UBER, LYFT Wins Ballot Initiative on Labor Rights

Chicago, IL - November 24, 2020 - (The Ponder News) -- On Nov. 3, 2020, Uber, Lyft and Postmates won a highly contested ballot initiative on labor rights in California, codifying that their workers will remain independent contractors, instead of employees. Mere weeks later, the companies are working to secure similar laws nationwide, including in Illinois and New York.

Prop-22, the California initiative, was supported by a record-setting $200 million and massive marketing campaign. Before and after Election Day, driver groups and labor advocates argued the gig companies were pushing misinformation to voters, causing confusion about how the law would affect workers' rights and protections.

The effects of Prop-22 are far-reaching for both corporate and lower-to-middle class America. Prop-22 effectively secured the long-term viability of gig companies, exempting them from the high costs of minimum wages, unemployment benefits, health insurance, and workers' compensation. Gig workers, on the other hand, have few protections and no safety net. For instance, a UC Berkeley Labor Center study estimates that drivers will be guaranteed only $5.64/hour (when accounting for time on the app, waiting for fares), under Prop-22. The law also leaves gig workers vulnerable in regards to work injuries and unwarranted deactivations (see: firings) from the platforms. Simply stated, when something goes wrong, the workers are left to fend for themselves.

Uber's CEO has stated publicly that the company is researching how to pass similar measures in other major markets. Crain's reported that Lyft has already launched a SuperPAC in Illinois with the goal of codifying its drivers' independent contractor status. Lyft also started a nationwide coalition called App-Based Work Alliance, with labor rights - or lack thereof - as the chief agenda.

"If voters understood the implications of Prop-22, they would have rebuked the law on its face," LegalRideshare attorney and co-founder Bryant Greening said. "The time is now to ensure voters appreciate the effects of these measures before they show up on local ballots."

Greening said many of his clients are fearful that Prop-22-like laws will sweep the nation. "Gig workers have steadily seen their rights and wages decrease, as gig companies search for ways to reduce costs," Greening said. "Our community must prioritize human rights over corporate profits."

LegalRideshare is the only law firm in the U.S. entirely dedicated to protecting gig workers after accidents and injuries.

"Boy Scout Lives Matter," Says Legal-Bay Lawsuit Funding, as they Near 100K Sex Abuse Claims Filed Via Bankruptcy Process

Washington, D.C. - November 24, 2020 - (The Ponder News) -- Legal-Bay, The Pre-Settlement Funding Company, announced that while they are still funding a limited number of Boy Scouts of America Cases, they are appalled at the final tally of over 92K claims of sexual abuse and harassment already filed. Legal-Bay's last estimate of cases filed over the summer was around 25K, however, with a deadline of November 16 to submit all claims, that number has soared. Unfortunately, the high number of claims is putting a major strain on the settlement amounts awarded to plaintiffs at the culmination of their trials.

While the country's focus throughout much of 2020 was on Black Lives Matter protests and Donald Trump campaign rallies occurring amidst a worldwide pandemic, it was easy to ignore an equally significant epidemic unfolding throughout our country: The sexual abuse of our nation's children. Between a presidential election, escalating racial unrest, and COVID, the country's priorities have shifted away from these kids over the course of this tumultuous year.

Legal-Bay has never wavered in its dedication to children's causes. They've been supporting victims of childhood sexual abuse for years; it's an issue that has affected thousands of innocent children within organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America, the Catholic Church, or state-run group homes.

Chris Janish, CEO of Legal-Bay commented, "Shame on America for turning their backs on the systemic sex abuse problem we have in this country in regards to children. Whether it be the Sandusky case at Penn State, the Larry Nassar assaults on our Olympic athletes, or the numerous BSA and Catholic Church abuse cases, these situations are horrific in nature and have caused life-long mental and emotional harm to almost every single victim. Our hearts go out to the survivors, and we hope that they'll see ample compensation along with more effective measures put in place to ensure that children are better protected in the future."

