...As July Fourth Approaches (We've Never Felt Gloomier): A Handy Visual Reminder

 

<New York Federal Reserve Bank>

Suggested Soundtrack: "Freeze" (The Models), 1977

Last week will likely go down as the single most horrific one of the Trump Restoration. On Tuesday (6/23), we saw a man sentenced to 30 years for moving a box of anarchist-related 'zines after a protest, with equally imposing terms handed to his cohorts (30-100 years), all stemming from actions criticizing the Trump regime.

On Wednesday and Thursday (6/24-25), we watched a handful of Republicans abruptly reverse their stands on a largely symbolic war powers resolution, and continue kowtowing to the Orange Bully, because -- well, he might find some way to hurt them. And they don't have any other ideas, except to continue indulging his every whim, even if reduces the country to a smoking dumpster fire.

Also, on Thursday (6/25), we witnessed the Extreme Court, or the Supremacy Court (a far more accurate term than its present moniker, the Supreme Court), hand the Trump regime two major immigration victories. In one case, the court ruled that agents can physically turn back asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border, even if that person -- as Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted, in her blistering, 35-page dissent -- arrives at a station with adequate resources to review their claim, or strongly fear that they'll be persecuted, or killed, after their enforced return.

The other case allows the Trump regime to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians fleeing murderous conditions in their countries. (Both remain on State Department lists warning Americans "not to travel there for any reason due to ongoing danger," as Politico reports). More than a million people face potential deportation, unless they find some other means of gaining legal status.

Perhaps the regime will look at scrubbing the famous closing words inscribed on the Statute of Liberty ("I lift my lamp beside the golden door"), now that it's effectively slammed shut. Both decisions played out along the predictable 6-3 divide, which inspired starkly differing responses. The six right-wing Justices blandly asserted mere technical grounds for their reasoning, while Justice Elena Kagan's dissent included every major recent example of Trump's racial invective -- from his infamous "shithole countries" comment, to his henchman Vance's 2024 campaign lie about Haitians cannibalizing cats and dogs.

Kagan's actions undoubtedly reflected a desire to draw a contrast between the majority's assertions, and the racial hostility emboldened by the likes of Trump, Vance, and their fan club, who didn't waste any time baring their fangs -- such as rightist commentator Megyn Kelly ("We don't care if you're offended. Get out. Go home. Go back to f#cking Haiti."), or Katie Miller, the equally vile other half of Trump's odious chief aide, Stephen Miller ("Great news for the dogs and cats of Springfield [Ohio]").

Equally striking is the posture of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who adopted two Haitian children, and never misses a photo op with them. By joining the majority opinion, she consigns some 350,000 of their countrymen and women to uncertain fates, at best -- or certain death, at worst. It's the type of compartmentalized thinking that's reminiscent of Revolutionary War-era slave holders -- including many of the Founders -- who happily freed people whom they felt warmly about, or considered exceptional workers, while leaving others forever trapped in servitude.

We also noticed, as the week finally ended, the groundswell of outrage surrounding the US "Justice" Department's unsettling memo, suggesting that states no longer need to follow the so-called Olmstead precedent -- in which a different Supreme Court, in a different era, upheld the rights of persons with disabilities to live independently, in their own communities (1999).

The memo's emergence coincides with the Texas v. Kennedy lawsuit, in which six states (AK, FL, LA, MO, MT, TX) are challenging Section 504, an important cornerstone of disability rights. Briefly, it bars treating people differently, due to their disability; requires including them in programs, and make reasonable accommodations, if requested and, most importantly, mandates that communities offer programs and services beyond mere custodial environments, like institutions (emphasis: ours).

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to connect these dots, should this latest make-believe case catch the Extreme Court's ear -- presumably, so its six enablers can rubber stamp this latest ghastly idea, one driven by the Olmstead memo's author (see link below). Of course, upending Olmstead is an idea that figures prominently in Project 2025, The Handbook From Hell, a status that needs no further elaboration.

You can read the links below -- which will undoubtedly invoke varying states of angst, depression, and rage, if not a fresh injection of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) -- and draw the appropriate conclusions.

Suffice to say that we find ourselves in an existential struggle for our lives, along with basic civil rights, human decency, and sanity -- to a degree that seemed unimaginable, in previous times. It's the reason, undoubtedly, for the attitudes captured in the latest survey posted by the Federal Reserve of New York (above), one of many entities tasked with tracking the public mood.

What's noteworthy are the two "bookend" statistics, as we'll call them. As of May 2026, 43.6% of the participants reported being worse off financially than a year ago, or double pre-pandemic-era levels, as you'll see (20% or below). Additionally, 36% expect to be significantly worse off next year, a mark that's also twice pre-pandemic levels.

So much for the idea of prices going down on "day one," as the Orange Bully phrased it, but rocketing inflation -- coupled with go-go finance that only enriches Trump, Musk, Bezos, and their allies, plus lack of purchasing power, strangled by decades of flat wages -- aren't the only reasons for all the collective gloom that we're feeling.

