Vengeance Is Mine Saith Trump

When you do stuff that is allowed but they still fire you because it was something trans related and you know how Trump & Company hates us. It was something hundreds of other people have done but because it was a trans flag... they fired her!

I Got Fired by the National Park Service. Here’s What Happened.

Shannon ‘SJ’ Joslin was terminated from their position at Yosemite National Park in August for flying a trans pride flag on El Capitan

Outside

Jayme Moye's

November 25, 2025

In August, Shannon “SJ” Joslin, a wildlife biologist and ranger at Yosemite National Park, lost their job after helping unfurl a massive transgender pride flag on the sheer granite face of El Capitan. In Yosemite, displaying flags on El Cap is a time-honored tradition dating back decades—used to mark moments of patriotism, protest, or grief. Joslin, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, is the first person to get fired from the park for the act. Joslin told Outside what it was like to lose their dream job.

It had been more than a week since we’d hung the flag, and I’d heard nothing but positive feedback. Then I got the email. It was from a chief ranger from a different national park who was in charge of investigating my actions.

I thought it was strange. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I’d hung it on my day off, with some of my climbing friends. We’d gotten the proper permit to spend the night on the wall. We’d used cams and nuts and carabiners, the same stuff big-wall climbers use, to rig the flag. And we left no trace. We took everything back down with us.

They called me into the Fort, which is where the jail is in Yosemite. And that’s presumably where all of their interrogations happen. They read me my rights. I asked if I was the subject of the criminal investigation. They said yes.

It was surreal. There’s a long history of visitors and employees hanging flags on El Cap. The employees who were associated with putting up any of the other flags didn’t get punished.

But it made national news and it was "TRANS" so therefore...

A couple months later I got the request for an in-person meeting with the acting deputy superintendent. I knew then that something serious was going to happen because deputy superintendents don’t waste their time with low-level employees like me.

I was petrified. I don’t know how much you know about park rangers, but our whole lives are our jobs. Yosemite is my home and it’s my whole identity. I’m a biologist, so I’m primarily there to support the wildlife, but I do so much more.

[...]

My meeting was August 12. Yosemite’s acting deputy superintendent Danika Globokar handed me a termination letter for “failure to demonstrate acceptable conduct.” The investigation found that I had violated a National Park Service rule that prohibits demonstrations outside of designated park areas for First Amendment activities.

The axe fell. Why? Because of bigoty! She is pursuing legal action. 

You see they call hanging the Trans flag a "demonstration" even though it was just a flag. The park service issued this statement.

The National Park Service is pursuing administrative action against multiple National Park Service employees for failing to follow National Park Service regulations.

We do not comment on the specifics of personnel actions. However, we want to emphasize that we take the protection of the park’s resources and the experience of our visitors very seriously and will not tolerate violations of laws and regulations that impact those resources and experiences.

Earlier in 2025, several unauthorized demonstrations involving El Capitan generated numerous complaints from visitors. Yosemite National Park was designated by Congress to highlight the beautiful natural and cultural features of the area. No matter the cause, displaying signs, banners, and flags outside of designated First-Amendment areas detracts from the visitor experience and the protection of the park. To safeguard the protection of visitors, visitor experiences, and park resources, most demonstrations require a permit. 

She is pursuing legal action. 

You Would Think That The CDC Would Know Better

Of all the work places that ignore the Americans with Disabilities Act you would think that an organizations devoted to healthcare would care about their disabled employees?

Lawyers say new CDC policy may violate federal disability law

HHS spokesman denies policy change will result in more hardships for disabled employees

Roll Call

By Ariel Cohen

December 10, 2025

Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say a Trump administration policy change is making it nearly impossible for agency staff with disabilities to access telework as a reasonable accommodation.

Political appointees at the agency are repealing previously approved reasonable accommodation requests as the agency implements a new Health and Human Services policy for those with disabilities, according to documents and internal communications obtained by CQ Roll Call. 

Legal experts who reviewed the policy change say it may circumvent requirements that federal employers provide a reasonable accommodation to employees with a disability unless it causes an “undue hardship” on the agency.

[...]

The policy would strip CDC supervisors of the ability to approve telework reasonable accommodation requests, thereby creating a backlog.

Yeah... Trump & Company really care about others! It seems like they are a bunch of self-centered twerps!

Chip... Chip... Chipping Away At The Civil Rights Act

They are just chipping away, hammer stroke by hammer stroke. The Republicans have always hated the Civil Rights Act of 1964! The latest court ruling in the case of Ames v. The City of New York... But first a little history.

Ames v. Ohio : Supreme Court Upholds Uniformity in Title VII Discrimination Claims

Buchanan

 by Derek Meuth

June 13, 2025

On June 5, 2025, a unanimous Supreme Court struck down precedent in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that placed a heightened burden on members of a majority group bringing claims of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).  Title VII is the federal employment law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (which includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy), and national origin. The Court’s decision in Ames v. Ohio Dep’t of Youth Services, 605 U.S. ___ (2025) is part of recent shifts that are trending to a focus not on past historical imbalance or concepts of equity but on any unequal treatment.

Okay fast forward to this month,

The District Court granted summary judgment against Ames, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed. The court initially applied the traditional framework for evaluating discrimination claims based on circumstantial evidence, as first created by the Supreme Court in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973). Under that framework, a plaintiff must make a prima facie showing that she was subject to discrimination. This is a flexible standard under which the plaintiff must present evidence suggesting that the defendant acted with discriminatory intent.  Plaintiffs can typically satisfy this burden by identifying members outside of plaintiff’s class that were treated more favorably than plaintiff, or by offering other evidence of discriminatory intent.

As the Sixth Circuit noted, Ames’s evidence that the defendant hired two non-heterosexual employees instead of Ames would ordinarily satisfy the prima facie standard. However, the District Court and Sixth Circuit imposed an additional burden on Ames, requiring her to show “background circumstances to support the suspicion that the defendant is that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.” The Sixth Circuit noted that this additional burden can be met by evidence that the decision maker was a member of the relevant minority group (e.g., if a gay or lesbian supervisor was responsible for hiring non-heterosexual employees instead of Ames), or with “statistical evidence” showing a pattern of discrimination against individuals in a majority group. Because Ames did not present either kind of evidence, she failed to meet her burden.

This isn't really nothing new. Here in Connecticut this was brought up during the debate on the gender inclusive non-discrimination bills. The law protects anyone who was discriminated against because of their gender. Period. That goes for LGBTQ+ centers, it goes for LGBTQ+ housing, and it goes for anything LGBTQ+... straight can apply. 

So...

Court Ruling Strikes a Blow Against Civil Rights Enforcement

National Review

By Jared Bauman & Susan Greene

November 17, 2025

A misapplication of the First Amendment has led to an injustice.

One of the most consequential threats to civil rights law in a generation has just emerged — and not from the political right, but from the progressive left. The First Circuit, long a champion of civil liberties, has gutted student protections under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Not only does this ruling highlight a gap in civil rights enforcement that disproportionately affects Jewish students, it also undermines the protections against discriminatory harassment that all Americans enjoy under long-standing civil rights laws.

