The Sorensen Monologues

The Perks of Child Labor

According to this well-reported piece in the Washington Post, a right-wing think tank based in Florida called the Foundation for Government Accountability has been pushing to dismantle regulations that protect kids from working long hours and dangerous jobs. The FGA is funded by some of the biggest Republican donors. 

Via Daily Kos, the bill that just passed the Iowa Senate is nothing short of appalling:  

The new would-be law “allows 14-year-olds to work six-hour night shifts, allows 15-year-olds to work in plants on assembly lines moving items up to 50 pounds, and allows 16 and 17-year-olds to serve alcohol,” reported Iowa’s Who13 …

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The Unimaginable Lives of Earlier Generations

I know the postwar years weren’t easy for everybody, but lower housing and education costs seemed to create more opportunities to build a stable middle-class life, or at least pursue artistic dreams on a lean budget. I don’t envy kids starting out today. 

A few weeks ago I saw a toot on Mastodon linking to an article about the life of Philip Glass, marveling at how he supported himself working various jobs in NYC while he established his music career, and noting how difficult that would be in today’s Manhattan. Hence the second panel of the cartoon, although that character is not supposed to be anyone in particular.

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Tips for Dems to Avoid Expulsion

Justin Jones was fortunately reinstated by the Nashville Metro council as I was drawing this cartoon. It looks like Justin Pearson will also be reinstated this week. Their expulsion from the Tennessee legislature was a radically antidemocratic move from Republicans, yet you might not know it given some headlines that appeared last week. According to this excellent TPM article by Kate Riga, the AP went with the laughably anodyne “Amid polarization, minority party lawmakers face penalties.”

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Dirty Fuel, Clean Conscience

A few recent stories got me thinking about the oil industry this week, leading me to actually wonder how fossil fuel CEOs can stand to live with themselves given that the world is burning up in front of their faces, much as their own scientists predicted decades ago. Perhaps the most notable news was the “final warning” from climate scientists in the IPCC report that said we are on track to use up our carbon budget by 2030.

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