Daily Kos: Laura Clawson

Latina Equal Pay Day brought a litany of dismal statistics, this week in the war on workers

Daily Kos Staff

Saturday October 23, 2021 · 3:55 PM PDT

2021/10/23 · 15:55

Latina Equal Pay Day fell on Oct.21 this year. That’s the day when, starting on Jan. 1, 2020, Latina women have finally been paid what white men were paid in 2020 alone. It followed Black Women’s Equal Pay Day on August 3 and Equal Pay Day (averaging all women) on March 24. Latinas are paid 57 cents for every dollar paid to white men, and have to work an extra 294 days to earn the same amount of money. That’s an annual loss of nearly $29,000, and more than $1.1 million over a career. One thing that helps close the gap? Union membership.

The coronavirus pandemic has made things worse. September’s unemployment rate, writes the National Women’s Law Center’s Jasmine Tucker, “means that Latinas are over 1.3 times more likely than white men to be unemployed, and if all the Latinas who have left the labor force since February 2020 returned and were counted as unemployed last month, their unemployment rate would have been 9.3% instead of 5.6%. In September, over one in three Latinas ages 16 and over (36.1%) had been unemployed for 6 months or longer.”

Psaki sets the record straight after McCarthy tries to mislead and confuse on supply chain problems

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday October 21, 2021 · 12:29 PM PDT

2021/10/21 · 12:29

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 27: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gestures as he speaks at a press conference at the Capitol building on August 27, 2021 in Washington, DC. Leader McCarthy said he wants House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to call Congress back in session and to take up legislation that would prevent President Biden from withdrawing troops until every U.S. Citizen is out of Afghanistan. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

The United States is being hit with supply chain problems, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sees an opportunity. Specifically, McCarthy sees an opportunity to draw false connections between supply chain problems and everything he wants to stop Democrats from doing, with a side order of lying about legislation Democrats are trying to pass. White House press secretary Jen Psaki really didn’t even have to try to knock that one down.

In a long letter addressed to President Joe Biden but really intended to be quoted on Fox News and OAN, McCarthy repeatedly tried to link supply chain problems—which are a complicated result of pandemic shutdowns, pandemic shifts in demand, and decades of just-in-time manufacturing and supply, among other things—to legislation that Democrats haven’t even passed yet. Maybe his most hilariously dishonest move comes in the letter’s very first paragraph, where he claimed that “Republicans have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to work on bipartisan solutions to improve our infrastructure.” This after House Republican leaders—of whom he is No. 1—whipped against passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that had drawn 19 Republican votes in the Senate.

Antisemitic dog whistle, big ad campaign pile on to school board attacks in Virginia governor's race

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday October 21, 2021 · 9:48 AM PDT

2021/10/21 · 09:48

CULPEPER, VIRGINIA - OCTOBER 13: Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin speaks during a â€œParents Matter GOTV Rallyâ€ October 13, 2021 in Culpeper, Virginia. Youngkin is running against Democrat Terry McAuliffee for governor in the Commonwealth of Virginia. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) — Glenn Youngkin

The Republican push to turn schools into ground zero for their culture war is getting a cash infusion in Virginia, where Free to Learn Action is putting $1 million into an ad buy targeting former governor and current Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe on education and on two alleged sexual assaults in Virginia schools that are being used to fear-monger about trans kids and bathrooms based on unverified rumors that the alleged assailant is gender-fluid.

McAuliffe has spoken in favor of education professionals determining school curriculum, which is a total flipping outrage to the crowd that doesn’t want white kids to be burdened by learning that racism exists and has an ugly history in the United States, or being exposed to sex education, or having their identities respected and affirmed, or, well, you can probably add to the list of things the far right doesn’t want kids learning in school.

Donate now to keep Virginia blue and send a message in 2021.

House GOP to spend day trying to shield Bannon and yelling at AG Garland for investigating violence

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday October 21, 2021 · 6:52 AM PDT

2021/10/21 · 06:52

US President Donald Trump's former Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon exits Manhattan Federal Court following his arraignment on fraud charges over allegations that he used money from his group "We Build The Wall" on personal expenses on August 20, 2020, in New York. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images) — Steve Bannon.

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote Thursday on whether to hold Steve Bannon in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. A Wednesday vote in the House Rules Committee moved the resolution forward on a party line vote, in a likely harbinger of how the full House vote will go—at least aside from Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the two Republicans on the select committee, who are supporting it.