In early 2024, Jewish and Israeli students sued the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for violating Title VI, which requires universities receiving federal funds to take action when discrimination based on protected characteristics — such as being Jewish or Israeli — creates a “hostile environment.” Their lawsuit followed years of escalating hostility toward Jewish students. First, there was the invitation several academic departments extended to Mohammad El-Kurd, an advocate of the “torturous & slow” deaths of Israeli “pigs,” to speak on campus. Then, there was a Holocaust Remembrance Day marked by an image of a defaced Holocaust memorial. After the October 7, 2023, massacre, MIT students received an email from classmates affirming Hamas’s right to “resist oppression and colonization” through violence and pledging support for such efforts “[u]ntil liberation.” Protesters shut down parts of campus and ominously promised a coming “solution: Intifada revolution!”

The First Circuit ruled against the Jewish and Israeli students last month, advancing a novel and troubling interpretation of Title VI. In its view, the abuse the students faced was beyond the reach of Title VI because it was expressed through speech “protected by the First Amendment,” and Title VI does not “requir[e] a university to quash protected speech.”

That directive — that a private university need not “quash protected speech” to comply with Title VI — is legally untenable because it conflates the requirements of two distinct areas of law: constitutional and civil rights. This confusion, in turn, creates an artificial conflict that risks undermining the integrity of both.

Hey but that is what the conservatives want... the conservatives never like the Civil Rights Act. It even cased a flip! The conservative Southern Democrats switched en masse to become Southern Republicans. Here is something to consider: In the Senate, 82% of Republicans voted for the final bill. The Republican Senate Minority Leader, Everett Dirksen, was the key figure who forged the bipartisan compromise needed to end the Southern filibuster and in the House, 80% of Republicans voted for the bill. The Civil Rights Act shook the political world to its core... the Republicans became stanch conservatives and the Democrats moved left once the southern block left.

But once again...

Civil rights law, by contrast, obligates both public and private entities to protect individuals from discrimination in various settings, including schools (the focus of Title VI). To fulfill this mandate, institutions must limit speech that infringes on the civil rights of others. The operative question is not whether that speech is protected or unprotected (a question belonging to a different legal framework); rather, the question is whether the speech rises to the level of discriminatory harassment.

This is not new. It Connecticut there was a case at UConn where in the middle of the night a bunch of students were yell racial epithets. Their arrests were overturned and First Amendment grounds.

So what do non-discriminations laws do to protect us from discrimination? Everything... but the laws also protects from reverse discriminations. So all the Supreme Court ruling does is to restate what the law does and send s the case back to the lower court. The lower court has to rehear the case, if when the defendant says, "... evidence that the defendant hired two non-heterosexual employees instead of Ames would ordinarily satisfy the prima facie standard." is true then it will be discrimination.

But the burden is still on the defendant to prove that the perceived discrimination was in fact discrimination.

I was in charge of the hiring and firing in my department. One this that I always did document my reasons for not hiring or hiring someone. If the city did that, then they have strong ground to stand on.

Another Barrier!

The EEOC is discriminating and refusing to enforce the law and is bending over backwards to appease the billionaires... they don't like government tell them that they can't discriminate against minorities.

The EEOC is dropping discrimination claims — time to lawyer up

The Hill

by Joseph Sellers and Christine Webber

10/19/25

Even as the government shutdown stalls work in Washington, D.C., the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is taking additional steps to undermine its mission. 

The primary federal agency charged by Congress with enforcing the federal employment discrimination laws recently made it easier for employers to discriminate against workers, according to a new internal memo, reported but not yet publicly released.

Since 1971, federal law prohibiting employment discrimination (as interpreted by the Supreme Court) has required employers to use hiring practices which accurately measure job applicants’ ability to do the job. This is to avoid barring people from jobs because of irrelevant characteristics such as their race or gender, even if such exclusion was not intended.  

Referred to as the “disparate impact” rule, it enables workers to challenge employment practices that disproportionately exclude groups of people based on race, gender, or other protected, non-job-related characteristics, where those are not valid measures of who can do the job.

Justice for and by the Billionaires... money talks!

In short, it means that arbitrary hurdles for job applicants have historically been eliminated, and when they haven’t, workers have been able to bring a discrimination claim. That means the job market has a more level playing field for everyone.

I know a couple of people with discrimination cases, they were proceeding slowly but now they are dead in the water!

Mini-Post: You're.... Fired!

You have to wonder if the data is late in coming out because they are too afraid that they will get fired? All the other agencies heads got the axe when they released new that "The Trump" did like. The new head of the agency is so new he hasn't been confirmed by the Senate yet.

The previous department head got axed because Trump didn't like the report, so does the new acting head want to keep his job more than a couple of months?

Bureau of Labor Statistics postpones key data report

Axios

Courtenay Brown

Sept. 19, 2025

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday postponed the release of a key annual report central to future inflation data.

Why it matters: The BLS — charged with collecting critical data on employment, prices and more — did not explain the reasoning for the delay or when it might ultimately be released.

• There is heightened concern about the future of U.S. statistics, including the politicization and accuracy of crucial data that affects the stock market and interest rates.

Zoom in: The BLS said on Friday that the annual release of consumer expenditures data — initially set for Tuesday — would be "rescheduled to a later date."

• "We will update users when more information is available," the notice said.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics did not respond to a request for a comment. Neither did The Department of Labor, which oversees the statistics agency.

In the it has been late in coming out but it was only delayed by two weeks, but this time no time was giving as when it will be coming out.

What they're saying: "I suspect they just didn't have the release totally ready to go," says former BLS commissioner William Beach, adding that it was a "tricky data release."

• "I would worry, however, if there's a further delay. There are so many vacant positions at BLS that I'm surprised their release record so far has been very good," says Beach, whose term covered Trump's first stint in the White House and part of the Biden presidency.

Between the lines: The agency is under tremendous strain, with staffing shortages and limited resources.

• It is also under unprecedented attack from the White House. President Trump fired the agency head last month after huge revisions to previous months' data confirmed a slowing labor market.
• The White House has nominated economist E.J. Antoni to lead the agency. Some prominent conservative economists have bashed Antoni as partisan and unqualified.

So it makes one wonder if they are worried about with the failing economy hearing from Trump... "You're fired!"

Mini-Post: You're Fired!

Trump's famous words on the Apprentice... "You're Fired!"

Well you knew that they wouldn't last long with a jobs report that just came out.

US economy added 911,000 fewer jobs than previously reported in largest-ever revision

The downward revision appears to be the largest ever recorded.

ABC News

By Max Zahn

September 9, 2025

U.S. employers added far fewer jobs in 2024 and early 2025 than previously thought, indicating the labor market may have been significantly weaker than initial estimates had suggested.

The U.S. economy added 911,000 fewer jobs over the 12 months ending in March than previously estimated, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Tuesday. The figure, which exceeded economists' expectations, appears to be the largest revision ever recorded. The preliminary estimate will be finalized next year.

The revision, a routine step in the compilation of government labor statistics, assesses monthly survey estimates alongside state unemployment data. The fresh data comes weeks after President Donald Trump fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in response to a weak monthly jobs report. Trump claimed without evidence that McEntarfer had manipulated statistics for political reasons.

