Verizon Communications Inc. said employees will continue to work as negotiations continue between unions and the second-largest U.S. telephone company on an agreement on benefits.
Contracts with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers expired Saturday night at midnight New York time, the company said in a statement.
The telecommunications giant is pushing back against union demands such as increasing tuition assistance and eliminating employee health-insurance contributions, which were instituted for the first time in the 2012 contract. Verizon’s initial offer in June included a 2 percent wage increase in each of the first two years of the three-year contract, plus a lump-sum payment in the final year.
“The company has barely moved off its initial June 22nd proposal,” Ed Mooney, a vice president for Communications Workers of America, said in a separate statement.
Trimming Benefits
Verizon is seeking to cut costs as U.S. households give up their traditional home phones in favor of mobile technology. The New York-based company wants to negotiate changes to health-care and pension benefits that would make it more competitive, according to a statement on Friday. Verizon would require union employees to choose between continuing to earn pension benefits or receiving company matching funds for an enhanced 401(k) retirement savings plan.
“We are disappointed that after six weeks of good faith bargaining and a very strong effort by the company, we have been unable to reach new agreements with the unions,” Marc Reed, Verizon’s chief administrative officer, said in a statement on Sunday.
Workers walked off the job for two weeks in 2011 during contract negotiations, which then dragged into the next year. After 15 weeks of talks, an agreement was reached that preserved a ban on layoffs of workers hired before 2003 and restricted Verizon’s ability to reassign employees far from their homes.
Verizon has taken measures to ensure that customer service will continue in the event of a work stoppage, according to Richard Young, a company spokesman. Thousands of non-union employees have been trained in recent months to cover for striking workers, he said.
Unless his intention is to radically change or convert President Barack Obama, when Pope Francis descends on America next month, he will in essence be paying open homage to the world’s top champion of partial birth abortion.
The pope will meet with Obama on Sept, 23 as part of his first trip to America as the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
“According to a White House statement released Thursday, the two leaders will discuss “their shared values” on issues such as “caring for the marginalized and poor,” the economy, the environment, religious freedom, and immigration. The two are scheduled to meet Sept. 23, the day before the pope’s unprecedented address to a joint session of Congress.” (CruxNow, March 26, 2015)
Will the pontiff and president talk about the continuing sale of aborted baby parts by government funded Planned Parenthood?
It’s not on the agenda.
The only time Obama talks about the baby-killing Planned Parenthood it is to promote it. Obama even wished the organization a rousing “God bless!” in an April 2013 speech to the organization.
“During his speech to the Planned Parenthood abortion business today, President Barack Obama asked God to bless the number one abortion performer in the United States. (LifeNews, April 26, 2013)
“Here is how he ended his speech:
“As long as we’ve got to fight to make sure women have access to quality, affordable health care, and as long as we’ve got to fight to protect a woman’s right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you’ve also got a president who’s going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way,” said Obama. “Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you.”
For its part, the Vatican, piously pushing the ‘Thou shalt be good stewards of the environment’ angle, remains mum about the sale of baby parts on the open market by Planned Parenthood.
“The two men met for the first time in March, 2014, when Mr. Obama visited the pope at the Vatican. During that meeting, they discussed similar issues, as well as the conflict in Syria”. (New York Times, March 26, 2015)
In the fullness of time, we now know that the parlay of the pope and president did nothing to improve stability in Syria.
As you might imagine, for obvious reasons, an extensive interview between Donald Trump and Fox’s Eric Bolling would carry a remarkably friendlier tone than other media rounds the GOP candidate has made.
Indeed, the pair discussed how “unfair” the media has been to the billionaire real estate mogul and his controversial presidential run. But the latter half of the interview contained an interesting “roleplay,” prompted by Bolling, in which Trump got to ask one question of each of his probable debate opponents.
For Jeb Bush: “Do you have the energy to get out there” and “straighten this country out”? Bolling was perplexed by this one.
But then the question-and-answer routine ended, as it became yet another Trump talking smack about each opponent.
On Marco Rubio: “He was very much in favor of a weak immigration policy.”
Scott Walker: “His state, Wisconsin, has tremendous problems with debt,” and he somewhat blamed the governor for “extreme divisiveness” in his state.
Then a question for Chris Christie: “New Jersey is not doing very well.”
And then Trump ranted about how he’d be a great president and would “treat the vets properly with Donald Trump.”
