Work Requirements

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People shop for food in a Brooklyn neighborhood in New York City on October 16, 2023.

 (Photo: Sigrun Albert/Getty Images)

As Trump Nominees Back SNAP and Medicaid Work Requirements, Report Shows Harms

"They do not reliably increase employment, but they do kick people off essential benefits like food assistance and healthcare," said an expert at the Economic Policy Institute.

After nominees for U.S. President Donald Trump's Cabinet this week endorsed work requirements for social safety net programs, an economic think tank released a Friday report detailing the policy's drawbacks.

"Work requirements for safety net programs are a punitive solution that solves no real problem," said Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economist and report author Hilary Wething in a statement about her new publication.

"They do not reliably increase employment, but they do kick people off essential benefits like food assistance and healthcare," she stressed. "If policymakers are genuinely concerned about improving access to work, they should support policies like affordable child- and eldercare."

"The existing safety net is too stingy and tilts too hard toward making benefits difficult to access."

EPI's report explains that recently, congressional Republicans—who now have a majority in both chambers—"have embraced proposals to ratchet up work requirements as conditions for the receipt of some federal government benefits. These proposals are clearly trying to exploit a vague, but pervasive, sense that some recipients of public support are gaming the system to get benefits that they do not need, as they could be earning money in the labor market to support themselves instead."

"However, a careful assessment of the current state of public benefit programs demonstrates that almost none of the alleged benefits of ratcheting up work requirements are economically significant, but that the potential costs of doing this could be large and fall on the most economically vulnerable," the document states. "The most targeted programs for more stringent work requirements are the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, popularly referred to as food stamps) and Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people."

"EPI has surveyed the research literature on work requirements and how they interact with these two programs in particular, and we find that the existing safety net is too stingy and tilts too hard toward making benefits difficult to access," the report continues. "Tightening eligibility by increasing work requirements for these programs will make this problem even worse with no tangible benefit in the form of higher levels of employment among low-income adults."

Wething found that work requirements generally target nonelderly adults without documented disabilities who don't have official dependents living in their homes, formally called "able-bodied adults without dependents" (ABAWDs).

"While ABAWDs might not have documented disabilities that result in benefit receipt or have dependent children living at home full-time, they often experience health challenges and must take on some caregiving duties, each of which could provide a genuine barrier to finding steady work," the report says. "We find that 21% reported having a disability that affects their ability to find and sustain work, suggesting that adults with genuine health barriers are being swept up in overly stringent work requirements."

Additionally, "13.8% of ABAWDs live with an adult over the age of 65 in their household, suggesting that many are potential caregivers in some form and likely have caregiving responsibilities beyond what is captured on paper," the document notes. "Despite ABAWDs having health challenges and caregiving responsibilities that make participation in the labor market difficult, our current social safety net does very little to support these adults."

The publication highlights that "low-income adults generally face steep labor market challenges, making it difficult to meet work requirements," including that "low-wage work is precarious, making work time hard to maintain."

The report also emphasizes that "by making the process of applying for crucial safety net programs more burdensome, work requirements effectively function like a cut to programs," and "the consequences of losing access to SNAP and Medicaid for low-income adults are severe, often resulting in food and health insecurity."

Despite the abundance of research about the downsides of work requirements, Brooke Rollins, Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture—which administers SNAP—expressed support for the policy during a Thursday Senate confirmation hearing, echoing what Russell Vought, the president's pick to direct the Office of Management and Budget, said about Medicaid on Wednesday.

Rather than pushing work requirements, the EPI report argues, decision-makers could advocate for "policies that would measurably improve employment in low-income households," including "macroeconomic policy to maintain full employment."

The publication also promotes policies that increase scheduling predictability, provide better help with caregiving responsibilities, assist formerly incarcerated people with finding and maintaining jobs, reduce unnecessary education mandates for employment, and improve transportation options. It further calls for reducing existing work requirements.

"It is entirely possible that reducing eligibility barriers to safety net programs—barriers like work requirements—may well be more effective in promoting work than raising those barriers would be," the report states. "A majority of adults who gained coverage through Medicaid expansion in Ohio and Michigan found that having healthcare made it easier to find and maintain work."

Lemkin Institute

 

Lemkin Institute Issues 'Red Flag Alert for Genocide' After Musk's Nazi Salutes

"Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats," the group said. "The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."

A group named after the Polish-born lawyer of Jewish descent who coined the term genocide issued a "red flag alert" for the United States on Monday after billionaire Elon Musk—a top ally of President Donald Trump—twice flashed what was widely seen as a Nazi salute during a post-inauguration event.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Studies and Prevention said that "Musk's act is a frightening signal of things to come" and rejected the notion that the billionaire's gestures were unintentional.

