PRC Comes Up With New Idea: $25 Minimum Wage For Health Workers

By William Teach April 18, 2024 – 3:00 pm

Gee, what could possibly go wrong?

California Health Workers May Face Rude Awakening With $25 Minimum Wage Law

Nearly a half-million health workers who stand to benefit from California’s nation-leading $25 minimum wage law could be in for a rude awakening if hospitals and other health care providers follow through on potential cuts to hours and benefits.

A medical industry challenge to a new minimum wage ordinance in one Southern California city suggests layoffs and reductions in hours and benefits, including cuts to premium pay and vacation time, could be one result of a state law set to begin phasing in in June. However, some experts are skeptical of that possibility.

The California Hospital Association brought a partly successful legal challenge to Inglewood’s $25 minimum wage ordinance, which barred employers from taking those sorts of steps to offset their higher costs.

“Layoffs, reductions in premium pay rates, reductions in non-wage benefits, reductions in hours, and increased charges are consequences of an employer having less money to spend—which will necessarily be the case given the significant increase in spending on wages due to the minimum wage,” the association said in its lawsuit. Additional examples include reducing health coverage and charging for parking or work-related equipment.

All those results are a wee bit more important than when it happens in the food industry, eh? I wonder if they realize that a lot of health workers are employed by the local, county, and state governments, who would have to raise taxes/fees and/or reallocate money from other budget sectors? The Inglewood suit is interesting, in that their law stated private businesses could no longer make their own economic decisions despite the increased costs.

Providers could reduce the services they offer, pare back charity care, and cut or delay capital investments, Spetz said. In the long term, she expects some combination of spending cuts and revenue increases.

Both the state law and local ordinance cover far more than doctors and nurses, with a definition of health worker that includes janitors, housekeepers, groundskeepers, security guards, food service workers, laundry workers, and clerical staff.

So, pretty much everyone. I wonder how many are part of unions that give to Democrats? And will soon understand that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions?

“The minimum wage an employer has to pay its employees will invariably affect the total amount of compensation it is able or willing to pay,” he wrote “This will then invariably affect the number of employees it can retain and the number of hours those employees will be scheduled to work.”

Lawmakers should be required to take Economics 101, well, Democrats, anyhow. Then have to spend at least several hours a week following around business owners and bookkeepers to understand How Economics Works.

(KTLA) Some fast food restaurant chains have raised menu prices by as much as 8% since California’s $20 an hour minimum wage law took effect April 1, according to a new report.

Wendy’s has hiked prices by roughly 8% while Chipotle has raised prices by 7.5%, according to data from Kalinowski Equity Research and cited in The New York Post.

Taco Bell raised menu prices by 3% and Burger King hiked prices by 2%, the report found.

Seattle-based Starbucks increased prices by about 7% in California.

Huh.

Read: PRC Comes Up With New Idea: $25 Minimum Wage For Health Workers »

Posted in Democrats, Economy | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 18, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…is a place where people can work off their fat, which is Bad for ‘climate change’, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Maggie’s Farm, with a post on the unlawful administrative state.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

Democrats Continue To Look For Ways To Regulate Free Speech

By William Teach April 18, 2024 – 10:30 am

Politico gives a platform to Steven Brill, CEO of fact check site Newsguard, one of the main people who failed to take the Hunter Biden laptop story seriously, calling it a “hoax“, hence, refusing to do the job of the news media, which is investigate. They’d rather just suppress information they do not like and can be inconvenient

How to Regulate Social Media Without Hurting Free Speech

You can’t use a mega-sound system to hold a political rally in front of a hospital in the middle of the night. You can’t pack a theater so full of people that no one can reach the fire exits without being trampled. In the physical world, these kinds of noise control and fire safety regulations uneventfully coexist with our First Amendment free speech and free assembly rights. They’re accepted as common-sense ways to keep us safe and preserve our sanity.

The same ideas can be applied to social media. By reverse engineering the noise and lack of crowd control that has overrun social media platforms, we can make the internet a more peaceful, reliable, less polarizing place.

