Municipal networks are cheaper and faster
than the ones that cable and telephone duopolists build after being
given exclusive franchises to serve cities, which is why the FCC had to
issue an order banning cities to stop building them – in the absence of
such an order, it seems likely that most of America would end up using
municipal internet connections (unlike today, when 100,000,000 Americans are served by a single ISP).
Thus it should come as no surprise that 750+ US communities have already
built their own municipal internet networks, often in the teeth of vicious, multimillion-dollar scare campaigns from ISPs, featuring such laughable lies as “this means state-funded pornography production.”
But what is surprising is the political composition of these towns and
cities: they are most frequently conservative-leaning, Republican-voting
places. This is presumably bad news for the Congressional Republicans
who are likely to have to publicly vote to support or oppose Congressional review of the Trump FCC’s Net Neutrality-killing order.
Angie Schmitt’s list of “all the bad things” about Uber and Lyft only
touches on transportation, leaving aside the companies’ labor, taxation,
regulatory and other issues, but it’s still quite a damning document.
From increasing the number of cars on the road and the number of miles
driven, to displacing and hurting public transit, to displacing walking
and cycling, to increasing traffic fatalities and hoarding data, there’s
a good case to be made that rideshares will never be sustainable and their investors are doomed.
During the 1930s, the WPA sponsored horseback librarians – all women –
to visit rural Americans, bringing them books; the librarians were only
allowed to make deliveries in counties that had existing libraries, so
schools and other institutions donated materials to establish libraries
that would make their counties eligible.
The program ran until 1943, and, as with many WPA programs, it was
lavishly documented by talented photographers, as a reminder to all of
us in their future that America is a place where we take care of each
other.
Canada’s “Feminist” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Part Two)
On the face of it, being in the Government’s Cabinet doesn’t just pay substantially better than being a Member of Parliament, it carries a great deal of power. After all, it is the PM & Cabinet who decide policy and law.
Cabinet Ministers can be fired for cause — they sit at the table where policy is made, and they’re are not allowed to disagree with Government policy, ever. Even if every member of the riding that elected them begs them to vote against a law the Government is putting through, even if the Minister agrees, to vote against such a law in Parliament would lose their Cabinet post.
Perhaps growing up in a big family has left me with stronger than usual aversion to having personal boundaries breached. I’ve chosen the photographs I have because I personally find most of them extremely creepy. These photographs show the Prime Minister getting right in people’s faces. In the nose to nose shots he’s gone way past personal distance as he gets right into people’s intimate space.
In all fairness there are a few photos like this where he gets disturbingly close to men as well, so I imagine this is just his style. Nonetheless, it is totally inappropriate in the workplace. No employer should use his unequal power and privilege to overstep the personal boundaries of women— or men— who are effectively his employees.
“The Prime Minister and the Ministers he or she chooses form the Cabinet. The Prime Minister also appoints Ministers of State to assist individual Cabinet Ministers. Persons appointed to the Cabinet are generally elected Members of Parliament, although it is customary for the Prime Minister to appoint at least one Senator to the Cabinet. Ministers serve “at the pleasure” of the Prime Minister, who may replace them or request their resignation at any time. The Prime Minister may also redefine ministerial portfolios and determine the size of the Cabinet as he or she sees fit.” —Executive Branch of Government in Canada
Employment law protects most people from being fired on a whim, but like a medieval monarch, Prime Minister Trudeau has the unquestioned power to fire any Cabinet Minister at any time. For any reason. Or none.
15 of the 20 Cabinet female Cabinet Ministers are pictured in our Feminist PM’s embrace in these two posts.
What happens to the women in Cabinet who are made uncomfortable by the imposition of such physical intimacy in the workplace? Perhaps women MPs who mark their personal boundaries never make it into the Cabinet.
I don’t think my definition of feminism is the same as Mr Trudeau’s.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pictured above with female Cabinet Ministers:
Kirsty Duncan Minister of Science November 4, 2015–July 18, 2018 Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities January 25, 2018–July 18, 2018 Minister of Science and Sport July 18, 2018 – Present
Mélanie Joly Minister of Canadian Heritage November 4, 2015 – July 18, 2018 Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie July 18, 2018 – Present
Carla Qualtrough Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities November 4, 2015–August 28, 2017 Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility[b] August 28, 2017 – Present Receiver General for Canada August 28, 2017 – Present
Ginette C. Petitpas Taylor Minister of Health August 28, 2017 – Present
Bernadette Jordan Minister of Rural Economic Development January 14, 2019–
MaryAnn Mihychuk Minister of Employment, Workforce and Labour November 4, 2015–January 10, 2017
Filomena Tassi Minister of Seniors July 18, 2018 – Present
Diane Lebouthillier Minister of National Revenue November 4, 2015 – Present
Carolyn Bennett Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations[a] November 4, 2015 – Present
During the 1930s, the WPA sponsored horseback librarians – all women –
to visit rural Americans, bringing them books; the librarians were only
allowed to make deliveries in counties that had existing libraries, so
schools and other institutions donated materials to establish libraries
that would make their counties eligible.
The program ran until 1943, and, as with many WPA programs, it was
lavishly documented by talented photographers, as a reminder to all of
us in their future that America is a place where we take care of each
other.
