Midrange Weekly February 8
Your Weekly Round Up Of What’s Got The Midrange Staff’s Attention
Midrange Staff @midrangeyvr
Welcome to Midrange Weekly for the week of February 8 and oh wow is it possible that his week was kind of… normal? That seems as fundamentally antithetical and straight up wrong at this point as anything as we can imagine. Can a respected politician embezzle a billion dollars or can at least someone throw a shoe at George Bush again? We’ll take a classic! Failing that, even without the hyper explicit idiosyncrasies of the last forever or so, there’s still enough going on to register some opprobrium or at least the dazzled wonderment of a child with keys dangled in front of their eyes. Let’s see what we can dig up.
Biden Doesn’t Need To Call For Unity
It happens during every election cycle and it’s always so stupid. Some reporter, whether under the auspices of being hard hitting or the genuflecting variety, always asks of a candidate if they will unite or divide the American people. What the hell kind of answer do they expect any candidate to give? Why even ask it? Furthermore the notion that a president, through rhetoric or policy could mitigate the increasingly insurmountable fissures both in culture or ideology is galling in its naivety. That’s why it’s with no small amount of distress and frustration among many of us that we observed such measures and promises as a central theme of Biden’s inauguration speech. A call for unity among Americans and a return to a more kindred manner of bipartisanship in the legislative branch and other avenues of government. It has not exactly gone well.
In the brief time that Biden has been president, he has to his credit gotten a fair bit done. With a series of executive orders he has laid the ground work for addressing climate change, a stricter adherence to science in policy making, and furthering trans rights in certain aspects of society. He has also moved ahead with COVID relief stimulus at a swifter pace than his predecessor. So far republicans mostly hate him for it. With every step he takes or order he signs that they are not on board with (which is to say all of them), they follow through with predictable grievances of being left out of the process, or their opinions being casually disregarded. They deride his prior claims of unity as disingenuous, labeling and traducing him as a hypocrite or untrustworthy. Of course none of this is unexpected. When the republicans are in control, their obnoxious arrogance is suffocating; when they are relegated to the minority you have to walk on eggshells around them lest you toss them into pearl clutching paroxysms. Putting their performative victimization aside, Biden really did make a tactical error in proselytizing the value in unity and working together, and it’s worth looking at why.
Such calls for bipartisanship and a more congenial discourse in and outside of congress have been idiomatic to Biden’s motif for decades. This is even to the point of getting him into trouble briefly when we waxed nostalgic about the good old days where he could get along and set policy with republican senators that history would show were avowed white supremacists. Beyond mere anecdotal embarrassment, it highlights one of the problems in Biden’s specific urgency to working together- what is the moral and ethical utility in working with such people? A month ago trump supporters staged a coup that left 6 people dead, including a cop, and countless others with injuries. Far from accepting and taking responsibility in their role in spreading and perpetrating the lie that compelled the seditionists to act, they have walked back their statements, laid claims of false flag operations, or straight up tried to gaslight us into believing they weren’t involved in any of the spurious lies about Trump’s election defeat. This is the self-proclaimed party of responsibility.
This is also the party of which many of its members gave a standing ovation to newly minted member of congress Marjorie Taylor Greene. Settling nicely into her role as the current villain on this season of America, she has spread absurd lies about election fraud, rampant anti Muslim xenophobia, gone on bizarre rants about Jewish space lasers being the cause of last years California wildfires, and repeatedly endorsed and platformed calls to execute prominent democrats including Nancy Pelosi. She is a toxic and vile presence in the house, and they clapped for her. That is who the GOP is. They are the party of Qanon, of childish conspiracy theories, and one that would condone violence rather than admit their role in inciting it. Why does Biden wish to work with these people? Adherence to the traditional institutional statesmanship of his office isn’t a good enough reason anymore.
Furthermore, why does Biden need to work with these people, because on purely procedural grounds he doesn’t really need to all that much. He has control of the executive and (admittedly just barely) the legislative branch. Biden is allowing himself to be held back an antiquated sense of fairness the GOP has long since rejected by not eliminating the filibuster. As if suffering from selective amnesia of the past 6 years with a republican senate majority, Biden feels that McConnell and his supplicants will act reasonably if treated as such. With a 50/50 senate spilt Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to work out an agreement with McConnell in which both parties would have equal control of the senate committees. If he or Biden thinks McConnell would offer the same olive branch had fortunes been reversed then they are fools. McConnell is currently whining that Biden plans to pass his COVID relief package via budget reconciliation, which would obviate the need to get 60 votes, relegating it to a monetary measure that requires only a simple majority. McConnell can complain all he wants but that is exactly how he passed the 1.9 trillion dollar tax cut for the rich back in 2017, and yet he is upset that Biden won’t negotiate on such an integral matter. Republicans counter offer for a COVID stimulus plan was a comparatively anaemic 600 billion package. There’s no point in Biden entertaining such ridiculous proposals solely on the mercurial grounds of bipartisanship. To paraphrase McConnell in 2016, the other side can complain all they want, but winners make policy and losers go home.
