An Australian workers’ union that represents 250,000 employees is <a href="https://7news.com.au/news/workers-union-lodges-250m-claim-against-fast-food-giant-c-7851196">suing McDonald’s,</a> claiming they were refused paid rest breaks.
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) spent two years conducting an investigation and now is targeting McDonald’s and 323 of its operators, claiming roughly 1,000 McDonald’s franchises ignored in a “systematic and deliberate” manner the mandatory 10 minute break for working four or more hours in a row. The union is seeking damages of $250 million.
“I felt that our health and safety at work was being ignored,” a former McDonald’s shift supervisor stated. “When a few workers spoke up about this, they were essentially told by management, ‘It is what it is.’”
The lawsuit also alleges that the parent company “aided and abetted” the franchisees.
McDonald’s Australia told 7NEWS.com.au it will counter the suit.
Although SDA secretary Gerard Dwyer declared, “The SDA has sought to fix this issue with McDonald’s and they’ve refused to resolve it, let alone admit any wrongdoing,” a McDonald’s spokesman countered:
<blockquote>Those arrangements have been known to the SDA for many years. The manner of taking breaks has not been challenged or raised by the SDA as a matter of concern throughout successive enterprise bargaining processes for new industrial agreements. We value our employees highly and the great contribution they make to the success of the business.</blockquote>
Despite inflation, McDonald’s has remained resilient; its global comps advanced 9.7% in the second quarter of 2022, its sixth consecutive quarter of comps growth, Nasdaq.com <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/heres-why-investors-should-retain-mcdonalds-mcd-stock-now-0">reported</a>, adding, “In the past year, shares of McDonald&#8217;s have gained 9.6% against the <a href="https://www.zacks.com/stocks/industry-rank/industry/retail-restaurants-160">industry</a>’s fall of 13.2%.”
Last November, McDonald’s tested its meat-free McPlant burger in eight restaurants across the U.S. In mid-February, it tested it in 600 more locations.
According to industry analysts, consumers weren’t interested in the meat-free burger. BTIG analyst Peter Saleh said franchisees informed him McPlant sales did not meet higher expectations. He was echoed by J.P. Morgan analyst Ken Goldman, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/28/beyond-meat-stock-falls-after-conclusion-of-mcdonalds-mcplant-test.html">CNBC</a> reported.

McDonald’s

Workers’ Union Sues McDonald’s, Seeks $250 Million

Australia

Labor Unions

Union officials representing Southwest Airlines employees and activists ridiculed and even targeted for social media &#8220;assassinations&#8221; members who disagreed with the labor group&#8217;s left-wing political activism, according to damning messages reviewed by The Daily Wire.
The messages, contained in court documents, were exchanged between Southwest Airlines and Transportation Workers Union of America (TWU) Local 556 union officials and activists. They were revealed during a lawsuit brought by pro-life flight attendant <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/flight-attendant-wins-millions-after-southwest-fires-her-for-being-pro-life-a-victory-for-freedom-of-speech">Charlene Carter</a>, a 20-year veteran fired by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/southwest-airlines">Southwest Airlines</a> for her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/religion">religious beliefs</a>. A jury last month <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/flight-attendant-wins-millions-after-southwest-fires-her-for-being-pro-life-a-victory-for-freedom-of-speech">awarded</a> Carter a whopping $5.1 million &#8212; $4.15 million from Southwest and $950,000 from the TWU Local 556 union.
When Carter complained in 2013 about deductions from her paycheck going to the union&#8217;s leftist political action committee, union treasurer John Parrot forwarded Carter&#8217;s email to other officials with a message making fun of her.
“Ha! She has been supporting the thing she despises this entire time…,” he wrote.
Todd Gage, a union vice president, joined in the mockery.
“I wish I could give her a list of all the campaigns she has donated to in the last 17 years! Her head would explode,” he wrote.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-418495 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.46.13-PM-1024x272.png" alt="" width="1024" height="272" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.46.13-PM-1024x272.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.46.13-PM-300x80.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.46.13-PM-768x204.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.46.13-PM.png 1504w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Local 556&#8217;s second vice president, Brett Nevarez, chimed in, “so typical bat****/dip**** cannot read her paycheck!”
Union officials, including its president, Audrey Stone, attended the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/womens-march">Women’s March</a> in Washington, D.C., in 2017. The event receives funding from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98xR1grjqBY">Planned Parenthood</a>, the largest abortion provider in the country. Stone, who was included in the email chain, does not appear to have admonished anyone for the inappropriate remarks.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-418496 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.47.14-PM-945x576.png" alt="" width="945" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.47.14-PM-945x576.png 945w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.47.14-PM-300x183.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.47.14-PM-768x468.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.47.14-PM-1536x937.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.47.14-PM.png 1548w" sizes="(max-width: 945px) 100vw, 945px" /></div>
It wasn&#8217;t just Carter who came in for scorn when disagreeing with the union&#8217;s politics, the messages show. Union members who apparently did not keep in line with the union on social media were &#8220;targeted&#8221; for &#8220;assassination.&#8221;
&#8220;I am all about targeted assassinations,&#8221; an email from union activist Brian Talburt reads, discussing social media dissidents. The message was sent to Southwest’s then-senior director in inflight services Sonya Lacore, and then forwarded to Stone by Talburt.
&#8220;It IS maddening trying to reason with these sheeple,&#8221; Talburt said, comparing at least one other critic to &#8220;cancer.&#8221;
Talburt also called Corliss King, a black woman who later became a Local 556 executive board member, “incredibly dangerous.&#8221;
&#8220;I am sure with her dreadful work history, there could be opportunity,&#8221; he said of King. &#8220;She will play VERY well to the heavy inner city, minority crowd coming on board soon. She will be their voice. She will be a huge threat in our upcoming election as well.&#8221;
Further, union critic Mike Casper was called a “cancer” that must be “eradicated.&#8221;
&#8220;I highly encourage targeting people,&#8221; Talburt wrote.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-418503 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.51.13-PM-693x576.png" alt="" width="693" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.51.13-PM-693x576.png 693w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.51.13-PM-300x249.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.51.13-PM-768x638.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-02-at-1.51.13-PM.png 1338w" sizes="(max-width: 693px) 100vw, 693px" /></div>
Since Carter&#8217;s legal victory, both Southwest Airlines and TWU union officials have vowed to appeal the ruling. National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix pledged to &#8220;keep fighting&#8221; for Carter and others who&#8217;ve &#8220;experienced similar hostility.&#8221;
“Ms. Carter demonstrated that, even in an overwhelmingly toxic environment, independent-minded workers can stand up, push back against union boss attacks on individual rights and free speech, and win,” Mix said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “The evidence presented at Carter’s trial reveals an ingrained union culture of intimidation and prejudice against dissident workers. While we will keep fighting to defend Ms. Carter’s victory for her rights, flight attendants or other employees who have experienced similar hostility should not hesitate to contact the National Right to Work Foundation for help in defending their rights.”
“Federal law governing labor relations in the air and rail industries allows union officials to demand workers fund their activities as a condition of employment,” Mix added. “TWU union officials’ attacks on employees who disagree with the union’s agenda are the unsurprising result of a system in which workers do not have even the simple power to withhold dues when union officials violate their rights – an accountability mechanism Right to Work protects.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/flight-attendant-wins-millions-after-southwest-fires-her-for-being-pro-life-a-victory-for-freedom-of-speech">Flight Attendant Wins Millions After Southwest Fires Her For Being Pro-Life: ‘A Victory For Freedom Of Speech’</a>