"In light of Musk's important influence on the new administration," the group said in a statement, "the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for genocide in the United States."

The Lemkin Institute urged Americans to "respond with critical thinking" to any suggestion that Musk's salutes were merely awkward or odd-looking—but ultimately benign—expressions of enthusiasm.

"Is it possible that any person—especially in South Africa (where support for Nazism was very strong) or the USA (where the History Channel has introduced almost all but the youngest generations to the Nazi salute)—is unaware of this salute or what it means?" the group asked. "It is almost impossible that this was an unfortunate mistake. Finally, can we really believe that someone who is so often in the public eye would risk an arm gesture—twice—that looks almost exactly like the Nazi salute while he is supposedly celebrating Donald Trump's election to president? We strongly believe that Elon Musk's gesture was intentional. We will be happy to be proven wrong."

"Musk's Hitler salute cannot and must not be swept under the rug. The U.S. press, cowed as it has been under President Biden, cannot be trusted to cover the new president's administration with any backbone or honesty. It is up to the American people to defend the Constitution and this country's core values against all threats," the organization continued. "Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats. The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."

Musk's salutes drew widespread alarm, including from public officials in Europe—where Musk has attempted to boost far-right parties.

"Such a gesture, given his already known proximity to right-wing populists in the fascist tradition, must worry every democrat," German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote in response.

Far-right extremists, for their part, celebrated Musk's gestures, which they appear to have had no trouble interpreting.

As Rolling Stonereported, "The Proud Boys Ohio chapter posted a clip of the Musk video to its Telegram channel with the text, 'Hail Trump!'"

Rio One - You

Tears

 Donald Trump's "border tsar" has vehemently defended a drive to deport unlawful migrants after singer and actress Selena Gomez posted a tearful video saying: "All my people are being attacked, and children."

The star, who has Mexican heritage, sobbed uncontrollably on camera, adding: "I wish I could do something but I can't." She captioned her video with "I'm sorry" alongside a Mexican flag emoji.

But Tom Homan, responding to Gomez and others with similar views, told Fox News: "If they don't like it, then go to Congress and change the law. We're going to do this operation without apology."

Trump ordered a nationwide immigration crackdown after returning as president, with 956 arrests on Sunday, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Reuters

Tom Homan gave "no apologies" for the policy

Gomez deleted her original Instagram video but returned to social media to respond to her critics, writing: "Apparently it's not OK to show empathy for people."

She later also removed the follow-up message as well.

Homan, a veteran immigration official and ex-police officer, told Fox: "We're going to make our community safer... It is all for the good of this nation. And we're going to keep going. No apologies. We're moving forward."

He said they had only arrested "public security threats and national security threats, bottom line".

In a second Fox interview, he questioned where Gomez's tears were for sex trafficking victims.

"We got a half a million children who were sex trafficked into this country, separated from their families, put in the hands of criminal cartels to be smuggled into the country. This administration can't find over 300,000. Where's the tears for them?"

Bafta nomination

Many of Gomez's fans defended her, as did rapper Flavor Flav, who posted on X: "Team Selena Gomez. Again. That woman is always so brave to share her truth, and so many are quick to bully her."

But others, including Trump-supporting TV host Megyn Kelly, were not impressed.

"She deleted it after her fans taught her that the majority of the country stands behind these policies, but I'm sure she was shocked to get any blowback whatsoever," she said on Monday's episode of The Megyn Kelly Show.

Gomez hails from Texas and has more than 400 million Instagram followers.

In 2019, she fronted a Netflix documentary series called Living Undocumented, which followed eight immigrant families in the US.

She currently stars in hit Disney TV series Only Murders in the Building, and recently received a Bafta nomination for her role in musical film Emilia Perez, which leads this year's Oscar race.

Alb Micky - Dance Home (Official Music Video)

Wildfire Recovery

 

Dianne Lewis’ son “J.B.” stands in front of what once was their home. Photo courtesy of Dean Muhammad

PASADENA, Calif.—Dianne Lewis’ home was destroyed in flames from the Eaton Fire, but she has been working to help the people in her community recover. Despite her personal loss, in words and in deeds, she is praying daily for everyone impacted by the fire to restore their homes, stay in their community, and work together to rebuild it.

At Final Call presstime the wildfires in Los Angeles County continued and thousands of people were still under evacuation orders. The Eaton fire had burned 14,117 acres and was 55 percent contained.

