This is getting more and more complex – and it really doesn’t need to. In 2009, the world was introduced to a new type of cab company – one in which drivers and riders connected through an app instead of dialing the phone. That was pretty much the difference: how the driver and rider connected. The company is known today, as ‘Uber’ but was founded as ‘Ubercab’ so it’s pretty clear that even THEY know they’re a cab company that uses an app to connect driver and rider.

The thing is, Uber didn’t want to take responsibility for their drivers as employees so they started insisting they’re NOT a transportation service. They call themselves an “app-based company.” It’s clear to anybody paying attention that Uber IS a transportation service. After all, what good is their app without the drivers? But our society has devolved to a point where one has only to form a sentence and said sentence must be treated as equal to all other sentences. (Yes, it’s exactly as stupid as it sounds…)

So…Uber forms a sentence – says they’re an app-based company – and California is flummoxed. California wants the drivers classified as employees since no Uber driver works without Uber’s direct involvement. So the California state legislature passed Assembly Bill 5 which attempts to reclassify so-called gig workers in a way that might force Uber to accept it’s responsibility to it’s drivers. The thing is, AB5 created MASSIVE problems in the work force and the economy as one industry after another was inadvertently impacted. California started issuing waiver after waiver and finally put out – in the form of AB2257 – a long list of job categories exempted from AB5 strictures.

It won’t be long until they’ve exempted everybody BUT the driver services like Uber and Lyft at which time the driver services will take AB5 BACK to court and claim it’s unconstitutional because it’s AIMED at Uber and Lyft.

So I got to thinking about what makes an actual “app-based company” and I think I’ve stumbled onto something. I used ‘Spotify’ as my model. (Full disclosure: I signed up for Spotify, once, but don’t use it much and have no other ties to them…) Spotify really is an app-based company. What I mean is, I can download the app, sign up as a user, tell the app what kind of music I prefer, and begin listening. Easy. At no time do I have to interact with a Spotify representative to use the service. And THAT’S the key…

Rather than trying to create legislation to correct the problem and then legislation to try to correct the issues created by the previous legislation and then very likely needing to create even MORE legislation to try to clean up the problems from the earlier legislation, I propose that for legal and tax purposes California simply define an “app-based company” as a company that provides it’s products or service without any representative of the company directly interacting with the general public.

If Uber can deliver it’s product without drivers, fine, they’re an app-based company. If they can’t, they’re not. It really IS that simple. As a transportation company, they can take responsibility for their drivers just like all the other cab companies do…

AB5 was originally introduced by Lorena Gonzalez from the San Diego area. If anyone can get this idea in front of her, it might help to eliminate a bunch of legislative entanglement in the future…

RBG’s Seat…
Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing was a bit of a gut-punch to those of us holding on to the vain hope that maybe, just maybe, there’s some path to saving this once great nation. (There isn’t.) I’m hearing lefties out there swearing up one side and down the other they’re going to fight the corrupt GOP-controlled Senate to stop them from foisting another Sour Cream Court “justice” on the American people.

“Don’t you remember,” they shout angrily, “when the GOP said they can’t put a nominee up for a vote in the last year of a Presidency?”
“Didn’t you know,” I reply, “They were lying their hypocritical asses off at the time?”
“We’re going to fight to stop them!”
“Excellent. Which exact mechanism did you plan to employ?”
“Um…we’ll make angry phone calls!”
“Yeah, that’ll do it…”

It’s hard to say what kind of impact the passing of RBG is going to have on the upcoming “election.” BOTH sides were sort of pointing to the so-called “High Court” as the big prize for winning. Who gets to appoint the next “justice?” Now? Well, we know the answer. Trump. THREE Supreme Court nominations (one stolen, of course) for the dumbest man in the history of stupid! And the court’s decisions will reflect that for years to come. Or at least until the revolution, whichever comes first…

Then I see speculation that perhaps the GOP will hold off on naming someone as an enticement to getting GOP voters out. That doesn’t make sense to me. Look, we all know that Trump isn’t going to win this “election” unless the Russians are successful. If, say, the internet goes down on “election” day, Trump loses. Do you think the GOP is going to take a chance with that seat? No. They’ll have some Federalist Society toady appointed by the First Monday in October.

