Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home
Florida has a real chance to turn the governorship and some legislative seats blue this year. Because Florida is one of the worst states for employees in the nation, a change in leadership means an opportunity to change some of the worst anti-employee laws. And in my opinion the worst of the anti-employee Florida laws is our noncompete law. Massachusetts, after years of wrangling, finally passed a
I see scenarios where employees leave work early for entirely sane reasons. For instance: They are threatened by a coworker or customer and feel unsafe They are so upset by a confrontation with management or a coworker that they are crying They are sexually harassed They are called racial, ethnic, or other discriminatory names Yet in each of these circumstances, I also see employers claim the empl
After a storm, I usually get lots of calls and emails about employers making employees work in conditions they deem unsafe. In general, you don't have to work in unsafe conditions, so I'm re-posting this for those affected by Florence. Here's what OSHA says about workplace safety: You have the right to a safe workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) was passed to prevent
It's time, unfortunately, to re-run this popular and necessary column. I hope you make out okay in Hurricane Florence and suffer no damage. However, you may be wondering if you're getting paid. Whether you’re entitled to be paid when the office is closed depends on whether you are “exempt” salaried or not. Just being salaried doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t entitled to overtime. It’s possible
Syria Comment
David Lesch The Game Above the Game by David W. Lesch For Syria Comment – Sept 21, 2018 The various combatants in and around Idlib seem to have hit the pause button for the time being. What just a short time ago appeared to be an imminent onslaught by Russian and Iranian supported Syrian government forces to take back one of the last areas outside of the control of Damascus, accompanied by widesp
The Duck of Minerva
The school year is off to a great start, and we wanted to thank our previous slate of guest Ducks and welcome some new guests. Thanks to all of our guests from last year. Lisa Gaufman and Dillon Tatum are staying on as guests, and we are delighted that our partnership with Bridging the Gap will continue with the BtG channel. We also have a fantastic slate of new guests Ducks including Jill Hazelt
Vice President Pence recently pressured the US agency for international development (USAID) to appoint a special liaison to Iraqi Christians. This may not capture the same headlines as the Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination fight or the new NAFTA, but it could have significant—and unexpected—implications for Middle East stability. Pence’s move was part of a year-long fight over US aid policy towa
Great opportunity to donate in memory of a beloved scholar of African politics. The Lee Ann Fujii Minority Fellows Program Travel Grants will help up to 15 scholars from underrepresented backgrounds get to APSA each year, 2019-2023. Details: #APSA2018 pic.twitter.com/0eUgcg3vsQ — Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) August 31, 2018 This is a guest post by Lahoma Thomas, a doctoral candidate in the Departm
I woke up to find a piece that castigates the academic world for being ignorant about the armed forces . My reaction was: I love how broad this brush is. “I talked to some folks who are profs and they say some dumb stuff, so let’s suggest that this is a broader thing” Confirmation bias much? https://t.co/jWhcaniD2B — Steve Saideman (@smsaideman) September 20, 2018 Tom Ricks, who posted this quest
This post comes from Dr. Fabiana Sofia Perera , Assistant Research Fellow at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies and a 2016 alumna of Bridging the Gap’s New Era Workshop . Defense Secretaries from the countries of the western hemisphere will convene in Cancun, Mexico next month to talk about the most pressing issues facing defense and security institutions in the Americas.
