Take the Kate Cox case, too. She wanted the baby -- wants babies in the future. But the extreme Republican ideologues intend to interfere in everyone's lives, as dictators, like Putin.
Many Russians have left that country -- many of the talented, educated young. Partly for the idiot terror and genocide against Ukraine -- but also because Putin and his oligarchs have so robbed Russia that virtually no one can afford to have babies there. Population seriously falls, denying Putin his soldiers and his tax base for the future. Of course, too, Putin has a program in place to kidnap thousands upon thousands of Ukrainian children, raise them as Russians.
Millions of Americans face something similar, being part of working classes whose jobs by the millions cynical U.S. billionaires offshored. The minimum wage lives so many have now leave millions short of a future, like their Russian counterparts. No one's building housing for these Americans. They can't afford babies. The white ones have extra bitterness toward the brown-skinned hopefuls at the U.S. southern border.
Too many parallels between these two countries where oligarchs, nationalists, ideologues, and billionaire thieves terrorize similarly.
A side effect of the abortion ban here in Texas is that medical students specializing in OB/GYN are not applying to Texas schools since they cannot learn abortion care. Since doctors tend to practice in the geographical area of their residency, Texas will soon have fewer new OB/GYN’s and, once again, women (especially rural women) will suffer.
It's not just Texas either. Any state that penalizes a medical practitioner or with holds funding for women's health will suffer the same consequences.
Imagine if Congress were to pass a national 6 - 15 week abortion ban with no exceptions. Hayley already said she would sign a 6 week abortion ban if she becomes President. And so would Trump, DeSatan and Vivi.
Perhaps I am just crazy, but if news were to break that somewhere in the history of Trump and his sons, abortions have been funded--would anyone be surprised?
No, Miselle, of course not. Abortion will still be available for the wealthy who can afford to fly off somewhere and get one. These heinous laws will fall mostly on the poor and the middle class who will be caught like the woman in Texas who has been to the ER already four times, but the doctors there are afraid to do anything. She is lucky that she can afford to go out of state to obtain one. I can't help but wonder what might happen to her once she gets back. Texas is and be increasingly a wasteland for women's health among other things.
Not at all. Essentially the white Faux-Christian Nationalists are willing to accept that TFFG and many other MAGANAZI politicians serially violateing the last 8 of the commandments unless they are Democrats or Independents or uppity RINO women like Liz Cheney.
6. "You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”
I’ve never understood the ‘rationale’ for these bans. There are so many ways to minimize abortions that have to do with good health care and education. It’s a one trick pony(sorry ponies) that grabs sentiment without substance.
I heard somewhere this morning that Cox's attorneys (or doctor?) "didn't make their case." Why on earth is a medical decision up to a group of judges with no medical training whatsoever?! Infuriating.
Let me even take that further - I live in a suburb in DFW. I cannot tell you how many people I come in contact with that HAVE NO INSURANCE. And try and find a primary care around here.... Now plastic surgery or spas in your hair salons performing all kinds of "treatments" can be found on EVERY CORNER. Health care is something Texas doesn't do.....
EVERY DAY - but then they would win wouldn't they. No I'll stay and try and help out those in need anyway I can. This is a silent war we are waging in the USA
What can we do to help you? I started imagining an Underground Railroad of sorts that would whisk away those in need of locally restricted abortions. It would bring them to the service provider they needed and back again. Now you made it clear this service needs to be applied more broadly to health care in general. Also thanks for your clear minded support on the front lines. Also let’s support Ukrainian frontline battles.
No one mentions the effect on the two existing children of what their mother (and father) are going through. That too is important. Republicans do not care about people it seems. Only slogans. Very Nazi.
Well, actually, a lot of people are talking about that. And trying to figure out how to help. 1st: Donate to Planned Parenthood so they have the resources to give needed health care to women right now as women desperately seek t outside Texas. 2nd: write and call your Congressional people if you don't live in Texas and tell them your concern. 3rd: Write letters to the every media you have access to about your concerns, not only about women in Texas, but everywhere in the country about this atrocity toward women. It has the potential to impact ALL of us.
Yes, it impacts us all. We don't hear very much about the "collateral damage" that occurs to the whole family when the woman is absent, for whatever reason. Just as in the case of alcoholism - the fall out or collateral damage is done to many, spouses, children, and extended family, damage not just to the alcoholic.
The radical right ideologues don't know and don't care. That they harm real people is of no concern to them. I wish and hope we can find a way for their supporters to see the harm, and understand that they are also the victims of the harm they think is only being done to their (manufactured) enemies.
I don't know...they've shown zero concern for mass shooting victims of any age, or family members dying of Covid because of lies about vaccines. Their 'just gonna have to suck it up' righteous attitude will be their undoing one way or another in the end.
Including the daughter of an obgyn who went to med school in Texas but practices elsewhere. She was planning to also do med school in Texas but that has changed.
Elena, I think you are quite right, based on what I'm hearing from ppl I know in Texas. But you are right about not only voter suppression, but legal and social suppression as well. We can help by donating to groups who are working on getting out the vote, and organizations who are working to overturn the laws on both abortion and voter suppression (ACLU and Planned Parenthood are two that come readily to mind). Even a few dollars a month can help make a difference.