Call it a general sentiment that someone else rigged the game, before we ever showed up; that naked feral capitalism, in all its untamed, and unabashed selfishness, yields a zero-sum game for our standards of living, such as they are; that an imperial, fanatical, and downright monarchial mindset, as we see in the Olmstead memo, has seized the imagination of the ruling classes.

Call it any or all of these things, as you wish. But make no mistake, take no comfort from the perfunctory assurances that they're already dangling out to deceive us ("It's just temporary"; "It's only a memo, not a law"; "It won't really affect you"), before they slam down the hammer, yet again. We know what they're doing, why they're doing it, and what they're all about. 

Needless to say, it's all extremely taxing. It's difficult to live with the feeling of another shoe, always ready to drop; in some ways, the current feels like the climax Werner Herzog's film, Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979, when (spoiler alert) Count Dracula succeeds in spreading the plague, and van Helsing ends up being arrested for his murder by the hero, Jonathan Harker -- now unmasked as a vampire.

There was ample reason during the Revolutionary War for Thomas Paine to declare, "These are the times that try men's souls," and last week fully fit that particular bill. That being said, what's worth fighting is also worth waiting for. However slowly the winds of change may blow, at some point, they do shift -- leaving open another window of opportunity. Our job is to be ready, when it finally arrives -- hopefully sooner, rather than later. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Ring The Bell Anew,
And Raise The Spirit Of Paul Revere):

Associated Press: Senate Republicans
Reject War Powers Resolution...:
https://apnews.com/article/senate-republicans-trump-vote-reject-war-powers-0f1fa8189c275188a71ed02cc8c3270d

Civil Discourse: This Disappointing Term Of Court:
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/this-disappointing-term-of-court

CNN: Supreme Court Gives Trump
Major Wins On Two Immigration Cases:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/live-news/supreme-court-issues-opinions

Common Dreams: "Criminalizing Dissent":

Alarm Grows Over Extreme Sentences...:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/prairieland-backlash

Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund:
Texas v. Kennedy: What It Is...:
https://dredf.org/protect-504/

Disability Belongs:
States Continue Legal Attack On Section 504:
https://www.disabilitybelongs.org/2026/04/texas-v-kennedy-action-update/

Politico: Supreme Court Allows Trump
To End Temporary Protections...:
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/25/supreme-court-temporary-protected-status-ruling-00975658

The Independent:
Trump Aide Stephen Miller's Wife Resurfaces Claim...:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/katie-miller-tps-ohio-hatians-trump-b3003364.html

The Models: Freeze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqZvxLiaLJ8&list=RDxqZvxLiaLJ8&start_radio=1

The Models: Punk 77 Page:

https://punk77.co.uk/band/the-models/

You want to draw a line 

between right and wrong

This revolution's been going too long
You think they're gonna let you play

You better think again, 

Hear what they say, because...

I'm talking about a freeze

I said, I'm talking about a freeze,

Yeah, get down on your knees...

I'm talking about a freeze

They're putting on the squeeze

I'm talking about a freeze, oh, yeah...

<The Models: "Freeze," 1977>

They Came, They Saw, They Blinked: Some Lessons From The Shutdown Letdown

<https://www.instagram.com/p/DQWryKFDcLL/
Cartoon: Jesse Duqette
Nothing like priorities, eh?>

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” (Martin Luther King, "Letter From A Birmingham Jail," 1963)

<i.>

Now that the dust has settled on history's longest government shutdown, it's fair to ask, what did anybody learn? Not much, apparently, judging by the eight Democratic Senate renegades' eagerness to pull the plug on the whole venture -- or what appeared, at least initially, a concerted effort to slam some sort of brakes on what clearly has revealed itself as an increasingly lawless authoritarian regime. 

Certainly, that was the base's expectation, judging by a cursory glance around the old Internet, where the brush fires of "incandescent rage" -- to coin a phrase or two from Indviisible co-founder and leader, Ezra Levin -- are burning bright, as this economy tour from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's Facebook timeline suggests: 

"Don't cave in those premium tax credits are very important. It allows me to receive good health care as a self-employed individual. One year would give us the opportunity to plan."

"Explain how caving on the only leverage you have is fighting?"

"Guess they didn't understand the assignment, after those big wins on Tuesday."

"I see a primary challenger in your future. They will win."

"If caving is fighting, you're Muhammad Ali."

"If we had fought like (this) in 1941, we'd all be speaking Japanese right now."

"If you can't hold your coalition together, then you need to step down, and let someone who knows how to lead take the reins."

"Is this another example of your strongly worded letter(s)?"

"It's time for new leadership. We need younger leadership with bigger ideas that are willing to take it to Hell to fight for us."

"This was the fight. You gave in."

As the cliche goes -- tough room, right?

<A snapshot of the incandescent rage,

lighting up that Merrie Olde Internet...>

<ii.>

Good thing Uncle Chuck wasn't a standup comedian, or he'd have to find some other occupation, fast. Well, actually, he did -- this is who we're stuck with right now, as a face of the Democratic Party. Given the current dynamics, somewhere out in Standup Comedy Heaven, Desi Arnaz's distinctive accent is ringing out, loud and clear:

"Chuck-k-k-y-y-y! 

