On today's show, Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt), author of, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present and Future of American Labor. Sam and Greenhouse begin their conversation distinguishing the differences between labor and union power and a brief history of how labor gained strength during the FDR New Deal era. Union strength peaked in the 1950s and helped build the American middle class as we recognize it today. Greenhouse argues that the contemporary worker has the least power he or she has had since before the National Labor Relations Rights Act, which manifests itself in workers lacking paid sick leave and mandatory time off. Likewise, the decline in union membership helped provide the slim margin of victory for Trump. Take Wisconsin, which saw a 44% decline in union membership during Scott Walker's tenure as governor, over 177,000 workers. Given the assault on labor power over the last several decades, how can worker power reassert itself in the political landscape and rebuild strength? Greenhouse says the 2020 Democratic primary has shown a necessary change in the political discourse with candidates like Sanders centering policy proposals on union expansion. Sam and Greenhouse also consider policies like card check to make union organizing simpler. Sam and Greenhouse conclude their conversation discussing the extinction of labor reporting in American journalism. 

And in the Fun Half: mass shooter designed schools are under construction, the right is saying don't challenge the lawful gun owners, or they'll kill, Meghan McCain is so tired of liberals "virtue signaling" about mass shootings and not wanting to be killed, some Sam career advice, building coalitions across the left spectrum of politics, the best clips from PMQ at the yesterday's House of Commons session in the UK, Mike Pence is in Ireland and loving his stay (at a Trump resort), Hasan Minhaj surprises PM Trudeau with criticism of Canada's arm sales to Saudi Arabia, Ben Shapiro minimizes Trump's insane idea to nuke hurricanes, plus your calls and IMs!

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Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Ahead of tonight’s climate-change-focused town hall on CNN, Elizabeth Warren releases a new $3 Trillion plan to tackle global warming.

Meanwhile, Trump diverts more than $3 billion from U.S. military construction projects to fund his stupid border wall.

And lastly, a nice win for Democracy as a court gives state officials in North Carolina two weeks to redraw the GOP's gerrymandered district map.

And our QUICKER QUICKIES HEADLINES:

British lawmakers on Tuesday rose up against Prime Minister Boris Johnson, moving to prevent him from taking the country out of the European Union without a formal agreement. 

The Cherokee Nation named former Obama appointee Kimberly Teehee as its first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. Although the treaty that created this nonvoting position is almost 200 years old, it had never been filled.

The AP reports that Walmart will discontinue the sale of handgun ammunition and also publicly request that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms in stores even where state laws allow it. 

And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell whined about his “Moscow Mitch” nickname during a radio interview on Tuesday, calling it “modern day McCarthyism.” McConnell said he can laugh about things like being called the Grim Reaper, but calling him Moscow Mitch is “over the top.”

We're back from our August break! And we got a heaping pile of news for you, our dear listeners! On today's program, Sam and crew tackle the biggest stories from the last week including what the hell is going on in the United Kingdom, Joe Biden's fluid understanding of "truth" and "character," and the most recent developments in the 2020 Democratic field. Sam breaks down Bernie's new medical debt forgiveness proposal and what else it will do to alleviate people's bankruptcy problems. The crew also checks in with the Washington Post fact-checkers and their campaign to discredit the Bernie Sanders campaign. Sam closes out the free half with a tale from the deep archive about the time he interviewed Sean Hannity and asked the Fox host about the End Times.

And in the Fun Half: John from San Antonio endorses Brendan's MR deep archive selections, Donald Trump has a "great message" for Poland on the 80th anniversary of the Nazi invasion, the president shares his knowledge of FARC, the press can't drive a wedge between Warren and Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard is still in the presidential race, deciding who qualifies and who does not, avoiding the "rigged" storyline of 2016, what to do when you work for a small business a-holes, systemic racism in Michigan rears its ugly head, Ben Shapiro's guest says trans people are a threat to the family unit, reporters own the Boston straight pride organizers at their shitty press conference, Andrew Yang will keep printing a blank check for Israel, the difference between what happens when people stay home and when people vote third party, plus your calls and IMs!

Become a member of the Majority Report today!

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Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Allies of Donald Trump are raising millions of dollars to target and harass editors and reporters working for major news outlets.

Meanwhile, the DNC tells Iowa and Nevada to scrap their plans to hold virtual caucus citing security concerns.

And lastly, Hong Kong’s leader denies that she offered her resignation to Beijing despite being recorded saying she would quit if she could.

And our QUICKER QUICKIES HEADLINES:

Hurricane Dorian has been downgraded to a Category 3 storm after stalling over the Bahamas, where officials say it is responsible for the deaths of at least five people.

