Biden's Next Noxious Nominee

President Biden picked a nominee for the office of 

Secretary of Labor, and from the looks of her, Julie Su

is every bit as radical, anti-business, and anti-worker

(esp. if the workers in question are not in any union) as 

one can imagine coming from the Democrat Party and 

landing a cabinet position in the Biden Administration.  

At present the deputy secretary, Su has tended to place

union interests above those of individual workers and  

flexible business models which workers support but   

unions strongly oppose. While not that long ago while 

being California Labor Secretary she was the driving 

force behind implementation of the state's AB5 law, 

which turned independent contractors into employees,

thus making them vulnerable to union campaigns to 

unionize them. This ploy was aimed at the participants    

in the "gig economy", i.e. Uber drivers and other workers

who have the freedom to negotiate their own individual 

wages and general terms of employment with clientele,    

freedom they would lose if their jobs became unionized

jobs, with the unions deciding what they should earn and   

negotiating for them on their terms.. However, the law

wound up adversely affecting other workers seeking  

flexible hours in various industries, such as (but not

limited to) stand-up comedians, personal fitness trainers,   

hairdressers, landscapers, and personal chefs. Su followed

this up with statewide investigations and audits to enforce

compliance. 

The state's voters then passed an initiative exempting many 

gig workers from the AB5, while the state government on its

own exempted numerous professions from the statute. 

One would think that Su would re-think AB5, to the point

of not trying to get such regulation enacted at the federal level.

But guess what? She is forging ahead with plans to do just that!

Su also is no fan of the franchise industry, a path for many to 

become small-business owners. While in her former position she

supported California's Fast Act, which empowers an unelected 

board (naturally!) to impose work rules and a minimum wage

($22 per hour!!). California's Department of Finance, itself a

bastion of liberal leadership and staff, opposed the law giving

resulting raised labor costs as their reason (!). This law has not

been implemented yet, as California voters collected enough

signatures to put the measure on the ballot in 2024.

Additionally, Su wants to get rid of the "tip credit", which allows

workers to earn a lower minimum wage provided that their 

overall tips provide compensation at least equal to the statutory

minimum wage. Most workers, especially waiters and bartenders 

make much more in tips, and are therefore not supportive of 

dumping the tip credit. They have demonstrated their dislike of 

this maneuver in defeating an initiative in very lefty Portland, 

Maine last year.

Despite Julie Su's record the Senate confirmed her as deputy 

secretary, and now she is bucking for a promotion with the

president's blessings. The country needs a fair and credible

arbiter, not a stooge for the unions. The Senate must turn down

President Biden's choice to head the Department of Labor and

make him choose a more sensible candidate.

MEM    

 

Leon Gautier, R.I.P.

It didn't seem likely that Leon Gautier would live to see

his 100th birthday; he was a French commando on D-Day,

storming the beaches of Normandy with his comrades. But 

though many allied soldiers had died that day, June 6, 1944,

Gautier was not one of them. In fact, he was the 

last surviving French commando from that day.

Having enlisted in the French Navy when just 17, he took part 

in the defense of the port of Cherbourg and the mouth of the 

Vire in Normandy as a gunner on the battleship Courbet. 

Gautier fled to Great Britain just before the Nazi occupation

of France. Once he learned about Free France he decided to 

join Charles de Gaulle and participated in the July 14 parade

in London, marching with the Free French Naval Forces.

Gautier also served on the merchant vessel Gallois as well

as being a marine rifleman on board the submarine Surcouf ,

which operated in the Middle East and in Africa. 

Next, Gautier fought with the 1st Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins

(Marines) Commandos, with whom he had fought on D-Day

in the invasion of Normandy. Over half of his unit died    

in combat there. 

After the war Gautier became the president of the French branch 

of the Association of Commandos. He married Dorothy Banks, 

an Englishwoman whom he met when he was stationed in the

United Kingdom in 1943, and they were married until her passing

in 2016 and had two daughters. In addition, Gautier became 

a peace advocate, stating that war is a "misery" which 

"ends with widows and orphans." He even befriended a former 

German soldier, Johannes Borner, with their unlikely friendship

being the subject of a book by Jean-Charles Stasi. 

Finally, Gautier was awarded the OBE: Order of the British Empire.

On 2017, to Gautier was born a great-great-grandson. 

The little baby's birthday? June 6. 

On July 3 of this year, the old commando went to rejoin his 

comrades. God bless and thank you, Monsieur Gautier, 

for your service! 

Requiescat in pace.

MEM

The Peasant is Off to the Milwaukee Irish Fest!

There will be no blog post today folks, but your 

favorite Peasant shall be back with you next week 

with a new topic to post bout, talk about, and kick

around about. I do treasure my annual Irish holiday;

four wonderful days to celebrate Irish culture and

my (part) Irish heritage!

May the road rise to meet you, and may the wind

always be at your back!

MEM

A Sorrowful Epilogue

We now have more information regarding the fate of the Titan, the tiny

submersible craft built by Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, the

company he founded to enable oceanic exploration. Interviews and 

e-mails with employees revealed how OceanGate ignored repeated,

dire, desperate warnings from both inside and outside the company.

