Published on Portside (https://portside.org/)

Tidbits – Jan.30- Reader Comments: Reader Comments: Stop the Deportations, Stop the Layoffs, Stop the Administrative Coup!; 10 Things You Can Do To Resist; Longtime Dem Voters Fed Up With Party’s Inaction; 16 Million Workers Were Unionized in 2024

https://portside.org/2025-01-30/tidbits-jan30-reader-comments-reader-comments-stop-deportations-stop-layoffs-stop
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How To Stop Trump's Administrative Coup

 


 

There's an app, 5 Calls, that makes it really easy to contact your elected representatives. It provides a script and phone numbers
https://apps.apple.com/.../5-calls-contact.../id1202558609

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Mass Deportations  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Nick Anderson

 

I can't wait for the moment when those who voted for Trump expecting lower grocery prices realize the consequences of mass deportations. Removing workers from the country means the work either won’t get done or employers will have to pay significantly more to fill those roles—leading to higher prices. In some cases, the products might disappear from shelves entirely.

Nick Anderson
January 27, 2025
Pen Strokes

 

Re: Trump-Three Days of Wannabe Presidency or Dictatorship
 

A prominent federal judge on Wednesday ripped President Donald Trump’s mass clemency for Jan. 6 rioters, saying the justification he offered in his proclamation was “flatly wrong” and a “revisionist myth.”

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said Trump’s action could never change the “immutable” record of violence and heroism of law enforcement, which will remain enshrined in court records.

“Dismissal of charges, pardons after convictions, and commutations of sentences will not change the truth of what happened on January 6, 2021,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a six-page order dismissing charges against Dominic Box, whom she had previously convicted of two felony counts for his role in the riot.

“What occurred that day is preserved for the future through thousands of contemporaneous videos, transcripts of trials, jury verdicts, and judicial opinions analyzing and recounting the evidence through a neutral lens,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “Those records are immutable and represent the truth, no matter how the events of January 6 are described by those charged or their allies.”

Jay Schaffner
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

      =====

From this article :

On social media, Heather Thomas wrote: “So when all was said and done, the only country that opened [its] prisons and sent crazy murderous criminals to prey upon innocent American citizens, was us.”

There's much more. This article goes through many other Trump orders and dictates. Read the entire thing. It's excellent!

Judyth Hollub
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Re: Trump’s Neofascism Is Here Now. Here Are 10 Things You Can Do To Resist
 

The forces of Trumpian repression and neofascism would like nothing better than for us to give up. Then they’d win it all. But we cannot allow them to. Protect the vulnerable, organize boycotts and keep fighting. 

Jerry Fishbein
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Re: Organizers Report Longtime ‘Loyal’ Dem Voters Fed Up With Party’s Inaction As Trump 2.0 Takes Hold
 

Leaders of the grassroots group Indivisible said voters are eager to beat the Trump agenda, and called on Democratic leaders to act as a true opposition party.

Michael Henry Starks
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Trump Salute  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Rob Rogers

 

Last week Elon Musk surprised everyone by giving a Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration rally. Then, on Saturday, he spoke to a far-right German political party urging them not to be ashamed of their country's history. The other tech billionaires have all bent the knee as well. This cartoon is also my belated tribute to Ann Telnaes.

Rob Rogers
January 28, 2025
TinyView

 

Re: The Dubious History of America’s Most Famous Monarchist
 

This is the guy. This is the guy to watch. Trump is the stooge, Musk is the enforcer, but this guy is where it's coming from. And 99 percent of the people you'll meet today have no idea who he is. Why is that?

Eleanor Roosevelt
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Re: Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order Will Test the Supreme Court
 

The president’s latest salvo against the Constitution shouldn’t survive the judiciary’s scrutiny. But these days, you never know.

Sancocho Nuyorquino
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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And about the DOJ analyzing Native Americans so they will not be citizens.

