We got one

One the one hand, we know Trump will just go to the bullpen and nominate the next supervillain in the queue. On the other hand, Andy Puzder should never have been anywhere near a chance to run the Labor Department. 

As a restaurant executive, Puzder has spent much of his career speaking out against wage and labor regulations. The former commercial trial lawyer has been a staunch opponent of rules finalized by the Labor Department last year — and since put on hold — that would have expanded the number of people eligible for overtime pay. He also has been critical of substantially increasing the minimum wage, arguing that it could push companies to cut jobs and encourage businesses to invest more money in automation.

Anyway, he's out.  

All they care about is being 'Merican

Every top level Trump adviser or cabinet member is somewhere on the scale of criminal-to-supervillain. But it's interesting that the "Resistance" only cares about the "traitor."

Puzder is a sexual abuser who is part of a pro-slavery lobby.

DeVos wants to eliminate public schools. Her brother owns a private army.

Sessions is pretty much a Klansman.

Mnuchin financed Batman vs Superman

But the one that establishment Democrats really want to focus on is the "traitor" so they can all puff up and be super 'Merican about it. Why is this the thing they care about?


It's because their actual constituency is comprised of millionaires and billionaires who care about "stability" and "security" (for themselves and their money anyway) but not so much about basic rights for working people. But you knew that. 

Keep bugging your representatives

Is our Democrats learning?  Maybe a little bit.

Amid mounting opposition from Democrats and labor groups, the confirmation hearing for labor secretary nominee and fast-food chief executive Andrew Puzder has been delayed a fourth time.

If you have a Democratic Senator, it serves well to keep after them. They tend not to stay this stiff-backed without continual encouragement.

In Louisiana, we have dopes like John Neely Kennedy and Bill Cassidy carrying our flag for us.  But it's every bit as worth it to talk at them too.  Cassidy is holding a Facebook townall this afternoon at 4:45. That means there's still time to get in a comment or question if you use the Parallel Internet. Here's what I sent him.

President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Labor is multi-millionaire fast food magnate Andrew Puzder. Puzder is on record standing opposed to federal minimum wage laws and overtime standards. Furthermore, 60 percent of his restaurants (Carl's Jr, Hardee's) have been named in violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Senator, is this the sort of person we should accept in an office charged with enforcing federal laws intended to protect workers from abuse? Also, as a medical professional, how many Hardee's Budweiser Beer Cheese Bacon Thickburgers would you recomend your consituents include in their diet per week?

Art of the deal

Donald Trump is an excellent negotiator.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, Trump got involved. He sat down with Carrier leaders. Afterward, he announced that 1,100 jobs would be saved. When I first heard the news, I was optimistic. But I began to get nervous when we couldn’t get any details on the deal. I urged caution, but our members got their hopes up. They thought their jobs had been saved.

When I met with Carrier officials last Thursday, I realized that that wouldn’t be the case. Though Trump said he’d saved 1,100 jobs, he hadn’t. Carrier told us that 550 people would get laid off.

Trump didn’t tell people that, though. When he spoke at our plant, he acted like no one was going to lose their job. People went crazy for him. They thought, because of Trump, I’m going to be able to provide for my family. 

All the while, I’m sitting there, thinking that’s not what the damn numbers say. Trump let people believe that they were going to have a livelihood in that facility. He let people breathe easy. When I told our members the next day, they were devastated.

I was angry, too. So I told a Washington Post reporter the truth — that Trump’s 1,100 number was wrong. When Trump read my comments, he got angry.

Trump used these Carrier employees as a campaign stunt. Then he used them as a post-election photo-op.  Then he kicked them in the teeth.

Today he did it again. 

President-elect Donald J. Trump on Thursday named Andrew F. Puzder, chief executive of the company that operates the fast food outlets Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. and an outspoken critic of the worker protections enacted by the Obama administration, to be secretary of labor.

Mr. Puzder has spent his career in the private sector and has opposed efforts to expand eligibility for overtime pay, while arguing that large minimum wage increases hurt small businesses and lead to job loss among low-skilled workers.

During the campaign, Trump frequently sounded open to raising the minimum wage to $10. This is, of course, unacceptable but it would be more than Puzder would be likely to countenance. In context of the 2016 election, Trump's hollow promise of $10 less than the $15 actual minimum wage workers have been demanding in recent years. It's also less than the shitty $12 (sorta maybe in some states if they really try hard enough) reluctantly endorsed by Hillary Clinton this year.   I wonder who the Hillary people are going to blame for all of this.