Trump gang screws workers again

With the excitement over impeachment finally happening, a lot of bad things might end up, per an overused phrase, “under the radar” for a while. It would be better if that doesn’t happen.

Labor rights advocates and progressive economists slammed the Trump administration after the Department of Labor announced Tuesday a final rule on overtime pay to replace a bolder Obama-era proposal blocked by a federal court in Texas.

"While the administration may be trumpeting this rule as a good thing for workers, that is a ruse," said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). "In reality, the rule leaves behind millions of workers who would have received overtime protections under the much stronger rule, published in 2016, that Trump administration abandoned." - (Common Dreams)

A progressive president could indeed accomplish a great deal, no matter what

Closest thing I’ve seen in a while to what I’d call a “must-read.”

A president has a thicket of checks and balances to maneuver through. But America has also been passing laws for over 232 years, and buried in the U.S. Code are the raw materials for fundamental change. It doesn’t take Green Lantern’s ring to unearth these possibilities, just a president willing to use the laws already passed to their fullest potential.

The Prospect has identified 30 meaningful executive actions, all derived from authority in specific statutes, which could be implemented on Day One by a new president. These would not be executive orders, much less abuses of authority, but strategic exercise of legitimate presidential power.

Without signing a single new law, the next president can lower prescription drug prices, cancel student debt, break up the big banks, give everybody who wants one a bank account, counteract the dominance of monopoly power, protect farmers from price discrimination and unfair dealing, force divestment from fossil fuel projects, close a slew of tax loopholes, hold crooked CEOs accountable, mandate reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, allow the effective legalization of marijuana, make it easier for 800,000 workers to join a union, and much, much more. We have compiled a series of essays to explain precisely how, and under what authority, the next president can accomplish all this. - David Dayen/The American Prospect

35K Minnesotans may face added food insecurity, thanks to Trump and his party

Hopefully every one of them who is eligible will get out and vote, not only against Trump himself (if he’s still running by Election Day) but anyone and everyone from the Party of Trump. Plenty are rural residents whose votes could make the difference in close state legislative races.

If the option is available, voting for progressives (as opposed to corporate DFLers) in primaries would also kick butt.

More than 35,000 Minnesotans could lose federal food stamp benefits under a proposed Trump administration rule change that would leave more people hungry in the state, Minnesota officials say.

Some 18,000 children in Minnesota would be affected, according to the Department of Human Services. A public comment period on the proposal ends Monday and interested people can submit their comments online through the Federal Register. - MPR

MN-08: Rep. Stauber supports ripping off military families for Trump's wall

From a few days ago.

Congressman Pete Stauber might have appeared caught in the middle of national reporting last week that the White House was canceling $3.6 billion in military projects in favor of spending on the border wall with Mexico.

Married to a former command chief of the 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth, Stauber has been an avowed supporter of the military. But he was unequivocal in his approval of the diversion of military funds for the border wall in a conversation Sunday with the News Tribune.

"At West Point in New York there's $65 million intended for a new parking lot — it's now being prioritized to secure the southern border," Stauber, R-Hermantown, said. "I think that parking lot can wait. We have a crisis on our southern border." - Duluth NewsTribune

It's not about parking lots, Congressman. Get your shit together.

A number of schools and daycares that serve military families in the United States and abroad will be forced to forgo much-needed renovation and expansion to pay for the wall President Trump is determined to build along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Pentagon released a list this week of more than 127 Defense Department projects canceled due to the reallocation of $3.6 billion to Trump’s wall. Nearly $572 million was slated for school and daycare construction projects on military bases.

Some leaders in Congress have expressed outrage that Trump would compromise the well-being of military families to pay for the wall after Congress refused the funding. - EducationVotes

Addendum: Be sure to click and read the comment, for an explanation of what the parking lot is really about.

Greedheads skim plenty from "nonprofit" charters

The Minnesota metro has thus far escaped the worst of the charter school scandals. But the charter-industrial complex here is by no means pristine, and there’s likely more to come.

Charter schools, once the darling of politicians on the right and left, have become a hot potato in the Democratic Party 2020 presidential primary with nearly every candidate voicing some level of disapproval of the industry. A common refrain among the candidates is to express opposition to “for-profit charter schools.” Charter school proponents counter these pronouncements by pointing to industry data indicating only 12 percent of charter schools are run by overtly profit-minded entities, and that most charter schools are overseen by outfits that have a nonprofit, tax-exempt status.

But the singling out of for-profit charter schools is somewhat beside the point as residents of a St. Paul, Minnesota, neighborhood learned this summer when a treasured local landmark was threatened by an expanding charter school. The charter was decidedly nonprofit, but as families and preservation advocates would learn from their tenacious, but ultimately unsuccessful, battle to save a beloved, historic church, charter schools, regardless of their tax status, have become powerful players in a lucrative real estate market in urban areas where land values are high and empty lots or school-ready buildings are hard to find. - Sarah Lahm/Salon

As always when I blog stuff like this it’s not aimed at teachers and classroom staff at charters, “nonprofit” or otherwise.

Further victimizing defrauded student borrowers

Basically, a sick, demented, vicious person who is not Trump - though this move undoubtedly has his explicit approval - is abusing her power, again.

Critics condemned Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Friday for replacing Obama-era federal loan forgiveness regulations for student borrowers who claim that they were defrauded by their schools with new policies that could make it more difficult to access relief.

"On the Friday of Labor Day weekend, Betsy DeVos is gleefully forcing hundreds of thousands of students defrauded by for-profit colleges to suffer yet another indignity," Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement. "Shame on her."

...Since DeVos was narrowly confirmed by the Senate to lead the Education Department in early 2017, she has "refused to follow existing law and cancel the loans for these students, leaving them in debt they can't get away from," Eileen Connor, legal director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending, told the Times. "Now, she's shredding a set of fair, common-sense rules that level the playing field between students and those who take advantage of them." - Common Dreams

Big Ag, Big Oil at daggers drawn

For public view, anyway. Since the two actually have a symbiotic relationship, and ultimately the same greedheads get rich beyond the dreams of avarice from both, I imagine this will be dealt with in ways that protect the interests of both, though not of farmers. Or of the environment we all live in.

Clashes between farmers and the oil industry over biofuel policy have posed a challenge for Trump, who is counting on the support of both constituencies in next year’s presidential election.

U.S. farmers and ethanol producers have ramped up pressure on Trump over the past few weeks to quickly take steps to boost ethanol demand. The oil industry has struck back, saying such moves would increase costs for refiners and could cost manufacturing jobs. - Reuters