There is a spat of ecumenical proportions brewing in the Eastern hemisphere: Patriarch Krill of Russia stopped praying for the Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. The reason for that is simple: the patriarch of Constantinople is rumored to consider granting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church an autocephalous status that would potentially carve out a third of Russian Orthodox Church curacies sever
The High-fat Hep C Diet
An RCT paper claiming to show harmful effects of a low-carb diet passed briefly over the internet on the weekend before being shot down in flames. The title is: Long‐term health effects of the three major diets under self‐management with advice, yields high adherence and equal weight loss, but very different long‐term cardiovascular health effects as measured by myocardial perfusion imaging and s
One of the great mysteries of nutrition is the behaviour of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). They often look good in the kind of sloppy epidemiology used to drive or latterly protect dietary guidelines*, are more ambiguous in RCTs, and can easily be shown to have deleterious effects in a number of specific medical and experimental conditions that might be expected to have a "canary in the coa
The Straight Goods
Written by Grant G Time for a Straight Goods look at the LNG Canada deal.... Justin Trudeau and the stranger known as John Horgan were quick to plant their faces in as many smiling photo-ops possible...all taking credit for "Canada's largest ever private sector investment" .. Funny stuff indeed....The project itself got federal approval many years ago under Stephen Harper, the project received ta
Written by Grant I and many others had high hopes for Rachel Notley when she got elected and became Alberta's premier....not quite four years ago, though it seems like ages ago to me.. We here at The Straight Goods wrote flattering things about NDP Rachel Notley when she was vying to be premier...I was impressed with her platform, her stated goals, in fact before even being elected she stated tha
JUSTIN TRUDEAU KNOWS THERE IS A GOD… AND HE KNOWS THAT GOD IS A LIBERAL Written by Robin Mathews Sweating a little before the cameras, Justin Trudeau saw that Andrew Scheer was becoming ‘reasonable’. BUT HE IS NOT the much more strange creature thrown up (“thrown up”?) by the Conservative Hordes … Stephen Harper … who wrested all power from ‘Progressive Conservatives’, then pulled Rightest admire
The View from Taiwan
" ...But we have crossed millions of miles of nothingness. We have visited another world. And our Locar had said `Why bother? What is the worth of it? It is all vanity, anyhow.' And the secret is," I lowered my voice, as at a poetry reading, "he was right! It is vanity, it is pride!""You will say to them in Warwickshire: Eh, he wor a wonderly fine candle?" I should have been a pair of ragged cla
thwap's schoolyard
This is a good essay from commondreams.org: "No, Capitalism Will Not Save the Climate" by Karin Nansen . We are facing deep-rooted climate, social, and environmental crises. The current dominant economic system cannot provide solutions. It is time for system change. For Friends of the Earth International this means creating societies based on peoples’ sovereignty and environmental, social, econom
What Is Sustainable
[Note: I’m going to be posting a series of rough draft sections from the book I’m working on. The plan is two per month. My blog is also home to reviews of 196 books, and more than a dozen of my rants. Feel free to wander.] Introduction I’ve been waking up with the ravens lately, around 5:30. They celebrate each new day with enthusiasm, jabbering joyfully in the treetops. Then they take wing and
Note: I need to devote more time to my upcoming book, now known as Wild Free & Happy . The following is Jim Minter’s review of James Howard Kunstler’s book, Home from Nowhere . It was posted over 20 years ago (5 December 1996) on the e-design website. This was back when the Peak Oil movement still lived in caves. Oddly, most of the essay could have been written in 2018. America’s fanatical addict
It is the Year of the Mookie. 108 wins. Eight games up. 11 wins to go. That is all.
Yesterday was Orange Shirt Day . October 1 through 7 is First Nations Public Library Week in Canada. I'll write more about this soon. For now, a book review from a few years back: what i'm reading: indian horse by richard wagamese, a must-read, especially for canadians .
Our Ontario trip was a mixed bag of ups and downs, but mostly ups. Everything is pretty good with some not-so-good mixed in. Traveling with Diego. We loved it! It was so much fun having us with him all the time, and seeing him so happy and content. Downside: Traveling with a dog can be a bit limiting. We had planned to leave him alone while we explored Sudbury and Thunder Bay, but when we were act
We're going glamping! Allan, Diego, and I are hitting the road -- in this: Going here: Killarney Provincial Park Lake Superior Provincial Park Sleeping Giant Provincial Park Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park Pancake Bay Provincial Park Grundy Lake Provincial Park Plus quick visits to Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, and Thunder Bay. Hike, grill, explore. Watch dogs play on beaches. Read. Keep an eye on the
In July, I wrote that we planned to get rid of our LP collection. Well, the deed is done. We turned this into this First Round then this What's left: classical, soundtracks, CD box sets, and albums Allan didn't want to part with (front). and finally, this. We got much more money than we expected, thanks to the honesty and integrity of Lincoln Stewart. * * * * For the most part, the business of bu
5 October 2018, Rosa Khutor, Russian Federation: The 70 th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) concluded today. The global spotlight now turns to the 18 th meeting of the Conference of Parties in Colombo, Sri Lanka in May 2019, where the bulk of the decisions and outcomes of this meeting will be confirmed
