"I was telling them to go left, I meant right"

Wait. Was that stage right? Or your right? And left isn't right...right?

" being beholden to the union is not so different than being beholden to the mob."

WTF are you talking about? The mob?!? I've felt a bit constrained not being able to do some non-union productions over the decades...but I've never been or felt "beholden" to anyone or anything, nor have I as a Union leader EVER tried to make anyone else feel "beholden". I believe the benefits far, far outweigh any inconvenience, and I'm living proof.

But comparing being a Union member to being beholden to the "mob"...you've got to be out of your freakin' mind if you actually believe that.

"Unions don't apply to what I do it's all strange for me as a spectator."

For the performing arts, it's a non-starter: Union affiliation is the difference between making it a career or a hobby. I'm sure they exist, but I've never met a non-union actor or non-union voice-over artist who got health insurance and a pension through their work, not to mention regulated work hours and grievance redress...all Union staples.

"members of her party are disappointed with the election results and believe fraud occurred "

When in actuality, members of her party were disappointed with the election results and now want fraud to occur.

Of course, as members of The Party of Responsibility, they've decided it's HER fault.

"(Dems) are great at missing golden opportunities"

If Dems were a baseball team, they'd lead the league in blown leads. #winning!

"When I was younger I hoofed it all over the damn Strip..."

Back in 2001, we were staying at Mandalay Bay. Out our window was Paris, with the tower looking so close you could almost touch it. So, stupid me, I decided we'd walk it. (What seemed like) 8 hours later....

"Hexx's corned beef with poached eggs breakfast is fantastic."

Thank you! The bride is a consummate foodie, so we're always looking for good recommendations. I'll add that to our list.

"As for govt debt, it's been so out of line for decades that we can never pay it off "

Well, if that isn't a great reason to add another 10% of all the debt since 1776, I don't know what is!

"Not 'screaming' [your words]"

I was merely comparing it to your decibel level when the (R)s proposed slashing revenue by trillions.

"just what did I state in my post that you feel is incorrect."

Nothing. I merely asked why you were so silent when the Rs proposed (and passed) the equivalent of lighting money on fire, yet now you're so upset over expenditures for health, education, and infrastructure.

"only SAG from your list would get mentioned."

Okay. That doesn't mean AEA and AFTRA aren't Unions. And while stage actors are rarely famous for that alone, almost every TV Star is a member of AFTRA, now SAG-AFTRA.

"I checked an SAG said 160k members. Much more prominent is the UAW"

You're right; UAW is larger. And they've had their share of problems. I got recruited for the my Local Board following an embezzlement scandal. The EO literally told me I was being asked "because you have a squeaky-clean reputation." Regardless, corrupt leadership doesn't default to the workers having no say.

"people who voted against the UAW union at VW's TN plant went ahead and created their own union."

IOW, the concept was accepted, and just the vehicle replaced. ( Pun intended.)

"we cut through the Four Queens"

Ouch. I stayed there once. And other than it being woefully run down, I only remember one thing:

You know how awful hotel bar soap can be? In the cheapest of the cheap motels? The worst you've ever had??? Four Queens was worse.

"That was 2006 though wasn't it?"

It might've been a then, or a few years later; the last four trips have been either cabs or rental cars to the Strip, and then usually because of a destination restaurant. Frankly, I don't mind eating or people-watching at the Bellagio or the Wynn, but I don't want to gamble there. And I can't remember the last time I went from one casino on the Strip to another. Now downtown, we like to juke...and usually keep doing it until we get away from Freemont, too.

On people-watching: one trip, the bride and I were leaving from the Bellagio shortly after it opened, and just about everyone checking in, and everyone heading toward us at the airport, were overdone women showing a lot of cleavage, and oversprayed men showing very few brains. The makeup was so heavy (possibly on both genders) the bride checked:

The AVN Awards were that weekend.

"the Palm Beach Trump onanistic derby"

You win the internet.

"Not a problem as the [not actual ''printing presses' are churning out more debt by the trillions so why not as the more the merrier - There---PROBLEMS SOLVED'

You had your chance when Republicans chose to set fire to $2.3 trillion in revenue. Instead, you were silent. Why are you now screaming about a problem you never mentioned when the President had an (R) after his name?

"Vice President Mike Pence tried to assert control."

"Most trade unions have a standardized training process, which ensures some level of labor quality. "

Being a Union leader over three decades, I went through a few strikes. In the first instance, the producers and hirers couldn't wait to get to that deep and talented non-union pool...and quickly discovered the pool was neither deep nor talented. By the second, the pool had grown in both numbers and skill.

