What is wrong with Texas’ public services? First that electricity debacle, now they can’t send an alert?

I’m standing by my theory that the powers that be in this country want to prune We The People down, passively.

Start leaving AirBnB reviews: minus one star for lack of duck.

Of course, but it sets an example, proves to people that Linux can be mainstream and usable well beyond the corners where that mindset already exists.

It’s excellent advertising and promotion.

Fillion’s response is gold.

Imperfect Foods used to deliver weekly, perishables included, and they ended up being bought out by Misfit Market. Now, it’s overpriced crunchy product, like shopping Whole Foods from home instead of saving on ugly carrots, grapefruit sized cabbage, and overstock.

They’re not out of business yet. There is a market for perishables and produce delivery. and people are used to Amazon so they may win on this, sadly.

This is what is needed to push back on Microsoft.

If it financially works, then that is brilliant.

Post pandemic the contracts profess to pay the same as staff but those contracts are taking the room/board stipend, blending it with the hourly rate, and presenting it all as hourly income, when the stipend isn’t something that should count against income when in fact, stipend is only allowable by the IRS in situations where living expenses are duplicated.

In essence what these new contracts are doing is not acknowledging expense duplication, as if these nurses don’t already have a rent or mortgage, alongside all the household bills like renters insurance or electricity, that continue to be paid in tandem with a long term furnished rental in another state. And are they even accumulating retirement beyond an IRA?

The 2 weeks off is also unpaid. The strangest expense detail is this. Income tax is paid to each state which is somehow legal under the contracted circumstances. The home state and the state worked.

While the details are fascinating, that is not my point in bringing it up. I’m more interested in the work pattern. 13 wks on. 2 wks off. The nurses who talk about travel love it, even when the pay is lower than what staffers make either with the blended rate or after subtracting room/board stipends. As such, I think we need to look to the work pattern.

During the pandemic, a large swath of hospital systems, both psych and medical, contracted with nurses to travel to work for them on 13 wk contracts. There were some significantly high contracts in the midst of the pandemic, mainly through a company called Krucial. However, the Krucial contracts were not normal work weeks but five 12hr shifts every week, with significant overtime. Overtime in travel contracts was typically above the standard 1.5x hourly rate most hourly workers are accustomed to. The weekly rates on these contracts made news. I say this so we can move past it to the standard contracts where we can talk about lack of burnout.

The normal travel contract was typically 36hrs a week, a standard work week for the hourly nurse, with elevated OT. Rates were stronger than precovid, which was a strong lure, but the industry at large had not increased staff nurse pay with cost of living, most of the industry not seeing much in hourly rate increases past the years 2000-2008 which was some significantly bad wage stagnation. California was and is, as always, the exception in this practice. Post COVID, many states now pay nurses in keeping with the normal contract rates they originally left their staff jobs for. OT on staff is 1.5x but extra shifts beyond an FTE will often contain an extra $20-30/hr after OT is factored in, or a flat $200-500 per extra 12h shift. As such, many nurses who left for travel are back on staff and not traveling.

Even so, there were nurses who would not leave travel even though hospitals were offering better deals on the financial side, to be staff. More money, less movement sounds good, right?

Not for some. Burnout due to scheduling and lack of time off remains a problem for nursing staff. Meanwhile, travel contracts work like this: 13wks on, with roughly two weeks off in between. If a nurse opts to sign on for another 13wks at the same location, 1-2 weeks off is typically offered in between the old contract and the new. In addition, they can take Christmas off.

Less pay than staff, now, but a swath of nurses stick with travel regardless because they aren’t burning out. Travel nurses don’t typically burn out. Think about why. What would your own hourly work feel like on a 13wks on, 2wks off rotation?

Many people are going to and have to follow money, but this real life experiment has demonstrated how much less money people will take when they can to just not have to work every single week of their lives. There’s a lesson here that corporate America will likely never heed.

Earned on the backs of working class.

Did Amazon ever acknowledge or deign to negotiate with the unions formed by their workers?

At risk of sounding like that dipshit Vance, you guys don’t have free speech, not really. The uk seems to exist in a “yes, but no” realm. The press can’t report on trials such that it might influence outcome. 1988 law iirc. That’s smart, but it’s still a guardrail on speech. Some of the arrests and even sentences over there, for speech and sometimes even ideology related infractions, are a bit wild. I remember reading something about a woman being fined for calling her ex a leprechaun on social media.

That said, I feel a need to reiterate how crazy this defense of war and slaughter is. I’ve been a casual observer at best but I do not understand why either government cares if a people across an ocean (who are not and never will be boots on the ground for either side of this war) say they don’t like a war. So what? The war will rage on regardless of wether or not college students in Michigan walk around outside on a nice day holding signs. Or if some guy in London posts an objection on social media. That’s not even a speed bump to this war or either government if either government even sees or hears any of it. So why does either government even care? Why even spend energy on that? For them, it’s like a volume setting that maybe can’t be turned to zero, but in the end it’s just a bit of noise to them. So why bother? The war will continue. As such, their reaction makes no sense whatsoever.

What regulations?

Yeah. We’re pretty much over as a country.

It’s a free show. With the right people it’s good, but I understand your feeling.

MAGAs are the gun owners. Mostly.

This is why I worry. It’s likely correct in that we’re heading for fallout. But here we are.

Here’s another issue. Can we believe any of the numbers being posted on federal .gov sites any more?

I’ve been reading a lot about the inception of the welfare Queen idea, as pushed by Reagan first in California and then in our government as a whole ever since. So I initially started reading this as Trump numbers to support that nonsense.

I want to believe it is what it says it is, a warning sign to us all.

I love how so many believe anyone and everyone can “just move”. Moving, even locally, is beyond the means of many.

CNAs, RTs, and Nurses can, and often do, live paycheck to paycheck. This is variable among mid levels.

Maybe doctors can “just move”. It’s more likely, based on income. And backgrounds. Maybe. Again, you can’t know the circumstances or the breadth of the language barrier.

Canada maybe. It’s my understanding the income is fixed, across the board, and RNs with 2yr degrees could only work as LPNs in Canada, regardless of experience.

Again. Circumstances vary.

“Just move” isn’t good advice unless you know someone well enough to know it’s good advice for them.

Healthcare started laying people off, including nurses, engaging hiring freezes, and tightening 2 months ago. After the senate pass, they’ve promised more cuts.

This is simply how the GOP raises money now.