02 October 2018, Rosa Khutor, Russian Federation : Parties to the Standing Committee to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES), have clearly and firmly stated that Japan is in violation of the convention. Japan has been catching sei whales, allegedly for purposes of scientific research, and selling the meat and blubber in domestic retail market
Today's decision allowing countries complicit in the illegal ivory trade to withdraw from the National Ivory Action Plans (NIAPs) process deals a severe blow to international elephant conservation efforts 01 October 2018, Rosa Khutor, Russian Federation : The 70th meeting of the Standing Committee to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) got o
Governments, International Organisations and Civil Society meet in Russia to make key decisions on wildlife trade 01 October 2018, Rosa Khutor, Russian Federation : The Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) today opened for the 70th time in Rosa Khutor in the Russian Federation. The five-day meeting of the delegated gover
Three newly released reports paint a complex picture of China's ivory market post ban; with sales 'on the street' slowing, the same cannot be said for overseas travellers and auction houses. 1. China's Ivory Market after the Ivory Trade Ban in 2018. 2. Demand under the Ban - China Ivory Consumption Research Post-Ban 2018. 3. China's Ivory Auction Market: A comprehensive analysis of legislation, h
Tokyo, Japan, 13th September 2018 - Yahoo Japan is the single biggest online platform for elephant ivory sales in Japan, according to a new TRAFFIC investigation, which recorded a staggering 4,414 ivory items plus 35 whole tusks for sale over a four-week period in June and July 2018. The latest findings were revealed today in System Error, Reboot Required: Review of online ivory trade in Japan ,
A Different Perspective
Just a couple of things to clear up after the season finale of Treasure Quest . Just a couple of questions that I have about the show, or a couple of comments about what we saw. First, if I understood it right, one of them mentioned they had spent two months in the wrong place. They had talked to the last man living who had actually looked for the treasure and he told them that he thought it was
Late last night (October 2) I received a comment to my last post about Treasure Quest (which now has Snake Island appended to it again). Todo Segalla suggested he had seen the October 5 episode and that, according to him, they had found the treasure. He wrote, “Kevin They found the treasure. I saw the episode that airs Oct. 5, they found the cave… using the drone they located another hill with a
As you all know, I have been looking at the Socorro UFO landing case and in the last couple of weeks published an article about it. In that article, I mentioned that a fellow, Kevin Ashley, had heard a solution for the case from an engineer who had attended school at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in 1964. His story, though a bit hard to believe was that he and a pal had been r
A couple of weeks ago we were all told, alerted to the fact really, that the Del Rio UFO crash of the mid-1950s had been validated. New information had been mentioned to George Knapp during his hosting duties on Coast-to-Coast . Dr. Eric Davis had made the comment. But what did he actually say? Knapp, during their discussion, said, “That makes it sound like there is something to analyze or revers
I now know more about the barrel launching Bruno R (name left out of the original post that Dave Thomas put on his website at: http://www.nmsr.org/socorro.htm ). Tony Bragalia, working with a little information that I supplied and searching through other sources, was able to speak with Bruno in an attempt to corroborate Kevin Ashley’s story at Thomas’s site. Bruno said that he did not remember re
Well folks, last night (September 28) was maybe the worst of the episodes but only for what it revealed about the great treasure hunt. They penetrated another tunnel, or in this case a cave, filled with toxic chemicals thanks to the vampire bats, and found nothing . They reached the dead end, avoiding the bats by shining their lights down so as not to disturb them. Oh, and they created a huge air
A Very Public Sociologist
In his fun safari of the exotic and befuddled fauna at Conservative Party conference, Owen Jones argued this was a gathering devoid of ideas and lacking all purpose. Yet among the despondency, he warned against Labour complacency. As the most successful liberal democratic party in the Western world, it would be high folly to simply write them off. And he's right. But also, a proven track record o
While the divided Tories meet in Birmingham to argue over who's going to take over from Theresa May and the Brexit morass of their own making, it's worth spending a little time considering some of the divisions that surfaced during Labour conference inside the Corbyn project. In particular, I'm talking about the tension between Corbynism and the trade unions - a relationship that has hitherto bee
Death is in the air argues Richard Seymour in his write up of Tory party conference. Even before Theresa May takes to the podium for what could be the last time, malaise hangs heavy and cluelessness, if not defeat, is the tone. For the hard Brexiteers, who've hardly distinguished themselves these last few days with energetic interventions from the fringes, despair arrests them as it increasingly
Funky philosophers of social complexity, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari wrote a great deal on the schizoid character of contemporary(ish) capitalism. By this they meant the brazen and stark manifestation of jarring juxtapositions. Consider the declining salience of sexism and racism developing alongside the recrudescence of toxic masculinities and the growing number of hate incidents, for exam
