Not our war – Saudi’s need to stop war on Yemen! U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States was “locked and loaded” for a potential response to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, after a senior official in his administration said Iran was to blame.
Settlers attack Palestinian homes in Hebron
PNN/ Hebron/
Dozens of Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces, attacked on late Saturday night Palestinian homes in Al-Haraiq neighborhood in Hebron throwing stones and burning bottles at them.
Local sources said that dozens of settlers from the Kiryat Arba illegal settlement, which was built on the lands and properties of the Palestinians east of Hebron, attacked the homes under the protection of Israeli soldiers.
The settkers broke a number of windows while chanting racist slogans, spreading fear and panic among the children.
The residents of these homes called on international and human rights organizations for immediate actions in order to stop what they called settler terrorism supported by the occupation authorities, who in turn provides them with protection.
Fearing ‘Spy Trains,’ Congress May Ban a Chinese Maker of Subway Cars
Turning racism into nationalism is always wrong on every level. Recall that Chinese labor built western railroads and were then excluded marginalized and… A Chinese train maker, the world’s largest, has contracts in Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston, but Congress may block it from securing any new contracts in the United States.
How Far Would You Go to Avoid Vaccinating Your Child?
The question should be: what will you say to the parents of a child who dies because you joined an anti-rationalism movement against necessary vaccinations? In New York, as new immunization laws take effect, there has been a surge in parents home schooling their children.
Trump is seriously, frightening, dangerously nuts – and the world is in danger | Robert Reich

It is almost too late for impeachment. The 25th amendment is untested. The ballot box offers our only remaining hope
In retrospect, what’s most disturbing about “Sharpiegate” isn’t Trump’s clumsy effort to doctor a National Weather Service map or even his brazen move to get the same agency to lie on his behalf.
Related: Republican Trump challengers warn of totalitarian drift in party
Moon flowers
Child Care Workers Have Been Fighting For The Right To Bargain For Years. They May Be About To Get It
Tonia McMillian takes care of children at her home day care center in Bellflower. (Courtesy of Tonia McMillian)
Both arms of the California legislature have passed AB 378, a bill that, if signed into law, would allow some child care workers who serve low-income kids the ability to collectively bargain with the state over things like their reimbursement rates.
“AB 378 remains committed to stabilizing those who educate our earliest learners and the families who seek care for their families as they remain in the workforce,” Assemblymember Monique Limón said when introducing the bill for its final vote Friday afternoon.
Now, the future of those workers’ ability to bargain with the state is in Governor Gavin Newsom’s hands.
Organizers say it’s been a long time coming.
Despite similar bills in previous legislatures, the effort has yet to make it past a governor’s desk. Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown both vetoed similar bills.
But supporters are hopeful this time around, in part because Newsom campaigned on his support for early childhood education.
“I don’t want to jinx it, but in the 16 years that we’ve been doing this, we’ve never felt this good before,” said Mary Gutierrez, strategic campaigns director with SEIU California. The SEIU, which has been helping to organize the workers, also co-sponsored the bill.
Newsom has until Oct. 13 to sign or veto bills.
Here’s what you need to know if AB 378 gets signed into law.
WHY DO CHILD CARE WORKERS WANT TO UNIONIZE?
The state subsidizes child care for some low-income families. According to the California Senate Appropriations Committee’s analysis of AB 378, those subsidies support care for about 360,000 kids.
But while those in the field recognize the high cost of child care, they say the money they get from the state isn’t enough.
“At the same time parents are struggling to pay their own rent, providers are struggling to pay our own rent and to pay expenses and keep our doors open,” provider Tonia McMillian told KPCC/LAist in December, after Newsom’s election.
McMillian is licensed to care for 14 kids out of her home in Bellflower. She said she loves working with the kids and serving families, but after 25 years it’s taken a toll on her — plus, she said it doesn’t give her retirement benefits or access to affordable health care.
“For providers, like myself, in order for us to make a ‘decent living,’ we have to work literally 80 hours a week in order to make ends meet. And that’s not fair,” McMillian said.
Games available for children at Tonia McMillian’s home day care center. (Courtesy of Tonia McMillian)
And as Renaldo B. Sanders, a licensed family childcare provider serving nine children in Compton, pointed out, the money also goes to maintaining her place of business: her home.
“Our homes have to be taken care of — meaning our mortgage paid, our lights, our gas, our utilities — in order to provide our services to our family communities,” she explained.
As Priska Neely explained on LAist after Gavin Newsom’s election:
“Home daycares make up about a third of the total licensed child care supply. They’re usually a more affordable option and are more likely to have slots for infants and toddlers than other child care settings.
The median income for family child care providers is around $12 an hour, and low pay, cuts to subsidies and lack of benefits are causing more and more of the businesses to close.”
In fact, the text of the bill itself recognizes that over half of early educators in the state rely on public assistance.
If signed into law, AB 378 would allow a certain group of child care workers — more on that below — to collectively bargain with the state over things like the reimbursement rates they receive.
The issue has come up several times. Organizers say the effort is over a decade in the making.
This time around the bill AB 378 was dubbed the Building a Better Early Care and Education Act and introduced by Assembly members Monique Limón and Lorena Gonzalez. And it’s going to a governor who has emphasized early childhood education in his campaign, budgets, and staffing.
I am proud to author AB 378 which will give the predominantly female workforce the chance for their voice to be echoed throughout the Capitol halls #ChildCareForAll @SEIU pic.twitter.com/K8ySynqvlj
— Asm. Monique Limón (@AsmMoniqueLimon) February 6, 2019
Organizers point to similar workers in 11 other states, including New York and Minnesota, who can collectively bargain.
READ MORE:
- The supply of licensed home day cares is drying up
- What our next governor has in mind for California’s youngest residents
- Thousands of families are eligible for child care subsidies. Actually getting them? Good luck.
- Day care providers face closure after years of teaching preschoolers
WHO EXACTLY WOULD BE ABLE TO COLLECTIVELY BARGAIN?
The people we’re talking about here are family day-care providers who educate and care for young kids in a daycare set up in their own home, or at the home of the kid they’re taking care of, and who receive money from the state to provide this care for kids from low-income families.
For context: A fact sheet circulated by AB 378’s author Assemblymember Monique Limón says that adds up to about 40,000 child care workers.
Organizers with the SEIU say that most of those affected are women of color.
WHY UNIONIZE AND COLLECTIVELY BARGAIN?
The nature of the work – which is done at home – can be isolating.
McMillian said she first started looking towards the union because she was looking for community, “which then led me to find out that there were other issues.”
Now, McMillian said, personally, she’s interested in exploring the possibility of a substitute pool, in case she gets sick and needs someone to look over the kids. She’s also interested in a potential career ladder that incentivizes providers to stay in the field.
The bill mentions all sorts of things open to negotiation, including reimbursement rates, professional development and training in supporting bilingual youth, and recruitment.
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME?
Gutierrez from SEIU California said the workers could start a conversation about expanding access to child care to more families who struggle to afford it.
McMillian said she sees the opportunity to not just advocate for the workers, but for parents and kids, too.
“It is high time now that we have a seat at the table so that we can bring the reality of this work to the table, have a discussion about it, and be considered a partner and making sure that this child care system, and this glorious state of California, is the best that it can be,” McMillian said.
KPCC/LAist engagement producer Stefanie Ritoper contributed to this report.
Tony Abbott warns West faces ‘extinction’ crisis, praises Hungary’s far-right leader
fascists united