One Facebook user translated Grohl’s words in this way: “Hi, Cesena! I am David, hello. I’m sorry, I don’t speak Italian. Only a little, a little. That video — but how beautiful! Very beautiful. Thank you very much [literally: a thousand thanks]. We are arriving [coming], I promise. We’ll see each other soon. Thank you very much. I love you. Bye.”
The one-line Facebook message which reads, “Ci vediamo a presto, Cesena…. xxx Davide” is auto translated as, “See you soon, Cesena…. David xxx”
Here’s another look at the passionate performance put on by Rockin’ 1000 that’s captured worldwide attention. (Content warning: After the song, there’s a speech that includes a smidgen of profanity):
Image source: YouTube
The idea was to impress and entice the band to play a Foo Fighters-starved region of Italy, which hasn’t seen the rockers on its soil since 1997.
Singling out tiny Fort Bragg, California for alleged Confederate ties.
When South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signed a bill to boot the Confederate flag from State House grounds earlier this month, it was a beautiful moment — if decades late. State lawmakers finally acted out of revulsion from images of a confessed shooter posing with the Civil War relic before he shot to death nine African-American church parishioners June 17. Flag apologists lost their stomach for defending the banner as an emblem of states’ rights.
The best part was that South Carolinians themselves had decided it was time for the bad flag to go.
The worst part is what is happening now as politicians in other states try to repeat that unique moment by passing their own anti-Confederate flag legislation. California lawmakers are poised to pass state Sen. Steve Glazer’s bill that would ban naming any school, park, building or other piece of public property after generals or leaders of the Confederacy. Observe: Sacramento politicians had so much trouble finding Confederate flags to ban — after they banned them from public buildings last year — that they had to broaden the net to schools and buildings.
State lawmakers even have targeted teensy Fort Bragg, population 7,000. Glazer amended SB 539 to exempt city names, but then he wrote a letter urging Fort Bragg’s mayor to change the city’s name.
The Confederate flag is a poke in the eye to African-Americans. But how many Californians ever have been to Fort Bragg?
The California Legislative Black Caucus also urged Fort Bragg to change its name: “It is time that we move forward as a state and as a nation and stop commemorating those who defended the Confederacy and its cause.” Problem: Fort Bragg was not named after Braxton Bragg to commemorate the Confederacy. Maj. Gen. Zachary Taylor named a military outpost near Mendocino after his former commander before the Civil War even started. Later, to Bragg’s undying shame, he became a Confederate general and the owner of 105 slaves.
“Why would I change the name?” Fort Bragg Mayor Dave Turner told me. “You really can’t airbrush history. Or you shouldn’t airbrush history.” He added: If no city can be named after a former slaveholder, say goodbye to Washington, D.C.
Don’t bring up George Washington’s slaveholder history, Glazer told me. He advocates “a much more narrowly tailored” approach that focuses on men who engaged in “treasonous activities against the United States of America.” Though his bill would ban Confederate names for schools and other public buildings, he’s not forcing Fort Bragg or any other city to change.
He just wants to start a conversation — that ends with Fort Bragg’s changing a brand that until recently offended next to no one. It’s a headline in search of a problem.
It’s a crusade that ignores the sad lessons of history: 1) Politicians rarely say no to an opportunity to pick on lesser civil servants. 2) The more trivial the offense the easier it becomes for pandering politicians to rail against it. 3) Once they get rolling, purges are almost impossible to stop.
The Koch conspiracy theorists are having a field day this weekend, as the bi-annual confab of Koch brothers donors got underway on Saturday.
In addition to about 450 contributores, no less than 5 GOP presidential candidates will make an appearance through Sunday.Saturday featured "auditions" by two prominent White House hopefuls Scott Walker and Carly Fiorina. Jeb Bush will address the gathering today.
In his opening remarks, Charles Koch called for an end to "corporate welfare," specifically targetiing the big banks.
The press-shy 79-year-old chief executive of Koch Industries took the nation’s biggest banks to task for accepting “massive bailouts” and cheap loans from the Federal Reserve in return for the federal government wielding increased influence over how they run their businesses.
The comments came at a cocktail reception kicking off the latest gathering of wealthy conservatives assembled by Mr. Koch and his brother David. In brief remarks welcoming donors to the event at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort, Charles Koch challenged the assembled business leaders to encourage other corporate chieftains to “start opposing rather than promoting corporate welfare.”
[...]
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, one of the Republican White House contenders invited to appear, presented himself as the only candidate in the GOP field with a record of both fighting for conservative principles and winning those battles. He questioned why Republican majorities in Congress couldn’t repeal the 2010 health law or the Dodd-Frank financial-market reforms, a not-so-veiled shot at the senators in the race.
