Twitter/X handle: @HaythamMatthews Retired. Always seeking terra firma & a path toward the good. Fidelitas ad Veritatis
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"4 Day Week Global, or 4DWG—a non-profit established to provide a platform for supporters of the four-day week—began a world-wide pilot program earlier this year for companies and organizations that have adopted the model .. with no reduction in pay, or were interested..." www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnew...
www.newsweek.com/gavin-newsom... Good move!!
www.myprivacy.blog/denmark-make...
Blocking such attempts to deliver lifesaving provisions to Gazans in dire straits, as has been threatened, would be indisputably immoral.
& btw, not too many folks know that Morocco makes some pretty decent wine (mostly red) — though, guessing, Moroccans are probably not too big on bacon...
...not to mention that the no. 1 threat to the West ia actually the same as it is for the rest of the world, namely, the #ClimateCrisis
"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently removed a long-standing five-week Spanish-language training program requirement for new recruits. ...reflect[ing] both collapsing non-English government services and the softening of qualifications to become an immigration agent." #DumbingDown
It behooves good people to pay more attention to the stories of victims than to those of abusers.
As Trump attacks unions and occupies our city, we’re called to remember how we got here. Labor Day would not exist without the workers who fought and died at the Haymarket Massacre and the Pullman Strike in Chicago. It’s not a coincidence he’s targeting Chicago:
Portland, Maine crowd as Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner takes the stage today.
This Labor Day, I honor the labor of America's agricultural workers — regardless of their immigration status. God bless the hands that collect the produce that graces our dinner tables, and keeps us nourished and healthy! #RememberCesarChavez!
"Recognizing a Palestinian state under the authority of the PLO harms Hamas and rewards the patient diplomacy and commitment to peace of its rivals in Fatah." 4/
Meanwhile, "France, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Malta all say they are preparing to recognize a state of Palestine at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in September. They would join another 147 UN countries that already do so." 3/ www.theatlantic.com/internationa...
"Last week, the State Department also said it would not issue visas to Palestinian officials to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York next month." 2/
1/
As we begin a new month, my law firm is litigation 51 voting and election cases in 25 states. 6 in Arizona 6 in Georgia 4 in Florida 4 in North Carolina 8 involve redistricting
"The killing of journalists in the Gaza war,.. along with other acts of violence against journalists, marks .. the single deadliest conflict for journalists in all known conflicts in the history of the world, according to the Costs of War Project." 2/ en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing...
"[Islam Abed, on-air correspondent with Al-Quds Today TV, was] killed along with her husband and children after Israeli forces shelled a residential apartment in the Rimal neighborhood of central Gaza City." 1/ www.newarab.com/news/islam-a...
Ben Gvir has no shame... #ProtectGreta!! #ProtectTheInnocentOfGaza!!
#RussiaIsATerroristState
No mention here of explicit intent to dilute racial minority voting power being a requirement to show violation of VRA...
"Our unions fight for good jobs and fair treatment every single day, but in a place as expensive as New York City, we also have to take aim at broader affordability issues facing working families, like the cost of rent, childcare, healthcare and transportation." 1/ bsky.app/profile/zohr...
One could, perhaps, think of this as a difference in elasticity wrt distance (to prospective employers or to prospective employees, respectively).
bsky.app/profile/hayt...
The way I think about it, unions help to level the playing field between workers and employers. This is partly because it's harder for workers (esp with children &/or a working spouse) to pull up roots to take a non-local job than for an employer to hire workers from outside the local labor pool.
Thank you, California!!
It could also be somehow related to preparations for some kind of "special operation" to overthrow the Maduro regime in Venezuela, given the U.S. Navy buildup in that vicinity...
Look at this graph. The share of national income going to the richest 10 percent was lowest (and share to lower 90 percent highest) when union membership was at its highest. As unions have weakened, inequality has widened. This is why we must build back union power.
Nice! Downtown NYC at the tail end of a shower...
"Continuously denying your own agency only disempowers you." (From some character in some TV series)
3/ إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَ(إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
"Israeli strikes killed at least 70 people across the strip on Saturday, 47 of them in Gaza City alone, Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, spokesman for Gaza’s Health Ministry, told NBC News." 2/ www.nbcnews.com/world/israel...
"The 38-page prospectus.. envisions at least a temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s [2+] million population, either through what it calls 'voluntary' departures to another country or into restricted, secured zones inside the enclave during reconstruction. 1/ www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
This is the way
Obvious good thing for Congress to do: Protect "individuals who are the subject of nonconsensual digital forgeries (commonly known as deepfakes) depicting intimate activity or nudity." Pass the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (DEFIANCE) Act. Cc: @aoc.bsky.social rainn.org
"All that raises the question of whether the end goal is just to counter drug-smuggling boats, or a potential regime-change war." 3/
The "warships are.. guided-missile destroyers, equipped with more than 90 missiles... They can conduct antiaircraft and anti-submarine warfare, and shoot down ballistic missiles. Deploying them against drug cartels would be like 'bringing a howitzer to a knife fight,' one defense official said" 2/
"A major buildup of U.S. naval forces is underway outside Venezuela’s waters as the administration has stepped up belligerent rhetoric about fighting drug cartels and labeled Mr. Maduro a terrorist-cartel leader." 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/u...