‘Targeted Assassinations’: Court Docs Uncover Shocking Details In Pro-Life Woman’s $5M Win Over Airline, Union

Court Docs Uncover Troubling Truth Behind Pro-Life Woman’s $5M Win Over Southwest Airlines, Union

Pro-Life Movement

Southwest Airlines

Unions

The National Education Association’s (NEA) <a href="https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/conferences-events/annual-meeting-and-representative-assembly">annual conference</a> is underway, and the teachers union is voting on calling for a national policy of mandatory masking, creating an enemies list, and rejecting the words &#8220;mother&#8221; and &#8220;father.&#8221;
The Chicago conference is chock-full of woke agenda items and progressive language involving issues that would seem to have little to do with the proper education of the nation&#8217;s children. The unabashedly leftist organization doesn&#8217;t even seem to recognize its own heterosexual male membership, at least according to one measure in circulation.
&#8220;NEA is a social justice union that is a majority female and trans and gender non-confirming folx,&#8221; one New Business Initiative (NBI) says, calling to &#8220;publicly stand in defense of abortion&#8221; and calling abortion limits an attack on &#8220;students, families, and communities.&#8221;
Another calls for &#8220;a national policy of mandatory masking and COVID vaccines in schools, as well as high-quality virtual education for immuno-compromised students and all families who want it.&#8221;
A third says the NEA will publicize its commitment to &#8220;young people&#8217;s right to learn about and develop their own sexual orientation and gender identity.&#8221;
A fourth promotes language that is &#8220;LGBTQIA+ inclusive,&#8221; including using &#8220;birthing parent&#8221; and &#8220;non-birthing parent&#8221; instead of mother and father.
One initiative calls for spending $140,000 on opposition research about the &#8220;largest 25 organizations that are actively working to diminish a students&#8217; [sic] right to honesty in education, freedom of sexual identify [sic], and teacher autonomy.&#8221;
NBIs are proposals that must be voted on by delegates in order to pass. NEA has previously been radical in what it passes. In 2019, it voted down a motion to &#8220;rededicate itself to the pursuit of increased student learning.&#8221; It voted in favor, meanwhile, of &#8220;discussions around support for reparations&#8221; and incorporating &#8220;the concept of &#8216;White Fragility&#8217; into NEA trainings.&#8221;
Each year&#8217;s NBIs had previously been public on the NEA&#8217;s website, it but abruptly yanked last year&#8217;s offline after parents noticed that it has voted to approve a resolution to “oppose attempts to ban critical race theory” and to provide a study that “critiques . . . capitalism . . . and other forms of power and oppression.” That contradicted teachers&#8217; claim that CRT is not taught in schools.
This year&#8217;s NBIs were uncovered by Terry Stoops, a conservative education expert in North Carolina.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NBI 37 calls for nationwide mandatory masking and COVID vaccines <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NEARA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NEARA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/neara2022?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#neara2022</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/neara22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#neara22</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NEA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NEA</a> 3/14 <a href="https://t.co/amN97etWtY">pic.twitter.com/amN97etWtY</a>
&mdash; Terry Stoops (@TerryStoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/TerryStoops/status/1544325118037565441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The NEA did not return a request for comment on why the NBIs are no longer public, and on the results of any voting.
The NEA has previously <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100823105309/http://www.nea.org/tools/17231.htm">promoted</a> Saul Alinsky&#8217;s &#8220;Rules for Radicals,&#8221; highlighting his passage &#8220;If you have a vast organization, parade it before the enemy, openly show your power.&#8221;
The NEA is the largest labor group in the U.S., with more than three million members, including first lady Jill Biden. Its president is Becky Pringle.
As test scores have plummeted following teachers-union-demanded school shutdowns, the NEA urges placing less emphasis on test results that measure whether students are learning. An NEA &#8220;Policy Playbook&#8221; released just before the 2020 election says that &#8220;the over-emphasis on standardized testing has caused considerable collateral damage,&#8221; and focuses instead on &#8220;racial and social justice.&#8221;

March for Our Lives 2022

Teachers Union To Vote On Mandatory Masking, Enemies List, Rejecting Words ‘Mother’ And ‘Father’

NEA Teachers Union To Vote On NBIs Calling For Mandatory Masking, Creating Enemies List, Rejecting Words 'Mother' And 'Father'

Education

National Education Association

<div>
A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/maryland">Maryland</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/apple">Apple</a> store became the trillion-dollar tech company’s first outlet to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/labor-unions">unionize</a>, in a blow to the woke company, which sees itself as progressive, but fought tooth and nail to keep employees from organizing.
</div>
<div>
Workers at the Towson store, just outside of Baltimore, voted 65-33 in favor of joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Experts believe the move could encourage more Apple workers to join Big labor.
</div>
<div>
“We did it Towson! We won our union vote! Thanks to all who worked so hard and all who supported!” Towson organizers <a href="https://twitter.com/acoreunion/status/1538319569214906368" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Workers at the Towson Apple store react to union election results. They are the first in the nation to unionize ⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/acoreunion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@acoreunion</a>⁩ <a href="https://t.co/BUo7ptJXG7">pic.twitter.com/BUo7ptJXG7</a>
&mdash; Alison Knezevich☀️ (@aliknez) <a href="https://twitter.com/aliknez/status/1538320803783225350?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<div>
The vote still must be certified by the National Labor Relations. Once that happens, Apple will be obliged to bargain with the union over working conditions, including wages.
</div>
<div>
The effort to organize workers at the store prompted fierce opposition from the Cupertino, California, company. Apple’s head of retail and HR, Deirdre O’Brien, visited the location in May, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/18/apple-workers-in-maryland-vote-for-companys-first-unionized-store-in-us-.html?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=news_tab">CNBC.com</a>. She sought in a recorded message to discourage employees from joining unions, saying unions are not committed to the company’s employees.
</div>
<div>
Workers said they want want higher wages and more say over working conditions, including COVID safety measures.
&#8220;We are the Specialists, the Experts, the Geniuses, the Pros, the Creatives, and the Leads,&#8221; Towson organizers <a href="https://www.goiam.org/dear-tim/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote in a letter</a> sent last month to Apple CEO Tim Cook. &#8220;We strive to leave the world better than we found it and transform the lives of everyone we interact with, both our customers and team members. To help dreamers become doers.”
</div>
<div>
“To be clear, the decision to form a union is about us as workers gaining access to rights that we do not currently have,” the letter concluded.
</div>
<div>
The Towson store could be the canary in the coal mine for Apple. Two big New York stores have taken steps to unionize. An Atlanta store was scheduled to vote on joining Communication Workers of America earlier this month, but the union postponed the vote after claiming Apple <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/27/apple-union-push-faces-setback-as-atlanta-organizers-withdraw-bid-.html">intimidated its employees</a>. Stores in Louisville, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee, are also in the process of organizing, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/apple/apple-store-union-vote-workers-demand-fair-pay-rcna34256" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to NBC News</a>.
</div>
<div>
Other major U.S. companies that claim to be progressive and espouse woke politics as part of their marketing strategy, including Amazon and Starbucks, are also trying to fend off unionization efforts.
</div>

