California Truckers Remain Unprotected from State’s Contractor Laws

Paul Collier March 19, 2024

Judge Roger T. Benitez of the US District Court for the Southern District of California declined an appeal of a newly-passed California law that makes it more difficult for companies to designate employees as being eligible for independent contractor status.

The lawsuit appealing the constitutionality of the law was brought by the California Trucking Association and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. The ruling by the Judge means the trucking industry as a whole in California could potentially become much more expensive to utilize and develop in the loss of employment of thousands of California truckers.

Excerpt from news.bloomberglaw.com

A federal judge declined to block a California law that makes it harder to classify freight hauling drivers as independent contractors instead of employees.

Judge Roger T. Benitez of the US District Court for the Southern District of California rejected the California Trucking Association and Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association motions for a new injunction to block the state law known as AB 5. The law, which codified a 2018 California Supreme Court ruling, was enacted to address the widespread problem of classifying certain workers as independent contractors who usually lack benefits such as workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, etc…

College Professor Wins Back Job After Being Fired for Being Christian

Paul Collier March 19, 2024

Dr. Johnson Varkey has won back his job that was lost after St. Philip’s College fired him for teaching students men are men and women are women, both in keeping with scientific fact and his own Christian beliefs. First Liberty Institute filed the case for Varkey after his firing.

Varkey said of the victory, “I was so excited. And thank the Lord for that outcome. I am excited to go back and teach.” He added, in response to a question from CBN about what he hopes others take from this story, “I would say, don’t quit, because there are people very supportive just like First Liberty. Stand for the truth.”

Excerpt from www.cbn.com

As CBN News previously reported, a biology professor for the past 20 years, Varkey consistently taught the same facts about the human reproductive system without any problems. But that changed last year, when he received a notice of dismissal.

“I was surprised and I was shocked, because, you know, never expected for such a letter from, or such an email from, the school because I’ve been teaching that for that school for the last 20 years and without any complaints,” he said.

Varkey believes his lessons on human biology and sex being determined by chromosomes X and Y sparked complaints leading to his dismissal.

“On the 12th of January [of 2023], I received an email from the vice president of the department of the school that they are doing an ethic violation investigation on me, so I responded to his email and asked him, ‘What are the complaints?’” Varkey said. “So, what he said was the human resources will contact me.”

The professor said, although he asked about complaints, he received no response from HR and didn’t get a chance to defend himself before his firing.

“When I got the letter of termination, what the VP mentioned was that some of the complaints were offensive to the homosexuals and transgender,” he said. “So, I presume … that, very possibly, it is based on a human reproductive system, which I taught, which was in November [2022].”

Arizonans Could Soon Vote on Measure to Protect Gun Companies from “Debanking”

Paul Collier March 19, 2024

Republicans in Arizona are hoping to pass legislation that will give the voters a chance to decide if they’d like to protect firearms companies from being de-banked, from having their bank accounts cancelled by banks that disapprove of Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms.

Banks have threatened the public with higher bond rates if the measure passes because banks will simply leave the state rather than allow gun companies to do legal, constitutionally-protected business providing a constitutionally-protected service for American citizens.

U.S. Looks to Delay Order By Niger Junta to Leave Country

Paul Collier March 19, 2024

The Pentagon has announced it has no plans to withdraw its troops despite an announcement by the Niger Junta that the military agreement between the two countries was now over. Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said, “We want to see our partnership continue if there is a path forward.” The Pentagon also claimed it was seeking “clarification” on the order.

Excerpt from www.al-monitor.com

The Pentagon has not yet issued orders for US troops to withdraw from Niger, officials said Monday, as the Biden administration hopes to negotiate with the country’s leaders in a bid to offset Russia’s military inroads in Africa.

A spokesperson for Niger’s ruling military junta announced on Saturday that it was ending its counterterrorism ties with Washington following a tense meeting with senior US officials led by the State Department’s top diplomat for Africa, Molly Phee.

Did Boeing Whistleblower Telegraph His Own Death?

Paul Collier March 19, 2024

The Boeing Whistleblower, John Barnet, 62, who was found dead with a single gunshot to his head in his pick-up truck outside a hotel in South Carolina, may not have killed himself if one person’s claim is true. The alleged suicide happened soon after he had just testified in a case against Boeing. A woman only calling herself “Jennifer” made a claim to ABC News that, just before his death, he told her he wasn’t scared “but if anything happens to me it’s not suicide.”