Also on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland will appear before the House Judiciary Committee, where he’s expected to be asked if the Justice Department will charge Bannon following the House vote. In the part of his prepared remarks focusing on Jan. 6, Garland does not mention Bannon, instead sketching out the Justice Department’s effort leading to around 650 arrests so far. According to The Wall Street Journal, Republicans are likely to suggest that Garland’s independence is compromised, because President Joe Biden has said he thinks Bannon should be charged. This would obviously be a dishonest move by Republicans, if the House has voted to send a criminal referral to the Justice Department.

Thursday, Oct 21, 2021 · 8:20:12 PM +00:00 · Laura Clawson

The House has voted, 229 to 202, to refer Bannon to the Justice Department on criminal contempt charges. Nine Republicans joined Democrats in voting yes.

Republican attorneys general join fight to allow intimidation and harassment of school boards

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday October 20, 2021 · 10:56 AM PDT

2021/10/20 · 10:56

Crowd erupts at Loudoun County school board meeting after a 9-0 vote to end public comments following its third warning to maintain public order.

A group of 17 state attorneys general—all of them Republicans—have sent President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland a very angry letter demanding that Garland back down from his announcement that the Justice Department would respond to “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation's public schools.”

According to the Republican state attorneys general, in line with the official Republican talking points, the Biden administration is attacking the free speech of innocent parents concerned about the education their children are getting. It’s an effort to “chill lawful dissent by parents voiced during local school board meetings by characterizing them as unlawful and threatening,” in the words of the letter.

Except, of course, it’s not. It’s an effort to distinguish between lawful dissent and threats of violence, as the latter are on the rise.

Rep. Andy Harris moans it's 'ridiculous' that national medical groups oppose ivermectin for COVID-19

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday October 20, 2021 · 8:41 AM PDT

2021/10/20 · 08:41

Representative Andy Harris, a Republican from Maryland, speaks during a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on "COVID-19 Response" on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 4, 2020. (Photo by Al Drago / POOL / AFP) (Photo by AL DRAGO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) — Rep. Andy Harris

Republican Rep. Andy Harris is a doctor, too, but it’s pretty clear that if he had to choose which of those identities is more important to him, he’d go with Republican. The Maryland congressman once again offered Very Bad medical advice about dealing with COVID-19—and not just bad advice. Harris said on a radio show that he has been prescribing ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment.

“I wrote a prescription for ivermectin—I guess it’s now three weeks ago, four weeks ago—and yeah, couldn’t find a pharmacy to fill it,” Harris said on a call-in show in September, The Washington Post reports. “It’s gotten bad. [...] The pharmacists are just refusing to fill it.”

Go, pharmacists!

OSHA warns three states their COVID-19 failures may force it to take over workplace safety authority

Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday October 20, 2021 · 6:13 AM PDT

2021/10/20 · 06:13

Health care workers attend to a patient with Covid-19 as they prepare to turn the 45 year old unvaccinated patient from his stomach onto his back at the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, California on September 2, 2021. - According to Dr. Yadegar at the hospital, the number of covid patients are significantly less than they were in winter, but from a psychological standpoint it's much more difficult because most of the patients in the ICU on respirators are unvaccinated, younger and healthier 30 and 40 year olds without comorbidities. Vaccinated patients at the hospital are typically older, but the Covid-19 effects are much milder compared to the unvaccinated patients that have more severe symptoms. (Photo by Apu GOMES / AFP) (Photo by APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency regulation back in June requiring hospitals and other health care settings to enforce COVID-19 safety practices. Now, OSHA is warning three states—Arizona, South Carolina, and Utah—that if they don’t adopt those rules, the federal government will take over workplace safety enforcement.

“OSHA has worked in good faith to help these three state plans to come into compliance,” Jim Frederick, OSHA’s acting director, said on a call with reporters on Tuesday. “But their continued refusal is a failure to maintain their state plan commitment to thousands of workers in their states.”

Jen Psaki renders Peter Doocy momentarily speechless with a simple question

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday October 19, 2021 · 1:04 PM PDT

2021/10/19 · 13:04

Peter Doocy isn’t just a Fox News disinformation peddler. He’s a hereditary Fox News disinformation peddler and, perhaps, the most pathetic failson being publicly promoted by the network. Tucker Carlson is dangerous. Junior Doocy can only try to be so dangerous, but he’s so bad at his job that mostly he just makes White House press secretary Jen Psaki look really, really good.

And so it went on Tuesday when Doocy tried to press Psaki on COVID-19 vaccine mandates for police—his argument being that so many police would resign that it would compromise public safety. This led to a series of body blows and one indelible moment when Psaki asked Doocy, “What was the number-one cause of death among police officers last year, do you know?”