Spicer Blount
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

The Constitution and Trump  --  Cartoon by Bill Bramhall

 

Bill Bramhall
January 23, 2025
New York Daily News

 

Re: Defending Society Against MAGA Tyranny
 

Social Self-Defense Has Begun 
    
The resistance to the MAGA juggernaut has already begun at community, city, and state levels.

Patricia Adams
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Elon Musk's X  --  Carton by Adam Zyglis
 

Adam Zyglis
January 23, 2025
The Buffalo News

 

Innocent Gesture  --  Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

 

Mike Luckovich
January 23, 2025
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

Re: Far-Right Leaders Are Forging a Global Alliance
 

This is why we protest.  And here I am again after midnight, awake to a new day after falling from bed… I slept at least five hours before a nightmare.  In the nightmare I was babbling incoherently and unceasingly.

Yesterday at Mission High School in San Francisco where I spoke loudly and frequently, microphone in hand, about abortion rights as health care and the need to tax the wealthy as a first step to solving EVERY problem in the world, including healthcare and education and housing and crippling hunger, I woke up to a Trumpian nightmare… on the floor of my bedroom and totally silenced.

How it is that we have allowed a convicted felon to take power and close down this experiment in participatory government?  In my dream I was mumbling, silenced to the point where I babbled rather than spoke. 

When did this man EVER keep a promise?  I watched the first bankruptcy proceeding when his New Jersey casino filed for bankruptcy protection.  I was filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings for clients who were going to lose their homes… Most if not all of the people who built the Taj Mahal or whatever in New Jersey did NOT get paid for their work.

So after all the words I said yesterday at Mission High School, in my nightmare I was babbling.  The nightmare that is this President and the fact that he joins multiple evildoers throughout the world have left me literally speechless in dreams…

But here I am awake and aware and ready to roar.  Back in my bed… Grateful that I have a comfortable bed and blankets to cover my body.  Fresh red grapes in the refrigerator and lemons and limes still growing in the back yard.  Olives from the front garden in a bucket so I can do whatever needs to be done to make them edible… 

And once again dreaming of the people who can put together a global alliance to fight the monsters in our midst…

May we find the strength TOGETHER.  May we all be blessed with the strength and courage to fight back.

Amen.  Going back to sleep and to meditate and to enter into holy alliances to end child imprisonment.  We spoke yesterday about the fact that a very large number of children are now dying by suicide…

Silvia Brandon
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Re:  Democrats Abandoned the Working Class: Robin D.G. Kelley on Trump’s Win & Need for Class Solidarity
 

We speak with historian Robin D. G. Kelley about the roots of Donald Trump’s election victory and the decline of Democratic support among many of the party’s traditional constituencies.

Maurice Meredith
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Checkmate  --  Cartoon by David Cohen

 

David Cohen
January 23, 2025
David Cohen

 

Re: In 1930s NYC, Proportional Representation Boosted the Left
 

In New York City, a disgraced mayor and a discredited Democratic Party are creating potential openings for socialists. NYC history suggests that the Left might profitably revive proportional representation as a tool to build its electoral strength.

Fred Niles
Post on Facebook

      =====

Proportional representation, ranked choice voting, and cooperative strategies.

Sonia Cobbins
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

ICE Boot Over Schools Churches & Hospitals  --  Cartoon by Monte Wolverton

 

Monte Wolverton
January 24, 2025
Monte Wolverton Facebook page

 

Law and Executive Order  --  Cartoon by Walt Handelsman

 

Walt Handelsman
January 22, 2025
Baton Rouge The Advocate

 

16 Million Workers Were Unionized in 2024  -  Millions More Want to Join Unions But Couldn’t  (Economic Policy Institute)
 

Report • By Margaret Poydock, Celine McNicholas, Jennifer Sherer, and Heidi Shierholz • January 28, 2025

https://www.epi.org/publication/millions-of-workers-millions-of-workers-want-to-join-unions-but-couldnt/

Interest in union organizing is surging in the United States. Since 2021, petitions for union elections at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have more than doubled. And public support for unions is near 60-year highs—at 70%. This growing momentum around union organizing—aided by the Biden administration’s support for worker organizing and appointment of strong worker advocates in critical agencies like NLRB—signals a powerful push by workers to improve wages, working conditions, and workplace rights. But despite this groundswell of support, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveal a puzzling trend: Unionization rates continue to decline.