In a statement on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the unusually large revision cast doubt on the legitimacy of the BLS. Leavitt also appeared to grant credence to the data, citing it as evidence of a weak economy under President Joe Biden.

Of course it is not Trump's fault, it is always someone's else fault even though it is almost 9 months in to his regime!

"I believe the numbers were phony just like they were before the election, and there were other times," Trump said, pointing to the revision in the jobs numbers last year that he claimed, without evidence, was an attempt to benefit Democrats heading into the election.

Of course they are phony... Trump says so.

"The totally groundless firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, my successor as Commissioner of Labor Statistics at BLS, sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau," Beach posted on X.

One of the most important a manager can do if hire the correct people, high turnover rate reflected on the department manger... so Trump funks the turnover test.

BBC News reported...

'You're fired': The people Trump has sacked since taking office

8 February 2025

By Madeline Halpert

President Donald Trump took over the White House less than a month ago, and in keeping with his reality television show catchphrase from The Apprentice - "You're Fired" - he has already removed more than 200 employees.

Some amount of turnover is typical for a new administration, but Trump has made massive changes during his first weeks in office. He offered buyouts to millions of government workers and put a stop to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes.

On Friday, Trump fired the nation's top record keeper, US Archivist Colleen Shogan.

Later that night, he pledged to fire board of trustees members for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - and to name himself as chairman.

And that was just in the first month! FEMA director open his mouth to Congress, Politico writes;

Cameron Hamilton will probably be an asterisk in the history of President Donald Trump’s second term.

But the former Navy SEAL, whom Trump hired and fired as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is writing his own chapter by highlighting what he says was administrative dysfunction following Trump’s assertion in January that FEMA should be abolished.

In a podcast interview, Hamilton revealed that he had a “very hostile relationship” with the Department of Homeland Security as officials pushed to shutter FEMA.

You're Fired!

The SCOTUS Blog reported that,

Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to fire, at least for now, a Democratic appointee to the Federal Trade Commission. A federal district judge in Washington, D.C., had ordered Trump to reinstate Rebecca Slaughter, who was originally nominated in 2018 by Trump to serve a seven-year term and then nominated to serve a second term by then-President Joe Biden. But Roberts granted the government’s request for an administrative stay – a temporary pause to give the justices time to consider the Trump administration’s plea to block the order by U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan while litigation continues in the lower courts.

Trump's administration is the very definition of a revolving door! I don't know about you, but I no longer trust the data coming out of the Department of Labor, the CDC, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), or economic reports in general. Trump clearly prefers loyalty over competence.

Mini-Post: Yes Master!

Indentured servants are back again... the DoL just said domestic workers are not subject to minimum wage! STAT reported,

Whether it’s a cook, a home health aide, or a direct support professional, domestic workers are critical for so many people with disabilities. But these caregivers could soon lack federal wage protections. A potential rule from the Department of Labor would end minimum wage and overtime pay for all domestic workers.

In 2013, the Obama administration made it more difficult for providers to claim that domestic workers should be exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements. The Trump administration wants to roll back this update to the Fair Labor Standards Act and return to the 1975 interpretation of the rule. If it goes through, it would be the latest blow to wage standards for the disability community: In July, the Trump administration rolled back a proposed regulation that would have ended the subminimum wage for disabled folks.

I missed this rule when it was first announced in early July, so a big thank you to the source that pointed this out to me on Thursday. Anyway, the comment period for this potential rule ends on September 2. If you have thoughts about it, you can comment here.

Yes master, anything you say!

Hmm... now who will this benefit? Oh gee, I would never guested... billionaires! Trump supports!

We Were Focus On Skrmetti

But there was another Supreme Court ruling that snuck under the radar... some say the ruling sets a lower bar on dissemination for Whites than minorities!

Supreme Court sides with woman claiming anti-straight job discrimination

Marlean Ames filed a reverse discrimination lawsuit in 2020 after she lost out on two jobs to colleagues who were gay at the Ohio Youth Department.

The Washington Post

By Justin Jouvenal

June 5, 2025

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a straight woman who claimed she faced bias in the workplace after she was passed over for positions that went to gay colleagues. The decision will make it easier for people who are White, male or not gay to prove job discrimination claims.

The justices unanimously struck down a standard, used in nearly half of the nation’s federal circuits, that required members of groups that historically have not faced discrimination to meet a higher bar to prove workplace bias than members of minority groups.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the only Black woman on the high court, wrote the opinion that sided with Marlean Ames, an Ohio state government employee who argued it was unconstitutional to have different standards for different groups of people.

The Advocate writes in a February article 7 key takeaways from the Supreme Court’s ‘reverse discrimination’ case,

2. What is a prima facie case, and why does it matter?

A prima facie case is the first step in proving employment discrimination. Under the McDonnell Douglas framework, a plaintiff must show they belong to a protected class, were qualified for the job, suffered an adverse employment action, and occurred under circumstances suggesting discrimination. If these criteria are met, the burden shifts to the employer to provide a non-discriminatory reason for their decision.

And that is what seems to have ticked-off the court unequal standards.

4. Justice Barrett raises the “floodgates” concern

Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked whether removing the Sixth Circuit’s rule could lead to an influx of cases allowing employees to claim discrimination without solid evidence. “This is just going to throw the door wide open to Title VII suits because now everybody can say, hey, this was discrimination on the basis of race, gender, et cetera?” she asked.

And they write about what the future holds...

7. What’s next? A potential landmark ruling

The Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling by June, and its decision could significantly impact employment discrimination law. If the justices rule in Ames’s favor, the case could eliminate the background circumstances rule entirely.

As Wang put it in his closing remarks, “All Ms. Ames is asking for is equal justice under law. Not more justice, not less, but certainly not less because of the color of her skin or because of her sex or because of her religion.”

And now we know, the Post article goes on to say...

Corporations and employment lawyers watched Ames’s case closely because many thought a high court ruling in her favor could result in more workplace discrimination claims by members of majority groups.

[...]

The case, known as Ames v. Ohio Youth Department, also coincides with President Donald Trump’s attack on DEI initiatives. Trump has issued executive orders targeting DEI programs in the federal government and has ordered the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate programs in the private sector.

How will this affect us in the long run? I think contrary to the article I do see more lawsuits, I think for some people they can't believe that a minority can do the job better.

Now The Bad News!

Yesterday I gave you reprieve from the bad news.. but now,

Federal judge strikes down workplace protections for transgender workers

AP New

By  CLAIRE SAVAGE

May 16, 2025

A federal judge in Texas struck down guidance from a government agency establishing protections against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday determined that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exceeded its statutory authority when the agency issued guidance to employers against deliberately using the wrong pronouns for an employee, refusing them access to bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, and barring employees from wearing dress code-compliant clothing according to their gender identity because they may constitute forms of workplace harassment.

This flies in the face of a half a dozen or so Supreme Court ruling not only by other justices but also those appointed by Trump.

The EEOC, which enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws, had updated its guidance on workplace harassment in April of last year under President Joe Biden for the first time in 25 years. It followed a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that gay, lesbian and transgender people are protected from employment discrimination.

