Just now, Hurlsnot said:

The article says he was taking 5 bags of heroin a day. 

That's normal for Florida men.

^ 'Splains a lot.

The political education of Peter Meijer

“Well, my Republican Party wouldn’t scare him,” Meijer said with a shrug.

I asked if he understood why George and his friends might be scared right now. He smirked. “The inability to affirmatively and consistently reject anti-Semitism and white supremacy?”

The fundamental problem, Meijer said, is that Republicans are offering no plans for improving lives and making the future a more promising place. Instead, the party continues to rely on grievance and fear—and misinformation—to scare voters into their ranks. But he didn’t say any of this to George.

...

the most disturbing aspect o' the current gop leadership is the collective awareness they is shoveling trump's bs, and the realization o' just how dangerous were january 6. these guys know how close we were to seeing the system break over a lie. tds? serious? nevertheless, these same individuals is active undermining already insufficient procedural safeguards so that if something similar happens in the future, the outcome will be different.

HA! Good Fun!

1 hour ago, Gromnir said:

The political education of Peter Meijer

“Well, my Republican Party wouldn’t scare him,” Meijer said with a shrug.

I asked if he understood why George and his friends might be scared right now. He smirked. “The inability to affirmatively and consistently reject anti-Semitism and white supremacy?”

The fundamental problem, Meijer said, is that Republicans are offering no plans for improving lives and making the future a more promising place. Instead, the party continues to rely on grievance and fear—and misinformation—to scare voters into their ranks. But he didn’t say any of this to George.

...

the most disturbing aspect o' the current gop leadership is the collective awareness they is shoveling trump's bs, and the realization o' just how dangerous were january 6. these guys know how close we were to seeing the system break over a lie. tds? serious? nevertheless, these same individuals is active undermining already insufficient procedural safeguards so that if something similar happens in the future, the outcome will be different.

HA! Good Fun!

I have to wonder what exactly Meijer had going through his head in the four years leading up to his getting elected. Was he utterly unaware of what the GOP is, somehow?

2 hours ago, Pidesco said:

I have to wonder what exactly Meijer had going through his head in the four years leading up to his getting elected. Was he utterly unaware of what the GOP is, somehow?

am not suggesting is the same, but the willingness to minimize the threat o' an autocrat is not new. the movie were in fact released not to criticize nazi germany but rather to highlight the fact the same willful ignorance had been embraced by far too many during the mccarthy era. we don't learn. in fact, because were not same, were easier to ignore the threat and the four years o' excesses and violations o' rule o' law. serious, how often did some idjit on these boards and elsewheres accuse folks o' trump derangement syndrome with each new complaint regarding the previous unthinkable? is not like trump were putin or hitler or... whatever. those patriots who ignored or deluded selves for more than four years were able to look to historical analogues and convince self that trump were hardly the monster being conjured by the liberal media to scare children and fence-sitting independents. 

inch by inch, and crime by crime, the rough beast, its hour come round at last, did slouch towards bethlehem to be born. ironic. with each new transgression it became more difficult to rationalize and marginalize trump, but in spite o' that it actual became easier for the gop to just go along, 'cause supporters became increasing personal invested in the lies and the knee-jerk tds and fake news responses became second nature.

so which were more contempt worthy, the radicalized millions who cheered the monstrosity or the thousands with real power and influence who were fully aware o' what were happening within their party and nevertheless chose to look away, towards a future where trump would be gone and those radicalized millions would need look elsewhere to spend their political contributions?

HA! Good Fun!

 

Edited December 8, 20214 yr by Gromnir

2 hours ago, Pidesco said:

I have to wonder what exactly Meijer had going through his head in the four years leading up to his getting elected. Was he utterly unaware of what the GOP is, somehow?