It would be a serious political coup if Texas could go Blue. I lived there for over 60 years, but finally found an exit ramp, so I saw it go from Blue to Blood Red. I just can't believe that it will ever go back; but I lived in areas that were very Conservative. (I could not stand those aggressive, snobby, rich people.)
"Millions of Americans face something similar, being part of working classes whose jobs by the millions cynical U.S. billionaires offshored. "
Now now.
Jack Welch, also known as "Neutron Jack", was the first CEO to fire American workers by the thousands and outsource everything (manufacturing and engineering) to China. Of course, the extra money that was made by GE as a result went into GIGANTIC bonuses for? Yep. Jack Welch.
You can still find the articles in the Harvard Business Review FAWNING over Welch like he was a HERO of Capitalism.
They called him "Neutron Jack" because, after he was done, all of the buildings that had formerly housed the thousands of GE workers were empty. Like a Neutron bomb had gone off.
But, Jack had his GIGANTIC bonuses and Harvard had it's hero.
And the rest of us? Well, the Harvard Business Review cared not one whit about that.
Mike, my father would have read your comment out loud with great approval (he passed at age 93 in 2021). He was a career GE worker and despised ‘Neutron Jack’ and the ‘Harvard School of Business Management ‘ that made GE more about media and stock investments and no longer about product ingenuity and innovation. The new ‘managers’ turned away lucrative work and contracts and intentionally crippled the workers’ plants for tax write offs. Jack Welch was the personification of the disgusting side of unbridled capitalism. His book ‘Winning’ written with his Harvard Review spouse said more about the demise of family values and the middle class than all the culture wars the GOP can drum up.
You are so correct...."no longer about product ingenuity and innovation"...."tax write offs"...."unbridled capitalism".... "demise of family values....the middle class"....."culture wars"....
So much more we could be creating and so much more we could accomplish together if we spent more time respecting one another and working together to accomplish more for the future and wellbeing of our earth and for better care and concern for one another.
President Joe Biden and his team have lots of such good plans for our nation ...for our big and diverse family.... for the well-being of our planet.
Yes, but those who made money destroying what it was don't care. They are only interested in money and power. This will be the demise of the planet and eventually the elite because all the money in the world will not fix the problems which are staring at us. At some point, faster approaching than a lot of people think, there will be no place to go.
This is the time to retell the story of my professor of Medieval French language and lit. He got his PhD at Harvard at 20 and in his 6O’s bragged that he got his degree “while Harvard was still a university,” the year before they put in the Business School. I learned later that the business school also quit its once required ethics course.
My neighbor in Lincoln, NE was the lead engineer on the GE team that developed the first motion detection exterior lights. He asked me if he noticed that he had none on his house. After shaking my head he said, "It's because they aren't very reliable." I laughed.
He spent his entire career as a GE engineer working mostly in R&D. I'm guessing not many companies spend much on R&D these days including GE, AT&T and IBM. Instead, they buy up startups that develop new technologies.
LOL, I used to be a senior editor at HBR and Welch's wife was my boss before she married him. The people who adored him are like MAGATs -- in their eyes he could do no wrong.
HBR also adored Frederick Taylor, whom they called the 'father of scientific management' and who ground people into bits. Charlie Chaplain made fun of Taylor's inhumane philosophy in "Modern Times."
I thought I could help the captains of industry become a bit more humane via the articles I worked on....but....they are still locked into their cruel zero-sum games.
GE wasn't the first, but perhaps the first major company.
When Congress enacted legislation in the early 1990's to allow H-1Bs they froze the salary for H-1B engineers, programmers and other technical jobs at $60K if they worked onshore. This was enacted mostly to address the Y2K issues. Offshore talent provided for the programmers were paid $3-7/hour. Many of the Asian (Indian, Chinese & Russian mostly) companies offered them $60K but when they arrived took out money for housing and other expenses so they would pay them much less. And of course Congress didn't index the $60K so even today that amount is the same. This is much like the minimum wage law that works to keep wages down but in the technical sector. Microsoft, Google, Apple, Allstate and dozens of companies have been able to pay American engineers much less because of the H-1Bs and offshore technicians.
Throughout the 1990's I assisted Fortune 500 financial firms modify their systems for Y2K. They LOVED hiring the H-1Bs who often lacked experience and the technical skills to do the job. I worked with hundreds of programmers from India and Russia. Many of them were very competent but most were barely able to understand the work they were expected to do.
You mention Jack Welch-- GE Capital bought in Indians to take over all of their IT work supplemented by offshore personnel with very limited English language skills. The offshore programmers were paid about $5/hour and expected to work 50-60 hour weeks.
But this backfired on GE Capital when they couldn't process their current blocks of policies and had to bring in American consultants to fix their systems Their business knowledge and communication skills were also lacking. After a couple of years, GE Capital cancelled all of their contracts with the offshore contracting companies, most of which were Indian based.
