michaelskis
Cyburbian
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Did anything happen at the J6 rally this past weekend? Let me guess, it was called that because Just 6 people showed?
That is what the news does... they did the same thing to Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton. (Sometimes it was golfing instead of biking)Show Fox pundits are complaining that Joe rode a bike this weekend and Kamala flipped a coin at the Howard v Hampton football game because they should be at the White House fixing the mess.
Yes, that's important news worthy stuff right there.![]()
former President Trump, continuing to falsely claim the election was stolen, pressed Republican Governor Greg Abbott for a ballot review.
Mr. Trump won Texas last year by 5.5 percentage points, the closest margin of victory by a GOP presidential nominee in decades.
I have had a couple discussions with local schools about the bus driver issue, and it seems to relate to a couple key issues (pay, benefits, etc.), but the biggest is that bus drivers in the area are directly competing with school cafeteria helpers and other non-teaching positions. If they provide higher pay to bus drivers they will see huge requests from the non-teaching unions. It is an interesting place schools are in right now, as the solutions are limited, and the problems just keep getting bigger.I know we had some discussions in here back in July about the post-pandemic labor crisis but I'd like to add to that...
A couple observations I've had over the past month+:
Even with the end of the supplemental unemployment insurance, the labor supply here in Metro Detroit is still extraordinarily tight, especially among restaurants (at every end of the spectrum/price range). We did a brief survey of locally-owned restaurants in our contact list (a couple hundred) and nearly all of the respondents report they are still having trouble hiring and have had to adjust their hours of operation. Last week I decided to do a rare lunch at a bar with a couple of friends and the first three places we tried were take out only or not open at lunch at all. One Saturday evening a couple weeks ago I went to go pick up a take out order we placed for dinner and so many restaurants I passed had empty parking lots and were obviously closed... and this was on the most dense portion of Woodward Avenue, arguably the "Main Street" for Metro Detroit where thousands of cars pass by each hour and there are tens of thousands of workers and residents within a tight radius. Our workforce development folks say they are just now starting to hear from employers that maybe we were right when we had been telling them their wages were uncompetitive.
All the school districts here have issues with labor shortages. It started with just bus drivers and other support staff but now it's spread to the teachers. People are retiring and districts are poaching from one another left and right. A couple of the districts had to go fully remote for a week or so because of sudden resignations/retirements of a handful of teachers all at once and there aren't enough people applying to immediately fill the spots and there also aren't enough subs to fill the spots either. There is still a shortage of bus drivers and a lot of the districts (ours included) have had to change up the bus schedules and routes after the start of the school year to combine routes and make due with fewer drivers. The bus my oldest rides has had a different driver every day this week and then today and yesterday they had to combine it with another route in the morning causing them to be about 20 minutes late to school.
Years ago, being a bus driver for a school district was a pretty good full time job with steady work and good benefits. Over the years though, more and more districts began to outsource the bus driving and then the bus companies started cutting the hours and ending benefits. These days, a lot of drivers only work a few hours early in the morning then have a big gap in the middle of the day before they clock back in for the afternoon routes. This means a lot of them aren't working enough hours to be considered full time and don't get benefits... not a very attractive job now, especially as the labor market has gotten tighter and tighter. There is a movement in a few districts here to bring the bus drivers directly back under the districts and make them full time employees again. Now a lot of the schools don't have anybody to work as noon-aids, classroom helpers, cafeteria helpers, etc. and they've realized they can utilize the bus drivers for those types of roles between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. when many would otherwise not be driving.
When I was in school, the cafeteria helpers WERE the bus drivers. Actually, a couple of teachers were bus drivers as well. However, I went to a small rural school.I have had a couple discussions with local schools about the bus driver issue, and it seems to relate to a couple key issues (pay, benefits, etc.), but the biggest is that bus drivers in the area are directly competing with school cafeteria helpers and other non-teaching positions. If they provide higher pay to bus drivers they will see huge requests from the non-teaching unions. It is an interesting place schools are in right now, as the solutions are limited, and the problems just keep getting bigger.
I know we had some discussions in here back in July about the post-pandemic labor crisis but I'd like to add to that...