You got some 'splainin to do!" 

Progressives, meanwhile, who watched the horror of the Democratic Party's latest epic climbdown are left to shout this all too familiar refrain:

"Ai-yi-yi-yi-yyyiii!" 

All jokes apart, however, I'd support AOC's observation that the party's problems go way beyond one person. Uncle Chuck's passive aggressive combat stance, his lifelong risk aversiveness, and lack of timing are all too visible sins that we've seen  over his decades on the national stage. It's the same old soggy shit sandwich that Democratic base voters are expected to swallow, over and over and over again, stamped with their party's signature shrugs of learned helplessness: "Hey, what did you expect? We did the best we could."

That said, in the spirit of course correction, we offer some pertinent observations, for whoever wants to take them -- maybe some higher-up, maybe some staffer connected to them, or God knows, even Uncle Chuck himself, and his higher-profile cohorts -- so they may have their Jacob Marley moment, and get all those unforced errors out of their system, once and for all. Because, the way our democracy continues to backslide, we can't afford too many more.

<Resistance Works Best 

When Everyone Does It>

If it hasn't been said before, whoever's sitting in the room should say it out loud right now: a resistance can't function if everyone does their own thing. One of the striking features of the second Trump era is how many players have yet to learn that lesson. If reports are correct, the Rogue Eight Democratic Senators who joined Republicans in reopening the government seemed bent on that outcome from the start; progressives apparently banked on public furor keeping them onboard.

They guessed wrong, but the lesson is clear enough, as any number of historic examples tell us. One of the classic examples is the British miners' strike of 1984, which wasn't universally observed -- especially in the Nottinghamshire region, whose coal pits ranked among the most profitable, with the best-paid miners. Workers there refused to join their counterparts, convinced that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would never dare to close them. Of course, once the miners gave in, the Iron Lady rewarded their backwards devotion by ensuring they were the first pits to shut down.

<Set Clear Goals 

& Expectations>

Government shutdowns, when they do happen, are bare-knuckled, ball-breaking, brutal affairs. Some commentators have suggested that caving to Republican demands -- voting for the so-called continuing resolution that locks in the Medicare cuts, and other ghastly aspects of their so-called "Big Beautiful Bill," rammed through earlier this year -- was the only option. They weren't going to negotiate on extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies at the centerpiece of the shutdown fight, so why bother with it?

Friends and relatives who work for the feds have suggested likewise to me, saying that an extended standoff wasn't worth continuing to miss paychecks, racking up debt, or risking foreclosure. Then why drag them through those ordeals, without some well-defined red lines, and an appropriate endgame? Giving up the "good fight" after such a lengthy tussle (43 days) only makes the morning after taste all the sourer.

<Timing Is Everything>

If the shutdown's end is a Schumer move, it would mark the second time he's struggled with that issue. Knowing when to keep the powder dry (or not) is among the trickiest skills for any politician to master, as we saw in March, when Uncle Chuck tripped over himself to announce -- a full day, no less, before the proverbial five minutes to midnight deadline -- that Democrats wouldn't trigger a shutdown.

The fallout is even stickier this time, coming after a nationwide electoral rout of Republicans serving a certain orange cult leader, whose numbers continue to drop. Surely, didn't those volunteers who worked to ensure the marquee candidates' victories -- Mamdani, Sherrill, and Spanberger, plus their state and local counterparts -- deserve better? Apparently, Uncle Chuck fretted about this issue, too, telling his defectors to wait at least until after Election Day passed -- or risk depressing turnout. Otherwise, the donkey party's latest climbdown would have looked even ghastlier than it eventually did.

<Treat Hardship

As A Feature, Not A Bug>

We've already addressed this issue, but the point bears repeating. No major anti-authoritarian movement can succeed when it fractures, whether through circumstances, or some "other shoe" dropping on them from above. When we talk about outright autocracies, the unpleasant reality is that a fearsome toll often accompanies their overthrow. 

Examples abound, like the Romanian Revolution of 1989, which claimed 1,104 lives in the struggle to end Nicole Ceaucescu's long-standing tyranny. That's simply the acknowledged total; some estimates place it closer to 4,000 or 5,000 people, though we'll never know for sure. Such numbers stand as a reminder that the demise of autocracy carries a significant cost. Or, to put it another way, if all Trump has to do is squeeze his opponents' belies, to ensure the appropriate degree of submission ("Please don't hurt me, I give up, I give up") from them, then all this so-called resistance ends being only so much performative kayfabe.

<Underline Yer Redlines,

Then Stick To Them>

One aspect that bears repeating, and didn't get well reported, is that Democratic messaging remains as inconsistent as ever. Just look how their so-called "redlines" progressively shrank, as the shutdown unfolded. The ACA extensions merely ended up as the last redline standing, once Democratic leaders ditched their other big demands, including an end to Trump's so-called "pocket recissions" ("F#ck the power of the purse, I'll spend whatever funds you approved, only on programs that I approve"), and a reversal of the Medicaid cuts and food aid work requirements (courtesy of the "Big Ugly Bill").

