Monthly Archives: September 2021

In 40 states, hourly pay still does not exceed $ 5 for workers authorized to receive tips. (FILE)

Slavery survives in the 21st century, who is fighting to abolish federal legislation that sets the pay of $2.13 per hour for restaurant workers, particularly waiters, in the worlds leading power.

Its an economic, racial and gender justice problem that has only gotten worse under covid-19, charges Jayaraman, one of the founders of One Fair Wage, an organization that advocates for decent incomes and job security for workers in the sector.

The service sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the United States but pays the worst wages. For example, the restaurant industry alone employs 14 million people. Of those, six million supplement their salaries with tips.

Many restaurant corporations consider that it is the customers who have to pay the wages of their workers, laments this energetic woman to AFP.

In restaurants, cabs, manicure, hairdressing, and now the workers of companies that operate through apps, at the time of payment, the customer has several options: add 18%, 20%, 25%, or even more tip, which completes his salary.

Although wages are often dictated by the market, in 40 states, hourly pay still does not exceed $5 for tipped workers. In addition, only in seven states have wages been brought up to the $15 minimum wage minimum income/hour for all other workers.

The attack on the Twin Towers, in which 74 workers were killed at the luxurious Windows of the World restaurant on the 107th floor of one of the towers, marked a turning point in the struggle for a fair income.

Many survivors were placed in other company restaurants. But others were left without jobs, and the families of the victims were without income.

Thats when One Fair Wages was created. We started by seeking help for families who lost loved ones and workers who lost their jobs, Jayaraman says.

Today, with 300,000 members, the movement is fighting for Congress to enact legislation to increase the federal minimum income for these workers.

At a recent meeting organized by this movement, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wondered why it is difficult to convince every state and Congress that no person in America should work for $2.13 an hour.

Its shameful! she bellowed.

New York is an isolated case, Jayaraman admits. In good restaurants, waiters can make up to six figures a year. But thats the exception.

Brian, a 29-year-old waiter who has been working in the industry for ten years, explains to AFP that the city pays $15, although tipped servers get $10 an hour.

Brian wont say how much comes into his bank account from tips, but he assures that being a waiter is the best-paying hourly job in the city.

You have a better chance of making more money than any other job, he assures. The owners of his restaurant, located in a residential area east of Central Park, even offer their employees health insurance.

A luxury that not everyone can afford. Javier, a Mexican who works in a fast-food chain in the Grand Central Station area, assures that he can earn up to 2,300 dollars but at a stroke of hours. When you exceed the statutory 40 hours a week, overtime is paid at $22.50, he says with satisfaction to AFP.

According to a recent study by One Fair Wage, about a third of workers are suffering more violations of their rights than last year, and tips have fallen, while sexual assaults and abuse have increased in a sector that employs mostly women.

Since the coronavirus shutdown of the restaurant industry, many workers have left for other jobs. The latest Labor Department data show that as of July, the industry had lost nearly 1 million jobs from pre-pandemic levels, and 75% of employers in the sector were having difficulty finding staff, the highest level recorded in two decades, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Barbara Sibley, the owner of La Palapa Mexican food restaurants, has opted to pay fair wages to her workers. Employees are part of what we do. I couldnt do anything without them, she tells AFP.

Along with hers, a thousand restaurants across the country have joined a new ethic where employees receive wages and social benefits.

When you talk about a business plan its complex because you have to take into account other costs and things, but if you plan to have equity you make the system youve created work. So it really is a choice, she concludes.

Its time finally to end this legacy of slavery. Its a disgrace to the country, Saru Jayaraman reasserts a view held by many.

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Working for $2.13 (114 pesos) an hour in the US - Dominican Today

A union representative for staff at one of the country's biggest bakery companies has accused their employer of "slavery", amid a bitter dispute over pay and working conditions.

Members of FIRST Union at George Weston Foods' bakeries in thuhu and Wiri have been taking industrial action, saying they're underpaid and working long hours. George Weston - part of multinational company Associated British Foods - says they've been offered pay increases that would take them above the living wage of $22.75 an hour, and further action will threaten Auckland's bread supply.