By all means, though, feel free to make angry phone calls. It won’t change the inevitable but it’s an EXCELLENT exercise in venting…

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Blind Love…
Have you ever been blindly infatuated with anyone? Of course you have. Percy Sledge wrote a brilliant song about it called, ‘When A Man Loves A Woman.’ His song is about a man loving a woman (obviously) but it applies to a woman blindly in love with a man, as well. In a larger sense, it applies to ANY infatuation that blinds one to reality. (Say…Cult 45?) So…with apologies to Percy…

When A Man Loves the Donald
When a man loves the Donald,
Can’t keep his mind on nothin’ else.
He’d change the world for the good thing he’s found.
When Don is bad, he can’t see it,
Donald can do no wrong,
Turn his back on his best friend if he put Donald down.

When a man loves the Donald,
He’ll spend his very last dime,
Tryin’ to hold on to what he needs.
He’d give up all his comforts,
And sleep out in the rain,
If Donald said that’s the way it ought to be.

Well, some men love you, Donald.
Gave you everything they had,
Tryin’ to hold on to your heartless love.
Saying, “Baby, please don’t treat me bad.”

When a man loves the Donald,
Down deep in his soul,
Don can bring him such misery.
Don is just playin’ him for a fool,
He’s the last one to know.
Lovin’ eyes can never see.

When a man loves the Donald,
he can confess no wrong,
he can never trust the real world.
Yes, When a man loves the Donald
You know exactly how he feels,
‘Cause baby, baby, Don’s his world.

When a man loves the Donald…

I find myself wondering how many military members trump lost when they found out he considers them suckers for joining and losers if they get injured or killed. Some, I imagine. If they’re true trumpsters, though, they simply pretended he didn’t really say that and put their vile little red hats right back on. At this point, it’s pretty clear to any of us outside the conservative bubble that those who insist on supporting him ANYWAY are the true losers and suckers…

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Speaking of losers and suckers, I ALMOST started to feel sorry for trumpsters. Imagine how many battles they’ve fought over Covid-19. They marched out, social warriors on social media, name calling, ruining friendships and other relationships, tearing their own families asunder – all in defense of the dumbass and his pretended position on trump’s pandemic – only to find out he wasn’t just wrong. He was lying the whole time.

I mean, how embarrassing to be so completely exposed for the gullible rubes they are.

But, like I said, I ALMOST started to feel sorry for them. Then I remembered, all I have is evidence in the form of a recording of trump himself describing in detail the dangers and threats of the virus, proving he knew. And as we know, trumpsters say, “Evidence, shmevidence!” See, trumpsters have faith. They disregard evidence just as easily as a snake sheds his skin.

I’ll be voting against trump because of all of the truths I know about him.
Trumpsters will be voting FOR trump because of all of the truths they refuse about him.

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I’m guessing there are STILL some suckers out there pretending climate change is a hoax. More faith over facts. Nice. I’d say events have overtaken your ideology. I’d say you were wrong but it’s really worse than that. Because you chose faith over facts, we ALL have to suffer the consequences. It was EASY to type contradictions into your computer and hurl epithets. It’s going to be far less easy to live with the consequences of your lies…

It’s weird living in and moving through the conservative hell-scape conservative positions have brought to us all. Orange skies are not the norm. When the sun is bright red, it’s a sight to behold – and then get back indoors where it might be safer to, you know, breathe. We’re supposed to go outside to meet with people because of trump’s failure on Covid-19 but we have to stay INSIDE because it’s not safe to breathe the air…

Trump’s America: just try not to breathe so much…

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I really feel like rich people, with the help of their conservative suckers, have won their class war. I’m still seeing articles and posts asking what we can do but I think we already know the answer: nothing. With the help of faith-based conservatives – and the careful manipulation of that faith – the rich people have destroyed this country and it’s government. The DOW keeps going (generally) up because the rich people know they’ve created the most incredible buying opportunity in the history of the world. It won’t take too much longer until they own most everything, leaving the vast majority of Americans out in the cold.