This story was not unique to GE Capital.
I still work with dozens of Indians most of whom have excellent technical, business and language skills. The offshore companies have adapted very well to the offshore model for the most part and the offshore programmers are compensated much better than they were in the 1990's.
But, ever since 1990, American programmer's compensation has suffered because of the H-1B legislation and the greedy behavior of American BODs with the widget mentality that all programmers, engineers and technicians are interchangeable.
I worked for a company for 25 years who was a competitor of GE Appliances. There was a time when they were really considered a "threat" because their appliance business was small (in comparison) and at one point pretty good. All we made were appliances so there was always a fear of a hostile take over of my company. Then, their appliance quality really went downhill. We also had a financial arm like GE Capital. It was quite profitable. There eventually came a time back in the 90's when that part of the business was going to be sold. GE Capital wanted it, but my company wouldn't sell it to them. It was sold to another company that was then purchased by GE Capital. Talk about a slap in our faces!
In the 1980's I worked for a small life insurance company that wanted to grow through acquisition. I was also on a committee that included several other IT people from other life insurance companies. One of the other members of the committee was working for a company that I heard was selling part or all of their business. I asked him if they had had any offers and he replied, "I've lost my last 4 jobs through acquisitions and I'm not telling anyone anything to hasten my losing this one."
End of conversation.
The next time I saw him was about a year later and yes, he was working for another company.
Sadder still, how all of U.S. corporate academe -- all -- acquiesced in the Powell memo's schemes for its silo (and group identity) neutering, and subservience to U.S. billionaire alliances with the Chinese communist cadres, the Putin and Mohammed bin Salman murderous dictators, and all the Orban, Erdogan, Modi, Sisi, Netanyahu, Assad, Duterte, Bolsonaro, and other nationalists competing only with the U.S. billionaire allies in hate-spewing social media.
I lived through the destruction of GE by Jack Welch not as GE employee but as a customer for large rolling mill moters. We came to say, GE stood for "go elsewhere". We did, to Siemens, ABB, Toshiba, who were better suppliers and had better technology.
But the biggest damage Jack Welch did was as a model for other companies. Especially cutting of experienced technical folks. You always have what we used to say were engineers with 5 years of experience 4 times. But you need people like that in large plants, they do a job that freshmen can't.
There was Welch, and there also was immigration, which is another cudgel big biz used to keep wages down.
Just as the GOP is in denial about global warming, the Democratic party is in denial about immigration, with their own form of American exceptionalism that encompasses the belief that we can take in unlimited numbers of immigrants without damaging our country.
There's a book: Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck ($14on Amazon). It's scholarly, covering the relevant academic economic literaature, s well as black periodicals, statements of Black Leaders, beginning with Frederick Douglass, whose sons were downwardly mobile due to immigration, and yet it's highly readable, partly because the author was a journalist.
The book gives the lie to the notion that there are jobs Americans won't do. The author interviewed a bunch of recently laid off Black poultry workers. Would they take their old jobs back, if offered, he asked them. No, they told him. On the current wages, they'd have to live in their cars, or many to a house.
The same thing happened in a lot of trades. I can tell you that in the landscaping trade, it became impossible to make a bid low enough to get the job if you hired American "American" workers instead of Latin workers, because the Americans required a higher salary in order to be able to live decently, and the Latin workers were living three to a house and under conditions that most Americans wouldn't tolerate. I imagine this applies to quite a few low-wage jobs.
I'm sure it does. Thanks for this personal testimonial. I actually sent HCR a copy of the book, probably almost two years ago, but I've seen no sign that she's looked at it.
Well said Mike. I would add that any CEO who requires that 10% of his workforce be fired each year has a pretty bad record for training and development. In fact, what he is declaring is a failure to cultivate his staff. He is ignoring the costs of training new employees.
And...imagine working for a firm that holds a firing ax over everyone. Imagine how that encourages political maneuvering vs performance.
Jack Welch was a con man menace. A terrible manager.
Mike, thanks for the history. But dissing Jack Welch isn't really helpful right now. Indignation isn't going to fix this unless it is accompanied by strategic action. Talk is cheap. Get active. If you already are, please share what you are doing to change things so other people know about it. Right now that's what matters.
Except more like Putin's useful stooge auxiliary. Evil Putin is certainly no friend of Trump & company, much less a friend of the US. Money just pouring from Russia for the Trump family? Russian spooks working clandestinely to get Trump elected? It's transparently a set up. Are Republicans so high on their own mendacity that that they think that Putin is working for them? Much less America.
And the case of Navalny, now missing, casting a bleak shadow over what might happen to challengers of the noxious maga movement if they are allowed to win.
No, these narcissists are really happy to be in the service of such a big, strong man as Putin. They think they are BFF, but Putin will dispose of them in an eyewink as soon as they aren't useful to him anymore - that's what they don't want to see when they are kissing up to him.
Right you are, JL! Putin can barely disguise his contempt when he meets with GOP leaders. Remember GWB's soul mate? DJT accepted as truth Putin's lies? Stupidity on display and intensification of danger to our country.