The unpopularity of all these items offered a real opportunity to talk about the pathology behind them, and who's responsible for it, which leading Democrats did, to some degree, only to jettison those redlines, one by one, when the Republicans refused to engage. But that's a given with them; they don't like people pressing them to the wall, as AOC, Ro Khanna, and Tim Walz did so creatively, by holding town halls in red states whose representatives went into hiding. 

No such efforts happened this time, leaving Democrats to settle for the promise of a mid-December vote on potentially extending the subsidies, with no such commitments offered on the House side.  Which begs the question, how much negotiation did anybody actually do here? Because it sure doesn't look that way to the rank and file.

<Visions Mean Something>

One other notable takeaway is how much the Democratic Party still defines itself in reactive opposition to Trump. If someone's working up a Project 2029 for them, I haven't seen it. Aside from progressive circles, we have yet to hear Democrats offer a positive alternate, as to what kind of future they want to see -- because Trump won't be around forever, as much as he's hoping to prove otherwise, and his personality cult will likely die with him. 

This hard fact leaves a major opening to move beyond mere triage and sweep up the mess, as Democrats found themselves doing after the Reagan and Bush eras. If nothing else, the Trump era exposed the rotten underpinnings of the half-hearted neoliberalism that the donkey party embraced as the magic elixir to solving all tis problems -- and until Democrats finally part company with it, major social progress will remain "but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued, but never attained" (Bob Marley, "War").

<Workarounds Are Worth
The Price Of Admission>

Last, but not least, until Democrats move beyond the tired "percentage football" game they seem content to play -- three tries, then punt -- it's hard to imagine them capitalizing on a midterm 2026 wipeout, assuming that the Republicans will accept the results of one. Mobilizing public opinion is one of the keystones of any post-Trump strategy, which makes the eight rogue Senators' refusal to embrace it all the more head-scratching and infuriating -- none more so than Angus King, who moaned, "Standing up to Trump didn't work."

It's the sort of clueless response that begs the question, "Well, then what exactly is your job, if you don't feel like fighting back?" Hopefully, Mainers will finally retire King when his next election comes up, because if this fight demonstrated anything, it's that the younger generation needs to occupy those types of leadership roles, more than ever -- and sooner, not later.

Because people are tired of hearing that same old broken record ("We can't. We can't. We can't."), from the same old people continuing to play it. They deserve better refrains than that singularly monotonous signature refrain of failure after failure, excuse after excuse, without nothing to show for it, except the latest litany of promises, which will be broken as soon as the ink dries.

<Ain't that the truth?
Cue the cliche: yup, yup, and yup, again...>

<Coda>

The Trauma Man, Russ Vought, will come back swinging his scythe, with yet another agency or department in his sights, as millions of Americans stand to lose their food stamps or their health insurance coverage, knowing full well that no cavalry is coming to relieve their misery -- at least right away. Trump can once again gloat that he forced his enemies, real or imagined, to give in without giving up anything in return.

And as for the Rogue Eight, I leave them with these words from Martin Luther King to ring forever in their ears, loudly and long, as their last-minute act of treachery looms forever large, words that seem more relevant than ever today: 

“Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles. Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances. Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear, and is mastered by it. Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?'" 

We'll see who actually learns these lessons Time will tell, soon enough.--The Reckoner

A "Woke Words" List? Another Neoliberal Bad Joke

<"Our Work Here Is Done..."/The Reckoner>

<i.>

Hijacking language is an old, old game, one that the far right has played supremely well, sadly, to advance its interests One of the more obvious examples is the Orwelllian renaming of entities with opposite intentions, like the Alliance Defending Freedom. It's a noble-sounding moniker, presumably chosen to conjure images of the Boston Tea Party, Patrick Henry, and the like. In reality, the only freedoms that the ADF ever defends are those of Christian nationalists. 

For examples, see the 303 Creative case, in which a web designer  successfully argued for the right to turn away gay customers on free speech grounds, even though none had ever sought her services. The hypothetical nightmare that gay and lesbian hordes might gatecrash her website any moment was sufficient to swing down the gavel in her favor. The 303 Creative ruling carried on the dark path opened by its cousin (Masterpiece Cakeshop), where a majority of good people convinced themselves that a sterling compromise had been struck -- rather than the greasy carveout to the Christian right that it actually represented.

Another example is the weaponizing of the term "woke," which actually originated in Black culture. The earliest reference comes from "Scottsboro Blues," a 1938 recording by Lead Belly, who urges listeners to "stay woke, keep their eyes open" for potential dangers -- like those the nine teenagers faced in the Scottsboro case. The term became a byword for "being well-informed" or "politically aware," as seem in works like If You're Woke, You Dig It (1962), a novel that sent up white beatniks' appropriation of Black slang -- or the play, Garvey Lives! (1972), in which a character vows to "stay woke," to liberate other Black people. Knowing these examples makes the W-word's current ill-begotten appropriation by the likes of Trump and his clique all the more distressing.