In another AP News article they report,

The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against LGBT workers.

“An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court. “Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”

Hey... a Supreme Court ruling doesn't mean anything to a Republican!

You may remember that last week the Supreme Court heard cases on judges that was about banning judges from issuing nationwide rulings? Them writes...

A Trump-appointed federal district judge in Texas has struck down portions of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance document that was issued to protect transgender people from harassment in the workplace.

It is hypocritical for the Trump administration to argue against nationwide injunctions by judges while not addressing Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk's recent ruling invalidating EEOC protections for transgender workers. 

Working From Home Is A Privilege

You all have heard people claiming that they don’t want to go back to the old office! Well working from home is a privilege that most workers cannot do.

 Assembly line workers must be done in a factory! Truck drivers, bus drivers, pilots, and delivery personnel operate vehicles require their presence on the road! Cashiers, store clerks, restaurant servers, bartenders, hotel staff, and cleaners interact directly with customers and cannot work from home. Farmers, ranchers, agricultural workers, and food processing employees work in fields, barns, or processing plants cannot work from home. With Trump's push to bring back manufacturing jobs to the U.S. (Which I agree with but not the way he is doing it... but rather offering incentives to bring back manufacturing jobs instead.)

These are low paying jobs!

NY CPA writes…

Analysis of Population Data Breaks Down Who Works From Home and Why

By: S.J. Steinhardt

Published Date: Mar 8, 2024

Workplaces have reached a new hybrid-work status quo, but the population of hybrid and remote workers in the United States does not reflect the larger population of workers, The New York Times reported.

Roughly one-tenth of workers are working in a hybrid arrangement, the Times found in an analysis of government data, and a similar portion are working entirely remotely. The other 80 percent work fully in person. The Times noted that out of the 143 million U.S. workers between 18 and 64,  the biggest group of workers have no college education. But when the Times zeroed in on just the hybrid and remote workers, college educated workers become the most prominent. That led it to conclude that working from home is, to a great extent, a luxury for the highly educated.

[…]

White workers are overrepresented in the remote work force, the analysis found; although they represent 59 percent of all workers and 66 percent of remote workers. Hispanic and Black workers are underrepresented; Hispanics comprise 20 percent of all workers, but only 10 percent work remotely. Black and Hispanic workers, meanwhile, more frequently hold jobs in food service, construction, retail, health care and other fields that require them to be in person.

Education = Work from home

Uneducated = Salesclerks, farmers, delivery driver, nurses aides, etc.

Work from Home – Privilege or Imperative?

Robin Report

By Mark Cohen

January 25, 2025

As the pandemic has abated over the past several years, a pseudo-debate has emerged throughout many companies as to whether “working from home” policies should continue. I say a “pseudo-debate” because many employees believe that they have a consequential voice and vote in the matter. Like it or not they do not.

[...]

Pragmatic Decisions

In reality, a decision to continue to support remote work from home vs. a mandated return to the office is one that must be made by the leadership of an enterprise based, cold-bloodedly, upon what is necessary for the overall health and well-being of the business. It is a decision which must be well thought out and influenced by the opinions of all of those principally affected. But when all is said and done it is likely to be a binary decision that will not be applauded by many. At the end of the day, leadership’s mandate must be to protect its business’s viability.

So who is working from home… 66% are white employees. The Center for Economic and Policy Research wrote last year that,

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began just over four years ago, one of the most notable transformations has been in how and where people work. The pandemic emergency forced the traditional office environment to undergo a seismic shift, as organizations across the US swiftly converted to remote work out of necessity. Where remote work was somewhat of a novelty before the pandemic, it quickly became normalized as a viable option for many jobs.

[…]

The Demographics of Remote Workers

Those who work from home are diverse, but some demographics are overrepresented. In 2022, those with more formal education were more likely to work from home than those with less formal education (Figure 2). Nearly a quarter of those with at least a Bachelor’s degree reported working from home, compared to just 8 percent of workers with only a high school diploma. This is unsurprising, as jobs that can be done from home often require higher levels of formal education.

[…]

There was also considerable variation in reports of remote work by race and ethnicity (Figure 3). White and Asian workers were more likely than their Black or Hispanic peers to say that they worked from home in 2022. While this may similarly reflect occupational segregation, a study from 2020 found that differences in income and education did not fully explain racial disparities in access to remote work. Once accounting for other factors, the researchers found that white workers were more likely to be permitted to work from home than workers of color. Those dynamics may partially explain the persistent racial and ethnic gaps in remote work in 2022.

It seems like working from home is a White privilege… they are much more likely to have higher educations and not working manual labor jobs. Do you think an Amazon driver can work from home?

******

But what are we giving up from working from home?

The Importance of Social Connections in the Workplace

WebMD

By Christine Muldoon

March 25, 2025

Human beings are, by nature, social creatures. We rely on interactions with others to fulfill our need for connection and belonging. Given that we spend up to a third of our lives at work, a lack of social connections there can negatively affect employee well-being and workplace culture—and impact the bottom line. This week’s blog explores the importance of social connections in the workplace and offers suggestions for how you can begin to create a more connected environment.

The importance of social connections in the workplace.

Loneliness, isolation and alienation are on the rise. According to new data from Morning Consult commissioned by Cigna, more than half of U.S. adults (58%) are considered lonely.1 Former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has characterized loneliness as an epidemic and released an advisory on the issue.

The data is alarming because of the impact it has on not only individuals, but the organization as a whole. Workplaces with a strong culture of connection and belonging generally see greater engagement, productivity and worker well-being.

[…]

The connection between social interaction and employee well-being.

Former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy has written extensively about the impacts of a lack of social connection on our health and well-being. He points to numerous adverse physical outcomes like a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, and premature death. One of his most eye-opening and oft-cited remarks is that a lack of social connection can increase our risk for premature death as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.

There are also mental health implications of poor social connections. Studies conducted by Stanford University found that people who feel more connected to others have lower levels of anxiety and depression. There is also evidence that these people have “higher self-esteem, greater empathy for others, are more trusting and cooperative and, as a consequence, others are more open to trusting and cooperating with them.” Further, “social connectedness generates a positive feedback loop of social, emotional and physical well-being.”

Way back when I first started working for the company, it was were a private company with about 60 employees… we were a family. We went bowling together… we traveled together… and we celebrated together! And we grieved together over the lose of one of us.

One time the employee association went to Brotherhood winery and boy did Lil get smashed tasting all those wines! And George bowled a perfect game! We saw their children grow up. We saw pictures of their new babies. We saw pictures of their dog Spot. We were at the marriage of Bob and Sue. Eddie one of my techs, we knew every summer he will spend a little too much time at the 19th hole, we would send him to dry out every fall. I cried when I had to fire him when he didn’t want to go again to dry out, I’ve known him for over 25 years, probably for ten of those years we sent him to be detoxed in the fall.

I do not understand why anyone would want to work from home, I can understand it if there are school age children or an elderly parent but for other reasons I don’t understand.

But any way you look at it working from home is a privilege especially if you are White.

Mini-Post: Going Backward

The Republicans are worried with all the immigrants fleeing Florida they are concerned that the low cost labor will be non-existent! So...

