Friday, March 23, 2018

DEAREST READERS: The Entire Staff of The Stand will be on a team-building retreat all next week. So our next postings will be on Monday, April 2. Until then… 

SHUTDOWN OVER THE WALL?

UPDATE from Reuters — Trump signs budget deal after raising government shutdown threat — President Donald Trump signed Congress’ newly passed $1.3 trillion spending bill on Friday, ending several hours of confusion spurred by a tweeted veto threat that raised the specter of a government shutdown.

► This morning at Washington Post — Trump threatens to veto spending bill that would have staved off a shutdown — President Trump tweeted that he may veto the $1.3 trillion spending bill because he said it does nothing to address the fate of young undocumented immigrants and does not fully fund his border wall. Senior administration officials previously said that Trump intended to sign the measure. The veto threat came hours before a deadline tonight to avoid a shutdown.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This is ALL about forcing Americans to pay for that stupid wall that he promised Mexico would pay for. Donald Trump doesn’t give one shit about the fate of DACA recipients that he says Democrats in Congress have “abandoned.” The only reason their status is in question at all is because HE is trying to shut down that program — illegally as it turns out. He’s just mad that his grand plan to use them as bargaining chips to get money for his stupid wall was blocked by the courts.

► Earlier, from the Washington Post — In late-night drama, Senate passes $1.3 trillion spending bill, averting government shutdown — Congress cleared a sweeping $1.3 trillion spending bill early Friday and sent it to President Trump for his signature, staving off a government shutdown with less than 24 hours to spare. Action by the Senate shortly before 1 a.m. capped a day of suspense, including the late-night revelation that the legislation had been stalled for hours partly because Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho) objected to the renaming of a federal wilderness area after a deceased political rival. Asked about it, Risch said, “No. What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand? … Do I have a problem with my English? I don’t have any comment.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — Apparently, slapdash legislating can make a congressman grumpy. For example, yesterday HuffPost writer Matt Fuller asked Rep. Dave Reichert (R-8th), not pictured at left, how he plans to vote on the omnibus spending bill. Our lame-duck congressman said, “I never talk about my votes before I vote” (twice) and then went full Beast Mode and said “you got my answer” five times.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — Hanford budget cuts proposed by Trump administration rejected by House — A federal government spending plan passed by the U.S. House on Thursday would boost the budget for environmental cleanup at the Hanford nuclear reservation this fiscal year.

► From The Stranger — Sound Transit spared in federal budget, but Lynnwood light rail costs rise again — The federal omnibus spending bill the House passed Thursday will spare Sound Transit deep budget cuts proposed by President Donald Trump.

► From HuffPost — Spending bill would prevent employers from pocketing workers’ tips — Tucked into the $1.3 trillion spending bill unveiled by congressional leaders Wednesday night is a provision designed to prevent restaurants from pocketing their servers’ tips.

ALSO at The Stand — Sen. Patty Murray announces deal with DOL to protect workers’ tips

THIS WASHINGTON

► In today’s Columbian — Bills benefit democracy (editorial) — By approving several new laws related to voting and registration, Washington has taken steps to strengthen our democracy. This is not something to be taken lightly. At a time when citizens are apathetic and when our election system is under attack from a foreign adversary, it is essential for Americans to bolster the integrity of how we choose officials to make and defend our laws and policies.

ALSO at The Stand — Inslee: ‘Every community, voice, vote counts’

► In today’s Seattle Times — New House GOP leader J.T. Wilcox on Trump, Inslee and Seattle’s sway in state politics (podcast)

► In today’s Olympian — Owners of more than 32,000 vehicles in Washington to be charged fee, DOL says — Beginning this week, the Department of Licensing will send notices to owners of 32,749 vehicles in Washington, asking to pay a $15 fee which was not collected because of a processing error.

LOCAL

► In today’s Seattle Times — ‘Shouting it from the rooftops’: Women confront abuse — even decades later — The #MeToo movement has prompted countless numbers of women to re-examine the impact sexual harassment and abuse has had on their lives and the pain the trauma continues to cause, even decades later.

► In today’s Tri-City Herald — 42 Hanford workers contaminated with radiation. Test results released — A total of 42 Hanford workers inhaled or ingested radioactive contamination from demolition of the nuclear reservation’s Plutonium Finishing Plant. The final results of worker tests after a December spread of contamination at the plant found 11 Hanford workers had inhaled or ingested radioactive particles, according to information released Thursday. That’s on top of the 31 positive test results after a similar spread of contamination in June at the plant in the center of the nuclear reservation.