"They're using the pandemic as an opportunity to disrupt supply," George Weston general manager of baking Mark Bosomworth told Newshub on Friday. George Weston makes bread sold under the Tip Top, Brgen, Ploughmans, Big Ben, Golden and Bazaar brands.

"We've already offered all of the workers at our sites the living wage in year one - that's a 5 percent pay increase in year one, and a 3 percent pay increase in year two... it's astonishing They saw this offer of mediation this week and turned it down flatly."

Jared Abbott of FIRST Union told The AM Show earlier on Friday the union hadn't seen any offer with pay rises that generous.

"It's not true, and if it was then that would be great - we could probably have a quick resolution to this We have actually written to them and said, 'Can you please just send us the offer you're talking about on the radio? Because it's not what you've given to us.'"

Abbott said the offer they've seen would leave 20 percent of the staff still below the living wage. The company has rejected this, showing Newshub a chart which showed zero employees would be below the living wage after the first year of pay hikes.

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Union accuses bread supplier George Weston of 'slavery', but company says they turned down pay hikes - Newshub

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact. A recent sampling:

Last Friday, 318 days after the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump via letter asked the Georgia secretary of state to decertify their election results or whatever the correct legal remedy is so he could reclaim the presidency. Trump did not claim fraud, according to The Washington Post, but did claim a violation chain of custody rules, which he said would make 43,000 ballots invalid.

According to a recent U.K. study, those who are vaccinated have half the risk of experiencing long-haul symptoms from a breakthrough case of COVID-19.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a new study shows evidence that unvaccinated people who already beat COVID-19 are more than twice as likely to get the disease again, as compared to those fully vaccinated.

It took 19 months for the nation to reach one in 500 people having died from COVID-19, The Washington Post reported. The death toll from the disease exceeded 663,000 last week. The figure in low-vaccinated Mississippi was 1 in 320, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Worldwide, Reuters reported that 58 percent of the population has yet to receive even one vaccination dose, creating a vibrant playground for COVID-19 to form variants.

Worker shortage: It used to be (in the early 20th Century) that the average age in the U.S. was 23. Its 38 today, according to Ben Waddell, associate professor of sociology, and a contributor to Writers On the Range. That has narrowed the pool of potential employees. But Waddell highlighted there are other deterrents: unaffordable rent due to the hot real estate market and fewer immigrant workers. The latter reflects a 44 percent drop in temporary and permanent worker visas, and the fact that more Mexicans are going home rather than coming to the U.S. One problem faced by immigrant workers is wage theft, according to Pacific Media Workers. Some communities have ordinances against wage theft. The National Association of Home Builders said in 2020 that close to one in four construction workers was foreign born.

The left-right political divide in the U.S. was further demonstrated when, at a Republican political gathering in Dallas, the audience applauded when a speaker said President Joe Biden would not be meeting his 70 percent vaccination goal.

The plan for Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices via the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act (BBB Act) hit a snag: all Republicans and two Democrats are resisting, joined by the pharmaceutical industry. The New York Times said high drug prices are a top voter concern. According to a Congressional Budget Office analysis, prices for some drugs would fall by more than half, and the federal government would save over $450 million over 10 years if the BBB Act language is passed into law.

Compromises taken in order to pass the BBB Act (that aims to invest in childcare, education, paid family leave, healthcare and care of the climate) are compromises for the wrong reason, wrote Robert Reich, former U.S. labor secretary, in The Guardian. While its normal for Republicans to make decisions based on campaign donations, he said the practice is holding sway over some Democrats, such that initial plans to tax the wealthy has instead morphed into a 3 percent surtax on incomes over $5 million. Reich pointed out that most wealthy people dont live off of an income.

The departure from plans to tax extreme wealth and to tax certain incomes instead also includes retaining some corporate loopholes and special tax breaks for oil and gas companies. Added to lawmakers fear of losing campaign donations is the fear theyll be targeted with expensive and misleading ads about job-killing taxes, Reich stated.

Republican resistance to the BBB Act has been aided by Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.). Manchin, according to Open Secrets, founded two coal companies and is a top recipient of campaign funding from the oil and gas industry. He also chairs the Senates Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Blast from the past: 159 years ago this month soldiers from the U.S. and the Confederacy fought at Antietam Creek in Maryland. The Confederates hoped to pull Maryland into the rebellion as well as affect the 1862 election. And U.S. commanders hoped for a decisive victory against the rebels.

