opinion

The editorial board of the Orange County Register decided to kick off 2016 by going full 1916. How did a paper of record turn the clocks back so? By questioning the motives of professional cheerleaders who are seeking employee (rather than independent contractor) status. The Register suggests that “they receive the fringe benefits of being surrounded by men who earn on average $1.9 million in the NFL and $5 million in the NBA” and should thus shut their damsel traps.

In The Daytona Daily News, professor Rick Sheridan touts apprenticeship programs arguing that they offer a vital alternative to college for those seeking a middle class lifestyle. Sheridan notes that while the average college student will graduate with $30,000 in debt, the average apprentice will earn solid wages while learning a craft debt-free. Globally, America is lagging in the apprenticeship department with respect to young people

In a brief letter to the editor of the New York Times, North America’s Building Trades Unions President Sean McGarvey explained that “Right-to-Work” results in a drop in skilled labor. He questions the idea of attracting businesses to Wisconsin by thwarting workers, suggesting, “Companies and whole industries from Texas to Florida are having to look North for the skilled craft professionals needed to get these projects done safely and efficiently, because the training infrastructure in that region has gone away.” The op-ed appears in its entirety below.

As the Missouri legislature prepares to battle over right-to-work legislation, the Springfield News-Leader reminds us in an op-ed how necessary apprenticeship programs are, and how they would essentially be cut out entirely if the right wing (and ALEC-written) law comes to pass. One of the many back door ways right-to-work guts unions.

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, calls out the so-called congressional "deficit hawks" for supporting unfunded wars and now cuts to "virtually every social program designed to protect working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor." His proposal? A budget that is both economically and morally sound.

In a recent op-ed for the Modesto Bee, Mark Breslin, CEO of San Francisco-based United Contractors, explains why he favors California’s SB7, a bill which would make charter cities eligible for public funds if they would only follow prevailing wage guidelines.

Essential human needs are being packaged into products to be bought and sold. The right to food and water, education, health care, public spaces, and unrestricted speech shouldn't be based on who can pay the most, or on who can generate profits with the slickest marketing pitch.

It was quite a cast of speakers taking the stage at the Republican National Convention’s penultimate night. Never mind the GOP’s newly anointed savior prince Paul Ryan, but of far greater importance were former Secretary of State Condileeza Rice, Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno and New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez. They, among others, comprised a row of non-white faces streaming before a mostly white (read: almost exclusively white) audience.

According to a new poll, Americans believe the government should be doing all it can to rebuild our nation’s manufacturing base, regardless of party affiliation.

In the wake of the tragic theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg took the opportunity to get vocal on CNN‘s Piers Morgan Tonight in favor of stricter gun laws across the nation. Interestingly, his solution for tackling the problem places the honus on policemen and women.