Tim Cook

Workers At Maryland Apple Store Vote To Unionize In Blow To Woke Tech Giant

Workers At Maryland Apple Store Vote To Unionize In First For Tech Giant

Apple

Big Tech

Maryland

Technology

President Joe Biden issued a rallying cry to union bosses at the AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday to take up the &#8220;fight&#8221; in support of his agenda.
The president delivered a speech on the economy in which he slammed billionaires, blamed Republicans for inflation, and touted his own big government spending policies. He concluded by saying, &#8220;I promise you, I am gonna keep fighting for you, are you prepared to fight with me?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Biden: &quot;I promise you, I am gonna keep fighting for you, are you prepared to fight with me?&quot;<a href="https://t.co/8cmeloANLI">pic.twitter.com/8cmeloANLI</a>
&mdash; Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1536738765821165569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Biden blasted what he decried as the &#8220;ultra-MAGA&#8221; wing of the Republican Party.
&#8220;I believe in bipartisanship. But I have no illusions about this Republican Party…The fact is Republicans in Congress are still in the grip of the ultra-MAGA agenda,&#8221; he claimed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“I believe in bipartisanship. But I have no illusions about this Republican Party…The fact is Republicans in Congress are still in the grip of the ultra-MAGA agenda,” Pres. Biden says during address to AFL-CIO. <a href="https://t.co/LbpgLJucQF">https://t.co/LbpgLJucQF</a> <a href="https://t.co/vrKhqZfpxq">pic.twitter.com/vrKhqZfpxq</a>
&mdash; ABC News (@ABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1536737069346787328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The president also slammed the number of billionaires created during the COVID-19 pandemic.
&#8220;While it was going on,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/14/politics/biden-labor-union-convention/index.html">said</a> in reference to the pandemic, &#8220;America created more &#8230; billionaires during that crisis in 2020 than any year in history. Talk about a contrast. Ordinary people getting, waiting in line for an hour for a box of food, and the policies of the past created more billionaires than ever in American history. Folks, it&#8217;s hard to believe, but it&#8217;s true. That&#8217;s what we inherited.&#8221;
Critics say that Biden&#8217;s appearance before the AFL-CIO — and his staunch support for unions as a whole — is nothing more than him returning a political favor to union bosses who showered him and his left-wing colleagues with lavish donations.
“Given that Big Labor’s forced dues political war chest was critical to putting Joe Biden in the White House, it’s no surprise he is going to the AFL-CIO convention to kiss the ring,&#8221; Mark Mix, president of the National Right To Work Committee, said in a statement to The Daily Wire prior to the president&#8217;s speech.
The National Right Work Committee website <a href="https://nrtwc.org/can-big-labor-protect-its-puppet-president/">noted</a>, &#8220;is it estimated that Big Labor spent $1.8 billion on politics and lobbying in 2019 and 2020,&#8221; according to research from the National Institute for Labor Relations. In 2020, the AFL-CIO endorsed Biden for the presidency. According to BlueTent, an organization that provides information for progressive donors, the AFL-CIO itself donated $5 million toward political causes in 2020, with much of it supporting Biden&#8217;s candidacy and party, with 27/41 of <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=AFL-CIO&amp;cycle=2020">congressional donations</a> going to Democrats.
The Daily Wire also recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/paying-their-dues-how-a-leading-teachers-union-used-a-quarter-of-their-funds-to-elect-democrat-candidates">reported</a> that the American Federation of Teachers — which is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO — spent $49 million during the 2020-2021 fiscal year on political causes, many of which supported various Democratic policies and politicians.
&#8220;Since his first day in office, Biden has aggressively pushed union bosses’ coercive agenda to the detriment of the rights, freedoms, and opportunities of rank-and-file workers across the nation,&#8221; Mix added in his statement to The Daily Wire.
&#8220;Despite the fact Biden’s policies have been destructive to the livelihoods of the rank-and-file workers and most Americans, his handlers know the top bosses of the unions will back him so long as he continues to promise and deliver more powers to expand the ranks of workers who can be fired just for not paying dues or fees to a union,&#8221; Mix concluded.
The president also acknowledged that the AFL-CIO was partly responsible for his presidential election.
&#8220;You’re a gigantic reason why I’m standing here, standing here today as your president,&#8221; Biden told the audience.
“You guys don’t understand,” he <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/3522847-biden-to-afl-cio-how-well-are-you-going-to-sleep-at-night-under-scott-tax-plan/">continued</a>. “I don’t think you appreciate how critically important you are. I’m not trying to be nice to you. It’s just a fact.”
The president received a standing ovation.

TOPSHOT – US President Joe Biden speaks at the 29th AFL-CIO Quadrennial Constitutional Convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on June 14, 2022.

‘Are You Prepared To Fight With Me?’: Biden Calls For Support From Union Bosses At AFL-CIO Convention

President Joe Biden Calls On Support From Union Bosses At AFL-CIO Convention 

Joe Biden

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia

Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) were unable to come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) by Tuesday’s 5 p.m. Eastern deadline, with the result being the cancellation of regular season baseball games. 
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported Tuesday afternoon that MLBPA leaders voted to unanimously reject MLB’s final proposal. 
“BREAKING: MLBPA player leaders agreed unanimously not to accept MLB&#8217;s final proposal, and there will be no deal on a new collective-bargaining agreement before MLB&#8217;s 5 p.m. ET deadline, sources tell ESPN,” Passan <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1498769687307563019?s=20&amp;t=qcS048uNAyXd9J648LMZwA">said</a> on Twitter. “MLB has threatened to cancel its March 31 Opening Day without a new deal.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred later announced the cancellation of Opening Day as well as the first two series of the regular season. 
“I had hoped against hope that I would not have to have this particular press conference, in which I am going to have to cancel some regular season games,” Manfred <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/a-letter-to-baseball-fans">said</a> on Tuesday. “We worked hard to avoid an outcome that’s bad for our fans, bad for our players, and bad for our clubs.”
“We offered to raise the minimum salary to $700,000, an increase of $130,000 from last year,” he continued. “We offered to create an annual bonus pool of $30 million for our very best young players. In total, we are offering nearly a 33% raise to almost two-thirds of major league players, and we’re adding more than $100 million annually in additional compensation to this younger player group.”
“The calendar dictates that we are not going to be able to play the first two series of regular season games and those games are officially canceled,” Manfred added. “We are prepared to continue negotiations. We have been informed that the MLBPA is headed back to New York meaning that no agreement is possible until at least Thursday. Currently, camps could not meaningfully operate until at least March 8th, leaving only 23 days before scheduled Opening Day.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;The calendar dictates that we are not going to be able to play the first two series of the regular season. Those games are officially canceled.&quot;
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on the cancelation of games. <a href="https://t.co/rsxcaPd7mz">pic.twitter.com/rsxcaPd7mz</a>
&mdash; CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSportsHQ/status/1498784807135985668?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
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On Monday night — which MLB had originally said was the deadline to reach an agreement before regular season games begin to be canceled — the two sides met for nearly 16 hours and did make some progress, according to <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-full-day-of-negotiations">MLB.com</a>. Ultimately, the ninth work stoppage in MLB history comes down to money. 
The MLBPA <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBPA_News/status/1498793611323977736?s=20&amp;t=qcS048uNAyXd9J648LMZwA">released</a> a statement confirming the news. 
<blockquote>Rob Manfred and MLB&#8217;s owners have cancelled the start of the season. Players and fans around the world who love baseball are disgusted, but sadly not surprised. 
From the beginning of these negotiation, Players&#8217; objectives have been consistent &#8212; to promote competition, provide fair compensation for young Players, and to uphold the integrity of our market system. Against the backdrop of growing revenues and record profits, we are seeking nothing more than a fair agreement.
What Rob Manfred characterized as a &#8216;defensive lockout&#8217; is, in fact, the culmination of a decades long attempt by owners to break our Player fraternity. As in the past, this effort will fail. We are united and committed to negotiating a fair deal that will improve the sport for Players, fans and everyone who loves our game.</blockquote>
According to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-baseball-lockout-bargaining-4fcf017db30e4434a2e7601bf5cd2088">The Associated Press,</a> players will lose $20.5 million in total for every day of the season that is canceled. The two sides have not set a date to return to the negotiation table. 
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to sports@dailywire.com.

