The editorial calendar this year is exciting. (To me at least.) In addition to catching up on YouTube essays that visit old pod topics, we are actively reaching out to Phone a Friend candidates to grow our network of friends and collaborators. The editorial plan for the main show includes current topics like mental healthcare, gun culture and artificial intelligence and examinations of important historical periods and figures. It’s an aggressive plan that will be a joy to execute. Of course, it’s also an election year in Bizarro America and this contest is shaping up to be the most bizarre affair since Buchanan, Frémont and Fillmore in 1856. Nikki Haley should review this time period to refresh her memory from high school social studies. Turns out there was a pretty big issue brewing that would boil over in a few years.
Apologies if you’re sick of hearing about it, but we finally launched the new UNFTR website. My deepest gratitude to 99 and the unsung heroes at our day job that pulled together this rather massive resource. It was a Herculean effort to consolidate multiple platforms into one seamless environment. A couple of new things to look for when you visit the site.
Directory of Progressive Resources: In an effort to promote progressive efforts and agendas, we wanted to create a database of UNFTR vetted and approved organizations, journalists and public figures that are doing the work. Take a look when you have the chance. Recommend anyone you think we’ve missed, let us know if there’s a resource you think falls short of expectations and enjoy! This will be an ever-expanding directory so stay tuned for more entries.
New Membership Tiers: As promised, we have completely revamped the membership tiers and brought them in house. Buy Me a Coffee has been a wonderful solution and partner that helped us get off the ground, but we needed more flexibility and responsiveness from the platform so we built it ourselves.
UNFTR Special Series: Sometimes I can go on a bit of a tangent. (No, stop.) It’s true. When I fall in love with a subject I tend to go overboard. The result thus far is six multi-part series that go deep on a particular subject. Socialism, Healthcare, Jimmy Carter… You know. You were there. At any rate, 99 lovingly curated each series now housed in a special section.
There’s a lot more so have a look, stay a while and let us know what you think.
This is the definition of crowdsourcing. Unf*cker Linda P. sent this beauty along with no note, no message, no context. And frankly, none is needed. It says it all about the power of the worker. Thank you, Linda. It’s a useful reminder that there’s more of us and they’ve got what’s rightfully ours.
Headlines
Don’t Let the Assault Weapon Hit You on the Way Out
Resident douchenozzle and now former head of the National Rifle Association (NRA), Wayne LaPierre, announced that he’s stepping down from his position. While the board cited health reasons according to the Times article, LaPierre’s resignation comes as NY Attorney General Letitia James prepares to destroy what’s left of the declining organization. James is a one woman wrecking crew. Yet another disgustingly poetic school shooting that took the life of a sixth grader in Iowa was a fitting backdrop to LaPierre’s inglorious end as head of the NRA.
From the article:
“‘With pride in all that we have accomplished, I am announcing my resignation from the N.R.A.,’ Mr. LaPierre said in a statement. ‘I’ve been a card-carrying member of this organization for most of my adult life, and I will never stop supporting the N.R.A. and its fight to defend Second Amendment freedom. My passion for our cause burns as deeply as ever.’”
Ooooohhhhhhklahoma Where the Kids Go Hungry All the Day
It seemed so easy. Just opt in to the program and the federal government will cover all the benefit costs to provide food insecure families with $40/month to buy groceries. Republican-led Oklahoma said, “no thanks, we’re good.”
From the article:
“Gubernatorial spokeswoman Abegail Cave argued that the summer EBT program was unnecessary. ‘Oklahoma already has multiple programs to serve food-insecure children across Oklahoma,’ she said. Chris Bernard, the president and CEO of Hunger Free Oklahoma, pointed out that about 20 percent of children in Oklahoma currently experience food insecurity, while about 60 percent rely on free or reduced-price school lunches.”
This is just one of the books in the crosshairs of book banners in Louisiana. (I was chastised by a listener for my pronunciation of this great state. Apparently it’s ‘Loo-Siana’ not ‘Louie-Siana’.) Anyhoo, queer activists are winning battles in Loo-Siana by using kindness, logic and the law. Imagine that?
