Erik- sgain and again I can't say how much I enjoy your concise summaries of important figures and events in labor history. These are my favorite Wonkette essays 🙂 Sidney Fine's book is an excellent account of the 1937 strike and I have a copy. I think he recounts, for instance the infamous Battle of the Bridge where Walter Ruether and his bodyguard,of the UAW was physically assaulted by strike breakers (actually street thugs,) used by FoMoCo. Ruether and the bodyguard (a huge man) were both hospitalized. The Ford goons remind me a lot of the ICE stormtroopers of the present day. Some things never change 😕
Thank you for this bit of history. I was a kid in Flint in the ‘70s. Fisher Body was still around at that point, and most high school kids went straight to work for GM as UAW members. I had to get up ridiculously early to attend high school so those old enough could go from school to work second shift. It was the only way to keep graduation rates up. In the ‘80s under Reagan GM made the strategic decision to abandon Flint. It pulled out thousands of jobs/year for decades. Unemployment skyrocketed and it became the very exemplar of urban blight that plagues conservative nightmares. Now Fisher Body is gone, leaving a weird blank space in the urban landscape I remember. At least it opened a good view. Nearer my house was AC Spark Plugs, which I worked at as a senior in high school. It was a giant complex that is nothing but an empty concrete pad now.
My great-grandfather was a union organizer who was involved in this strike. I might have a transcript of an interview my dad did with him if I can lay my hands on it.
According to the NYT, a billionaire whose family owns the Ambassador (toll) Bridge linking Canada and Detroit called PAB up a couple of hours before PAB started shit-posting about the (public) bridge project that he's threatening to shut down.
And people say PAB doesn't care about the needs of Americans. Guess he showed you people that he is always willing to improve the lives of billionaires, whether as a group or in individual cases.
[today is also the anniversary of Zulu leaving, and so I spend the day remembering him and looking at pictures and crying and such and things - spare a kind thought for my supergoodboy, please
Grandpa, Grandma and Great Grandpa Bacon were all field organizers for the CIO and helped organize the Steelworkers and United Electrical Workers Unions in the 1930s and 1940s.
I remember Grandma telling me the biggest mistake the CIO made was merging with the AFL. She said after the merger the push to organize was severely weakened.
What hurts me is that all my nephews and nieces are hard core anti-union Republicans...and that would break my great grandfather's and grandparents hearts...
Ot - will someone please like and comment on this so I can see if my notifications are coming through? They haven't been for a week and I thought it was just that nobody was liking or commenting, but that's incorrect. Thank you.
Me too. So old that a bad thing has happened… I count out exact change in my hand like an official old person. I've always used change now and then, but something about the way I do it now is making me think, that person (me!) must have some Werther's on her somewhere! I don't, but…
Haven’t you heard, we’re all going to be neck deep in lobsters and Cadillacs when AI takes over all our jobs and we can enjoy lives of leisure like British landed gentry.
OT I'm still irritated by the commuter train platform's PA. It's AI now, so it says things lile "train xyz departing at four hundred eight pee" instead of "4:08 PM".
OT, but that creepy video of the creepy guy in the creepy mask creeping around Mrs. Guthrie's house was creepy. I think creepy enough that, if I saw him in my house, I would immediately offer and then provide several more holes in his creepy body. At close range.
Deputy commissioner Dwayne McDonald confirmed that police have identified the suspect as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who was a resident of Tumbler Ridge.
The suspect was born as a biological male who had started transitioning about six years ago and identified in public and on social media as female.
Police clarified that nine people were killed in total, including the suspect, after a female with significant injuries survived.
A 39-year-old found deceased at the suspect’s family residence was the mother of the suspect, and the 11-year-old victim was the suspect’s step-brother.
The deaths at the private residence occurred first before the suspect went to the high school...
"Police had attended the suspect’s family residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with mental health concerns of the suspect.
This included one police attendance to the home approximately two years ago where firearms were seized under the criminal code. The lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for them to be returned, and they were..."
We cry and mourn for the victims and their families, we support them, while hugging and supporting the trans community, cause we all know what's coming.