Due to the sheer number of claims being filed via bankruptcy courts, Legal-Bay predicts that the BSA cases and ultimate payments to victims could drag on for three years or longer. And due to BSA's limited assets and bankruptcy filings, plaintiffs may not see high settlement amounts or values. Cases will most likely be batched in tiers of categories ranging from the most severe to the least. However, certain Catholic dioceses that have substantial assets and fewer cases could see settlement values north of $1 million, even for individual lawsuits. Legal-Bay is constantly updating its underwriting criteria as the landscape changes with each new case and jurisdiction.

Legal-Bay remains committed to helping victims of sex abuse or sexual harassment by providing instant pre-settlement funding capital to pay bills as they wait out their court cases to settle. The company is also very active in funding all types of personal injury and accident cases, including car, boat, or truck accidents, as well as wrongful termination, workplace discrimination, wrongful conviction or imprisonment, police brutality, medical malpractice, commercial litigation, and more.

Aside from sexual abuse loans for settlements, Legal-Bay also provides pre settlement funding for all types of cases including personal injury, car accident, medical malpractice, judgment on appeal, commercial litigation, and more. Their loans for lawsuits have helped numerous plaintiffs through many a financial crisis.

Legal-Bay's loan settlement programs provide immediate cash in advance of a plaintiff's anticipated monetary award. The non-recourse case funding—sometimes referred to as loans for lawsuit or loans on settlement—are risk-free, as the money doesn't need to be repaid should the recipient lose their case. Therefore, the lawsuit loans aren't really loans, but rather a cash advance.

To apply now, please visit us HERE or call toll-free at: 877.571.0405 where agents are standing by

Free Speech Protects Sexual Orientation Change Efforts says Court

Washington, D.C. - November 24, 2020 - (The Ponder News) -- Family Research Council (FRC) has praised the recent decision by a federal appeals court striking down two local ordinances banning sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) for minors. In the case of Otto v. City of Boca Raton, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled on November 20 that "these ordinances are content-based and viewpoint-based restrictions on speech," and thus "violate the First Amendment."

Both the city of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County in Florida had enacted laws similar to those in several states and other localities across the country, prohibiting what critics of the practice sometimes call "conversion therapy" for minors, on the argument that such therapy is harmful to clients.

However, FRC also released today an Issue Analysis based upon a literature review of 79 academic sources purported to show "measures of harm" from SOCE. As FRC Senior Fellow for Policy Studies Peter Sprigg documents in the report, none of the 79 studies provide scientific proof that SOCE is more harmful than other forms of therapy, more harmful than other courses of action for those with same-sex attractions, or more likely to be harmful than helpful for the average client.

Sprigg has written papers showing that sexual orientation can change, that SOCE therapy can be effective and is not usually harmful, and that even pro-LGBT sources have undermined the case for therapy bans.

"Legal restrictions upon the voluntary pursuit of, and assistance with, sexual orientation change represent an assault upon both freedom of speech and freedom of religion," said Sprigg regarding Friday's court ruling. "I hope this court decision marks the beginning of the end for these unconstitutional infringements on personal autonomy."

The two licensed marriage and family therapists who brought the suit, Robert Otto and Julie Hamilton, were represented by Liberty Counsel. The court's decision was written by Judge Britt C. Grant, with Judge Barbara Lagoa concurring. Judge Beverly B. Martin wrote in dissent.

The 11th Circuit decision was foreshadowed by comments in a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision, NIFLA v. Becerra, dealing with California's efforts to regulate speech by pro-life pregnancy centers. In the course of rejecting the argument that governments can regulate "professional speech" without offending the First Amendment, the Supreme Court directly criticized earlier appeals court decisions that had made the same argument in upholding state therapy bans. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that "this Court has not recognized 'professional speech' as a separate category of speech. Speech is not unprotected merely because it is uttered by 'professionals.'"

