Virginia has the highest discrepancy between teacher pay and comparatively educated professionals out of any state in the country. Teachers will get a raise of five percent this year and five percent next year. However, this year’s five percent is underwhelming considering the seven percent inflation rate. There are several reasons why the teacher pay... Continue Reading →
One of the primary claims of capitalism’s advocates is that it creates innovation. However, the reality is that capitalism does considerably more to hinder innovation than to encourage or push it along. Much of the innovation that capitalists and their supporters try to take credit for occurred in the public commons. Much of the innovation... Continue Reading →
The Grandin Holiday Parade, with local school bands, community groups and others, was last week and some of Roanoke City Council walked in it. What many people watching it on the sidewalks may not have known or realized is that while councilpersons were waving and spreading holiday cheer that day the city had also just... Continue Reading →
From 5.15.21:"I have been in this jail since mid April. I got moved here from New River Valley Regional Jail because I was in a relationship with a lieutenant there. So RCJ is doing a courtesy hold. Upon my arrival I got put in a dirty cell. First I noticed the gauze on a mat.... Continue Reading →
It's no secret that jails and prisons are hotspots for COVID-19 outbreaks — in fact, they are death traps. As of last summer, the COVID-19 case rate in jails and prisons was 5.5 times higher than that of the general U.S. population. Small spaces, overcrowding, and inmate turnover — not to mention the lack of... Continue Reading →
The only practicable solution to the Covid-19 pandemic for all local jails, prisons, detention centers, and ICE concentration camps is decarceration (mass release). Those institutions are a hotbed for spreading viruses & diseases, they have no way to socially distance people, have horrible sanitation protocols normally, and cannot/do not provide the medical care needed for... Continue Reading →
Companies like Food Lion continue to roll out massive PR campaigns honoring their frontline employees as heroes. Some have even made token concessions concerning worker compensation and safety. However, the flashy advertising and bold headlines mask a treacherous reality for many workers in the retail, healthcare, hospitality, and agricultural industries (among others). “To say the least, I do not believe Food Lion cares about anything more than maintaining a façade. Doing the bare minimum is enough to please the customers and silence the workers.” When crisis response is left to the profit-obsessed CEOs of transnational corporations and the corrupt politicians in Washington, essential workers will continue to disproportionately bear the burden of keeping the country running.
Virginia had no public local police force until 1932, before then, policing was almost totally a private affair. The protection of private property & reinforcing the white supremacist social order were & are the two major functions of police in America. Roanoke has its contribution to that history in the form of the Baldwin-Felts Detective... Continue Reading →
Over the past two months two people locked up at Western Virginia Regional Jail (WVRJ) in Salem have reached out to us about the conditions they're being subjected to and asked for support and solidarity. Norberto Ruiz is being denied his medicated eyedrops repeatedly, which is causing blindness. 5.9.20: "I've been having an ongoing issue... Continue Reading →
We are continuously told in schools, by the media, and authority figures that police & prisons are here for public safety, but a look at their origins, function and current examples of such shows that is simply not true. Prisons were created in the 1700s as an alternative to corporal punishment. Police were created in... Continue Reading →
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