Two stories, side by side. One, “Uber drivers entitled to workers’ rights, the UK Supreme Court rules.” and two, “‘I can’t keep doing this’: Gig workers say pay has fallen after California’s Prop 22.” I’d say the UK got it right and California got it wrong. It was inevitable that corporations would exploit the workers once they were allowed to and the UK is telling them they’re not allowed to.

After Prop 22, Safeway eliminated all of it’s union grocery delivery people and replaced them with “gig” drivers. Uber drivers and food delivery workers are now reporting (try to act surprised) that their pay is falling, just like the ‘No on 22’ people said it would. Why, it’s almost as if ride-share and food delivery companies lied in their advertising. Now we’ll have to go through the process of overturning 22 to protect workers. Sadly, I often find myself wishing my fellow Americans were smarter…

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Have you been following the spat between Australia and Facebook? Australia realized that Facebook was profiting from the work of Australian news outlets without compensating the outlets for the news. So, Australia came up with a plan to have Facebook compensate the news outlets. Predictably, Facebook threw and tantrum and blocked ALL Australian news from it’s pages. And so the standoff begins. Will Facebook pay for the news they post or will Australia back down to keep Facebook online? My guess? Facebook will back down. Australia has only to maintain the course. What is Facebook going to do, really? Leave Australia? It’s a balancing act of greed. Zuckerberg doesn’t want to lose all of that beautiful information he gets – for free – then sells about his users and there are, after all, other social media sites. He’ll end up paying because it’s the cheaper option…

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Texas, as you may know, is in the grips of a winter storm unlike anything they’ve seen for a long time. Because of Republican mismanagement and stupid conservative ideals, people are dying in Texas. A couple of weeks ago, Texas was agitating to secede. NOW, of course, they come, hat in hand, and beg for Federal assistance. Once the emergency has passed, they’ll be right back to complaining about the Federal government and talking secession again.

Yeah, sure, they’re Texicans but, like it or not, they’re Americans, too, so I support the aid. But I might attach some strings. I might require them to connect to the national grid and comply with Federal regulations so they could at least BUY some electricity from elsewhere when their stupid conservatism fails yet again – and it will. Also, and just for fun, I’d request Lyin’ Ted Cruz go public with a statement acknowledging climate change and disavowing deregulation…

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The cons have clearly decided the best way to handle the failures of conservative policies is from the standard playbook. Lie. THEN, of course, they have to lie about lying. Oh, what a tangled web we weave, eh? Lying con Governor Abbott of Texas comes out and lies that the power problem in Texas is because of the failure of renewables. He knew darned good and well the problem was fossil fuels and conservative policies. But as a con, he can’t SAY conservative policies failed miserably and people are dying – including an 11-year-old kid who died of hypothermia in his own bed. So? Lie. Thinking Americans know immediately that he’s lying but cons will embrace the lie – because it’s all they’ve got.

Lyin’ Ted ‘fled’ Cruz takes off to Cancun rather than suffer the effects of poor conservative policy positions the rest of Texas is stuck with. He left his dog in the freezing house. His office put out a statement declaring the attempted escape a “long-planned” holiday. (A lie.) Lyin’ Ted then blamed his kids. (A lie.) Then, Lyin’ Ted claimed he was only escorting his kids to Cancun and always meant to come right back. (Another lie.) The truth is, Ted just did what ANY Texican might do if they had the resources to avoid the effects of conservative policies – run away. It’s a key component of conservative policies. Rich people NEVER have to suffer the effects of their conservative policies and they really don’t give a rat’s tail about the little people who have to do the actual suffering. “Screw them, cut my taxes. It’ll help everybody.” (Another lie.)

After Donnie Dumbass incited his extremist base to attack Congress and try to kill some of the members – you know…as a show of their “patriotism” – even the cons realized (after they had failed) that might have been a mistake. So? Lie. They immediately started in on how it was secretly liberals and “Antifa” – a non-existent group – pulling a false flag operation. It wasn’t. They were Don’s Cons trying to do his bidding.

Two anti-masker morons (based on yet another lie, of course) in Florida decided they had a clever ploy to avoid protecting their fellow humans: lie. They pretended to be US Marshals and threatened to arrest the employees of the resort they were staying in for asking them to don masks. Just to be on the safe side, one of them also flashed a laminated card declaring his medical exemption. But thinking Americans know those cards are yet ANOTHER conservative lie – so an employee of the resort called actual cops – who showed up with an actual US Marshal. Now the lying cons are sitting in jail, arrested for impersonating federal officers. No word on whether they’re wearing masks now…

The list goes on, of course. This outrageous separation from the truth has gotten SO out of control, I have come to the conclusion that if a conservative says something, the BEST response is to assume it’s a lie. They lie about everything, all the time. Conservative lies used to just be irritating. Now they’re actively killing people. Of course, the cons will just lie about THAT, too…

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There’s an old saying that if you can’t say something good about the dead, don’t say anything. Rush Limbaugh is dead? Good! There’s a piece in the NY Times inquiring if we MUST dance on Rush’s grave. I submit, it’s not a requirement. But certainly it’s an opportunity.

Rush enjoyed tremendous success. Unfortunately, his “success” was in undermining America and misleading millions. His willingness to harm a once-great nation is the single most important thing that will be remembered about him. Count me in as one who happily dances on Rush’s grave…