It earned a reputation as the bloodiest single day in American history with about 23,000 men killed or wounded. The conflict also marked the first time photographs were taken at the battlefield. When shared with the public in a New York City studio, the stills of dead soldiers brought the war to life in a new way. Both sides had initially thought the war would be over after a few battles.

The Norths narrow victory in Maryland prompted President Abraham Lincoln to declare that as of Jan. 1, 1863, all people held in slavery would be forever free, and the U.S. government would maintain the freedom of such persons. By the end of 1863, Lincoln redefined the war as that of protecting the nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all me are created equal.

The Confederates were defeated in 1865.

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Bits 'n pieces from east, west and beyond - The Western News

Following recent calls for prisoners to be used to fill labour shortages caused by Brexit, Virginia Mantouvalou discusses key legislation around this question. She explains how prisoners both in the UK and elsewhere are excluded from protective rules, includingthose pertaining to wages, workers rights, and tax and social insurance contributions.

It was recently reported that the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers was in discussions with the Ministry of Justice, exploring how prisoners could be used to cover labour shortages. The scheme under which this could be done is the Release under Temporary License, which permits certain categories of prisoners to work. Another group of prisoners who could work in this context are those coming towards the end of long sentences and who have been idle while in prison.

Work in prison is not part of prisoners punishment: the European Prison Rules explicitly say that [p]rison work shall be approached as a positive element of the prison regime and shall never be used as a punishment. It is typically justified on the basis of other reasons. It is said that it can promote reintegration in society by teaching prisoners new skills and improving their employability, which can also reduce reoffending. It can provide them with income to support their dependents, cover personal needs (such as buying phone credit), and make life less monotonous. Nevertheless, work in prison is often compulsory. A Council of Europe survey that looked at 40 member states found that in25 of those prisoners are required to work at least in certain circumstances. Those who refuse to work may be sanctioned with reduced visits from friends and family, reduced television or gym time, less or no income and even solitary confinement.

State-mediated structures of exploitation

While real work in prison can be beneficial, working prisoners are trapped in state-mediated structures of exploitation: the state has a major role to play in creating and perpetuating workers vulnerability by excluding them from protective laws. Prisoners are a vulnerable group, as the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly ruled, and the authorities have a duty to protect them. That the state creates further vulnerability by excluding them from labour rights should be scrutinised carefully.

In the UK more specifically, the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 excludes working prisoners from its scope. In a report of the Howard League for Penal Reform, it was documented that the average pay for prison service work is 9.60 per week, while it has also been reported that some prisoners work up to 60 hours per week. Certain private companies pay about 2 per hour for prisoners labour. The Prisoners Service Order 4460 says that prisoners who work for outside employers doing a job that is not in the voluntary or charitable sector have to be paid at least the minimum wage. The distinction between work in prison and work outside prison is not justified though. Private employers get prisoners to work for them in prison, and avoid in this way their obligations to pay the minimum wage (see further here).

The vulnerability of working prisoners is further compounded by the fact that they would most probably not be viewed as working under a contract of employment. As a result, they may be excluded from other protections. The issue was discussed in a UK Supreme Court decision, where it was pointed that the relationship of the working prisoner and the prison authorities differs from an employment relationship: prisoners do not work on the basis of contract, but because they have been sentenced to imprisonment, and are only paid nominally. However, these features rendered the relationship if anything closer than one of employment: it was founded not on mutuality but on compulsion.

The element of compulsion that the Court recognised makes working prisoners more vulnerable to exploitation than other workers and should ground full protection of labour rights. Moreover, there should be scope for recognising an employment relation for prisoners who are employed voluntarily and not under the threat of sanctions.

Are the exclusions justified?

Some may think that these exclusions of working prisoners from protective laws are justified because they should contribute to the cost of the running of the facilities. Yet the work that prisoners do often consists of much more than that: it can involve long working hours, the quality of the work does not support their reintegration (prison labour often consists of cleaning, cooking and other work towards the maintenance of the facilities; other times it involves boring and monotonous work for private employers) while private firms make profit from this situation. The fact that this work is linked to structures of exploitation from which profit-making organisations benefit must make us question this supposed justification.

