Sunday Morning Coming Down

Robert Reich, a former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration, has been criticized for getting paid about $20,000 a month for teaching at the University of California, Berkley. This seems like a lot of money for a full time teaching position at a major state university. It is only a little bit higher than average for full professors at Ivy League Schools. Robert Reich is all over the internet publicizing his ideas on wealth, education, and politics. Making movies may substitute for publication in academic journals these days and it is certainly clear he has a bigger audience than most professors in academia. Folks also bitch about how much former presidents make for giving speeches and on the other end of the spectrum how little folks that work at fast food restaurants make per hour. Drivers for Uber are being classified as employees of Uber rather than users of an app that brings them customers. Uber may now be required to pay payroll taxes like social security, medica...

Island divide Activists rallied in Little Haiti on Thursday to protest a ruling that retroactively  denies citizenship to thousands  born in the Dominican Republic without at least one Dominican parent, WLRN reports. The two countries are situated on the same island, and after the 2010 earthquake, the Dominican Republic has seen  historic highs of Haitian immigrants , according to WPLG 10. The legislation has rallied human rights activists in Miami, many of whom have ties to the Island. Some describe the situation as “ ethnic purging ,” the Miami Herald reports.  Maybe the lesson learned from this immigration fiasco is to make sure that paperwork is up to date. Island living can be a complicated thing because it is hard to get away if you have no where to go.

It is reported that a young white male entered a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina and killed nine people participating in a prayer meeting. The gunman is still at large. At my Unitarian Universalist Congregation we have had a church member who has been assigned security duty for a while. I've kind of thought this was a little over the top as the security person would probably not be able to stop any attack and police response would be way too late to make a difference. I just thought we would just be in a safe place. This is a really sad happening as once again I have been proven wrong about some of my more quaint ideas about safety.

Alberto Iber was the Principal of North Miami Senior High School in Florida until he decided to comment on Facebook regarding Officer Casebolt, late of the Mckinney, Texas police force. Principal Iber was assigned to administrative duties by the Miami Dade County Superintendent of Schools after Iber voiced his support for Officer Casebolt.  Some may think his right to free speech was violated. The Miami Dade County School Board folks say "This is not an infringement on freedom of speech but rather our standard procedure when dealing with matters that have the potential to interrupt the learning environment and the operation of a school". Middle Schoolers are being taught in school to be very careful when posting "stuff" on social media. You would think a principal in a school where almost 100% of the student body was Latin or African American would or should be even more careful that the average seventh grader. I've learned that at least this one principal...

Billy Graham's son is mistaken for making a big deal and moving his money from Wells Fargo to another bank because Wells Fargo made a gay friendly ad about a same sex couple adopting a deaf child.  Gay friendly is ok, but he mistakenly feels the ad goes beyond being "friendly" to advocating a lifestyle he disapproves of. Kids are better off in good families.  I think most folks would think that those responsible for helping families that would adopt kids whether special needs kids or not would appreciate an ad which directly or indirectly reminds all of us that there are kids that need the support a family can give. I don't think the ad in question advocates a gay life style. It may advocate that a gay couple should be able to adopt a child, and that we should value folks that come forward to adopt kids. Being a family isn't fool proof but being a kid that ages out of state run foster care, leaves a lot to be desired in Florida.

Disney World seems to be playing some games with H-1B visas. Julia Preston of the New York Times reports that 250 Disney World employees were laid off in October and "many of their jobs were transferred to immigrants on temporary visas for highly skilled technical workers." Disney's response is that as the result of a reorganization, the company opened more positions than it eliminated.  On paper that may be correct but try explaining that to folks that trained the H-1B workers from India.  Too often the intent of these laws is just something on paper to get around if you can lower costs by importing workers from other places or just exporting the jobs overseas if it makes a few bucks for the company. What about the American workforce, that gets played?

Watched the Belmont Stakes at the Magic City Casino, aka "the dog track". The place was crowded with folks wanting to watch the race on big screens and like minded racing fans. There was a drawing after every race at Belmont Park and the winners got a $20 win ticket on American Pharoah and a $1 trifecta box on the 5,6,7 in the 11th race. Both bets were winners! As races go it wasn't a great betting race but it certainly was a chance to watch some history being made.  More than a few $2.00 win tickets were bought and they will never be cashed, kept as proof they saw something in sports that doesn't happen often. The "dog track" crowd cheered from the moment the starting gate crashed open. American Pharoah obliged by leading from "box to wire". Frosted, an obvious second choice was flying at the end but American Pharoah with the lead just opened up and kept going, winning in 2:26, sixth fastest time in the race's history. As days go this on...