THAT WASHINGTON

► In today’s Washington Post — China threatens to raise tariffs on about $3 billion of U.S. imports — “China does not want to fight a trade war, but it is absolutely not afraid of a trade war,” it said in a statement issued Friday morning in Beijing. On Wall Street, the benchmark Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 700 points, or almost 3 percent, as investors blanched at the prospect of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

► In today’s NY Times — McMaster is out as National Security Adviser; Bolton is in — Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster struggled to impose order not only on a fractious national security team but also on a president resistant to his sort of military discipline. His replacement, John Bolton, is a hard-line ex-ambassador to the United Nations.

► In today’s NY Times — Yes, John Bolton really is that dangerous (editorial) — There are few people more likely to lead the country into war, in more than one place.

► From The Hill — Stormy Daniels’ lawyer posts photo of mystery disc in a safe — Stormy Daniels’s attorney hinted on Thursday that he may have hard evidence that the adult-film actress had an affair with President Trump, posting a photo on Twitter of what appeared to be a compact disc in a safe. “If ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ how many words is this worth?????” Michael Avenatti tweeted.

► From NBC News — Former Playboy model says Trump tried to pay her after sex — A former Playboy model apologized to first lady Melania Trump for a 10-month affair she claims she had with President Donald Trump that started with him offering her money after the first time they had sex.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This horrible person is the president of the United States of America. Thanks, Electoral College.

NATIONAL

► From The Guardian — Undocumented workers find new ally as unions act to halt deportations — As the Trump administration takes its fight against undocumented workers to the workplace, some US unions are stepping in to protect their members and creating a new battlefront between the Republican party and organized labor.

► MUST-READ from In These Times — How a scrappy campus union saved Tennessee from privatization — With a Republican governor and the GOP in control of the state House and Senate, the outsourcing scheme should have been a walk in the (soon-to-be-privatized) park. What the privatizers didn’t plan for was the United Campus Workers (UCW), a scrappy higher education union affiliated with the Communication Workers of America (CWA). Public-sector unions in Tennessee are legally barred from engaging in collective bargaining, and the state has no obligation to recognize or negotiate with them. Instead, the union relies on a mixture of legislative advocacy, workplace actions and mass mobilizations. Few unions exist in a harsher political and legal environment, yet the UCW is punching far above its weight, increasing its membership while securing victories against better-funded foes.

► From the AFL-CIO — New President for the New Mexico Federation of Labor — On March 20, the state federation’s board unanimously appointed Vince Alvarado as its new president. He is the business manager and financial secretary for International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 49, a position he has held since 2010.

RIGHT TO WORK

► From AFSCME — The racist roots of right-to-work — A network of front groups for wealthy special interests has implemented a multi-pronged strategy to achieve its goal: passing right-to-work laws at the state and local levels, spreading misinformation and contacting public service workers directly to try to persuade them to drop out of their unions, and by using the court system to undo legal precedent and impose right to work nationally. But none of them would openly say where right to work comes from and what its real agenda is. … The term was used, exploited and popularized by a man named Vance Muse. Nicknamed “the Big Fink” by labor unions, Muse was a larger-than-life Texan who dressed the part and did not hesitate to say or do things that made most people squirm. “I am a Southerner and I am for white supremacy.”

► From Take Care — Where are the facts? (by Brianne Gorod) — These is a real danger that the Supreme Court Justices will rest their legal conclusion in this critically important Janus case (imposing right to work nationally upon public-sector workers) not on tested facts, but on untested assumptions. Untested assumptions are no basis for overruling a 40-year-old precedent and disrupting carefully calibrated public-sector labor regimes around the country. If the Justices can’t find the empirical answers they need to resolve this case in the record before them, there’s a simple solution: send it back to the district court.

ALSO at The Stand:

Janus (Part 1): The fix is in at the Supreme Court

Janus (Part 2): Get ready to defend your freedom

T.G.I.F.

► Sir Richard Starkey is finally getting his props. Better known as Ringo Starr, the ex-Beatle was knighted this week by Prince William. Meanwhile, The Funny One’s drumming skills are finally starting to get the acclaim they always deserved. After all, he was the only Beatle hired for his professional musicianship, right? Rob Sheffield (whose latest book, Dreaming the Beatles, is a recommended read for all Fab Four fans) said, “Like the rest of The Beatles, except much more so, he came on as a comic charmer in ways that tempted casual listeners to think he was doing something easy.” It don’t come easy. But that isn’t The Entire Staff of The Stand’s favorite Ringo song. This is. Enjoy.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.