For all of the public group therapy sessions playing out amongst the GOP on Fox or Newsmaxx or AON, it obscures the point of what unity amongst Americans actually means at a policy level- because it’s not what the GOP would have you believe. They would argue that their legislative agenda aligns synchronously with that of the various demographics that comprise their electorate but that’s far from the case. Polling has repeatedly shown that a majority of Americans, far from being bisected down partisan affiliation, support measures on addressing climate change, immigration reform, LBGQT+ rights, and more COVID financial relief- all things that Biden has begun working on. Republican obstinacies and complaints of being left out of the process do not extend in meaningful ways to many Americans that identify as conservatives, but is instead tightly isolated with in the DC ecosystem of GOP operatives. In other words, just because republican congress people and senators don’t like it doesn’t mean a considerable number of their constituents also don’t. This is the point Biden’s press secretory Jen Psaki- who after four years of Trump’s circus is breath of fresh air in her lack of hostility or explicit disdain for the press corps- was recently making. Biden is perusing at least some polices that a majority of Americans are unified around. If the GOP can’t get on board with those polices, then who- if anybody- do they represent beyond themselves and their donors? Until they have an answer they can back up with an actual legislative record, they can go back shrieking on Tucker Carlson’s show. No one else needs to care anymore. -Tristan
Why AOC’s Story Matters
This week AOC did an IG live stream in which she recounted her personal experiences in the capitol building on the days leading up to and during the capitol insurrection. As one can imagine, it’s not pleasant. As no doubt many others working in the capital experienced, she was running from office to office seeking refuge with co workers, hiding in bathrooms, and observing through locked doors the terrorists that were calling out her name as they hunted for her and other representatives. During the live stream she also briefly touched upon her experiences as someone who has been sexually assaulted, and what it’s like dealing with such a trauma in the aftermath. Conservative commentators and members of congress were quick to jump on her for bringing up such remarks. Their umbrage with her claims was a haphazard and entropic mix of grievances that they couldn’t quite crystallize into an actual point- but they know they didn’t like it.
Republicans accused her of trying to score political points, or maybe opportunistically capitalize on the attack to engender sympathy towards her. Or perhaps conflating the two was a means to tie the investigation of the coup into exacting revenge on the person who had attacked her in her past. None of these arguments are particularly cogent or coherent, but they are perfectly inline with the GOP playbook of attacking the victim when it comes to sexual assault. Whether it’s because they are ensnared in the throes of emotional hysterics, caught up in mendacious profiteering, or manifesting petty grievances in a public and highly contentious setting, republicans always have some reason to not believe those that have experienced such assaults. If it was a big deal then why did they wait to bring it up? The fact that they are already talking about it in public means surely they are just trying to politicize the matter in pursuance of their own self-serving agenda. It’s always too soon right up until it’s too late. The GOP has institutionalized an entire system of disavowing and disregarding survivors of assault, and enabling those that would perpetrate it. They’ve done it for so long and with such single minded and myopic cynicism, that beyond institutionalizing it they have internalized the rhetoric that such abusers employ.
This is exactly why AOC brought up her past experiences in regards to sexual assault, and how they relate to the insurrection- and why she was right to do so. Her point is that the republican officials who simply want to move on and to avoid any consequences for others and (more specifically) themselves are using the specific language of abusers, but on a macro level. The GOP wants to move on from what happened, we’d all heal faster that way. It was a contentious time and mistakes were made on all sides so what’s the point in going back and forth on the blame game? It was a really stressful couple of weeks but surely you believe they didn’t actually want that to happen. Why spend so much time investigating the incident, it’s not like it would ever happen again. AOC has no visible injuries so she must be exaggerating- it couldn’t have been that bad. Any of this rhetoric will no doubt sound familiar to anyone with a history of experiencing sexual assault, abuse, or harassment, and it’s exactly the rhetoric the GOP has used to try to squirm their way out of any meaningful interrogation of what the hell actually happened that day.