But on other occasions, Mr. Walker sidestepped opportunities to take direct shots at two top rivals, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and real-estate developer Donald Trump.“You’re not going to hear me belittle any other Republicans,” he said, before restating his criticism of Mr. Trump for questioning the war record of Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee who spent more than five years in a Vietnamese prison camp.l
Former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, the other 2016 contender to appear at the event Saturday, was much more assertive in her critique of Mr. Bush, questioning whether the son and brother of former presidents is the best candidate in the field to reform Washington. “Why do you think you’re the Bush who can change that?” she said, when asked what question she would pose to the former Florida governor, who will make an appearance on Sunday.
The big banks give generously to both parties, in order to ensure they can keep their perks and advantages. But change is in the wind. The Republican who emerges as the nominee will almost certainly souind a more populist note when it comes to Wall Street and the big banks. Market friendly reforms could become an issue in the campaign as Democrats will seek to demonize Wall Street (while grasping for as much campaign cash as they can").
But Fiorina highlights the big question that should concern GOP primary voters; how can Jeb Bush be a credible candidate for "change"? He may end up raising more money than anyone else, but his policies reek of the Washington establishment and, in many cases, are in direct opposition to what the conservative mainstream believes. Right now, his poll numbers reflect his name recognition. But it should be interesting to see where he stands after the first debate when every other candidate attacks him for some of his more problematic proposals.
LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- A man is under arrest in Lee County, Florida, despite his attempts to chew off his own fingerprints in an attempt to not be identified.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says detectives spotted a 2015 Mercedes which had been stolen and stopped the vehicle.
Detectives discovered that the driver, 20-year-old Kenzo Roberts, was using a fraudulent ID, had a concealed firearm, and possessed three fraudulent credit cards, according to Lee County Sheriff's Office.
As Roberts was being detained in the back of the patrol vehicle, surveillance video shows him attempting to remove his own fingerprints by chewing them off and rubbing them against the cage.
The ploy wasn't successful though, as a fingerprint scanner quickly identified Roberts.
LCSO says he has two felony warrants for his arrest out of Broward County for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Roberts has been charged with three counts of possession of a counterfeit credit card, grand theft auto, possession of a concealed firearm, possession of similitude of a driver's license, driving while license suspended, and false identification given to law enforcement.
Border Patrol was also contacted and found that Roberts was in the U.S. illegally.
BALTIMORE – Baltimore reached a grim milestone on Friday, three months after riots erupted in response to the death of Freddie Gray in police custody: With 45 homicides in July, the city has seen more bloodshed in a single month than it has in 43 years.
Police reported three deaths — two men shot Thursday and one on Friday. The men died at local hospitals.
With their deaths, this year's homicides reached 189, far outpacing the 119 killings by July's end in 2014. Nonfatal shootings have soared to 366, compared to 200 by the same date last year. July's total was the worst since the city recorded 45 killings in August 1972, according to The Baltimore Sun.
The seemingly Sisyphean task of containing the city's violence prompted Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to fire her police commissioner, Anthony Batts, on July 8.
"Too many continue to die on our streets," Rawlings-Blake said then. "Families are tired of dealing with this pain, and so am I. Recent events have placed an intense focus on our police leadership, distracting many from what needs to be our main focus: the fight against crime."
But the killings have not abated under Interim Commissioner Kevin Davis since then.
Baltimore is not unique in its suffering; crimes are spiking in big cities around the country.
But while the city's police are closing cases— Davis announced arrests in three recent murders several days ago — the violence is outpacing their efforts. Davis said Tuesday the "clearance rate" is at 36.6 percent, far lower than the department's mid-40s average.
Crime experts and residents of Baltimore's most dangerous neighborhoods cite a confluence of factors: mistrust of the police; generalized anger and hopelessness over a lack of opportunities for young black men; and competition among dealers of illegal drugs, bolstered by the looting of prescription pills from pharmacies during the riot.
Federal drug enforcement agents said gangs targeted 32 pharmacies in the city, taking roughly 300,000 doses of opiates, as the riots caused $9 million in property damage in the city.
Perched on a friend's stoop, Sherry Moore, 55, said she knew "mostly all" of the young men killed recently in West Baltimore, including an 18-year-old fatally shot a half-block away. Moore said many more pills are on the street since the riot, making people wilder than usual.
"The ones doing the violence, the shootings, they're eating Percocet like candy and they're not thinking about consequences. They have no discipline, they have no respect — they think this is a game. How many can I put down on the East side? How many can I put down on the West side?"
The tally of 42 homicides in May included Gray, who died in April after his neck was broken in police custody. The July tally likewise includes a previous death — a baby whose death in June was ruled a homicide in July.
Shawn Ellerman, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Baltimore division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said May's homicide spike was probably related to the stolen prescription drugs, a supply that is likely exhausted by now. But the drug trade is inherently violent, and turf wars tend to prompt retaliatory killings.
"You can't attribute every murder to narcotics, but I would think a good number" of them are, he said. "You could say it's retaliation from drug trafficking, it's retaliation from gangs moving in from other territories. But there have been drug markets in Baltimore for years."
Across West Baltimore, residents complain that drug addiction and crime are part of a cycle that begins with despair among children who lack educational and recreational opportunities, and extends when people can't find work.
"We need jobs! We need jobs!" a man riding around on a bicycle shouted to anyone who'd listen after four people were shot, three of them fatally, on a street corner in July.
More community engagement, progressive policing policies and opportunities for young people in poverty could help, community activist Munir Bahar said.
"People are focusing on enforcement, not preventing violence. Police enforce a code, a law. Our job as the community is to prevent the violence, and we've failed," said Bahar, who leads the annual 300 Men March against violence in West Baltimore.
"We need anti-violence organizations, we need mentorship programs, we need a long-term solution. But we also need immediate relief," Bahar added. "When we're in something so deep, we have to stop it before you can analyze what the root is."
Strained relationships between police and the public also play a role, according to Eugene O'Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Arrests plummeted and violence soared after six officers were indicted in Gray's death. Residents accused police of abandoning their posts for fear of facing criminal charges for making arrests, and said emboldened criminals were settling scores with little risk of being caught.
The department denied these claims, and police cars have been evident patrolling West Baltimore's central thoroughfares recently.
But O'Donnell said the perception of lawlessness is just as powerful than the reality.
"We have a national issue where the police feel they are the Public Enemy No. 1," he said, making some officers stand down and criminals become more brazen.
"There's a rhythm to the streets," he added. "And when people get away with gun violence, it has a long-term emboldening effect. And the good people in the neighborhood think, 'Who has the upper hand?'"
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran will not allow American or Canadian inspectors working for the U.N. nuclear watchdog to visit its nuclear facilities, an official said in remarks broadcast by state TV on Thursday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran will only allow inspectors from countries that have diplomatic relations with it. The previously undisclosed remarks were made during a Sunday meeting with parliamentarians.
"American and Canadian inspectors cannot be sent to Iran," said Araghchi. "It is mentioned in the deal that inspectors should be from countries that have diplomatic relations with Islamic republic of Iran."
He also said inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency will not have access to "sensitive and military documents."
Iran and world powers reached a historical deal earlier this month aimed at curbing Tehran's disputed nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions. Western nations have long suspected Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons alongside its civilian atomic program, allegations denied by Tehran, which insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.
The U.S. and Iran severed diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Canada closed its embassy in Tehran and suspended diplomatic relations in 2012.
I know. I was shocked, too. Via Mollie Hemmingway at The Federalist (if you don’t have a fainting couch, you may need to invest in one before reading this):
A federal judge late Friday granted a temporary restraining order against the release of recordings made at an annual meeting of abortion providers. The injunction is against the Center for Medical Progress, the group that has unveiled Planned Parenthood’s participation in the sale of organs harvested from aborted children.
Orrick was nominated to his position by hardline abortion supporter President Barack Obama. He was also a major donor to and bundler for President Obama’s presidential campaign. He raised at least $200,000 for Obama and donated $30,800 to committees supporting him, according to Public Citizen.
I know, gang. I know. Take a moment to recover from the news that a California liberal judge who not only was appointed by Obama, but was a campaign bundler, might be making rulings based on political ideology. I can wait.
Feel better? Let’s go.
This should really not be surprising to anyone, considering this is politics as usual in the United States of America. As my colleague and intellectual superior, Leon Wolf, pointed out yesterday, the rule of law has been replaced by a system built entirely on prosecuting the hell out of people, and it has been heavily peppered with judges who act solely on political ideology and allegiance rather than the Constitution and the law.
So, while people and organizations can run to friendly judges appointed by their political allies, what used to be a system of laws is now a system of feels. If we feel you’re harming our cause, we’ll find something to bring you down. If we don’t like you, we can (at least until someone notices we’re engaging in prior restraint or the like) silence you. You don’t have freedom of speech so law as we have political activism in lieu of an actual judicial system.
Foo Fighters