After reading the article, I think he didn't care.

is ez to look at the guys on the other side o' an issue and suggest they is different. they is lacking self awareness. they is selfish. given the qanon stuff in the article, am gonna once again note how some in this thread has suggested white republicans is uniquely susceptible to conspiracy theory. ignores reality that more than 50% o' democrats post 9/11 believed that the bush administration had awareness o' the impending attacks. 

am suspecting meijer convinced self trump were a passing phase. how many times did he need convince self that the threat posed by an executive unwilling to follow the rule o' law were exaggerated? dunno.  the thing is, with each new gop excess, it got harder to admit mistake and easier to just go along with everybody else in the party. such willful indifference and complicity is not party specific failings, though the 2021 gop is doing their best to break new frontiers as they rush headlong towards the next unthinkable and unimaginable. 

is fair to criticize meijer, past and present. the thing is, if is no chance at redemption, then you diminish the chance o' additional come-to-jesus epiphanies. 

HA! Good Fun!

I'm always amazed at how people want their politicians to be consistent and immovable. That sounds like something I'd want from a Supreme Court justice, but I want my politicians to be quick to embrace change and pivot when provided with new information. Adapt and overcome instead of going down with the ship.

29 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

I'm always amazed at how people want their politicians to be consistent and immovable. That sounds like something I'd want from a Supreme Court justice, but I want my politicians to be quick to embrace change and pivot when provided with new information. Adapt and overcome instead of going down with the ship.

Different people want different things from their leaders because they view "strength" and "leadership" in different ways. If you belong to a tribe that values assertiveness, then changing a stance based on new information is viewed as weakness. Another tribe values correctness and sees steadfast refusal to change as buffoonery.

What's disheartening to me is how much of this we're learning is biological

Mejier's come to Jesus moment is better than his peers apologetics for the failed coup, but based on the article it seems like he was willing to swallow any of his discomfort with Trump before the election fallout. Look, it's nice that Mejier didn't jump off that bridge and is showing alarm at the state of his political party, but it does feel more than a little late. Better late than never, but the attempted Muslim ban on 1/27/2017 should have been it for anyone with even a pretense of giving a **** about freedom or opposed to government overreach and yet too many folks were and are willing to swallow or downplay that for political expediency. I can't help but be suspicious of folks who stayed on the train after that stop.

1 hour ago, Hurlsnot said:

I'm always amazed at how people want their politicians to be consistent and immovable.

I want consistent but I don't want immovable, otherwise agreed.

1 hour ago, Achilles said:

Different people want different things from their leaders because they view "strength" and "leadership" in different ways. If you belong to a tribe that values assertiveness, then changing a stance based on new information is viewed as weakness. Another tribe values correctness and sees steadfast refusal to change as buffoonery.

What's disheartening to me is how much of this we're learning is biological

 

For the right, ignorance is strength, war is virtue, sperm is sacred.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/07/kellogg-strike-workers-pay

“While certainly not the result we had hoped for, we must take the necessary steps to ensure business continuity,” said Chris Hood, president of Kellogg North America. “We have an obligation to our customers and consumers to continue to provide the cereals that they know and love.”

Obligations to your customers, but not to your workers. Corporate greed ftw.

Edited December 9, 20214 yr by Maedhros

2 hours ago, Maedhros said:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/07/kellogg-strike-workers-pay

“While certainly not the result we had hoped for, we must take the necessary steps to ensure business continuity,” said Chris Hood, president of Kellogg North America. “We have an obligation to our customers and consumers to continue to provide the cereals that they know and love.”

Obligations to your customers, but not to your workers. Corporate greed ftw.

Interesting story, I wonder if they were paid overtime for the 80 hour week?

Because then they were remunerated for the effort but if not then the company is being unreasonable offering them only  a 3% increase after  all that work ?

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

Interesting story, I wonder if they were paid overtime for the 80 hour week?

I didnt check all four states, but in Michigan its the law to pay overtime after 40 hours.

Basically they are rejecting the 3% raise.

