It did go to the lowest bidder. As it was common in some memes years ago: “When you see it…”

I’m not quite sure how you can as an individual care about students, but as a group not do so. — Paul Koning

There is study of people as a group that is very successful. We know how people, in mass, will respond to different stimuli.

This is one of the reasons that mobs are so dangerous. They react as a “mob” and not as individuals.

Some of the worst mass casualty events in our recent history have come about because of mob mentality.

Look at the doors of your home, the screen door, if any, opens outward, the main door opens inward. Now look at the majority of business doors. They open outwards. This is so universal that people will insist on pulling on business doors that open inwards, even with signs.

This is because of that mob mentality. When an individual is trying to exit and needs to pull the door open, they will do so, not issues. The people behind him will give them room to do so.

In a mob event, the people in the rear will push forward, causing the people in the front to be pushed forward, making it impossible to pull the door open. This leads to crush deaths at the front. The people in the rear are then trapped.

Unions are controlled mobs. The people at the top manipulate the lower down, and they use mob manipulation to accomplish these things.

What this means, is that good teachers, and there are many of them, will sacrifice their time, their emotions, and their money to help their students. Many of those teachers purchase extra supplies for their students. Spend time out of contract hours to help students. Will invest their emotions in the success of their students.

This is the individual acting as an individual.

I listen to the complaints of teachers. One of the huge issues today is safety in the classroom. I’m not talking about “school shootings”. I am talking about out of control students.

Every year, one or more of the elementary school teachers is injured by a k-5 student seriously enough to require a trip to the hospital.

Every week, a classroom is taken over by a student and the classroom is evacuated for the safety of the other children.

Every day, there is a story of another student who is holding a class or school hostage. I’m not talking about nationwide, I’m talking about a single school.

So it was time for contract negotiations. The biggest issue I’ve heard from any teacher is classroom safety. Instead of talking about classroom safety, the union was thrilled they got another pay raise. As were the teachers.

As far as I can tell, not a single teacher has bothered to ask, much less demand, that their union work towards a safe working environment for their members.

They are afraid of “rocking the boat” or “the union can’t help”.

This is mob mentality. The union isn’t willing to do battle for the students and the safety of their members, they just want more dues, they want more money. The teachers hear they are getting another pay raise and are happy.

I despise what unions have become.

(1500 words)
Out in California, Virgina Duncan has been fighting the state and the Ninth Circuit court since 2019. Her case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was Granted Certiorari, the decision of the Ninth Circuit was Vacated, and the case was Remanded (GVR).

The Ninth Circuit court then kicked the case back to the district level for more “fact finding”. The California statute was found unconstitutional, again at the district level. It was appealed to the Ninth Circuit court, where games were played.

A year and a half after Bruen Virginia is still being screwed by the state.

At the same time as the Supreme Court GVR’d Duncan v. Bonta, they also GVR’d Bianchi v. Frosh. Yes, the same day, at about the same time.

The Fourth Circuit Court took a different approach. They acted rapidly, and a three judge merits panel heard the case in December of the same year. This is amazingly fast for the appellate courts.

Then they sat on the case. For over a year, they sat there, doing nothing.

Finally, in January, we heard that the Fourth was going to hear the case en banc. Normally, the three judge merits panel would have issued their opinion.

The plaintiffs (good guys) have taken a highly unusual step. They have moved for a writ of certiorari from the Supreme Court before the appellate court issues their opinion.

Here are some highlights from the motion for writ of certiorari.
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? NYC NOW: Jews Beaten Bloody.

⚠️ Listen to this pack of “protestors”.

Sickening.

This is in the name of peace?

? Critical Update for NYC Residents: Stay Alert‼️

Travel in pairs, especially to and from synagogues.

Please carry at least one legal, non-lethal weapon per… pic.twitter.com/Mg0rBWbpOB

— Shirion Collective (@ShirionOrg) February 10, 2024

Jews are being beaten in the streets.

The Supreme Court decided Bruen to guarantee the right to self defense.

States like New York have done everything possible not to comply with Bruen.

Jews need the ability to defend themselves from this violent pro-Hamas terrorism.

Bruen non-compliance is dangerous for law abiding citizens but especially Jews.

Recently on social media, I’ve seen lots of complaints about how tipping culture in the US is out if control, with people aggressively demanding tips.

