Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

We have several reads on Labor Day, beginning with Helaine Olen's discussion of the erosion of workers' rights:

President Trump frequently complements himself on the American employment picture. “Best economy & jobs EVER,” he tweeted this past June on his 500th day in office. No doubt he’ll say something similar as he makes note of Labor Day. He’ll probably boast about bringing back coal and steel jobs, too. But one thing Trump almost certainly won’t mention: His administration is presiding over the biggest decline in worker rights most of us have seen in our lifetimes. 

Whenever there is a choice to be made, Trump favors the perceived needs of the plutocratic class at the expense of almost anyone who earns a paycheck. Trump claims he’s eliminating “job killing regulations,” but, in fact, he’s simply lining the pockets of the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the health and wealth of everyone else.

The Economic Policy Institute has a progressive 15- point agenda to address the assault on workers' rights -- called "First Day Fairness":

This agenda outlines a series of initial reforms focused on labor and employment policies, one of EPI’s core areas of focus for generating a fairer economy. These policies would ensure that the protections promised in our basic labor laws decades ago have been updated to meet the needs of workers in a modern context. 

The best guarantee for a fair first day for workers is union representation and a collective bargaining agreement; consequently, much of what we advocate for in this agenda is designed to reverse decades of legal hostility aimed at unions and to boost union coverage. As a complement to these policies, we also propose a series of employment law reforms that will restore at least some of the lost bargaining power of workers. 

Together these policies will help to unrig the system and ensure a fair first day for working people.

Paul Krugman discusses the particular animus involved in the decision (now "under review") by nitwit narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump to cancel a cost of living adjustment to federal workers:

... Giving government workers the shaft is long-term G.O.P. policy, but even so I suspect that Congressional Republicans would have preferred that Trump not make this announcement two months before the midterm elections. The timing, as opposed to the general hostility to public servants, is probably personal to Trump.

Two things in particular seem relevant here. First, Trump has always chiseled and cheated those who work for him: his business career is littered with tales of unpaid workers and contractors. Since he makes no distinction between personal business and being president, squeezing a few bucks out of the federal workforce just comes naturally.
Beyond that, Trump is feeling under siege from the “deep state,” which to him means any part of the government that answers to rule of law as opposed to being personally loyal to him. His wage chiseling may in part represent a way of lashing out at everyone in government: these days they all look like Robert Mueller to him. 

To get an idea of what the right really thinks of working people, take the example of Geoffrey Owens, who played Elvin Tibideaux on "The Cosby Show," and how he was treated by the "trash" (Justine Bateman's word) at the Daily Mail and Fox News dumpsters:

... Owens is what we think of as a successful working actor: known but not a “celebrity,” with an IMDb page that rarely skips a year. Apparently, that’s why a woman shopping at Trader Joe’s last week, in Clifton, New Jersey, was so jarred to see Owens bagging groceries that she snapped his photo and sent it to the Daily Mail, which ran the headline, “From learning lines to serving the long line!” Fox News picked up the story, and on Saturday a Twitter storm erupted—most of it shaming Fox News for shaming Owens for working for a living.

On the Trump- Russia scandal and the Special Counsel's ultimate report, b.s. purveying loon Rudy "Ghouliani" Giuliani says the White (Supremacist) House is prepared to obstruct justice all the way:

Rudy Giuliani says the White House would likely attempt to block a full public release of Robert Mueller’s anticipated final report about the Russia investigation ― bolstering long-held fears that the special counsel’s ultimate findings may never see the light of day.  

Giuliani’s startling admission was tucked inside an expansive New Yorker profile of the former New York City mayor and Trump attorney, published online Monday. 

Giuliani, who like the president has repeatedly described the Russia probe as a “witch hunt,” told journalist Jeffrey Toobin that Trump’s original legal team had struck a deal with Mueller about his expected final report that would allow the White House to “object to the public disclosure of information that might be covered by executive privilege.”  

“I asked Giuliani if he thought the White House would raise objections,” wrote Toobin in the profile. 

“I’m sure we will,” Giuliana responded, noting that it would be the president who “would make the final call.”

A Democratic House will have something to say about that.

Finally, we again recommend you take a spin over to Infidel 753's wonderful link round-up for a collection of  "various interesting stuff" he's come across recently.