Measure to roll back child labor laws now goes to House for consideration

Separate bill OK-ing subminimum wage may be dead in Senate.

Florida Phoenix

By: Mitch Perry

April 22, 2025

A significant rollback for child labor laws in Florida received approval in its third and final committee stop in the House on Tuesday. The same bill would speed up a state preemption of local living-wage laws in nearly a dozen cities and counties.

It added insult to injury to its critics via a late-filed amendment that would speed up a preemption against local-living wage laws in nearly a dozen Florida cities and counties that require their contractors to pay employees a wage that’s higher than the state’s minimum.

The original proposal (HB 1225), sponsored by Brevard freshman Republican Rep. Monique Miller, would allow employers during the school year to schedule any 16- and 17-year-old Floridian to work for unlimited hours and days without breaks. It would also allow employers to schedule 14- and 15-year-olds who have graduated from high school or are home or virtual-school students for unlimited hours and days without breaks.

Those specific provisions would repeal the existing prohibition on scheduling 16- and 17-year olds from working more than 8 hours in any day when school is scheduled for the next day, except when the day or work falls on a holiday or Sunday. It would repeal the limit for scheduling a 16- and 17-year-old to work no more than 30 hours in one week.

Then they justify it with this kicker,

“Due to resurgence of apprenticeships and such, we want to reduce barriers to teenagers learning their trade and getting prepared for their careers,” Miller told the House Commerce Committee. “There are currently certain waiver programs that give government the power to decide whether or not teenagers should work. I believe that power rests with the parents.”

Oh yeah... apprenticeship at McDonalds or Kohls!

The Republicans want to bring us back to the age of the Robber Barons!

Two young boys standing on electric looms in order to reach the top shelf while at work in a cotton mill in Georgia. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

Mini-Posts: Forget It!

Are you being discriminated at work? Were you thinking about filing a claim against the company... well forget it, The EEOC no longer recognizes discrimination against us based on Title VII!

EEOC seeks to drop transgender discrimination cases, citing Trump's executive order

CBS News

February 15, 2025

EEOC seeks to drop transgender discrimination cases, citing Trump's executive order

February 15, 2025 / 7:00 PM EST / AP

Signaling a major shift in civil rights enforcement, the federal agency that enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws has moved to dismiss six of its own cases on behalf of workers alleging gender identity discrimination, arguing that the cases now conflict with President Donald Trump's recent executive order, court documents say.

The requests by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission mark a major departure from its prior interpretation of civil rights law, and a stark contrast to a decade ago when the agency issued a landmark finding that a transgender civilian employee of the U.S. Army had been discriminated against because her employer refused to use her preferred pronouns or allow her to use bathrooms based on her gender identity.

[...]

Nearly all workplace discrimination charges must pass through the EEOC — at least initially — and the agency's decision to drop at least six of the cases raises serious questions about whether its protections will continue to extend to transgender and gender nonconforming people going forward.

We will from now on need to go to state courts and only twenty-two states have protection for us in employment! Connecticut wants to add protection to us in the state's Constitution (SJ-35) in addition to the state laws! 

So You Thought The Conservatives Are Only Going After Trans People

The right-wing makes no difference between trans people and lesbians and gays!

Megyn Kelly launches vile personal attacks on lesbian firefighters battling LA wildfires
Conservative media pundit Megyn Kelly has mocked the hierarchy of the Los Angeles Fire Department, taking swipes at lesbians in the department, as firefighters continue to battle the blazes that have devastated the area.

Pink News
By Sophie Perry
January 16, 2025

Kelly, a former Fox News host well-known for her controversial comments about LGBTQ+ people, criticised the department on her podcast, taking aim at the three women in charge and repeating claims that equality programmes were the reason firefighters have not been able to extinguish the 37.1 square miles of flames.

“I believe I speak for all females in Los Angeles when I say, we want a strong man to rescue us. That’s what we want,” Kelly said.

[...]

Crowley, in particular, has faced criticism from right-wingers, who claim she is nothing more than a “DEI hire” despite her 22 years of service. Before becoming fire chief, she was a firefighter, paramedic, engineer, fire inspector, captain, battalion chief, assistant chief, deputy chief and chief deputy.

Kelly went on to say: “I’m not trying to be mean but they’re obese. These are overweight, out-of-shape women, and the last thing I want to see, if I’m in a burning building is a) a woman and b) an obese woman.

“Who takes comfort? I’m going to die but it’s in the presence of an obese lesbian.”

Now is that homophobic or what? And it even gets worst...

During a Fox News affiliated KTTV report on Thursday (9 January), a reporter was broadcasted live speaking to a man who blamed the disaster on the amount of gay people who live in the city.

Why is there a fire happening right now? You’re the news, you’re supposed to know,” he said. “I think it’s all the gay people in LA.”

Politico writes that,

If you listen to Elon Musk or Megyn Kelly, Los Angeles was doomed in its fight against historically-devastating wildfires because of one thing: DEI.

The acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion has become the go-to scapegoat on social media and among some GOP officials as proof that leaders of the deep-blue city — including Mayor Karen Bass, the first Black woman to run the city, and Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, the first woman and openly gay person to run the department — let their progressive values distract them from public safety.

This I think is the first fire that has been so politicized... starting with Trump and working it way down to his cult followers.

A Little Good News

You have seen how businesses have been backing off their diversity program well one company stood up and buzz off!

Costco is pushing back — hard — against the anti-DEI movement

CNN

By Nathaniel Meyersohn

December 27, 2024

Costco is battling an anti-DEI wave with a stern rebuke to activist shareholders looking to end the warehouse retailer’s diversity ambitions.

Walmart, John Deere, Tractor Supply and other companies are changing or walking away from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies. But Costco believes DEI helps its “treasure hunt” shopping atmosphere, and it is standing behind its efforts.

Costco’s board of directors unanimously recommended that its shareholders vote against a proposal brought by a conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research, that would require Costco to evaluate and issue a report on the financial risks of maintaining its diversity and inclusion goals. The group criticized Costco for possible “illegal discrimination” against employees who are “white, Asian, male or straight.”

You know the dribble that the conservatives push about how the Whites are discriminated against. If a minority is hired instead a White person by their definition it must be discrimination.

Costco has a chief diversity officer and a supplier program that focuses on expanding with small and diverse businesses. It also donates to organizations like the Thurgood Marshall College Fund that serve minorities and underrepresented groups.

OMG! OMG! They are must be discriminating against us because they donate to a Black college fund! Um… what about all their other donations to non-Black colleges?

“Among other things, a diverse group of employees helps bring originality and creativity to our merchandise offerings, promoting the ‘treasure hunt’ that our customers value,” Costco said in its proxy statement to investors. “We believe (and member feedback shows) that many of our members like to see themselves reflected in the people in our warehouses with whom they interact.”

They make that sound like a bad idea, having diverse workforce.

When I hear of things like this I am reminded of IBM back in the late 60s and early 70s, they had this bright engineer that co-foundered one of the major advancement in computer science and they booted her out when she came out trans. Lynn Conway went on to be come one of the major innovators in computing. (You can read her story here, and it is very, very interesting.) By the way the same thing may have happened when these two hippies Jobs and Wozniak walked in trying to sell them on the idea of a desktop computer to the mainframe computer company.

