How Trump Became a Fake Champion of Mexican Labor Rights (Of All Things) – The American Prospect

Trump’s NAFTA stance creates the illusion that he supports unions. Some even imagine that since NAFTA is nominally reciprocal, Mexico or Canada working with the U.S. labor movement could lodge complaints against union-busting in the U.S.

Don’t hold your breath. The add-on bill singles out Mexico for enforcement. No inspectors from Canada or Mexico can monitor practices in the U.S., though in principle complaints are allowed.

But Trump’s is the most anti-union Labor Department on record. His labor secretaries have systematically dismantled the Obama administration’s efforts to restore labor rights.

When it comes to trade unionism, the new NAFTA is mostly about optics and election-year posturing. If we want labor rights, that will take a new administration.

via How Trump Became a Fake Champion of Mexican Labor Rights (Of All Things) – The American Prospect

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An Insulator advocacy update from ‘Up North’ Canada Building Trades/Local 95

The asbestos national ban was a particularly significant victory for Canada’s building trades, and of course the Insulators, who work on the front lines helping to protect society from the harms of this deadly substance and often put themselves, their families and loved ones in harm’s way.

The Insulators led the charge for the asbestos ban. They are also holding the government accountable to ensure they follow through on their promise – and part of following through is addressing the legacy left behind in our buildings and our workers. Canada’s Insulators are focused on supporting a national strategy for dealing with the legacy of asbestos, starting with a National Patient Registry for Mesothelioma – the very rare type of cancer whose victims can almost always trace their disease back to asbestos exposure.

Working closely with Canada’s Building Trades Union (CBTU), the Insulators are advocating for the patient registry as part of completing the work begun under the asbestos ban. In July, International Vice President Paul Faulkner and Local 95 Government and Community Relations Director Adam Melnick, joined forces with CBTU Executive Director Arlene Dunn and Dr. Alec Farquhar, from Asbestos Free Canada, in a pivotal meeting with the office of the Minister of Labour to discuss this proposal. This meeting was the culmination of considerable lobbying over many months, including the submission of a detailed briefing notes prepared in collaboration with the Canadian Mesothelioma Foundation.

via An Insulator advocacy update from ‘Up North’

Trump has turned the government against the middle class – MarketWatch

While Trump argues that the cost of tariffs is being borne by China, the real loser is the American consumer. All told, these Trump tariffs cost the average family $831 a year, more than offsetting the average tax cut for a household in the bottom 80%. And now Trump is saying he’ll impose even more costs on the American people as part of his erratic and ineffectual trade policy.But this is not the only area where Trump is driving up costs for the middle-class to increase corporate profits; he’s used a wide range of government powers to take actions that hurt working families.

via Trump has turned the government against the middle class – MarketWatch

GUNS,GUNS,GUNS Run take the money, here’s a bullet for your boyfriend! -line from The Guess Who song

Growing up in the 50/60’s I remember the air raid sirens and the evacuation to the school basement to get ready for nuclear fall out!

I can’t imagine what it is like now when Tommy, the kid sitting in the back of the class, opens fire on the students in front, or he is reported to be at the mall shooting the “invaders”, when I was a kid invaders came from space and we knocked them off at the arcade for a quarter!

I feel so sad for the children of today that are in fear of going to school, all we had to be afraid of really was “when is that book report due?” or “surprise math test today”.

At some point children are losing their childhood, being inundated by news of another “Mass Shooting Today or Active Shooter Status”  armed security in public & high schools is a tragedy they should not be exposed to while they are just trying to cope with learning the skills to have a long and enjoyable life and dealing with puberty!

This is where I see it breaking down, elected officials being lobbied by corporations with the “promise of campaign funds” is wrong at all levels and from all industries, corporations, unions and groups, money and politics should never be used to put anyone in power over anything, it breeds corruption!

Thank God in Canada we do not have as bad an issue with guns as in the USA but it is getting worse as illegal fire arms are finding there way here as well. Death by Cop is almost guaranteed in a shooting scenario in the US because from an Officers perspective “everyone has a weapon” and they are in fear for their lives at every crime scene, traffic stop, domestic call or just on routine patrol.

A President that is constantly using social media and dividing, not just his own country, but the world, is a threat to civilization on this planet. The total denial of climate change, pitting City against City, State against State, driving a wedge between allies through the use of tariffs instead of diplomacy in three short years and claim that “He is responsible for a booming economy” that was started long before he came to power is the biggest threat today!

Washington (CNN)The United States formally withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia Friday, as the US military prepares to test a new non-nuclear mobile-launched cruise missile developed specifically to challenge Moscow in Europe, according to a senior US defense official.

Wall Street Journal_ “Their entire information warfare and political warfare strategy, which is to craft narratives around whole nations, has been a GRU mission for 10, 15 years now,” said Mr. Nance, who outlines the organization’s tradecraft in his recent book “The Plot to Destroy Democracy.”

