JFLNYC wrote:If that’s the standard for elected officials shouldn’t Trump resign immediately, too?

Eventually one party needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing instead of pointing fingers.

pacino wrote:

traderdave wrote:A bit more on the employer/tip thing:

It’s illegal for employers to take tips from employees. But, the Department of Labor (DOL) is proposing a new rule that would allow employers to take their workers’ tips as long as they earn at least minimum wage.

Published on the Federal Register on Tuesday, the new rule would rescind a regulation enacted during the Obama administration that mandates employers distribute tips to their tipped employees. Under the new rule, restaurants would be able to pool tips from servers and share them with untipped employees like dishwashers.

Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy institute (EPI), points to research that shows illegal wage theft exceeds $15 billion every year. “It seems obvious that when employers can legally pocket the tips earned by their employees, many will do so,” she said.

The DOL argues that tip pooling helps reward those who don’t normally get tips. Groups like the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association assert that this rule “would help decrease wage disparities between front-of-house and back-of-house employees.”

In other words, the front-of-house employees should subsidize the back-of-house employees so that the employer doesn't have to pay the back-of-house employees as much, which leaves more for themselves. Frankly, I would be fine with this so long as there was a mechanism that guarantees that the back-of-house employees actually get their share of the tips. They do, after all, contribute to the service that led to the tip.

I am NOT fine with this, not at all. PAY THEM ALL MORE. we, the taxpayers, end up paying because these people's work is denigrated and not properly compensated by their employers. Plus, it's plain wrong.

Well, yeah, but I was only trying to address the tipping rule. I see the stories of tip sharing above and am a bit jealous. I bused, washed dishes and cooked for a number of years at different places and the waitresses never shared with me (at least not money - nudge, nudge).

Phred wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:If that’s the standard for elected officials shouldn’t Trump resign immediately, too?

He would have to admit to it first.

That's the difference between Conyers/Franken and Moore/Trump. Admission vs denial.

I don't believe Conyers admitted anything, the delayed pressure from Democrats, the amount of accusers, and his age/health caused his half-hearted resignation.

Phred wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:If that’s the standard for elected officials shouldn’t Trump resign immediately, too?

He would have to admit to it first.

That's the difference between Conyers/Franken and Moore/Trump. Admission vs denial.

Resignations are for Democrats who are weak on crime. Being a denier is being strong on crime as one is a practitioner.

We need to be better, as men, as Democrats, as employers, coworkers, whatever. Period. And if that means taking down powerful Democrats or banishing them from the party, so fucking be it. Fuck Al Franken.

Bill Clinton should never attend a fundraiser ever again, for example. If he's at the DNC in 2020 it will be a stain on the party. I've already given my mea culpas for supporting this dreck. Others need to do the same.

Congress is attempting to pass a short-term CR to fund the government, probably only for the rest of the year. Democrats need to not blink on this unless the short term CR includes at least a DACA vote and CHIP funding.

slugsrbad wrote:Al Franken accused by former Dem Congressional aide of trying to forcibly kiss her in 2006 (before he was a Senator) after a taping of his radio show. He should have resigned after the first story for many reasons and he should still resign. This is now six accusers. I think the initial report was the worst, but now it's a pattern. He allegedly said to the aide that kissing her was "his right as an entertainer."

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/ ... 006-281049

Franken states that this accusation is categorically untrue and he would never had said that it was his right as an entertainer.

pacino wrote:We need to better, as men, as Democrats, as employers, coworkers, whatever. Period. And if that means taking down powerful Democrats or banishing them from the party, so fucking be it. Fuck Al Franken.

Bill Clinton should never attend a fundraiser ever again, for example. If he's at the DNC in 2020 it will be a stain on the party. I've already given my mea culpas for supporting this dreck. Others need to do the same.

Yes

President Trump is allegedly (and to the surprise of nobody) fully supporting Moore, stating he doesn't believe his accusers and that the yearbook signature is a forgery. Deny, deny, deny.

Uncle Milty wrote:

pacino wrote:

traderdave wrote:A bit more on the employer/tip thing:

It’s illegal for employers to take tips from employees. But, the Department of Labor (DOL) is proposing a new rule that would allow employers to take their workers’ tips as long as they earn at least minimum wage.

Published on the Federal Register on Tuesday, the new rule would rescind a regulation enacted during the Obama administration that mandates employers distribute tips to their tipped employees. Under the new rule, restaurants would be able to pool tips from servers and share them with untipped employees like dishwashers.

Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy institute (EPI), points to research that shows illegal wage theft exceeds $15 billion every year. “It seems obvious that when employers can legally pocket the tips earned by their employees, many will do so,” she said.

The DOL argues that tip pooling helps reward those who don’t normally get tips. Groups like the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association assert that this rule “would help decrease wage disparities between front-of-house and back-of-house employees.”

In other words, the front-of-house employees should subsidize the back-of-house employees so that the employer doesn't have to pay the back-of-house employees as much, which leaves more for themselves. Frankly, I would be fine with this so long as there was a mechanism that guarantees that the back-of-house employees actually get their share of the tips. They do, after all, contribute to the service that led to the tip.

I am NOT fine with this, not at all. PAY THEM ALL MORE. we, the taxpayers, end up paying because these people's work is denigrated and not properly compensated by their employers. Plus, it's plain wrong.

Need a minimum wage that at least meets the cost of living. Along with that should be a different minimum for students/minors and provisions to encourage or possibly require a certain percentage of full-time positions.

agreed; structural changes can help this. that's why the Dept of Labor allowing this is so infuriating. they're literally the rulemakers on this crap.

I'm really enthusiastic about our Democratic candidate for the House of Reps here in AR's 4th district, Hayden Shamel who I met last night at our county meeting. To be sure, it's a huge long shot, and she knows it.But the AR Congressional delegation to a man has shown little real concern for the needs and interests of ordinary Arkansans, and I think with time and effort, we can begin to turn things around. What we do in 2018 can build a foundation for 2020, and so forth.

In any event , she's more than just a vote against Trump and the Republicans, which really won't work. Instead, she's articulating a positive vision for the district and the nation.

Instead, she's articulating a positive vision for the district and the nation.

hell yes

and if she doesn't win, then like you said in 2020 a foundation is built. run everywhere on a good vision.

the tax bill is a mess and riddled with errors, so say the people who have been able to read through it since it was introduced and passed in the span of a few hours.

CalvinBall wrote:the tax bill is a mess and riddled with errors, so say the people who have been able to read through it since it was introduced and passed in the span of a few hours.

So that will be adopted in conference and passed you are saying.

I had read (ON THE INTERNET SO IT HAS TO BE TRUE) that there's at least one glaring mistake that would need a new vote to be corrected. Be great if they had to go back to the drawing board.

thephan wrote:

CalvinBall wrote:the tax bill is a mess and riddled with errors, so say the people who have been able to read through it since it was introduced and passed in the span of a few hours.

So that will be adopted in conference and passed you are saying.

idk, if the reports are to be believed, there are errors that make pretty large loopholes

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/ ... ans-208049

Their plans to cut taxes on pass-through businesses would open a whole new palette of complicated tax-avoidance techniques allowing the well-to-do to slash their taxes, lawyers say.

People will be tempted to recharacterize their income in order to take advantage of a 23 percent deduction for pass-throughs offered by the Senate. For someone making $500,000, that would save them $30,000.

Bucky wrote:I had read (ON THE INTERNET SO IT HAS TO BE TRUE) that there's at least one glaring mistake that would need a new vote to be corrected. Be great if they had to go back to the drawing board.

Yea, apparently Mitch fucked up the Alternative Minimum Tax. Everyone knows that they decreased the corporate tax rate to 20%, which is what the AMT is set at. That means the floor is the ceiling, so all of the deductions/loopholes for corporations are irrelevant.

After Bannon attacked Mitt Romney for his lack of service in Vietnam/hiding behind his religion (he was a missionary in France). The Governor and Lt. Governor (among many others) told Bannon to STFU and stay out of Utah.

The quicker Bannon disappears from the public view, the better.

slugsrbad wrote:After Bannon attacked Mitt Romney for his lack of service in Vietnam/hiding behind his religion (he was a missionary in France). The Governor and Lt. Governor (among many others) told Bannon to STFU and stay out of Utah.

The quicker Bannon disappears from the public view, the better.

Kind of crazy. He went on to go after the Romney boys who did not go to the middle east. "Where were the Romneys?" Hmmm, where were the Trumps?

HA! 5 minutes later I hear this very thing. LOL

Senators Hassan (D-NH), McCaskill (D-MO), Hirono (D-HI), and Gillibrand (D-NY) call for Franken (D-MN) to resign.