Research shows that 60 million workers would join a union if they could. The disconnect between the growing interest in unionization and declining unionization rates can be explained by the fact that there are powerful forces blocking the will of workers: aggressive opposition from employers combined with labor law that is so weak that it doesn’t truly protect workers’ right to organize. Decades of attacks on unions both on the federal and state levels have made it hard for workers to form and maintain unions. Further, weaknesses in federal labor law have made it possible for employers to oppose unions, contributing to this decline.

In this report, we examine the 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on unionization and highlight recent organizing campaigns. We analyze the obstacles workers face when forming unions and reaching a first contract. Finally, we offer policy recommendations to promote unionization and generate an economy that works for all.

Interest in union organizing is surging in the United States. Since 2021, petitions for union elections at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have more than doubled. And public support for unions is near 60-year highs—at 70%. This growing momentum around union organizing—aided by the Biden administration’s support for worker organizing and appointment of strong worker advocates in critical agencies like NLRB—signals a powerful push by workers to improve wages, working conditions, and workplace rights. But despite this groundswell of support, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveal a puzzling trend: Unionization rates continue to decline.

Research shows that 60 million workers would join a union if they could. The disconnect between the growing interest in unionization and declining unionization rates can be explained by the fact that there are powerful forces blocking the will of workers: aggressive opposition from employers combined with labor law that is so weak that it doesn’t truly protect workers’ right to organize. Decades of attacks on unions both on the federal and state levels have made it hard for workers to form and maintain unions. Further, weaknesses in federal labor law have made it possible for employers to oppose unions, contributing to this decline.

In this report, we examine the 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on unionization and highlight recent organizing campaigns. We analyze the obstacles workers face when forming unions and reaching a first contract. Finally, we offer policy recommendations to promote unionization and generate an economy that works for all.

Defining terms: Union membership versus union representation

If a workplace is unionized, all workers in the bargaining unit get the benefits of being represented by the union, even if they are not union members. Thus, the share of workers represented by a union is somewhat higher than the share of workers who are members of a union.

In 2024, the share of workers represented by a union was 11.1%, while the share of workers who were union members was 9.9%. Both measures are useful, but because all workers in a bargaining unit get the benefit of being represented by the union, union representation is the more relevant statistic when considering the impact of unionization on labor market outcomes. Therefore, we focus on union representation, rather than union membership, in our analyses.

In this report, the term “unionization rate” is shorthand for the union representation rate.

Sections

  1. Analysis of 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics data
  2. More than 60 million workers wanted a union but couldn’t get one
  3. Worker and public support for unions are on the rise
  4. Attacks on unions have created a long-term decline
  5. Policy solutions at the federal and state levels

Read full report here

 

Statement from Departing NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo

 

January 28, 2025
NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued the following statement on her last day at the National Labor Relations Board:

“It’s been the greatest honor and privilege to be General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board and to work alongside such talented and dedicated federal employees. We have accomplished so much through our robust education, protection, and enforcement efforts, including empowering workers to collectively seek improved wages, benefits and working conditions from their employers. There’s no putting that genie back in the bottle. So, if the Agency does not fully effectuate its Congressional mandate in the future as we did during my tenure, I expect that workers with assistance from their advocates will take matters into their own hands in order to get well-deserved dignity and respect in the workplace, as well as a fair share of the significant value they add to their employer’s operations.”   

On July 22, 2021, Jennifer A. Abruzzo began serving a four-year term as General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board.  Starting in 1995, Ms. Abruzzo had spent her career at the NLRB in various positions including as Field Attorney, Supervisory Field Attorney, Deputy Regional Attorney, Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, and Acting General Counsel. Immediately prior to her appointment as General Counsel, Ms. Abruzzo served as Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives for the Communications Workers of America.