Carmen, thank you for reminding US of that idiotic bit. It’s so stupid that, always looking at W as stupid, I forget that Trump had a start, though maybe as a useful idiot, a head start.
Men anywhere imposing sociopathic dominance, religious or not, though the misnomer "fundamentalism" generally indicates this. It's a weird, perhaps evolutionary throwback to when individual (primarily male) physical strength was an advantage to survival and a marker of status. I don't know why some elements of many societies cling to it so tenaciously; especially "fundamentalists" around the world, such as "fundamentalist" Islam, or Judaism. Moreover I have trouble relating to the idea that the most honorable models of human behavior are the oldest. We can certainly learn from the past, but we learn every day; and pass it on. We evolved to do that. Our arts, sciences, and governments did that. Our lives would likely be much nastier, more brutish and shorter if we did not.
We need the MSM on board as well. They need to start covering all of the Biden administration accomplishments. One front page story a day in each paper and part of the lead-in monologue for each network host.
If you are an oligarchic democracy threatens your power. In order to hold on to power you need scapegoats. And we know who they are. Hard to imagine that the GOP has become the party of Putin (thank you Christopher for that gem). There is something truly amiss with these folks.
One of the arms of Russian corruption is human trafficking. Some of the children are being trafficked and used by pedophiles and sexual predators. If there is a God, may he soon end Putin's days on earth. And now Navalny is missing.
Always, always they bleat like sheep, protecting the unborn but not giving 2 figs for the health of women and minorities. Their ugly misogyny is so transparent, I'm surprised their wives have not sent them packing. But then, they are shameless. I keep thinking of the day when their impunity bites them in the butt. I believe you are correct. There is some associating with Putin in all of their behaviors. Either they worship his power and money or they are receiving rewards for contributitng to the end of democracy, the end of freedom.
I agree! To think that we have someone running for POTUS that is aligning himself and his party with Nazis who my dad went to war to stop is just too much.
I am glad my greatest generation parents have passed away. They would be horrified to see where we are today. They would think their sacrifices to save the world were being wasted.
makes me cry and don't forget the boomer generation of men who sacrificed their lives in Vietnam as we were countering the spread of communism. and the Korean war.
They are in thrall to Russia, and in particular to Putin. It would not surprise me to learn there are deals under the table. There is also the oil wealth connection; one of Russia's most valuable resources. Many of the Republicans directly benefit from the extraction economy, too. In essence, they have been bought for the illusion of power and the proximity to wealth. They buy the hype of white male supremacy under the rubric of Christian Nationalism. Following Putin's ruthless example, citizens are only pawns in their game, and human rights are a non-starter. As with MAGA, loyalty is rewarded, but disloyalty is punished quite severely. Every day they seem more pathological.
Its a couple of things: payback for Zelensky not doing what Trump asked him to do (announce an investigation of Hunter Biden). And payment for Russia’s continued meddling in US elections.
It is a terrible betrayal to the American people and our democracy. These people were not voted in to give their allegiance to Putin and Russia.They are traitors imho.
Especially with Republicans meeting with the Heritage Foundation sponsored anti-American Viktor Orban get together. JD Vance called Agent Orange America's Hilter in 2016. He also said that if we don't give under educated poor white men something they will vote for a demagogue. Like he did. Yesterday, he said Ukraine is going to have to give up some of their territories to Russia. JD Vance is one of those individuals no matter how much he acquires in life will always be poor inside. He has a spirit of poverty. JD wants a journalist prosecuted for speaking the truth about Agent Orange. Viktor Orban wannabe.
In regards to the Texas abortion case, read page 449 of Project 2025 written by nutjob Roger Severino. It states Viktor Orban policies on families and sex. It's twisted. The whole report is about 996 pages. Happy reading.
The GOP now stands for the Government of Putin. That has become fact.
Correct you are, Christopher.
Take the Kate Cox case, too. She wanted the baby -- wants babies in the future. But the extreme Republican ideologues intend to interfere in everyone's lives, as dictators, like Putin.
Many Russians have left that country -- many of the talented, educated young. Partly for the idiot terror and genocide against Ukraine -- but also because Putin and his oligarchs have so robbed Russia that virtually no one can afford to have babies there. Population seriously falls, denying Putin his soldiers and his tax base for the future. Of course, too, Putin has a program in place to kidnap thousands upon thousands of Ukrainian children, raise them as Russians.
Millions of Americans face something similar, being part of working classes whose jobs by the millions cynical U.S. billionaires offshored. The minimum wage lives so many have now leave millions short of a future, like their Russian counterparts. No one's building housing for these Americans. They can't afford babies. The white ones have extra bitterness toward the brown-skinned hopefuls at the U.S. southern border.
Too many parallels between these two countries where oligarchs, nationalists, ideologues, and billionaire thieves terrorize similarly.
GOP as Government of Putin, indeed.
Phil,
A side effect of the abortion ban here in Texas is that medical students specializing in OB/GYN are not applying to Texas schools since they cannot learn abortion care. Since doctors tend to practice in the geographical area of their residency, Texas will soon have fewer new OB/GYN’s and, once again, women (especially rural women) will suffer.