Now comes another variation, of words you can't say, or shouldn't use -- as seen in the so-called "45 Woke Words" list recently proposed by Third Way, of terms for candidates to avoid on the stump this year. The idea is for them to "stop talking like they're leading a seminar at Antioch," claims executive vice president of public affairs Matt Bennett. "We think language is one of the central problems we face with normie voters, signaling that we are out of touch with how they live, think and talk."

The list proposes six categories of no-no language -- think of it as the political version of the late George Carlin's monologue, "The Seven Words You Can't Say On Television" -- to avoid using. The suggested categories cover crime ("incarcerated people," "involuntary confinement," "justice-involved"), gender ("birthing person,” “heteronormative,” “cisgender,” “deadnaming,” “LGBTQIA+"), "organizer jargon" ("barriers to participation," "food insecurity," "stakeholders," "the unhoused"), race ("allyship," "BIPOC," intersectionality," "Latinx"), "seminar room language" ("cultural appropriation," "Overton window," "systems of oppression"), and "therapy speak" ("microaggression," "othering," "privilege").

Even terms that seem closer to creative license are deemed off-limits, such as "existential threat" -- whether to our climate, planet, or democracy itself. Never mind that the general consensus, among those without some special interest axe to grind, suggests that we're moved long past the initial stage of general concern, to code red alarm. Try selling that one to island nations endangered by rising water levels -- like the Maldives, or Vanuatu -- and see how far soft-pedaling catastrophe gets you.

<"Words To The (Not-So) Wise"/The Reckoner>

<ii.>

Suffice to say, this approach begets numerous problems, starting with its source. Third Way emerged in 2005, billing itself as a champion of "moderate policy and political ideas." The trouble is that it's funded by corporate interests, ranging from Amgen, to CVS Health, Facebook, PG&E, Qualcomm, and so on (see link below) -- the same-old, same-old unholy alliance of players, all dedicated to keeping the status quo frozen in place. 

Most of Third Way's key players are the same faces recycled from previous Democratic administrations -- like Bennett, who served as a deputy assistant to President Clinton -- who further distinguish themselves via utter hostility to progressive ideas like Medicare for All (see below), or the apparently quaint notion that greed should have some kind of an upper limit. 

Instead of government intervention, Third Way's preferred solutions for our present ills lean toward a blending of social liberalism and old school Main Street capitalism. In other words, gay couples can stay married, and smoke pot in the privacy of their own home. They just shouldn't expect affordable housing, clean air and drinking water, non-corporatized healthcare, nor non-discriminatory lending policies.

In Third Way's view, that business is best left to the market -- that is, the same handful of corporate initials that long ago cornered it -- who will finally do the right thing, once their own "Eureka!" moment finally arrives. How, we're never told; presumably, after Jacob Marley's ghost comes knocking. or the modern version, perhaps (amid some interminable solo at a Dave Matthews Band show, causing the ponytailed Boomer to wax in anguish over the results).

Stranger still, some of the words on Third Way's no-no list have actually been used by far right figures like the notorious Leonard Leo, who's freely invoked the "Overton window" metaphor as ample justification for his ongoing court capture project.

Other suspect words seem long, yet do accurately describe the issue, as we see from a quick look at the Oxford Dictionary definitions of "heteronormative" ("denoting or relating to a world view that presents gender roles as fixed, and heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation"), or "incarcerated," for instance ("imprisoned or confined"). What's Third Way playing at here, exactly? If predatory corporations are people, too, why can't the inmates they stack up like cord wood enjoy the same status?

Most distressing of all, however, is the "organizer jargon" category, which seems bent on relegating the most marginalized to the scrapheap. As someone who has experienced hunger personally -- and gone to extraordinary lengths to relieve it, like selling artwork, musical equipment, and rock memorabilia, to raise the capital needed to pay the corporate groceries' greedflated prices -- I cannot abide the idea of avoiding the subject.

Food insecurity, whether Bennett and his denizens like it or not, is a reality for an estimated 47.4 millions Americans, including 13.8 million children. Not talking about it to curry favor with corporate donors or unsympathetic voters is simply unconscionable. The same goes for Third Way's desire to avoid the issue of homelessness, via "unhoused," despite rampant levels of inequality. Which naturally begs the question, how do you slap a positive spin on starvation? Call it "food purchase opportunity," or "involuntary fast," perhaps?

After all, manipulators like Mr. Bennett and his fellow pundits -- that's basically a term for anyone who can't get a real job, remember -- have never experienced the joys of juggling multiple jobs to make extortionate rents. Excluding "barriers to participation" feels equally troublesome, since it's a term that accurately describes what so many millions are expected to swallow every day -- not enough money. Not enough resources. Not enough time. Not enough work.

As my subhead suggests, this whole exercise in linguistic futility -- which I can't imagine anyone but a corporate neoliberal embracing -- feels like a bad joke, or ample fodder for late night comedians, except that they mean it. They're serious. And they're determined to fool enough people into embracing whatever their corporate masters are pushing, is which what makes most think tanks such noxious entities. 