The Eaton fire in Pasadena, California, has destroyed several buildings. This photo shows the aftermath of the fire and the damage to the home of Dianne Lewis. Photo courtesy of Dianne Lewis

The Palisades fire had burned 23,713 acres and was 22 percent contained. Thousands of structures have been destroyed and damaged. The death toll from both fires was at 27, according to the LA Times.

“What’s disturbing to me is my community is an older community. My neighbor is 96 and his wife is 92, and they live together,” said Ms. Lewis, CEO of the Alkebu-Lan Cultural Center in Pasadena. She sent her son to help prepare the elderly couple to evacuate, she said. 

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“We’ve been there for 30-40 years. We’ve all checked in with each other. My whole block, both sides, is totally collapsed,” said Ms. Lewis. Many of them were able to go to relatives’ homes, and she’s at her daughter’s house, she added.

She is also being cared for by close friends, her first cousin and her community, she told Nation of Islam Western Region Student Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad, during his visit to the community impacted by the fires.

Ms. Lewis also lost her cars in the fire. They received evacuation alerts on their phones, and she was going to drive her car, but her son did not want them separated. “He said, ‘No! Ma! You’re riding with me,’” she recalled.

At presstime, National Guard members had not let them back to survey their home, or what’s left of it, she said. “They’re all posted because people are going through people’s stuff,” she stated.  She was unable to get any important papers out. Nothing, she added.

“It’s been rough,” acknowledged Student Min. Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad. The current priority is to embrace the people impacted like Ms. Lewis and the community and to see to their needs, he explained.

“I don’t think the fire looked at any of us and what color we were; the wind did not pick each house. I have 48 people in my church that lost their homes completely,” said Ms. Lewis.

Nation of Islam Student Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad consoles Eaton Canyon Fire victim and community advocate Dianne Lewis.

“It’s very hard,” she added, before breaking down in tears after Pastor Mark Chase said a prayer for peace and healing.

Serving a need and lending a hand 

Among the volunteers who have lent a helping hand to aid in wildfire recovery efforts were community residents, activists, members of the Nation of Islam and volunteers from the Church of Scientology.

“We all have to work together,” said Ms. Lewis. 

“I’m just so thankful today to have the Nation of Islam out here with us to serve the community of Altadena/Pasadena, Minister Muhammad and his team coming through. This is the only Black center in San Gabriel Valley,” said activist and organizer Heavenly Hughes of My Tribe Rise, referring to the cultural center. 

Ms. Lewis’ Alkebu-Lan Cultural Center allowed Ms. Hughes to set up the “We Will Rise” resource hub, to specifically serve those displaced due to the Eaton Canyon Fire, she told The Final Call. They have learned through surveys that those residents still with homes need air filters.

They also need underwear and shoes “because many people walked out, or ran out, rather, with what they had at that moment,” said Ms. Hughes. Many cars were burned, so delivering to meet people where they are is crucial, she added.  

William Muhammad and James Muhammad of Mosque No. 27 serving the community at Pasadena Church. Photos: Charlene Muhammad

“We are having those items packaged up and delivered straight to their location. We want to make sure this is sustained even in the coming months, that we are still here and they are still being supported as things settle down and maybe get a little more edgy,” said Ms. Hughes. 

Also, crucial for people at this time are items for babies, such as diapers and milk. In addition, senior citizens need adult pull-ups and wheelchairs.

Meanwhile, down the hill, about 15 minutes away, Josiah Bruny and an army of volunteers served the community at the Pasadena Church’s Eaton Fire Disaster Relief effort at 425 Sierra Madre Villa Ave. in Pasadena. Mr. Bruny is the founder of Music Changing Lives and has put the resources of his organization in service to the impacted community.

Now, along with five other groups, they are operating a triage system in Pasadena to assist fire victims, providing essential supplies and housing, he said.

His family has been in Altadena/Pasadena since the 70s. “Luckily, my aunt’s property was saved, but like most, I feel survivor’s guilt and I feel compassion for those that have lost everything,” said Mr. Bruny. 

Pastor and First Lady of Pasadena Church, Madelyn Manning, speaks with volunteers at Eaton Canyon Fire disaster relief site. Photos: Charlene Muhammad

“And that’s why I’m standing strong with ’Dena and we’re here to build ’Dena, because we know what it feels like to lose and we’re here for our community,” he told The Final Call, referring to Pasadena. 

Mr. Bruny emphasized the need for hygiene supplies, water and new items like underwear, socks and towels.