There is another crucial issue. These structures of exploitation are connected to precarious work prisoners find themselves in after they leave the criminal justice system. It has been observed by Erin Hatton that those who have worked in prison come to expect and sometimes embrace low-wage precarious work outside prison. In addition, they also face serious obstacles when attempting to find better work because of their criminal record. What we see is that the structure of exploitation in prison extends to structures of exploitation after prison.

Human rights for working prisoners

The exclusions of working prisoners from labour rights may also violate human rights law. One problem, though, is that even in human rights law we find exclusions of prison labour. This includes Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) draws a distinction between private and public prisons in the Forced Labour Convention No 29 of 1930. It excludes prison work from its scope when it is performed in state prisons, but includes privately-run prisons.

The exclusions of working prisoners from human rights may have seemed acceptable when these legal documents were adopted, but they are not acceptable anymore. The ILO examined in 2007 whether prison labour for private employers complies with the Forced Labour Convention. It said that what is needed is the formal, written consent of the prisoner and working conditions similar to a free labour relationship for labour to be voluntary.

The ECtHR examined prison labour in a case that involved affiliation of working prisoners with an old-age pension system. The finding of the majority was disappointing, as it ruled that lack of affiliation with a pension scheme does not render a prisoners work forced labour or violate their right to property and the prohibition of discrimination. However, there were powerful dissenting opinions. Judge Tulkens highlighted:

[C]an it really still be maintained in 2011, in the light of current standards in the field of social security, that prison workwithout affiliation to the old-age pension systemconstitutesworkthat a person in detention maynormallyberequired todo? I do not think so. This, in my view, is the fundamental point.Nowadays, work without adequate social cover can no longer be regarded as normal work. It follows that theexceptionprovided for in Article 4 3(a)of theConventionis not applicable in the present case.Even a prisoner cannot be forced to do work that is abnormal.

Such opinions should form the basis for the development of the law in the future.

Captive labour and a continuum of exploitation

I want to point to a continuum of exploitation here. I recently wrote on unpaid work requirements that are imposed on certain offenders and managed by profit-making organisations, and on work in immigration detention, arguing that the exclusion of working offenders and immigration detainees from labour rights is not justified. If we take these examples together, we see that the state creates and sustains a continuum of structures of exploitation. It systematically increases the vulnerability of captive labour, through legal rules that exclude workers from legal protections. This is not acceptable.

Frances Crook of the Howard League for Penal Reform was right in her recent powerful piece in the Guardian. She explained that prisoners can work for private companies and that this can be valuable for them and for society at large. But for prison work to be fair, radical change is needed: prisoners have to earn real wages, have workers rights, and pay tax and social insurance contributions. It is only through radical change of the legal framework on working prisoners rights that their recruitment by private companies can be acceptable. Without that, the authorities will be playing a major role in structures of exploitation and violate the human rights of working prisoners.

__________________

Note: a longer version of the above was first published on theUK Labour Law Blog.

About the Author

Virginia Mantouvalou is Professor of Human Rights and Labour Law at UCL, Faculty of Laws. This piece is based on her project Structural Injustice and the Human Rights of Workers which is funded by the British Academy through a Mid-Career Fellowship. Her book on the topic will be published by Oxford University Press in 2022.

Photo by Carles Rabada on Unsplash.

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Working prisoners are trapped in state-mediated structures of exploitation; using them only to fill Brexit labour shortages is a bad idea - British...

Shucking past taboos, corporate marketeers hard sell directly to children bypassing or undermining parental authority. What they sell is obesity, diabetes, promiscuity, dangerous addictions and violence in their merciless entertainment programs and narratives about armed force, however illegal it may be.

In terms of sheer time, range of exposure, and planned peer group pressures, corporations are raising our children day and night.

Big companies do strategic planning about everything affecting our children. There are no longer adequate limits and boundaries on corporatism or protections of commercial-free zones.

It's getting worse. Eyewear for augmented reality from Facebook and rapidly expanding artificial intelligence induce dependency and more sedentary living. People from Bill Joy to Stephen Hawking to Elon Musk have strongly warned about these emerging technologies and the consequential loss of freedom and democracy.

