The Morning Dispatch: Biden’s SCOTUS Commission

Plus: Workers at an Alabama Amazon plant opt not to unionize.

By
520

Happy Monday! We bet you won’t be able to guess which former president called which current Senate Minority Leader a “dumb son of a b****” over the weekend.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • There will be a dip in availability of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this week—and possibly longer—due to a manufacturing problem at a Baltimore facility, the White House said Friday. Johnson & Johnson still expects to deliver 100 million doses of the vaccine by the end of May, officials said, a goal they set when the vaccine was approved.

  • The White House announced Friday that Roberta Jacobson—President Joe Biden’s “border czar” on the National Security Council—will step down at the end of the month. Jacobson says she only intended to serve about 100 days, but the news comes amid a growing surge of migrants to the southern border.

  • One day after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani officially inaugurated advanced centrifuges at the underground Natanz nuclear facility Saturday, a blackout struck its electrical grid in what the head of Iran’s nuclear program called an act of “nuclear terrorism.” While no countries have publicly taken or cast blame, several American and Israeli intelligence officials told the New York Times Israel was responsible.

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
520
By
Comments (520)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Sheri Smith

    Ross Douthat’s argument is not persuasive. If Judeo-Christian religion has lost adherents, it is because the message at the heart of these religions has been corrupted and politicized. Too many “people of faith” have told us how to live and what to believe while possessing zero moral or ethical principles. I’m sick of hypocrites, including Douthat.

    Collapse
  2. Avatar photo
    Sgrantsm

    QOTD: Only one union membership, the public teachers' union. I didn't have a choice, if I wanted the job. I liked knowing what I needed to do to increase my pay, but I didn't like that its purpose was to preserve jobs and benefits and not about students' educational achievement.

    BTW, I do not think public employee unions, including police, should be able to donate to and canvas for political candidates who would be setting their salaries, or in the case of the police, prosecutors who might be prosecuting them for misconduct. Isn't that a clear conflict of interest?

    Collapse
  3. Richard Palzer

    Particularly regarding public-sector unions, the so-called "right to work" characterization endorsed by the Supreme Court decision in upholding Janus is not only a misnomer but patently unfair. More accurately, the decision is "right to freeload" because it allows employees to benefit from union-bargained negotiated benefits but avoid contributing to the cost of attaining such benefits. How? By not requiring "fair share" contributions from those employees electing to not be part of the union achieving benefits they enjoy. At the least, it should be possible to negotiate the percentage of dues required to help pay for such benefits.

    Collapse
  4. Avatar photo
    Jen

    Nikki Haley says she will support Trump if he runs and won’t run against him. She says if she decides to run she will discuss it with him first. The hold this loser has over Republicans is truly embarrassing. My God do none of them have any self respect?

    https://twitter.com/megkinnardap/status/1381705335505879044?s=21

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Dave in NOLA

      And I am done with her.

      Collapse
    2. Avatar photo
      Pat Riot

      Remember, this is the party you need to support for as long as you believe Democrats are satan.

      Collapse
    3. Avatar photo
      Kevin Durant?

      President Kamala!!

      Collapse
    4. Avatar photo
      Bada Bing

      No.

      Collapse
  5. Avatar photo
    María Boza

    I retired through the California Public Employee Retirement System. While working, I was a member of the California State University faculty union because the dues were taken out of my paycheck anyway and the entitlement system was so complicated it was convenient to have someone to consult. When I went to a CalPERS retirements benefits event, I was blown away to learn that the benefits enjoyed by those who retired from CSU were much better than those who retired from other California agencies. The reason? We had a strong union. The union threatened to strike once during my time in it. I volunteered to serve in the first aid tent. The administration caved in before my colleagues got to experience my lack of expertise in dispensing first aid.

    Collapse
  6. Richard Fulmer

    I was a member of the Operating Engineers’ union for a few summers when I was still in college. The union had a lot of make-work rules that decreased efficiency, raised costs, and slowed work.