All the more reason to push back all the harder, away from the air-conditioned suites they inhabit so naturally, yet deny so freely, to those who cannot pay triple-digit utility bills. But while we're on the subject, let's also push back against liberals and moderates who failed to push back themselves, against the weaponization of "woke," or any of those other MAGA-era greatest hits ("fake news," "lawfare," "Let's Go, Brandon," and so on).

That failure to push back reflects a lack of moral clarity that any opposition, no matter how beleaguered it may feel, is obliged to provide -- which, in turns, helps fuel the drumbeat of a new vocabulary, one that feels more in tune with the times (as opposed to the endless invocations of "the long arc," and "making good trouble," perhaps).

The emergence of a more timely vocabulary may possibly even give Third Way some pause, especially if more progressive candidates continue to win elections. But even without that natural check and balance, Third Way's so-called "Woke List" is doomed to fail -- for two reasons to which I keep returning, via two quotes from the late activist lesbian poet, Audre Lord, the first one being:

"Your silence 

will not protect you."

And then, last but not least, this quote, the most pertinent one here, by a country mile:

<"The master's tools 

will never dismantle 

the master's house.">

A simple point, isn't it, one that eludes most overeducated neoliberals and their fan followings, who never grasped one of punk rock's most enduring principles ("If you're going to be simple, be as simple as you can").  In other words, maybe if you offered more than the usual downbeat messages -- "This is the best we can get," or, "We're not as bad as them" -- then voters might actually respond. Food for thought, isn't it? --The Reckoner

Links To Go (And Remember,

You Can't Always Have It Both Ways...):

NPR: What Does The Word "Woke" Really Mean,
And Where Does It Come From?:
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/19/1188543449/what-does-the-word-woke-really-mean-and-where-does-it-come-from

PR Watch: Centrist Third Way...
Attacks Sanders In Iowa:
https://www.prwatch.org/news/2020/01/13535/centrist-third-way-funded-corporate-interests-attacks-sanders-iowa

Yahoo News: 45 Words And Phrases

That Democrats Should Stop Saying...:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/45-words-phrases-democrats-stop-194617212.html

Mad King Watch (Take VII): Last Chance To Stop Trump's "Big Ugly Mess?"

 

<But they'll just "get over it," right?
Just about sums it up...>

The scramble is in full swing on Capitol Hill this weekend, if you haven't already been paying attention. Every imaginable deal is being brokered, and every possible elbow is being twisted, as Republicans bow and scrape on behalf of Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" (BBB)*, or, as I call it, the "Big Ugly Mess" (BUM), to get the waverers on board -- such as Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who's suddenly a "yes," after weeks of airing public concern about the potential impact of Medicaid cuts on rural hospitals in his state.

Now that his Republican patrons promise a $25 billion fund to help states offset the anticipated devastation of $863.4 million in Medicaid cuts, Hawley seems to have made his peace with the resulting wreckage, it seems. 

Never mind that he wrote an eloquent op-ed for the New York Times arguing against such notions, because of their potential to harm so many, and his party getting permanently tarred with that brush. Never mind that the $25 billion will never be nearly enough to keep up with the tidal wave of need. It's all about appearances, and for Hawley, that will do, apparently. We'll see how fast the others fall in line.

It brings to mind the Biblical phrase, "selling your birthright for a mess of pottage," doesn't it? A lyric from Ian Curtis also springs to mind: "People who change for no reason at all/It's happening all of the time." All I can say is, I hope that Hawley can explain his chameleonic conversion to the constituents who won't be able to count on the government-funded healthcare and benefits that he's fortunate enough to enjoy.

Nevertheless -- given the Republicans' barreling toward some type of vote or other this weekend, there is still at least one more major opportunity to make our voices heard, and let them know, we don't want them doing this. And if they do, there will be consequences -- as in, the ending of their political careers, such as they are, however they care to define it.

For those who still need a snapshot of what's at stake, this friendly reminder from Team AFL-CIO should suffice (see below). Meanwhile, let's make the phone lines ring, sing and buzz like never before!  We have a long, long way to go, for sure, but you know the drill. --The Reckoner

AFL-CIO:
URGENT: $5 trillion gift

to billionaires at workers’ expense

The Senate is scrambling to finalize the anti-worker budget reconciliation bill and ram it through before anyone has a chance to read it.  

Senators have one final chance to stop these cuts to Medicaid, SNAP food assistance, federal workers’ paychecks and AI safety protections—and keep working families from paying for yet another big tax giveaway to billionaires and big corporations. We urge senators to reject this bill and stand up for working people before it’s too late.

While the text of the bill keeps changing, one thing is clear: This budget bill absolutely would harm working people. Here are some of the ways how:

• Would rip health care away from some 16 million people through Medicaid and Affordable Care Act cuts, and would eliminate 600,000 care jobs in 2026 alone—forcing more than 330 rural hospitals to close their doors.

• Would spike health care costs for people with insurance through work by nearly $500 per person per year and nearly $2,000 annually for a family of four.