I can listen to Representative Crockett all day. And as an attorney, she can say exactly what is legal and correct. And Pammy Jo just has to sit there and take it.
I was a lifelong, FDR-lovin', big gummit liberal--but even as cynical as I am--I'm gobsmacked by how fast the weak-minded, nihilistic, amoral, anti-American scumbags at the DOJ, DHS/FBI/CBP/ICE and throughout the gummit openly became $hitler's supplicants, terrorists, collaborators and traitors.
How in the hell did so many grotesque lowlifes become responsible for protecting our rights and freedoms when they're anti-humanity monsters? They've totally discredited themselves, and there's nothing worth salvaging.
Now my philosophy is barricade the doors and windows, burn it all to the ground and piss all over the ashes... um, with votes ; )
When Hitler's coup failed, he put Plan B into place -- to subvert democracy by using democracy.
When Prescott Bush and his pals failed to overthrow the government through the plot using Smedley Butler, they just decided to be patient and use the system to destroy the system.
I'll never understand why they went to Butler of all people. You really thought the "war is a racket" guy was going to help you? Proof that they've always been idiots.
they’re the folks who own or control the means of production, and in this case finance and to some extent culture (via academia), and while many of them are simply very very wealthy bourgeoisie, some are the genuine article: capitalists
Erik- sgain and again I can't say how much I enjoy your concise summaries of important figures and events in labor history. These are my favorite Wonkette essays 🙂 Sidney Fine's book is an excellent account of the 1937 strike and I have a copy. I think he recounts, for instance the infamous Battle of the Bridge where Walter Ruether and his bodyguard,of the UAW was physically assaulted by strike breakers (actually street thugs,) used by FoMoCo. Ruether and the bodyguard (a huge man) were both hospitalized. The Ford goons remind me a lot of the ICE stormtroopers of the present day. Some things never change 😕
Thank you for this bit of history. I was a kid in Flint in the ‘70s. Fisher Body was still around at that point, and most high school kids went straight to work for GM as UAW members. I had to get up ridiculously early to attend high school so those old enough could go from school to work second shift. It was the only way to keep graduation rates up. In the ‘80s under Reagan GM made the strategic decision to abandon Flint. It pulled out thousands of jobs/year for decades. Unemployment skyrocketed and it became the very exemplar of urban blight that plagues conservative nightmares. Now Fisher Body is gone, leaving a weird blank space in the urban landscape I remember. At least it opened a good view. Nearer my house was AC Spark Plugs, which I worked at as a senior in high school. It was a giant complex that is nothing but an empty concrete pad now.
Great oral history!
My great-grandfather was a union organizer who was involved in this strike. I might have a transcript of an interview my dad did with him if I can lay my hands on it.
According to the NYT, a billionaire whose family owns the Ambassador (toll) Bridge linking Canada and Detroit called PAB up a couple of hours before PAB started shit-posting about the (public) bridge project that he's threatening to shut down.
And people say PAB doesn't care about the needs of Americans. Guess he showed you people that he is always willing to improve the lives of billionaires, whether as a group or in individual cases.
I believe the guy called Nutlick, and Nutlick called Donnie.
okaaaaay everywonk yr
smoking lamp
is lit
[today is also the anniversary of Zulu leaving, and so I spend the day remembering him and looking at pictures and crying and such and things - spare a kind thought for my supergoodboy, please
https://substack.com/@zuludaddy/note/c-83827280?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2kp8qx ]
Handsome boi!
Beautiful boy
A find looking hound!
He looks a good lad.
A good lad of a beautiful color.
Grandpa, Grandma and Great Grandpa Bacon were all field organizers for the CIO and helped organize the Steelworkers and United Electrical Workers Unions in the 1930s and 1940s.
I remember Grandma telling me the biggest mistake the CIO made was merging with the AFL. She said after the merger the push to organize was severely weakened.
My great-grandfather was also an organizer in the 30s. He had amazing stories.
What hurts me is that all my nephews and nieces are hard core anti-union Republicans...and that would break my great grandfather's and grandparents hearts...
You descend from righteous folks, indeed.
Eta- it's fixed! Thank you!!
Ot - will someone please like and comment on this so I can see if my notifications are coming through? They haven't been for a week and I thought it was just that nobody was liking or commenting, but that's incorrect. Thank you.