“There’s such a great need right now. Within our church alone, we have 18 families who’ve lost their homes in this Eaton Fire, including my 89-year-old mother,” stated Pastor Madelyn Manning, first lady of Pasadena Church. “Our hearts are just breaking,” she told The Final Call. 

She and her husband, Pastor Kerwin Manning, are in a hotel, but as of Jan. 9, they were able to see their home was still standing, but haven’t been able to get back since then. They have been in Pasadena for 23 years.

“The Lord blessed us with this church and we know that we are called to open it and to be a blessing. Our motto is ‘Find a need and fill it.  Find a hurt and heal it,’ and that’s why we’re here. And we’re going to be here after all of the NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and big places leave and go on to the next crisis, Pasadena Church will be here, serving our community with love,” said Pastor Madelyn Manning.

When they first moved to Pasadena they found a very tight-knit community of Black people that grew up there, she explained. “Everybody knew everyone; everywhere you’d go, you might find someone related to somebody else. … We just love that. We were welcomed in with open arms, from Ohio,” said Pastor Madelyn Manning.

Of different resources, people need water because of the city’s do not drink water notice issued on Jan. 13, and also housing, because hotel stays are unsustainable, she said.

People are also in Air BNB’s and with family. But they need help with claims paperwork, and FEMA, especially seniors who may not understand or be computer savvy, Pastor Madelyn Manning continued. “It’s a lot of need,” she concluded.

Cars and SUVs filled the rear lot of the church, as people of goodwill patiently waited their turn to drop off clothes, shoes, water, and other key essentials. In front, the parking lot and sometimes the street lined with vehicles of residents coming through for supplies. The well-organized system ensured they did not have to leave their cars, just pass by to get what was needed.

A sign of gratitude on an overpass seen exiting Pasadena, California.

That is, unless they wanted to get out for the free food donated by Mercy Chefs, a Virginia-based faith-based non-profit disaster and humanitarian relief organization, or four food trucks on hand that day.  

“It’s a blessing from Almighty God for Brother Josiah. Thank God for his leadership, because between him and Brother James and Brother William, I mean, boots on the ground! I’ve never seen somebody move so fast to set up something so organized, that it is absolutely helping the community,” said Student Min. Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad. 

Members of the Nation of Islam and other organizations have joined with Mr. Bruny to serve Pasadena residents, he said. In his estimation, it could take between 3-5 years to really address and help the problems that they’ve seen. He’s been to at least 11 sites and said what he has witnessed in Pasadena is the most organized he’s seen.  

From left, William Muhammad, James Muhammad of Mosque No. 27; Josiah Bruny of Music Changing Lives; Tim Burke and John Steiner of the Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministry, Nation of Islam Student Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad of Mosque No. 27; Noah Bolduc and Levelle McGee of the Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministry were in Pasadena assisting residents impacted by the wildfires.

“It’s an honor to work with Josiah and Music Changing Lives, with the Church of Scientology volunteer ministry and with our Regional Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad in our collaboration to bring forth assistance to the fire victims,” said James Muhammad, a 1st lieutenant at Mosque No. 27, the Western Region Headquarters of the Nation of Islam.

 “Our people have definitely been coming out and it’s a beautiful thing, everybody coming together to help those who are suffering in this hour. It’s been a real beautiful energy and movement,” added William Muhammad also of Mosque No. 27.

Alb Micky - Live Life

Food Babe

 Congress asks: Is cancer a food-based illness?

I f Republicans held a hearing in Congress on food, obesity, cancer and nutrition and nobody heard about it, did it happen? Yes it did. The informal roundtable hearing was held on September 23 in the Russell Senate Office Building by Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin). No major mainstream news outlet covered it. The inside the beltway non profit industrial complex (NPIC) groups were nowhere to be found. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why the hearing was widely ignored. Johnson and his star witness, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who campaigned for President on the motto – Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) – are turn offs for NPIC and the corporate media. Or as Marion Nestle, a professor of Food and Nutrition at New York University put it – “I’d rather see mainstream nutritionists screaming bloody murder that we’ve created a food supply that’s making people sick.” “Seventy-four percent of Americans are overweight,” Nestle told Civil Eats. “There is something seriously wrong.”

Trounced by Trump

 Autopsy: Corporate power, war and genocide

By R - One Micki

The day after the Democratic Party lost the White House, lost the Senate and lost the House to Donald Trump and the Republicans, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) told reporters that “it should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.” “First it was the white working class that abandoned them and now it is Latino and Black workers as well,” Sanders said. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.” “And they’re right.” To which former Sanders for President (2020) press secretary Briahna Joy Gray asked – “Then why didn’t you run yourself, or support a change candidate?” “What’s the point of being an Independent if you spend your political capital manufacturing consent for candidates who you, apparently, don’t even believe in?”