I'd like to invite some open-minded educators to consider a six-hour curricula for late middle school through high school students on the modern global corporation. Hour One could be called Big Corporations are Different from You and Me illuminating this fast-dominating artificial person with all the rights of real humans yet structurally escaping from responsibility, a status of privileges and immunities under corporate law[lessness].

Hour Two could be devoted to the history of corporate power so heavily characterized by the costs of their amassing wealth costs to workers, communities, small businesses, voters, consumers, patients, our governing ways, and, yes, students. Having been told repeatedly about how companies built America, students should learn about all the Nos. Corporations were operationally entrenched against the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, union organizing, the minimum wage, universal health insurance, early solar energy, mass transit, public campaign financing, and governmental institutions accountable to the citizenry. The most recent big NOs' are against consumer, labor, and environmental justice and, of course, waging peace instead of forever wars of mayhem and profit have filled volumes of documentation.

Hour Three might run students through all the attempts and reforms by the American people to reign in the destructive, unjust excesses of large companies and their controlling ideology of corporatism. What were the results from all those widespread protests, regulatory actions, prosecutions, and electoral reforms? What are the successes of the peace movement, environmental groups and initiatives by workers, consumers, creators, and defenders of The Commons, (such as the public lands and public airwaves), investors and savers for justice and the common good? What happened to the corporate tax system, the drive for shareholder rights and corporate democracy and, most importantly, the rule of law over corporate power?

Hour Four, Hour Five, and Hour Six well, to be continued. That is, if we hear from people interested enough in having this proposal described further.

Excerpted: Please Teach Your Children About Corporate Criminals

Commondreams.org

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A new crime - The News International

A survivor of human trafficking says he was made work 16 hour days and beg for clothing.

The young man was lured to Scotland from his Eastern European home with the promise of a job but was trapped and made to work seven days per week.

His trafficker threatened to kill him if he tried to leave but the survivor said his life has now been transformed by a new job and home, reports our sister title the Daily Record.

READ MORE - Mum 'overwhelmed' in McDonald's by homeless woman's kind gesture to daughter

The man, who we are calling Peter, said: It has taken a while but I feel like the person I used to be. I am not afraid any more.

Scotland Against Modern Slavery (Sams), an alliance of companies raising awareness of trafficking and supporting victims, found him work with one of its members Scotbeef.

Peter said his self-respect has been restored working in the companys meat processing plant, where he is paid above the living wage and is treated with respect.

He had worked unpaid for his trafficker, was living in squalid conditions and had to beg him for basics like clothes and toiletries.

Peter, who is from Eastern Europe, said: It used to be humiliating having to ask for things like clothes.

When I got my first wage, I was excited. I went shopping, bought clothes and went to a KFC. It is a simple thing but it meant so much to me.

I didnt need to ask anyone for anything. I joined a gym, I eat healthily and I want to buy a dog. There is so much I can do now.

Some 32 firms have joined the network of Sams, which was launched earlier this year.

So far seven trafficking victims have now been given jobs.

Shan Saba, director of recruitment agency Brightwork, launched Sams after hearing stories of exploitation during a human trafficking awareness course.

It exists to support victims into work and to ensure companies are educated in the evils of modern slavery and are committed to eradicate it.

Peter was released from the farm last year after it was raided by police and he was taken to a safehouse. He added: The police were really good but for the first few months, I couldnt sleep.

I kept thinking the farm owner would turn up and kill me. I couldnt go out because I was scared he would find me.

I had anxiety and panic attacks and it felt like a weight on my chest crushing me. Before I went to the farm, I was confident and outgoing and I had friends. Afterwards, I had no confidence.

I was a shell of who I had been. It became normal for me to feel like that.

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Charity Migrant Help, stepped in and helped him find accommodation and counselling and gradually he started to regain his confidence. Shan took him under his wing, taking him for lunch, spending quality time with him and becoming friends.

Peter said: Shan is a nice man who has become a friend to me. I could turn to him with any problem. He has given me back my life and I consider him a friend.

Scotbeef offered Peter a job in their processing plant in Queenslie in Glasgow and HR manager Debbie Lutton was assigned to be his point of contact and support if he needed anything. Peter said: I love my job and Debbie has been very supportive. I have friends at work. They dont know my story and they treat me like anyone else.