If you ever wonder again, just tell a joke.
I use the one, 2 Corinthians and a Camel walk into a bar......
I don't know that one but I want to hear it now!
Here, have some canned clams.
YOU MONSTER!!!
PUNK!!!!
Lol thank you!
Greetings and salutations, gracious Reader.
Aww, bringing old Charlotte to mind. Hello there!
I'm an old school bookworm, m'dear.
Me too. So old that a bad thing has happened… I count out exact change in my hand like an official old person. I've always used change now and then, but something about the way I do it now is making me think, that person (me!) must have some Werther's on her somewhere! I don't, but…
It's because comments aren't allowed here
They're not?
I've got you on block anyway
Evidently.
Who?
If only the wealth generated by technological advancement went back into society, instead of being hoarded by a cabal of psycopathic pedophiles.
Haven’t you heard, we’re all going to be neck deep in lobsters and Cadillacs when AI takes over all our jobs and we can enjoy lives of leisure like British landed gentry.
Can I trade some lobsters for some rib steaks?
Get the 'Surf 'n Turf' thing going.
I can't drive anymore, so I will donate the Caddy
to charity.
Please pass the butter and 10W40.
Good choices. None of that fake ass shit "Tastes like butter" or unsalted.
The Real McCoy.
Or, we will live like dispossessed serfs in mud hovels, eating grotes and the occasional insect.
"I'm building my rent-free hovel! And I've got a curtain rod...
If you grind up fat black ants in a mortar and pestle thingy, mush them into
patties and fry them up, they taste just like black ants.
I’ll trade you a protein block for that sock with a hole in it.
COMMUNIST!
Yes?
I've been a communist with a small "C" since I was in 9th grade.
Waiter, I'll have what she's having.
You're damn right!
OT I'm still irritated by the commuter train platform's PA. It's AI now, so it says things lile "train xyz departing at four hundred eight pee" instead of "4:08 PM".
AI is really stoopid on translating to English. And CC. They do not know the concept of homonyms in the use in context of the story.
And it gives Adriana Grande 6 fingers on her left hand.
This is not hard to do.
The speech synth I worked on in the 1990s could parse syntax and get it right. On a friggin 80186 CPU.
It could also correctly deal with "St. James St." and "the wind winds down the canyon"
On a 186. In 1991.
A fucking 186? A processor so fucked up that you had to use an emulator to run DOS on it because they fucked up the interrupt numbering?
What a horrid little processor that was.
yes indeed..
But this ran a bare-metal RTOS written by a buddy of mine, and he could make a friggin ENIAC sing if he had to.
Brilliant (and practical) guy.
BART opened in 1972 and used computerized train announcements ... and still do to this day.
They figured out exactly how to drive people completely insane with incompetent AI.
Are the speakers reachable ...
That would drive me out of what's left of my mind.
Right? It's not hard to get right!
If you invest another billion I'm sure that can be fixed.
OT, but that creepy video of the creepy guy in the creepy mask creeping around Mrs. Guthrie's house was creepy. I think creepy enough that, if I saw him in my house, I would immediately offer and then provide several more holes in his creepy body. At close range.
OFF TOPIC:
𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
Deputy commissioner Dwayne McDonald confirmed that police have identified the suspect as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who was a resident of Tumbler Ridge.
The suspect was born as a biological male who had started transitioning about six years ago and identified in public and on social media as female.
Police clarified that nine people were killed in total, including the suspect, after a female with significant injuries survived.
A 39-year-old found deceased at the suspect’s family residence was the mother of the suspect, and the 11-year-old victim was the suspect’s step-brother.
The deaths at the private residence occurred first before the suspect went to the high school...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/feb/11/tumbler-ridge-school-shooting-live-updates-number-dead-suspect-deceased
I hate to think about what is coming since the fascists are all in on collective responsibility.
GODDAMN IT
It is a tragedy nonetheless. But this dimension is indeed fuel for an ideological fire that needs extinguishing.
The gun is presumed innocent.
"Police had attended the suspect’s family residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with mental health concerns of the suspect.
