news

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) today announced that this Thursday he will introduce legislation to establish a standard 32-hour workweek in America with no loss in pay – an important step toward ensuring that workers share in the massive increase in productivity driven by artificial intelligence, automation, and new technology. Sanders is joined on the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act in the Senate by Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) and in the House of Representatives by Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) who introduced companion legislation.

Read the bill summary, here. [PDF]
Read the bill text, here. [PDF]

The Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act would:

• Reduce the standard workweek from 40 to 32 hours over four years by lowering the maximum hours threshold for overtime compensation for non-exempt employees.
• Require overtime pay at time and a half for workdays longer than eight hours, and overtime pay at double a worker’s regular pay for workdays longer than 12 hours.
• Protect workers’ pay and benefits to ensure that a reduction in the workweek does not cause a loss in pay.

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/1be2bg5/bernie_is_fighting_for_the_4day_workweek_in_the/

As this legislation becomes more of a reality, we're going to see more of this rhetoric from classical media. It would appear that Colbert has already begun the process of sliding to the right along with American leaders.

Under The Desk News is one of those TikTok channels that found huge momentum within the gorilla media space on TikTok. They are not even close to the most alternative or working class aligned news content on the platform. Their content is labor aligned lib coded. However, for many libs on the platform, Under The Desk News is among a reasonable portion of the news they consume.

There is nothing hypocritical about Colbert operating a TikTok channel while also genuflecting to the established anti-china orthodoxy. Colbert is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal operating within a long-standing liberal institution. There is capital to be earned on TikTok, that is the reason the show has a channel. Colbert is not some radical, ideological thinker, he is a funny man masquerading as a "Progressive". The funny political man archetype that encompasses John Oliver, Colbert, and John Stuart and others has always been about shepherding smarmy "adults in the room" liberals to a comfortable position inside the Overton Window. They are "left" coded, but only in the American political context. The position inside the window is just before the left horizon, and when the window shifts right, these jesters will be there to nudge the herd with it.

You can summarize their content into a simple three act play.

Act. 1: "Let's talk about [current event]"
Act 2: "Look at how fucked this is. I feel angry, just like you do"
Act 3: "Now that we've gotten our feelings out, I have a solution for you. Work within our existing systems. (vote, write your reps, etc.)"

Their methodology of dismantling these rotting structures might as well be summed up as "Hope and Pray". In due time, we will see the mildest skepticism about the TikTok ban washed away from classical media reporting.

The TikTok "Ban" is about many things. Media control is absolutely one of those things. It doesn't need to be direct manipulation of the content. It can simply be the enshitification of the platform that will drive people back to established news outlets. The genocide in Gaza represents the most powerful incarnation of TikToks gorilla media. While anecdotal, I know people in my orbit who, recited emerging western narratives, only to then turn around and tell me "I think that was all a lie, the stuff I'm seeing on TikTok doesn't align with what I'm being told" or "I don't even know what to believe at this point, but I know that its only getting worse for Palestinians".

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will hold the administration's first public event on marijuana reform this week after President Joe Biden addressed the issue as one of his priorities in last week's State of the Union address.

lmao

Flaco was found dead on the Upper West Side on Feb. 23 after apparently hitting a building. Testing by zoologists concluded he suffered traumatic impact injuries, but more testing is planned to determine whether he may have been sick.

His death was a heartbreaking end for the birders who documented his daily movements and the legions of admirers who followed along, as people posted photos and videos of the majestic owl with a nearly 6-foot wingspan perched on tree branches, fence posts, fire escapes and water towers — as well as his hours of hooting.

“With all of this challenging time that is happening all over the world, this bird really became a symbol of hope and brought so many of us together,” Breanne Delgado said at the gathering.

David Lei, an avid birder in the city, said losing Flaco was hard to put into words. He said the owl faced the same fate as many other birds in Manhattan — flying into the deceptive windows of tall buildings.

David being a hero and not letting the lack of city planning off the hook for its anti-life city. Fucking tell them, Dave.

“Flaco was larger than life and is leaving behind a legacy to match,” Lei said. “I thank him today, as I did every day I got to see him, for the joy, awe and wonder he inspired in us throughout his journey.”

People at the ceremony also advocated for new laws aimed at helping to prevent birds from flying into buildings and curbing the use of rat poison that larger birds can ingest while eating prey. Efforts also are underway to put a statue of Flaco in Central Park.

The people are all right. So proud of them. Stop poisoning your birds, NY!

Godspeed, Flaco. You were a beacon of freedom. Here's hoping one day the cities will be able to accommodate such greatness.

Much of this is powered by israeli company Elbit Systems, because of course it is.

I’m not kidding. This will make Gen-Zers vote for Trump. All he has to say is he’ll reverse the ban. He’s already announced that he opposes this bill and that this only supports Facebook.

