Tag: joe biden

Biden’s Labor Secretary Pick Linked to Union Extortion Allegations

President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to helm the department of labor has been linked to allegations of union extortion over the past decade.

Earlier this month, Biden announced that he had chosen Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as secretary of labor. Walsh, a former president of his city’s building and construction trades council, was considered a favorite of top labor leaders like AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka for the role. The mayor’s personal ties to Biden, who spoke at his 2017 city inaugural, also likely helped him clinch the post.

“He’s a friend and knows Joe: They’ve worked together on numerous occasions,” Trumka told Politico last year. “They have the relationship I think is necessary.”

Despite his ties to both Biden and labor leaders, Walsh’s links to allegations of strong arm union tactics and extortion could upend his nomination.

In August 2019, two high profile members of the mayor’s administration were convicted for allegedly violating federal law. Timothy Sullivan, Walsh’s former director of intergovernmental affairs, and Kenneth Brissette, the onetime head of Boston’s office of tourism, sports, and entertainment, were accused of conspiracy and extortion relating to a planned 2014 music festival.

Keep reading

City councilman in Louisiana arrested for election fraud

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin Thursday morning announced their offices have arrested an Amite City Councilman on eight counts of election fraud. 

Emanuel Zanders, III is accused of submitting voter registration applications that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent.

At a news conference in Baton Rouge, both Attorney General Landry and Secretary Ardoin expressed the importance of election integrity through free and fair elections. They stressed that every legal voter gets one legal vote and no more: one man, one vote.

“Anything other than a one-for-one vote distorts our election process,” said Attorney General Landry. “Those who wish to distort an election in this matter are breaking the law and betraying their fellow citizens. It is even more disheartening when the perpetrator is an elected official.”

Keep reading

Consent-Manufacturing For Patriot Act II Continues

It’s just so emblematic of US austerity policies, which are so normalized they don’t even use that word. Keep people stretched so thin that even a paltry $2000 after months and months of nothing can be spun as an excessively exorbitant indulgence which must be scaled back to keep it reasonable. In reality a grand total of $2600 in the richest nation on earth after all this time would still be a huge slap in the face, but generations of media spin have gone into keeping Americans from attaining that level of rightful entitlement.

So as of this writing the internet is full of angry Americans actually typing the words “$1400 is not $2000”, which is totally bananas. People should not have to say that the number 1400 is not the same as the number 2000. It feels like if my Twitter feed was full of people saying “Cars are not birds”, or “Pogs are not iPhones”, or “Mimes are not salad”. People should not have to make such self-evident clarifications.

But they apparently do need to make such clarifications, because scumbags like Adam Schiff are looking them right in the eye, sharing information that says “$1,400 checks” on it, and telling them that it says “$2000 relief checks”.

2 + 2 = 5.

Keep reading

Most major US airlines ban guns in luggage for DC flights

Airlines and airports say they are stepping up security before next week’s presidential inauguration, with Delta and other major airlines saying they will prohibit passengers flying to the Washington area from putting guns in checked bags.

The moves follow the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump and politically tinged confrontations on some flights.

Delta Air Lines was the first to announce Thursday that it will prohibit checking guns to Washington-area airports and was soon followed by United, Alaska and American. All said their bans will start Saturday and run through Inauguration Day until Jan. 23.

“We are all on high alert based on the events over the last couple weeks up in Washington,″ CEO Ed Bastian said Thursday on CNBC.

The airlines also announced other measures. American Airlines is bringing back a ban on serving alcohol on flights to and from the Washington area — flights go dry starting Saturday through next Thursday. Several airlines are moving crews out of downtown Washington hotels for their safety.

Keep reading

Biden Has Ties To 5 Major Tech Companies

At least 14 people who President-elect Joe Biden has picked to serve either in his administration or to advise his transition have worked for the Big Tech firms that cracked down earlier this week on President Donald Trump and a social media site popular with conservatives.

Apple’s top lobbyist was a chief adviser to the Biden transition team. A former Facebook executive will serve as staff director in the Biden White House, and a former Twitter executive will serve as chief spokesperson for the National Security Council under Biden.

Current and former executives at those firms and two others, Google and Amazon, fill out other positions in the incoming Biden administration, or his transition team.

The five tech giants all took action this week against Trump and Parler, the social media site, in response to riots at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

Keep reading