President Joe Biden wants to revitalize the nation’s labor unions.
At their peak, unions represented more than a third of American workers. Now, after several decades of continuing decline, less than 10 percent of workers in the private sector are part of organized labor.
The decline is partly because American manufacturing has moved offshore to escape a less-than-friendly business climate created by politicians. But it’s also because over the years, union leadership has cozied up to progressive politicians who push policies at odds with the interests of the rank and file.
On his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order killing more than 10,000 good-paying union jobs. But that’s not the first-time middle-class jobs have been sacrificed to win favor with the vocal progressives who have come to dominate the Democratic Party.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to further repression of artists across the world Photo: Lamessen
Seventeen artists were killed, 82 were imprisoned and 133 detained over the past year in 26 countries, according to Freemuse in its latest
State of Artistic Freedom report. The survey, published last week by the the Copenhagen-based human rights organisation, is based on the analyses of 978 incidents regarding “violations to the right to freedom of artistic expression” documented in 89 countries.
Crucially, the Covid-19 pandemic has also led to further repression with 65 artists detained, prosecuted, or imprisoned for speaking out about the way the pandemic has been handled in their respective countries. The report foreword says: “Through stifling malcontent conveyed by artists, authorities often weaponise the pandemic against freedom of expression, which results in a widespread deterioration of core democratic principles and the rise of authoritarianism.�
The Fitz introduction:
Next Saturday begins the glorious weekend of the 2021 Tucson Virtual Festival of Books. The lineup of authors is amazing. Imagine enjoying every moment of TFOB with your feet up. I had the pleasure to interview one of my heroes, a Tucson Festival of Books Crowd Cast Guest, cartoonist Garry Trudeau, digitally on the rounds promoting “Dbury@50: The Complete Digital Doonesbury”. I was cool. I didn’t gush. I should have asked him about his middle name, Beekman, but instead we talked about cartooning. Here’s our conversation…
With 24 fully formed complex fictional humans in your head, and then some, do you ever worry about your sanity?
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