Deputy General Counsel Jessica Rutter is now Acting General Counsel.

Established in 1935, the National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that protects employees from unfair labor practices and protects the right of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve wages, benefits and working conditions. The NLRB conducts hundreds of workplace elections and investigates thousands of unfair labor practice charges each year.

 

Enero Zapatista Bay Area Closing Ceremony  --  Bay Area  --  February 1  (EastSide Arts Alliance & Cultural Center)

 

Join Enero Zapatista in the closing gathering and ceremony Saturday, February 1, 2025, 5:00pm to 10:00 pm at the Eastside Cultural Center in Oakland (2277 International Blvd)

• Zapatista children’s circle 5:00-6:00 pm in the Bandung Bookstore
• Art & Autonomy Caracol in Circle 6:30-7:30 pm in the Eastside auditorium
• Program 7:30-10pm in the cultural center auditorium

Vendors, Music, Art , Tamales + chingos de community

PERFORMERS:
OSSAMA KAMEL
PYM BAND
CAMELLIA BOUTROS
PAISA BAE

$5 -$10 SUGGESTED DONATION

 

How the Left Can Win - Views from Across Europe  --  Livestreaam  --  February 7  (Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung)

 

Li Andersson (Katarina Koch, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons) and Jeremy Corbyn (Garry Knight, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons) - Collage: RLS

The Finnish Left Party achieved 17.3 percent in the European elections, while left-wing parties also obtained good results in Sweden and France, with over 10.9 percent.

We will speak with Li Andersson, who led her party for eight years and was its leading candidate for the European elections and Jeremy Corbyn, independent British Member of Parliament and former leader of the Labour Party about their experiences, strategies, and the conditions that make left-wing victories possible.

Moderator: Johanna Bussemer

The event will be held in English and broadcast in a Livestream.

Event location

Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
Saal / Livestream
Straße der Pariser Kommune 8A
10243 Berlin

February 7, 19:30 - 21:30 Hr (Berlin time)

Themes: Analysis of Capitalism, Political Parties / Election Analyses, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe

How_the_Left_can_win-02-07-25.pdf

 

SNCC and Grassroots Organizing: Building a More Perfect Union  --  NEH Discussion Series, Tougaloo College  --  February 7 and 8  (SNCC Legacy Project)

 

Be sure to register for the next SNCC Legacy Project grassroots organizing event, this one both in-person and virtual, hosted by Tougaloo College. Featuring SNCC veterans, Jennifer Lawson and Charles McLaurin, and humanities scholars, Emilye Crosby and Robert Greene. There will be one hybrid event and two in-person events at Tougaloo on February 7 and 8. Register now!

Please join us at Tougaloo College (Jackson, MS) on February 7 & 8, 2025 (or via livestream on February 7) for the SNCC and Grassroots Organizing: Building A More Perfect Union events. This will be an exciting conversation between those who actually made Movement history, together with those who are grounded in that history. This event is part of a series generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Friday morning's event will be livestreamed.

SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) veterans Jennifer Lawson and Charles McLaurin will join Movement scholars Robert Greene and Emilye Crosby for a two-day community gathering focused on SNCC’s grassroots community organizing and its relevance to ongoing efforts to build a more just society. Founded by students at HBCUs, SNCC was the only national youth-led organization in the southern movement of the 1960’s.

Join us Friday (in person and livestream) and Saturday (in person only) to learn about SNCC and the Organizing Tradition work and Black Power in the Movement.

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Friday, February 7 (in person and livestream)

The Organizing Tradition in the Movement Roundtable Discussion

10:00 a.m. (CT), Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center, Tougaloo College

The Organizing Tradition is a long-term approach to social change that emphasizes the development of skills and leadership ability in so-called ordinary people. Ella Baker, more than any other person, introduced SNCC to the organizing tradition and influenced the group to embrace that approach. Unlike the master narrative which encourages people to wait for and defer to a big leader like Dr. King or the president, the organizing tradition highlights the importance of everyone acting—individually and collectively. It encourages broad leadership and skill development, expanding engagement, and is central to the work of creating a more perfect union. Over the years, former SNCC organizers continued to fight for political and economic justice, most recently through the ongoing, intergenerational work of the SNCC Legacy Project. Can’t make it in person? Join the livestream!