3 hours ago, Maedhros said:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/07/kellogg-strike-workers-pay

“While certainly not the result we had hoped for, we must take the necessary steps to ensure business continuity,” said Chris Hood, president of Kellogg North America. “We have an obligation to our customers and consumers to continue to provide the cereals that they know and love.”

Obligations to your customers, but not to your workers. Corporate greed ftw.

“This is after just one year ago, we were hailed as heroes, as we worked through the pandemic, seven days a week, 16 hours a day. Now apparently, we are no longer heroes,” said Bidelman. “We don’t have weekends, really. We just work seven days a week, sometimes 100 to 130 days in a row. For 28 days, the machines run, then rest three days for cleaning. They don’t even treat us as well as they do their machinery.”

**** Kellogg.

5 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

I didnt check all four states, but in Michigan its the law to pay overtime after 40 hours.

Basically they are rejecting the 3% raise.

Then I have an issue with their complaints because they were paid to work those long hours and this is not as egregious as some may think

Just to make sure Im understanding the offer, it was a guaranteed 3% raise every year for 5 years?

The GOP is in complete thrall to the worst elements of their constituency. The Democrats are in thrall to the stupidest elements of their constituency. It would be incorrect to sat "they are all the same". It is COMPLETELY correct to say "they are all terrible". 

Would you rather french kiss an angry crocodile or swallow a live Bark Scorpion. And remember... you HAVE to choose one!

7 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Just to make sure Im understanding the offer, it was a guaranteed 3% raise every year for 5 years?

Yes that is unfair because of inflation costs, in SA your increase is based on inflation so your increase should be equal to that at least 

9 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Yes that is unfair because of inflation costs, in SA your increase is based on inflation so your increase should be equal to that at least 

Thats interesting. I was just reading What Causes Inflation and Who Profits From It? and it seems inflation is variable due to several reasons (the Federal Reserve tries to keep it around 2%). So using you as an example, how do you negotiate a raise? Is it performed annually? Otherwise it would be impossible to predict the inflation in SA over a 5 year contract?

15 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Thats interesting. I was just reading What Causes Inflation and Who Profits From It? and it seems inflation is variable due to several reasons (the Federal Reserve tries to keep it around 2%). So using you as an example, how do you negotiate a raise? Is it performed annually? Otherwise it would be impossible to predict the inflation in SA over a 5 year contract?

Good question and yes inflation is caused by several factors but SA inflation has been more or less consistent for the last 10 years between 4-5 %. I consider high inflation to be one of the worst economic realities for any country which is why most Central Banks\Reserve Banks\Federal Reserve have " inflation targeting " as one of their primary mandates.

We dont negotiate our increases as they set on inflation and you work towards  your end of year bonus or commission target as your main incentive. But lets say you want to negotiate a better raise than inflation then you need to justify your revenue stream with your boss  and what you bring in which is hard to do in certain jobs where you cant calculate your personal contribution like someone working in a factory, these types of workers dont have  a target for example 

But as a consultant I can calculate my hourly billing  and I know exactly what I contribute and what customers I work on and how we benefit from yearly software renewals and projects because of the work I do. And this matters because back in the day in JHB, 2 years ago,  where I was well paid I worked at several banks and because I specialize in financial software the companies  I worked for recognised these important customers and kept people like me happy 

So to answer your questions, yes its done yearly in listed companies and you right you cant predict inflation exactly so your increase is normally 4-5% depending on current SA inflation because the core objective with most salary increases is your salary increase should be enough to assume you dont lose money due to inflation

But everyone works towards a bonus assuming the company makes its yearly target. I hope this makes sense?

37 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

Thats interesting. I was just reading What Causes Inflation and Who Profits From It? and it seems inflation is variable due to several reasons (the Federal Reserve tries to keep it around 2%). So using you as an example, how do you negotiate a raise? Is it performed annually? Otherwise it would be impossible to predict the inflation in SA over a 5 year contract?

Oh by the way, excellent website Investopedia especially if you looking for reasonably simple explanations around all financial and economic topics