BeckyDem
BeckyDem's JournalTrader Joe's and other US firms suppress unionization efforts during pandemic
As workers become increasingly concerned about workplace safety, employers have been suppressing organizing efforts
4-23-2020
US corporations are cracking down on unionization efforts as workers try to organize under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
Companies, including grocery chains Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, airport concession operators, local authorities and even a furniture company owned by the billionaire Warren Buffett have moved to control efforts to unionize as workers become increasingly concerned about workplace safety during the emergency.
The Trader Joe’s chairman and CEO, Dan Bane, sent a letter to all employees on 31 March opposing labor unions, and calling attempts to recruit staff “a distraction”, the latest in a series of memos and actions taken by the company to suppress union organizing efforts calling for hazard pay and adequate protections for grocery store workers during the pandemic.
“It’s a blatant anti-union letter,” said a Trader Joe’s employee in New Jersey who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “It’s in bad taste and shows the greed this company has instead of taking proactive measures to keep the crew and customers safe.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/labor-unions-trader-joes-workers-coronavirus-us?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1587648213
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Researchers reviewed thousands of gun policy studies and teased out a consensus
The findings on stand-your-ground and child access prevention laws are conclusive, the report says
By
Christopher Ingraham
April 23, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
Gun control discussions often get mired in competing academic claims regarding the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of various policy options.
Do concealed carry laws increase violent crime or make communities safer? Do assault weapon bans reduce mass shootings or do they have no effect? Do background checks reduce homicides and suicides or are they ineffective?
With so many disparate findings swirling about, it can be difficult to determine where the balance of evidence lies. But a new report from Rand Corp., a nonprofit think tank, has distilled reams of gun policy research published since 1995 to tease out the scholarly consensus.
In other words, they’ve waded through thousands of findings so you (and your elected representatives) don’t have to.
( excerpt) First, there was a clear consensus (indicated by three or more high-quality studies in agreement) that stand-your-ground laws, which allow people to use guns to defend themselves in public even if retreating is an option, result in higher overall rates of gun homicide. The higher rates aren’t simply from “bad guys” getting shot; the research shows that the additional deaths created by stand-your-ground laws far surpass the documented cases of defensive gun use in the United States.
There was also a broad consensus that child access prevention laws, which set requirements for how guns must be stored at home, are effective in reducing self-inflicted gun injuries among children and adults.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/23/definitive-guide-which-gun-safety-policies-actually-work/
Juan Gonzlez: "Make No Mistake: This Country Is Edging Closer to Neo-Fascist Authoritarianism"
April 21, 2020
( excerpt ) But, Amy, I wanted to talk about something else which I think is very important. We’re seeing a lot of it now, which is these protests around the country of people demanding an end to the shutdowns that were aimed to stop the spread of the pandemic. And what troubles me most about this is how right-wing extremists are brandishing automatic weapons, and they’ve become regular features of these protests, and with the man in the White House saying nothing to condemn this form of intimidation. And obviously, most of them are Trump supporters.
And I’d like our viewers and listeners to ask themselves a question: If hundreds of African Americans or Latinos showed up in cities around the country brandishing automatic weapons, what would be the response of the country to this? Why is this being almost accepted and normalized now as a method of protest? And my fear is that this will become normalized over the next few months as we head toward a bitter national election. And we should make no mistake, that this country is edging closer and closer to neo-fascist authoritarianism.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Juan, you say the issue of it being almost accepted. It’s not almost. The president, from the bully pulpit of the White House, is encouraging it — right? — saying these are his people.
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/21/juan_gonzalez_coronavirus_update
Rev. Dr.William J.Barber II @RevDrBarber: We should not listen to these governors who want to end
https://twitter.com/RevDrBarber/status/1252645446234845186
How does coronavirus kill? Clinicians trace a ferocious rampage through the body, from brain to toes
( But hey, lets liberate the country, because this is a no big deal pandemic. )
by Meredith Wadman, Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, Jocelyn Kaiser, Catherine Matacic
Apr. 17, 2020 , 6:45 PM
Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.