World Series – Atlanta Braves v Houston Astros – Game One

MLB Cancels Opening Day, First Two Regular Season Series After MLBPA Rejects ‘Final Proposal’

Baseball

Hundreds of labor unions that were ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $953 billion business loan program through the federal government launched in March 2020, raked in $36.7 million in forgivable loans, according to a new report.
The <a href="https://www.freedomfoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Profiting-from-a-Pandemic-%E2%80%93-Union-Receipt-of-PPP-Loans.pdf">report</a> by the Freedom Foundation, a free-market think tank, indicated a high level of bureaucratic failure. Nonprofits registered as a 501(c)(3) were only eligible for PPP initially but unions still got funneled resources. As many as 226 forgivable loans were handed out.
&#8220;Disconcertingly, the apparently inappropriate PPP loans may have been granted due to fraudulent loan applications or other questionable conduct by applicants or the private lenders operating under the SBA’s delegated authority to approve loan applications,&#8221; the report stated, which was first <a href="https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/labor-unions-received-37-million-in-illegal-pandemic-relief/">obtained</a> by The Washington Free Beacon. &#8220;Appropriate federal authorities, including at least the SBA and the Department of Justice, should investigate the matter further and take appropriate actions to recover funds improperly paid and prosecute any fraudulent activity committed.&#8221;
The Small Business Administration (SBA) has waved away $790 billion in small business and nonprofit PPP loans that were tasked with showing how the money would be used to keep staff during COVID-19. People who knowingly submit a false statement to get an SBA loan could face a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison. Moreover, if the loan is handed out through a federally insured institution, the fine could jump to $1 million and up to 30 years in prison.
There also appears to be some contradiction in the payouts. Unions who received loans were some of the most vocal in support of coronavirus lockdowns.
The Michigan Education Association raked in more than $6.4 million — the highest PPP loan for a union —and <a href="https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/04/michigan-education-leaders-largely-support-extended-k-12-school-closure-due-to-coronavirus.html">supported</a> Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in April 2020 when she halted K-12 in-person learning. Similarly, the Memphis-Shelby County Education Association took in more than $107,000 and <a href="https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/education/2020/03/16/scs-parents-teacher-unions-support-school-closure-amid-virus-pandemic/5032862002/">advocated</a> for lockdowns in March 2020.
In July 2020, Trump administration officials notified SBA that labor unions unjustly received funding through PPP, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveal. In March 2021, with President Joe Biden now in office, unions were green lit for relief under the American Rescue Plan. Two months later, however, applications closed.
Nearly 80% of the unions who got PPP loans in 2020 were registered as a 501(c)(5), The Freedom Foundation found by tracking down financial records. The other 20% either do not have a public tax status or are ineligible, the Free Beacon noted.
&#8220;This breakdown in the PPP, administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), has not been publicly documented previously,&#8221; the report also stated. &#8220;The ineligible loans diverted resources away from the purpose of the PPP, namely helping businesses keep employees on payroll.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chicago-teachers-union-issues-list-of-demands-for-return-to-in-person-learning-that-must-be-met-by-monday">Chicago Teachers Union Issues List Of Demands For Return To In-Person Learning — That Must Be Met By Monday</a>
Send story tips to Gabe Kaminsky at <a href="mailto:gekaminsky@protonmail.com">gekaminsky@protonmail.com</a>. Follow him <a href="https://twitter.com/Gabe__Kaminsky">on Twitter.</a>

Labor Unions Took $37 Million Of Ineligible COVID Relief From Government

COVID

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

The Biden administration’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is ready to implement an <a href="https://www.govexec.com/management/2021/01/fine-print-bidens-directive-rescinding-trump-era-workforce-orders/171620/">executive order</a> that rescinds former President Trump’s May 2018 executive order that would ease the discipline and firing of federal workers.
“President <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Donald_Trump">Trump</a> issued three <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Executive_order">executive orders</a> on May 25, 2018, aimed at improving efficiency and accountability within the federal <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Civil_service">civil service</a>. Executive Order 13839, titled ‘Promoting Accountability and Streamlining Removal Procedures Consistent with Merit System Principles,’ sought to advance agency supervisors&#8217; ability to support accountability within the federal civil service while protecting the procedural rights of federal employees,” Ballotpedia notes, adding, “The order proposed several principles, management tactics, and reporting procedures for agency supervisors to incorporate in order to address issues of employee accountability.”
Trump’s OPM released the following statement: “By answering repeated calls from the American public and dedicated civil servants across the country, this EO will allow more direct accountability for chronically poor performing employees. Federal Employment Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) results have consistently shown federal employees believe poor performers are not held accountable. Streamlining dismissal procedures will create greater accountability as the government serves the American taxpayer.&#8221;
But within days of his inauguration, President Biden revoked all three of Trump’s executive orders.
“In regulations scheduled to be published in the <a href="https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2021-28205.pdf">Federal Register</a> Tuesday, OPM moved to implement Biden’s order, reversing the actions taken in 2020,” <a href="https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/01/opm-proposes-regulations-repealing-trump-era-firing-policy/360287/">Government Executive</a> reports. The regulations state:
<blockquote>After consideration and review, OPM has concluded that portions of the final rule which became effective on November 16, 2020, and which implemented certain requirements of [Executive Order] 13839, are inconsistent with the current policy of the United States to protect, empower and rebuild the career federal workforce as well as its current policy to encourage employee organizing and collective bargaining.</blockquote>
“Due to continued objections raised since the publication of the Nov. 16, 2020, final rule, OPM believes that the prohibition of clean record agreements hampers agencies’ ability to resolve informal and formal complaints at an early stage and with minimal costs to the agency,” the regulations continue. “Notably, stakeholders have stressed that the prohibition of clean record agreements limits resolution options; reduces the likelihood of parties reaching a mutually agreeable resolution of informal or formal complaints; potentially increases costly litigation and arbitration; and crowds the dockets of third-party investigators, mediators and adjudicators such as the Merit Systems Protection Board, Office of Special Counsel, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”
Jazz Shaw of <a href="https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/01/04/opm-to-roll-back-trump-era-rules-allowing-firing-of-federal-workers-n439183">HotAir</a> commented, “Just to be clear about what’s actually being proposed here, we are talking about federal workers who are found to be so incompetent at their jobs that they have been identified as needing to be replaced. In other cases, these rules would be applied to those found guilty of criminal activity. These changes would make it once again ridiculously difficult to terminate their employment.” He added that one reason Biden wants to roll back Trump&#8217;s policy is “the labor unions representing federal workers are still very powerful and they donate a lot of money to Democrats. They don’t like seeing their members terminated &#8230;”