AOC is specifically, but by no means uniquely, equipped to highlight the symmetry between these two different types of assault and how the perpetrators gaslight their way out of repercussions. This is not unique to her because most women representatives, just like most women in all of our lives have in one way or another been subject to assault or abuse or harassment. This is something that the Ted Cruz’ or the Josh Hawleys, even the Bernie Sanders and Joe Bidens of the world are incapable of comprehending beyond at best an intellectual or academic level (myself included). That’s why it was so vital that AOC shared her story and integrated her personal experiences into it. The GOP can choose to punish and take responsibility for their part in one of the darkest chapters in American history, or they can enable and condone the abusers that perpetrated it, thus continuing to be abusers themselves. -Tristan
Amazon Screws Its Employees, Then Gets Caught
What a week it was for the behemoth that is Amazon. On Tuesday founder and current CEO Jeff Bezos announced that he would be stepping down as the lone chief executive the company has had in its 27 year history. Jumping in to take the reigns will be his longtime number two, Andy Jassy, who’s been the head of AWS for 15 years. And just incase you were wondering, AWS is Amazon’s cloud hosting service.
Jeff Bezos detailed his reason for stepping down in a memo to employees. As per CNBC:
“Bezos…will focus on “new products and early initiatives” in his new role, including the Day One Fund, Bezos Earth Fund, The Washington Post and his private space company Blue Origin.”
What the hell is with these billionaires and their obsessions with space travel? Have neither Bezos or Elon Musk watched The Martian or Gravity? There’s no way I’m interested in going up there. Whatever, moving on. There’s plenty more to cover here.
This shakeup news coincided with Tuesdays massive Q4 earnings report in which the company posted a record $125.56 billion in revenue. Yes, that’s just for the quarter. Pick your jaw up off of the floor and remember that this number shouldn’t surprise you. More and more of our day-to-day shopping has moved online and Amazon has cornered that market with ease of service and speed of delivery. The pandemic only pushed along what was already in motion. Numbers such as these should only increase.
Now there are a few numbers I’d like you to remember before I touch on the most important Amazon story of the week.
Amazon currently boasts a $1.68 trillion market cap.
Its stock sits at $3,352.15 US per share. (I was going to buy shares in the company back in 2017 when they sat at $900. I balked thinking it couldn’t go much higher. As Julia Roberts says in Pretty Woman, “Big mistake. Huge!” Oh well.)
Jeff Bezos’ net worth is nearly $200 billion.
The company has hired over 400,000 workers alone just this year. This past quarter it hired 175,000.
Amazon now counts nearly 1.3 million employees across the globe, an increase of 63% year over year.
Remember these points as I intend to come back to them later.
Now for what I truly want to discuss. As per Time:
“But it was the news sandwiched between those announcements that may signal one of the defining challenges ahead for Amazon and its incoming CEO Andy Jassy: the same day, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disclosed that Amazon would pay nearly $62 million to settle charges that it withheld tips from contracted delivery drivers to help its own bottom line.”
I touched on this concept of corporations doing everything they can to maximize shareholder value in last weeks weekly.
“Put in laymen’s terms, shareholders are all that matter. Friedman’s doctrine changed the way corporations acted, as they no longer began to value the chains of good business (research and development, employees, service) and started only caring about short term profits, bonuses and gaining their percentage.”
Here’s the skinny, via the New York Times:
“The F.T.C. said in an announcement that Amazon had promised its Flex delivery drivers that they would receive 100 percent of all customers’ tips. But starting in 2016, the F.T.C. said, Amazon secretly lowered the hourly delivery wages, which were advertised at $18 to $25, and tried to mask the smaller wages by using customer tips to cover for the smaller hourly pay. The net effect was that the contract workers received smaller overall take-home pay, the agency said.
The practice wasn’t disclosed to drivers but the Flex drivers noticed the compensation reductions and began to complain. Amazon stopped the practice in 2019, after it became aware of the F.T.C.’s investigation, the agency said. The company settled without admitting wrongdoing.
“Rather than passing along 100 percent of customers’ tips to drivers, as it had promised to do, Amazon used the money itself,” said Daniel Kaufman, the acting head of consumer protection at the F.T.C. “Our action today returns to drivers the tens of millions of dollars in tips that Amazon misappropriated, and requires Amazon to get drivers’ permission before changing its treatment of tips in the future.”