I am not a highly educated individual and these opinions are my own, but I do know what scares a lot of people and there are enough tangents with previous build up to CHAOS  going on now under President Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un to make us ALL VERY AFRAID!

Trump Asks Court to Quickly Reinstate Anti-Union Orders

WASHINGTON (CN) – President Donald Trump has called on the D.C. Circuit to immediately green-light enforcement of three executive orders challenged by labor unions and deemed unlawful by a federal judge last year. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) His motion filed Tuesday night comes one week after the federal appeals court overturned the lower court ruling striking down provisions in the orders that tighten regulations on labor negotiations in government workplaces. Trump is now asking the D.C. Circuit to expedite its ruling on the “erroneous injunction” put in place last year by U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who sided with the American Federation of Government Employees, or AFL-CIO, collectively representing the unions.

Source: Trump Asks Court to Quickly Reinstate Anti-Union Orders

10 Stats That Disprove Trump’s Claim We’re Enjoying the “Best Economy & Jobs EVER” – In These Times

This month, In These Times collected 10 statistics that present a sobering vantage on American wealth since the Great Recession, revealing a nation defined by worsening inequality, stagnating wages and uneven economic development rather than universal prosperity.

18.82% – Increase in gross domestic product (GDP) between 2007 and 2018
43.16% – Increase in corporate profits after taxes from 2007 to 2018, adjusted for inflation
65.97% – Increase in ratio of CEO-to-worker compensation from 2007 to 2017, adjusted for inflation
29.2% – Increase in productivity from 2007 to 2017
2.93% – Decline in how much of GDP workers took home between 2007 and 2017
13.3% – Hourly pay increase from 2007 to 2017
$28 – Bonus from the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act for each American worker, according to recent analysis by the CRS
53% – Taxpayers who will pay more in taxes by 2027, due to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
3.1% – Decrease in civilian labor participation between 2007 and 2018
43% – College graduates who reported being underemployed in their first job, as of 2018
76% – Counties in the United States that had fewer small businesses in 2016 than they did in 2007

via 10 Stats That Disprove Trump’s Claim We’re Enjoying the “Best Economy & Jobs EVER” – In These Times

Read the full Mueller report – CNNPolitics

Read and search the full Mueller report
Updated 1:01 PM ET, Thu April 18, 2019
(CNN)After years of investigating, the Department of Justice released a redacted copy of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report Thursday. The report is nearly 400 pages and covers subjects ranging from questions about Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election to whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

via Read the full Mueller report – CNNPolitics

B.C. LNG and Fracking – News and Information | The Narwhal

Overview of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
In the last decade there has been a boom in natural gas extraction and export in North America, mainly in the United States where new processes have allowed for access to natural gas reserves that were previously inaccessible. The most common of these new extraction processes is called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The fracking process involves pumping large amounts of mud, water and chemicals into deep natural gas deposits, creating enough pressure to crack open rock formations and release the gas.

These new gas discoveries have created an appetite for exports. To turn natural gas into a liquid for export, it must be cooled to 163 degrees below zero. Doing so requires running massive compression units 24/7. Each of the large LNG plants proposed for B.C.’s coast would need the equivalent of an entire Site C dam (1,100 megawatts of capacity) to power it by electricity. However, the reality is many of these plants will run their compressor units on natural gas, creating greenhouse gas emissions in the process. The proposed Pacific NorthWest LNG plant in B.C.’s northwest could become the single largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Canada if it is built.

via B.C. LNG and Fracking – News and Information | The Narwhal

Trump’s escalating trade war with China could wipe out benefits from his tax reform – MarketWatch

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created an estimated 340,000 full-time equivalent jobs, but when you add up all of America’s enacted and threatened tariffs, plus China’s retaliatory tariffs, that could end up slashing more than 580,000 full-time equivalent jobs from the economy, according to one analysis released this month.

“This would completely wipe out any jobs from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” Nicole Kaeding, vice president of federal projects at the Tax Foundation, a conservative-learning, pro-growth think tank, told MarketWatch. Her organization calculates all tariffs could combine to carve $188 billion off the country’s gross domestic product in the long term.

via Trump’s escalating trade war with China could wipe out benefits from his tax reform – MarketWatch

Tax History Lesson: The McKinley Tariff | Tax Foundation- 1890!

William McKinley was a member of the Republican Party. During the late nineteenth century, Republicans strongly supported tariffs to protect growing industries within the United States from foreign competition. The McKinley Tariff was passed into law in 1890, and it dramatically increased the tax rate on foreign products. While many business owners supported this legislation, American consumers generally opposed it, as prices increased for goods. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party continuously battled over tariffs. American opposition to the McKinley Tariff was so high that President Benjamin Harrison, a Republican, may have lost reelection in 1892 partly because of his support for the tax.

via Tax History Lesson: The McKinley Tariff | Tax Foundation