Elon Musk says letting workers unionize creates ‘lords and peasants’. What?

In case workers need any additional arguments for why labor unions are good for them, a powerful new argument comes from none other than Elon Musk. Last month at the New York Times DealBook Summit, a gathering of lords of finance and industry, Musk said: “I disagree with the idea of unions … I just don’t like anything which creates a lords and peasants sort of thing.”

That the world’s richest human dissed the idea of unions should certainly be seen as a selling point for unionizing. Musk’s statement shows that he realizes that unions can be highly effective in harnessing the collective voice and power of workers, not just to limit the autonomy of power-hungry CEOs like him in managing their companies, but also to counter the capricious and often officious way he runs things. Musk is allergic to the idea of letting workers and their union have a voice in how to run – and improve – things.

Justice Neil Gorsuch took 10 minutes to approve Dobbs abortion opinion – report

The conservative supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch took just 10 minutes to approve without changes a 98-page draft of the opinion that would remove the federal right to abortion that had been guaranteed for nearly 50 years, the New York Times reported.

According to the paper, Samuel Alito, the author of the opinion in Dobbs v Jackson, the case that struck down Roe v Wade, from 1973, circulated his draft at 11.16am on 10 February 2022.

House GOP Would Have Taxpayers Pay for Cleanup When Fracking Boom Goes Bust

A House committee is considering legislation introduced by Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert that could leave taxpayers on the hook for up to $17.7 billion in costs associated with cleaning up oil and gas wells abandoned on public lands by fracking companies and other polluters, according to a new report from the watchdog group Public Citizen.

Oil and gas industry lobbyists and their allies on Capitol Hill are working to defeat a Biden administration proposal that would strengthen federal requirements designed to force fossil fuel companies to plug wells and clean up drilling sites on federal lands after extraction. Boebert’s bill would direct the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to withdraw its proposal, and the House Natural Resources Committee considered the bill for markup on Wednesday.

A second Trump term will be far more autocratic than the first. He’s telling us

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Plenty of observers seem to think that’s all one needs to know as one beholds Donald Trump’s seemingly inevitable Republican nomination for president and possible second term. They assume that because it wasn’t fascism the first time, it cannot be fascism the second time; Trump is expected once more to be the bumbling, blustering buffoon, supervised by adults in the room.

It Looks Like Donald Trump Still Wants To Repeal Obamacare

Donald Trump says he is still interested in repealing the Affordable Care Act, which means health care for tens of millions of people would be in jeopardy if he becomes president again next year.

Trump said Saturday on his website Truth Social that he was “looking at alternatives” to the 2010 health care law, also known as “Obamacare,” which has reduced the number of Americans without health insurance to historic lows and established basic guarantees of coverage for all Americans regardless of pre-existing conditions.

Federal Court Guts Enforcement of Voting Rights Act in “Catastrophic” Ruling

On Monday, a conservative three-judge panel on the United State’s most right-wing federal court struck down the primary enforcement mechanism of the Voting Rights Act in a ruling that experts are saying would be “catastrophic” for voting rights across the country if upheld.

In a 2-1 ruling, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that private litigants, like voting and civil rights groups, are not allowed to bring lawsuits challenging discriminatory practices in redistricting and election administration under Section 2 of the law. “Private right of action,” as it’s known, is the main way that the Voting Rights Act is enforced; for decades, civil rights groups have filed lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act to challenge gerrymandering and racist voter suppression efforts, particularly in the South. The ruling, then, would leave only the Justice Department to bring lawsuits when electoral maps or changes to election administration rules have discriminatory effects on voters.

Conservative Appeals Court Decision Aims To Gut The Voting Rights Act

A panel of conservative judges on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that private individuals or groups cannot bring suit under the Voting Rights Act on Monday.

The decision by a three-judge panel in the case, Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment, would take away the main avenue used to enforce Section 2 of the landmark civil rights law by only allowing the government to bring lawsuits under it. Such a change would make enforcement rare and subject to political control of state and federal government. With Republicans firmly opposed to the Voting Rights Act, the law would be moribund when they controlled state governments or the Department of Justice.

Some Trans Kids Are Being Forced To Flee America For Their Safety

Until a few years ago, Grey Wilson’s journey as a trans person had largely been a peaceful one.

A week before his 13th birthday, he came out to his mother, Lauren, in a PowerPoint presentation that laid out why he should be allowed to transition. It had previously proven to be a successful method of getting what he wanted: Every time he yearned to adopt a dog or a bunny, he would create a slideshow detailing the costs of pet ownership, appropriate feeding schedules, and where to obtain the animal in question. (Grey only got turned down when he asked Lauren for a snake.)

Danielle Smith believes she's found the org chart that saves health care

If there was a health-care system structure that guaranteed better patient care, lower surgical wait times and impartial and accountable decision-making, then it would be in place everywhere.

But it's not.

British Columbia has five regional health authorities. Québec has 18. Ontario? It's somewhat complicated.

