Night Owls, a themed open thread, appears at Daily Kos seven days a week
Jake Johnson at Common Dreams writes—Bernie Sanders Says It Is 'Nauseating' to See Corporations Praise Frontline Workers as 'Heroes' While Refusing to Pay Them More:
During a virtual town hall late Thursday with public health professionals and labor leaders, Sen. Bernie Sanders ripped big companies for spending money on advertisements hailing frontline workers as "heroes and heroines" while refusing to pay these essential employees higher wages as they perform their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"I personally get really sick and tired of turning on the TV and seeing these companies run these ads, 'Thank you heroes and heroines, but of course we're not going to pay you any more money,'" said the Vermont senator. "That is just, to my mind, nauseating."
A number of major and notoriously abusive corporations—including Amazon, Walmart, and Uber—have run television spots and YouTube ads in recent weeks praising their employees while simultaneously continuing to pay low wages and failing to provide adequate safety equipment.
On March 27, Amazon—headed by world's richest man Jeff Bezos—posted a video celebrating the company's "retail heroes" and vowing to do "everything we can" to ensure their health and safety. Three days later, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island walked off the job to protest the company's refusal to implement adequate workplace safety measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
"Amazon's actions do not match their statements that they are prioritizing our health or the health of the public," one Amazon employee said at the time. [...]
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“And that's just the beginning. More and more, conventional wisdom says that the responsible thing is to make the unemployed suffer. And while the benefits from inflicting pain are an illusion, the pain itself will be all too real.”
~~Paul Krugman, “The Pain Caucus” (2010)
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2005—Karzai Shoots Back:
After being the subject of a critical story emanating from Washington regarding the drug trade in Afghanistan, Afghani President Hamid Karzai shot back:
President Hamid Karzai today demanded justice for Afghan prisoner abuse by American interrogators, and he blamed the United States and Britain, not his government, for the slow progress of anti-drug efforts in his country. He also said he would ask President Bush for greater control over Afghan affairs as part of a longer-term strategic partnership.
. . . Mr. Karzai underscored cooperation with the United States, but also insisted that Afghans' sense of independence and self-reliance was growing. "No Afghan is a puppet, you know," he said in a Fox News interview. "There is a stronger ownership of the Afghan government and the Afghan people now.”
It remained unclear how much his criticisms were intended for Afghan consumption, or whether his meeting with Mr. Bush might be rendered less comfortable than past such encounters, which have generally been portrayed as relaxed and amicable.
His comments, nonetheless, came at a delicate and unexpectedly contentious moment, a day after Mr. Karzai had expressed dismay over reports of abuses of Afghan prisoners - "it has shocked me thoroughly," he said Saturday in Kabul - and as Mr. Karzai's help in eradicating opium poppies in Afghanistan was being questioned by the United States.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Brian Munroe considers American free-dumb. Oh, and about that, are gyms & nail salons exactly the wrong things to reopen? Hospital crunch hits Alabama. Another check-in on Sweden. Weird, lasting virus symptoms & other weekend need-to-knows.
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