• Would destroy hundreds of thousands of good energy jobs and raise energy costs at a moment when working-class households are already struggling.

• Would slash food assistance for 2.9 million Americans, and slash at least 140,000 jobs in food processing facilities, school cafeterias, grocery stores, and farms by cutting $186 billion in SNAP funding.

• Would hand Big Tech a 10-year free pass to violate workers’ rights and jeopardize their safety by banning the enforcement of all existing or to-be-passed state and local AI laws for the next decade.

• Would punish federal workers with a 10% penalty on union dues in an attempt to silence workers who fight for transparency, fair contracts and provide essential public services.

• Would force federal workers to pay 15.6% of their salary into the Federal Employees Retirement System—while benefits for members of Congress would be untouched. 

• Would add $155 billion in funding for President Trump’s mass deportation agenda to increase raids that target immigrant workers, throw members of our communities in detention and rip families apart.

• Would replace the SAVE student loan plan with a repayment scheme that would raise costs for every borrower, making it harder for working-class students to attend college or trade school and stay there.

• Would stop us from creating the next generation of teachers, nurses and mental health workers by stopping anyone who isn’t projected to take home a Wall Street salary from taking out a federal student loan. 

We need you to speak out today. Tell the Senate this budget would be a disaster for working families and for our nation.

Call your senators at 231-400-0602 to tell them, “No cuts that hurt working families”!

In solidarity, 

 

Team AFL-CIO

<Republican Empathy 101: Need we say more?>

Mad King Watch (Take IV): Letter From Bernie (Glimmers Of Hope?)

 

<Spotted On Instagram>

Another can of worms, another stomach burns

Yeah, your ghetto burns,

It's the song I hate, the song I hate...

A sieg heilin' squirt, you're an important jerk
Yeah, a fascist twerp, 

it's the song I hate, the song I hate...

We're banging pots and pans to make you understand
It's the song I hate, the song I hate...
<"Youth Against Fascism," Sonic Youth>

Fact! Tsunami were "Youth Against Fascism" before fascism was cool ! This show apparently never happened. I found the flyer in the SMR suitcase archive but couldn't remember a thing about it. @markanderson has a memory that @SonicYouth asked us to organize the show but couldn't play it for some reason. I don't remember any hard feelings though...@sonicyouth were always pretty cool. Can you even imagine getting a permit to do this type of protest at the Washington Monument in 2025 when park rangers are fired and the Nazi salute is back in vogue. Time for a reunion? I'd give a lot to see the Holy Rollers again.

========================================================================================

Well, much has happened, as they say, so, no use trying to summarize all the nefarious doings rattling around Trumpworld -- as I've said in the past, we'll leave that task to others. The real question, obviously, focuses on the immediate and practical, as in, "What can we do about all this madness swirling around us?"

That's why we thought it's worth running this latest update on Bernie Sanders's road tour of the nation, talking directly to voters -- red, blue, or green, and everything in between -- outlining what's at stake if Trump's orgy of mass firings, "impounded" funds, and other Biazrro World maneuvers are allowed to go unchallenged.

Word has now gone out that AOC and Harris's running mate, Tim Walz, are offering to hold any town halls that the Republicans are refusing to do. We've seen this movie before, of course, in 2017 -- when Republicans went into hiding, acting as though they'd just enrolled in the witness protection program, while they plotted to unwind the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 

It won't help them then, and it won't help them now, since my standing joke is that even red state voters will probably miss such fripperies as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security (not to mention more specific ones closer to home, like special needs programs, or farm contract payments).

The guiding point that sticks out for me, in Bernie's letter, is that "we cannot simply be on the defensive -- in opposition to Musk and Trump." The opposite, in other words, from what out of touch Boomer technocrats like James Carville are advising: "Play dead, play possum," as if the political era of 1996 still existed, and the combatants were still quibbling over the finer points of budgetary arcana. Suffice to say, when the legacy media holds up this grizzled Yoda-like figure who hasn't worked domestic elections in decades, as some kind of working class whisperer for the ages -- if you believe that, well, I've got some prime swampland you can help me drain.

Now is the time to be heard, because in six months, we may not get the same chance if we lay back, and rest on our real or imagined laurels. As Bernie points out in his letter, broad levels of public support do exist for a more equitable healthcare system, and getting big (tech) money out of politics, among many other progressive goals. At some point, Trump and his minions will be gone from the scene that spawned them, and the Democratic Party cannot dine out indefinitely on that standard go-to takeout dinner of, "We're not Trump." 

Look at what happened during the pandemic, when circumstances forced governments' hands, large and small, to provide the sane relief measures they'd always begged off as too expensive, or impractical, or wide-ranging to implement. For an all too brief period, Americans got a glimpse of what a more extensive social safety net might look like -- from the expanded child tax credit, to the eviction moratoriums, and pauses on student loan debt, to name three major examples.

