastian — along with the airline's medical adviser and chief health officer — asks Walensky to consider shortening the isolation period to five days for those who experience a breakthrough infection." Which is leading to claims that the shortening of the isolation period was more business based than science based.

"Pharmacists are warning of patchy supplies of rapid Covid tests following changes to self-isolation rules… They said demand for lateral flow tests increased after changes allowed people with Covid in England to end isolation after seven days if they test negative… The Association Of Independent Multiple Pharmacies said staff and customers were stressed over the lack of supply." Here too.

"Alarms that the hyper-contagious omicron variant accounted for the vast majority of new COVID-19 infections over the past couple of weeks were significantly overestimated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention… New data released on Tuesday shows that while omicron remains the dominant variant, delta — which is the more severe strain — is still a worrisome driving force behind the current surge." Release the "they don't know what they're talking about" denialists!

"Next year, 26 U.S. states and Washington will raise their minimum wages, but only California and parts of New York will mandate hourly pay of at least $15, according to a report from payroll experts at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S… However, many workers will see more substantial pay increases because their employers chose to raise their pay floor on their own." Let me cal BS here. The Federal Minimum wage is just that, the minimum. Employers should be paying more. The only reason why we have to fight for the minimum is because employers will find every excuse to not pay their employees, and when they do, to pay the least they can get away with. You have to go pretty far down to find that employers are still paying less than $15/hr. And if the minimum wage wasn't $7.25, that pay would be much lower. The only reason they're paying more is because workers are fighting for more, and at the moment, there's more jobs than workers.

"Ohio’s minimum wage is going up on Jan. 1, 2022… The minimum wage will be $9.30. That’s a 50-cent increase from $8.80 for nontipped employees… Employees with tips will get a wage increase of 25-cents to $4.65." Here in Orwell, the local fast food franchises (Dairy Queen, Chicago Subs, etc) pay their counter workers the "tipped" wages (last I had talked with them). How many of you tip your McD's cashier?

"The contractor the worker said he worked under, JC Longoria Castro, was one of two dozen defendants indicted on federal conspiracy charges in October, based on findings from a multi-year investigation into a massive human smuggling and labor trafficking operation based in southern Georgia that extended to Florida and Texas."

Don't believe it can't happen to you? Here's the news room for the US Dept of Labor Wage and Hour Division which investigates wage theft cases.

Can't remember if I posted this before… "Amid the so-called Great Resignation, nearly 39 million Americans have left their jobs. On this week’s On The Media, hear why this trend is a logical response to the cult of work. Plus, when technology makes our jobs harder, maybe being a 'luddite' isn't such a bad thing."

"Returning unwanted gifts this holiday season is becoming so expensive for retailers that they just might let customers keep the products — and issue refunds anyway."

"Historic conservation experts in Virginia have pulled numerous pamphlets, newspapers, coins, bullets and other memorabilia from a copper box found at the site of where a Robert E. Lee statue stood in Richmond… The unboxing on Tuesday came after workers found the time capsule that had eluded them for months — until Monday, when Virginia's governor announced that crews had found 'the time capsule everyone was looking for.' It was placed in the statue's pedestal in 1887."

"Israel’s defense minister approved a raft of measures aimed at improving relations with the Palestinians on Wednesday following a rare meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Israel… Defense Minister Benny Gantz met with Abbas at his private residence in a Tel Aviv suburb late Tuesday night. It was the first time Abbas met an Israeli official inside Israel since 2010. The two discussed security coordination between Israel and Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, which administers pockets of the occupied West Bank." It's a start, but I'm not hopeful yet.

"US and Russian officials have agreed to sit down for security talks on January 10, a spokesman for the US National Security Council confirmed Tuesday, amid tensions over Ukraine… Russia had amassed troops near the Ukraine border over the last few months, which US intelligence has assessed as preparation for a full-scale invasion in early 2022. The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Saturday that 10,000 troops had return to their permanent bases after completing training near the Ukrainian border." How's the Ruble doing these days?

"Demonstrators outside police headquarters in Boynton Beach, Florida, Tuesday night called for the firing of the officer involved in the death of a 13-year old boy on a dirt bike during an attempted traffic stop Sunday, CBS West Palm Beach affiliate WPEC-TV reports. They also pressed for transparency from the department about what happened during the incident."

"A North Carolina police officer shot his 15-year-old son in the head Monday afternoon in an incident that appears to be an accident, officials said." As my friend Jim Wright says, "There are no accidents with firearms."

"Los Angeles Police Department officers urged a colleague who shot and killed a suspect and a teen bystander inside a Burlington Coat Factory to 'slow down' multiple times, body-camera footage released by the department on Monday showed."

"Valentina Orellana-Peralta was with her mother in a clothes shop on 23 December when an officer opened fire on a suspect."

"A gunman who killed five people and injured two others in a series of shootings in Denver is believed to have targeted the victims based on previous personal and business dealings and was investigated by police twice in the last two years… Denver police said that Lyndon James McLeod, 47, who was also killed in the deadly rampage on Monday night, knew most of the victims and was 'on the radar of law enforcement'."

"Text messages obtained by the January 6 commission revealed the panic of Fox News hosts — even as they downplayed the insurrection on camera. On this week’s On the Media, how to hold the news station accountable. Plus, an investigation of the celebrity profile – from the biting to the banal."

"The House select committee investigating January 6 has stood down on its requests for some documents from the Trump White House, after the Biden administration convinced the panel to scale back its pursuits… As a result, the committee won't be getting hundreds of pages of National Security Council records. But the documents may not have been all that helpful, anyway." Note the word "some." They're still getting most of their requests.

"A federal judge refused to dismiss an indictment charging four alleged leaders of the far-right Proud Boys with conspiring to attack the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's electoral victory." Insurrection is not a free speech right.