COVID Treatment

Regeneron’s treatment was given to President Donald Trump last month after he contracted Covid-19. While Trump received a number of drugs to combat the virus, he said after he was released from the hospital he expected speedy authorization of Regeneron’s therapy, crediting it with his recovery. It has now received an emergency-use authorization from U.S. drug regulators for treatment of early Covid-19 symptoms, adding to the expanding arsenal of therapies available to physicians at a time when the virus is surging. Read more...

Contrary to what some are saying about the drug, Regeneron was NOT derived from embryonic stem cells. Check out this article...

Apprenticeship Act, Belarus, Vaccines, and Sexual Misconduct

The House of Representatives passed the National Apprenticeship Act which would invest in increasing access to Registered Apprenticeships (RAs), codify and streamline existing standards that are vital to support RAs, and invest and expand the successful RA model to youth apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. The National Apprenticeship Act would invest more than $3.5 billion over five years to create nearly 1 million additional apprenticeship opportunities in existing and emerging industry sectors, according to U.S. Representative Adam Smith (D-WA, 9th).

Apparently, Belarus's election woes make ours look like small potatoes. This is one we need to be watching, to see how it all plays out. Read more...

October has now been declared "National Principles Month" officially. Read more...

U.S. Representative Darren Soto (D-FL, 9th) introduced the Helping Adults Protect Immunity Act (HAPI) Act to ensure more Americans can receive necessary vaccines, including any future COVID-19 vaccine, at no out-of-pocket cost. The legislation would create parity in vaccine coverage between traditional Medicaid and Medicaid expansion programs. The bill would also provide enhanced federal matching funds for states to better reach at-risk and vulnerable patient populations. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has introduced the Senate companion bill. Read more...

Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA), Chair of the House Military Personnel Subcommittee, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, sent a letter to U.S. Department of Defense Acting Inspector General (DOD-IG) Sean O’Donnell demanding an explanation for the delayed conclusion of an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct against former Navy Auditor General Ronnie J. Booth.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report reviewing the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) management of their intellectual property. The report recommends HHS fix a deficiency in their commercial licensing process and publicly report more about the licensing of their intellectual property. U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (MI) and Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12) requested this report in order to learn more about how taxpayer-funded research is being used to develop drugs and vaccines.

Election News, Obamacare and COVID-19

In a memo to U.S. attorneys sent and made public Monday, Mr. Barr said investigations “may be conducted if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State.”
Read more...

The head of President Donald Trump's efforts to challenge the 2020 election result has tested positive for the coronavirus, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Read more...

A group of Republican attorneys general on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case challenging a lower court ruling that extended Pennsylvania's deadline to receive mail-in ballots.
Read more...

The 10 attorneys general aligned their states with arguments from Trump’s presidential campaign, the Pennsylvania Republican Party and a pair of GOP state legislative leaders that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision usurped powers that the Constitution reserves for state legislatures.
Read more...

Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development (HUD), has tested positive for the coronavirus, a HUD spokesperson said Monday, making him the second senior official who attended an election night event at the White House to contract the virus.
Read more...

The court will hear a lawsuit Tuesday that likely represents Republicans’ last chance to knock out a health care law they’ve opposed for over a decade, and that President-elect Joe Biden is vowing to expand. One of the most-watched participants at the oral arguments will be Trump’s latest appointee to the high court, Amy Coney Barrett. Democrats during last month’s confirmation hearings portrayed her as the pivotal vote who could bring about the law’s demise amid an intensifying pandemic that’s sickened millions.
Read more...

Election News from Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia...and New Cable News Network Coming!

Wisconsin Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos instructed a review of the state’s election results following concerns about mail-in ballots and voter fraud, according to Wisconsin State Journal.

A Nevada whistleblower has alleged that Clark County, Nevada election officials counted mail-in ballots despite concerns about signature validity. Clark County had previously raised red flags in the eyes of state Republicans, who pointed out ways its signature verification process (or lack there of) could be weaponized. Read more...