A couple observations I've had over the past month+:
Even with the end of the supplemental unemployment insurance, the labor supply here in Metro Detroit is still extraordinarily tight, especially among restaurants (at every end of the spectrum/price range). We did a brief survey of locally-owned restaurants in our contact list (a couple hundred) and nearly all of the respondents report they are still having trouble hiring and have had to adjust their hours of operation. Last week I decided to do a rare lunch at a bar with a couple of friends and the first three places we tried were take out only or not open at lunch at all. One Saturday evening a couple weeks ago I went to go pick up a take out order we placed for dinner and so many restaurants I passed had empty parking lots and were obviously closed... and this was on the most dense portion of Woodward Avenue, arguably the "Main Street" for Metro Detroit where thousands of cars pass by each hour and there are tens of thousands of workers and residents within a tight radius. Our workforce development folks say they are just now starting to hear from employers that maybe we were right when we had been telling them their wages were uncompetitive.
All the school districts here have issues with labor shortages. It started with just bus drivers and other support staff but now it's spread to the teachers. People are retiring and districts are poaching from one another left and right. A couple of the districts had to go fully remote for a week or so because of sudden resignations/retirements of a handful of teachers all at once and there aren't enough people applying to immediately fill the spots and there also aren't enough subs to fill the spots either. There is still a shortage of bus drivers and a lot of the districts (ours included) have had to change up the bus schedules and routes after the start of the school year to combine routes and make due with fewer drivers. The bus my oldest rides has had a different driver every day this week and then today and yesterday they had to combine it with another route in the morning causing them to be about 20 minutes late to school.
Years ago, being a bus driver for a school district was a pretty good full time job with steady work and good benefits. Over the years though, more and more districts began to outsource the bus driving and then the bus companies started cutting the hours and ending benefits. These days, a lot of drivers only work a few hours early in the morning then have a big gap in the middle of the day before they clock back in for the afternoon routes. This means a lot of them aren't working enough hours to be considered full time and don't get benefits... not a very attractive job now, especially as the labor market has gotten tighter and tighter. There is a movement in a few districts here to bring the bus drivers directly back under the districts and make them full time employees again. Now a lot of the schools don't have anybody to work as noon-aids, classroom helpers, cafeteria helpers, etc. and they've realized they can utilize the bus drivers for those types of roles between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. when many would otherwise not be driving.
I just love the creativity and freshness. Good soup!I guess you all have seen tRump's new PAC & campaign slogan:
Make America Great Again, Again.
I don't post in this forum much, but I'm not sure this belongs in the pandemic thread.
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Best FB comment in response to this article:
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He's already home. Try to keep up.... & isn't there an unvaccinated gubernatorial candidate in Texas that is now hospitalized with COVID? Why yes, Allen West.
I've never felt that big government is necessarily bad. In fact I feel that big government, particularly with enforcement chops, is needed to keep those who would flout the rules from doing so.Big government is bad, unless big government is doing the things you like or forcing others to do something you agree with.
Not really. It's just pandering to the most extreme segment of the base which is what Republicans see as the reason for Trump's success.I imagine this is trying to force a lawsuit against the Biden administration in opposition of their looming mandate for employers with 100 or more workers.
WTH is going on in Georgia -
Fulton County fires two workers who allegedly shredded voter registration applications
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Fulton County fires two workers who allegedly shredded voter registration applications
Fulton County elections officials have fired two workers who allegedly shredded 300 paper voter registration applications and are investigating the claims.www.gpb.org
There is also no evidence that the shredding was done to target voters of one political party or another. There is no space on the registration form for voter political party preference, and Georgia does not have closed primaries where partisan intent must be declared.
I think this part is interesting. Makes me wonder if it was incomitance or if there was a deeper sinister motive.
It's the Fulton County Election Office...you're safe assuming it was simply incompetence.I was thinking it could be incompetence as well, but the fired employees could also have been looking at the addresses knowing that voters in neighborhood X are 90% more likely to vote for party Y.
Bless his heart
Pro-Trump candidate suggests taking all boats out of the water to lower sea levels
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Pro-Trump candidate wants to take all the boats out of the water to lower sea levels
‘When you take things out of bath water, the bath water decreases, does it not?’www.independent.co.uk
Is that less dumb than, the same as, or dumber than Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) worrying about Guam capsizing?Bless his heart
Pro-Trump candidate suggests taking all boats out of the water to lower sea levels
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Pro-Trump candidate wants to take all the boats out of the water to lower sea levels
‘When you take things out of bath water, the bath water decreases, does it not?’www.independent.co.uk
Hannity and Ingram are already doing the War on Christmas.