It's not just Texas either. Any state that penalizes a medical practitioner or with holds funding for women's health will suffer the same consequences.
Imagine if Congress were to pass a national 6 - 15 week abortion ban with no exceptions. Hayley already said she would sign a 6 week abortion ban if she becomes President. And so would Trump, DeSatan and Vivi.
Perhaps I am just crazy, but if news were to break that somewhere in the history of Trump and his sons, abortions have been funded--would anyone be surprised?
No, Miselle, of course not. Abortion will still be available for the wealthy who can afford to fly off somewhere and get one. These heinous laws will fall mostly on the poor and the middle class who will be caught like the woman in Texas who has been to the ER already four times, but the doctors there are afraid to do anything. She is lucky that she can afford to go out of state to obtain one. I can't help but wonder what might happen to her once she gets back. Texas is and be increasingly a wasteland for women's health among other things.
Well not you or me - but remember the interview regarding grabbing women by their genitals and exactly how much that influenced his voters?
Not at all. Essentially the white Faux-Christian Nationalists are willing to accept that TFFG and many other MAGANAZI politicians serially violateing the last 8 of the commandments unless they are Democrats or Independents or uppity RINO women like Liz Cheney.
6. "You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”
I’ve never understood the ‘rationale’ for these bans. There are so many ways to minimize abortions that have to do with good health care and education. It’s a one trick pony(sorry ponies) that grabs sentiment without substance.
I heard somewhere this morning that Cox's attorneys (or doctor?) "didn't make their case." Why on earth is a medical decision up to a group of judges with no medical training whatsoever?! Infuriating.
No kidding. Just like the Taliban Trump appointee that banned Mifepristone. His training was obviously in advanced misogyny.
Let me even take that further - I live in a suburb in DFW. I cannot tell you how many people I come in contact with that HAVE NO INSURANCE. And try and find a primary care around here.... Now plastic surgery or spas in your hair salons performing all kinds of "treatments" can be found on EVERY CORNER. Health care is something Texas doesn't do.....
If I were there, I’d move. You might think about it.
EVERY DAY - but then they would win wouldn't they. No I'll stay and try and help out those in need anyway I can. This is a silent war we are waging in the USA
What can we do to help you? I started imagining an Underground Railroad of sorts that would whisk away those in need of locally restricted abortions. It would bring them to the service provider they needed and back again. Now you made it clear this service needs to be applied more broadly to health care in general. Also thanks for your clear minded support on the front lines. Also let’s support Ukrainian frontline battles.
My wife is a Texan. She would not move back there any more than moving to any repressive country.
😔
Corporations that moved to Texas bc greed will find it increasingly difficult to hire people with any intelligence.
Let’s hope you are correct!
No one mentions the effect on the two existing children of what their mother (and father) are going through. That too is important. Republicans do not care about people it seems. Only slogans. Very Nazi.
Virginia, no one mentions the effect of a mother who goes septic (huge ICU bills to pay) or who dies because of the pregnancy.
Well, actually, a lot of people are talking about that. And trying to figure out how to help. 1st: Donate to Planned Parenthood so they have the resources to give needed health care to women right now as women desperately seek t outside Texas. 2nd: write and call your Congressional people if you don't live in Texas and tell them your concern. 3rd: Write letters to the every media you have access to about your concerns, not only about women in Texas, but everywhere in the country about this atrocity toward women. It has the potential to impact ALL of us.
Yes, it impacts us all. We don't hear very much about the "collateral damage" that occurs to the whole family when the woman is absent, for whatever reason. Just as in the case of alcoholism - the fall out or collateral damage is done to many, spouses, children, and extended family, damage not just to the alcoholic.
No woman is safe there, it just makes me crazy-mad and sad
The radical right ideologues don't know and don't care. That they harm real people is of no concern to them. I wish and hope we can find a way for their supporters to see the harm, and understand that they are also the victims of the harm they think is only being done to their (manufactured) enemies.
I don't know...they've shown zero concern for mass shooting victims of any age, or family members dying of Covid because of lies about vaccines. Their 'just gonna have to suck it up' righteous attitude will be their undoing one way or another in the end.
Including the daughter of an obgyn who went to med school in Texas but practices elsewhere. She was planning to also do med school in Texas but that has changed.
Potential correction on that side-effect will happen when TX turns blue.
Do you really see that happening? I don't think the rich, powerful Republicans will allow it.
TX is already quite purple, but voter suppression and ballot tossing is limiting blue voters
Elena, I think you are quite right, based on what I'm hearing from ppl I know in Texas. But you are right about not only voter suppression, but legal and social suppression as well. We can help by donating to groups who are working on getting out the vote, and organizations who are working to overturn the laws on both abortion and voter suppression (ACLU and Planned Parenthood are two that come readily to mind). Even a few dollars a month can help make a difference.
It would be a serious political coup if Texas could go Blue. I lived there for over 60 years, but finally found an exit ramp, so I saw it go from Blue to Blood Red. I just can't believe that it will ever go back; but I lived in areas that were very Conservative. (I could not stand those aggressive, snobby, rich people.)