This election came down to corporate power, war and genocide. And the Democratic Party is pro-corporate, pro-war and pro-genocide. Strike three and you’re out. On economics, Harris couldn’t even appease her affluent young hipster core supporters. “When it came to the 2021 price hikes, one of the things people were frustrated about was the price of Ubers and Lyfts,” said reporter Ryan Grim the day after the election. “The only thing she could do is go after corporate greed. She starts doing that. Then she is told by Tony West, her brother-inlaw, not to do that anymore. Tony West is the top lawyer for Uber. It’s absurd. And that’s the Democratic Party. The problem with Democrats is that they have those people in their inner circle and they listen to them.” Harris billionaire supporters were sending signals that the corporate class would have a hammerlock on the White House if she was elected.

Take Care

Volunteers help people load bags of goods at a large donation site that has sprung up at the Pasadena Community Job Center on N. Lake Ave. on January 12, 2025 in Pasadena, California in the wake of extreme wildfires. 

(Photo: Nabil Micki/Getty Images)

Days before taking office, President Donald Trump and his wife Melania launched their own cryptocurrency. His organization also plans to move forward with new real estate projects in Saudi Arabia. Eric Trump, the president’s son, oversees the company’s real estate interests and announced the expansion at a conference in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia in October. Eric also mentioned that his father will be the “most pro-crypto president in U.S. History.” A sitting president prioritizing personal capitalist expansion over the people along with the outgoing Democratic administration’s support of genocide in Palestine signals the country’s imperial decline.

For humanity to move toward genuine peace, the United States empire must end. All empires end, because they become untenable domestically and internationally. Anti-imperialist freedom fighters have noted this extensively. The British Empire receded because it couldn’t survive fighting in WWII and violently maintain colonies as liberation movements won independence. The French and Haitian revolutions ended France’s imperial rule as it overextended itself working to cling to its colonies in the Caribbean and Africa.

Even imperial proponents have noted that the U.S. imperial decline is visible on the horizon. The U.S. has seen an incredible amount of domestic social and political unrest, specifically in the last six years. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed fatal and obvious flaws within the U.S. for-profit healthcare system that is still killing and disabling scores of people daily. The pandemic—along with the continuing crisis of anti-Black police violence—saw the nation explode with uprisings.

his nation-state and its imperial hegemonic misdeeds are a hindrance to the quality of life for the vast majority of people within the country and the world.

Houselessness in the U.S. rose in the last year 18% with over 770,000 unhoused (certainly an undercount). Rising rents, climate disaster, wealth inequality, declining life expectancy, and corporate theft (inflation) are major markers of an unsustainable future for U.S. residents. Bipartisan U.S. policy seems to be greater investment into military and policing rather than a cohesive social safety net.

A further indicator of U.S. imperial decline is the considerable resistance to the idea of capitalism as a viable economic system. The U.S. remains the wealthiest nation in the history of the world with the largest military and surveillance apparatus by a large margin. Its ability to control the United Nations is unmatched. The social, economic, and political hegemonic domination appears impenetrable.The world economy still centers the dollar because of the aforementioned factors. The issue for the U.S. empire is that it markets itself, both home and abroad, as a bastion of freedom. That marketing of U.S. brand “freedom” is evaporating in the U.S. public psyche. It’s why you see desperate measures to control social media, like banning TikTok, ending DEI programs, or not teaching accurate U.S. History.

The decline of the U.S. empire scares most people for many reasons, but the idea needs more interrogation. This nation-state and its imperial hegemonic misdeeds are a hindrance to the quality of life for the vast majority of people within the country and the world. While the most marginalized suffer first and worst, the widening net of wealth inequality consumes more humans daily.

In the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw communities fill in gaps where the state and capitalist-based healthcare failed us. People worked tirelessly to keep their families, friends, and neighbors safe. Strangers became community, and informal networks were built and helped folks survive. We see this continually with climate catastrophes hitting different parts of the country. That sort of collective consciousness is needed along with making sure that we don’t have a state and socioeconomic system geared toward harm. In the midst of imperial decline, Americans have a hard road ahead of us working to create a future that is more humane and just, for ourselves and future generations. We deserve better.

 

Mainstream Press

A person holds up a sign reading ''We Are United'' during the People's March and rally to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., United States, on January 18, 2025. 