Jennifer added, “I know he did not commit suicide there’s no way. He loved life too much, he loved his family too much, he loved his brothers too much to put them through what they’re going through right now…I think somebody didn’t like what he had to say and wanted to shut him up and didn’t want it to come back on anyone so that’s why they made it look like a suicide.”

Japan’s Interest Rates Turn Positive for the First Time in 17 Years

Paul Collier March 19, 2024

The seemingly perpetual negative interest rates of Japan came to an end suddenly after the Bank of Japan raised their overnight borrowing lending rate from minus 0.1% to 0% to .1%. This was the first rate hike since 2017 when the negative interest rate policies began.

Excerpt from finance.yahoo.com

… The negative interest rate policy, combined with other measures to inject money into the economy and keep borrowing costs low, “have fulfilled their roles,” Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda told reporters.

The bank has an inflation target of 2% that it used as a benchmark for whether Japan had finally escaped deflationary tendencies. But it had remained cautious about “normalizing” monetary policy, or ending negative borrowing rates, even after data showed inflation at about that rate in recent months.

Ueda said there was “a positive cycle” of a gradual rise of wages and prices, while stressing that monetary policy will remain easy for some time.

Although private sector banks and other financial organizations will make their own decisions about rates, he said did not foresee any drastic rises. The central bank will watch for any big moves in rates, which would cause confusion, he added.

Germany, France, and Poland Form Anti-Russia Pact

Paul Collier March 19, 2024

The heads of Germany, France, and Poland met in Berlin this week and vowed to stick with Ukraine in the war against Russia to the end, which includes expanding their efforts to buy war resources in the world market for Ukraine’s use against their common enemy.

Germany’s PM Olaf Scholz said, “Our three states are among the greatest political, military and financial supporters of Ukraine’s struggle against the Russian imperialist aggressor. We are closely and unshakably by the side of Ukraine. … Solidarity and common action are essential to defend liberty and peace in Europe. More than ever, our unity is what gives us strength.”

Excerpt from www.wsws.org

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met yesterday in Berlin to declare their united support for escalating war with Russia as NATO-backed Ukrainian forces are collapsing on the front.

The Berlin summit came as the European powers’ bellicose statements threaten to unleash total war between NATO and Russia in Ukraine. Only two weeks ago, at the February 26 Paris summit, Macron said the NATO powers did not rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine to fight Russia. A leaked recording of German officers then confirmed that Berlin is preparing to send long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine for strikes on targets deep inside Russia.

In a press conference yesterday, Scholz, Macron and Tusk said they were united in support of escalation plans. Having confirmed their staggeringly aggressive position, they ended the press conference after less than 20 minutes, taking no questions from journalists.

Spy Satellite Network Being Built by Musk’s SpaceX

Paul Collier March 19, 2024

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is apparently building a network of spy satellites for an American intelligence agency according to a report run by Reuters. In the report, Reuters cites unnamed sources within the U.S. intelligence community who are making the claim Musk’s SpaceX is building the spy satellite network.

While Musk’s company, SpaceX, builds surveillance equipment for the U.S. government, his social media company, X, continues to create a brand narrative that seems opposed to the very kind of powers his other company is enabling. In response to the rumors, the National Reconnaissance office told Reuters they are developing “the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen.”

Woke Makes You Sad?

Paul Collier March 19, 2024

A new study conducted by researchers in Finland concludes that people who adopt the ideology of “woke” are at a higher risk of also suffering from depression and anxiety. The study was conducted doing a survey of 5,800 college students and faculty to first determine who was “woke” and then who was suffering from anxiety and/or depression.

The lead study author, Oskari Lahtinen, said they conducted the study because “the arrival of a critical social justice (often called ‘woke’) discourse sparked much debate in Finnish media in the last couple of years. This debate was largely data-free and it could thus be considered a worthwhile question to study how prevalent these attitudes are.”

Dollar Tree Looking to Axe 1K Stores

Paul Collier March 18, 2024

Dollar Tree has announced unexpected plans to close a total of 1000 stores over the next few years starting with the closing of 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of this year. All of the closings are coming to its U.S. stores, none of its Canadian stores are included in the closing. The closings have been attributed to Family Dollar’s acquisition of Dollar Tree in 2015, which experts say has never panned out.