And we can do it without the government policing speech. In fact, Congress does not have to do anything. It doesn’t even need to touch Section 230, the now infamous 1996 law that gives social media platforms immunity for the harmful content — from healthcare hoaxes to election misinformation to Russian and Chinese state-sponsored propaganda — that has created a world of chaos and division, where so many people don’t believe even the most basic truths. Instead, the Federal Trade Commission and other consumer protection regulators around the world could enforce the contracts the platforms already have with their users.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, already promises users that it will enforce “community standards” that prohibit, among other abuses: inciting violence, “inauthentic” behavior such as setting up fake accounts, promoting suicide, bullying, hate speech, graphic or sexually explicit content, human exploitation and misinformation “that will cause imminent physical harm, health-care misinformation and misinformation about elections and voting.”

Except, the FTC was created by an act of Congress and is funded by the federal government, hence, under the mandate of the 1st Amendment. It’s not up to them to determine what is considered Free Speech. If they tried, any on-line company can simply update their terms of service to avoid any FTC crackdown

The FTC’s website explains that “the Commission may use rulemaking to address unfair or deceptive practices or unfair methods of competition that occur commonly, in lieu of relying solely on actions against individual respondents.” Accordingly, the commission could enforce the content promises in these terms of service by promulgating a rule that any digital platform must prominently and clearly spell out in its terms of service what content it will allow and not allow — and then, as with their privacy assurances, make sure they keep those promises.

What Brill and the other lefties want is a return to censoring anyone who criticizes government and isn’t following exactly what Democrats want.

The FTC has the regulatory authority to proceed on its own without Congress to enforce the platforms’ own contractual promises. And you can encourage the commissioners to do just that. The FTC website invites consumers to report fraud. Although this is clearly meant for specific complaints about some online scam or unwelcome robo-call, if you think your social media company is not keeping its promises about preventing harmful content, you can report them.

Harmful in Liberal World means “information that upsets my world-views.” Information that is Wrongthink. Because there are easy answers: block the people you do not like. Stop using the service, which is usually free. Stop being so sensitive, you’re an adult. Democrats very much want to institute censorship wherever and whenever they can, because they do not want to have to compete on ideas.

Funny how the same people call Trump a Fascist while they look for ways to suppress Speech and other 1st Amendment provisions they do not like.

Read: Democrats Continue To Look For Ways To Regulate Free Speech »

Posted in 1st Amendment, Liberal World | 19 Comments | Trackback URL

Unsurprise: United Arab Emirates Flooding Blamed On Global Boiling

By William Teach April 18, 2024 – 7:00 am

There is article after article after article on this, but, the amazing thing is that there hasn’t even been time to do proper research to make any true scientific determination as to causation, much less Blaming it on humanity (photo by Christopher Pike/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Historic rainfall in the United Arab Emirates sparks cloud seeding concerns. But experts say climate change is likely to blame for flooding.

The United Arab Emirates and Oman saw record levels of rainfall this week. The UAE, a desert nation, witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 75 years on Tuesday, with about 10 inches in one day, according to the country’s National Center of Meteorology.

Cars were submerged on major highways, while the deluge flooded Dubai’s international airport, disrupting flights at the world’s busiest airfield for international travel.

Oman’s National Committee for Emergency Management recorded about 9 inches of rain between Sunday and Wednesday, while several people were confirmed dead, including schoolchildren in a vehicle swept away by floodwaters.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up: heaviest in 75 years (there’s some amazing photos at that link above)? I’ll be honest, I gave up trying to search how much there was in 1949 (which was in the cooling time during the Modern Warm Period) because there are so many links to the current flooding that mention 1949 but do not give how much. Page after page after page.

Many have speculated that cloud seeding operations by the UAE were to blame for the extreme weather, though experts have said the likely culprit is climate change.

Interesting: “experts” immediately discount cloud seeding, but, can claim that it is ‘climate change’? Was it cloud seeding? Probably not. But, we do not know yet. Was it simply an outlier storm which could have links to the notion that the Earth does, in fact, go through warm periods, and it was made worse by Dubai really not having the infrastructure to move that rainfall out, not having the drainage? Most likely. In Cult Science it is always your fault, regardless of if any scientific investigation has been done.

