Without any additional ado — a live event:
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Category: Uncategorized
We Knew It Was Just A Matter Of Time… But One Individual Has Made An NLRB Charge Letter / Filing… Intimating One MILLION Potential Amazon Employees, To Be Represented.
This charge letter was originally filed in late June, but as I’ve previously indicated, it takes some time… for the FOIA offices — to clear letters and charges for public consumption.
So it is… that tonight, we can report that a Seattle area complainant seeks to cover up to one million Amazon team members, alleging Amazon’s violation of various parts of Section 8(a) of the NLRA — in thwarting employees’ rights to unionize, by actions of line management (though it does name the current CEO — as the company representative complained of).
I would strongly suspect that (since so many other large collective groups were accreted over decades, for example by the Postal Workers’, and Teamsters’ unions) this is the single largest ever unitary employer to be claimed, for a representative employee-group as a bargaining unit, in the nearly ninety year year history of the NLRA.
“Once the flames begin to catch, the fire will grow… much higher.” — Peter Gabriel, “Biko”. Onward, ever onward. . . even as I am feeling a rather surprising, severe sore throat — for the first time in at least eight years. Weird. Fully vaxxed and boosted, so it is not that… but very out of the main, for me. Odd.
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[Sunday Space Science:] The First Priority Targets, For The Next Gen Space ‘Scope — As Released By ESA/NASA/Goddard…
We will, of course, be treated to the first razor sharp images, come Tuesday morning… but between now and then, NASA and ESA have released a list of the first ten or so priority observing sweeps, and among them are a few exo-planets.
These images will revolutionize our understanding of the youngest (exo-planet-), and oldest (deep, early Universe) objects in the night sky. Most of them too faint for any human to have ever witnessed them, even with the aid of Hubble. We are on the cusp of an age not unlike that when Galileo first aimed his lenses at the night sky. Our whole conception of ourselves is about to change, as it is not entirely improbable that one night, in the next few years, we will see unmistakable visual evidence of… exo-biology:
…These listed targets below represent the first wave of full-color scientific images and spectra the observatory has gathered, and the official beginning of Webb’s general science operations. They were selected by an international committee of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Carina Nebula. The Carina Nebula is one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina. Nebulae are stellar nurseries where stars form. The Carina Nebula is home to many massive stars, several times larger than the Sun.
WASP-96 b (spectrum). WASP-96 b is a giant planet outside our solar system, composed mainly of gas. The planet, located nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth, orbits its star every 3.4 days. It has about half the mass of Jupiter, and its discovery was announced in 2014.
Southern Ring Nebula. The Southern Ring, or “Eight-Burst” nebula, is a planetary nebula – an expanding cloud of gas, surrounding a dying star. It is nearly half a light-year in diameter and is located approximately 2,000 light years away from Earth.
Stephan’s Quintet: About 290 million light-years away, Stephan’s Quintet is located in the constellation Pegasus. It is notable for being the first compact galaxy group ever discovered in 1877. Four of the five galaxies within the quintet are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters.
SMACS 0723: Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations.
The release of these first images marks the official beginning of Webb’s science operations, which will continue to explore the mission’s key science themes. Teams have already applied through a competitive process for time to use the telescope, in what astronomers call its first “cycle,” or first year of observations….
Now you know — off, to a backyard six-year old baby girl’s bluebird-themed birthday party. Grin….
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[U, X2: Kentucky, As Well] At The 5,000 Employee Facilities-Complex In Bessemer, Alabama — Amazon Receives Two New NLRB Charging Letters, Overnight…
Updated: 07.12.2022 — Here is the charging document, now FOIA-ed. This is the same union that narrowly lost a vote in these facilities late last year. This is the same union that narrowly lost a vote in these facilities late last year.
It is hard to overstate how much the organized labor world has expanded / risen — in public esteem, and actual bargaining power, post the JFK8 win by Christian Smalls. This, however is an older line union, making the twin charges.
UPDATED End of Day, July 8 — It turns out (according to local press reports) that Kentucky (Campbellville, outside Louisville) will be host to the first outside New York union contract with Mr. Smalls’ ALU as the collective bargaining party. So that makes… three — in about 24 hours, covering multiple thousands of workers each. End of updated portion.
Here are the case numbers (all associated documents, for all charges we’ve mentioned in the past two weeks, are still in the throes of the federal FOIA process. . . so we wait):
…Case Number: 10-CA-298931
Date Filed: 07/07/2022
Status: Open
Location: Bessemer, AL
Region Assigned: Region 10, Atlanta, Georgia….Case Number: 10-CA-298933
Date Filed: 07/07/2022
Status: Open
Location: Bessemer, AL
Region Assigned: Region 10, Atlanta, Georgia….
Be excellent to one another this weekend, as we all have special birthday celebrations afoot… grin.
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It Turns Out Bennu… Is Like An Old-School McD’s Plastic Ball Pit — Or… An Inter Stellar Version Of… Quick-Sand.
The OSIRIS-REx mission released a new scientific paper yesterday.
Once again, it is simply… astonishing — how much we’ve learned from that visit (and, correlatively, how little we actually… know). This oddly light ball of dust is held together largely by electro-static charges and micro-gravity, such that a human stepping on it would sink into it, as if in a vast McD’s ball pit — or a form of charcoal colored… quicksand. Here’s the latest, from Goddard:
…After analyzing data gathered when NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a sample from asteroid Bennu in October 2020, scientists have learned something astonishing: The spacecraft would have sunk into Bennu had it not fired its thrusters to back away immediately after it grabbed dust and rock from the asteroid’s surface.
