Unions Push State Legislatures for Labor History Courses

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Photo Credit: Fox News Unions and their allies are trying to flex their muscle in state legislatures, pushing for labor history to be included in social studies curriculum and hoping a new generation of high school students will one day be well-educated union members.

But the results are instead shaping up as a reminder of the tough political landscape faced by organized labor. In six states, opponents have pushed back against demands that teachers offer lessons about the first craft unions in the 19th century, the large-scale organizing drives that powered the growth of industrial unions in the 1930s, the rise of organized labor as a political machine and other highlights of America’s union movement.

California and Delaware are the only states with laws that encourage schools to teach labor history.

Kevin Dayton, a policy consultant to non-union construction companies in California, said the legislation was pushed by unions to boost their ranks.

“They believe that one of the reasons young people are not organizing in unions is because they’re not taught in schools the benefits of being in a collective workforce,” he said.

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More Socialized Healthcare: UK Grandmother Having Heart Attack Denied Help From Medical Staff

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Phil NobleA grandmother of three who was suffering a heart attack in front of a medical center in England was forced to call for an ambulance herself after receptionists at the facility refused to help.

That’s the claim made by 58 year-old Hannah Barnes and her family, according to the Shields Gazette, a British newspaper.

Barnes was out shopping when she recognized symptoms similar to those she had experienced in January, when she suffered her first heart attack.

Feeling ill, Barnes headed to Palmer Community Hospital, located in a town called Jarrow, where she asked receptionists there to call emergency services.

Barnes’ family says she was told that she would have to make the call herself, forcing Barnes to search for her cellphone to place the call while suffering a heart attack.

Read more from this story HERE.

This IT Worker Had to Train an H-1B Replacement

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Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk (Creative Commons)This is the story of an IT worker who was replaced by a worker on an H-1B visa, one of a number of visa holders, mostly from India, who took jobs at this U.S. company. Computerworld is not going to use the worker’s name or identify the companies involved to protect the former employee from retaliation. For purposes of this story, the worker has been given initials — A.B. (They’re not the person’s real initials.)

At A.B.’s company, about 220 IT jobs have been lost to offshore outsourcing over the last year. A.B. is telling the story because, initially, there was little knowledge among fellow employees about H-1B visa holders and how they are used. They didn’t know that offshore outsourcing firms are the largest users of H-1B visas, or exactly how this visa facilitates IT job losses in the U.S.

“I think once we learned about it, we became angrier toward the U.S. government than we were with the people that were over here from India,” A.B. said, “because the government is allowing this.”

The IT workers at this firm first learned of the offshore outsourcing threat through rumors. Later, the IT staff was called into an auditorium and heard directly from the CIO about the plan to replace them. It would take months for the transition to be completed, in part because of some new system installations.

Many younger IT workers found jobs and left. Mainframe workers were apparently in demand and also able to find new jobs. But older workers with skills in open systems, storage and SAN faced a harder time. About half the IT staffers, mostly the older ones, would stay to the end.

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Obama Urges College Grads to Reject Climate-Change Skepticism

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Photo Credit: Luke Sharrett / BloombergPresident Barack Obama called on Americans coming of age to demand that politicians respond more aggressively to climate change, comparing those skeptical about man-caused alterations to the environment to a belief that the moon is “made of cheese.”

In a commencement address yesterday to graduates of the University of California at Irvine, Obama delivered one of his feistiest critiques of lawmakers who, in objecting to environmental regulations he’s pushing to reduce carbon emissions, question the need for such action.

Obama said rising temperatures and sea levels and intensifying storm patterns define “one of the most significant long-term challenges that our country and our planet face.”

He also used his speech at Angel Stadium of Anaheim to announce a new program in which states, communities and Native American tribes hit by natural disasters can seek money for projects to combat or prepare for climate change-related challenges.

Almost $1 billion will be set aside for the National Disaster Resilience Competition, according to the White House. Some of the money will be available to communities in any state with a presidentially declared major disaster from 2011-2013, while $180 million is reserved for states affected by 2012’s Hurricane Sandy.

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DC ROCKED: David Downs Goliath

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Photo Credit: AP / Steve HelberHouse majority leader Cantor defeated in primary

By Alan Suderman and David Espo.

In an upset for the ages, Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-most powerful man in the House, was dethroned Tuesday by a little-known, tea party-backed Republican primary challenger carried to victory on a wave of public anger over calls for looser immigration laws.