I look forward to going into the plant and seeing them. I want to socialise again. I try to make as many friends as possible. I feel like myself again.

He has worked hard to put the experience of the farm behind him and he is confident he is now strong enough to ensure he would never be exploited like that again.

He added: I would recognise the signs now and I would never let that happen to me.

When victims are placed through Sams with a business, there is a support structure in place as many struggle with trauma and they can find the workplace intimidating.

Debbie said it had been satisfying to watch Peter flourish with Scotbeef.

She said: I have noticed such a difference in him since the day I met him. At first he came across as vulnerable, he couldnt really make eye contact and he was really quiet.

He was struggling with his mental health.

The stability and routine and the communication and friendships have made such a difference to him. The feedback from his managers now is that he is confident, chatty and a fantastic asset to his team.

He is not a victim any more, he is definitely a survivor.

Shan added: At first we had people who didnt last in jobs because the structure wasnt there. These people feel worthless and they have been traumatised.

They need someone there to check in with a listening ear and help if they need it.

Having a job and earning money for the work they do is something many trafficking victims have not had before and it restores their independence and self-respect.

Thats key to helping them move on with their life.

Shan has grown close to Peter, who struggled at first to find the confidence and energy to hold on to a job.

He said: It took at least a month of regular contact for him to trust me.

Now I feel like he is a friend and I have a genuine personal interest in him succeeding in life.

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Terrified man was trapped on Scottish farm and forced to work 16 hours every day - Edinburgh Live

As in the New Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures are peopled with a wide variety of women.Some of their names have been lost to history, others have names and stories that seem larger than life.However,all are part of the great fabric of salvation historywhich is our story.Thatstorybegan with the words, "Let there be light."

The author of Genesis 1:1wrotethatthe spirit/breath of God moved over the fearfulmysteryof chaos. I like toinvitethat same Holy Breath to bemy prayer companionon a regular basis eitherindividuallyor in a group of otherBiblical/saintlyfemininefriendsof my choice.

In severalmodernlanguages,such as Spanish,nouns areconsideredeither masculine or feminine.During my graduate theology studies, I took a class on Hebrew. I was surprised to discover that Hebrew nouns are likewise either masculine or feminine. Thus, the wordruahis,grammatically,a feminine nounthat means spirit or breath.However, ruah and many other Hebrew feminine nouns are often used as poetic metaphors in the human attempt to say something about God.

Joan P. Schaupp had this to say in her article "The Feminine Imagery of God in the Hebrew Bible":

There are profound metaphors of God as feminine in the Hebrew Old Testament. On occasion this poetic imagery is allegorized literally as female; most often the feminine appears in the Hebrew Bible in metaphor and allegory. ...

For women, this introduction to Genesis has profound implications, which are being grasped as a growing number of scholars closely examine the original Hebrew text. Simply stated, God is described in both masculine and feminine imagery in the opening verses of Genesis.God(a masculine noun) creates by his Word, and life begins as thespirit(a feminine noun) of God hovers over the earth with her life-giving breath.

That said, one can honor the feminine aspect ofruah.

Another Hebrew feminine noun is shekhinah, which is translatedas presence of God. Includingthis conceptduring my prayer helps medeepenmy meditation.I found this beautiful description in the Jewish Virtual Library: "It is through the shekinah that humans can experience the Divine. Thespirit moved to help bring order out of chaos. Thus,beginning the process of creation, we can pray for those who workto care for our Earthandfor government leaders to craft laws that will help heal and protect our Earth.

I reflect on the mother of Moses (Exodus 2:1-10): how sadthat she had to give up her childnot once buttwice.Many parents during the Holocaust sent or gave their children to other people so they would have a chance to grow up.Thisrealitycontinues today as parents of families fleeing violence often must make the difficult choice toseparate from their children bysendingthem to places they hope are more safe.I can imagine myself listening to Moses mother as she shares her painof letting go.With whatever spiritual practice you use to pray for the end of violence,prayalsofor thosefamilies andfor those unwed mothers who have given their child up for adoption,as well as formore women whowill choose adoption over abortion.