(Photo: Nabil Micki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

 A lawless madman, with cunning political skills, is at large in our White House. After less than five days in office, he has set a record for flamboyantly issued executive orders, many violative of federal statutes and the Constitution.

A partial list: He has withdrawn the U.S. from the World Health Organization (e.g., damaging international coordination regarding pandemics), quit the Paris climate accords (e.g., nations working together against climate violence), selected corporate ideologues to run regulatory agencies (the purpose of which is to save lives, prevent injuries, and stop consumer rip-offs), unleashed ICE to crash schools looking for undocumented kids to take away, threatened the media, readied more tax cuts for the super-rich and big companies, and halted the hiring of IRS staff needed to stop massive tax evasions by the plutocracy. He has moved to make massive cuts in spending for programs protecting children and the sick (e.g., slashing Medicaid), lifted controls over oil and gas drilling, reduced support for solar and wind energy, and gutted the civil service. Meanwhile he, a convicted felon, is pardoning hundreds of convicted jailed felons who assaulted Capitol Hill police on January 6, 2021, who will now be vengefully on the streets. The terrifying list goes on. 

These actions harm all Americans—that is, they produce indiscriminate injustice against both liberal and conservative low-wage workers, consumers, parents, and children. This strengthens the resistance from the people with a more unified opportunity to stop President Donald Trump. Already the first torrent of federal and state lawsuits are being filed to block Trump’s power grab. Certainly, many state attorneys general are readying lawsuits. However, comfortable with his dominance over Congress and the Supreme Court, Trump’s response is one he has previously used—figuratively mocking so sue me, ha, ha, ha.

The reporters and editors at the Times, Post and the rest of the national and local newspaper, radio, and TV media must rise to higher levels of their own significance and give voice to the aroused resistance against the onrushing Trumpian dictatorial regime.

In anticipation of the Trump rampage, The New York Times published a lead editorial on January 18, 2025, titled: “Are We Sleepwalking Into Autocracy?” The newspaper’s answer is “Yes,” unless: “Defenders of democracy have to stay united, focusing on ensuring that checks and balances remain intact and that crucial democratic watchdog institutions (my emphasis) elude capture.”

Nice words. But the Times and other large newspapers and magazines have largely avoided a critical responsibility since the 60s and 70s. That is, without their covering the actions, litigation, initiatives, and reports of civic institutions and labor unions, little or nothing will flow from their efforts.

The Times editors know full well that without reaching millions of people, influential groups, and lawmakers, the power of civic and labor community is very significantly reduced. This lack of media coverage has been happening for the past 40 years.

Mass media coverage based on newsworthiness and editorializing empower these groups, gets the attention of more supporters, and makes it more difficult for the forces of often secret autocratic government to roll over the citizenry.

The regular reporting about what activists were doing in the 1960s and 1970s made possible the consumer, environmental, labor, and freedom of information laws. Similar efforts now cannot gather momentum without media visibility. Legislative hearings, prosecutions, and regulatory actions cannot get jumpstarted just by the people insistent on a just and democratic society.

Over the years I’ve highlighted this exclusion coupled with suggesting newsworthy stories to hundreds of reporters, editors, and a few publishers. To little avail.

Look at the scene at the Times and The Washington Post. How often do you see op-eds from civic or labor advocates? How often do you read reviews of their books? How often have the groundbreaking studies by Public Citizen, Common Cause, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Veterans for Peace, Union of Concerned Scientists, et al. received coverage? Look at the profitable Washington Post Live podcasts and see how civic and union leaders have been backhanded. How often do the celebrated Times and Post podcasts interview them? The exclusions are overwhelming, even when compared with the access extreme right-wingers receive, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Grover Norquist.

Some may say, well, they can always use social media. It is too cluttered, too fractured, and too impulsive. Whether we like it or not, the major newspapers’ original content feeds the radio and television stations and still has an unchallenged impact on getting attention for agendas underway that may have been floating around on the internet for years and going nowhere.

The same situation exists for local journalism, which could feed local TV and radio were it to stop ignoring incipient efforts from community activism, whistleblowers, or simply good stories called into them by alert citizens.

Official source journalism presently reigns. Our democracy can’t afford redundant and tepid reporting in the coming days. For example, there are about 500 full-time reporters covering Congress. The mostly ditto-head reporting misses all kinds of stories. We started the quarterly 40-page newspaper, Capitol Hill Citizen to expose some of the goings on in Congress that fall under the rubric of ignored unofficial journalism to illustrate this point.

