As for union endorsements, my union stupidly promoted Biden at the start of the primaries. Before they even got to the point of deciding who was going to represent the Democrats, they picked zombie Joe. Funny, because Bernie was more pro union than any of them. I brought it up at a union meeting and some members were also upset and joked that our union got payola, 😂.
The teamsters union said the right thing at the RNC. They won't endorse either side because neither side did much for them.
Let's hope this becomes the new norm because many unions, like mine are selling out their membership for party politics, not even anything good for their membership!
Once again, your discussion reminded me of a comment I posted to a Labor Day-related article about ten years ago, which I found and dusted off to repost here:
______________________________________________
Consider that the Amerikan Labor Day is a top-down creation-- an artificial, synthetic substitute for the international May 1 Labor Day that genuinely honors and celebrates workers and the power of labor.
This kind of "repurposing" is similar to what the Establishment poobahs did to Martin Luther King's legacy; they created a sanitized, authority-friendly image and "tradition" that filtered out Dr. King's emergent radical positions on civil liberties, war (anti-), and most of all economic disparity (class struggle), and replaced it with a pasteurized, processed, smarmy alternate characterization.
The MLK holiday is now officially hyped as a day to honor Dr. King by performing "community service", i.e. volunteering to selflessly and submissively work within the system because that is supposedly the true message and lesson of Dr. King's life. (Notice I didn't say "life and death", because the family-friendly official narrative, saturated with smarmy civic piety, reduced his violent death to an unfortunate irrelevancy.)
These top-down transmogrifications were not accidents or flukes. "Memorial Day" began three years after the US Civil War as "Decoration Day", dedicated to placing flowers on fallen soldiers' graves in tribute and appreciation; although it wasn't explicitly antiwar or pacifistic, it was a solemn holiday to express collective grief and mourning. Alas! it eventually diminished to the modern "Memorial Day", which mangled the sorrowful remembrance of the dead into more of a martial tribute to the US armed forces-- a kind of incipient "Victory Day".
When we were kids, on Memorial Day my WWII vet dad (drafted) would take us to the ceremony in a small park near his Catholic War Veterans chapter. Always a sensitive chap, when I was very young and the 21-gun salute sounded I literally hid in my mother's skirts. But it was worth it for the unlimited soda and hot dogs at the CWV post afterwards.
Likewise, "Armistice Day" was founded to memorialize the end of World War I, and the coming of peace to the war-shattered Western world. It was international in character. In the exceptionalist, triumphalist US, it was stripped down to the vapid, nationalistic "Veterans' Day", in which a presumptively grateful populace generally honored surviving US veterans "for their service".
Similarly, the family-friendly ersatz Amerikan "Labor Day" is deliberately devoid of the incipient militant and subversive (i.e., political) elements retained in traditional May Day celebration. Instead, it's a company picnic and barbecue writ large. And of course, in our hyper-commercialized culture it's still another special occasion to shop, shop, shop! 😡
Maybe "Toolsi" got a big discount on sex toys from Rabbi Shmuck-lies daughter for the photo-op? The "War on Workers of the World" (divided) continues; plenty of folks working this Labor Day. Just a thought: Workers of the World--Stop a Genocide! Not to mention all of the other "brushfire wars" happening around the World we all share, even though the "shares" are grotesquely, disproportionately, divided...
This is the crazy history around May Day being undercut by crapitalism. The socialist boogeyman is too scary for these oligarchs. https://attorneycox.substack.com/p/did-you-know
As for union endorsements, my union stupidly promoted Biden at the start of the primaries. Before they even got to the point of deciding who was going to represent the Democrats, they picked zombie Joe. Funny, because Bernie was more pro union than any of them. I brought it up at a union meeting and some members were also upset and joked that our union got payola, 😂.
The teamsters union said the right thing at the RNC. They won't endorse either side because neither side did much for them.
Let's hope this becomes the new norm because many unions, like mine are selling out their membership for party politics, not even anything good for their membership!
Once again, your discussion reminded me of a comment I posted to a Labor Day-related article about ten years ago, which I found and dusted off to repost here:
______________________________________________
Consider that the Amerikan Labor Day is a top-down creation-- an artificial, synthetic substitute for the international May 1 Labor Day that genuinely honors and celebrates workers and the power of labor.
This kind of "repurposing" is similar to what the Establishment poobahs did to Martin Luther King's legacy; they created a sanitized, authority-friendly image and "tradition" that filtered out Dr. King's emergent radical positions on civil liberties, war (anti-), and most of all economic disparity (class struggle), and replaced it with a pasteurized, processed, smarmy alternate characterization.
The MLK holiday is now officially hyped as a day to honor Dr. King by performing "community service", i.e. volunteering to selflessly and submissively work within the system because that is supposedly the true message and lesson of Dr. King's life. (Notice I didn't say "life and death", because the family-friendly official narrative, saturated with smarmy civic piety, reduced his violent death to an unfortunate irrelevancy.)
These top-down transmogrifications were not accidents or flukes. "Memorial Day" began three years after the US Civil War as "Decoration Day", dedicated to placing flowers on fallen soldiers' graves in tribute and appreciation; although it wasn't explicitly antiwar or pacifistic, it was a solemn holiday to express collective grief and mourning. Alas! it eventually diminished to the modern "Memorial Day", which mangled the sorrowful remembrance of the dead into more of a martial tribute to the US armed forces-- a kind of incipient "Victory Day".
When we were kids, on Memorial Day my WWII vet dad (drafted) would take us to the ceremony in a small park near his Catholic War Veterans chapter. Always a sensitive chap, when I was very young and the 21-gun salute sounded I literally hid in my mother's skirts. But it was worth it for the unlimited soda and hot dogs at the CWV post afterwards.
Likewise, "Armistice Day" was founded to memorialize the end of World War I, and the coming of peace to the war-shattered Western world. It was international in character. In the exceptionalist, triumphalist US, it was stripped down to the vapid, nationalistic "Veterans' Day", in which a presumptively grateful populace generally honored surviving US veterans "for their service".
Similarly, the family-friendly ersatz Amerikan "Labor Day" is deliberately devoid of the incipient militant and subversive (i.e., political) elements retained in traditional May Day celebration. Instead, it's a company picnic and barbecue writ large. And of course, in our hyper-commercialized culture it's still another special occasion to shop, shop, shop! 😡
I just heard the trash truck outside--I hope they're getting triple time....
Ironically, there's a big union strike in ISRAEL today of all places. Of course they're only protesting for their own hostages, not the Palestinians.
Maybe "Toolsi" got a big discount on sex toys from Rabbi Shmuck-lies daughter for the photo-op? The "War on Workers of the World" (divided) continues; plenty of folks working this Labor Day. Just a thought: Workers of the World--Stop a Genocide! Not to mention all of the other "brushfire wars" happening around the World we all share, even though the "shares" are grotesquely, disproportionately, divided...
Lol
Great photos, captions, memes as always.
Thank you again for the transcript. I'm a much faster reader than listener. Sorry about how the labor union leadership ditched you to support Pelosi.
Old joke: Labor Day - not that much of a holiday for the unemployed.
You're welcome and it was ALL the unions