‘Official’ Crypto

 President-elect Donald Trump’s “official” meme coin, TRUMP, has surged to a near $14 billion market capitalization within hours of its launch, according to cryptocurrency trackers. The Solana-based meme token was unveiled early on Saturday, two days before Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States.

The token started trading at an opening price of $0.1824, but within five hours had jumped over 8,000%, trading at roughly $14.4 as of 08:00 GMT, according to Dexscreener. Its market cap stood at $14 billion at the time. Over 66,000 buyers have so far bought the token, outpacing the nearly 18,000 sellers. Liquidity also surged, topping $388 million.

Trump announced the launch of the coin on his official Truth Social and X accounts.

“My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW,” the president-elect wrote on his social media platform.

The crypto community initially voiced concerns about the token’s legitimacy, with some warning of a possible hack or social engineering scheme. Pseudonymous blockchain engineer cygaar noted on X that the project’s official website mirrors those of Trump’s previous NFT collections and suggested that “either this is the greatest cyber heist of all time, or this is legitimate.” However, as Trump’s posts remained online, and with Polymarket data suggesting only a 10% chance of account compromise, skepticism began to subside, pushing the price of the token further up.

The token’s explosive growth has also drawn concerns regarding its allocation.

READ MORE: Bitcoin skyrockets past $100,000

“80% of the token supply is locked in a multisignature wallet, amounting to $3 billion controlled by the creator, who also added $40 million in liquidity,” Conor Grogan, head of product business operations at Coinbase, said in a post on X, adding that the project was seeded with millions of dollars of funds from Binance and Gate, two exchanges that don’t serve US customers. Other analysts noted that 80% of the token’s circulating supply is allocated to Fight Fight Fight LLC and CIC Digital LLC, entities linked to the Trump Organization, with only 20% of the supply split equally between public investors and liquidity.

The launch of TRUMP comes as the president-elect continues to align himself with cryptocurrency initiatives. Once an outspoken crypto-skeptic, he made a U-turn during his election campaign and pledged to reshape the US cryptocurrency landscape to make the country the “crypto capital of the planet.” Paul Atkins, Trump’s pick to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is expected to spearhead these efforts. A known crypto advocate and former SEC commissioner, Atkins will replace Gary Gensler, who has been criticized for his crackdown on the industry.

On Drugs

 

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) has condemned in the strongest terms the, recent disappearance of four Black children in Ecuador as a byproduct of the U.S.-led “war on drugs” scheme in Latin America.

The boys are between 11 and 15 years of age, and the episode is posing a serious challenge to President Daniel Noboa’s “war on drugs.”

BAP, a people-centered human rights project against war, said on Jan. 7, that President Noboa had effectively sold-out Ecuador’s sovereignty to Washington.

“The Ecuadorian government has been all too willing to fight its war on drugs in Afro-Ecuadorian territories and communities, imposing horrific state repression and violence, as it surrenders its sovereignty to U.S. military (and geopolitical) interests.”

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“This has meant the militarization of society and strengthening the repressive apparatus of the state in a way that aligns with U.S. foreign policy objectives.”

“With the recent concession of the Galapagos Island to the U.S. military by the Noboa government, Ecuadorian sovereignty is being sold along with Afro-Ecuadorian human rights.”

BAP stated that it is “concerned and outraged” by the fact that the Afro-Ecuadorian children “can go missing for almost two weeks after coming into contact with members of the armed forces without any concerns or official statements provided by government officials.” 

The “Guayaquil Four”—as the children are nicknamed—are from the Las Malvinas neighborhood, a largely Black and impoverished community, in Ecuador’s largest city Guayaquil.

They were returning from a football game on December 8, when 16 Air Force soldiers approached them. The “Guayaquil Four” were allegedly freed some distance away and have not been seen since.

Desperate over the disappearance of their children, the families approached the armed forces the next morning, but the case began to move forward only after it caused a national uproar later on.

