UNFTR Weekly Roundup

Max Notes

Boy, he makes this fucking difficult. Trump is the ultimate car crash, nay, train derailment. As hard as one tries to focus on the road…there’s that fucking train, smashed to bits next to the highway with lights and sirens and carnage all around. He hasn’t even taken the oath and he’s dominating the headlines with the most absurd cabinet picks imaginable. This is going to be brutal.

As you’ll hear in the episode, I’m trying to remain focused on the task at hand. These appointments and the faces that we’ll see in high profile positions are there to distract us. The real work will be carried out in Congress as the GOP House moves model legislation from Heritage and others through committees with all deliberate speed. Regulations will be brushed away like cobwebs by executive order and their omnibus bills will be stuffed with giveaways to big dog corporations.

It’s a good time to set some relationship goals. My central thesis hasn’t changed since the beginning: To create a shared language. Doesn’t have to be fancy, just accessible. How can we get more people on the same page with us? How do we spread the word and create dialogue in our communities? I’m open to suggestions because a window of opportunity will open shortly that we can’t afford to miss. (More on that in a moment.)

News Beat’s Rashed Mian shared with me an X (yech) post from Zohran Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) who is apparently running for NYC mayor next year. Mamdani asked a number of Bronx residents who they voted for and why, and the answers were stunningly clear. Former Democratic voters either abstained, voted for Trump or held their nose for Harris. The issues? Gaza. Economy. Healthcare. Cost of energy, rent and childcare. Working class issues and a distaste for genocide. Pretty straightforward.

And, oh by the way, this is the fucking Boogie Down Bronx we’re talking about, predominantly ethnic minorities who traditionally vote “D” all the way. Makes you wonder who the pollsters were talking to this whole time and what questions they were asking people.

Anyhoo, back to the opportunity thing. These are easy issues to reclaim. The Republicans are going to screw things up so badly for the working class in such a short amount of time that progressives have a chance to do some coalition building in time for the mid-terms. We don’t have to wait four years. Opportunity knocks.

So back to our relationship goals. I see our job at UNFTR as curators and creators of the curriculum. I wish I could write legislation, build a political coalition or party infrastructure, start a think tank…a million things. But there’s only so much time. Also, I have no interest in finding unrelated advertisers to muddy the waters, and therefore we have no budget. Only those within earshot of the rooftop can hear us yelling.

My question to you then is, how do we get the word out even more? What’s your role in this? How can you help amplify our voice so those who are doing the work and organizing can lean on us for messaging and support?

I’ll keep reading, writing, interviewing and yapping in the meantime, but it sure would be nice not to do it in a vacuum. Thoughts?

Other things I’m obsessing over…

When satire goes super meta.
When you’re too annoying even for Trump.
That Searching For Bobby Fischer scene I mentioned.

-Max

Chart of the Week

Total Debt Balance. Non-housing debt is at 18 trillion, Housing debt is at roughly 13 trillion

Source: New York Fed

This is the unsustainable part they’re not talking about.

“Total household debt increased by $147 billion to reach $17.94 trillion, according to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. Aggregate delinquency rates edged up from the previous quarter, with 3.5 percent of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency. Mortgage balances rose by $75 billion from the previous quarter to reach $12.59 trillion at the end of September. While growth in income has outpaced debt, elevated balance levels continue to reveal stress for many households. Credit card balances increased by $24 billion to hit $1.17 trillion, and auto loan balances saw an $18 billion increase and stood at $1.64 trillion. HELOC balances increased by $7 billion to reach $387 billion, representing the tenth consecutive quarterly increase since Q1 2022.”

Headlines

Scores of Important Rules and Reforms Are on the Chopping Block Already

As if the SCOTUS repeal of the Chevron Doctrine wasn’t bad enough—a move that significantly defangs regulatory agencies— the Republican congressional majority has the authority to repeal a slew of regulations and executive orders through use of the CRA.

From the article:

“Passed by a Republican-controlled Congress but signed into law by Democratic president Bill Clinton, the CRA empowers Congress to exert more power over the executive branch. In this case, the law allows lawmakers to use an expedited procedure to repeal recently enacted agency rules — even if the rules took years to develop and were initially ordered by acts of Congress. Usually, legislation reversing government rules requires at least sixty Senate votes to overcome a potential filibuster, but under the CRA, recent rules can be revoked through a simple majority vote of fifty-one senators. Republicans are set to have at least a fifty-two-member Senate majority.”