Shameful policies with maybe unintended(?) consequences.
"Millions of Americans face something similar, being part of working classes whose jobs by the millions cynical U.S. billionaires offshored. "
Now now.
Jack Welch, also known as "Neutron Jack", was the first CEO to fire American workers by the thousands and outsource everything (manufacturing and engineering) to China. Of course, the extra money that was made by GE as a result went into GIGANTIC bonuses for? Yep. Jack Welch.
You can still find the articles in the Harvard Business Review FAWNING over Welch like he was a HERO of Capitalism.
They called him "Neutron Jack" because, after he was done, all of the buildings that had formerly housed the thousands of GE workers were empty. Like a Neutron bomb had gone off.
But, Jack had his GIGANTIC bonuses and Harvard had it's hero.
And the rest of us? Well, the Harvard Business Review cared not one whit about that.
Mike, my father would have read your comment out loud with great approval (he passed at age 93 in 2021). He was a career GE worker and despised ‘Neutron Jack’ and the ‘Harvard School of Business Management ‘ that made GE more about media and stock investments and no longer about product ingenuity and innovation. The new ‘managers’ turned away lucrative work and contracts and intentionally crippled the workers’ plants for tax write offs. Jack Welch was the personification of the disgusting side of unbridled capitalism. His book ‘Winning’ written with his Harvard Review spouse said more about the demise of family values and the middle class than all the culture wars the GOP can drum up.
Heather Elowe,
You are so correct...."no longer about product ingenuity and innovation"...."tax write offs"...."unbridled capitalism".... "demise of family values....the middle class"....."culture wars"....
So much more we could be creating and so much more we could accomplish together if we spent more time respecting one another and working together to accomplish more for the future and wellbeing of our earth and for better care and concern for one another.
President Joe Biden and his team have lots of such good plans for our nation ...for our big and diverse family.... for the well-being of our planet.
And GE Is a much smaller and less influential company than it used to be.
Yes, but those who made money destroying what it was don't care. They are only interested in money and power. This will be the demise of the planet and eventually the elite because all the money in the world will not fix the problems which are staring at us. At some point, faster approaching than a lot of people think, there will be no place to go.
And their products are no longer well made.
This is the time to retell the story of my professor of Medieval French language and lit. He got his PhD at Harvard at 20 and in his 6O’s bragged that he got his degree “while Harvard was still a university,” the year before they put in the Business School. I learned later that the business school also quit its once required ethics course.
I knew a woman who couldn't find a business ethics class so she enrolled in divinity school.
My neighbor in Lincoln, NE was the lead engineer on the GE team that developed the first motion detection exterior lights. He asked me if he noticed that he had none on his house. After shaking my head he said, "It's because they aren't very reliable." I laughed.
He spent his entire career as a GE engineer working mostly in R&D. I'm guessing not many companies spend much on R&D these days including GE, AT&T and IBM. Instead, they buy up startups that develop new technologies.
LOL, I used to be a senior editor at HBR and Welch's wife was my boss before she married him. The people who adored him are like MAGATs -- in their eyes he could do no wrong.
HBR also adored Frederick Taylor, whom they called the 'father of scientific management' and who ground people into bits. Charlie Chaplain made fun of Taylor's inhumane philosophy in "Modern Times."
I thought I could help the captains of industry become a bit more humane via the articles I worked on....but....they are still locked into their cruel zero-sum games.
I quit in 2009.....
GE wasn't the first, but perhaps the first major company.
When Congress enacted legislation in the early 1990's to allow H-1Bs they froze the salary for H-1B engineers, programmers and other technical jobs at $60K if they worked onshore. This was enacted mostly to address the Y2K issues. Offshore talent provided for the programmers were paid $3-7/hour. Many of the Asian (Indian, Chinese & Russian mostly) companies offered them $60K but when they arrived took out money for housing and other expenses so they would pay them much less. And of course Congress didn't index the $60K so even today that amount is the same. This is much like the minimum wage law that works to keep wages down but in the technical sector. Microsoft, Google, Apple, Allstate and dozens of companies have been able to pay American engineers much less because of the H-1Bs and offshore technicians.
Throughout the 1990's I assisted Fortune 500 financial firms modify their systems for Y2K. They LOVED hiring the H-1Bs who often lacked experience and the technical skills to do the job. I worked with hundreds of programmers from India and Russia. Many of them were very competent but most were barely able to understand the work they were expected to do.
You mention Jack Welch-- GE Capital bought in Indians to take over all of their IT work supplemented by offshore personnel with very limited English language skills. The offshore programmers were paid about $5/hour and expected to work 50-60 hour weeks.
But this backfired on GE Capital when they couldn't process their current blocks of policies and had to bring in American consultants to fix their systems Their business knowledge and communication skills were also lacking. After a couple of years, GE Capital cancelled all of their contracts with the offshore contracting companies, most of which were Indian based.
This story was not unique to GE Capital.