On Christmas Eve, four incinerated bodies were found in the same region, and experts are trying to determine if they are the remains of the “Guayaquil Four.”

Their disappearance has generated protests nationwide.

Ecuador has experienced an explosion in the crime rate in the recent past. The country is a route for cocaine trafficking to Europe, primarily through the port of Guayaquil.

Since Noboa declared a state of “internal armed conflict” in January, the armed forces have been at the forefront of the president’s “security” project, with soldiers patrolling the streets, conducting anti-drug operations and controlling prisons.

The measures initially enjoyed popularity, but a change of direction might be underway.

Experts say the United States’ so-called anti-drug policy in Latin America is not working.

In May, it was Colombian President Gustavo Petro who said the American anti-drug attitude had caused “genocide” in the region. 

Saviour

 It was prophesied that Allah (God) would come and choose the despised, the rejected, the unloved, the unwanted and they would be His people and He would be their God. Is there any people more despised, more rejected, more unloved than the Black people of America? Allah (God) promised that He would marry with us.

The promise was made over 6,000 years ago. From the time that Adam fell, and hell reigned supreme on the Earth, Allah (God) prophesied or promised through the mouth of His prophet that, in the Last Days, He would come and choose a people to be His own. The scripture says, “When we are old enough, we will marry.” It means that at the fullness of time, when you are matured and ready for God, He will present Himself. He can’t come to you before the time. He can’t come after the time. He must come on time.

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The marriage can’t take place now. You have something to go through in order to evolve and develop and your Saviour has something to go through in order to evolve and develop. When you both have fully matured, let the marriage take place. The Book of Revelation mentions the marriage of the lamb with the church.

Joseph and Mary were childhood sweethearts. When they were old enough, God presents Himself, the Messenger presents himself and the father of Mary stands in the way. Mary is a prototype of Black people. You are really the woman here that is going to give birth to a child. You are the people that are to give birth to the Messiah. You don’t know it, but you are the people that are going to do that. And White people, like a father, are standing there looking at who comes to be your leader and marry you.

Have you noticed how every Black leader who wants to unite Black people but is not made by White people, they reject him for you? When White people reject him, you reject him. We rejected Marcus Garvey. We rejected Noble Drew Ali. We rejected Malcolm X. We rejected Elijah Muhammad. Why did we reject them? Because the White man didn’t want them for us; he becomes an interference between us marrying anybody who has truth to tell.

But the Book says, “A darkness came over the people and Mary called out”—even though Joseph was married and had six children. This is actually referring to God raising prophets out of other nations of the earth, while we were the apple of His eye all along. Count the prophets from Abraham: Abraham, Noah, Lot, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and Aaron, because Aaron was also considered a prophet—not equal to Moses but a subordinate of Moses. That’s six prophets. There are also minor prophets.

Although God is raising prophets all over the world, none of these prophets delight His heart, not because He doesn’t love His prophets, but the prophets were unsuccessful. Satan’s power was so great. The prophets could not overcome the power of Satan. The prophets were killed by Satan. So, God sent the prophets, but secretly in His heart He wanted a son. He wanted somebody that would help Him in His mission and work. He was looking for the ideal prophet, not the prophet of yesterday. But He knew that there was one coming. He had a covenant. He had a contract of marriage with Israel. He had a contract of marriage with the Muslim world. But none of them have fulfilled what God wanted.

The Muslim world has not fulfilled its covenant to Allah (God). Neither have the Jews or the Christians. So, He has to go outside of the family to find a woman to make a child for Himself. Just like David’s child, the heir to the throne, was not from the Original family; it came from Bathsheba, who was a strange woman. The Bible tells us that the Last Man would be a man like David.

Now, the woman (Mary) is under darkness and she cries out for her lover to come. This refers to a people, Black people, in a time of great trouble, turmoil, tribulation, crying out to God, “Have mercy on us.” The Bible says, “Jehovah heard the moaning and the groaning of Israel.” He didn’t say, “I’m going to send somebody.” He said, “I’m coming Myself to see whether the cry is altogether what I heard.”

So it is with Black people. We have been crying out for 400 years under the continual stroke of White people. But God couldn’t come in the first century. He couldn’t come in the second century. He had to come on time.

The Messiah asked, “Who do they say I am?” The people responded, “They say you are that prophet that was to come.” He knew that they did not know who He was. And it wasn’t time to reveal who He was.

Beloved brothers and sisters, if you can only see that we became pregnant with a Divine One from among ourselves, and whether you want to recognize it or not, that One that God gave us is the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. A strange man. A strange-looking man with a fez on his head. His fez with the sun, moon and star in the front of his forehead, in a Black background. It wasn’t just a pillbox on his head. It was a sign that God would ultimately bring him to Himself and teach him the utmost of His signs and give him power over that which he had in his head and on his head. Jesus is supposed to be taught by God the Mastery of the forces of nature, where he becomes Lord over the universe.

Elijah Muhammad was in our midst and we did not know who he was. Jesus was in our midst and we did not know who he was. When he spoke to us, our eyes opened up. When he spoke to us, our ears opened up. When he spoke to us, we spoke back and the knot in our tongue was gone. When he spoke to us, our hands got busy working. When he spoke to us, our feet got busy walking. When he spoke to us, we came up from a dead level and the world recognized that life was coming into the Black man and woman. The Resurrection process had begun.

R - ONE - LADY

Youth in Climate

Protesters attend a rally held by Our Children's Trust outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on October 29, 2018.

 (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

 Dozens of members of Congress on Monday submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting 21 youth plaintiffs who launched a historic constitutional climate case against the federal government nearly a decade ago.

Since Juliana v. United States was first filed in the District of Oregon in August 2015, the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations have fought against it. Last May, a panel of three judges appointed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by President-elect Donald Trump granted a request by President Joe Biden's Department of Justice to dismiss the case.

After the U.S. Supreme Court in November denied the youth plaintiffs' initial request for intervention regarding the panel's decision, their attorneys filed a different type of petition last month. As Our Children's Trust, which represents the 21 young people, explains on its website, they argued to the justices that federal courts are empowered by the U.S. Constitution and the Declaratory Judgment Act (DJA) "to resolve active disputes between citizens and their government when citizens are being personally injured by government policies, even if the relief is limited to a declaration of individual rights and government wrongs."

The Monday filing from seven U.S. senators and 36 members of the House of Representatives argues to the nation's top court that "the 9th Circuit's dismissal of the petitioners' constitutional suit for declaratory relief has no basis in law and threatens to undermine the Declaratory Judgment Act, one of the most consequential remedial statutes that Congress has ever enacted."

The Supreme Court "should grant the petition to clarify that declaratory relief under the DJA satisfies the Article III redressability requirement," wrote the federal lawmakers, led by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). "Doing so is necessary because Congress expressly authorized declaratory relief 'whether or not further relief is or could be sought.'"

"The 9th Circuit's jurisdictional holding, which prevented the district court from even reaching the question whether declaratory relief would be appropriate, conflicts with this court's holding that the DJA is constitutional," the lawmakers continued. "It also conflicts with this court's holding that Article III courts may not limit DJA relief to cases where an injunction would be appropriate."

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In a Monday statement, Juliana's youngest plaintiff, 17-year-old Levi D., welcomed the support from the 43 members of Congress—including Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as well as Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

"After 10 years of delay, I have spent more than half of my life as a plaintiff fighting for my fundamental rights to a safe climate. Yet, the courthouse doors are still closed to us," said Levi. "Five years ago, members of Congress stood by me and my co-plaintiffs on the steps of the Supreme Court. Today, as the climate crisis worsens and hurricanes ravage my home state of Florida, they are still with us, using their voices to weigh in on the importance of our rights to access justice and to a livable climate."