On rounds in a 20-bed intensive care unit (ICU) one recent day, physician Joshua Denson assessed two patients with seizures, many with respiratory failure and others whose kidneys were on a dangerous downhill slide. Days earlier, his rounds had been interrupted as his team tried, and failed, to resuscitate a young woman whose heart had stopped. All shared one thing, says Denson, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Tulane University School of Medicine. “They are all COVID positive.”
As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 surges past 2.2 million globally and deaths surpass 150,000, clinicians and pathologists are struggling to understand the damage wrought by the coronavirus as it tears through the body. They are realizing that although the lungs are ground zero, its reach can extend to many organs including the heart and blood vessels, kidneys, gut, and brain.
“[The disease] can attack almost anything in the body with devastating consequences,” says cardiologist Harlan Krumholz of Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital, who is leading multiple efforts to gather clinical data on COVID-19. “Its ferocity is breathtaking and humbling.”
Understanding the rampage could help the doctors on the front lines treat the fraction of infected people who become desperately and sometimes mysteriously ill. Does a dangerous, newly observed tendency to blood clotting transform some mild cases into life-threatening emergencies? Is an overzealous immune response behind the worst cases, suggesting treatment with immune-suppressing drugs could help? What explains the startlingly low blood oxygen that some physicians are reporting in patients who nonetheless are not gasping for breath? “Taking a systems approach may be beneficial as we start thinking about therapies,” says Nilam Mangalmurti, a pulmonary intensivist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP).
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/how-does-coronavirus-kill-clinicians-trace-ferocious-rampage-through-body-brain-toes
Rev. Dr.William J. Barber II @RevDrBarber: When people say stupid things, don't get stuck on stupid.
https://twitter.com/RevDrBarber/status/1251610273741508609
What am I missing? Reported on CBS Morning News, so many restaurant owners feeding the poor.
Doing what they can for their workers too, keeping them on their health insurance plans. Reduced the prices on their menus. Arranging curb side pick up etc. Providing free food for shelters and most especially feeding children.
WHERE IS OUR ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE able bodies????? I don't understand, are they helping distribute food instead of people waiting in long lines across the country for a free bag of food! Did I miss where that is happening?
I fucking despise Trump and the Republican Party
Michigan health care worker blasts 'idiots' protesting stay-home order
https://twitter.com/jilevin/status/1250658440395005954
Reich @RBReich: Surprising no one, United will lay off its workers after receiving a $58 billion
https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1250881255912030208How in the world Trump has any supporters who are working class is dumbfounding to me. These people are crooks, period.
Anthony Fauci: White House Coronavirus Briefings Are 'Really Draining'
The infectious disease expert has a big gripe with President Donald Trump’s daily news conferences.
By Ron Dicker
The White House’s daily coronavirus briefings are wearing out one of its star attractions, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Fauci, a top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday that the televised news conferences with President Donald Trump are “important,” but a time-suck. (See the video below.)
“The downtime that we have there is really draining,” Fauci told The Associated Press in the clip. He described the waiting around, the preparation, the lengthy briefings themselves and the late hours he’s been keeping to perform other aspects of his job.
“Being there, to be able to answer the questions of the media, I think is really important,” Fauci said. “Because we’re going through a real public health crisis in our country.”
Fauci did not appear at Tuesday’s briefing. Monday’s nearly 2 1/2-hour session featured Trump blasting reporters and showing a video montage suggesting he took forceful action on the approaching pandemic while the media downplayed it. Many of the briefings have run for hours.
“If I had been able to just make a few comments and then go to work, that would have really been much better,” Fauci said. “It’s the downtime. It isn’t the idea of being there and answering questions, which I really think is important.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anthony-fauci-coronavirus-briefings-draining_n_5e96cd4ac5b6ead1400507a7?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004
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