The “Unintended” Consequences of Successful Employee Rights Litigation in California.

This test lays out the three elements a business must meet in order to designate a worker as an Independent Contractor
A) that the worker is free from the control and direction of the hirer in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of such work and in fact;
B) that the worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business; and
C) that the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed for the hiring entity.

via The “Unintended” Consequences of Successful Employee Rights Litigation in California.

When the resistance confronted Democrats in 1968, the crackdown was vicious

The Yippies filed for an outlandish permit for a citywide festival at the same time as the convention, and told news media that the party would involve events such as nude swimming in Lake Michigan and dumping LSD into the water supply. The permit request and open invitation to the nation’s youth outraged Mayor Daley, a law-and-order politician and influential Democratic Party strongman who ruled the city with an iron fist. He may not have taken the threats literally, but he loathed the thought of the city being overrun with hippies, and prepared the police department for an invasion. He also stalled on distributing any permits, including to Dellinger, Davis, and Hayden.
Davis appealed to Justice Department official Roger Wilkins, who recognized his sincerity and attempted to negotiate with the mayor. “About five minutes into the conversation,” Wilkins remembers, “red started coming up from Daley’s collar, all up on these jowls, which seemed larger and larger and larger to me. And he launched into a monologue which lasted, I believe, 25 minutes. And when I started to interrupt and say, ‘But Mr. Mayor,’ he would just raise his voice.

via When the resistance confronted Democrats in 1968, the crackdown was vicious

The Recent Mass Shootings in the US All Have One Thing in Common: Misogyny

The massacre at Santa Fe high school last week that left 10 people dead — most of them students — seems to have something in common with so many other mass shootings that happen in the US: misogyny. The shooter, one victim’s mother claims, targeted her daughter as the first victim because she rejected his continued harassing advances.
How many more tragedies have to happen before we recognize that misogyny kills? The longer we ignore the toxic masculinity that underlies so many of these crimes, the more violence we’re enabling.

via The Recent Mass Shootings in the US All Have One Thing in Common: Misogyny

Rise in Pop-Up Brothels Inspires Ham-fisted Push Against Sex Work in the U.K.

A new report has found that women are increasingly being sexually exploited in the United Kingdom in so-called “pop-up brothels.” The nonpartisan group of UK politicians behind the study is using the alarming findings to call for the criminalization of the purchase of sex and a crackdown on classified-style websites that host adult ads. These recommendations fly in the face of Amnesty International’s recent call for an end to the “Nordic model”—in which the purchase of sex is criminalized, but sex workers themselves are often punished as a result.

via Rise in Pop-Up Brothels Inspires Ham-fisted Push Against Sex Work in the U.K.

Why Is New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell Working With White Nationalists?

Now the city has a new mayor, and the fate of the Robert E. Lee statue is again up for debate. When asked about the future of the removed Confederate monuments in April, a few weeks before her inauguration on May 7, Mayor LaToya Cantrell—the city’s first black female mayor—told the Gambit: “My plan is to work with those who care about [the statues] and come up with a plan that I could support. And they will pay for it.”

via Why Is New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell Working With White Nationalists?

Danish minister Stojberg provokes Ramadan row – BBC News

Denmark’s immigration minister has been widely rebuffed after she suggested Muslims should take time off work during Ramadan because of potential safety risks to the rest of society.
Inger Stojberg, who has a reputation for hardline immigration policies, said fasting throughout the working day raised challenges for modern society.
She cited potential risks for bus drivers and in hospitals.
Bus companies were among the first to say they had no problem with Ramadan.

via Danish minister Stojberg provokes Ramadan row – BBC News

Voter ID: 340 did not vote after failing to show documents – BBC News

About 340 people in five areas of England were turned away from voting in council elections because of a pilot scheme requiring proof of identity.
At least 688 were initially stopped but later returned to the polling station with the correct documents.
The Electoral Reform Society said requiring ID risked denying people their “democratic right”.
The government said an “overwhelming majority” of voters had the right documents.

via Voter ID: 340 did not vote after failing to show documents – BBC News

A Westworld Actress Says Fans Keep ‘Mansplaining’ the Show to Her

For the past year, Westworld actress Shannon Woodward has been inundated with fans sharing their own theories. So much so, some have been implying that a star of the show knows less than they do.

“Last year, I had a lot of people telling me their theories, and trying to convince me that they were right,” Woodward told Marie Claire. “I tried to be kind to them about it because I was so glad that they were enjoying the show, but at some point it got to sound a lot like mansplaining. I was like, ‘You know I’ve read the scripts, right? I do know what happens and that’s not what happens.’”

via A Westworld Actress Says Fans Keep ‘Mansplaining’ the Show to Her

The Trump Administration Is Bringing the Global Gag Rule Home

The Trump administration is expected to announce the implementation of a domestic gag rule on Friday, the New York Times reports. The domestic gag rule, which has been a top priority for anti-abortion conservatives in the administration, would prevent reproductive healthcare providers like Planned Parenthood from accessing Title X funds if they provide abortion referrals. The domestic gag rule language is still unclear since it hasn’t been officially released, but it could mirror the global gag rule Donald Trump reinstated in January 2017, through an executive order.

“This is a far-reaching attack and an attempt to take away women’s basic rights and reproductive rights,” Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), said on Friday. “I would posit that a president who it’s clear does not know the difference between HIV and HPV should not be interfering in the doctor-patient relationship,” she added.

via The Trump Administration Is Bringing the Global Gag Rule Home

New Report Shows How ICE Uses ‘Gang Affiliation’ to Target Immigrant Communities

Nonetheless, spurred by Trump’s rhetoric, in 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched “Operation Matador” aimed to “target violent gang members and their associates.” According to the National Gang Center, gangs form in the most disenfranchised communities as another symptom of social and economic inequality that plagues communities of color. The result of Matador, according to the report, is increased surveillance on communities of color by local law enforcement and federal agencies. According to ProPublica, in 2017, “ICE arrested nearly four times more immigrants simply for being suspected of belonging to MS-13 than it did in 2016.”

via New Report Shows How ICE Uses ‘Gang Affiliation’ to Target Immigrant Communities