"The recent win in Held v. State of Montana and historic settlement in Navahine v. Hawaii Department of Transportation showed the world that young people's voices, my voice, and legal action are not just symbolic, but they hold governments accountable to protect our constitutional rights," Levi added. "Now, it's our turn to be heard!"

The lawmakers weren't alone in formally supporting the young climate advocates on Monday. Public Justice and the Montana Trial Lawyers Association filed another brief that takes aim at the government's use of mandamus—a court order directing a lower entity to perform official duties—to deny the Juliana youth a trial.

"The government's sole argument to justify mandamus is the Department of Justice's past and anticipated future litigation expenses associated with going to trial. That argument is firmly foreclosed by precedent," the groups argued. "And even if it wasn't foreclosed by precedent, the argument trivializes the extraordinary nature of mandamus and would improperly circumvent the final judgment rule."

The organizations urged the high court to grant certiorari to uphold the mandamus standard set out in Cheney v. United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 2004. Plaintiff Miko V. said Monday that "I'm incredibly grateful to Public Justice and the Montana Trial Lawyers Association for standing with us in our fight for justice."

"We're not asking for special treatment; we're demanding the right to access justice, as our constitutional democracy guarantees," Miko stressed. "The recent victory in Held v. State of Montana demonstrates the power of youth-led legal action, and the urgent need for courts to recognize that our generation has the right to hold our government accountable. Every day that the government prevents us from presenting our case, we all lose more ground in the fight for a livable future. It's time for the judiciary to open the courthouse doors and allow us a fair trial."

The briefs came just a week before Big Oil-backed Trump's second inauguration and on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected attempts by fossil fuel giants to quash a Hawaiian municipality's lawsuit that aims to hold the climate polluters accountable, in line with justices' previous decisions. Dozens of U.S. state and local governments have filed similar suits.

President Ryan Adams

  by Albert Michi

ENCINO, CA - With multiple wildfires continuing to spread in Southern California, many industry members on both the buy- and supply-sides are doing what they can to maintain operations and support each other. Ryan Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gelson’s Markets, recently released the below statement:

Ryan Adams, President and Chief Executive Officer, Gelson's Markets

The wildfires affecting our region have brought devastating loss and disruption to our communities. With a heavy heart, we share that our Palisades store has been completely lost to the fires. This store was more than just a place to shop—it was a cornerstone of the community, and we grieve this loss alongside the team members, customers, and neighbors who called it their own.

Now that mandatory evacuation has been lifted in La Cañada, our La Cañada store is open to serve our community. We are deeply grateful to all the first responders who bravely fought against the Eaton fire, ensuring the safety of our community and our store. Additionally, we are extraordinarily thankful to report that our Calabasas store has reopened and is ready to serve our community.

With multiple wildfires continuing to spread in Southern California, many industry members are doing what they can to maintain operations and support each other

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by these tragedies. We are committed to supporting our employees during this challenging time, ensuring they have access to resources and aid as they navigate their own hardships.

As a company deeply rooted in the communities we serve, we are committed to exploring every avenue to assist in recovery efforts. We will stand with our neighbors, supporting and working together to rebuild what has been lost.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we navigate this difficult time. Your support means everything to us, and we are hopeful for the future as we work together to rebuild and recover. We will keep you updated as the situation evolves.

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Our thoughts are with all of those who are facing these challenging times.

Shkreli Awards

The Lown Institute's "Shkreli Awards"—named after convicted "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli—are given annually to the 10 most flagrant healthcare industry profiteers.

 (Image: Lown Institute)

 The "winners" of the annual Shkreli Awards—named after notorious "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli and given to the 10 "worst examples of profiteering and dysfunction in healthcare"—include a Texas medical school that sold body parts of deceased people without relatives' consent, an alleged multibillion-dollar catheter scam, an oncologist who subjected patients to unnecessary cancer treatments, and a "monster monopoly" insurer.