After warning of “angry” immigrants “swarming” across Europe’s borders, former PM Tony Abbott warns Western nations face an “extinction” crisis if they don’t have more children.
Taliban want Russia help to make US leave Afghan
Following the collapse of the US-Taliban talks, the insurgent group has sent a delegation to Russia to discuss prospects for of US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan. The move, days after Trump cancelled a planned meeting with Taliban leaders, came as the movement looks to bolster regional support, with visits planned for China, Iran and Central Asian states.
Chased into ‘self-deportation’: the most disturbing Windrush case so far
British racism ramping up

As Amelia Gentleman reflects on reporting one of the UK’s worst immigration scandals, she reveals a new and tragic case
In the summer of 2013, the government launched the peculiarly named Operation Vaken, an initiative that saw vans drive around six London boroughs, carrying billboards that warned: “In the UK illegally? Go home or face arrest.” The billboards were decorated with pictures of handcuffs and the number of recent immigration arrests (“106 arrests last week in your area”). A line at the bottom adopted a softer tone: “We can help you to return home voluntarily without fear of arrest or detention.”
The Conservatives’ 2010 manifesto promise to reduce migration to the tens of thousands had been going badly. It was time for ministers to develop new ways of scaring immigrants into leaving and for the government’s hostile environment policy to get teeth. More than 170,000 people, many of them living in this country legally, began receiving alarming texts, with warnings such as: “Message from the UK Border Agency: you are required to leave the UK as you no longer have the right to remain.”
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