And Justice for One

From Yahoo! Finance:

When West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, R, announced his decision last month to cut federal unemployment benefits for his state’s jobless residents, he pointed to what he said was a plethora of openings for those who needed work.

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Justice didn’t need to look far for examples of companies struggling to hire workers. The storied West Virginia resort he owns, the Greenbrier, has been looking for dozens of new employees in recent weeks and until recently had received far fewer applications than normal. But after Justice announced his decision, that started to change, said Kathy Miller, vice president of human resources at the luxury hotel.

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Justice’s sprawling business empire, which in addition to the Greenbrier includes agricultural companies and coal enterprises, has made him a lightning rod for criticism from ethics watchdogs. A 2019 investigation by the Charleston Gazette-Mail and ProPublica found a thicket of conflicts of interest inherent in his dual roles as business magnate and public servant. Justice’s most recent financial disclosure lists over 100 corporate entities.

Floridiot!

Go ahead and google the definition of fluffer, kids. I’ll wait.

From Fox 13 News:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Thursday, President Donald Trump laid out his three-phase plan to re-open America. It’s a gradual, deliberate approach, first depending on, in part, a downward trend in positive COVID-19 cases and robust testing.

Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis said Florida would follow the federal guidelines — mostly.

”We will obviously use that as a baseline,” he said. “Doesn’t mean that Florida is going go do everything they say and not say. That’s a pretty good baseline.”

Translation: “I will do everything Twitler says.”

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Direct from Scott’s Bowels

From POLITICO:

TALLAHASSEE — The staggering unemployment exploding on President Donald Trump’s watch would worry any incumbent running for reelection, but troubles in Florida are injecting an added dose of fear into a jittery GOP.

Already anxious about Trump’s chances in the nation’s biggest swing state, Republicans now are dealing with thousands of unemployed workers unable to navigate the Florida system to apply for help. And the blowback is directed straight at Trump’s top allies in the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott.

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Newt Gingrich on Drugs

From Chris Moody at THE TICKET at YAHOO!:

NAPLES, Fla. — The staff at Books-a-Million didn’t know what hit them.

In preparation for a Saturday morning book signing with Newt Gingrich, the bookstore printed numbered cards for the first 500 people looking for an autograph from the former House speaker and Republican presidential candidate. The store gave out its first card at 8 a.m. on Black Friday–27 hours before Gingrich was scheduled to arrive–and ran out before he stepped in the door. After that, the Gingrich fans had to fend for themselves.

Gingrich spent the two days after Thanksgiving on a campaign swing through Naples, Florida, a wealthy conservative stronghold in the Sunshine State that was, to say the least, extremely welcoming.

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After his speech, during which he took time to clarify his position on illegal immigration, Gingrich hopped over to a $1,000-per-person fundraiser at a city council member’s home and then spent four hours the next morning at a Books-a-Million, where he brought in 650 people.

After months in the middle tier, Gingrich is the latest presidential candidate not named Mitt to ascend to the top of national polls. And with just five weeks until the first caucus in Iowa, he may have the best chance at being there when it matters. On Sunday, the largest newspaper in New Hampshire, the Union Leader, endorsed Gingrich in the Republican primary.

Although he has been in the public eye for years and seen his share of crowds, this kind of attention is new for Presidential Candidate Newt.

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I woulda thought of a really cool title, but I was preoccupied.

From Bloomberg Businessweek:

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) — Democrats are rallying around the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, seeking to channel the movement’s energy into votes in the 2012 elections by sharpening contrasts with Republicans who criticize the protests.

“If you’re concerned about Wall Street and our financial system, the president is standing on the side of consumers and the middle class,” senior White House adviser David Plouffe said when asked about the demonstrations during an interview today on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “And a lot of these Republicans are basically saying, ‘You know what? Let’s go back to the same policies that led to the Great Recession in the first place.’”

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Hello?

From The State:

Gov. Nikki Haley wants state workers to answer their phones, saying, “It’s a great day in South Carolina. How can I help you?”

Tuesday, Haley instructed the directors of Cabinet agencies, which report to her, to change the way their employees answer the phones.

Haley said the change will boost the morale of state workers, remind them they work for the callers on the other end of the line and help her sell the state to employers.

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Happy Labor Day!

From Charles Wowkanech, president of the New Jersey state AFL-CIO at North Jersey.com:

ON LABOR DAY, we recognize the hard-working men and women who keep our nation running. Yet we must not forget the millions of people who have lost their jobs due to our unprecedented economic conditions.

Regardless of employment status, we all share a common goal to raise a family and provide a better future for our children. It is this aspiration that has built our country’s middle class and has instilled a sense of purpose for generations of American families.

However, something seems to have changed, and the promise of a job and a middle-class life is becoming harder and harder to come by in this country.

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The only jobs they create are snow jobs

From UNION LEADER:

THE JOBS DEBATE CONTINUES. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s campaign is not-so-subtly firing back at Mitt Romney in a continuation of a dispute that began earlier this week over Romney’s job creation record in Massachusetts.

Today, Huntsman’s spokesman is suggesting that there was a downside to the decline in the unemployment rate during the Romney years as governor of the Bay State: the out-migration of the state’s population to other states, including New Hampshire.

Huntsman’s campaign on Tuesday accused Romney of misrepresenting his record on jobs creation as governor, noting that Massachusetts ranked 47th in the nation in that category during the Romney years of 2003 to 2007.

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