I sure hope they captured and retained a lot of that rainfall.

Read: Unsurprise: United Arab Emirates Flooding Blamed On Global Boiling »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 9 Comments | Trackback URL

Congress Introduces Sorta Bipartisan Anti-Semitism Bill

By William Teach April 18, 2024 – 6:45 am

Speaker Johnson needs to bring this up for a vote quickly. Or, if we want to blow the Democrats up, do it as the election approaches to scuttle the chances of many Democrats on The Squad, who are pure Jew haters

US bill on fighting antisemitism draws rare bipartisan support in Congress

Republicans and Democrats in US Congress are uniting to pass a bill that would create a national coordinator of the fight against antisemitism — though it faces competition from another Republican-backed bill that seeks to define antisemitism.

The bipartisan Countering Antisemitism Act, introduced last week, is meant to advance US President Joe Biden’s national strategy to fight antisemitism, rolled out nearly a year ago. The plan focused on action across the executive branch, demanding reforms in federal agencies from the Education Department to the Department of Agriculture.

The national coordinator would help see through those reforms. The coordinator would also receive an annual assessment of violent antisemitism nationwide from law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The position would be a counterpart to the State Department’s antisemitism envoy, who focuses on anti-Jewish bigotry abroad.

Rep. Kathy Manning told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the bill was in the works before the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, but that the ensuing rise in antisemitic incidents and rhetoric made it more urgent.

“We have seen it spread on social media, the protests on college campuses are beyond what anyone expected, “ she said. Manning, a North Carolina Democrat, is one of three lead sponsors of the bill, along with Rep. Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat and Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican. Manning and Rosen are Jewish.

What the bill is not meant to do is criticize legitimate criticism of Israel. Of course, it was the hyper-criticism of Israel that has led to so many on the Left becoming Jew haters. Here’s the thing: like so many other types of “hate speech”, is it the role of Congress to stop it? The 1st Amendment is pretty specific about speech, is it not? But, consider

The D’Esposito bill, while endorsed only by Republicans, expands on a separate bipartisan bill that was introduced shortly after October 7 but has yet to be advanced. That bill would codify the IHRA definition when enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which denies federal funding to institutions that discriminate against several protected classes and has emerged as a preferred tool of activists fighting antisemitism and anti-Zionism on college campuses.

There are two things to unpack, the first being no federal funding can go to Jew hating institutions (I wonder if this applies to federal agencies full of Jew hating Democrats?). The second being the endorsements: no Democrats other than sponsors are endorsing it. However, there’s not much information on it yet on the record, so, we’ll see how many Democrats sign on. About half of the 42 cosponsors of a similar bill, HR 6090, are Democrats.

Manning said she realized early on that she needed language in the bill to address how both Republicans and Democrats see the threat of antisemitism.

“The language we have in the bill was very carefully negotiated,” she said. “The interesting thing about the composition of the Congress right now is if you actually want to get something passed, you have to have something that you can get Republicans in the House willing to lead, and Democrats in the Senate willing to lead. So that calls for a truly bipartisan approach.”

I wonder why it was necessary to placate so many of her Democrat colleagues on the language? Should be interesting to see how many actually vote for this.

The Manning-Rosen bill may still face controversy: A substantial portion is devoted to combating antisemitism on American campuses, and activists on the left worry that the fight against campus antisemitism is sometimes used as a way to shut down criticism of Israel.

Yeah, well, that’s where they learn to hate Israel and Jews. It should also focus on places like Minneapolis and Dearborn. And maybe Loyola

Squad members like Tliab, Omar, and Bush, among others, will just put it more diplomatically.

Read: Congress Introduces Sorta Bipartisan Anti-Semitism Bill »

Posted in Israel | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Who’s Up For “Green Islam”?

By William Teach April 17, 2024 – 3:00 pm

Hmm, looks like Islam is also being corrupted by the Cult of Climastrology

What Can ‘Green Islam’ Achieve in the World’s Largest Muslim Country?

The faithful gathered in an imposing modernist building, thousands of men in skullcaps and women in veils sitting shoulder to shoulder. Their leader took to his perch and delivered a stark warning.

