All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[numberthirty]

Right on NYC...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/busin...law/index.html

New York City sues Chipotle, alleging hundreds of thousands of labor law violations

New York City is suing Chipotle Mexican Grill, alleging that the company violated a law that requires fast food chains to give their employees more predictable, less hectic schedules.
In a lawsuit filed this week, the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection said that from the end of November 2017 through at least September 2019, workers experienced nearly 600,000 violations of the law. Chipotle (CMG) owes workers $151 million because of the violations, the city said. Chipotle has somewhere between 80 and 90 locations and about 6,500 employees in New York City, according to the suit.
Under the city's Fair Workweek Law, which was passed in 2017, employers must give workers a good faith estimate of their regular schedule, and two weeks advance notice of their set schedule. The law also requires employers to pay employees a premium if they make adjustments to their schedules within that two-week window. Employers must also pay a premium if they schedule workers for a "clopening" — a closing shift directly followed by an opening shift, which prevents workers from getting a full night's sleep.

[BeastieRunner]

How Trump’s renewed election rhetoric is complicating Capitol rioters’ legal fight: Judges are citing former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on election fraud as they deny some accused Capitol rioters bail, saying there’s a risk they’ll commit violent acts in Trump’s name again.

[CaptainEurope]

Also entirely possible, or it could just be part of Greenberg's confession. *shrug* We're not gonna know for a while!

I am guessing what Stone did here could be considered conspiracy and he could face new charges not covered by Trump's pardon?

[CaptainEurope]

Oh my, they might be coming for William Barr, too:

U.S. investigators were told to take 'no further action' on Caterpillar, ex-client of Barr

Green said he could not recall a case where agents were told to take no further action on a matter involving an incoming attorney general’s former client without some kind of explanation. “Why would you just stop?” he asked.

A source familiar with the progress of the investigation, which is being conducted out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois, said that since December 2018, “it’s slowed, it’s stalled, it’s languishing. Not a lot of action is being taken.” But the source stressed the probe is not technically closed, and couldn’t be called “dead.”

[Tendrin]

I am guessing what Stone did here could be considered conspiracy and he could face new charges not covered by Trump's pardon?

Not sure soliciting a pardon qualifies but IANAL.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

How Trump’s renewed election rhetoric is complicating Capitol rioters’ legal fight: Judges are citing former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on election fraud as they deny some accused Capitol rioters bail, saying there’s a risk they’ll commit violent acts in Trump’s name again.

Well, it's a given Trump will NEVER shut up about the election and how he believed he wuz robbed (his ego won't allow him to accept he lost). The more he flaps his fat orange lips, the greater the chances the loons who stormed the Capitol on 1/6 will stay locked up. And yeah, Trump couldn't give so much as even half a **** about them.

[CaptainEurope]

Not sure soliciting a pardon qualifies but IANAL.

He asked for money for it, in writing.

[CSTowle]

Right on NYC...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/busin...law/index.html

That is good news. Don't know how people can deal with that level of uncertainty. I did it briefly as a teen (different fast-food franchise), and it killed me then. Not sure I could do it now.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Right on NYC...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/29/busin...law/index.html

That should be a nationwide law.

[worstblogever]

https://twitter.com/JessicaHuseman/s...96602531516417

Kris Kobach's latest campaign apparently mispelled his own name.

He's running for Kansas AG.

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/29/99209...torney-general

I'm so, so, *so* sorry, WBE.

Kobach just doesn't know when to quit.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of Joel Kleefisch, a former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, and the husband of former Wisconsin Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, who had over a decade long history of writing extreme anti-abortion legislation in Wisconsin, as well as his attempt to amend the Wisconsin state constitution to include a ban on same sex marriage. Kleefisch’s ugliest legislative efforts, however, seem to be when he has supported bills to change child support payment rules on behalf of a wealthy campaign donor of his, and the specific change to the law that Kleefisch was asking for would have allowed a specific deadbeat dad and donor to get off scot free. But the most hypocritically frustrating thing in Joel Kleefisch’s voting record would have to be his fervent support for Wisconsin’s strict new Voter ID laws, because he insisted the statistically non-existent problem of in-person voter fraud is widespread, and we need to put a stop of it. There is, however, actual video of Joel Kleefisch pushing buttons on the desks of absent legislators in the Wisconsin Assembly to vote on their behalf as he sees fit, which IS actual in person Voter Fraud but Kleefisch has zero problem with that kind. He also wanted to eliminate the age restriction on hunting so that parents can take their two or three-year olds out to bag a buck (really). Oh, and did we mention that on a local conservative talk radio show, Joel Kleefisch defended his belief that Jesus co-existed at the same time as the dinosaurs? Because yes, that also really happened. Kleefisch also failed in his efforts to find a back-door around the 4th Amendment to allow Gov. Scott Walker to drug test welfare recipients, in the form of a bill he filed that would have required all high school students who participate in an extracurricular activity or park a car on a school campus to undergo random drug testing. And mercifully, after 2018, Kleefisch called it a career after seven years of stupidity in office.

On this date in 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Matt Manweller, a former schoolteacher and former member of the Washington House of Representatives from 2012-2018. And sure, legislatively, he might not have been the wildest extremist we’ve seen, with the harshest things we could find in his voting record being his minority party votes in a blue state against things like minimum wage increases, a ban on bump stocks, or any bill that would try to make it easier to register to vote in the state. No, the real reason we’re profiling Manweller is the wave of accusations of sexual assault and misconduct that plagued him during his tenure at Central Washington University and forced him to resign in disgrace in September of 2018. How bad were they? Well, one of his accusers mentioned that he had an improper sexual relationship with her when she was still his 17 year old underage student (and she had a diary from the time proving it). Adding to the scumbag factor is as a legislator, Manweller’s voting record also showed he voted against a bill to allow victims of sexual assault to receive permanent orders of protection against their attackers, instead of just temporary ones, and that he considered how he was pressured to leave office “McCarthyism”.