Imitation is the highest form of flattery. It’s also a sure fire way of making money, especially if you’re in the business of video games. Watching how Nintendo were basically able to print money with the releases of their NES and SNES classic consoles, for Sony to not follow suit an original PlayStation plug-in would be an opportunity missed. After all, their console sold much better than either
30 days. 22 posts. Which proved to be the most popular among the internet-travelling public who alighted upon this place? 1. Can Blairism Win Back the Labour Party? 2. The Lady With the Red Hair 3. Smearing Michael Foot 4. Our Decadent Tory Elite 5. No Second Referendum Blairism. Our scurrilous media. Secret service shenanigans. Imploding Tories. Remainiac fantasies. Yup, another very political m
Adrienne's Corner
until I read the Epistle for today. It is my habit on Sunday to study the readings for today's Mass before attending. We have all experienced a most horrific week in the history of our great country. We are understandably angry and at the same time sad. To witness grown men and women act in such a despicable manner was shocking to many of us. Forcing a man of integrity to discuss his virginity an
thank you Kurt Schlichter. Amazon: Donald Trump is only the beginning of a mighty disruption in American politics and culture, thanks to the rise of the militant Normals in America. They built this country, they make it run, and when called on, they fight for it. They are the heart and soul of the United States of America, They are the Normals, the regular Americans of all races, creeds, preferen
is puzzling. Didn't all these feminist women back in the 60's who spawned the current crop of feminists want to "have it all." I seem to recall that birth control was going to make having sex, often with a rat pack of different partners, all nice and safe. And then they got the right to abort their unwanted "product of conception." Woohoo! Life just kept getting better for them. Now suddenly they
with a couple of, like, really, you know, like annoying like commie/marxist/libtard millennials, with like, annoying and ignorant sounding vocal fry , and like, a healthy dose of up-speak . Listening to these uneducated, arrogant, and misguided children committing acts of sedition is something that makes my rage-o-meter spike into the stroke zone - and their doing it while we, the taxpayers, pay
we are surprised, why? (Washington DC) Today, Project Veritas released the first installment in an undercover video investigation series unmasking the deep state. This video features a State Department employee, Stuart Karaffa, engaged in radical socialist political activity on the taxpayer’s dime, while advocating for resistance to official government policies. In addition to being a State Depar
ArmsControlWonk
Quote of the week: “Deterrence now means something as a strategic policy only when we are fairly confident that the retaliatory instrument upon which it relies will not be called upon to function at all… In short, we expect the system to be always ready to spring while going permanently unused. Surely there is something …
US Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, made some news. And not in a good way. She was trying to say that the US would develop countervailing capabilities — something that started under the Obama Administration and that almost no one disagrees with. But she mangled the quote and, in doing so, reinforced Russian paranoia …
Andrea is joined again by John Hemmings, Director of Asia Studies at the Henry Jackson Society, to talk about the major developments in North Korea relations during September. They consider Pyongyang’s tamer military parade, examine the optics and outcomes of Moon Jae-in’s trip to North Korea, and look at the way those outcomes are being …
At CNS we are fortunate to have a stellar group of young researchers, who in the course of their research come up with some really interesting insights into the issues we work on. The post below is courtesy of Olivia Vassalotti, one of our DC-based specialists working on North Korea. It’s weird, wonderful and well …
Thailand has ratified the CTBT, while Tuvalu has signed it. It’s hardly front page news, but Jenny Nielsen, a VCDNP alum and now an information officer at the CTBTO, makes the case what we should care. This won’t make headlines—but it should. Thailand ratifies and Tuvalu signs the CTBT! Jenny Nielsen As an Information Officer for …
My colleague Olivia Vassalotti is back with another guest post, this time with an update on the recent activities of Glocom, a North Korean intelligence-linked company selling military communications technology overseas. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in North Korea’s contemporary efforts to access the global defence market, or for those curious about the limits …
CENSORED NEWS
Greetings from the Havasupai InterTribal Gathering. Photo courtesy Ofelia Rivas, O'odham (on right.) Supai Youth Guardian. Photo by Ofelia Rivas. The Havasupai Nation welcomes all to join Supai to oppose uranium mining in their homeland, the Grand Canyon, and celebrate the US Supreme Court decision upholding the 20-year ban on new uranium mining. The gathering at Red Butte, on the south
Watch today's live video on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/brenda.norrell.90
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Watch today's live video on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=444325216090010&id=38422799745
Read article at Mohawk Nation News .http://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2018/10/04/gathering-6-nations-ohswekon-nov-19-23-2018/
Water Protectors Lock Down At Wells Fargo Prior to $1.48 Billion Loan to Enbridge October 4, 2018Contact: Ginew@protonmail.com MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- On Thursday Morning, October 4, water protectors erected a tripod and tipi in front of the Wells Fargo building in protest of an upcoming $1.48 billion