There’s no single definition of DEI, but it’s generally a mix of employee training, employee resource networks and recruiting practices to advance representation of people of different races, genders and classes, people with disabilities, veterans and others.

The shareholder resolution contends that Costco’s DEI practices are potentially discriminatory. But Costco said its policies are legal and non-discriminatory.

Diversity is good!

---

I came across this...

Unions.

Action speak louder than works.

The strike has ended.

Biden refuse to invoke the Taft – Hartley Act, Newsweek reported,

Calls are growing among anti-strike figureheads for Biden to invoke the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, a law that would temporarily halt the strike and force negotiations for an 80-day cooling-off period.

The National Association of Manufacturers and the National Retail Federation are urging Biden to act now, fearing long-term economic consequences.

Despite this pressure, Biden has so far refrained from using the act, instead encouraging both parties to resolve the issue themselves. "It's time for them to sit at the table and get this strike done," he said last week.

Officially known as the Labor Management Relations Act, the Taft-Hartley Act was introduced after World War II, designed to limit union power and allow presidential intervention in strikes that threaten national security or public health.

Drafted by Republican Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred Hartley, the law allows the president to request a court order suspending strikes, but it has been met with resistance from unions.

Instead the President used his office to help move along the talks...

 

As reported in Politico,

Multiple people familiar with Biden’s and the White House’s thinking said the president’s team was deeply engaged on the issue over the past month, eventually turning up the heat on the shipping companies this week after the dockworkers walked off the job. The people were granted anonymity to speak about internal and private conversations.

Biden on Monday evening called ILA leader Harold Daggett to convey that he had their backs and was pushing the shipping companies’ representative, the United States Maritime Alliance, to make a better offer.

But as the union went on strike Tuesday morning, Biden believed that the alliance, known as USMX, could have prevented the situation — and he wanted to ramp up the pressure. He issued a statement clearly backing the union and calling out the largely foreign-owned shipping companies for their record profits. That last step unnerved the ocean carriers, who began to express concerns about the public pressure campaign, according to the people describing the White House’s viewpoint.

Quiet behind the scenes pressure, no rants or ravings about what he is going to do to end the strike just quite pressure. ABC News reported that Biden said,

"I want to thank the union workers, the carriers, and the port operators for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding. Collective bargaining works, and it is critical to building a stronger economy from the middle out and the bottom up," he continued.

---

Trump…

The Washington Times said,

Former President Donald Trump said the longshoremen’s strike “would never have happened” if he were president.

Speaking at a rally in Saginaw, Michigan, the GOP nominee bashed Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she has “unleashed nothing but chaos and suffering for American labor” over the last four years.

“She’s made life excruciating for the blue-collar workers who make this country run, and now our entire nation is paying the price,” he said.

“If I was president, the longshoremen strike affecting the entire East Coast, and indeed the entire nation, would never have happened in the first place,” Mr. Trump said.

In another ABC News article;

Details about Trump's visit, first reported by ABC News, reveal an effort to woo meeting attendees with labor-friendly views and a promise of political access if the Teamsters went on to endorse him, according to an account published last month by the Teamsters in the union's quarterly magazine.

"Before departing the union's headquarters, the former President directly told those in attendance that the Teamsters would have a seat at the table if a potential endorsement was made for a second administration," the Teamsters magazine said.

The article went on to write about Trump and Musk…

In an interview on Monday with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, Trump praised Musk for what he described as a willingness to fire employees who go out on strike. Federal labor law prohibits the termination of workers for engaging in a collective labor action, such as a strike.

"They go on strike. I won't mention the name of the company but they go on strike and you say, 'That's OK. You're all gone. You're all gone. Every one of you is gone.' You are the greatest," Trump told Musk in an interview broadcast on X.

Gee that doesn’t sound like it is union friendly?

Let’s take a look at what Trump actually did when he was in the Oval Office and his recent statements on unions. The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) wrote,

President Trump’s Union Busting Executive Orders: What You Need To Know

Last week, President Donald Trump issued three Executive Orders aimed at degrading the rights of federal sector employees. At NFFE-IAM, we understand that the existence of unions in the federal sector is to promote the efficiency of the civil service. When NFFE-IAM members use official time to fight discrimination, we are upholding that principle. When NFFE-IAM members engage in negotiations to improve working conditions, we are upholding that principle.  Organized civil service employees are a check on the worst impulses of the executive branch agencies and these Executive Orders threaten to open the flood gates for abuse on the job.

That also doesn’t sound union friendly.

The Communication Workers of America wrote,

Trump has encouraged freeloaders, made it more difficult to enforce collective bargaining agreements, silenced workers and restricted the freedom to join unions:

•     During a live conversation on X with Elon Musk on August 12, Donald Trump said striking workers should be fired*.
•     Trump packed the courts with anti-labor judges who have made the entire public sector “right to work for less” in an attempt to financially weaken unions by increasing the number of freeloaders.
•     Trump stacked the National Labor Relations Board with anti-union appointees who side with employers in contract disputes and support companies who delay and stall union elections, misclassify workers to take away their freedom to join a union, and silence workers.
•     Trump made it easier for employers to fire or penalize workers who speak up for better pay and working conditions or exercise the right to strike.
•     Trump promised to veto the PRO Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, historic legislation that will reverse decades of legislation meant to crush private sector unions and shift power away from CEOs to workers.

Trump has restricted overtime pay, opposed wage increases, and gutted health and safety protections:

•     Trump changed the rules about who qualifies for overtime pay, making more than 8 million workers ineligible and costing them over $1 billion per year in lost wages.
•     Trump reduced the number of OSHA inspectors so that there are now fewer than at any time in history, and weakened penalties for companies that fail to report violations.
•     Trump threatened to veto legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
•     Trump’s Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia, is an anti-worker, union-busting corporate lawyer who aggressively defended Cablevision’s decision to fire 22 workers when they tried to win a contract with CWA.

Me thinks that he doth talk out of both sides of his mouth.

And the International Brotherhood of Teamsters  refused to endorse any candidate?

And the Trump wanabe DeSantis said according to WPLG Ch10…

‘Simply unacceptable’: DeSantis suggests alternative to longshoremen strike resolution

Striking port workers across the nation and here in South Florida are staying on the picket lines, demanding better wages.

Now Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is getting involved.

“Do we have time for weeks of disruptions given all that has happened?” DeSantis said Thursday.

[…]

Telegraphing an executive order, DeSantis said national and state guard would deploy to critical ports without naming the four affected - PortMiami, Port Everglades, Tampa and/or Jacksonville – potentially replacing longshoremen and women holding out for contract terms as materials and goods, including rebuilding supplies, sit offshore waiting to be unload.

“To have this happen in a way that could negatively impact people reeling from a Category 4 hurricane, that is just simply unacceptable,” DeSantis said.

Theatrics, that is all this is! He wants to show that his is tough on unions, can you imagine these National Guard soldiers trying to work strange machinery. Not knowing anything about the dock operations taking over?

Vote Blue… for a saner world and one that is not pro-billionaires!

 

---

 

*PBS had more about this...