Turning to Miriam, sister to Moses and Aaron,(Exodus 15:1-18)makes me think of Oh,Freedom!, asong Ioftenenjoy hearingthe lyricsopranoRene Fleming sing. Her rendition islush,which, I believe, is perfectfor this timelessspiritual.While its lyricsoriginallycelebratedthe ultimate freedom of heaven after death, the song was commonly sung as part of the civil rights movementto celebrate the newfound freedom of African Americansin America.

After theIsraelites crossedthe Red Sea, Miriam ledherpeople in a dance to celebrate their deliverance.I can well imagine how these freed slaves must have danced and sang their own version of Oh, Freedom!The biblical text mentionstheIsraelitesconsideredMiriam a prophetess. Maybe her prophetic role was to show her people how to celebrate again.After 400 yearsof slavery, perhapstheyhad forgotten how.

When this pandemicendsand Christians of every faith community return to churchin greater numbers,how will we all celebrate?Let us pray with Miriam that we allwillsing with grateful heartsa freedom hymn.Pray also for those people who seeking freedom as refugees as well as for those who live under dictators.

Another favorite is Abigail(1 Samuel 25:2-42). Locked in an arranged and difficult marriage,Abigailwas able toremain true to herselfusingher strong diplomatic skillswith her husband.Shealsousedher diplomacytosoftenDavid's angry response toher husband'sinhospitable behavior. Itwasno surprise that after her husband dies, David marriesher.To have such strong skills,Abigailmust have first been a very caring and compassionate person.What might she say to you about compassion? As you listen, perhaps you could pray for those couples who have difficult marriages and for those who have escaped domestic violence.

Then there is Anna, Tobit's wife(Tobit). At one point in the story,Tobitbecomesblind.As a result,Anna must become the wage earner.Even though her earnings were essential for their survival, itwas a source offriction in their relationship.As a result, the story reveals the ups and downsmanymarriages go through.What I find interesting is how this couple's conversation progresses.We see Annaas a wife who speaks her mind to a doubting husband then a husband whochangesfrom doubtingto one who comforts a tearful wife.Similar tensions can occur today when a husband can no longer work due to an accident or illness.Anna would be an apt companion when we pray for couples in such situations and for those who are preparing for marriage.

Susanna(Daniel:13)was beautiful, rich, and deeply religious. Buther spiritualitydidntprotect her from beingsexuallyassaultedverbally. Then came "blame the victim.The two elders had everything going for them or at least they thought they did.Then someone spoke up oddly enough, it was a youth.Suddenly, everything changed.The elders were put on trial,their lie wasexposed, they were found guilty,thenthey received the punishment meant for Susanna.I like to share Susanna's prayerto intercedefor the unjustly condemned on death row,for women who are sexuallyharassedon their joband for all those who are sexually violated.

If you invite these or other women of the Hebrew Scriptures to be a part of your prayer and if you usetheintentionsI suggested, consider addingone or two ofyour own.In whatever way we choose to pray, we must prayfor a needy world.

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Pray with these women whose stories are woven into the 'great fabric of salvation history' - Global Sisters Report

If you care about justice, democracy, or labor rights, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants should be a no-brainer. Denying millions of US residents the right to vote in elections that impact their lives is an affront to basic democratic principles, and noncitizens who have to worry about deportation are far more likely to hesitate before joining unions or seeking legal action against employers who violate labor laws.

Ideally, this path would be about as complicated as getting a public library card after moving to a new town. But even a long and winding path is better than no path at all. And given Democrats campaign rhetoric on this issue, enacting some path for at least a significant percentage of undocumented workers is the least they can do.

Or so you would think.

Under the absurd and deeply antidemocratic Senate rules, essentially all legislation requires a supermajority to pass. Theres one major exception: if a bill is deemed to have more than incidental budgetary impact, it can pass with a simple majority using the budget reconciliation process.

The problem, of course, is that nearly everything has some impact on the budget. Pretending that determinations of whats incidental and whats more than incidental are like objectively correct solutions to complex mathematical equations, waiting in some abstract Platonic realm for a sufficiently clever expert to discover them, is more than a little implausible.

The provision in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package providing a pathway to citizenship, for example, would ultimately lead to millions more being eligible for food aid and various health care programs like Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The estimated budgetary impact is $139.6 billion over the next decade.

Is that significant, or is it incidental? How about raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour? That would certainly change which tax revenues were coming from which sources, but is that change more than incidental?