Biden and the Democrats are so fucking insane. I do not understand it. They want to lose all support with every fucking base they have.

I’ll never stop being on TikTok.

Starmer had previously refused to state whether trans women like Lia Thomas should be allowed to compete in women’s sport amid accusations from Harry Potter author JK Rowling that his party could “no longer be counted on to defend women’s rights”.

Ah, so this is what the Labour party is designed to do: make billionaire feel better about imaginary threats from minority groups.

Fresh from TERF island. Expect them to try the same shitfuckery in some states here. How do they "prove they are trying"?

This is not from an Arab source or anti-semitic source, this is from Jpost

I have photos of the backs of men where Israeli men carved pictures, smiley faces, Stars of David, etc. in their skin. Women narrated stories to me of Israeli soldiers laying them, laying hundreds of women, on the ground and then taking their guns with laser and laughing, and wherever the laser landed, they shoot.

I spoke with a woman whose three year old daughter had both of her legs shattered…she was intentionally shot by a soldier…after they’d killed her son, shot him through the head, in what she described as tank fire, toying with them, for about 30 minutes, before they finally delivered the final blow.

People who’re fleeing their homes to get to the south having to walk with their hands up with their IDs and if anybody dares to look down or pick anything up, they’re picked off, they’re literally shot by snipers.

I spoke with a little girl, about eight years old, whose face was badly burned, but her injuries were the least in the whole families, the entire family had third degree burns all over their bodies.

People are being discharged from hospitals with wounds and going into tents where they don’t have running water and proper hygiene and getting horrible infections and dying from sepsis.

The food that does come in to Rafah is primarily canned food and most of it…and I’ve seen it and tasted it myself, it is stuff that has clearly been sitting on shelves for decades. All you can taste, really, is the rancidity, and metallic taste of the can.

People schedule their days around trying to get to a single, shared bathroom, that’s shared by hundreds of other families. They try to do their best with hygiene but it’s impossible.

People don’t have medicines. People are dying from lack of insulin, which, by the way, Israel has banned from coming into Gaza. They dying from diarrhoea because they’re drinking polluted water and Israel has also banned water filtration systems, even handheld ones, simple, personal, water filtration systems that Americans use when they go camping.

And, on top of that, they are bombed day in and out. Even in Rafah. When I was there, there was not a single night, that we didn’t hear bombs. And at least once, was close enough, that the building I was in shook and we thought that our building had actually been hit…And there was another moment too when a tent by a hospital where we had just been was bombed, they bombed a tent.

Oh so I make one mistake and suddenly it's a big deal.

Image is of Portuguese parliament (specifically, during a session in which they recognized the Nakba, in July 2023).

This year really is just gonna be us swinging from election to election, I suppose. I feel Lenin's beaming red eyes on me.

Up next on our electoral tour is Portugal. The current government - a coalition of the center-left Socialists and the center-right Social Democrats - has been mired in corruption scandals, resulting in a general election being called a mere two years after the last one. The fascist and vaguely populist Chega party has gained significant support over the last two years due to the economic hardships. Yesterday, the Social Democrats secured a narrow win of 79 seats compared to the Socialists' 77. Chega, in third place at 48, would appear to be the best candidate for a coalition, though the leader of the Social Democrats has said that they would refuse a coalition with them due to their xenophobic views. Regardless, the fascist surge is worrying, if expected.

Portugal's economy is going pretty badly even as European countries go, with little growth in productivity or investment over the last decade. The origins of this crisis date back to Portugal making the euro their national currency in the early 2000s, thus surrendering their ability to control their own currency, becoming reliant on investment from Germany and France, and suffering greatly in the 2012 European debt crisis. Unemployment and low wages spurred emigration; in 2013, the youth employment rate was about 40%; this has only come down to 25% recently and is increasing again. The government is heavily reliant on debt for public spending, with a debt-to-GDP ratio skyrocketing to over 100% in the two decades since the turn of the millennium. The capitalist sector is simply not profitable enough and hasn't been for 40 years, which is only a problem if you are a capitalist economy. For more on the Portuguese economy, check out Michael Roberts' recent analysis, from which I obtained a lot of this information.

Inside Portugal is the same story playing out across much of Europe. A failing center or center-left political party, unable to cope with the economic troubles of the last few years due to absolute obedience to neoliberal policies. A fascist party rising, but with no alternative economic plan, hoping that perhaps oppressing minorities and going after "wokeism" will make their God, The Economy, rain blessings down on them again.

The COTW (Country of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific country every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied nations. If you've wanted to talk about the country or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.

The Country of the Week is Portugal! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

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His legacy lives on. God speed, Flaco