President Biden Signs ALS Act Into Law

Biden Administration Ready To Remove Trump Policy On Firing Federal Workers

A company owned by Berkshire Hathaway — Warren Buffett’s firm — is experiencing a steelworkers’ strike. When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) asked Buffett to intervene, the billionaire entrepreneur declined.
<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/30/warren-buffett-tells-bernie-sanders-he-wont-intervene-in-special-metals-strike.html">CNBC</a> explained:
<blockquote>Sanders wrote to Buffett on Tuesday and asked the Berkshire CEO to get involved in talks between United Steelworkers Local 40 and West Virginia-based Special Metals. Precision Castparts, a subsidiary of Buffett’s conglomerate, owns Special Metals.
In a letter dated Tuesday and released by Sanders’ office on Thursday, Buffett told the Vermont independent he would not step into the labor negotiations. He cited Berkshire’s policy of letting its companies “deal individually with their own labor and personnel decisions.”
“I’m passing along your letter to the CEO of Precision Castparts but making no recommendation to him as to any action,” Buffett wrote. “He is responsible for his business.”</blockquote>
Sanders, however, was miffed by Buffett’s response.
“Mr. Buffett is one of the wealthiest guys on the planet,” the lawmaker <a href="https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1476657994213597194">said</a> on Twitter. “There is no reason that steelworkers at Special Metals, a W.V. company that made $1.5 billion in profits last year, should accept an insulting contract that includes significant pay cuts and major cuts to their health care.”
Indeed, Sanders bases his political brand on crusading against wealthy Americans — despite <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bloomberg-nails-socialist-bernie-youre-a-millionaire-with-3-houses">owning</a> three houses and boasting a net worth in the millions.
Last month, Sanders tweeted: “We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.” In response, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — who is presently the richest man in the world — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-drags-bernie-after-attack-on-wealthy-i-keep-forgetting-that-youre-still-alive">said</a>, “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive,” adding, “Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word.”
Sanders — who leads the Senate Budget Committee — has also been publicly chastising his colleague Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/let-him-vote-no-in-front-of-the-entire-world-bernie-sanders-says-manchin-doesnt-have-the-guts-to-support-build-back-better">pulled</a> his support from President Biden’s domestic spending agenda. During an interview with CNN anchor Jake Tapper, Sanders argued that his colleague lacks the courage to “stand up to powerful special interests.”
“He’ll have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia,” Sanders began. “To tell them why he doesn’t have the guts to take on the drug companies to lower the cost of prescription drugs, why he is not prepared to expand home health care…”
“I’ve been to West Virginia a number of times, and it’s a great state, beautiful people. But it is a state that is struggling,” Sanders added. “He’s going to have to tell the people of West Virginia why he’s rejecting what the scientists of the world are telling us, that we have to act boldly and transform our energy system to protect future generations from the devastation of climate change.”
“I hope we will bring a strong bill to the floor of the Senate as soon as we can and let Mr. Manchin explain to the people of West Virginia why he doesn’t have the guts to stand up to powerful special interests,” Sanders continued.