I still work with dozens of Indians most of whom have excellent technical, business and language skills. The offshore companies have adapted very well to the offshore model for the most part and the offshore programmers are compensated much better than they were in the 1990's.
But, ever since 1990, American programmer's compensation has suffered because of the H-1B legislation and the greedy behavior of American BODs with the widget mentality that all programmers, engineers and technicians are interchangeable.
I worked for a company for 25 years who was a competitor of GE Appliances. There was a time when they were really considered a "threat" because their appliance business was small (in comparison) and at one point pretty good. All we made were appliances so there was always a fear of a hostile take over of my company. Then, their appliance quality really went downhill. We also had a financial arm like GE Capital. It was quite profitable. There eventually came a time back in the 90's when that part of the business was going to be sold. GE Capital wanted it, but my company wouldn't sell it to them. It was sold to another company that was then purchased by GE Capital. Talk about a slap in our faces!
In the 1980's I worked for a small life insurance company that wanted to grow through acquisition. I was also on a committee that included several other IT people from other life insurance companies. One of the other members of the committee was working for a company that I heard was selling part or all of their business. I asked him if they had had any offers and he replied, "I've lost my last 4 jobs through acquisitions and I'm not telling anyone anything to hasten my losing this one."
End of conversation.
The next time I saw him was about a year later and yes, he was working for another company.
Yes, Mike.
Sadly, yes.
Sadder still, how all of U.S. corporate academe -- all -- acquiesced in the Powell memo's schemes for its silo (and group identity) neutering, and subservience to U.S. billionaire alliances with the Chinese communist cadres, the Putin and Mohammed bin Salman murderous dictators, and all the Orban, Erdogan, Modi, Sisi, Netanyahu, Assad, Duterte, Bolsonaro, and other nationalists competing only with the U.S. billionaire allies in hate-spewing social media.
I lived through the destruction of GE by Jack Welch not as GE employee but as a customer for large rolling mill moters. We came to say, GE stood for "go elsewhere". We did, to Siemens, ABB, Toshiba, who were better suppliers and had better technology.
But the biggest damage Jack Welch did was as a model for other companies. Especially cutting of experienced technical folks. You always have what we used to say were engineers with 5 years of experience 4 times. But you need people like that in large plants, they do a job that freshmen can't.
There was Welch, and there also was immigration, which is another cudgel big biz used to keep wages down.
Just as the GOP is in denial about global warming, the Democratic party is in denial about immigration, with their own form of American exceptionalism that encompasses the belief that we can take in unlimited numbers of immigrants without damaging our country.
There's a book: Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck ($14on Amazon). It's scholarly, covering the relevant academic economic literaature, s well as black periodicals, statements of Black Leaders, beginning with Frederick Douglass, whose sons were downwardly mobile due to immigration, and yet it's highly readable, partly because the author was a journalist.
The book gives the lie to the notion that there are jobs Americans won't do. The author interviewed a bunch of recently laid off Black poultry workers. Would they take their old jobs back, if offered, he asked them. No, they told him. On the current wages, they'd have to live in their cars, or many to a house.
The same thing happened in a lot of trades. I can tell you that in the landscaping trade, it became impossible to make a bid low enough to get the job if you hired American "American" workers instead of Latin workers, because the Americans required a higher salary in order to be able to live decently, and the Latin workers were living three to a house and under conditions that most Americans wouldn't tolerate. I imagine this applies to quite a few low-wage jobs.
I'm sure it does. Thanks for this personal testimonial. I actually sent HCR a copy of the book, probably almost two years ago, but I've seen no sign that she's looked at it.
Well said Mike. I would add that any CEO who requires that 10% of his workforce be fired each year has a pretty bad record for training and development. In fact, what he is declaring is a failure to cultivate his staff. He is ignoring the costs of training new employees.
And...imagine working for a firm that holds a firing ax over everyone. Imagine how that encourages political maneuvering vs performance.
Jack Welch was a con man menace. A terrible manager.
Mike, thanks for the history. But dissing Jack Welch isn't really helpful right now. Indignation isn't going to fix this unless it is accompanied by strategic action. Talk is cheap. Get active. If you already are, please share what you are doing to change things so other people know about it. Right now that's what matters.
Except more like Putin's useful stooge auxiliary. Evil Putin is certainly no friend of Trump & company, much less a friend of the US. Money just pouring from Russia for the Trump family? Russian spooks working clandestinely to get Trump elected? It's transparently a set up. Are Republicans so high on their own mendacity that that they think that Putin is working for them? Much less America.
And the case of Navalny, now missing, casting a bleak shadow over what might happen to challengers of the noxious maga movement if they are allowed to win.
I’m surprised he has survived this long, honestly.
No, these narcissists are really happy to be in the service of such a big, strong man as Putin. They think they are BFF, but Putin will dispose of them in an eyewink as soon as they aren't useful to him anymore - that's what they don't want to see when they are kissing up to him.
And they forget or never knew how Putin deals with traitors.
"Oh, but he won't do that to ME..."
Those who screw unto others will screw unto you.
Or any inconvenient person.
