This week in our Members Only Newsletter you missed:
Max Notes on the upcoming show schedule
The Tuesday Top Five news articles everyone should be reading
An original essay from News Beatâs Rashed Mian on Israelâs Torture Camps
And âNot for Nothingâ on Affirmative Action, TikTok & John Fetterman
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Max Notes
The new year will bring about seismic change in our politics and our society as a result. Weâve been talking about the dystopian vision of Project 2025 and the speed with which it can and will be implemented now that Republicans have cemented their majority in Congress and have the comfort of knowing any direct challenges to their vision face an uphill battle in the courts. Whatâs shocking is how some elements of the plan have already surfaced prior to the transfer of power.
Take, for example, the current fight over the debt ceiling and spending bill to fund the government through March. Weâve been here before and odds are they will figure this out and prevent a shutdown over the holidays. Or maybe they wonât. Chilling. Thus far Republicans have only been able to voice dissent privately, through secret balloting as in the case of selecting the new Senate majority leader and deciding to disclose the results of the Gaetz ethics inquiry.
As of this writing, there are a handful of Republicans openly challenging the directive of co-Presidents Musk and Trump to stop the spending bill. The only reason theyâre taking this risk, however, is because theyâre in deep red districts and theoretically safe from the promised primary challenges should anyone step out of line. Whether this holds and Democrats are willing to play ball is another matter. Youâll know when I do.
Either way this is a sign of whatâs to come. Once the new Congress is sworn in and Trump is on the throne, I imagine the conservative evangelical agenda will move forward with all deliberate speed. Iâve never felt more like weâre living in the calm before the storm and thatâs saying something considering this is Trumpâs second go around. Nevertheless, a storm is brewing.
So in the new year weâll have our work cut out for us and it will be important to stay focused on the big ticket items. This will be challenging to say the least because weâll have to contend with a flurry of legislation, rule changes, firings, deportations and chaos generally from the Oval Office. All the while, corporate America is going to be making moves as well with fewer checks and balances.
One of the areas that we are going to spend time analyzing is the breakneck speed at which AI is about to alter the nature of work in this country. Itâs something that the evil Project 2025 policy wonks arenât factoring into their playbook. Chipping away at labor protections, the ability to organize unions and even the welfare state are all hallmarks of their campaign. But these are based on the presumption that the economy will continue to slowly evolve and jobs will be plentiful. But what happens when the unregulated acceleration of AI begins to eliminate entire sectors of the workforce?
Thereâs a breaking point in all of this. The trick is to figure out the âwhenâ and âwhatâ of it all so we can prepare a leftist response to the fallout. This is how political winds shift and deliver revolutionary figures and times.
Consumers are more bullish than I am. The National Retail Federation projects yet another healthy increase in holiday spending this year. The figures will come out in the wash next month but theyâre typically pretty dialed into spending patterns and trends. Iâll be interested to match this data with household debt at the end of next month to see how much of the increase was put on credit cards. In the meantime, enjoy the gifts.
Headlines
Hit âEm Where It Hurts
Most people are unaware of the historical tension that exists between socialist and labor movements. Thatâs why I found it notable that the World Socialist Web Site published a very uncritical look at the holiday delivery strikes. Solid alignment on all sides it seems.
From the article:
âIn New York City, police responded aggressively to the strike to prevent pickets from shutting down facilities. In Queens, New York, cops arrested two people, including a Teamsters official, for allegedly impeding traffic. According to workers who spoke to the WSWS, the second worker was an Amazon driver not even involved in the strike, whom police arrested for not exiting the facility quickly enough.â
The article is well worth the read to begin. And the book feels like a must read. Building a revolution without politics is the thread of the narrative here and it certainly seems like a proper discussion we need to have on the left. Iâll dig in if you will.
From the article:
âThis is the spirit that animates Black utopianism, a hodgepodge of racial, religious, and political movements forged in response to the structural racism of the United States. While their contemporaries fought for further integration into the system, Black utopians sought to work aroundâor beyondâit, often creating their alternative systems or organizations, like interracial communes or pro-Black capitalist mini-metropolises. The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America, a new book by Aaron Robertson, charts the rise, fall, and afterlife of one such movement: Black Christian Nationalism.â
A reasoned rumination on our response to Brian Thompsonâs murder.
From the article:
âThereâs something horribly wrong in this country. Most people can feel it. They can feel that we seem to be on the cusp of widespread violence. Conservatives are desperate to brand their own enemies as agents of a corrupt system and manufacture support for violence against them. But the system is hard to disguise. W. E. B. du Bois had it pegged a hundred and forty years ago in Black Reconstruction: â[T]he prevalent American idea [is that] labor could be emancipated from the necessity of continuous toil and that an increasing proportion could join the class of exploiters, that is of those who make their income chiefly by profit derived through the hiring of labor.â Health insurance is a remarkably efficient engine of that exploitation.â
This week is another extended Show Notes with Max and 99 who plow through listener feedback and talk extensively about repairing the left in the United States and what UNFTRâs role should be going forward. Next week weâll release our final episode of the year that digs deeper into the fractured alliances on the online left and what it means for the future of the progressive movement.
âThereâs no denying that things are about to get bad, Trump and company have had years to prepare for their next turn in office, but those preparing to resist also have the benefit of past experience resulting in a response to Trumpism that looks very different this time around.â
âImmigration and inequality, globalization and technological disruption, slowing growth and accelerating climate changeâthese are sources of great anxiety across the world, from New Delhi and Dakar to Paris and Washington, DC. The resources to address these challenges are thereâwhat we lack are ideas that will help us jump the wall of disagreement and distrust that divides us. If we succeed, history will remember our era with gratitude; if we fail, the potential losses are incalculable.â
Longtime Portland Congressman Earl Blumenauerâs impending retirement caps a remarkable political career advocating for progressive causes, from lowering the voting age to environmental protection and drug policy reform.
âCruelty Free International is the leading organisation working to create a world where nobody wants or believes we need to experiment on animals. Our dedicated team are experts in their fields, combining award-winning campaigning, political lobbying, pioneering undercover investigations, scientific and legal expertise and corporate responsibility. Educating, challenging and inspiring others across the globe to respect and protect animals, we investigate and expose the reality of life for animals in laboratories, challenge decision-makers to make a positive difference for animals, and champion better science and cruelty free living.â