The Shkreli Awards, now in their eighth year, are given annually by the Lown Institute, a Massachusetts-based think tank "advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health." A panel of 20 expert judges—who include physicians, professors, activists, and others—determine the winners.

This year's awardees are:

10: The University of North Texas Health Science Center "dissected and distributed unclaimed bodies without properly seeking consent from the deceased or their families" and supplied the parts "to medical students as well as major for-profit ventures like Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson," reporting revealed.

9: Baby tongue-tie cutting procedures are "being touted as a cure for everything from breastfeeding difficulties to sleep apnea, scoliosis, and even constipation"—despite any conclusive evidence that the procedure is effective.

8: Zynex Medical is a company facing scrutiny for its billing practices related to nerve stimulation devices used for pain management.

7: Insurance giant Cigna is under fire for billing a family nearly $100,000 for an infant's medevac flight.

6: Seven suppliers allegedly ran a multibillion-dollar urinary catheter billing scam that affected hundreds of thousands of Medicare patients.

5: Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico allegedly refused cancer treatment "to patients or demanding upfront payments, even from those with insurance."

4: Dr. Thomas C. Weiner is a Montana oncologist who allegedly "subjected a patient to unnecessary cancer treatments for over a decade," provided "disturbingly high doses of barbiturates to facilitate death in seriously ill patients, when those patients may not have actually been close to death," and "prescribed high doses of opioids to patients that did not need them." Weiner denies any wrongdoing.

3: Pharma giant Amgen was accused of pushing 960-milligram doses of its highly toxic cancer drug Lumakras, when "a lower 240mg dose offers similar efficacy with reduced toxicity"—but costs $180,000 less per patient annually at the lower dose.

2: UnitedHealth allegedly exploited "its vast physician network to maximize profits, often at the expense of patients and clinicians," including by pressuring doctors "to reduce time with patients and to practice aggressive medical coding tactics that make patients seem as sick as possible" in order to earn higher reimbursements from the federal government."

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1: Steward Health Care CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre was accused of orchestrating "a dramatic healthcare debacle by prioritizing private equity profits over patient care" amid "debt and sale-leaseback schemes" and a bankruptcy that "left hospitals gutted, employees laid off, and communities underserved" as he reportedly walked away "with more than $250 million over the last four years as hospitals tanked."

"All these stories paint a picture of a healthcare industry in desperate need of transformation," Lown Institute president Dr. Vikas Saini said during the award ceremony, according toThe Guardian.

"Doing these awards every year shows us that this is nothing new," he added. "We're hoping that these stories illuminate what changes are needed."

The latest Shkreli Awards came just weeks after the brazen assassination of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth subsidiary UnitedHealthcare. Although alleged gunman Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty, his reported manifesto—which rails against insurance industry greed—resonated with people across the country and sparked discussions about the for-profit healthcare system.

R-One - Secrets ft. Micky

According to the Federal Trade Commission, consumers reported losing $367 million to job and business opportunity scams in 2022, up 76 percent year over year.  The typical victim lost $2,000, in pursuit of a job.

The report highlighted several scam scenarios. “Victim reached out and said that he had fallen victim to a job scam. The victim said that he was attempting to apply for a job online. He said he spoke to people he didn’t feel comfortable with, so he decided to look them up and found out that they used other people’s images. The victim said he gave them his SSN, Driver’s License picture, and address.”

In another example, a victim explained, “I had a potential employer get me in for a virtual interview, and I gave them my name, address and a photo of my I.D. Once the interview was over, I did some digging, and it looks like the company is a scam.”

LinkedIn, where many scammers set up shop, is working to foil the internet thieves.  According to its recent community report, the company blocked more than 63 million fake accounts during the second half of 2023. The site also removed more than 108 million pieces of spam and scam content over the same period, per the report.

The job site is “committed to ensuring the platform remains authentic, secure, and easy to use for members,” said Oscar Rodriguez, LinkedIn’s vice president of trust product management, in a statement.