Then she waited.

Silence from Doocy.

“COVID-19.”

Ted Cruz ropes Delta Airlines into his anti-factual war against vaccine mandates

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday October 19, 2021 · 10:46 AM PDT

2021/10/19 · 10:46

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 23: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) attends a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs & Senate Rules and Administration joint hearing on February 23, 2021 in Washington, DC. The committee is hearing testimony about the law enforcement preparation for and response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Photo by Andrew Harnik - Pool/Getty Images)

It’s like the United States is two very different nations when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination. On the one hand, many people are riveted by the question of if and when they can get a booster shot. On the other hand, Republicans are railing against vaccine mandates, even when they have to ignore a lot of very inconvenient facts to make their point.

Republicans are very excited about Delta Airlines’ vaccination policy because it’s not a strict requirement like the ones at competing airlines including United, Southwest, American, and JetBlue. Instead, Delta is requiring employees to either get vaccinated or be tested weekly and pay a $200 a month health insurance surcharge. With this policy in place, Delta has reached a 90% vaccination rate—good, but not as good as United’s 99.5%.

Unsigned Supreme Court decision sides with police in two qualified immunity cases

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday October 19, 2021 · 7:41 AM PDT

2021/10/19 · 07:41

Seated from left: Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, standing from left: Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett pose during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on April 23, 2021. (Photo by Erin Schaff / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court moved on Monday to strengthen the doctrine of qualified immunity, which protects police officers accused of excessive force from lawsuits. The court released two unsigned decisions, without dissents, backing police officers who in one case shot a suspect with bean bags and then put a knee on his back and in the other case shot and killed a suspect who brandished a hammer at them.

These actions were protected, the court said, because there must be precedent that a specific form of brutality is extreme enough to wipe away qualified immunity—and that precedent must come from the Supreme Court. It’s not enough that a lower court has told officers it is unacceptable to put a knee on someone’s back with enough force to injure them. The Supreme Court must have signed on to that very specific opinion. It’s almost like if an officer can figure out what the court hasn’t ruled out in the way of harming suspects—which is a lot—he has a free pass to do that.

Rents are rising, and thanks to Manchin and Sinema, help is probably not on the way

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Monday October 18, 2021 · 12:38 PM PDT

2021/10/18 · 12:38

COLUMBUS, OH - MARCH 03: Deputy Service Bailiff Michael Taylor signs a writ of eviction in the unincorporated community of Galloway on March 3, 2021 west of Columbus, Ohio. Taylor says that he usually waits days past the deadline to clear out properties so there is not a confrontation. (Photo by Stephen Zenner/Getty Images)

Rents are rising, rental vacancy rates are at a three-decade low, and evictions are creeping up, with many more expected to come. And plans for affordable housing funding are on the chopping block as conservative Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema continue to press President Joe Biden to cut back his agenda.

A planned $200 billion increase in rental assistance for low-income tenants, introduced in the House as part of a $322 billion package, would help get another 750,000 households into rental assistance programs that currently cover two million households. Waiting lists for the current program are more than a decade long in some cities, and other cities have stopped accepting new people onto their waiting lists because it’s so hopeless. Three out of four of those renters eligible for assistance don’t get it, thanks to limited funding—so adding 750,000 households to rental assistance programs would only be a drop in the bucket, and now that drop is unlikely to happen.

Secretary Pete Buttigieg returns from the 'joyful, wonderful, fulfilling work' of parental leave

Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor

Daily Kos Staff

Monday October 18, 2021 · 8:32 AM PDT

2021/10/18 · 08:32

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JULY 16: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg listens to a question during a press conference following a tour of a Southside transportation hub on July 16, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Buttigieg was in town to rally support for President Bidenâ€™s $1.2 trillion roads and bridges infrastructure plan. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

With the size and shape of a paid family leave program in the Build Back Better bill still very much up in the air, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has emerged as a spokesman for the program’s importance, even though it’s not exactly a transportation issue. That’s because Buttigieg just came back from his own parental leave after he and husband Chasten Buttigieg adopted twins.

Buttigieg didn’t publicize his parental leave—during which he did work on “major agency decisions and matters that could not be delegated,” according to a spokesman—until he returned from it. The news that a Cabinet member—a gay, male Cabinet member—had taken parental leave drew predictable partisan and in some cases overtly homophobic attacks, with Fox News host Tucker Carlson distinguishing himself with an eye-rollingly pathetic breastfeeding crack.

Newer
Older

RSS