This included one police attendance to the home approximately two years ago where firearms were seized under the criminal code. The lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for them to be returned, and they were..."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/feb/11/tumbler-ridge-school-shooting-live-updates-number-dead-suspect-deceased
"See, restricting guns doesn't work" 🤬
Everyone here knows the drill.
We cry and mourn for the victims and their families, we support them, while hugging and supporting the trans community, cause we all know what's coming.
Now the right-wing freaks are going to come down on all the trans people.
Look for more shit out of Matt Walsh's mouth. Guarantee it.
You can bet that every fucking RWNJ will be crawling all over this, including Alex Jones.
I fucking hate this timeline.
Fact check: accurate.
Well... damn
Jasmine Crockett reading people for filth today--
https://youtu.be/Iz_auHVkHII?si=UyfnPnoRBSNg7KJH
I'm here for it!
🔥🔥🔥🔥
DAMN
wowie zowie
I can listen to Representative Crockett all day. And as an attorney, she can say exactly what is legal and correct. And Pammy Jo just has to sit there and take it.
My Polysporin futures just went through the roof.
It was freakin' FABULOUS!
Both my parents were laborers. Both belonged to Unions, without which lil' Hank would have been shoeless. Both constantly voted Republican.
Shoeless Hank Napkin would have been a cool moniker…
Might come to that. Just might.
A few brave people here and there over time can really make a difference.
I gotta say, the whole Epstein saga, and current DOJ coverup is really validating the "liquidate the bourgeoisie" position...
I was a lifelong, FDR-lovin', big gummit liberal--but even as cynical as I am--I'm gobsmacked by how fast the weak-minded, nihilistic, amoral, anti-American scumbags at the DOJ, DHS/FBI/CBP/ICE and throughout the gummit openly became $hitler's supplicants, terrorists, collaborators and traitors.
How in the hell did so many grotesque lowlifes become responsible for protecting our rights and freedoms when they're anti-humanity monsters? They've totally discredited themselves, and there's nothing worth salvaging.
Now my philosophy is barricade the doors and windows, burn it all to the ground and piss all over the ashes... um, with votes ; )
It was a process, one we weren't paying enough attention to. The cabal of rich pedophiles has been planning this since FDR enacted the new deal.
When Hitler's coup failed, he put Plan B into place -- to subvert democracy by using democracy.
When Prescott Bush and his pals failed to overthrow the government through the plot using Smedley Butler, they just decided to be patient and use the system to destroy the system.
I'll never understand why they went to Butler of all people. You really thought the "war is a racket" guy was going to help you? Proof that they've always been idiots.
American Federal law enforcement has always been a check on the liberal state- deliberately so.
Nixon reinforced that too damned noxiously.
It starts to just seem like common sense, doesn't it?
The Epsteiners are many many classes higher than the Bourgeoisie.
the 'haute bourgeoisie' is exactly the Epstein class
the have a certain discrete charm
So damn hard to find a good meal...
They work in bureaus?
...their heads belong in the drawers.
which is where they are most of the time it sounds like
Epstein class > Bourgeoisie > Overseer class > all non-white, non-cishet Americans + women
Capital > labor
they’re the folks who own or control the means of production, and in this case finance and to some extent culture (via academia), and while many of them are simply very very wealthy bourgeoisie, some are the genuine article: capitalists
and child-rapists!
As long as it takes out the bougie "taco" restaurants.
Mrs. Betty Bowers
@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social
Deciding it’s too dangerous to reveal just how unpopular the current president is seems like the worst poll result ever.
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:uayevtgtbwot25zhocjzb6lv/bafkreibkf75htmug7kg5u2lxczasfej5sef6npil6uoqejaz3nntnchxxy@jpeg
I wonder how much this cost the Rich
Wow, oh well, opinion polls are irrelevant in genocidal, kleptocratic dicktatorships anyway.
I just really CANNOT stand this shit for three more years.
We should all start making up absolutely dreadful polls and posting them everywhere, maybe they'll pull their heads out of their asses.
Who's fucking bright idea was this?
Down 1,000%? 2,000%? 6,000%?
Jesus fucking christ...
Oh fuck that chicken-assed shit.