Squawk Alley

Warren Buffett Denies Bernie Sanders’ Request To Intervene In Labor Strike

Bernie Sanders

Would-be pundits and political commentators occasionally think they have devastated their Democratic opponents by pointing out contradictory or “hypocritical” aspects of their policies. “How can Democrats say they favor gay rights but <a href="http://therightswriter.com/2011/04/reagan-would-not-support-obama-on-libya/">back</a> the Arab Spring, which brought <a href="https://therightswriter.com/2011/09/obamas-analysts-oops-we-put-muslim-radicals-in-charge-of-libya/">Islamic fundamentalists to power</a>? How can the liberals say they’re fighting for the American worker when they advocate open borders policies that would <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/trump-clinton-immigration-economy-unemployment-jobs-214216/">lower wages</a>?” they often ask.
But there is no hypocrisy in the Democratic Party’s policies, even when they seem to contradict. A simple key can explain how every liberal policy fits into place, even — and especially — when none of them seem to. One fact can allow American citizens to pierce through the political fig leaves and see the naked, partisan truth motivating every Democratic politician, pundit, and spokesperson. One simple reality lets voters look at liberal gaslighting like an optical illusion which, once someone exposes you the trick, is never again a mystery.
The fact is the Democrats organize every single position, plank, and talking point around one unifying principle: Every policy Democrats pursue expands their power. Every position benefits the constituent groups they have identified as their core supporters, increases Democrats’ share of the vote, and tightens the Left’s grasp on power.
Here are just a few examples:
Increasing welfare dependency
President Joe Biden’s top legislative priority is the $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” act, a “transformative” expansion of government health care, taxpayer-funded daycare, and public housing, among other social welfare programs. Studies for decades have shown these programs harm the very people they’re purportedly intended to help … or do they? What if the point is not to help people get out of poverty but to create a stable voting army for the Democratic Party?
That is precisely what social welfare spending does. In a 2019 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6449023/">study</a> published in PLoS One, researchers from Indiana University found that increasing government health care coverage correlated with an increase in the Democrats’ share of the vote in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 presidential elections — even in states that did not participate in Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion:
<blockquote>We find that a one-percentage-point increase in county health insurance coverage was associated with a 0.25-percentage-point increase in the vote share for the Democratic presidential candidate. We further find that these gains on the part of the Democratic candidate came almost fully at the expense of the Republican (as opposed to third-party) presidential candidates. We also estimate models separately for states that did and did not expand Medicaid and find no differential effect of insurance gains on Democratic vote share for states that expanded Medicaid compared to those that did not.</blockquote>
That aligns with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/61-of-americans-paid-no-income-tax-in-2020-report">numerous studies</a> tying social welfare to voting for the Democratic Party. The Pew Research Center <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/12/the-politics-and-demographics-of-food-stamp-recipients/">found</a> that Democrats are more than twice as likely as Republicans to have received food stamps. Curiously, the 2012 poll did not indicate which came first: if Democrats were more likely to sign up for social welfare programs or if people who receive federal benefits were more likely to vote for the party that promises to expand those benefits.
Promoting labor unions, especially teachers unions. Even when it became clear that Democrat Terry McAuliffe was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-virginia-governors-race-was-won">about to lose the Virginia governor’s race</a> because he sided with teachers unions over outraged parents, he couldn’t stop himself: For his campaign finale, he brought in Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. Why would he engage in such a clearly suicidal mission? For the same reason Joe Biden regularly promises to create “union jobs”: Because labor unions are a key part of the Democratic Party’s constituency.
Biden won <a href="https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/exit-polls/president/national-results">56%</a> of their vote in 2020. Although rank-and-file union voters has been trending more Republican for years, unions offer so much more than just votes. Labor unions spent an estimated <a href="https://freebeacon.com/elections/report-big-labor-hides-millions-in-2020-election-spending/">$1.8 billion</a> to benefit Democrats during the <a href="https://nilrr.org/big-labor-reported-spending-1-8-billion-on-politics-in-the-2020-election-cycle/">2020 election cycle</a>. That doesn’t include “volunteers” in the Democrats’ get-out-the-vote efforts. In exchange, Democrats create more public-sector jobs, where workers are <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">more than five times as likely</a> to be unionized as in the private sector.
Amnesty for illegal aliens. While Joe Biden may be fixated on his social spending bill, the Democratic Party has been pushed to grant illegal aliens in the United States amnesty and “<a href="https://therightswriter.com/2006/05/amnesty-intranational/">a path to citizenship</a>” for <a href="https://therightswriter.com/2006/04/decoding-immigration-doublespeak/">more than a decade</a> (with an assist from Beltway Republicans). Polls have consistently shown that two out of three Hispanics vote for Democrats; for instance, CNN’s most recent exit poll found that 65% of Latinos voted for Joe Biden in 2020.
What would it mean if two-thirds of the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants voted Democrat (especially if there are actually <a href="https://thehill.com/latino/407848-yale-mit-study-22-million-not-11-million-undocumented-immigrants-in-us">22 million</a> undocumented migrants in the U.S., as researchers at Yale and MIT believe)? A former labor leader and amnesty activist raised just that question.
A man named Eliseo Medina <a href="https://therightswriter.com/2010/10/illegal-immigrants-for-obama/">let the cat out of the bag</a> in 2009. At the time, he was International Secretary-Treasurer of the Obama administration’s favorite labor union, the SEIU, as well as the <a href="https://www.dsausa.org/democratic-left/eliseo_medina_on_immigration_reform_and_activism/">honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America</a>. Medina<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK7K0itgQt0"> told</a> a far-Left conference:
<blockquote>If we reform the immigration laws – it puts 12 million people on the path to citizenship and eventually voters. Can you imagine if you had even the same ratio, two out of three [Hispanics voting for Democrats], if we get 8 million new voters that care about our issue and will be voting, we will create a governing coalition for the long-term, not just for an election cycle?</blockquote>
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Eliseo Medina Speaks on Immigrants for Votes" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AK7K0itgQt0?start=88&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Letting criminals vote (possibly from prison). The policy of <a href="http://therightswriter.com/2009/06/sotomayor%E2%80%99s-racialist-judicial-activism/">barring convicted felons from voting</a> dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. Yet, as The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti reported, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told Democratic primary voters that currently incarcerated felons should “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bernie-sanders-felons-should-be-able-vote-behind-emily-zanotti">absolutely</a>” be able to cast a ballot from their prison cells. Sanders knew the topic well: The socialist’s home state of Vermont, as well as Maine and the deep-blue <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/felon-voting-rights.aspx">District of Columbia</a>, allows felons to vote from prison.
As it turns out, leftists have studied the issue of letting ex-convicts vote for years, finding it would benefit Democrats and hurt Republicans. A <a href="http://users.soc.umn.edu/~uggen/Uggen_Manza_ASR_02.pdf">2002 study</a>, “supported by grants” from George Soros’ Open Society Institute, found that 70% of convicted felons would vote for Democrats in presidential and Senate races, if they could vote. In fact, they would have strongly supported even fringe Democratic candidates who lost <a href="https://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/c.php?g=992251&amp;p=7179351">49-state landslides</a>:
<blockquote>[O]ur hypothetical felon voters showed strong Democratic preferences in both presidential and senatorial elections. In recent presidential elections, even comparatively unpopular Democratic candidates, such as George McGovern in 1972, would have garnered almost 70 percent of the felon vote. These Democratic preferences are less pronounced and somewhat less stable in senatorial elections. Nevertheless, the survey data suggest that Democratic candidates would have received about 7 of every 10 votes cast by the felons and ex-felons in 14 of the last 15 U.S. Senate election years. </blockquote>
Multiple studies have come to the same partisan conclusions. “We conclude that in close Florida presidential races, ex-felon re-enfranchisement can change election outcomes in favor of the Democratic candidate, especially when ex-felons are properly informed of their voting rights,” <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344362006_The_Impact_of_Ex-Felon_Disenfranchisement_on_Voting_Behavior?channel=doi&amp;linkId=5f6c59b0299bf1b53eedd4ab&amp;showFulltext=true">wrote</a> two researchers at California State University-Chico last September.
LGBTQIA+ issues: The Democratic Party has consistently staked out the most extreme positions on transgender issues, particularly granting males access to female showers, restrooms, and intimate facilities, as well as the right to compete against women in sports. That support has not wavered, despite the fact that Americans of all political persuasions — Republican, independent, and Democrat — are <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/most-americans-support-pro-lgbtq-policies-but-are-more-divided-over-transgender-sports-and-bathroom-policies/">less supportive</a> of those policies than they were in 2016.
How have Democrats needlessly arrived at the narrow end of this divisive wedge issue? It benefits a Democratic constituency.
Exit polls show that between 64% (according to the National Exit Poll) and 73% (according to AP VoteCast) of people who identify as LGBT voted for Joe Biden in 2020. (For comparison’s sake, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=USP00p3">70%</a> of gay, lesbian, and bisexual voters supported Barack Obama in 2008.) Given Biden’s razor-thin margin in several states, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/01/had-lgbt-voters-stayed-home-trump-might-have-won-2020-presidential-election/">reported</a>, “Had LGBT voters stayed home, Trump might well have won the 2020 presidential election.”
**
Ironically, these facts are not in dispute; in fact, when leftists talk amongst themselves, they often don’t bother to hide their base motivation. For instance, at the <a href="https://freebeacon.com/politics/confidential-memo-secretive-liberal-donor-club-plots-275-million-for-2020/">spring 2019 meeting</a> of the Democracy Alliance, a group of left-wing megadonors openly discussed ways to “change the rules of our democracy,” <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/405643994/Democracy-Alliance-Spring-2019-Investment-Strategy-and-Recommendations#from_embed">including</a> the ability “to control redistricting [and] ballot access.”
These are a handful of the policies that Democratic politicians promote, which further their hold on power; there are many others. This article confines itself to raw electoral power. The Democrats’ policies also concentrate the massive power of redistributing wealth in the hands of government. Their economic policies concentrate economic power in the hands of political decision-makers. And they support deep, structural changes to the political landscape that would cancel the voice and votes of American citizens.
But that is another story for another time.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Power-2