Join UAW

 

Factory workers and UAW union members rallied outside Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant during a strike on October 14, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky.

 (Photo: Michael Swensen/Getty Images)

Seeking 'Better Future,' Kentucky EV Battery Workers File for Election to Join UAW

According to the UAW, the Kentucky workers' NLRB petition marks "the first major filing in the South in 2025 and continues the movement of Southern autoworkers organizing with the UAW."

Andrew McLean, a logistics worker in formation at BOSK, said Wednesday that "with a union, we'll be on a level playing field with management."

"That's so important when you're getting a new plant off the ground," McLean added. "The union allows us to give honest feedback without fear of retaliation."

In a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, one worker said she will be voting yes on unionization because she wants "a better future for not only myself, but future generations and everyone that works here with me."

The Washington Post noted that, "if successful, the effort could lead to the first unionized Ford-backed EV battery venture, at a time when EV sales in the United States are picking up."

BOSK has made clear that it will fight the organizing drive. A spokesperson for the joint venture said in a statement to the Post that the union election petition is "premature" and claimed that it "puts at risk the freedom and opportunities of our current and soon-to-be-hired Kentucky team members."

The UAW said Wednesday that BOSK "has responded to the campaign by hiring anti-union consultants who are trying to block the workers from organizing."

Angela Conto, a production operator in formation at BOSK, said that "instead of listening to our safety concerns, management has been ordering people to work without proper protective equipment."

"Now they're trying to stop us from forming our union to win a strong voice for safety," said Conto. "But the strong supermajority of workers who've signed union cards shows we're going to fix what's wrong at BOSK and make it the leading manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries in America."

New Era

 

"CEOs and billionaires want nothing more than to see workers divided, but we're standing here today with greater solidarity than ever," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.

The 2-million-member-strong Service Employees International Union announced Wednesday that it is joining the AFL-CIO, bolstering the ranks of the largest labor federation in the United States as unions prepare to fight the incoming Trump administration.

"CEOs and billionaires want nothing more than to see workers divided, but we're standing here today with greater solidarity than ever to reach the 60 million Americans who say they'd join a union tomorrow if the laws allowed and to unrig our labor laws to guarantee every worker in America the basic right to organize on the job," AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said in a statement.

With SEIU included, the unions that make up the AFL-CIO represent roughly 15 million workers across the nation.

April Verrett, SEIU's international president, said union members "are ready to unleash a new era of worker power, as millions of service and care workers unite with workers at the AFL-CIO to build our unions in every industry and every ZIP code."

"Working people have been organizing our workplaces and communities to build a stronger economy and democracy," Verrett added. "We are ready to stand up to union-busters at corporations and in government and rewrite the outdated, sexist, racist labor laws that hold us all back."

"By standing together, SEIU and the AFL-CIO are sending a powerful message to President-elect Trump and his allies who are trying to pit working people against one another."

While neither the SEIU nor the AFL-CIO mentioned President-elect Donald Trump by name in their statements announcing the move, Shuler acknowledged during an MSNBC appearance late Wednesday that organized labor is "going to be on defense, probably right away," as the Republican leader takes office and moves to stack his cabinet with lobbyists and others with deep corporate ties.

"We know that we've got to play a good defense game, but we also, as April and I have been talking about, we've got to be on offense," the AFL-CIO's president added. "Coming together is how we're more powerful and we rebalance the scales of this economy."

Trump's second term is expected to bring an assault on workers' rights much like his first four years in the White House, which saw rollbacks of safety rules, wage protections, and collective bargaining powers.

Among other steps, Trump is expected to fire worker champion Jennifer Abruzzo, general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, and nominate a pro-corporate replacement after he takes office later this month. Abruzzo has led the charge to ban anti-union captive audience meetings, and the incoming Trump administration is expected to try to reverse progress on that front and elsewhere.

Unions are also bracing for Trump's mass deportation plan. Bloombergreported Wednesday that the AFL-CIO "has been working to equip its affiliates around the country to help defend immigrant workers against potential workplace raids and mass deportation efforts once Donald Trump becomes president this month."