    For example, every piece of equipment had to have an operator. That included generators. The operator’s only job was to turn the generator on in the morning and off at the end of the workday. If the machine broke down, a mechanic was called in to fix it.

    When lumber was delivered, a carpenter had to be present before the truck could be unloaded. The carpenter didn’t do anything, but he had to be there. Similarly, an electrician had to be present when a truck carrying electrical equipment or cable was unloaded.

    If a carpenter or electrician wasn’t immediately available, the trucker, the crane operator, and the inventory clerk just had to wait.

    Inefficiency is waste, and waste often translates into unnecessary pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.

    Collapse
  7. Avatar photo
    C C Writer

    Never been a member of a union. Never will be.

    I have been a scout: a Girl Scout. Here is what we learned:

    Be prepared.

    On my honor I will try to do my duty to God and my country, to help other people at all times, and obey the Girl Scout Law. (that's the old-school version I learned.)

    1. A Girl Scout’s Honor Is to be Trusted
    2. A Girl Scout Is Loyal
    3. A Girl Scout’s Duty Is to be Useful and to Help Others
    4. A Girl Scout is a Friend to All, and a Sister to every other Girl Scout
    5. A Girl Scout Is Courteous
    6. A Girl Scout Is a Friend to Animals
    7. A Girl Scout Obeys Orders
    8. A Girl Scout is Cheerful
    9. A Girl Scout is Thrifty
    10. A Girl Scout is Clean in Thought, Word and Deed.
    (That's the list that was current in the 1950s and 1960s.)

    I think I still do most of that stuff, most of the time. Or at least I know it is what I'm supposed to do.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Sgrantsm

      CC, I was only a Brownie, but my older sister was a Girl Scout and I looked up to her. Somehow I've adopted the motto, Be Prepared. Isn't the two-fingers sign, index and middle, like the peace sign, the sign for be prepared?

      Collapse
      1. Avatar photo
        C C Writer

        Here's how I think it goes: The Girl Scout Sign is three fingers raised, with the thumb holding down the pinky. This is also known as the Girl Scout Salute. It is made when reciting the promise; it is not specifically symbolic of being prepared. The Brownies, being the junior version of the Girl Scouts, use just the two fingers for their salute. But the fingers are held together. The peace sign (or what used to be the victory sign in Churchill's time) is made with the same two fingers but they are held apart in a V shape.

        BTW apparently I left out the Girl Scout Slogan (not the same thing as the motto, which is Be Prepared), and the slogan is "do a good turn daily." For those who need translation into current parlance, this means something like "pay it forward with a random act of kindness every day." This is a good way for everyone to live, no?

        Collapse
        1. Avatar photo
          Sgrantsm

          Yes, indeed! Thanks for the info. 2 fingers is a lot easier for me now than 3 . . . :)

          Collapse
  8. @fakeJohn

    "We bet you won’t be able to guess which former president called which current Senate Minority Leader a “dumb son of a b****” over the weekend."
    Carter?

    Collapse
  9. Avatar photo
    Jen

    Well I’ll give Joe Biden credit for his comments on the Daunte Wright shooting. Biden said we need to wait to see what the investigation shows, that there is no justification for looting and we need peace and calm. Imagine if Trump had done something even remotely close to that instead of pouring gas on the fire last year. Hopefully governor Waltz doesn’t say something reckless at his press conference. The way he handled the George Floyd protests was awful.

    Collapse
  10. Mike Bates

    Belonged to a union (it was mandatory) for a very short time at a manufacturing plant when I was 18. The first week, a union representative came by to comment that some of the bargaining unit members were concerned that I was working too fast. He just wanted me to be aware of their concern.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Emerson P--.

      I had a similar thing when I lent a hand to someone before my shift started. Not 30 seconds later a union guy came over and asked why I was working off the clock. Framed it as "stealing work" from the guy I was helping.

      Collapse
Load More