A plan for Gaza circulating within the Trump administration calls to “voluntarily relocate” Palestinians, establish U.S. control, and turn the area into a “gleaming tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing and technology hub.” (Washington Post)
“Since Mr Trump singled out India with an unexpectedly draconian double dose of tariffs earlier this month, he has reportedly phoned the Indian prime minister on four occasions to seek a compromise. Each time, the Indian leader refused to pick up.” (The Telegraph)
NEWS: Trump and House Republicans' budget cuts seek to eliminate the HOME affordable housing program that’s built/rehabbed 1.3M homes in 30 yrs, including 540k in rural areas. 84% of those homes are in districts that voted for him. Rural families now face losing their lifeline.
3/ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
2/ www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
Does ICE consider denial of sanitation and health care access, dehumanization, psychological torture or some semblance thereof fair game for detainees in detention centers? If not, why is it happening in Arizona, per Oversight Committee member Rep. Yassamin Ansari (@RepYassAnsari.bsky.social)? 1/
Even an unsuccessful attempt to mess with the Federal Reserve Board for political purposes can shake confidence in the independence of the Fed, with deleterious consequences domestically and negative reverberations around the globe. The attempted firing of Lisa DeNell Cook does not augur well...
#Accountability isn't automatic... Bearing witness helps make it real...
Community policing works. Stoking fears that cooperation with local police invites a brush with masked ICE goons diminishes critical relationships between local police and the communities they are charged with protecting.
You mean — after all the extreme weather events: wildfires, supersized hurricanes, mega-floods... — we are STILL subsidizing the climate-toxic fossil fuel industry? We need a #FossilFuelNonProliferationTreaty (@fossiltreaty.bsky.social)
Trump’s plan to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War shows (once again) that his self-characterization as the “pro-peace” candidate was complete bullshit. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
"[T]here’s a way we can end.. gerrymandering wars once and for all: Reintroduced last month, the Fair Representation Act would make every congressional district competitive by combining ranked choice voting with multi-member districts." 5/ fairvote.org/how-to-stop-...
" In sum, the research provides evidence that #RCV is an improvement over plurality voting with clear benefits in terms of representation, campaign quality, mobilization, and turnout. Research shows that RCV encourages greater consensus building as well as more civil political campaigns." 4/
"New research has examined RCV’s effects on voters (i.e., public opinion, voter behavior, and turnout), candidates, and political campaigns." 3/ www.americanbar.org/groups/publi...
"the road out of this toxicity might begin with embracing values that most of us hold dear: more individual choice is good, all of us should be heard and majorities must rule. #RankedCchoiceVoting makes that possible." 2/
"Currently, despite our political nuances and the increasing number of registered independents, the spoiler problem continues to be the prism through which every third-party run is considered." 1/ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My 2 cents: Were I an Epstein/Maxwell survivor, what I would desperately want would be for swift, definitive justice that make unequivical my victimhood, the culpability of the perpetrators, and the reassurance that the public was on my side and that the pursuit justice was worth the trauma. 2/
"Democrats are pushing for a House Oversight Committee Hearing to prioritize survivor voices as a critical step towards holistic justice." “I know the pain and trauma that survivors carry." — Rep. Ayanna @Pressley.house.gov 1/ 19thnews.org/2025/08/demo...
"The lawyers argued that the government had violated the children’s right to due process and had ignored special protections for minors who cross the border alone." Why is this even an issue? Has the MAGA government no decency? www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/u...
“[T]he obsession with divisive D.E.I. initiatives reverses years of strides toward genuine equality.” — DJT [Black women the are] only major female demographic to experience significant job losses during this five-month period, according to an analysis by Katica Roy, a gender economist." 2/
" in Mr. Trump’s slash-and-burn approach to shrinking the federal work force,.. the cuts disproportionately affect Black employees — Black women in particular" #DumbingDown in a racist [er, "anti-DEI"] kind of way... 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/u...
Meanwhile, ... 3/ www.lcv.org/media-center...
"'This is one of Earth’s lungs, a living space for thousands of species with an invaluable cultural legacy that we should preserve with our eyes on the future,' Sheinbaum said, standing side-by-side with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo and Belize Prime Minister Johnny Briceño." 2/
"The nature reserve would stretch across jungled areas of southern Mexico & northern parts of the two Central American nations, encompassing > 14 million acres Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.. said it would create the 2nd biggest nature reserve in Latin America" 1/ apnews.com/article/mexi...