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Saturday, February 8 (in person only)

Black Power Roundtable Discussion

10:00 a.m. (CT), Holmes Hall, Tougaloo College

Join SNCC veterans Charles McLaurin and Jennifer Lawson, and Movement historians Robert Greene and Emilye Crosby to learn more about SNCC’s work on Black Power. Can’t make it in person? Join the livestream!

Saturday, February 8 (in person only)

Organizing Tradition Workshop

1:00 p.m. (CT), Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center, Tougaloo College

Join SNCC veterans Charles McLaurin and Jennifer Lawson, and Movement historians Robert Greene and Emilye Crosby to learn more about SNCC’s work on the organizing tradition then and now for this interactive Learning Toolkit workshop. Participants will dig into exciting SNCC documents and audiovisual materials, learn about the organizing tradition in SNCC’s movement building, and collectively explore how those lessons are relevant today. This workshop is geared toward educators, civic organizations, community or activist groups, librarians, youth – or anyone who wants to learn more about this exciting Movement history.

Visit the SNCC Legacy Project website for details and to learn more: https://sncclegacyproject.org/sncc-grassroots-organizing/

Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the SNCC and Grassroots Organizing discussion series is a collaborative project of the Movement History Initiative (a collaboration among the SNCC Legacy Project, Duke University Libraries, the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke, and Civil Rights Movement scholars), six Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and six civil rights and African American history museums.

Contact Email

mnt31@duke.edu

https://sncclegacyproject.org/sncc-grassroots-organizing/

Can’t make it in person? Join the livestream on Friday evening!

Also, save the date for our virtual community conversation on Voting Rights on Monday, February 24 at 7pm (ET)!

 

Lessons from the US Labor Party for Working-Class Politics Today   -  Virtual Presentation  --  February 20  (DSA National Labor Commission, Socialist Register, Rank & File Project, UAW Region 9A, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America)

 

Looking forward to this event on the US Labor Party, co-sponsored by the Socialist Register, DSA Labor, The Rank and File Project, UAW Region 9A, and the United Electrical Workers.

RSVP at the link in the comments to hear a great line-up of veteran Labor Party organizers discuss their experiences and potential lessons for working-class politics today.

While the limits of the Labor Party experience may be evident, it is equally obvious that failing to develop a working-class alternative to the Democratic Party will only result in workers continuing to drift into the arms of an ascendant right-wing MAGA politics.

What lessons can be learned from this earlier effort to organize an independent working-class party? How can this project inform contemporary efforts to move forward with building towards a serious alternative to the two corporate parties, grounded in the working class?

Thursday, February 20 · 8 - 10pm EST

Following the Democratic Party's 2024 loss — made possible by the Democrats' longer-term abandonment of their working-class base in favor of “moderate” wealthy suburbanites and Wall Street financiers — it’s worth returning to the experience of the US Labor Party in the 1990s.

The limits of that effort are well know; most obviously, there's no Labor Party today. But it is equally clear that failing to develop a working-class alternative to the Democratic Party will only result in workers continuing to drift into the arms of an ascendent right-wing MAGA politics. A new approach to labor left politics is desperately needed.

That's what this event tries to begin to think through by asking: What lessons can be learned from an earlier effort to organize an independent labor party? What did it take to launch the US Labor Party in 1996? How can that effort inform current work to build a serious, working-class alternative to the two corporate parties?

Panelists

Sponsors (list in formation)

Thursday, February 20, 8-10 p.m. ET / 7-9 CT / 5-7 PT

Zoom link will be sent to you after registration.

Source URL: https://portside.org/2025-01-30/tidbits-jan30-reader-comments-reader-comments-stop-deportations-stop-layoffs-stop