The Trump campaign has sued Arizona’s Maricopa County alleging that poll workers may have disenfranchised thousands of in-person voters on election day by incorrectly handling some ballots.

The campaign announced its lawsuit in a press release on Saturday, claiming that some ballots cast on election day were marked as “overvotes” by the machines processing them, meaning the machine found that more votes were marked on the ballot than is allowed. Many overvote ballots were then canceled instead of being taken by a poll worker and counted by hand, the lawsuit says. Read more about this...

Jeanine Pirro parlayed that "Donald Trump is starting a new cable "news" network. I will host the flagship program."

The Ponder is looking forward to that!

Georgia’s top election official is dispatching a team of investigators after a ballot “issue” was discovered in one of the counties most responsible for giving former Vice President Joe Biden the lead over President Trump. Read more...

USPS Whistleblower, Late Ballots, Election Software Glitch, COVID-19, Dead Men Voting

Project Veritas’ most recent Insider from Pennsylvania, a USPS Whistleblower, Richard Hopkins, has informed them that after going public with his allegations of supervisors back-dating ballots to November 3rd, his job has been threatened! A Go-Fund-Me account has been set up to support him!
Check it out!

Ken Star has said that Ballots that arrive late are illegal, according to Supreme Court Law. Read about it...

U.S. Representative Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ, 4th) is calling on Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to call a special session of the AZ Legislature under Article IV of its state constitution to investigate the accuracy and reliability of the Dominion ballot software and its impact on their general election due to numerous "hiccups" across the country causing vote count irregularities. According to an article in USA Today, a failure to update the software was the cause of the "glitch".

White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, has tested positive for COVID-19.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney said the President was wrong, and called him "reckless", over claiming election fraud.

In Clark County, Nevada, a man who has been dead for three years rose from the grave to cast a ballot.

Introducing the Trump Accountability Project: Communism in Practice in America

House Representative Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez (NY-14), and other Democrats, are voicing their plan to archive and make lists of all those who supported Donald Trump on social media to make them accountable. This is a blatant example of the coming persecution for those who don't agree with Democrats in the future. One such radical group supporting her is called "The Trump Accountability Project". Get ready to hear more about this...

Check it out by clicking HERE

Can you say "Mark of the Beast" rhetoric?

Read more about this at Headline USA

Read also:

Leftists, Never Trumpers Begin Compiling Lists of Trump Supporters

James Woods Hits Back With this Brilliant Response When AOC Starts Threatening to Target Trump Supporters
While you are at it, put Shonda Ponder, editor of The Ponder News, on that list as well. I ain't giving up my beliefs and my morals for a paycheck.

Substantiated Claims of Election Fraud

New Boston, TX - November 6, 2020 - (The Ponder News) -- The Georgia Secretary of State has announced that there will be a recount, due to the closeness of the race. Over 40,000 military ballots are still not counted.

Michigan County has flipped back to Trump after a software glitch was found and fixed. Apparently over 40 other counties in Michigan were affected the same way, so stay tuned for updates about this. GOP is demanding all votes be checked again after this incident.

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel is asking Minnesota State GOP Chairs to rally behind President Trump's allegations of election fraud. Apparently GOP has remained eerily quiet.

Most reports coming from the media about the election are still saying Trump's claims are "baseless" and "unsubstantiated", in spite of evidence of election tampering and software glitches, voting irregularities and denial of access to poll-watchers.

According to the Washington Times, "The Republican National Committee has legal teams on the ground in four battleground states and announced Friday there are numerous incidences of “voting irregularities.”

Mitch McConnel maintains that regardless of who wins, there will be a "peaceful transfer of power".

In Pennsylvania, thousands of provisional ballots will be set aside until officials can determine if they were valid, according to an order by the Commonwealth Court in a lawsuit brought by Republican candidates.

The Ponder believes there is enough "substantiated evidence" based on "solid proof" that the presidential election has been compromised. President Trump deserves to be backed up on his claims.

=====
Allies of Skin: Get 20% Off Sitewide with Code SORRY20
=====