Alberta to dismantle current patient-care model, create new health delivery system

Alberta's government is dismantling its provincial health-care delivery organization into four entities in a sweeping overhaul that will change the structure and decision-making for the entire health system. 

Heralding it as a "new day for health care in Alberta," Premier Danielle Smith says dividing Alberta Health Services (AHS) into new agencies with a narrower focus, to be overseen by a council of politicians and senior government bureaucrats, will improve access to care in a system under strain.

Anti-abortion groups confident Johnson will deliver despite Fox interview

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s anti-abortion bona fides are undisputed, but Thursday night he downplayed the chance of action on a federal abortion ban during an interview with Sean Hannity, asserting there are more pressing issues facing his caucus.

“There is no national consensus” on abortion, he said in his first prime-time interview.

It was a stark turn for a congressman who has pushed several bills to restrict abortion nationwide and indicative of the competing pressures of his new role — including keeping control of the House.

Mother, Son Charged with “Kidnapping” for Helping Idaho Minor Access Abortion

Reproductive justice advocates allege that police in Idaho have made the first “abortion trafficking” arrest after an Idaho teenager and his mother were charged with “kidnapping” for bringing the teen’s girlfriend out of state for an abortion.

The 15-year-old who had an out-of-state abortion, identified in court records as K.B., was living in Idaho with her boyfriend and his mother when she became pregnant. In May, the same month Idaho’s “abortion trafficking” law went into effect, her boyfriend and his mother brought her to Oregon to obtain abortion medication.

Danielle Smith’s Dangerous Clean Energy Fantasies

Perhaps Danielle Smith forgot where she was when she told the attendees at the Pembina Institute’s Alberta Climate Summit that clean electricity by 2035 was impossible and anyone who thought otherwise was a fantasist.

The summit attendees paid $400 to $600 for the one-day event, which brought together “thought leaders from industry, government, civil society groups, Indigenous governments and rural communities to hear success stories, identify opportunities and challenges, and explore solutions related to Alberta’s clean energy future.”

Ex-GOP Congressman Spitballs Truly Chilling Scenario Of Second Trump Term

Donald Trump will seek to turn to aggressive right-wing lawyers to enact his extreme agenda if he wins back the White House in 2024, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace said Wednesday, citing a new report from The New York Times.

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), in speaking with Wallace about the latest reporting from the Times, suggested just how bad things could get in a second Trump term.

Rep. Mike Johnson’s Largest Donor Was AIPAC. He’s Trying to Cut Free Tax Filing to Send Weapons to Israel

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, was the top donor to Rep. Mike Johnson during his most recent campaign, chipping in $25,000 between 2021 and 2022, according to an OpenSecrets analysis of his political contributors. Johnson’s first order of business as speaker of the House is to seek budget cuts in exchange for a $14 billion aid package for Israel.

Voters in at Least 10 States Are Trying to Protect Abortion Rights. GOP Officials Are Throwing Up Roadblocks

In Ohio, a GOP-controlled agency rewrote language for a ballot measure that would guarantee access to abortion in the state constitution, swapping in new wording that opponents said was designed to confuse voters. In Missouri, a Republican official launched legal challenges that have stalled a citizen-led effort to pass a law guaranteeing reproductive health care. And in Michigan, a Republican lawmaker went one step further, introducing a bill that would undo a popular new access law.

‘An atmosphere of fear’: free speech under threat in Israel, activists say

Two activists from a Jewish-Arab peace movement were recently detained in Israel for putting up posters with a message that the police deemed to be offensive. The message was: “Jews and Arabs, we will get through this together.”

The activists, members of Standing Together, had their posters confiscated, as well as T-shirts printed with peace slogans in Hebrew and Arabic.

Danielle Smith's pension trifecta: Trudeau, Notley and Poilievre agree on something

It's not clear if Pierre Poilievre had already devised a position on Alberta's proposed quitting of the Canada Pension Plan, but the Conservative leader issued one barely a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proclaimed his own stance.

The Liberals' unusually forceful opposition to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's pension ambition has doubled as a political wedge against Poilievre. Alongside trying to criticize the CPP-weakening gambit itself, Liberals applied pressure on Conservatives to squeeze their leader through one of three doors:

Arundhati Roy is being hounded by the Indian state. This is a test case for its democracy

The climate for media and free speech in India is in a dangerous place. The country is already ranked 161 out of 180 countries in the press freedom index, but the actions of prime minister Narendra Modi’s government in the past few weeks have shown how many more clampdowns await. Desperately in need of distraction tactics – given the many failures in governance, tackling inflation or delivering jobs – the regime is after a fresh dose of sound and fury against political opponents.

Authoritarianism Expert Warns Where Threats Against Jim Jordan Opponents Will Lead

Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Wednesday addressed the chilling threats that some House Republicans have received for not backing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to replace ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as House speaker.

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) has received what she described as “credible death threats and a barrage of threatening calls,” Rep. Don Bacon’s (R-Neb.) wife has received threatening text messages and Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) has been told to: “Go fuck yourself and die.”