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he participates in an interview with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on
By Tom Krisher, Associated Press

August 13, 2024

DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union has filed unfair labor practice charges against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk after the two discussed on social media about Musk supposedly firing striking workers.

In documents filed Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board, the union alleges that both men interfered with workers who may want to exercise their right to join a union. The NLRB said it would look into the charges, which are a request for the agency to investigate.

UAW President Shawn Fain, whose union has endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris, said in a statement that Trump is anti-labor.

“Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly,” Fain said.

Don't forget that Trump proposes appointing Musk to head government efficiency commission.

---

Updated: 4:15PM

The Purge!

A list of who is naughty and who is nice to Trump is being made to fire liberal federal employees… (Using Trumpspeak) By our lovely friends at the Heritage Foundation, you know those great people who gave us Project 2025!

A conservative-backed group is gathering information on civil servants ahead of a possible 2nd Trump term
PBS
By Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press
June 24, 2024

From his home office in small-town Kentucky, a seasoned political operative is quietly investigating scores of federal employees suspected of being hostile to the policies of Republican Donald Trump, a highly unusual and potentially chilling effort that dovetails with broader conservative preparations for a new White House.

Tom Jones and his American Accountability Foundation are digging into the backgrounds, social media posts and commentary of key high-ranking government employees, starting with the Department of Homeland Security. They’re relying in part on tips from his network of conservative contacts, including workers.

Hey! Wait a minute isn’t there a law against this?

Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests
The conservative think tank’s requests are clogging the pipeline at federal agencies in an apparent attempt to find employees a potential Trump administration would want to purge.
ProPublica
By Sharon Lerner and Andy Kroll
October 1, 2024

Three investigators for the Heritage Foundation have deluged federal agencies with thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests over the past year, requesting a wide range of information on government employees, including communications that could be seen as a political liability by conservatives. Among the documents they’ve sought are lists of agency personnel and messages sent by individual government workers that mention, among other things, “climate equity,” “voting” or “SOGIE,” an acronym for sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

The Heritage team filed these requests even as the think tank’s Project 2025 was promoting a controversial plan to remove job protections for tens of thousands of career civil servants so they could be identified and fired if Donald Trump wins the presidential election.

All three men who filed the requests — Mike Howell, Colin Aamot and Roman Jankowski — did so on behalf of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, an arm of the conservative group that uses FOIA, lawsuits and undercover videos to investigate government activities. In recent months, the group has used information gleaned from the requests to call attention to efforts by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency to teach staff about gender diversity, which Fox News characterized as the “Biden administration’s ‘woke’ policies within the Department of Defense.” Heritage also used material gathered from a FOIA search to claim that a listening session the Justice Department held with voting rights activists constituted an attempt to “rig” the presidential election because no Republicans were present.

Naw… there is no such thing as Project 2025… don’t look behind the curtain, it is just a liberal hoax. Fake news!

Project 2025’s plan to gut civil service with mass firings: ‘It’s like the bad old days of King Henry VIII’
Even as Trump tries to disavow the rightwing blueprint, both have similar plans to replace many federal employees
The Guardian
By Steven Greenhouse
25 Sep 2024

Even as Donald Trump seeks to disavow Project 2025, he and the rightwing effort’s authors have voiced similarly hostile plans for the US’s 2 million-plus federal employees – to replace many of them with political appointees.

These plans are stirring alarm among federal employees, with many warning that “politicizing” the civil service will hurt not just them, but also millions of Americans across the US by undermining how well the US government provides services and enforces regulations that protect the public.

Speaking about federal employees last month, the former president said: “They’re destroying this country. They’re crooked people, they’re dishonest people. They’re going to be held accountable.”

Project 2025, which is backed by the rightwing Heritage Foundation thinktank, has proposed to “dismantle the administrative state”, while Trump’s official “Agenda 47” calls for “cleaning out the Deep State” and “on Day One” issuing an “executive order restoring the president’s authority to fire rogue bureaucrats”.

As Sgt. Schultz says “I know nothing… I see nothing…”

ProPublica goes on to write,

Those 2,000 requests are just the tip of the iceberg, Howell told ProPublica in an interview. Howell, the executive director of the Oversight Project, estimated that his group had submitted more than 50,000 information requests over the past two years. He described the project as “the most prestigious international investigative operation in the world.”

Among 744 requests that Aamot, Jankowski and Howell submitted to the Department of the Interior over the past year are 161 that seek civil servants’ emails and texts as well as Slack and Microsoft Teams messages that contained terms including “climate change”; “DEI,” or diversity, equity and inclusion; and “GOTV,” an acronym for get out the vote. Many of these FOIAs request the messages of individual employees by name.

The is a law called the Hatch Act with bans the firing of federal employees.

Federal Employee Hatch Act Information

Except for the President and Vice President, all federal civilian executive branch employees are covered by the Hatch Act, including employees of the U.S. Postal Service. Even part-time employees are covered by the Act, and all employees continue to be covered while on annual leave, sick leave, leave without pay, or furlough. However, employees who work on an occasional or irregular basis, or who are special government employees, as defined in title 18 U.S.C. § 202(a), are subject to the restrictions only when they are engaged in government business. Federal employees fall within two categories under the Hatch Act, Further Restricted and Less Restricted.

But as you already know… laws do not apply to Republicans.

ProPublica goes on…

Among 744 requests that Aamot, Jankowski and Howell submitted to the Department of the Interior over the past year are 161 that seek civil servants’ emails and texts as well as Slack and Microsoft Teams messages that contained terms including “climate change”; “DEI,” or diversity, equity and inclusion; and “GOTV,” an acronym for get out the vote. Many of these FOIAs request the messages of individual employees by name.

Trump has made clear his intentions to overhaul the Department of the Interior, which protects the nation’s natural resources, including hundreds of millions of acres of land. Under President Joe Biden, the department has made tackling climate change a priority.

Hundreds of the requests asked for government employees’ communications with civil rights and voting rights groups, including the ACLU; the Native American Rights Fund; Rock the Vote; and Fair Count, an organization founded by Democratic politician and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams. Still other FOIAs sought communications that mention “Trump” and “Reduction in Force,” a term that refers to layoffs.

As Alfred E. Neuman said “What? Me Worry”

Trump is not worried about the law, he will do what he did before ignore the laws. Citizens for Ethical Government says,

According to Donald Trump’s posts on Truth Social, Trump’s plan for a second term includes increased militarization of federal law enforcement to arrest people experiencing homelessness, “wag[e] war” on drug dealers, crack down on border crossings and ramp up the use of the death penalty. Many of these plans would represent an unprecedented expansion of presidential power and could lead to a slippery slope of weaponizing the federal government against civilians and infringing their civil liberties. Congress should take action to counteract them.

According to a CREW analysis of over 13,000 of Trump’s Truth Social posts from January 1, 2023 to April 1, 2024, Trump has vowed at least 19 times to weaponize law enforcement against civilians. This includes deploying state and local police, multiple branches of the military and federal law enforcement agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, FBI and Homeland Security agencies against people crossing the southern border, homeless people and protestors. Trump has a niche audience on Truth Social so the full extent of these plans—and the violence they promise—have flown under the radar.