"The union federation is also readying rapid response plans to defend federal government employees against the Department of Government Efficiency," Bloomberg added, referring to the advisory commission set to be led by anti-union billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, said Wednesday that "by standing together, SEIU and the AFL-CIO are sending a powerful message to President-elect Trump and his allies who are trying to pit working people against one another: The labor movement will not be fractured or silenced."

"Unions are a crucial part of a robust and fair economy—and SEIU's affiliation with the AFL-CIO strengthens the collective power of millions of workers, enabling them to fight more effectively for better wages, benefits, and working conditions," said Shierholz. "It also amplifies labor's voice in advocating for progressive economic reforms that benefit all working families."

We Count

 

God's Anger

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We all have had some kind of religious experience. Either we went to church, synagogue or the mosque and we heard the preacher talk about God’s Judgment.

Sometimes the reverend would say it in a way that would make it so frightening—and the Judgment of Allah is a frightening thing. The pastor would get us to act better by terrifying us.

here is something about fear that makes people do things in order to escape what they are afraid of. When you pick up the Bible and the Holy Qur’an, you read about the Judgment in a way that is so terrifying that today many pastors don’t want to talk about it. 

We want to talk about the Grace of God, the Mercy of God, the Forgiveness of God. But very few want to talk about the Wrath of God.

Each of us as human beings created in the image of God can, on occasion, become angry. When you are angry you are capable of doing that which under normal emotional circumstances you would not do. Anger has degrees to it.

I can be angry and have my anger under control. You may see a fire in my eyes, you may hear something in my words, but, I’m keeping myself under control.

But, there is another kind of anger when we allow it to get to that point where we are unable to control the reaction that comes from our anger. We reach a point then of insanity. We have lost the balance. Then what comes from our mouths, what comes from our hands, can be very destructive.

The Bible says a wise man will be slow to anger. If you visit the prisons, we see many, many inmates, male and female, who are there, not because they are bad, but, a circumstance came up in their lives that ignited the passion of anger.

They lost control, and in that moment of loss of control they reached for something to inflict pain on the object of their anger. When it was over and the anger subsided, someone lay wounded, someone lay dying, and a human being was sent to prison for many years because we lacked control of the emotion called anger.

In the Book of Genesis in the Bible, God gave Adam instructions and Adam disobeyed. Allah (God) became displeased and He was angry with Adam. God’s anger was controlled. He was going to punish Adam, not kill Adam.

When we, in our homes, make a judgment against our children and we wish to inflict pain on them to teach them a lesson, sometimes we are so stressed out that we literally do terrific harm to both the body and the mind of our children because we couldn’t control our anger.

Adam and Eve had two children, Cain and Abel. The Bible talks about Abel and Cain making an offering to Allah (God) and Allah (God) accepted the offering of Abel but rejected the offering of Cain.

Some words of the Bible say that “the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.” Most of us, when we think we’ve been disrespected, it kindles anger.

But the thing that has been wounded is your self-concept, which is your ego, and because you may not have the characteristic of humility you see disrespect as a great insult. If the disrespect is fueled by another passion called envy, then it leads us to anger. The Bible says, “And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”

Whenever you are angry, there is a change in your countenance. “And the Lord said unto Cain, why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?” That’s a good question.

God knew why Cain was angry, but, he wanted Cain to examine the motive for his anger. Is it my bruised ego that makes me angry? Did somebody really wrong me? Why am I angry?

And why is my countenance fallen? Then God said to Cain, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”

When you are angry, right at the door of your anger is sin. Now your passion is about to cause you to break the law. Allah (God) talked to Cain and asked him to analyze why he felt anger.

There is nothing that hits the ego as hard as being rejected in comparison to something and somebody that appears to be accepted. In every family there are children growing up, some feeling accepted, some feeling rejected. And the more rejected you feel, the uglier your countenance becomes.