It turns out that the particles making up Bennu’s exterior are so loosely packed and lightly bound to each other that if a person were to step onto Bennu they would feel very little resistance, as if stepping into a pit of plastic balls that are popular play areas for kids.
“If Bennu was completely packed, that would imply nearly solid rock, but we found a lot of void space in the surface,” said Kevin Walsh, a member of the OSIRIS-REx science team from Southwest Research Institute, which is based in San Antonio.
The latest findings about Bennu’s surface were published on July 7 in a pair of papers in the journals Science and Science Advances, led respectively by Dante Lauretta, principal investigator of OSIRIS-REx, based at University of Arizona, Tucson, and Walsh. These results add to the intrigue that has kept scientists on the edge of their seats throughout the OSIRIS-REx mission, as Bennu has proved consistently unpredictable….
Amazing… simply… amazing — and so much… unwasted grace, there in the eternally-silent nights… of deep space. Smile….
नमस्ते
In Which Scott Johnson Finds The House Speaker’s Breasts… “Distasteful”. WTAF?!?
If he was conveying that he thought the European newspapers should not run such photos… why-oh-why would he run the one he did?
If OTOH, he feels older women shouldn’t show their bodies… well, never mind. The point is… Scott Johnson is a purely doddering old misogynist.
I never saw Powerline run a photo of Trump’s leaky Depends, on the golf course.
So — without additional ado — I offer it, to level Scott’s idiotic “playing field”.
The House Speaker wore what she wore.
Who the hell is he, to tell her to cover up?
I’d also ask… did he ALSO complain about Melania’s see through white dress at the July Fourth celebration of three years past, in the rain? She showed both areolas and nipples to the world, on a national network broadcast… I couldn’t give a rip, boys — but at least be… consistent.
My hunch is he got off on Melania — and so he and Hinderaker were… mum.
D I S G U S T I N G.
Power-Alley, Returns: I’ve Ignored This Persistent Rumor For Weeks Now… But It Seems More Concrete This Morning.
I’ve largely ignored it because the original rumor mill had it that Merck’s Rob Davis was interested mostly because he felt the oncology focused R&D pipeline could be snagged on the cheap, as the former Seagen CEO departed after a pretty well verified domestic battery arrest.
It seemed that one would first look at the science, not the fallen team-leader, to decide whether to bid. But now that the figures represent an over 25 per cent premium from a few weeks’ prior NASDAQ prices… it begins to look like a more run of the mill M&A deal, at fair values. Here’s the latest, from Bloomberg, but with the WSJ being closest to to the involved parties:
…Merck & Co. is in advanced talks to acquire Seagen Inc. and could reach an agreement as soon as this month, people familiar with the matter said.
An offer price of at least $200 per share is under discussion, one of the people said. That would represent a roughly 14% premium to Seagen’s last closing price and translate into a valuation of $37-$40 billion or more, data compiled by Bloomberg show….
So now you know… the whole “Keytruda coming off patent” narrative, as a reason for the deal… is mostly silly. That won’t be until the early 2030s, with evergreening of those patents. Onward, then… grinning. Baby girl here all day tomorrow — with parks and paleta men, in our future!
नमस्ते
Brittney Griner Enters An Agreed Plea, In Moscow — To Speed A Prisoner Swap With US…
She only had a few THC vape cartridges in her luggage, at the Moscow airport.
But Putin had invaded Ukraine and wanted some high-profile leverage, if one of his generals was captured. That’s about the sum and substance of it. She’s entered a guilty plea, to get to a verdict… and be eligible for a diplomatic swap.
I don’t care who we give up — she deserves to be… home. The way pay (doesn’t) work in the WNBA, most players play off-season in the EU or Russia to earn a living commensurate with their formidable talents. In any event, here’s NPR on the latest:
…There has been chatter in Washington and Moscow about a possible prisoner swap involving Griner and a Russian national imprisoned in the U.S. Citing confirmation from an official source, Russian state agency Tass previously reported that discussions had centered on the notorious convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, also known as the “Merchant of Death….”
Russia has said there will not be a potential prisoner swap until after a verdict has been reached….
C’mon, Joe — and Kamala — let’s get our girl… home, already.
नमस्ते
More News To Come — But Capstone Is Back In Touch With NASA Ground Ops…
Good news!
Capstone “dialed home” — and all is well, as of midday today.
…Mission operators have re-established contact with NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft. Additional updates will be provided….
Grinning ear to ear, here… all good, en-route… to the moon!
नमस्ते
Tangerine: Still Lying About Who Pays For His Disastrous Tariffs.
In the “I really don’t care… do you?” Department(!), we see on both his platform and Gab, Trump still claims China paid his tariffs.
This is demonstrably false and is why tariffs were scrapped no later than the 1890s, by sensible economists.
Applying tariffs to any imported good simply increases the price a US consumer pays for a good. It is pure inflation, as no higher quality is associated with that increase in price.
Only the importer pays the tariff, and he in turn almost always passes it on… to the consumer.
Again, Tangerine is too stupid to understand basic macro-economics. [Or, he is lying — but that may give him too much credit. He lacks even a fourth grade level education — on most matters.]
And Hinderaker is too much the coward to explain what he knows is true: Tangerine’s tariffs are a major source of the US price inflation consumers are now experiencing.
Damnation.
Out.