“This is a miracle from God that just happened,” exulted David Brat, an economics professor, as his victory became clear in the congressional district around Virginia’s capital city.

Speaking to downcast supporters, Cantor conceded, “Obviously we came up short” in a bid for renomination to an eighth term.

The victory was by far the biggest of the 2014 campaign season for tea party forces, although last week they forced veteran Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran into a June 24 runoff, and hope state Sen. Chris McDaniel can prevail then.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Mark Wilson / Getty ImagesGOP Leadership in ‘Chaos’ After Eric Cantor’s Loss: “We’re absolutely stunned.”

By Billy House.

Befuddlement hit and lingered within the House GOP leadership ranks as Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s election fate was unwinding on Tuesday. Cantor lost in a major upset to primary challenger Dave Brat.

Speaker John Boehner, in a statement from his office late Tuesday night, said, “Eric Cantor and I have gone through a lot together.”

“He’s a good friend and a great leader, and somone I’ve come to rely upon on a daily basis as we make the touch choices that come with governing,” added Boehner, who said his thoughts Tuesday night were with Cantor, his wife Diana, and their kids.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Democrats claim credit for helping Tea Party topple Eric Cantor

By Paul Bedard.

Tea Party Republicans upset with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s immigration push helped to torpedo his reelection Tuesday night, but Virginia political sources also give credit to Democrats who worked to undermine the No. 2 House leader by voting in the open primary.

Sources said the Democrats, some upset with the House GOP’s stonewalling of President Obama’s agenda and others mad the state Republicans took control of the state Senate this week, organized a get-out-the-vote effort to side with challenger Dave Brat, who beat Cantor.

“Some people who think the president is doing a reasonable job have argued back to me that Dave Brat will be even worse than Cantor. No. Dave Brat will be an inconsequential one-term backbencher howling against the oncoming tide,” said an email from a key Democratic anti-Cantor organizer Monday. “Leader Cantor losing because Obama supporters turned out to vote against him, will be the lead story in the national news on Wednesday,” it added.

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Virginia State Senator Resigns After Cutting Shocking Deal With Republicans

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Photo Credit: APA Virginia state senator is set to resign on Monday after cutting a deal with Republicans, a stunning move that gives the state GOP the upper hand in an ongoing fight over the state’s budget and an expansion of the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act.

Democratic state Sen. Phillip Puckett will step down on Monday, news first reported by The Washington Post. According to the report, Puckett’s resignation leads the way for him to get a job as deputy director of the state tobacco commission and for his daughter to be confirmed for a state judgeship.

It also means Republicans now have a 20-19 majority in the state Senate, something that could stall an expansion of the Medicaid program in the middle of an increasingly tenuous, partisan fight over the state budget.

Puckett’s office confirmed he will make the announcement on Monday but declined to discuss specifics of the deal that reportedly led to his resignation — a deal some characterized as “bribery.”

A furious Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, called the situation “unacceptable.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Two Men Use Girl As Human Shield — Until Her Father Guns Them Down

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller A St. Louis couple is likely thankful to have guns in their home after they were forced to use them to defend their daughter against two men Monday night.

The men, one of whom had an extensive rap sheet, confronted the couples’ 17 year-old daughter after she stepped outside of the house to go to her car, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Cortez McClinton, 33, and Terrell Johnson, 31, held a gun to the girl’s head and used her as a shield as they entered the family home, where a five-year old child was also present.

Read more from this story HERE.

What Eric Cantor’s Primary Loss REALLY Means To The Republican Party…

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Photo Credit: Peter Stevens / Flickr
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor faced a tenacious – and ultimately victorious – foe in Virginia’s Republican primary election Tuesday. Economics professor and Tea Party favorite David Brat mounted a grassroots campaign that helped draw 37 percent more voters to the polls this week than during the same race two years ago.

Even with that voter increase, Cantor received nearly 10,000 fewer voters than he did during his previous re-election bid. In the end, the establishment Republican’s conservative challenger scored a big win that many Tea Party supporters hope will set the tone for upcoming elections.

“This is a miracle from God that just happened,” Brat said of his victory…

Another self-described grassroots Tea Party candidate, Alaska’s Joe Miller, weighed in on the significance of Brat’s win.

He echoed the Madison Project statement, noting that some within the GOP “have done all they can this election cycle to announce the demise” of Tea Party and unabashedly conservative candidates.