Anger has to be controlled, lest in our anger we harm what we love. Jesus got angry. It seems to me that he seemed greatly disturbed over the moneychangers in the temple.

They were defiling the house of God because they loved money more than the principles that the house is founded upon. So, Jesus went to driving them out of the temple with anger; but his anger was controlled. He let them know he was angry, why he was angry and he took an appropriate action—controlled anger, controlled disapproval, controlled chastisement. 

The result was they understood there was another side to Jesus. Though loving, though kind, though merciful, though sweet, there was another side. No matter how good any of us think we are, we are all capable of doing horrendous things when circumstances make us angry and we lose control in that moment of passion.

When you live in society or world like this that is founded on racism, sexism and an unbridled materialism, we who have been servitude slaves, never finding justice, have anger in us. We have anger, not because we think we have been disrespected. We know we have been disrespected.

And if God ever asked us, like he asked Cain, why is your countenance fallen and why are you angry? We could say, God, it is because of 400 years of injustice, 400 years of watching our women raped and disrespected, our children slaughtered, why shouldn’t we be angry?

And one day the anger will not be able to be controlled. God is going to let the anger loose like a mighty hurricane or tornado or earthquake or volcanic eruption. Then America will know that the price of injustice is the destruction of the country.

Whenever Allah (God) is angry, His anger is justified. And when He lets loose His anger, the destructive fury of His power destroys everything that it touches. The Bible says, “Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble:

And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” When Allah (God) comes to pluck up the wicked, He is not cutting off a branch. He’s killing it at the root.

Pastors today speak of the goodness of Jesus Christ, the mercy of Jesus Christ, the love of Jesus Christ, but, they are a little slow in preaching the Wrath of God through Jesus Christ. When Moses met God in a burning bush, the bush was burning but it was not consumed.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said the anger of God was so great, yet, controlled. The bush never burned, but, the fire was there. God withheld His wrath and sent His servant to Pharaoh to give Him a chance because God must not be untrue to His own nature.

He must show mercy and must be willing to forgive even the worst enemy. He must give you a chance to receive of His grace. So He controls His anger and He sends you a Warner. Then He sits back and watches how you treat the warning.

We are in the time of Judgment. When Allah (God) renders His judgment, He wants us to agree with Him. So He’s patient. He will send His Judgment down and then wait on you to come around because at first you may think God is wrong.

When Allah (God) told Abraham that He was going to destroy all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah except Lot and his family, Abraham asked Allah (God), would He destroy the righteous along with the wicked?

God didn’t say yes or no. He told Abraham to see if he could find 50 righteous. God said if Abraham found 50, He would save the city. He gave him a job. Prove My Judgment wrong. But, Abraham couldn’t find 50.

He couldn’t find 40. He couldn’t find 30. He couldn’t find 20. He couldn’t find 10. God still tried him. He told Abraham to go back and find one. And when Abraham came back and couldn’t find one, it said that fire and brimstone fell on Sodom and Gomorrah that same day.

Why? Because God does not want us to disagree with His judgment. When He sends His Judgment He gives you a period of grace that will allow the wicked to repent and the righteous to understand.

I live in America. It’s the greatest country on earth, but, it’s the most wicked. America boasts, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” She has bombed out cities of other nations and brought other nations to total ruin, not losing a plane or a pilot.

She is the only remaining superpower and God made her that for His purpose. Will you submit America or must you be taken and destroyed?

When God sends down His Judgment, He makes a decision. He says, “Behold, I make all things new.” Not some things—all things. Then He says, “There will be a new heaven and a new earth and the former things shall pass away.” 

This is a no good world because it is ruled by the enemy of God. So, when God starts judging a world in which America is the chief, she is the head of a world, that means nations have to pass away.

Kingdoms have to pass away. Systems have to pass away. And people who operate systems, who uphold the kingdoms, and are in the nations that fight against the Kingdom of God, all have to go.