If you’re wondering why? Let me fill you in, because they can. Or at least they thought they could. It’s striking that a company as successful as Amazon would do shenanigans such as this. But it highlights their priorities, and workers are far from being on the top of that list. Regulation and unionization are the only way you reign in stuff like this. The money they paid back, the $61.7 million they stole, is barely 1/100 of what they earned this past quarter. A drop in the bucket.
The frustrating part of all of this is how easily it was swept away compared to Bezos stepping down. The common man never gets his due. Amazon could easily pay all of their workforce a minimum of $20 per hour and it wouldn’t make a dent in their earnings or profits. Hell, even $30 per hour and you’d notice a marginal difference. 400,000 jobs are one thing, but are they good jobs? How are you going to treat and pay them? I believe we’re learning now they’ll do whatever they can to skirt and steal from those they should protect and relish. The company could use a good humbling in my opinion. This $62 million fine is a start but only a mere prick of the finger. A solid punch is needed. Maybe two.
Further along in author Abby Vesoulis’ Time article, she details what Amazon spokesperson Rachael Lightly had said to her regarding what the company offers its employees in reference to the news of possible unionization at one of its warehouse’s in Bessemer, Alabama. There are a few key words here I’d like highlight.
“Lighty, the Amazon spokesperson, tells TIME that Amazon doesn’t believe RWDSU represents the majority of its employees’ views and that Amazon already provides much of what a union would advocate for, including “industry-leading pay, comprehensive benefits from the first day on the job, opportunities for career growth, all while working in a safe, modern work environment.”
Industry leading means nothing. Being the best slum lord isn’t something you come home to brag about. Neither are comprehensive or modern. Ugh, this company. (face palm)
I’ll leave you with another paragraph from what I wrote for last weeks weekly. It still seems relevant.
I’ll leave you with a last word from Mr. Korten once more. (emphasis mine)
“Contrary to the Wall Street propaganda, Wall Street is a demonstrated job killer, not a job creator. Wall Street banks and corporations have no interest in creating American jobs, educating American children, or assuring that Americans have health care and retirement security. They appeal for ever more tax breaks and regulatory relief to have yet more money on hand to use as they used their taxpayer provided bailout money — to increase executive bonuses, pay dividends, buy other companies, buy back their own stock, buy political favor, create new financial bubbles, and outsource more jobs — none of which produces any benefit for America.
Increasing Wall Street taxes and regulation will actually increase jobs, by shifting power from Wall Street job killers to Main Street job creators.”
- Jamie
FLUX FIVE
This Week:
Della Humphrey “Don’t make the good girls go bad” 1967 Various Artists
Arnold Blair “Tryna Get Next To You” 1975 Single
Zack Berro “Feels Like I’m Dreaming” 2019” Feels Like I’m Dreaming Single
Heather “Regrets” 2019 Who Is Heather EP
Sopwith Camel ”Dancin’ Wizard” 1972 The Miraculous Lump Returns From The Moon
Enjoy! - Mick
Things From The Internet We Liked
Lou Dobbs Got Shit Canned
This one is just too funny. Fox business channel host and resident anti immigrant/ Trump brown noser Lou Dobbs’ show has been canceled by Fox. While the highest rated of their otherwise underperforming business oriented appendage, Fox’s hand appears to have been forced. Smartmatic, the company whose voting machines were used in various counties during the general election, were subject to a number of spurious and bullshit claims about voter fraud- they didn’t like that one bit. Smartmatic is suing Fox for a cool 2.7 billion and the network is clearly sweating. It appears they have offered the ornery blowhard Dobbs up as something of a ritual sacrifice to appease the company. Once again, this is so so funny. The Daily Show wins this round with the best send off.
✌️Lou Dobbs https://t.co/meIuqEoRFi
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) February 6, 2021
77 Days At The End Of Trump World
The NY Times recently published an absolutely wild article about the extents that Trump and his conspirators went to in hopes of over turning the election results. The period covered is the interregnum between the election and Biden’s inauguration. During those weeks the article details not just the mendacious immorality of Trump, but reveals just how coordinated everything- from planting lies in the media ecosystem, to the days leading up to the insurrection- was. Definitely worth a read.
Watch Phoebe Bridgers Smash The Heck Out Of A Guitar
This is the only 2020 throwback we are interested in. On SNL this week Phoebe Bridgers was the musical guest, performing Punisher highlight Kyoto and Tristan’s favourite song of last year I Know The End. At the climax of her performance Bridgers gives her guitar a bit of a smack down which is clearly a metaphor for… something.