Workers at a Mississippi Nissan plant reject UAW representation by a nearly 2-1 margin -- and Joe Allen at In These Times wonders what the UAW might have done wrong. Long story short: "the UAW has become a prison of its modern history," and didn't, for example, try to organize temps and other workers at the weak points of Nissan's Just-in-Time-reliant supply chain. Meanwhile, Joe Atkins at Labor South is more optimistic, not just because heartbreak on the road to recognition is not uncommon, but also because it'll be more difficult for "free" trade deals, and other nefarious forces, to destroy a 6,400-worker auto plant than to destroy textile mills.
Dean Baker wonders "Is the New York Times Required to Lie to Push Trade Agreements?" Short answer: yes. Somewhat longer answer: the lies are getting a little better now, since they depend on you, like most folks, not knowing the precise size of Japan's beef market or the precise role of the Canadian softwood industry on the value of American home construction, so that in the end you're a lot more susceptible to scare numbers. Also, too, collecting anecdotes is the beginning of science, not its end. Hell, it's not the end of journalism, either. It's not even the end of storytelling.
Steven Rosenfeld at AlterNet offers "11 Steps States Could Take to Rein In Healthcare Costs While Building Toward Single-Payer Universal Coverage." Mr. Rosenfeld suggests we should attack the "medical billing complex" as a stepping stone to universal health insurance coverage; most of them require increased state regulation, and when right-wingers rise to squeal ZOMG TEH REGULASHUNZ RAISEZ TEH COSTZ!!!!!, folks who are aware how much our health care already costs may not be very impressed.
Democrats start running campaign ads against 10 House Republicans for voting for the notorious House repeal-and-replace bill, accusing them of supporting an "age tax." That's not bad, and it's not a lie, either -- letting health insurance corporations charge seniors five times as much for insurance, rather than three times as much as Obamacare presently allows, is rather like assessing a tax on someone just for being old. Maybe my wish that all campaign ads attacking Republicans were like this one has prejudiced me, but the "age tax" isn't the best arrow in Democrats' quiver -- other, sharper arrows include they tried to kill Medicaid! and they tried to take money from Medicare and give it to rich people!
Finally, a Breitbart writer suggests that a Vogue cover showing Jennifer Lawrence and the Statue of Liberty comprises more liberal bias from the media. You know, because of that pissing match White House aide/face even a mother could punch Stephen Miller had with CNN reporter Jay Acosta about the Statue of Liberty and immigration law. Only after being told that covers are generally shot months in advance of publication did Mr. Carney finally say he was only "teasing," which he would have said at the beginning if it were really true. Anyway, it's nice to have the Statue of Liberty back from right-wingers, even if only because right-wing drama hounds have decided it's too liberal for them.
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