“Our fatal shortcomings as human beings have been that we treat the earth as just an object,” Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar said. “The greedier we are toward nature, the sooner doomsday will arrive.”

Then he prescribed the cure as laid out by their faith, which guides almost a quarter of humanity. Like fasting during Ramadan, it is every Muslim’s Fard al-Ayn, or obligation, to be a guardian of the earth. Like giving alms, his congregants should give waqf, a kind of religious donation, to renewable energy. Like daily prayers, planting trees should be a habit.

The environment is a central theme in the sermons of Mr. Nasaruddin, the influential head of the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, who has tried to lead by example. Dismayed by the trash sullying the river that the mosque sits on, he ordered a cleanup. Shocked by astronomical utility bills, he retrofitted Southeast Asia’s largest mosque with solar panels, slow-flow faucets and a water recycling system — changes that helped make it the first place of worship to win a green building accolade from the World Bank.

The Grand Imam says he is simply following the Prophet Muhammad’s instructions that Muslims should care about nature.

Those are actually not bad ideas, but, this has nothing to do with ‘climate change’. Keeping a cleaner environment is a good thing.

He is not alone in this country of more than 200 million people, the majority of them Muslims, in trying to kindle an environmental awakening through Islam. Top clergy have issued fatwas, or edicts, on how to rein in climate change. Neighborhood activists are beseeching friends, family and neighbors that environmentalism is embedded in the Quran.

Sigh. Religious leaders using a cultish scam. But, if they aren’t issuing fatwas to blow people up, that’s a good thing. How soon till this fanaticism in ‘climate change’ merges with the violence?

Read: Who’s Up For “Green Islam”? »

Posted in Climate Cult, Global Warming | 21 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach April 17, 2024 – 1:00 pm

…are wonderful low carbon sailboats, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Federalist, with a post by David Harsanyi entitled “The World Is Paying A Deadly Price For Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy Legacy”.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Modern Socialism Fail: LA Mayor Begs Rich People To Buy Homes For Homeless

By William Teach April 17, 2024 – 10:30 am

What happens when a city becomes a haven for the homeless, protects them, nurtures them? What happens when they’ve invited them, legal residents and illegals? What happens when they’ve overspend their already high budget on initiates, including homeless, and still do not have enough money to deal with the issue?

LA Mayor pleads for wealthy to help buy housing for the homeless: ‘Unprecedented partnership’

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass pleaded with “the most fortunate” to help fund housing for the homeless as part of a new strategy to tackle the crisis during her State of the City address on Monday.

“We will not hide people but what we will do is house people,” the Democratic leader touted as she began her remarks on the city’s struggle to house over 40,000 homeless people. “The crisis on our streets is nothing less than a disaster.”

Bass touted the success of her signature Inside Safe program, which moved over 21,000 homeless people into temporary shelters, according to The Associated Press. She insisted this “strategy” and “system” moving the homeless into temporary housing would eventually end the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.

Acknowledging the costliness of this endeavor, Bass asked the wealthy to help “speed up” housing purchases for the homeless.

“Right now, we’re working to move past nightly rentals,” she continued. “We are asking the most fortunate Angelenos to participate in this effort, with personal, private sector and philanthropic funds – to help us acquire more properties, lower the cost of capital and speed up housing.”

“This is the mission of our new capital campaign, LA4LA.”

In 2023, Bass allotted $1.3 billion for the homeless in her budget proposal. The city is spending billions and billions each year, to go with all the money the state is spending. And they were spending an eye popping $837K per person to house them in 2022. Even with the cost of real estate and homes in California this is nuts. So, now the city turns to begging the “most fortunate”…how soon till these Modern Socialists say that anyone who has housing is “most fortunate”?….to fund the issue that the Democrats have caused. And, how many of these “most fortunate” have voted for the Modern Socialist initiatives which helped create the outsized homeless issue? Of course, how many have abandoned the city due to crazy policies?

Taking care of all the homeless, and giving them homes, will simply entice more homeless to come to LA, especially when the city mostly goes easy on them. Anyhow, have fun, because you know the city will soon look for ways to force the “most fortunate” to fund this.