Believe it or not, THAT’S when the real squeezing will begin. THAT’S when things are going to get ugly. I’ve long suspected the conservatives who helped bring about this end think they’ve accrued to themselves some kind of a pass. Maybe, they hope, when the 1% starts squeezing in earnest, conservatives will be passed over. They won’t.

I don’t know how long Americans will tolerate a dictatorship. We’re a spoiled bunch and we know it. Because we’re spoiled we might have a short fuse regarding things being taken away from us but because we know we’re spoiled, we MIGHT just decide losing a few things here and there is somehow acceptable.

I’ll tell you this, though: it’s not going to end well…

Okay so, maybe I’m just jealous. I’ve kind of come to admire how my conservative counterparts just…insert their preferred reality in place of whatever is actually going on.

A pandemic that’s killed, so far, 186,000+ Americans because of trump’s inaction? Why, no! In the conservative bubble it makes FAR more sense that medical professionals and institutions would risk their professional licenses and certifications – not to mention the legal consequences – by lying about Covid-19 – just to make trump look bad.

So, to hear them tell it, 186,000+ Americans haven’t died from Covid-19. It’s only been like 6,000 or maybe 4,000 or hell, I don’t know, maybe 150 people and a cat. The thing I don’t understand? If you’re going to just make up a reality anyway, why not make it a perfect reality? Why include ANY Covid-19 deaths?

At first, I thought, this is how they make their lie seem credible – acknowledge and stipulate to a FEW deaths but deny the bulk of them. That doesn’t really track, though. ANY number of deaths surely makes Dumbass look…well, like a dumbass, right? So why not just deny ANY of them?

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Personally, I think trump humping the flag is every bit as disrespectful of the flag as someone setting it on fire. And at least the person burning a flag is expressing an honest emotion…

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Speaking of disrespect, the Atlantic reported this last week that trump counts military members “suckers” and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice “losers”. Okay, so the Atlantic leans left but Fox “News” confirmed and reported the story as well. Based on everything I’ve ever seen from the coward trump, I’d guess he DID say those things and I’d wager he’s just honestly expressing his true (and vile) position.

Sure, he can – and will – lie. Helpfully, his reality-replacing base will work as hard as they can to believe him. But nobody else will. The dumbass has no regard for the military. He just shines them on like Eddie Haskell. (Yeah, something of an archaic reference there…) Cult 45 will just overwrite what they know with what they’d prefer to know and keep going.

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I’m VERY excited about California’s new color-coded slow re-opening plan. Mostly because of the anticipation it creates for the inevitable new color-coded slow re-closing plan in the near future.

We can close and open and open and close all day every day for months years, days, weeks – whatever. If we’re not going to deal with the underlying problems the symptoms aren’t going to get better.

It’s a sad thing that so many Americans don’t seem to understand this…

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Pelosi! (You have to kind of spit it.) She’s trying to spin her recent hair appointment as a “set-up.” Truthfully? I think she WAS set up. But it was her own arrogance that allowed her to be set up in the first place. She didn’t know the rules? Bunk. When someone told her something different, she, of all people, should have known.

Okay, so the truth is, rich people get privileges in this once-great nation the masses don’t enjoy and, right or wrong, that’s just the way it is. I think she was wrong and ended up projecting a “do as I say, not as I do” message. But I STILL don’t think her disregard for protocol is anywhere near as damaging or dangerous as trump’s disregard for reality…

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Remember, because of Covid-19 the rules of the “election” are changing this year. Evil, America-hating progressives have to go first and have their votes in by November 3. Then, the god-loving, patriotic conservatives get their turn and start voting on November 4. Know your group and vote accordingly…