And, while that list might not exactly given Europeans sleepless nights, the array of supports offered a tantalizing preview of what we could have, if we could force the political governing class to do it, if we only could get them to feel the heat of public opinion! This idea offers a powerful antidote to the bromides that have delivered so little for Democrats at the political box office -- starting with, "Here's what you can't have, for Reasons A, B and C, so let's see what you stand."

Imagine what kind of world we'd have, for instance, had Obama not caved in to killing the public option. Or codified Roe v. Wade into law. Or raised the minimum wage, or overturned Citizens United, or banned gerrymandering, when Democrats enjoyed a 58-40 majority in the US Senate, during Obama's first two years as President -- when you could have passed whatever reforms you wanted.

Remind your friends and neighbors of these unpleasant facts, the next time they claim, "Obama tried hard, but the Republicans wouldn't let him do anything." True enough, for much of his tenure, but not during those crucial opening two years (2008-10), which end up the high water mark of newly elected Presidents' domestic achievements. Claiming, "They wouldn't let him," sounds better than the alternative ("We couldn't be bothered, because we always thought we'd get another shot"). 

And look what happened, once those extended supports were allowed to wither away, and companies began bullying people back into the office, out of some misplaced notion of going "back to normal." Who cares if you can barely afford the food on your hope, or the bill it costs to keep your lights on? You can always get some third or fourth dead end job to shell out for it all, right?

Forget it! We can, and must, do better than allowing all these reactionary oligarchs to impose some reheated Cromwellian 16th century social order by executive fiat. The GOP's collective alibiing for its Dear Leader offers a real opportunity for Democrats to clear the decks, stop dancing on the defensive, explain their ideas, and force an honest discussion about what they'd like to see happen.

Now that they've gotten the baton back, let's hope they don't drop it yet again, and bring home the realities of what's at stake. Never forget the real reason that all those supports faded away, and the bullying back to the office, returned with such full force.

Not because they didn't work, from their perspective -- but because they worked just a little too bit well. Now is our chance to let them know, loud and clear, once and for all, that it's high time for something else. Something that works for us, for once. --The Reckoner

Links To Go:
Austin American Statesman: Rally For Democracy Photos:
https://www.statesman.com/picture-gallery/news/politics/2025/03/08/elizabeth-warren-rally-austin-speech-texas-democrats/82055454007/?fbclid=IwY2xjawI7SHJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZ2M4nXZj7wfMq4z1M8Gb0-Tg2TADiHBWNqzZd61WuCksZRGFVewVj2dsA_aem_7ugjRT1xmDymjY-xm7zlPQ

Sonic Youth: Youth Against Fascism (Video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWzIlCJAw-o

Yahoo Finance: Business Leaders Turning On Trump -- Fast:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-business-leaders-turning-trump-164624598.html

========================================================================================

You know history as well as I do. Real change never takes place from the top on down. It always takes place from the bottom on up when ordinary people, by the millions, stand together to fight oppression and injustice.

With your help that is exactly the movement that we are building.

Over the last several weeks I have held a series of town meetings in districts with Republican House members who won close races in the last election.

And what I have found is that in these districts, and all across the country, Americans are saying loudly and clearly: NO to oligarchy, NO to authoritarianism, NO to kleptocracy, NO to massive cuts in programs that working people desperately need, NO to huge tax breaks for the richest people in our country.

As you know, the Republican majority in the House is very slim. If we can convince 2 or 3 Republican members from these districts to vote against cutting Social Security, Medicaid, Education, Nutrition and VA programs in order to pay for huge tax breaks for billionaires, we can defeat that horrendous piece of legislation.

Our first events in Nebraska and Iowa drew thousands of people.

But that was NOTHING compared to the events we just wrapped up this weekend in Wisconsin and Michigan.

On Friday night in Kenosha, Wisconsin we drew 4,000 people who came out on a cold night to stand up and make their voices heard.

The next day, we went to Altoona, WI -- population 9,200 -- where we had over 2,500 people attend our town meeting. I have long been told that progressive ideas are not popular in rural America.

Not what I saw there.

People in Altoona, and across the country, understand that health care is a human right, and our economy must work for all, not just the few.

And we closed our meetings in Warren, Michigan where we had more than 9,000 people come out to hear Abdul El-Sayed, Shawn Fain of the UAW and me. It was a gym full of people.

And an overflow crowd.

And an overflow-overflow crowd.

And an overflow-overflow-overflow crowd.

And by the way. At these rallies I made it clear that we cannot simply be on the defensive - in opposition to Musk and Trump. The working families of this country are hurting and we must go on the offensive - fighting for concrete solutions that will improve their lives NOW.

The good news is, poll after poll also shows that our agenda is incredibly popular with the American people. People want the wealthiest in this country to pay their fair share, they want leaders with the guts to take on the drug companies and the oil companies. They understand that healthcare is a human right, not a privilege. Overwhelmingly, they want an end to our corrupt political system that allows billionaires to buy our elections.

We’ve now taking our campaign against Oligarchy to Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. Next, it looks like we’ll be heading out west.

Let me close by thanking the almost 200,000 people who have contributed over the past few weeks to make these rallies possible. I am very appreciative of your continued financial support.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders