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northgazaupdates · 1 month

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23 March 2024

The situation in and around Al-Shifa Hospital is beyond catastrophic. Journalist Mahmoud Abusalama provides an update on what little is known about conditions right now in Al-Shifa Hospital, which is in its 6th day of total siege by the occupation.

Instagram user faridaek provides a full English translation. Bolded phrases are added by this blog for emphasis.

Six days into the siege of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, and there's no response to those who call out. Six days of Israeli criminal activities taking place within Al-Shifa Hospital. What is happening at Al-Shita Hospital exactly?

During these six days, Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza has been transformed into an Israeli military base inside the Gaza Strip. Through this, interrogations of citizens are conducted. Inside this hospital, field executions are carried out against civilians - patients, doctors, children, and women alike - who are all being detained.

The number of detainees inside Al-Shifa Hospital has exceeded 800 up until this moment, with dozens, if not hundreds, of martyrs inside this hospital. There is a complete and total siege on the hospital.

152 patients who were inside the hospital, were placed inside one of the rooms, receiving neither treatment nor food. There are children and women dying inside this hospital. What is happening in Al-Shifa Medical Hospital is a very real humanitarian disaster that is being witnessed by the world on its sixth day, and yet there's no life for those who call out.

The houses surrounding Al-Shifa Medical Hospital have witnessed massacres, with a large number of martyrs inside these homes. Numerous injuries have been reported, and yet, on the sixth day, ambulance teams and civil defense crews still can't access these places. What is happening, and what we are being informed of from our sources inside the hospital, will shock the entire world once the occupation's machinery withdraws and its presence inside Al-Shifa Hospital has ended.

Widespread massacres and field executions against civilians inside this hospital, torture of doctors, patients, and displaced individuals. All this is happening inside a hospital that is supposed to be a humanitarian institution, right infront of the whole world, and yet no one is taking action.

The Israeli army positions snipers in the homes of citizens surrounding Al-Shifa Hospital, shooting everything in sight, everything that moves, even the air and the birds. This is the scene on the sixth day at Al-Shifa Hospital, and there's no life for those who call out.

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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 months

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NLRB rules that any union busting triggers automatic union recognition

Tonight (September 6) at 7pm, I'll be hosting Naomi Klein at the LA Public Library for the launch of Doppelganger.

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

American support for unions is at its highest level in generations, from 70% (general population) to 88% (Millenials) – and yet, American unionization rates are pathetic.

That's about to change.

The National Labor Relations Board just handed down a landmark ruling – the Cemex case – that "brought worker rights back from the dead."

https://prospect.org/labor/2023-08-28-bidens-nlrb-brings-workers-rights-back/

At issue in Cemex was what the NLRB should do about employers that violate labor law during union drives. For decades, even the most flagrantly illegal union-busting was met with a wrist-slap. For example, if a boss threatened or fired an employee for participating in a union drive, the NLRB would typically issue a small fine and order the employer to re-hire the worker and provide back-pay.

Everyone knows that "a fine is a price." The NLRB's toothless response to cheating presented an easily solved equation for corrupt, union-hating bosses: if the fine amounts to less than the total, lifetime costs of paying a fair wage and offering fair labor conditions, you should cheat – hell, it's practically a fiduciary duty:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/468061

Enter the Cemex ruling: once a majority of workers have signed a union card, any Unfair Labor Practice by their employer triggers immediate, automatic recognition of the union. In other words, the NLRB has fitted a tilt sensor in the American labor pinball machine, and if the boss tries to cheat, they automatically lose.

Cemex is a complete 180, a radical transformation of the American labor regulator from a figleaf that legitimized union busting to an actual enforcer, upholding the law that Congress passed, rather than the law that America's oligarchs wish Congress had passed. It represents a turning point in the system of lawless impunity for American plutocracy.

In the words of Frank Wilhoit, it is is a repudiation of the conservative dogma: "There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect":

https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288

It's also a stunning example of what regulatory competence looks like. The Biden administration is a decidedly mixed bag. On the one hand there are empty suits masquerading as technocrats, champions of the party's centrist wing (slogan: "Everything is fine and change is impossible"):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

But the progressive, Sanders/Warren wing of the party installed some fantastically competent, hard-charging, principled fighters, who are chapter-and-verse on their regulatory authority and have the courage to use that authority:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

They embody the old joke about the photocopier technician who charges "$1 to kick the photocopier and $79 to know where to kick it." The best Biden appointees have their boots firmly laced, and they're kicking that mother:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does

One such expert kicker is NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. Abruzzo has taken a series of muscular, bold moves to protect American workers, turning the tide in the class war that the 1% has waged on workers since the Reagan administration. For example, Abruzzo is working to turn worker misclassification – the fiction that an employee is a small business contracting with their boss, a staple of the "gig economy" – into an Unfair Labor Practice:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/10/see-you-in-the-funny-papers/bidens-legacy

She's also waging war on robo-scab companies: app-based employment "platforms" like Instawork that are used to recruit workers to cross picket lines, under threat of being blocked from the app and blackballed by hundreds of local employers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork

With Cemex, Abruzzo is restoring a century-old labor principle that has been gathering dust for generations: the idea that workers have the right to organize workplace gemocracies without fear of retaliation, harassment, or reprisals.

But as Harold Meyerson writes for The American Prospect, the Cemex ruling has its limits. Even if the NLRB forces and employer to recognize a union, they can't force the employer to bargain in good faith for a union contract. The National Labor Relations Act prohibits the Board from imposing a contract.

That's created a loophole that corrupt bosses have driven entire fleets of trucks through. Workers who attain union recognition face years-long struggles to win a contract, as their bosses walk away from negotiations or offer farcical "bargaining positions" in the expectation that they'll be rejected, prolonging the delay.

Democrats have been trying to fix this loophole since the LBJ years, but they've been repeatedly blocked in the senate. But Abruzzo is a consummate photocopier kicker, and she's taking aim. In Thrive Pet Healthcare, Abruzzo has argued that failing to bargain in good faith for a contract is itself an Unfair Labor Practice. That means the NLRB has the authority to act to correct it – they can't order a contract, but they can order the employer to give workers "wages, benefits, hours, and such that are comparable to those provided by comparable unionized companies in their field."

Mitch McConnell is a piece of shit, but he's no slouch at kicking photocopiers himself. For a whole year, McConnell has blocked senate confirmation hearings to fill a vacant seat on the NLRB. In the short term, this meant that the three Dems on the board were able to hand down these bold rulings without worrying about their GOP colleagues.

But McConnell was playing a long game. Board member Gwynne Wilcox's term is about to expire. If her seat remains vacant, the three remaining board members won't be able to form a quorum, and the NLRB won't be able to do anything.

As Meyerson writes, centrist Dems have refused to push McConnell on this, hoping for comity and not wanting to violate decorum. But Chuck Schumer has finally bestirred himself to fight this issue, and Alaska GOP senator Lisa Murkowski has already broken with her party to move Wilcox's confirmation to a floor vote.

The work of enforcers like DoJ Antitrust Division boss Jonathan Kanter, FTC chair Lina Khan, and SEC chair Gary Gensler is at the heart of Bidenomics: the muscular, fearless deployment of existing regulatory authority to make life better for everyday Americans.

But of course, "existing regulatory authority" isn't the last word. The judges filling stolen seats on the illegitimate Supreme Court had invented the "major questions doctrine" and have used it as a club to attack Biden's photocopier-kickers. There's real danger that Cemex – and other key actions – will get fast-tracked to SCOTUS so the dotards in robes can shatter our dreams for a better America.

Meyerson is cautiously optimistic here. At 40% (!), the Court's approval rating is at a low not seen since the New Deal showdowns. The Supremes don't have an army, they don't have cops, they just have legitimacy. If Americans refuse to acknowledge their decisions, all they can do it sit and stew:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/26/mint-the-coin-etc-etc/#blitz-em

The Court knows this. That's why they fume so publicly about attacks on their legitimacy. Without legitimacy, they're nothing. With the Supremes' support at 40% and union support at 70%, any judicial attack on Cemex could trigger term-limits, court-packing, and other doomsday scenarios that will haunt the relatively young judges for decades, as the seats they stole dwindle into irrelevance. Meyerson predicts that this will weigh on them, and may stay their hands.

Meyerson might be wrong, of course. No one ever lost money betting on the self-destructive hubris of Federalist Society judges. But even if he's wrong, his point is important. If the Supremes frustrate the democratic will of the American people, we have to smash the Supremes. Term limits, court-packing, whatever it takes:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/20/judicial-equilibria/#pack-the-court

And the more we talk about this – the more we make this consequence explicit – the more it will weigh on them, and the better the chance that they'll surprise us. That's already happening! The Supremes just crushed the Sackler opioid crime-family's dream of keeping their billions in blood-money:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed

But if it doesn't stop them? If they crush this dream, too? Pack the court. Impose term limits. Make it the issue. Don't apologize, don't shrug it off, don't succumb to learned helplessness. Make it our demand. Make it a litmus test: "If elected, will you vote to pack the court and clear the way for democratic legitimacy?"

Meanwhile, Cemex is already bearing fruit. After an NYC Trader Joe's violated the law to keep Trader Joe's United from organizing a store, the workers there have petitioned to have their union automatically recognized under the Cemex rule:

https://truthout.org/articles/trader-joes-union-files-to-force-company-to-recognize-union-under-new-nlrb-rule/

With the NLRB clearing the regulatory obstacles to union recognition, America's largest unions are awakening from their own long slumbers. For decades, unions have spent a desultory 3% of their budgets on organizing workers into new locals. But a leadership upset in the AFL-CIO has unions ready to catch a wave with the young workers and their 88% approval rating, with a massive planned organizing drive:

https://prospect.org/labor/labors-john-l-lewis-moment/

Meyerson calls on other large unions to follow suit, and the unions seem ready to do so, with new leaders and new militancy at the Teamsters and UAW, and with SEIU members at unionized Starbucks waiting for their first contracts.

Turning union-supporting workers into unionized workers is key to fighting Supreme Court sabotage. Organized labor will give fighters like Abruzzo the political cover she needs to Get Shit Done. A better America is possible. It's within our grasp. Though there is a long way to go, we are winning crucial victories all the time.

The centrist message that everything is fine and change is impossible is designed to demoralize you, to win the fight in your mind so they don't have to win it in the streets and in the jobsite. We don't have to give them that victory. It's ours for the taking.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks

#nlrb #cemex #unions #labor #class war #photocopier kickers #ulp #unfair labor practices #jennifer abruzzo #thrive pet care #national labor review board #scotus #afl-cio #trader joes #harold meyerson #labor day #pluralistic

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annabelle--cane · 1 year

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there's a kind of characterization drift that I've seen happen a lot in fandoms that lowkey infuriates me because it ends up with fanon characterization that is a full 180 degree turn from a character's original personality but I also understand and sympathize completely with how it happens. the character in their original work has a personality based around a few key traits, for the sake of explaining let's say the character is really kind and caring, and maybe in one or two scenes they're pushed to their limit and act really mean in a way that is very unlike them. as the nature of transformative fandom is often about exploring elements that were missing/barely there in the og works, fans think "oh I really want to delve in on this character's mean side, it's an interesting nuance to them and I want to examine it," and through feedback loops you end up at a place where their prevailing fanon personality is a borderline violently aggressive asshole. again, I totally see where this comes from, and it drives me insane.

#HHH #marina marvels at life

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illicit-astrology · 3 months

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What does Pluto in Aquarius Mean for You?

Aquarius Rising: Pluto is in your first house. You will immediately notice the powerful influence you have on people and the polarizing responses you elicit in others. You are about to birth a totally different YOU in the next decade(s). Expect to undergo a slow but sure glow-up over the next two decades.

Capricorn Rising: Pluto is in your second house. Your finances and self-worth will be under a constant growth cycle. The ways you generate or manage your income will forever be changed, as well as where you place your values.

Sagittarius Rising: Pluto is in your 3rd house. Your mindset most importantly, will be forever changed and transformed. You will be able to gain more insights and develop new ways to unlock your full brain power.

Scorpio Rising: Pluto is in your 4th house. Your emotional state and security is about to be put to the test. You will find out what's holding you back from achieving emotional vulnerability and security. Your ideas about where you want to settle and how you want to create a family will completely change too.

Libra RIsing: Pluto is in your 5th house. Your idea of romance and what brings you happiness will change. Your hobbies and creative endeavors will undergo transformation too. You will outgrow most of the things that used to bring you pleasure or happiness.

Virgo Rising: Pluto is in your 6th house. Pluto is here to push you to be serious about your health, habits, and work. You will experience the drawbacks of bad habits or addictions. You will outgrow certain routines, habits, and even work responsibilities.

Leo Rising: Pluto is in your 7th house. Relationships and interaction with people won't be a walk in the park anymore. They will carry a lot of psychological undertones, challenging you to relinquish control, and clear any emotional baggage and outgrow what doesn't work for you anymore.

Cancer Rising: Pluto is in your 8th house. This will be an exclusive invitation from Pluto to dive into its dungeon; your inner psyche. This will mark a heavy introspective but healing period in your life, wherein no action will go unnoticed or uninspected. Your subconscious is alert and is pointing out all your wounds that require healing.

Gemini Rising: Pluto is in your 9th house. This period will bring a lot of esoteric experiences that will change your perspective on life and death. Expect the unexpected. Your religious beliefs will change or you will outgrow certain parts of your moral values and opt for totally different ones. Traveling will be deemed transformational.

Taurus Rising: Pluto is in your 10th house. Saddle up! The career path and how you wanted to come across, no matter how sure you were about it? Yea, that will change. Pluto is here to challenge the parts of you that want to fit into the status quo. Are they real? If not, expect a total 180° change in career path and how you want to relate to the public.

Aries Rising: Pluto is in your 11th house. Your friendships and aspirations will be challenged and changed forever. As well as society's response to you. Be ready to be the outcast in your society or among your friends. This will help you remain true to yourself while attracting those who align with your authentic self.

Pisces Rising: Pluto is in your 12th house. This will be a VIP invitation from Pluto himself to look inward. Periods of solitude will be deemed essential and transformative during this time. If you don't carve enough time for yourself to heal your subconscious and self-sabotaging patterns, Pluto will force you to!

I hope this helps, and as a pluto dominant, please don't fear Pluto, but fear living life UNauthentically! So stay authentic, stay sexy!

#pluto in aquarius #aquarius #pluto #astrolog #horoscope #zodiac #synastry #composite

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