On this date in 2020, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled Robert Hyde, a 2020 Republican candidate seeking to become the next U.S. House Representative from Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District, one of five members of the GOP seeking to unseat Democratic Congresswoman Jahana Hayes. Now, the first time Robert Hyde made the news during his early candidacy was when in December of 2019, he posted a vulgar, sexist tweet directed at Sen. Kamala Harris when she dropped out of the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary. Thus, the media wanted to learn more about the MAGA meathead running for Congress who said awful things about Sen. Harris, and lo and behold, they discovered he had plenty of cash lying around to donate money to Trump’s SuperPAC, but alas, could not find a single dime to give towards child support he owes. But it didn’t take long before the rabbit hole got deeper. During the Trump impeachment hearings, word came out that Robert Hyde was a known associate of Lev Parnas, aka one half of Lev & Igor, aka one of the two goons who worked for Trump and Rudy Giuliani who were involved in trying to smear Ukrainian Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and help pressure Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 elections. Text messages between Giuliani and Hyde seemed to show that he may have offered help in providing surveillance on Yovanovitch’s whereabouts and daily movements. Because, y’know, it’s a good look to be spying on a U.S. Ambassador, especially one who was threatened to “go through some things” by Trump. It seems that Robert Hyde is simply a little remora trying to swim with some bigger sharks by hanging out around the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., and is nothing more than a deadbeat landscaper who threw around enough cash to make the acquaintance of said sharks and is in way, way over his head. And he has a history of paranoid behavior, including a raving outburst that was deranged enough to have security escort him off the premises of Mar-A-Lago that had him involuntarily committed in May of 2019. Robert Hyde had little to no campaign staff, and with all the controversy, withdrew from the race. He instead has decided it would be a good idea to run for U.S. Senate in 2022… and he’s almost definitely going to implode in that effort. As he is only a “perennial candidate” and we have a lot of folks lined up in the queue, we will set aside his profile at this time to take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 981-50, since this was established in July 2014.

[worstblogever]

Eric “EJ” Parker

Welcome to what is the 981st profile here at “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day”, where we’ll be profiling Eric “EJ” Parker, who ran for District 26 of the Idaho State Senate in 2020, and yes, was a member of the 3% Militia group that pointed assault rifles at government agents from the Bureau of Land Management during the standoff at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in 2014. Of course, Parker was charged and plead guilty to misdemeanors to avoid jail time.

Eric Parker then spent several months trying to whip up Islamophobia in rural Oregon in “anti-refugee protsts”, and in January of 2016, Parker took part in the occupation at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.

So of course, he found allies within the Idaho GOP like Heather Scott who thought that it would be great to try an elect an anti-government domestic terrorist into the Idaho State Senate. Because that makes sense.

Facebook, however, did not find Parker’s candidacy so innocent, removing him and all of his campaign pages from their platform in August of 2020 as part of a sweep that removed those who would use violent rhetoric and encouraging violence against the government. The scary part is, Eric Parker was not completely rejected by voters in his attempt to overthrow the government from within, still getting 44% of the vote in 2020. It bears watching to see if there are fans of chaos in the GOP who would still like to insert insurrectionists directly into the legislature.

[Tami]

In nod to Trump, Florida is set to ban 'deplatforming' by tech companies

Florida is on track to be the first state in the nation to punish social media companies that ban politicians like former President Donald Trump under a bill approved Thursday by the state's Republican-led Legislature.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican and close Trump ally who called for the bill’s passage, is expected to sign the legislation into law, but the proposal appears destined to be challenged in court after a tech industry trade group called it a violation of the First Amendment speech rights of corporations.

Republicans have been barraging Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other tech companies for booting Trump and other conservatives from their platforms after violations of the companies’ rules, including bans on the promotion of violence related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Republicans have called social media bans unfair censorship, and this month Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas came close to agreeing, writing in an opinion that legislators could be justified if they passed laws requiring social media to carry all views.

The Florida bill would prohibit social media companies from knowingly “deplatforming” political candidates, meaning a service could not “permanently delete or ban” a candidate. Suspensions of up to 14 days would still be allowed, and a service could remove individual posts that violate its terms of service.

State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando area Democrat, said if Republicans want to stay on private services, they should follow the rules.

"There's already a solution to deplatforming candidates on social media: Stop trafficking in conspiracy theories. That's the solution. Stop pushing misinformation if you're a candidate or an incumbent elected official. Stop retweeting QAnon. Stop lying on social media," Smith said.

"Stop inciting insurrection against our republic. We're hearing this bill because Twitter finally deplatformed former President Trump after five people were killed in an insurrection he incited at the U.S. Capitol."

[Gray Lensman]

Kobach just doesn't know when to quit.

You used 3 more words than were needed.

[Ragged Maw]

“but the proposal appears destined to be challenged in court after a tech industry trade group called it a violation of the First Amendment speech rights of corporations“

............Sounds like there’s about as much good faith in this wording as there is in “religious freedom”. Just call a ban a ban, or at least stick with the incitement aka “yelling FIRE in a crowded room” argument in favor of said ban.