Politics

(BRIDGEWATER, N.J.) — President Donald Trump is accusing social media companies of “totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices” and says “we won’t let that happen.”

Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump Administration, we won’t let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others…….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2018

Trump’s Saturday morning tweets come as companies have been working to ban right-wing “Infowars” conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their platforms.

Apple, YouTube and Spotify have permanently removed some of his content, Facebook has suspended him for 30 days and removed some of his pages, while Twitter has given Jones a weeklong timeout and is mulling deeper changes to try to limit the spread of fake news, misinformation and hate speech.

Trump did not mention Jones by name in his tweets, which complained that, “Too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad.”

Trump appeared on Jones’ program during the 2016 campaign and praised his “amazing” reputation.

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Source:: Time – Politics

The labour dominoes are falling in the right direction for the Alberta government.

So far, three of the province’s six big groups of public sector workers have accepted what amounts to wage-freezing contracts with the government.

And a fourth just signed a tentative agreement this week.

About 23,000 government workers represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees will soon see details of the new deal so they can vote on it next week.

Officials with the union and government are refusing to release details but you don’t have to read too closely between the lines of a government statement released Friday to get the gist of what’s in the latest contract.

“We are pleased agreements ratified to date with other labour partner are consistent with the goals we outlined,” said the statement. “The government has already signed common sense agreements with no pay increases and job security. These reflect our fiscal reality and are fair to the workers who deliver the public services on which Albertans depend.”

Thanks to the AUPE Facebook page, plenty of irritated workers are expressing frustration over what they expect will be a zero per cent increase.

No wage hikes is the pattern so far with agreements signed with three other big public sector unions: the Alberta Teachers’ Association, the United Nurses of Alberta, and the Health Sciences Association of Alberta.

All agreed to an outright wage freeze or at least an agreement to limit any increases to an already established salary ladder. But they all insisted on a “me-too” clause where they’d get a wage hike if any other public sector union managed to negotiate one.

The government is doing its darndest to make sure nobody gets a hike.

The two dominoes still standing are contracts for 37,000 members of two locals of the AUPE who work for Alberta Health Services.

It’d be something of a disaster for the government if they somehow managed to get wage hikes. That would guarantee wage increases for everybody else — and suddenly the dominoes would be picking themselves up and falling in the wrong direction.

That’s not likely to happen. Even if some rank-and-file members are angry with a wage freeze, the unions don’t want to make life difficult for a New Democratic government that is largely sympathetic to public sector workers.

And this government needs all the help it can get.

It received some good news this week that the National Energy Board has <a target="_blank" href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4392726/neb-approves-trans-mountain-extension-edmonton-kelowna/" target="_blank" …read more

Source:: Edmonton Journal – Politics

(ALEXANDRIA, Va.) — The judge presiding over the fraud trial of former Trump campaign Paul Manafort says he won’t release the names of jurors at the trial’s conclusion because he fears for their safety and because he himself has received threats.

A coalition of media organizations, including The Associated Press, filed a motion requesting the names of jurors after the trial, as well as access to sealed transcripts of bench conferences that have occurred during the three-week trial.

Jury lists are presumed to be public unless a judge articulates a reason for keeping them secret.

Judge T.S. Eliis III said during a hearing Friday afternoon he is concerned for the “peace and safety of the jurors.”

He said that he personally has received threats and is currently under the protection of U.S. marshals. He declined to delve into specifics, but said he’s been taken aback by the level of interest in the trial.

…read more

Source:: Time – Politics