In an era of closing weekly and daily newspapers, one might expect some coverage of this unique effort reporting on Congress, the most important and potentially most powerful institution that can turn around our deteriorating democracy. For nearly three years, none of the major newspapers and news magazines have told their readers about this rising journalistic beacon.

To sum up: The reporters and editors at the Times, Post and the rest of the national and local newspaper, radio, and TV media must rise to higher levels of their own significance and give voice to the aroused resistance against the onrushing Trumpian dictatorial regime imposing fascistic government and more concentrated corporate power.

If they cave, if they cower, as Thomas Jefferson warned, the main bulwark for our Republic crumbles. More citizens then withdraw and give up. That calamity would freeze Congress and the people who are the last ultimate rescuers of our besieged constitutional Republic.

Study

 

A general view of Brooks Range as seen from the Dalton Highway on May 10, 2024 in North Slope Borough, Alaska.

 (Photo by Alb Micki/Getty Images)

For thousands of years, the land areas of the Arctic have served as a "carbon sink," storing potential carbon emissions in the permafrost. But according to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change Tuesday, more than 34% of the Arctic is now a source of carbon to the atmosphere, as permafrost melts and the Arctic becomes greener.

"When emissions from fire were added, the percentage grew to 40%," according to the Woodwell Climate Research Center, which led the international team that conducted the research.

The study, which was first reported on by The Guardian, was released the day after President Donald Trump issued multiple presidential actions influencing the United States' ability to confront the climate crisis, which is primarily caused by fossil fuel emissions, including one directly impacting resource extraction in Alaska, a section of which is within the Arctic Circle.

Sue Natali, one of the researchers who worked on the study published in Nature Climate Change, told NPR in December (in reference to similar research) that the Arctic's warming "is not an issue of what party you support."

"This is something that impacts everyone," she said.

As the permafrost—ground that remains frozen for two or more years—holds less carbon, it releases CO2 into the atmosphere that could "considerably exacerbate climate change," according to the study.

"There is a load of carbon in the Arctic soils. It's close to half of the Earth's soil carbon pool. That's much more than there is in the atmosphere. There's a huge potential reservoir that should ideally stay in the ground," said Anna Virkkala, the lead author of the study, in an interview with The Guardian.

The dire warning was released on the heels of Trump's executive order titled "Unleashing the Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential" that calls for expedited "permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects in Alaska," as well as for the prioritization of "development of Alaska's liquefied natural gas (LNG) potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations within the Pacific region."

The order also rolls back a number of Biden-era restrictions on drilling and extraction in Alaska, which included protecting areas within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas leasing.

"Alaska is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, a trend that is wreaking havoc on communities, ecosystems, fish, wildlife, and ways of life that depend on healthy lands and waters," said Carole Holley, managing attorney for the Alaska Office of the environmental group Earthjustice, in a statement Monday.

"Earthjustice and its clients will not stand idly by while Trump once again forces a harmful industry-driven agenda on our state for political gain and the benefit of a wealthy few," she added.

Trump wants to turn the Alaskan Arctic into the "the world's largest gas station," said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, in a statement Monday. "Make no mistake, Trump's rushed and sloppy actions today are an existential threat to these lands and waters, and the communities and wildlife that depend on them."

Win

An aerial view shows and American flag flying next to a UAW flag outside of the Stellantis Belvidere Assembly Plant on September 19, 2023 in Belvidere, Illinois. 

(Photo: Sigrún NichOlson/Getty Images)

 The automaker Stellantis announced Wednesday that it will build the next generation Dodge Durango at its Detroit Assembly Complex and will reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois—two issues that the United Auto Workers union said the firm had agreed to in a 2023 union contract, but then had tried to walk back.

According to the announcement, the reopening of the Belvidere plant will return some 1,500 UAW-represented employees back to work there, and the plant will also be used to produce a new mid-sized pick up truck.

Democratic lawmakers and the UAW leadership cheered the development. In a letter released Wednesday, UAW president Shawn Fain and UAW Stellantis Department director Kevin Gotinsky wrote that the "victory is a testament to workers standing together."

On X, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) wrote: "The future of Illinois manufacturing depends on the power of our workforce. Proud to see Stellantis honor their historic deal with UAW—bringing 1,500+ jobs back to their Belvidere Assembly Plant. Incredible win for Illinois." The AFL-CIO posted on X, cheering the development, as did Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).

The United Auto Workers represents unionized workers at Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), as well as General Motors and Ford. UAW-represented workers ratified a contract with the three automakers, collectively known as "the Big Three," that yielded worker wage gains in 2023.