One had a graphic that said "The Biden that Stole Christmas" with Biden shown as the Grinch.
The other one had a graphic that said "The Grinch Who stole Christmas" with a regular picture of Biden next to it.
Guess this is the new GOP/Fox talking point.
That quote continually reminds me what I miss the least about Trump. The lack of policies, the bullying, the pointless talking, are annoying, but his manner of speaking is what I hated the most. That rhetoric is so toxic. His inability to put together a sentence. His constant double speak.Spewing from the mouth -
"Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media," Trump said in a statement released Tuesday morning. "Hope that happens to me someday. He was a classic RINO, if even that, always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes, but anyway, may he rest in peace!"
"But anyway, may he rest in peace!" Yes, Trump really said that.
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Analysis: Donald Trump (yet again) proves there's no bottom
Roughly 24 hours after the death of Colin Powell, Donald Trump proved, again, that he is utterly incapable of empathy, grace or even common decency.www.cnn.com
Will the real and fake media just stop giving him attention. PLEASE!
“The goalposts keep moving,” said Bill Gates, a Republican Maricopa County supervisor.
“It used to be that we got into genuine debates about whether you’re more of a conservative or a moderate. We used to debate over ideology.
And now it is how far you can go down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.
And if you’re unwilling to do it, it doesn’t matter if you’re pro-life, if you’ve never voted for a tax increase.
It doesn’t matter.
It’s all about going deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, unfortunately.”
A few months back, I kept hearing that "as soon as Biden quits giving money to people, they'll go back to work, too many people are just sitting around getting all this money and not having to work."
I said to one of those people that I heard there was a much higher than usual retirement rate happening during the pandemic - a lot of people that were thinking of retiring in the next few years went ahead and pulled the trigger. Of course I was told I was full of $h!t.
Well now that the Federal Government is not supplementing unemployment, guess what happened? There are still a boat load of jobs available with no one to fill them. Mrs. P still can't find people for the multiple positions their company has open.
Yes.Is this funny ?
For me, I'm glad we paid my remainder last year after being told the previous year by the program that I was ineligible for forgiveness.I have so many mixed thoughts on the student loan situation that I have to stop thinking about. I'm arguing with myself and I'm not sure which side is unarmed in this fight.
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Yea, this is a position that doesn't mesh with a lot of my other positions, as I am adamantly against the government paying off student debt. I like the concept of free trade college or reduced college based on need, but people signed up for the loans and they should pay them back.I have so many mixed thoughts on the student loan situation that I have to stop thinking about. I'm arguing with myself and I'm not sure which side is unarmed in this fight.
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I 100% agree with everything you just said.Yea, this is a position that doesn't mesh with a lot of my other positions, as I am adamantly against the government paying off student debt. I like the concept of free trade college or reduced college based on need, but people signed up for the loans and they should pay them back.
I also support funding for finance and budgeting in high school, as that would help a lot more kids realize college isn't for them. It is also REALLY hard to justify many degrees in college anymore, so going to get a Liberal Arts degree for the 4 years of fun, not using it or needing it for your job, than being mad you have to pay back that money, seems unrealistic / unfair to me.
We paid back our loans, so I have no real horse in this race, but my kids will be screwed as the current FAFSA system is insanely inadequate at getting at financial need.
The local paper used to have a column every election season - still wish that meant we could hunt them. It pointed out the stupid ideas my state politicians had and why we should avoid voting for them. Things like Guam capsizing, taking out boats, etc. I wish they still ran those articles. I strongly believe people need to be reminded that your idea is stupid and should never be repeated again. We all said/say stupid things, but when someone responds how dumb it is we stop and think about repeating it a second time.Is that less dumb than, the same as, or dumber than Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) worrying about Guam capsizing?
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Hank Johnson Worries Guam Could "Capsize" After Marine Buildup
Georgia Democratic Rep. Draws Ridicule for Using Interesting Language to Express Concerns about a Planned New Military Base on the U.S. Territorywww.cbsnews.com
I hate gotcha "politics"...bless your heart.
Is the Mayor a strong mayor (Mayor/Council org) or a weak Mayor (Council/City Manager org)?Do any of you have big elections tomorrow. We have a significant one. Our current Mayor is not running for reelection. When you add up his time on the planning board for a couple years, then Council, and then as Mayor, he has been involved for almost 50 years and almost 25 as Mayor.
By the end of the night tomorrow, he will know who his successor will be.