Indeed, "the vast breadth of available prevention policies and programs should vanquish any one-dimensional view of crime reduction." 4/
"Instead of responding to problems, these [non-criminal-justice] solutions reduce risk factors and risk conditions and promote resiliency, stopping crime and violence before they happen." 3/
But "overwhelmingly,.. research [has found] that the most effective crime-fighting tools were not explicitly about fighting crime... [but were] based on the idea that supporting people and strengthening communities is the surest path to widespread safety." 2/
RE POTUS deploying the National Guard and seizing control of local police alleging high crime rates as justification: "[In the 1990s,] violence in America dropped by half in a single decade" 1/ www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/twe...
The MAGA cult has thrown down the gauntlet. Righting the ship of American democracy will demand a lot of thinking outside the box...
Chicago has most the lead pipes in the country. A team of excellent reporters and I mapped them all on a searchable tool. Huge s/o to @juanpab.bsky.social @keertigopal.bsky.social @peteraldhous.com and @compatibilism.bsky.social for this monumental effort. Relevant links threaded below!
Join Amy Goodman for the premiere of a new documentary about Democracy Now! this Sunday at the #TellurideFilmFestival
On Thursday, I joined the National Action Network's March on Wall Street with Rev. Al Sharpton, MLK III and hundreds of union members, civil rights leaders, and people from NYC and around the country.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: Putin is a predator. Putin's proxies have been targeting our societies for years with hybrid attacks, with cyber attacks. The weaponizing of migrants is another example.
#Tax$AreOUR$ — once again squandered on meanspirited boondoggles.
It's our hard-earned money. This isn't what I would call well-spent.
Their eagerness to look at *anything* other that what *really* causes this nation’s problem with mass shootings (hint: GUNS!) would be comical if it weren’t so dishonest, bigoted, and led to more deaths.
... "mental health" on the part of willfully ignorant (& heart-challenged) lawmakers.
Nice. arstechnica.com/science/2025...
Humility is the antidote for market soothsayer punditry! IMO, the same goes for much of what passes as stock index causal attribution...
Trump revokes Secret Service protection for former VP Kamala Harris Source: Los Angeles Times share.newsbreak.com/er94vwhh
This is truly one of the best illustrations of what is happening in America.
NEW: More than two decades after victims and families of the 9/11 attacks began trying to hold the Saudi government responsible for aiding the Qaida terrorists who carried out the plot, a judge has ruled that a lawsuit against the kingdom can go to trial.
"Beijing then lauded the 'highest-level' Chinese-Brazilian relations as exemplary for the Global South, with President Xi urging countries to 'unite and take a clear stand against unilateralism and protectionism.'" 2/
"India, on which the Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs as a sanction to pressure it to stop importing Russian oil, has moved toward a significant rapprochement with China." 1/ www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/a...
Tiramisù is my favorite! (... except when my favorite is crème brûlée)
RULE ABOUT AMERICAN FLAGS: If you burn the fabric part, you're looking at jail. But it you use the pole part to assault a police officer, you get a presidential pardon, praise, and some cash.
Massive walkout underway at CDC. RFK jr. must resign so that we can be safe.
scitechdaily.com?p=490859
"By 2028, AI could account for 326 terawatt-hours of electricity demand in the US annually, generating over 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. We need more reporting from major players in AI" www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/28/1...
Pushing out top officials. Firing hundreds of lifelong public health experts. Trying to slash the CDC’s budget by billions. How is this “Making America Healthy Again”?
Here is the official statement from the American Meteorological Society on the "foundational flaws" of the Department of Energy’s recent attempt to deny the reality of #climate change. www.ametsoc.org/ams/about-am...
"Afghanistan’s experience is a warning. It is also a test. History will remember those who stood with Afghan women and those who chose silence." 3/
"When states fail and democracies fall, borders cannot contain the consequences. Refugee flows, extremism, and insecurity are the direct outcomes of ignoring democratic collapse." 2/
"[C]ourage alone cannot halt authoritarianism. International mechanisms are needed to support democratic struggles wherever they take place. The United Nations cannot ignore how democracy and human rights are tightly interwoven." 1/
A new analysis of a vaccination program in Wales found that the shingles vaccine appeared to lower new dementia diagnoses by 20% — more than any other known intervention. med.stanford.edu/news/all-new... #dementia #science
"[Centenary Park] in the heart of Bangkok is not only a refuge for biodiversity and an oasis for people living in or visiting the city, it also acts as a gigantic sponge, able to retain millions of liters of water during storms." 3/
"Bangkok is showing the world that it’s best not to fight against water, but live with it. [I]nstead of building walls and draining floods into the rivers beneath the city, Bangkok is creating a system of floodable parks." 2/ www.activesustainability.com/water/flooda...
#FloodableParks #CLIMATERESILIENCE 1/
If someone tells you there's nothing we can do about gun violence beyond thoughts and prayers, remind them: —Gun laws in other countries have prevented mass shootings —More guns don't make us safer —A majority of Americans want gun reform We don't have to live like this.
Diet diversity is good for bees as it is for people...
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And much of that coal comes from Indonesia and Australia. It's a bad business. #KeepItInTheGround!!