From the article:
“The St. Tammany Library Alliance uses diverse strategies and tactics to challenge the bans. They encourage organizers to research books, create shareable infographics, organize group meetings, reach out to local political leaders, attend meetings and make petitions. It seems to be paying off. Public comment at library board meetings increasingly tilts in support of the challenged books, and the alliance has helped fight off several proposed bans.”
I shook off the cobwebs this week to get back into the writing rhythm. It’s amazing how quickly the muscle atrophies when you take a little break. I’m sure my fellow writers feel my pain.
To loosen up and get the juices flowing I took stock of where my thoughts have been of late and put them into a forward looking opening salvo for 2024. What it revealed was a tension between the past and present. Having spent so much time digging through history in 2023 to contextualize current events, it partly set my mind at ease knowing that we have made a phenomenal amount of progress over the past century. And yet, in a strange way this also serves to anger me knowing that the United States has the capacity to cure so many ills both foreign and domestic.
With the markets ripping and hitting all time highs, the 1% continues to pull away from the pack and pocket gains that make certain national GDPs look like a rounding error. The markets are responding to projected rate cuts from the Fed and cooling inflation data, but this response is markedly different from the additional 70,000 Americans who found themselves homeless in 2023. That brought the whopping total to 650,000 of our fellow Americans who fell through the cracks.
Not content with robbing the coffers of average citizens, the corporate class continued its assault on DEI efforts. The year-end target was higher education as billionaires and conservative activists worked with Republicans in Congress to pressure the women in charge of Ivy League institutions on their commitment to Israel. It was enough to force a resignation at UPenn but when it failed to produce additional results, they initiated a smear campaign against the president of Harvard University to besmirch her publishing record. While it was by all accounts rife with sloppy attributions, the decades old publications of ousted Harvard President Claudine Gay were pored over in a 6,000 word dossier prepared by conservative activists to prove that she was unfit to lead the institution.
Despite how long ago they were published, how nominal the infractions were in reality and no matter how arduously peer reviewed her work was, Harvard’s board caved under pressure and forced Gay to resign. Six female heads of Ivy Colleges were cut to four in a matter of weeks only to be replaced by far more palatable white men in the interim.
There’s a lot more to vent about, but you’ll have to listen to hear it.
While I stopped short of resolving the tension in my mind around incremental historical gains versus desperate needs of today, I did resolve to focus my efforts in 2024 to attacking the corporate class and doubled down on the need to overthrow the Democratic establishment in order to halt the pendulum from continuing to swing to the right.
Here’s a snippet from the pod:
“They’ll throw it all at you. Critical race theory. Transphobia. Islamophobia. Anti-Semitism. 2nd Amendment. Bodily autonomy. Affirmative action. Every battle they choose is something near and dear to your heart and they know that. And they’ll stop at nothing to erase and demean you so you remain frustrated, broke and distracted. It’s the oligarchy’s sleight of hand. Look over here while I take your house, your savings, your security, your mental and physical health. These things they take strengthen them and weaken you, compounding the gap between us and them.”
We’ve introduced a new feature to the newsletter and the website. In partnership with our friends over at The News Beat Podcast, we will be highlighting a different progressive figure in American politics and activism each week. It’s only fitting that the inaugural spotlight features the entire Squad.
Progressive Organization of the Week: The Greenlining Institute
The Greenlining Institute works towards a future where communities of color can build wealth, live in healthy places filled with economic opportunity, and are ready to meet the challenges posed by climate change.
Resources
Pod Love
“Trump's greatest impact has been to bring the fringes of the conservative movement into the center and, by strongly courting the Evangelical Christian vote, helped accelerate the Christian Nationalist movement to merge religion with patriotism.”
“Providing hope and direction to sustain commitment on the path to change, No Bosses is about winning a new world. Life under capitalism. Rampant debilitating denial for the many next to vile enrichment of the few. Material deprivation, denial, and denigration. Dignity defiled. Michael Albert's book No Bosses advocates for the conception and then organization of a new economy.”
“I need to hear your skits and impressions now and then. I do make a measly annual contribution to your cause that likely wouldn't be missed, but I intend to continue that since the work you are doing is so worthwhile. But please, rethink the removal of the humor.” (You got it, Susan.)
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