Some said it was a death trap; one said it was "a lemon". 

CEO Rush has been described as arrogant, and had paid no heed to 

the many warnings he received as to the safety of his craft, so much

so that crew member Brian Weed was reportedly greatly disturbed by

Rush's response to emergency protocols which suggested death would

be inevitable if  the craft was not found, that the entire crew would be 

lost. Rush refused to have his untested designs inspected, let alone

certified. His dismissive remark toward it all was, "You're dead 

anyway". 

The Titan imploded, killing all five crew aboard --- Rush and his

crewmates. An implosion is, of course, the opposite of an explosion,

with the object collapsing in on itself in a matter of milliseconds. 

The submersible craft suffered a catastrophic implosion, which likely

happened with unbelievable force and speed given the crushing water

pressure of the ocean floor, even being just two-thirds of the way down 

to where the Titanic rests. The amount of pressure is estimated by 

scientists to be approximately 250 - 280 times the surface pressure

at sea level; an implosion at this depth would prove extremely quick.

Although it will not be of much comfort to the families and friends 

of the dead crew members, it is highly unlikely that they suffered 

much or at all when the craft imploded, according to scientific and

medical experts. 

The "Potential Failure Points" of the Titan were these: The carbon  

fiber hull was made of composite material which was "fundamentally 

flawed". OceanGate's CEO Rush even admitted that his company broke 

the design "rule". The safety monitoring system would only detect 

anything amiss "milliseconds before an implosion". 

Titan's acrylic viewport was certified only to a depth of approximately

4,300 feet; the Titanic is at a depth of 12,500 feet. OceanGate could 

have had the craft's manufacturer meet the required depth but  

"refused to pay" for this safety measure. Rush has also made 

negative remarks regarding regulations of design for the safety of such

crafts, questioning the necessity of many of them. The Peasant is   

no fan of "red tape"; I am a fan, though, of common sense regulations

which promote the protection of lives. The hubris exhibited by  

Stockton Rush he paid for with his life, and the terrible cost of 

his hubris was imposed upon the other four crew members aboard  

the Titan.

There is a bitter lesson to be learned from this tragedy. Failure to 

do so will cost more lives. Boundless arrogance and hubris are 

certainly two things to be eschewed and avoided at all costs.

The Peasant wishes to thank Dr. Chris Raynor, Orthopedic Surgeon 

and expert on the effects that ocean subsurface pressure have on the 

human body who explained in detail the way in which the crew of the

Titan had perished. He produced an explanatory video breaking down 

what had happened aboard the craft. It can be seen on YouTube.

MEM

Peggy (Dicey) Reilly, R.I.P.

A wonderful friend and fellow American of Irish ancestry

passed away just over a week ago. I mention her and her 

passing because one of her sons is the mayor of Waukesha

(Republican), my county's seat as well as a town with

which I have some ties: my high school, Catholic Memorial,

is there, my mother moved there shortly after her divorce 

from my father and lived out her life in Waukesha,

and there was an Irish pub there where I have spent many a 

joyful evening with friends and have stepped up onstage to 

sing with a band whose members are all friends as well.

It was at this pub, the 5 Points Pub, so named for its location 

at a corner of a 5-way intersection (!) that I met Peggy Reilly,

mother of Mayor Paul Reilly and a proud Irishwoman ---

born in America with Irish blood, and a devout Catholic.

Peggy loved Irish culture, especially the music and the dancing.

Already in her eighties when I met her and dependent on a

walker, Peggy Reilly, whose nickname was Dicey for the 

character in an Irish pub song, "Dicey Reilly", we became 

fast friends and I would join our friends in the pub in serenading

her with that very song: "Poor ol' Dicey Reilly she has taken to 

the sup! Poor ol' Dicey Reilly she could never give it up ... "

Peggy would laugh as we sang, and sometimes sang along.

Peggy even got up to dance, holding on to her walker and

moving to the beat of the band as they played Irish songs that

were as good for dancing to as for singing. 

And Peggy was a great conversationalist. She could speak with

great knowledge and clarity of the issues of the day and of many

other topics. Peggy honed her conversational skills as a dinner

hostess in her home, breaking bread with family and friends of

family, and personal friends --- many of which were varied in

their backgrounds, educations, politics, ancestry, careers, and 

other categories; Peggy loved the variety of people and cultivated 

friendships with so many varied people! Her dinners were as 

famous for her conversations as for her cooking, so I'm told

(I never dined at Peggy's home, we got together only at the 

5 Points). 

Peggy was an expert genealogist, and a seasoned traveler. She made 

many trips to her ancestral country. Peggy also enjoyed an occasional

Old Fashioned Jameson or an Irish Mist. A mother of nine, she also

had 25 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. 

Her husband of 52 years, Bill Reilly, preceded Peggy in death in 2007,

a sister and a grandchild had also preceded her. Peggy is now getting 

caught up on family news and other items with them, and those of us

who were her family and friends were left a legacy of friendship, 

craic, and love. Our beloved Dicey was 89 years young. 

Requiescat in pace. 

MEM