“Well,” he continued, “maybe they should have checked with the grassroots before making such proclamations.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Convenient: IRS Has ‘Lost’ Two Years of Lois Lerner’s Emails

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Photo Credit: TownHallBy Katie Pavlich.

According to the House Ways and Means Committee, the IRS has “lost” two years of emails belonging to former head of tax exempt organizations Lois Lerner. The IRS doesn’t have a record of her emails to outside groups or government agencies from January 2009 through April 2011, conveniently encompassing some of the same time when tea party groups were being targeted for extra scrutiny and possible criminal prosecution. The IRS says the loss of emails is due to a “computer crash” and claims emails from or to Lerner from the White House, Democratic members of Congress, the Treasury Department, FEC and Department of Justice cannot be located. They do however have emails belonging to Lerner that she sent to other IRS employees.

“The fact that I am just learning about this, over a year into the investigation, is completely unacceptable and now calls into question the credibility of the IRS’s response to Congressional inquiries. There needs to be an immediate investigation and forensic audit by Department of Justice as well as the Inspector General,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp said in a statement. “Just a short time ago, Commissioner Koskinen promised to produce all Lerner documents. It appears now that was an empty promise. Frankly, these are the critical years of the targeting of conservative groups that could explain who knew what when, and what, if any, coordination there was between agencies…

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Getty Images IRS claims it has LOST two years’ worth of emails from embattled former official Lois Lerner as tea party targeting scandal heats up again

The Internal Revenue Service has lost two years worth of emails to and from embattled former tax official Lois Lerner, the agency told congressional investigators on Friday.

The IRS promised on May 8 to turn over all her emails but now blames a computer crash for huge tranches of missing documents.

Lerner is under investigation for allegedly orchestrating a years-long program that targeted tea party groups and other conservative organizations for unusually intrusive scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status beginning in the year before the 2010 congressional midterm elections.

The House Ways and Means Committee, one of two bodies probing the case, said Friday that the IRS says that for the period of January 2009 through April 2011, the only Lerner emails it can find are those that were sent to or from other IRS employees.

Emails whose sender or recipient was outside the government, or inside other agencies, have mysteriously disappeared.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama ‘Committed to Escalating’ Lawlessness at Border

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Photo Credit: APBy Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL).

There is now an unprecedented crisis unfolding at the border. The flow of illegal immigrant youth across the southern border is on track to reach 130,000 next year—a projected increase of more than 2,000% from 2011. The White House estimates the cost of “resettling” these illegal immigrants in the United States will reach $2.3 billion in a single year.

This crisis is a direct and predictable result of the President’s sustained and deliberate campaign to dismantle immigration enforcement. His administration has announced to the world that our nation’s immigration laws will not be enforced and that, in particular, they will not be applied to foreign youth.

The world has heard and heeded the President’s message. A wave of illegal immigration has overwhelmed authorities, producing a completely preventable humanitarian crisis—and further diminishing the integrity of our national borders. And there is but one way for the crisis to end: for the President of the United States to declare to the world: “Do not attempt to come here illegally. Our border is no longer open. Our laws will be enforced.”

A local TV station in Texas recently issued a telling report. They revealed that information is being disseminated in Central America urging people to make the life-threatening trek north in pursuit of amnesty: “A mother and child told Channel 5 News that the message being disseminated in their country is, ‘go to America with your child, you won’t be turned away.'”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: TownHallAfter Leaked Photos Expose Unaccompanied Child Crisis, Border Patrol Agents Threatened With Firings

By Katie Pavlich.

Last week, photos surfaced from Texas and Arizona showing Border Patrol processing centers overwhelmed as thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America continue to need shelter and resources. The photos show hundreds of children sleeping in crowded, chain linked cages. Agents have described the situation as a humanitarian crisis.

In response to the leaked images out of Arizona, Patrol Agent in Charge Leslie Lawson is cracking down on the use of personal technology by agents in the Nogales Border Patrol processing center.

“Due to the recent unauthorized use of a personally owned electronic device in the Nogales Processing Center, the use of such devices will be restricted to locations outside of detention areas,” Lawson wrote in a June 6 memo to all employees at the Nogales station. “Effective immediately, the use of personally owned cellular phones, cameras, or recording devices in the Nogales Detention Facility and the Nogales Processing Center is strictly prohibited…

Read more from this story HERE.