The third involved a band of idiots who, in the relative infancy of cable, got elected, and then went on strike over the concept cable performers should be paid the same as network performers. Huh? How does that work in the equation? The revenue streams (were) worlds apart.

In the end, the band of idiots settled for less than they could've gotten the day they struck, and have since been voted out.

^And just to show how one voice can effect change...

Back in the mid-to-late 80s I was my city's volunteer rep for Actor's Equity. I was on the regular quarterly national call one day, and they informed us the requirements to earn health care (something every actor must do every year), were going to increase by 2/3rds, overnight. Effectively, for my area, that meant only stage managers, and a small cadre of consistantly-working actors would qualify.

I called an emergency meeting of every working actor in town, and in a bunch of jammed rooms where you could hear a pin drop, I gave them the news. At some point, a fellow actor said, "So, there's nothing we can do, right?"

And I said: "On the contrary. We've lost everything, so there's everything we can do and everything we must do. Here's one idea: Actor's Equity has a rule: if any paid-up member writes a letter to Council (think Board of Directors), that letter must be read aloud during a Council meeting, and that supersedes all other business. Let's tell them how we feel."

Well, one other local had the same idea, and soon, the entire weekly Council meeting was taken up reading the letters, only to find a larger pile awaiting them for the following week. Before long, I got a frantic call from the Regional Director: "All right! Enough with the f^^kin' letters! We get it. WE GET IT! We're having a summit this weekend! Now NO MORE F^^KIN' LETTERS!" From that summit came Equity's current two-tiered plan, where a certain amount of work weeks gets you 6 months coverage, and almost twice as many weeks gets you a year's coverage.

Interestingly, what also emerged was a twist, since there is always a time when someone who will eventually earn a year, has qualified for 6 months. Rather than automatically onset, the system allows the participant to delay the onset of coverage. Knowing this, I accepted a show that not only qualified me, but would allow me to time the start and end of the coverage to segue to Cobra until Medicare kicked in. For someone like me, who would be thrown in a high-risk pool if the ACA ever collapsed, it was a great feeling to join the ranks of those who will never have to worry about affordable access to health insurance again.

Look what happened in this case: the smallest voices in the Union made the loudest difference. They forced changes in the structure of the coverage system, and ironically, a meeting I had in my home one night led to a provision which ended up benefitting me...30 years later.

None of us would have been so empowered without the Union.

"You were in an accountants union?"

Hardly. One day of classes and I hated it and quit. My unions were Actor's Equity, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the Screen Actors' Guild. I served in volunteer leadership positions in all three.

" any meaningful promotion comes through the union"

Why couldn't this guy become management? That's a meaningful promotion isn't it?

"not to mention the immediate effects, where for many are worse than the disease itself."

Oh, FFS, you did NOT actually write that, did you? You're comparing a robust immune response with possible long-haul symptoms?!? WTF?

"what I do hear a lot about are the long-term effects of getting the COVID vaccine"

Again: WTF are you talking about? What studies have shown "long-term effects" from getting the C19 vaccine? Link, please.

"Selling a union is tough when it's already the best place to work in town."

Spot-on. Plus, it's not that difficult to pay a little more hourly, and make up for it via crappy or more expensive benefits. They know, generally speaking, the uninformed worker will only look at the hourly wage and stop there.

" Vegas already has Fremont St."

The bride and I stayed at the Golden Nugget right after they re-opened following a $75 million restoration. We loved it. Much more like old Vegas, and not far away (walking distance) from "real Vegas" which to us means the semi-run-down joints where the odds are better to attract the locals. I doubt we'll ever stay on the strip again; great for the restaurants and people-watching, but a bit of a pain to navigate compared to Fremont Street.

"He writes the paychecks, but it's the unions who determine promotions and payment."

Stop right there. He signed the agreement, representing 50% (at least) of the interests. Why is he not equally responsible for the results?"

"The employees voted to break with the union. It was a better deal for them."

That's because the company offered them a better deal. I wonder what they used as a standard?

In other words, despite breaking with the union, the union's presence ultimately got them a better standard of life.

"It's no surprise the medical business in this country is in the -------."

Medical folks have some of the best pay and benefits I see*, the industry benefits from blind pricing, and with 10,000 baby boomers retiring daily, I'd have to respectfully disagree.

*re: W-2s from ~450 clients/yr

From the Texas Legislature:
State and local governments in Texas bring in 35.4 percent of their total revenue from the sales tax

So if your claim is correct, over half the state's budget would have to come from the Feds, and sales taxes would have to be more than doubled to recompense.

"It's 89% sales tax, 11% property tax generated."

Wow.

Those percentages sure go up when you cut out the Fed largesse from the equation, don't they?