The One Thing That Explains Everything Democrats Do

Democratic Party

Illegal Immigration

LGBTQ

Readers Pass

Transgender

While Democrats often brand themselves as the champions of the poor and downtrodden, they have morphed into the party representing the views — and financial interests — of America’s wealthiest elites. Their role as caretakers of the rich is on display in many of their tax-and-spending proposals, which would disproportionately favor those they claim to oppose.
Repealing The SALT Tax Limit
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed by President Donald Trump, did not merely lower federal taxes but had a provision which squeezed <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/state-and-local-tax-deduction-benefit/">high-tax</a> state and local governments. Prior to the bill, people could deduct 100% of the amount they paid in state and local taxes (SALT); in effect, the federal government made it easier for people to live in blue states and urban areas with progressive tax rates. But the 2017 law capped the SALT deduction at $10,000, forcing wealthy people to feel the financial burden of liberal governance in blue states and cities.
Democratic congressmen who represent those areas want to eliminate the SALT limitation — a move that would massively favor the top 1% of income earners. The left-of-center Brookings Institution <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/09/04/the-salt-tax-deduction-is-a-handout-to-the-rich-it-should-be-eliminated-not-expanded/">calculated</a> that 57% of the benefits from repealing the SALT cap “would benefit the top one percent (a cut of $33,100); and 25 percent would benefit the top 0.1 percent (for an average tax cut of nearly $145,000).” The middle class would save “a little less than $27” a year.
Repealing the SALT limit would also worsen racial income disparities, according to the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “[J]ust 5.6 percent of [b]lack families would see a tax cut compared to 9.7 percent of white families. Similarly, only 6.5 percent of Hispanic families would see a tax cut from SALT cap repeal, meaning they are 33 percent less likely than white families to benefit,” ITEP <a href="https://itep.org/salt-cap-repeal-would-worsen-racial-income-and-wealth-divides/">reported</a>.
Yet repealing the SALT limit remains a top priority of some Democrats — especially <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/northeast-dems-threaten-to-block-bidens-infrastructure-package-unless-tax-deductions-included/">in the Northeast —</a> who have threatened to derail the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package if it doesn’t contain a sop to America’s toniest taxpayers. “We’re going to keep fighting until this is part of the bill. It’s as critical as a road or a bridge or a tunnel, which is why we are going to keep fighting for it until the end,” <a href="https://www.standingforfreedom.com/2021/04/28/irs-data-shows-that-democrats-not-republicans-are-now-the-party-of-the-rich/">said</a> Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). Gottheimer was one of eight congressmen who wrote in a <a href="https://sherrill.house.gov/sites/sherrill.house.gov/files/4-1-21%20Sherrill%2C%20Malinowski%2C%20and%20Gottheimer%20Letter%20to%20Secretary%20Yellen%20re%20SALT.pdf">letter</a> to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on April Fool’s Day that they “could not vote for a bill that has a meaningful tax impact on our constituents unless it restores SALT deduction relief to our middle-class families,” adding that it’s a “misconception that the SALT deduction doesn’t help middle class families.”
Republicans have skewered Democrats’ devotion to the issue. Raising or eliminating the SALT limit would “create tax havens for billionaires against the very tax hikes that they are proposing,” <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2021/10/01/making-salt-relief-pay-for-itself-among-democrats-options/">quipped</a> Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee. “Penthouse occupants are cheering. The building janitor gets nothing.” Similarly, Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) <a href="https://twitter.com/votemeijer/status/1437573352760152064">called</a> the “Tax the Rich” dress that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) wore to the Met Gala “quite the swipe against [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer [and Speaker of the House Nancy] Pelosi’s plan to repeal the SALT deduction cap.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
quite the swipe against <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenSchumer</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerPelosi</a>’s plan to repeal the SALT deduction cap <a href="https://t.co/ADWgOeWGFR">https://t.co/ADWgOeWGFR</a>
&mdash; Peter Meijer (@VoteMeijer) <a href="https://twitter.com/VoteMeijer/status/1437573352760152064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As President Joe Biden met behind closed doors with Democrats on Capitol Hill Friday, congressmen <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-04/salt-cap-relief-faces-rollback-as-democrats-eye-less-spending">negotiated</a> various scenarios to help their most affluent patrons, such as raising the SALT limit without abolishing it or enacting a one- or two-year suspension of the cap. A one-year suspension would reduce tax revenues by $89 billion; a two-year suspension would lower revenues by $178 billion, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
And, as left-of-center think tanks have noted, virtually every dollar saved will benefit the rich.
Thousands Of Dollars To Ride In A Tesla (And More Handouts Each Month)
As part of their efforts to reduce carbon emissions, congressional Democrats have proposed greatly expanding subsidies for those who buy electric cars, trucks, and e-bikes. Yet, even after taxpayers are forced to pay for a portion of the sticker price, the wealthy will overwhelmingly benefit.
The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/14/tesla-toyota-and-honda-criticize-4500-tax-credit-for-union-made-evs.html">$15.6 billion</a> giveaway to the rich, which is part of the reconciliation bill, would give up to $12,500 to people who bought electric vehicles. “A married couple would have to earn at least $200,000 to owe that much in taxes,” <a href="https://www.aei.org/op-eds/democrats-love-tax-cuts-for-the-rich/">wrote</a> Tim Carney of The Washington Examiner. “So basically, this is another tax break for wealthy lawyers and doctors.”
The current proposal would compel taxpayers to give these funds to people making up to $400,000 a year — placing the recipients well within the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/how-much-income-puts-you-top-1-5-10/">top 5%</a> of income earners — and to underwrite the cost of an electric car worth up to $55,000 and or a truck with a sticker price of up to $74,000.
Another provision of the bill would give $750 to people who buy electric bicycles, which is still well below the cost of low-end e-bikes. Taxpayers’ financial commitment to e-bikers doesn’t end when the new owners pedal their purchases back to their driveways; Democrats want to assure that taxpayers provide another $81 a month to pay for maintenance and upkeep.
All of this amounts to an enormous giveaway to rich, white men. “The top demographic of 2019 EV owners are middle-aged white men earning more than $100,000 annually with a college degree or higher and at least one other vehicle in their household,” <a href="https://www.fuelsinstitute.org/Research/Reports/EV-Consumer-Behavior/EV-Consumer-Behavior-Report.pdf">according</a> to the Electric Vehicle Council. But the electric vehicle subsidy would also benefit a core Democratic constituency: labor unions. The current Democratic proposal would cap the subsidy at $8,000 for manufacturers who make their cars with non-unionized workers; the extra $4,500 is reserved for union shops.
Democrats hope the funding will nudge Americans into purchasing electric vehicles and reduce greenhouse gases. But President Biden will need for a lot more people to purchase e-vehicles if he wants his carbon-cutting agenda to succeed. “A recent <a href="https://rmi.org/insight/scaling-us-climate-ambitions/">forecast </a>by RMI, an environmental advocacy organization, concluded that a 45 percent cut in emissions from transportation by 2030 — in line with Biden’s overall goal for the nation — would require 70 million electric cars on the road and for Americans to drive 20 percent less,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/09/18/ebikes-reconciliation-carbon-emissions/">reported</a> The Washington Post.
Tax Write-Offs For Paying Union Fat Cats’ Salaries
If the Democrats’ favoritism to unions were not yet clear, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), would like to allow union members to deduct $250 a year in <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/14/house-democrats-tax-plan-511805">union dues</a> from their taxes. Only <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">10.8%</a> of the workforce is unionized — down from <a href="https://www.historycentral.com/sixty/Economics/Laborunion.html">33%</a> in 1955 — and the vast majority of union workers are employed by government agencies. While this tax write-off goes to union members, the dues it offsets flow upward to well-paid union leaders. No fewer than 15 employees at the AFL-CIO alone earn enough to rank among the richest 10% of Americans (requiring a salary of more than $158,002 a year), <a href="https://www.unionfacts.com/employees/AFL-CIO">according</a> to the Center for Union Facts. The average labor union president earns <a href="https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Union-President-Salary">$96,775</a> a year, according to ZipRecruiter.
Labor unions spent an estimated <a href="https://freebeacon.com/elections/report-big-labor-hides-millions-in-2020-election-spending/">$1.8 billion</a> to benefit Democrats during the <a href="https://nilrr.org/big-labor-reported-spending-1-8-billion-on-politics-in-the-2020-election-cycle/">2020 election cycle</a>.
Who’s The Party Of The Rich?
These policies are part of the reconciliation bill, which remains mired in negotiations. As a result, some of these proposals may be expanded, others may be reduced or eliminated. Each represents an aspect of the Democratic Party’s ongoing evolution into the party of the rich, the powerful, and the credentialed — a movement that has continued apace since <a href="https://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2016/6/3/11843780/democrats-wealthy-party">at least 2012</a>. “IRS <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/democrats-party-wealthy-irs-salt-tax-trump">data</a> shows that Democrats represent 65 percent of taxpayers with a household income of $500,000 or more while 74 percent of taxpayers in Republican districts have household incomes of less than $100,000,” <a href="https://www.standingforfreedom.com/2021/04/28/irs-data-shows-that-democrats-not-republicans-are-now-the-party-of-the-rich/">wrote</a> Nathan Skates of the <a href="https://www.standingforfreedom.com/">Stand for Freedom Center</a>.
But the fact that congressional Democrats included these giveaways to the wealthiest and most elite Americans — and paired them with provisions to raise taxes and fees on people making <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/7-ways-democrats-would-raise-taxes-on-people-making-less-than-400000">less than $400,000</a> — is revealing enough about the party’s true constituency.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Random little white piggy banks

Three Ways The Democrats Stick Up For The Wealthy — At The Expense Of The Middle Class

