It’s the Midday Newswrap: The Labor Department released the monthly job numbers this morning, and, as has been the case for the last seven or eight years, the numbers continue to be good. The unemployment rate has stayed steady at 3.9%. The economy added 201 thousand jobs in August, and wages grew by .4 percent , up nearly three percent for the year. Analysts have observed that wages are growing at a faster rate than inflation for the first time in a long time.
In a controversial op-ed in the NY Times submitted by a person identified by the Times only as a "senior administration official," the author claims that she or he is one of many people working for President Donald Trump who have been alarmed by the "amorality" of his decision-making, and who are now working "to frustrate parts of his agenda, and his worst inclinations.” Just what parts, just how many people, and who is making this claim, are not yet known.
Also this week: the NFL opened its season Thursday night in a broadcast that featured a new Nike commercial narrated by Colin Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback who ignited controversy by kneeling during a game-opening national anthem to protest racial injustice in America. We’ll talk about Nike’s decision to place Kaepernick front and center in its 30th anniversary ad campaign.
Tom is joined in studio by Michael Fletcher, a senior writer with ESPN’s The Undefeated, the online platform that explores the intersection of race, culture and sports; and Ian Samuel, an associate professor of law at Indiana University, and the co-host of a podcast about the Supreme Court, calledFirst Mondays.