" but Putin will dispose of them in an eyewink as soon as they aren't useful to him anymore"
The apparent MO of His Orangeness as well.
Right you are, JL! Putin can barely disguise his contempt when he meets with GOP leaders. Remember GWB's soul mate? DJT accepted as truth Putin's lies? Stupidity on display and intensification of danger to our country.
Carmen, thank you for reminding US of that idiotic bit. It’s so stupid that, always looking at W as stupid, I forget that Trump had a start, though maybe as a useful idiot, a head start.
And Putin is dastardly and vain, but he is not an idiot.
Thanks for making that clear. Sadly, I was referring to the US leaders.
"The enemy of the enemy is my friend." White "Christian" men wanting to keep power.
Men anywhere imposing sociopathic dominance, religious or not, though the misnomer "fundamentalism" generally indicates this. It's a weird, perhaps evolutionary throwback to when individual (primarily male) physical strength was an advantage to survival and a marker of status. I don't know why some elements of many societies cling to it so tenaciously; especially "fundamentalists" around the world, such as "fundamentalist" Islam, or Judaism. Moreover I have trouble relating to the idea that the most honorable models of human behavior are the oldest. We can certainly learn from the past, but we learn every day; and pass it on. We evolved to do that. Our arts, sciences, and governments did that. Our lives would likely be much nastier, more brutish and shorter if we did not.
What should we do??
Get out and speak the truth to all people and VOTE
We need the MSM on board as well. They need to start covering all of the Biden administration accomplishments. One front page story a day in each paper and part of the lead-in monologue for each network host.
Right now it's Trump Trump Trump. Enough already.
If you are an oligarchic democracy threatens your power. In order to hold on to power you need scapegoats. And we know who they are. Hard to imagine that the GOP has become the party of Putin (thank you Christopher for that gem). There is something truly amiss with these folks.
I believe they should have had their own DX when the DSMV-TR was published.
One of the arms of Russian corruption is human trafficking. Some of the children are being trafficked and used by pedophiles and sexual predators. If there is a God, may he soon end Putin's days on earth. And now Navalny is missing.
Always, always they bleat like sheep, protecting the unborn but not giving 2 figs for the health of women and minorities. Their ugly misogyny is so transparent, I'm surprised their wives have not sent them packing. But then, they are shameless. I keep thinking of the day when their impunity bites them in the butt. I believe you are correct. There is some associating with Putin in all of their behaviors. Either they worship his power and money or they are receiving rewards for contributitng to the end of democracy, the end of freedom.
Traitors! Every last one of them. I have to keep asking myself, what has become of my country?
I agree! To think that we have someone running for POTUS that is aligning himself and his party with Nazis who my dad went to war to stop is just too much.
I am glad my greatest generation parents have passed away. They would be horrified to see where we are today. They would think their sacrifices to save the world were being wasted.
makes me cry and don't forget the boomer generation of men who sacrificed their lives in Vietnam as we were countering the spread of communism. and the Korean war.
Exactly. Now we know what happened in Germany when people allowed Hitler to take power in an election.
Why are Republicans siding with Russia and Putin and are against funding Ukraine?
They are in thrall to Russia, and in particular to Putin. It would not surprise me to learn there are deals under the table. There is also the oil wealth connection; one of Russia's most valuable resources. Many of the Republicans directly benefit from the extraction economy, too. In essence, they have been bought for the illusion of power and the proximity to wealth. They buy the hype of white male supremacy under the rubric of Christian Nationalism. Following Putin's ruthless example, citizens are only pawns in their game, and human rights are a non-starter. As with MAGA, loyalty is rewarded, but disloyalty is punished quite severely. Every day they seem more pathological.
Its a couple of things: payback for Zelensky not doing what Trump asked him to do (announce an investigation of Hunter Biden). And payment for Russia’s continued meddling in US elections.
It is a terrible betrayal to the American people and our democracy. These people were not voted in to give their allegiance to Putin and Russia.They are traitors imho.
Here is your answer. https://youtu.be/I8P80A8vy9I?si=egHqjvBm28Da7AT5
I’ve said it all along, but I’m still not happy about being right on this one… Wish I wasn't.
Also Guns Over People.
I'm going to steal that one.
Pride before a fall, is my fervent hope.
Especially with Republicans meeting with the Heritage Foundation sponsored anti-American Viktor Orban get together. JD Vance called Agent Orange America's Hilter in 2016. He also said that if we don't give under educated poor white men something they will vote for a demagogue. Like he did. Yesterday, he said Ukraine is going to have to give up some of their territories to Russia. JD Vance is one of those individuals no matter how much he acquires in life will always be poor inside. He has a spirit of poverty. JD wants a journalist prosecuted for speaking the truth about Agent Orange. Viktor Orban wannabe.
In regards to the Texas abortion case, read page 449 of Project 2025 written by nutjob Roger Severino. It states Viktor Orban policies on families and sex. It's twisted. The whole report is about 996 pages. Happy reading.
Thanks for the page reference, Lisa.
“From the moment of conception…
“Abortion and euthanasia are not health care.”
Yes, thank you, Lisa. The quotation is chilling.