According to the union, Stellantis agreed in the 2023 contract to reopen the Belvidere plant and to manufacture the next generation Dodge Durango in Detroit, but the company's old leadership had failed to uphold those commitments.

Former CEO Carlos Tavares, who spearheaded aggressive targets for sales and cost cuts and tangled with both the board and the union, according to Reuters, resigned in December. The letter from Fain and Gotinsky credited the union members with his exit.

"Thank you to the thousands of members and leaders who rallied, marched, filed grievances, and talked to coworkers. Your solidarity forced Carlos Tavares out as CEO of this company, and it's been a game-changer. Since Antonio Filosa has taken over as North American COO at Stellantis, we have been meeting with their team, and the difference is clear," according to the letter from Fain and Gotinsky.

The union had filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the automaker of unlawfully refusing to release information about plans to move Dodge Durango production from a Detroit factory to one outside of the United States, and also filed grievances over delays in reopening the plant in Belvidere, according to The Associated Press. Union members had threatened to strike over the issue of the Belvidere plant.

In October 2024, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives sent two separate letters to Stellantis leadership urging them to keep the company's commitments.

On Wednesday, Stellantis "also committed to a significant investment in Kokomo, announcing plans to build Phase II of the GME-T4 EVO engine beginning in 2026, reversing plans to move work out of this country. There will be no change to existing GME-T4 EVO production at the Dundee Engine Plant. Finally, the company committed to increased component production at the Toledo Machining Plant," according to a press statement from UAW.

Won't Withdraw

Destruction resulting from Israeli attacks is seen as citizens return to their homes in Al-Khiyam town, Nabatieh Governorate of southern Lebanon on January 23, 2025.

 (Photo: R - One/Anadolu via Getty Images)

 The Trump administration on Friday called for a "short, temporary cease-fire extension" between Israel and Lebanon after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country's troops will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon as it agreed to in a 60-day truce that began in late November.

Under the terms of the cease-fire, Israel agreed to withdraw its military from southern Lebanon by January 26, and the Lebanese political and paramilitary group Hezbollah was required to move its forces north of the Litani River and dismantle all military infrastructure in the south.

Netanyahu's office claimed Friday that "the cease-fire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state" and said its "gradual withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States."

Israel asserted that the truce allowed for the withdrawal process to "continue beyond 60 days—a claim the Lebanese government and Hezbollah refuted—and claimed the Lebanese army had allowed Hezbollah to regroup since the cease-fire began.

Hezbollah called Israel's plan to maintain a military presence in southern Lebanon past the deadline a "blatant violation of the agreement."

As Hezbollah warned it would consider the cease-fire null and void if Israel does not withdraw by January 26, White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said an extension of the deadline is "urgently needed."

Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Israel's "unilteral extension... is clearly a violation of the November cease-fire," while Lebanese American journalist Rania Khalek noted that Israel "has been violating the cease-fire the entire time with zero international condemnation."

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The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said that while the cease-fire has significantly reduced casualties in Lebanon following 14 months of fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah, at least 29 civilians have been killed since the truce began.

"While the cease-fire seems intact on paper, civilians in Lebanon continued to be killed and their homes blown up by the Israeli military," said Maureen Philippon, Lebanon country director for the NRC.

Prior to the cease-fire deal in November, the conflict killed at least 3,823 people and injured 15,859, as well as displacing tens of thousands of people in Israel and over 1 million in Lebanon. More than 100,000 people in Lebanon have still been unable to return to their homes.

"We have been displaced from our village for 16 months," a Lebanese citizen named Rakad, who fled the border town of Yarine, told the NRC. "We are all waiting for the 27th to go back, kiss the soil of our land, and breathe the air of our village."

Israel's likely delay in withdrawing troops comes as Lebanese residents have begun returning to their villages in the south, but the Lebanese military on Friday called on civilians not to return to the coastal town of Naquora, which Mayor Abbas Awada told Al Jazeera "has become a disaster zone of a town."

"The bare necessities of life are absent here," said the mayor.

The NRC warned that the "continued presence of Israeli troops in dozens of villages in southern Lebanon severely restricts the freedom of movement and leaves many in a prolonged state of displacement."

Philippon called on regional and international mediators to "ensure this truce evolves into a lasting cease-fire, with a firm commitment to protecting all civilians and civilian infrastructure."

"A renewal of hostilities would be a devastating blow for civilians still struggling to rebuild their lives," said Philippon. "Lebanese villagers are still being warned against returning to their homes and lands, while many others don't even know what happened to the house they left months ago. These people will need all the stability and support they can get to get back on their feet after. Israel must withdraw from these villages so that thousands can go back."