Electric cars

Reconciliation

Taxes

A law firm linked to longtime Clinton moneyman Terry McAuliffe has been paid millions by a school system for work that frequently consists of fighting parents and includes an effort to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that special education children were systematically abused by educators, according to detailed billing records obtained by The Daily Wire.
McAuliffe is the Democratic nominee in the Virginia governor’s race, in which voting is currently underway and polls show that he is tied with his opponent. Teachers unions are among the <a href="https://www.vpap.org/candidates/11897/top_donors/?page=1">top donors</a> to his campaign, with the National Education Association sending $525,000 and the American Federation of Teachers chipping in $425,000. The law firm’s work for the Fairfax County Public Schools included weighing in on “collective bargaining.”
The records were released to a special-ed parent under public records laws. But when the law firm, Hunton Andrews Kurth, realized their contents, one of its lawyers began frantically demanding the records back, coming to her house multiple times a day, waiting outside her home, and threatening legal action.
More than 1,300 pages of billing records show Hunton advocating for the interest of the school system as the school system was found responsible for <a href="https://www.deq.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/9189/637581586757200000">violating</a> environmental regulations; apparently negotiating with foreign hackers after student data was stolen in a ransomware attack; handling Freedom of Information Act requests from parents, which FCPS frequently aggressively blocks; and sparring with Asian parents who said the district was committing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/parent-coalition-alleges-elite-virginia-high-schools-admissions-process-discriminates-against-asian-american-students">racial discrimination</a> by abolishing the entrance exam for a math magnet school after Democrats complained too many Asians were getting in.
Charging up to $750 an hour, the firm billed FCPS nearly $8 million since June 2019, making it one of the school system’s largest vendors.
In a <a href="https://browngold.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Dkt.-33-2020.07.14-Order-on-Motion-to-Dismiss-ACE.pdf">class-action lawsuit</a>, the parents of special education students said the children had been improperly subject to &#8220;restraint and seclusion.&#8221;
One plaintiff, an eight-year-old with PTSD, was allegedly bullied so much that he began running away from the classroom. School staff began placing him into a cardboard box, which they called a &#8220;safe space,&#8221; according to the lawsuit. An autistic boy was allegedly locked in a &#8220;seclusion room&#8221; while he screamed, &#8220;somebody help me!&#8221; The school system allegedly called this putting him in &#8220;support.&#8221;
When the parent of another plaintiff visited her child at school, she allegedly witnessed him being held in a chokehold while he pleaded &#8220;let go.&#8221; He later suffered a concussion after being &#8220;struck in the head by a handheld radio&#8221; when he did not want to sit next to an aide on the bus, the lawsuit said.
A fourth plaintiff was a non-verbal thirteen-year-old with autism. He was allegedly secluded 745 times, often in a six-by-six foot padded room with a locked door, including for nearly two straight months, and often without parental notification. A nonverbal, autistic six-year-old was allegedly kept, on a near-daily basis, in a tiny box constructed with blue gym mats.
The Hunton law firm attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed and billed hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting the parents on behalf of the Fairfax County School board. Billing records show that a plaintiff contended that Hunton had a conflict in the case.
The parent who received the records under public records laws is a former FCPS teacher and mother of a special-needs child who says the school system has taken an adversarial and secretive position towards providing her child with an appropriate education. After concluding that Hunton did much of FCPS’s dirty work, she submitted a public records request for billing records. The school system charged her $300, which she paid, and it sent her the documents electronically.
“I know what they have done to myself and other special education families. I have a friend who they won’t even let her review her child’s files. She can’t get a [special needs accommodations] meeting. They’re ruthless, and here they are charging $695 an hour,&#8221; she told The Daily Wire.
Then a man, whom she identified as Hunton attorney Ryan M. Bates, began coming to her house multiple times a day in a Lexus SUV and lurking outside for long periods of time.
One letter signed by Bates said &#8220;You have not responded to my letter, FCPS&#8217;s September 17, 2021 letter, or the four voicemail messages that I have left for you… Do not share or disseminate the inadvertently produced records.&#8221;
Instead, she provided them to The Daily Wire.
“These are invoices, they’re public information. It’s just showing what we’re paying for,” she said. “It’s sickening what they are doing. They came to my house like that and the same day continued to withhold my son’s records,” she said.
Correspondence reviewed by The Daily Wire does not identify any specific laws that the parent would purportedly be violating for receiving information under public records laws.
It would not be the first alleged attempt to silence or retaliate against potential whistleblowers.
In November 2019, the school system&#8217;s independent auditor, Goli Trump, alleged that she was fired for investigating misconduct that could have implicated the superintendent in wrongdoing. School system honchos learned of the auditor’s investigation after FCPS general counsel John Foster allegedly betrayed Trump’s confidence, and she was told to drop the investigation unless the superintendent okayed it. Trump was so concerned by the apparent interference that she called the police. School system staff allegedly went into her office and removed documents.
The superintendent, Karen Garza, abruptly disappeared from her job soon after, suggesting that Goli Trump was not off-base. But the auditor is still out of a job, and Hunton has billed big bucks fighting her in court ever since. In addition to fighting her retaliation lawsuit, billing records show Hunton working on a project with a secret codename called “Project Spark” which appears to involve the fired auditor.
In October 2019, the law firm said that McAuliffe &#8220;join[ed] Hunton as Global Strategy Advisor for Cybersecurity.&#8221; The firm said in a <a href="https://www.huntonprivacyblog.com/2019/10/22/former-virginia-gov-terry-mcauliffe-joins-hunton-as-global-strategy-advisor-for-cybersecurity-at-the-centre-for-information-policy-leadership/">press release</a> that “McAuliffe will help shape strategic privacy and data security policy initiatives aimed at better positioning companies to address and mitigate fast-changing cyber and privacy risks… His business acumen, coupled with his public service experience, will be very valuable for Hunton.&#8221; In campaign <a href="https://www.vpap.org/candidates/11897/conflicts_disclosure/general_services/?sei_period=32">ethics disclosures</a>, McAuliffe reported receiving more than $250,00 for “cybersecurity/law” services this year, the maximum dollar range on the ethics forms.
In September 2020, foreign hackers announced that they had <a href="https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/maze-claims-attack-on-us-school/">captured</a> FCPS data, including some children&#8217;s disciplinary records. FCPS had Hunton handle the issue. Billing records show that Hunton, in turn, contacted Crowdstrike, the politically connected firm that often does work for Democrats.
When The Daily Wire previously placed an inquiry to FCPS about the hack, a public relations man for a for-profit New York firm, who said he had been hired by the school system to manage public perception around the hack, adamantly insisted that FCPS had not paid the hackers. But Hunton billing records show the firm discussing “hacker negotiations” and eventually “timing of termination of ransom negotiations.”
The billing records show that Hunton plays an outsized role in the administration of the Fairfax County Public Schools, helping draft school board motions, plan what the superintendent will tell board members, and editing press releases.
When Fairfax offered neither virtual nor in-person learning for weeks because of technical problems, Fairfax said it would commission an “independent” report to address public outcry and bring accountability. The report was written by Hunton. The district then <a href="https://www.dobetterfcps.com/blog/fcps-has-no-intention-of-releasing-brabrands-distance-learning-audit">refused</a> to release the report, claiming it was subject to “attorney/client privilege.”
When a school board member was facing a recall election from parents who were angry that she kept schools closed, seemingly at teachers unions’ behest, she spoke to Hunton. Though citizens collected the required signatures, two prosecutors with ties to McAuliffe <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/prosecutor-hid-conflict-of-interest-while-thwarting-school-board-recall">declined</a> to pursue the recall.
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McAuliffe-Linked Law Firm Billed $700 An Hour Fighting Parents Of Special-Needs Children

Terry McAuliffe

Virginia

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