At the very least, these are judgment calls. Realistically, theyre political decisions.

The current Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, has decided that the budgetary impact of the proposed immigration provision is incidental. She made the same determination earlier this year about the minimum wage.

In both cases, the Democratic leadership has thrown up their hands and claimed theres nothing that they can do.

The great twentieth-century philosopher Harry Frankfurt has a classic example to test our intuitions about free will and determinism: If theres only one possible thing that will happen, does that mean we arent responsible for our actions?

Frankfurt asks us to imagine that a man named Jones is preparing to make a decision. A villain named Black is prepared to intervene to manipulate Jones into doing what Black wants him to do. Perhaps hell hypnotize Jones. Perhaps hell use some science-fiction device that will alter the chemistry in Joness brain. Depending on how you fill out the details, you get one of the many variations of what philosophers call Frankfurt cases.

But heres the twist: Black will only intervene if he doesnt think Jones will do what Black wants him to do on his own.

If Black intervenes and somehow makes Jones do what Black wants him to do, wed all agree that this wouldnt be Joness fault. (It would be Blacks fault, of course.) But what if Jones does what Black wants him to do because its also what Jones wants to do? In that case, Frankfurt thinks, its clearly Joness fault.

If Jones says, I had no choice Black would have made me do it anyway, Frankfurt thinks no one should be impressed by this excuse. Jones made the decision because thats what he wanted to do. The fact that Black hypothetically would have forced him if he hadnt wanted to do it doesnt matter. Jones is at fault.

Many leftists suspect that what the Democratic leadership is doing right now is similar playing a rotating villain game where they let various figures take the blame for not passing important reforms. Sometimes its Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Sometimes its the parliamentarian. But these obstacles arent really why the Democratic leadership isnt passing these reforms. They just dont want to or at least they dont want it enough.

That sounds cynical, but in this case, the truth is even worse. Its not that Democrats are using the fact that they cant do something they dont want to do as an excuse. The more we look at the actual legal status and powers of the Senate parliamentarian, the more the real situation starts to look like this:

Black points his finger at Jones and says, This is a gun. If you dont do what I say, Ill shoot you! Jones grins from ear to ear and says, In that case, I better do what you say!

As democratic socialist congresswoman Ilhan Omar has pointed out, Elizabeth MacDonough isnt stopping the Democratic leadership from including immigration reform in the reconciliation package.

Responding to Omars tweet, right-wing blowhard Sean Hannity accused her of advocating that the Senate ignore the Constitution. Nothing could be further from the truth.

First, the budget reconciliation process is only necessary in the first place because of the filibuster. Not only is this not hinted at it in the text of the Constitution, but the framers were quite explicit in opposing any kind of supermajority rule in the Senate. In the decades after the founding, the previous question rule stopped minorities of senators from blocking legislation supported by a majority. An overhaul of the Senate rules later accidentally created the loophole that allowed for a filibuster, but defenders of Southern slavery only started exploiting the loophole decades later. No law never mind any constitutional provision mandates that the Senate maintain the filibuster. Current Senate rules include both the filibuster and the budget reconciliation process as a way around it, but the Senate has the power to change its rules at any time.

Second, even those current rules dont make the parliamentarians judgment about what counts as more than incidental binding. A quick glance at a relevant report from the Congressional Research Service shows that Congresswoman Omar is unambiguously correct: As a staff official, neither parliamentarian is empowered to make decisions that are binding on the House or Senate. The parliamentarians and their deputies/assistants only offer advice that the presiding Representative or Senator may accept or reject . . .

Third, far from being an office specified in the Constitution, the Senate has only hired a parliamentarian to advise the body on interpretive questions about its rules since 1935. Over the last several decades, there have been multiple instances of the vice president, as presiding officer of the Senate, simply ignoring that advice. In 2001, Senate Republicans fired a parliamentarian whose advice they didnt like.

Democrats can evasively mumble about the importance of norms, but you shouldnt buy it. The simple truth is that theyre pretending to be powerless before the nonbinding recommendations of a staffer they could literally fire at any time. Thats grotesque.

Link:

It's Really Not That Hard: Just Ignore the Senate Parliamentarian - Jacobin magazine