The Washington Post reports that House Democrats plan to make Trump's alleged involvement in a 2016 scheme to silence two women who claimed they had affairs with him a major investigative focus this fall

The Trump administration announced that it would reconsider its decision to force immigrants facing life-threatening health crises to return to their home countries, an abrupt move last month that generated public outrage and was roundly condemned by the medical establishment

The AP reports that tens of thousands of students in Hong Kong boycotted the first day of classes Monday as part of a citywide strike following another weekend of demonstrations. Teenagers spoke to the crowds from a stage with a backdrop that read: “With no future, there’s no need to go to class.”

Today our annual repeat of a compilation of labor speeches from FDR, Mario Savio, John Lewis, & more. Full live show returns tomorrow!

Become a member of the Majority Report today!

Get updates on the ongoing nationwide prison strike at supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org/nationalprisonstrike2018/

Check out The Michael Brooks Show at patreon.com/tmbs, and the new TMBS YouTube channel for all short TMBS clips

Check out Matt’s podcast, Literary Hangover, at Patreon.com/LiteraryHangover or on iTunes.

Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada, at patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or on the new Antifada Youtube channel: http://youtube.com/theantifada

Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter:

@SamSeder

@_michaelbrooks

@MattLech

@jamie_elizabeth

@Bf1nn

Caleb Cain (@faradayspeaks) is a self-described "gamer who fell down the alt-right rabbit hole" before eventually making his way back to the left. He joins Sam to discuss the YouTube personalities who drove his radicalization as a young college dropout, what helped bring him back, and his current project of de-radicalizing white nationalists and far-right ideologues.

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is caught pressuring consultants not to work with a leading progressive candidate in Colorado.

Meanwhile, the death toll from an Ebola outbreak in Africa climbs to 2,000.

And lastly, Trump says the U.S. will drop military forces in Afghanistan to 8,600 under a new peace deal with the Taliban.

And our QUICKER QUICKIES HEADLINES:

The final lineup for the third Democratic debate is set for a single night in Houston in two weeks on Sept. 12. The 10 candidates will appear on stage in the following order, from left to right: Amy Klobuchar, Booker, Buttigieg, Sanders, Biden, Warren, Harris, Yang, Beto, and Castro

Politico reports that the Democratic National Committee will recommend rejecting a plan for virtual caucuses in Iowa and Nevada, introducing a level of uncertainty in the caucus states ahead of the upcoming election season. 

Kay Ivey, Republican Governor of Alabama has apologized for participating in a racist skit that involved blackface when she was a college student. In a statement

And hurricane Dorian is set to turn into a Category 4 storm with winds topping 130 mph before it makes landfall on Labor Day. Models are predicting the full force of the storm could make it into the center of Florida. 

Joshua Murray, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University, joins Sam to discuss his new book (co-authored with Michael Schwartz), "Wrecked: How the American Automobile Industry Destroyed Its Capacity to Compete."

At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, automobile manufacturing was the largest, most profitable industry in the United States and residents of industry hubs like Detroit and Flint, Michigan had some of the highest incomes in the country. Over the last half-century, the industry has declined, and American automakers now struggle to stay profitable. How did the most prosperous industry in the richest country in the world crash and burn? In Wrecked, sociologists Joshua Murray and Michael Schwartz offer an unprecedented historical-sociological analysis of the downfall of the auto industry. Through an in-depth examination of labor relations and the production processes of automakers in the U.S. and Japan both before and after World War II, they demonstrate that the decline of the American manufacturers was the unintended consequence of their attempts to weaken the bargaining power of their unions.

Welcome to Majority.FM's AM QUICKIE! Brought to you by justcoffee.coop

TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Thousands of protesters jam the streets of London accusing the Prime Minister Boris Johnson of mounting a coup against Parliament.

Meanwhile, Trump tells the EPA to rollback restrictions on deadly methane pollution.

And lastly, Kirsten Gillibrand drops out of the 2020 presidential race.

And our QUICKER QUICKIES HEADLINES:

The Trump administration said Wednesday that the children of some U.S. military members and government employees working overseas will no longer automatically be considered United States citizens.

Most voters disapprove of President Trump’s remarks calling American Jews who vote for Democrats disloyal, according to a new poll released by Politico on Wednesday. 

Detroit Free Press reports that FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents have raided the homes of UAW President Gary Jones as part of a nationwide sweep of sites tied to the autoworker union. The multiagency raids come as federal officials ramped up their corruption investigation of the autoworkers union — which is in the midst of contract negotiations with Detroit automakers.

Katharina Pistor, Edwin B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law at Columbia Law School and Director of the Law School's Center on Global Legal Transformation, joins Sam to discuss her new book, "The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality."

Capital is the defining feature of modern economies, yet most people have no idea where it actually comes from. What is it, exactly, that transforms mere wealth into an asset that automatically creates more wealth? The Code of Capital explains how capital is created behind closed doors in the offices of private attorneys, and why this little-known fact is one of the biggest reasons for the widening wealth gap between the holders of capital and everybody else.