Read: Modern Socialism Fail: LA Mayor Begs Rich People To Buy Homes For Homeless »

Posted in Democrats | 14 Comments | Trackback URL

Climate Crisis (scam) Now Blamed For Killer Cold Ocean Outbreaks

By William Teach April 17, 2024 – 7:15 am

No matter the question the answer is always “climate change!” Even when it makes no sense

How climate change could be driving ‘killer’ cold outbreaks in oceans

It’s not just ocean heat that’s affecting marine life – new research shows extremely cold events are welling up and causing mass mortalities. And the same planet-warming pollution that’s driving the climate crisis is likely to blame for these “killer events” on the other end of the temperature spectrum. (snip)

But even as ocean temperatures climb, extremely cold upwelling events — when strong winds and ocean currents bring pockets of cold water up to the surface, replacing the warm water that was there — are also becoming more frequent and intense, threatening sea life, according to the study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

“Climate change is actually really complex,” said Nicolas Lubitz, lead author of the study and a researcher at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. “It’s not just warming of the globe, but it’s really changing the way our oceans function.”

Right, right, warming is also causing cooling. I remember back in the early 80’s when we went out for dawn patrol, knowing the waves would be awesome from an offshore nor’easter. Except, it also dredged up deep, cold water, and, it was cold enough you needed gloves and headgear to surf. Fricking mid-40’s water in July. Yeah, we went home and I went back to sleep. Was that because you or your parents drove fossil fueled vehicles?

What I’m not seeing in the article is any scientific proof that this is linked to either man-caused or natural climate change. It’s something that does happen periodically, it’s just that a big even happened. Nor is it shown that climate change of either type is responsible, just that words have to be included to get news coverage.

Read: Climate Crisis (scam) Now Blamed For Killer Cold Ocean Outbreaks »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Illegals In SCNY Demand City Make It Easier For Them To Work

By William Teach April 17, 2024 – 7:00 am

Amazing. They come to our nation illegally, demanding asylum they do not deserve, and, among the other things they demand is that we allow these people to work

Migrants rally at NYC’s City Hall, want officials to make it easier for them to work

Hundreds of Black migrants, many from African countries, showed up at City Hall Tuesday demanding better treatment.

They say they just want a job, and basic shelter.

The migrants and their advocates say they’ve received unfair treatment and have been left forgotten. The rally at City Hall was a bid to get attention of state and federal lawmakers. They’re hoping changes could be made to immigration laws, and they could help contribute to the economy.

They said they want to work, and are trying to cut through the red tape that’s stopping them. They asked for local leaders to put more pressure on Washington, D.C. to make a change.

Dozens rallied on the steps outside City Hall, and hundreds gathered in support nearby while inside the City Council chambers, tears were shed for all Black migrants impacted by what advocates are calling unfair treatment.

How much does it cost to travel from the continent of Africa? It’s not cheap. And, apparently it comes with a Race Card

Tuesday, City Council members held their first meeting to learn more about the experiences Black migrants have been going through in New York.

“Black migrants have reported verbal and physical abuse due to the color of their skin,” one person said.

Wait, the citizens of the uber-Democratic SCNY have been mean? Even I don’t believe it, although the illegals may not be used to the NYC attitude. They can always leave if they do not like it

Mohammed Bah said he came from Guinea five months ago ready to work.

“Anywhere you go to find a job, they ask for working papers,” Bah said

If he came the legal route with a visa then he’d have those papers. He, and the others didn’t. That’s there problem. They’re welcome to travel to another country and give it a shot. I hear Canada is nice this time of year.

“It’s clear our immigration system is broken, and needs overhauling,” New York City Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Manuel Castro said.

This again? Though, if you think about it, the insane asylum setup is absurd.

“Find solutions for all African community,” one person said. “They’re young guys. They’re 19 or 20 years old, so they’re ready to work. But we need to get better conditions for these guys.”

Yeah, we have a whole bunch of mostly young men coming illegally to the U.S., spending a lot of money to do so, and bringing their 3rd world beliefs with them.

Read: Illegals In SCNY Demand City Make It Easier For Them To Work »

Posted in Democrats, Illegal Immigration | 10 Comments | Trackback URL
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