Did you ever hear of the The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878?

The Insurrection Act authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the United States to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. The statute implements Congress’s authority under the Constitution to “provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.” It is the primary exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, under which federal military forces are generally barred from participating in civilian law enforcement activities.

Although it is often referred to as the “Insurrection Act of 1807,” the law is actually an amalgamation of different statutes enacted by Congress between 1792 and 1871. Today, these provisions occupy Sections 251 through 255 in Title 10 of the United States Code.

So Trump has said he would use the act in peaceful student protests, in peaceful strikes, and to round up the homeless! All in violation of the law.

 

There is a lot at stack in this election, Trump has vowed to make us criminals, he has vowed to make the abortion bans nation wide, and he has vowed to use federal troops to quell student protests.

 

Vote Blue to keep us from becoming the Untied States from become authoritarian regime. 

Are You A "Hiker" Or A "Camper"

[Opinion]
I was reading an article in the Sunday Hartford Courant about two types of employees “Hikers” and “Campers.” Inc. writes,

Hikers and Campers
Hikers are competitive employees. They want to make more money, they want to have a stake in the outcome, they want to grow, they want to win.

Campers are comfortable employees. They want stability and the certainty of what they're going to make--typically hourly or a fixed salary--and they're happy with it.

I see this as along the lines of “work at home” movement.

1. Create a top employee club

Hikers love awards, any kind of recognition that they're at the top of their game. At A1, we have a Pinnacle Club: an exclusive club for top technicians who achieve over $1.2 million of annual sales and other key performance indicators.
2. Identify the 'hidden hikers.'

I will bet that you have a few employees who are hikers, but they haven't stepped up because your culture doesn't acknowledge and motivate them. The key is more one-on-ones with your employees and learning more about their dreams. Then, get them to dream bigger: How can they get what they want by being top performers at your company? Reminder: Performance pay is a must.

This hiring approach doesn't just work for us, it has also worked for many other companies. For example, a friend in Portland who runs a garage door company wanted to grow his business. The first thing I got him to do was to implement performance pay during his worst month ever.

You picture 20 or 30 somethings in a cutthroat environment stabbing everyone else in the back to get ahead. This was written by the founder of a garage door company.

Okay here is my take on “Hikers and Campers” if you have a company where you have limited skills for the job, yeah go-getters make sense. But what about an engineering firm? Do they want hikers? What about a company where you have to learn a special skill? Do they want hikers? While a company that installs garage doors and openers they don’t need special skills the new employee can learn the job in a couple of hours.

But do you want to hire a person who is using jobs to increase their skills by hopping from one company to another. You train the new employee and then they jump ship to a new company after a year or two.

Before I retired and before the last company bought us started bring in job shoppers for engineering work but they quickly found out how impracticable that was for the type of work we did. It took four or five years to get a control system out the door. Three years of engineering work and a year for manufacturing of the system. The company hired job shoppers to design the system and then let them go. What the company found out was when problems came up during the manufacturing of the system no one knew how to correct problems because those that designed the system were no longer there.

Hikers didn’t work for us, we needed “campers.”

The same thing for manufacturing, you cannot have “work at home” for retail sales, and you cannot have “work-at-home” on a factory floor. We were in New Britain CT and engineering was on site. Well one company that bought us out moved engineering up to Windsor CT and then moved it back to New Britain. Why? Because they found when engineering was on site when manufacturing had a problem the engineer walked down the hall and out to the shop floor to look at what the problem was. But when it was in Windsor, the engineer got into his car and drove 40 minutes to us and said “Oh that goes like this!” and drove back to Windsor. So the shop, maybe ten, fifteen employees sat around twiddling their thumps for almost an hour. Do that four or five times a week and the idle hours add up! Well our English corporate master quickly moved engineering back.

The same thing is true about “work-at-home” for manufacturing jobs, you need everyone together in one building. Work-at-home might be okay for an accounting job or other “paper-pushing” jobs but for manufacturing jobs you need everyone together, we need “campers.”

[/Opinion]

It Is All About The Children.

When you start connecting the dots it all makes sense.

#1. Vouchers are crippling our public schools taking funding away and giving it to privates schools which are mostly White middle class students. Education is becoming only for the rich.

#2. Doing away with abortions… do you really think that the rich cannot get abortions? They can travel to other states or other countries while those in the lower classes have to have children they can’t afford.

#3. The Republicans are cutting the safety nets, cutting SNAP, WIC, and Head Start programs.

#4. The Republicans are gutting child protections laws to allow young children to work in factories.

Exploiting Kids Isn’t the Way to Fix the Labor Shortage

As states roll back child labor protections legal violations have soared.

Bloomberg

By Mary Ellen Klas

May 19, 2024

School will be out soon, and for many teenagers that means it’s time to get a job. But there’s a new hitch: More teens will be recruited for adult jobs and work longer hours and in more dangerous conditions because several states have weakened their child labor laws.

It’s a brutal and short-sighted attempt to deal with one of the tightest labor markets on record, and it offers an ugly window into the inherent prejudices in the labor market. Rather than seek ways to encourage adults to take these jobs, legislators in mostly red states are loosening protections for workers easiest to exploit— young people.

Do you see a trend here? I’ll tell you this is right out of the plot of the Handmaid’s Tale!

Some lawmakers propose loosening child labor laws to fill worker shortage

PBS News Hour

By Harm Venhuizen, Associated Press

May 25, 2023

Lawmakers in several states are embracing legislation to let children work in more hazardous occupations, longer hours on school nights and in expanded roles including serving alcohol in bars and restaurants as young as 14.

The efforts to significantly roll back labor rules are largely led by Republican lawmakers to address worker shortages and in some cases run afoul of federal regulations.

Child welfare advocates worry the measures represent a coordinated push to scale back hard-won protections for minors.

Why are the Republicans push this? Is it for some nefarious reason?

Legislators in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa are actively considering relaxing child labor laws to address worker shortages, which are driving up wages and contributing to inflation. Employers have struggled to fill open positions after a spike in retirements, deaths and illnesses from COVID-19, decreases in legal immigration and other factors.

The job market is one of the tightest since World War II, with the unemployment rate at 3.4 percent — the lowest in 54 years.

When they work at adult jobs they are going to have adult injuries, the U.S. Department of Labor reported,

The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent order and judgment against sawmill operator Florence Hardwoods LLC following the death of a child. The order requires the Florence County company to place labels and signage to prevent children under age 18 from using dangerous equipment and entering the company’s sawmill and planer buildings. The company has agreed not to hire anyone under the age of 16 and if the company hires anyone between the ages of 16 and 18 in the future, the company must strictly comply with the requirements for apprentices or student learners and inform the department before hiring them.

The action follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division into a 16-year-old worker’s death at the Wisconsin sawmill which led to the department invoking the “hot goods” provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division opened the investigation after the teenager suffered severe injuries on June 29, 2023, at Florence Hardwoods and died two days later.

Why are they doing this? It is simply for cheap labor, you don’t that even through they are doing adult work that they are being paid adult wages?

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I am up on Cape Cod and almost all the summer workers are H-1B summer help.