Jacobin: The GOP Is Set to Roll Back a Raft of Consumer Protections

Ghoulish Private Prison CEOs Are Licking Their Chops

The headlines over the next four years will be dizzying and nauseating. None more than the casual way private prison CEOs talk about the incredible opportunity to imprison more people under a Trump administration.

From the article:

“GEO Group stock surged more than 56% from the close of trading on Tuesday, Election Day, to Friday’s closing bell. Competitor CoreCivic shares skyrocketed 57% over the same period. By contrast, GEO Group stock saw just a 21% rise in the three months preceding Election Day. CoreCivic inched up just 11% over the same period.”

In These Times: Trump’s Planned Immigrant Purge Sends Stagnant Private Prison Stocks Soaring

Delayed Justice

Three former Abu Ghraib detainees were awarded $3 million in compensation and $11 million in punitive damages each for abuse suffered at the hands of private military contractors. This is a big deal because it was awarded in the US court system and puts mercenary forces on notice for their actions abroad. One can only hope Erik Prince goes down this way. Someday. Somehow.

From the article:

“The landmark ruling puts private military contractors on notice that criminal acts outside the United States can have consequences in US courts. Although a long time coming, this lawsuit is both a major victory for these three men and for wartime accountability. But it’s only a start. The hundreds of other survivors who continue to suffer from the physical and psychological harm inflicted on them during their detention at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere during the “global war on terror” deserve justice, too.”

Human Rights Watch: US Jury Awards $42 Million to 3 Iraqis Abused at Abu Ghraib Prison

This Week on the Pod

2024 Election: Eulogy and Clarity.

What is to be done?

Today we offer a grim and final eulogy to the Democratic Party and the 2024 election. The results were foretold by countless DNC missteps and missed opportunities that the Party remains reluctant to admit to. The next stage in the American experiment is going to be dire and regressive, leaving progressives with two options to move forward: Succumb to the forces of authoritarian rule guided by the corporate class, or build a plan to take control of our democracy after they burn it to the ground. We’re exiting the neoliberal phase of our journey and entering what Stanley Deetz termed “corporate colonialism.” In order to build a strong coalition to jumpstart a new progressive movement, it’s imperative that we focus our efforts on decolonizing America.

From the Episode:

Max: I believe they will try to accomplish every line item in the Republican’s 900 page manifesto; they’re far more prepared and aligned than they were in 2016. As a result, we are about to bear witness to one of the more extreme periods of xenophobic punishment this country has ever seen and certainly more than any of us has lived through. Yes, it’s going to be that bad. Sugarcoating it does no one any good. And hopefully now you believe that our historical analysis is clear and accurate.

Read The Essay

Access Episode Resources

Resources

Pod Love

“Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and ordained minister Chris Hedges returns to Bad Fatih for a left-focused deep dive into what happened on election night, what’s next for the left, and the role spirituality may play in creating a sense of community that some currently find in the Joe Rogan media environment.”

Bad Faith Podcast: Uncertainty Principle (w/ Chris Hedges)

Book Love

“Andrej Grubačic is an anarchist from the Balkans. Staughton Lynd is a lifelong pacifist, influenced by Marxism. They meet in dialogue in an effort to bring together the anarchist and Marxist traditions, to discuss the writing of history by those who make it, and to remind us of the idea that ‘my country is the world.’ Encompassing a Left-libertarian perspective and an emphatically activist standpoint, these conversations are meant to be read in the clubs and affinity groups of the new Movement.”

Wobblies and Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism, and Radical History by Andrej Grubačic and Staughton Lynd

**Unf*cker Comment of the Week**

From @BuzzardWhiskey:

Very clear-eyed and succinct. Unfortunately, the hope of a renewed progressive movement taking back the reigns from its corporate colonizers is blind to the reality of a convulsing planet and the population cliff toward which we’re speeding. To put it simply, we’ve run out of time.

Progressive Corner

Progressive Spotlight: Bernie Sanders.

From college activism to the halls of the Senate, Bernie Sanders has tirelessly championed progressive causes and fought for economic justice.

Progressive Organization of the Week: American Forests.

“Since our founding in 1875, we have been the pathfinders for creating healthy forests from coast to coast. For example, we championed the creation of the U.S. Forest Service and have persuaded Congress to provide stable funding for fighting and preventing forest fires. Our deep knowledge of forests and track record of collaboration position us to build a reforestation movement in America.”

Check Out the New UNFTR Directory of Progressive Resources for More