Here are two examples:

Is American tipping culture out of control?
Apparently, a masseuse got mad because a $5 tip isn't good enough for an $80 massage. pic.twitter.com/2CmzGEWIzp

— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) February 9, 2024

?DELIVERY MAN GOES CRAZY:
A delivery man for a grocery order demanded a tip, when the woman refused, he took all of her groceries back to the store. ? pic.twitter.com/5KPeXxyoIH

— Frum TikTok (@FrumTikTok) February 7, 2024

The internet seems to be in disagreement with who is wrong. Is it the customer for not tipping, or is it the worker for demanding a tip.

I’m going to go with a third option that accurately addresses the problem.

The bad guy is the business.

As a buddy of mine put it so succinctly, the gig economy was just another way for the wealthy to fuck over the workers.

What most people don’t understand is that from DoorDash drivers to the stylist at SuperCuts, these people are effectively subcontractors.

They don’t have a wage. They get a percentage of the service price.

You go and pay $24 for a haircut, and the franchise gets a cut off the top and the stylist gets the rest. Technically, the stylist is renting the booth space.

Here is the kicker.

As inflation has made everything more expensive, these businesses are not increasing prices, or are not increasing prices as much as they need to to cover costs.

What they are doing is taking a greater percentage off the top.

In days gone by, the franchise take of a $24 haircut would have been $12. Then it goes to $16, then $20.

Some places, like implied by the massuse and DoorDash driver above, the house cut is 100%.

The business expect the customer to make up the difference in tips.

This system fucks over both the worker and the customer.

The customer is enticed by the low advertised price. Then the customer gets fucked when they feel strong-armed into paying another 20% or more for a generous tip.

The worker gets fucked because if they don’t get a generous tip, or even tipped at all, they don’t get paid.

The $24 you paid for a haircut that took 20 minutes just paid the stylist $3. If they manage to do two haircuts an hour, they made $6 without a tip.

Yes, your unhappy that you got guilty into adding a $10 tip.

But, how happy would you be working for $6 an hour?

This is absolutely one of those times when, “There aught to be a law” is appropriate.

I see three potential solutions.

1. End the gig economy like this, pay these people a wage like normal workers. This is probably the most drastic approach.

2. Establish a minimum percentage that workers are entitled to for services. The worker must get, say, 50% of the cost of the service with no additional fees to nickel and dime them to a lower percentage. If you pay $24 for a haircut, the stylist gets at least $12, guaranteed. If that isn’t enough for the house to operate, they need to raise prices accordingly. Businesses would also be forced to compete for good workers by offering above minimum percentage wages. This is my preferred option.

3. The advertised price must reflect the house and worker cut. If the business advertises an $80 massage, they must say:

Massage – $80, parlor $70/masseuse $10.

Then the customer knows that they should tip so the masseuse makes more than $10 per hour, or customers refuse to patron a business that pays its gig workers a shit percent. This is probably the least intrusive option.

Anyway this is dealt with, something has to be done.

The current situation is unfair to workers and customers, and is unsustainable.

The next time you see someone complaining that, “Tipping culture in America is out of control.”

Look at them and say, “Yes, franchise owners and tech bros are absolutely out of control fucking their workers.”

(1000 words)
As I’ve stated before, my wife is a teacher. She is absolutely spectacular at teaching.

She is not so good at understanding ramifications, potential outcomes, and intentionally setting people up for failure.

Back in 2002, she was required to be a member of the teacher’s union. At one of the regular meetings of the faculty and staff, the new government regulations were explained to them.

In particular, under the new government mandates, they could no longer hold students back, they had to be advanced. In addition, it was explained how the new regulations made it almost impossible to expel or even have out of school suspension.

There were also new requirements, from the state, requiring that all students be included. For the most part, marking the end of special education classes for students at need.

This is how it was related to me 20+ years ago, so my memory could have left some things out.

The teacher’s union was incensed that the horrible Republican Congress and President would step in where they didn’t know what they were doing and how this new mandate would destroy the education industry.

Well, they were right, in part. It destroyed our education system. The industry is doing fine.

What was the horrible, horrible legislation that brought down this new mandate from on high?
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I’m just sick&tired of witnessing layoffs in media. Journalists devote their lives to delivering truth, shedding light on corruption, injustices and more, only to be pushed aside! Our declining interest in truth is alarming. Oh, while I’m at it, Tucker Carlson is a joke! #cdnpoli https://t.co/3Smm3jiuXm

— Irem Koca (@iremreports) February 8, 2024

This was one reply pretty much summarizes why nobody gives a fork about them getting their walking papers:

Can’t disagree with that.