Will there be a sea change in the wealth gap?

Americans are quitting jobs in record numbers.  Several retail workers among them recently spoke with The Washington Post, describing how the pandemic led to increased hours, pay cuts and understaffed stores, frequented by more disruptive customers. “We’re seeing a wider understanding that these were never good jobs and they were never livable jobs,”  said Rutgers University professor Rebecca Givan. (Washington Post 21 June 2021).

My comment: “Oh, well, I got away with it for years” (Anonymus CEO with seven figure salary). Maybe now company bosses like this will be forced to pay living wages, and a sense of fairness and equity start breaking through.  But I am not putting any money on it.

Fulton v. City of Philadelphia: Religion and politics

Last week the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Catholic Social Services (CSS), a private foster care agency that receives public funds.

In March 2018, the city of Philadelphia learned that CSS, an agency it hired to provide foster care services to children in the city’s care, would not work with same-sex couples due to religious objection. Philadelphia, in turn, informed CSS that it would not work with them unless they agreed to comply with nondiscrimination requirements that are part of all foster care agency contracts. At which point, the CSS sued the city for violating the First Amendment.

The  Supreme Court’s ruling in this case  was narrow and only applies to Philadelphia’s contract with CSS. The American Humanist Society commented, “While we breathe a sigh of relief that the Supreme Court did not overturn a precedent that is vital to maintaining church state separation, we cannot ignore the fact that the Supreme Court did grant the Church a special privilege to discriminate against same-sex couples.

We are deeply concerned, they continue, not only about the short-term impacts on children looking for a loving home, but also the long-term implications for the LGBTQ+ community as well as others impacted by religious discrimination. The verdict comes amid rulings trending in favor of religion, largely brought by religious institutions.

The American Humanist Society’s  Legal Center filed an amicus brief in this case last year supporting the rights of LGBTQ+ families, and  commented that they  would back down because of this decision.

“The AHA will continue to make it clear that we want a country where all of us are protected from discrimination, and push Congress to pass the Equality Act to update our civil rights laws to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination.

Religion should never be an excuse to discriminate, and our government should never put church before state. It takes the work of organizations like the American Humanist Association to protect this fundamental right”.

My comment:  My own belief is that the tolerant Epicurus, who welcomed all races and genders to his table,  would have opposed discrimination and intolerance wherever it was found.  Live and let live!

Some Dad jokes (well, anything for a change from politics).

These are jokes entered into the competition for best Dad jokes:

I once hired a limo but when it arrived, the guy driving it walked off!

I said “Excuse me? Are you not going to drive me?”

The guy told me that the price didn’t include a driver…

… so I’d spent £400 on a limo and have nothing to chauffeur it.

 

• Why did the man fall down the well? Because he didn’t see that well!

• What did the pirate say on his eightieth birthday? “Aye Matey!”

• Someone has glued my pack of cards together – I don’t know how to deal with it.

• What do you call a zombie who cooks stir fries? Dead man wok-ing

• I was wondering why the frisbee kept looking bigger and bigger, and then it hit me

• I was stood behind a customer at an ATM and he turned around and said “could you check my balance?” – so I pushed him. His balance wasn’t that great.

• Why did the scarecrow get an award? Because he was out standing in his field!

• What did the daddy buffalo say to his son when he left for work? Bison

Hot news

Tropical Storm Claudette was moving through southeastern Louisiana yesterday (Saturday) morning. It’s bringing heavy rain and high winds, and coastal Mississippi and Alabama, as well as the western Florida Panhandle are at risk of flash floods later in the day, the National Hurricane Center said. By Sunday, Claudette is expected to become post-tropical.

Meanwhile, the American Southwest continues to suffer a brutal heatwave, with five states — California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Colorado — facing temperatures that could rise well above 100 degrees through Saturday before eventually cooling next week, the National Weather Service said. Several cities have already experienced record-breaking temperatures this week. (CNN,  Reuters)

My comment:   And climate change is still a “hoax”?

Vaccines and patents

Discomfort among European leaders early in May after Joe Biden’s surprise proposal of a temporary patents waiver to boost the supply of Covid vaccines for poorer countries.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission boss, said the EU was open to the idea, but at a summit in Porto, Germany and France gave it a cool reception. They may have a point about US and UK exports (or lack of them) being the real issue but with his move Biden appears to have put the US on the moral high ground about getting the world vaccinated, and Europe on the spot.  (Guardian 12 May 2021).

My comment:   We should of course be helping the smaller countries, both on moral grounds and political ones,  too.  There is no practical difference between roaring covid infection in Texas and covid infection in, say, India.  Covid will, and has, reached the US from developing countries.  The current strains were brought to the US mostly by people movement , which you cannot totally stop.   Aside from that there is the humane aspect, not to mention the soft power one. Epicurus would not have discriminated by race, politics or point of origin.  Covid is a threat to the world, and unfortunately will continue to be so unless everyone gets together to beat it.