Tidbits – Apr.10 – Reader Comments: Trump Tariffs Tanked Economy; How Dems Can Win by Organizing From the County Up; Library Assn Sues To Stop Trump Cuts; New Resource – Black Federal Workers by State; Webinar-Labor and the Crisis of Democracy;

Reader Comments: Trump Tariffs Tanked Economy; How Dems Can Win by Organizing From the County Up; Library Assn Sues To Stop Trump Cuts; New Resource - Black Federal Workers by State; Webinar-Labor and the Crisis Of Democracy; Cartoons and more....

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Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, AND cartoons - Apr. 10, 2025,Portside

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Announcements:

 

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Re: Trump’s Tariffs Aren’t Going To Work How He Thinks They Will
 

I agree with something Trump said, we have never seen anything like this...

Edward Barros
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Does anything?

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)

Bryan Mullins
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

You handed your future to a conman. Now you're holding the receipt  --  Meme

 

 

The Economy  --  Cartoon by Clay Bennett

 

Clay Bennett
April 4, 2025
Chattanooga Times Free Press

 

Re: How Democrats Can Win by Organizing From the County Up
 

I wish people would stop calling these good people 'Democrats' they are the progressive caucus. We should realize the Democrat establishment is just a corporate and foreign interest committee, the opposite of what these good people stand for.

Jennifer Nouri
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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It's a GOP success that so many people refer to the "Democrat Party", which is a pejorative formerly reserved for conventions so Republicans can avoid the word "democratic".

Ethan Young
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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according to a meeting in E.Greenwich, RI, people are actually so angry eat the DNC, they wonder what the big shots will do to stifle a mass movement. With good reason.

Paul Buhle
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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DNC walking into walls. They seem to be afraid of their own shadow, working class anti-trumpers. But look again -- they are the shadow, and the base is the actual political force at this moment.

Ethan Young
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Re: All Out for April 5th – Hands Off!

(posting on Tidbits – Apr.3 – Reader Comments)
 

Seattle area protest endorsed by Washington State Labor Council and many other groups

Doug Barnes
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Re: Working People Respond to Executive Order Attacking Federal Worker Collective Bargaining Rights

(posting on Portside Labor)
 

Labor solidarity across the board would suggest we need a general strike for jobs, unions and democracy here across the entire USA.

Tom Gogan

 

Re: Unions Need To Mount a Militant Response to Trump’s Assault

(posting on Portside Labor)
 

Too many unions have responded to Donald Trump’s historic attacks on federal workers with little more than words. To beat back his anti-union assault, organized labor needs to break with decades of timidity.

Sam Boskey
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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You all better stand up cause you are next.

Mark D. Anderson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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They should have done this against every president over the last 30 years, but especially Trump.

Brandon Mouser
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Trump Takes A Well Deserved Long Weekend Off  --  Meme

 

EntitledPeopleSuk
April 4, 2025
r/PoliticalHumor

 

Re: American Library Association Sues To Stop Trump Cuts

(posting on Portside Labor)
 

I suggest that all of us drop in to our local library, and have chat with the head librarian. Ask if they have been threatened. Listen. Ask if you can help. Give them your card. Tell them to call as needed. We are with them. It's part of the long march through the institutions.

Carl Davidson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
 

 

Re: Evidence of ‘Execution-Style’ Killings of Palestinian Aid Workers by Israeli Forces, Doctor Says
 

Forensic consultant says multiple bullets were used from short range in attack that has caused global outrage. Israel has expanded its aerial and ground attacks in Gaza since ending the ceasefire last month. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Wednesday it intends to “divide up” the territory.

A Guardian investigation published in February found that more than 1,000 medical staff had been killed across Gaza from the beginning of the conflict on 7 October 2023 – triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 Israelis – until the beginning of a temporary ceasefire in January. Many hospitals have been reduced to ruins in attacks that a UN Human Rights Council commission concluded amounted to war crimes.

Benjamin Amos Gerber
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Re: American Universities Are Complicit in Their Own Destruction
 

Recounts university repressive measures against Gaza protesters including calling on police to arrest over 3000 students almost all peacefully demonstrating.

David West
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Does this correspond with the Republican hearings and grilling of the presidents of the 3 Ivy League Universities ( most of which were women) where they had to answer for antisemitic Speech on campus? The Republicans have these bastions of higher learning on the run. It terrible what they are doing to our institutions and yes, free speech and thought is under attack. Most of those women were either let go or resigned, which was another goal.

Theresa Gallagher
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Please clarify, that in most cases you are talking admin and not faculty

Bryan Mullins
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Trump's Tariffs Impact On the World Economy  --  Cartoon by Peter Kuper

 

Peter Kuper
April 3, 2025

 

Medicine  --  Cartoon and Commentary by Rob Rogers

 

While Americans' 401(k)s disappeared before their very eyes and the stock market continued to crumble, Trump defended his toxic tariffs by saying, "sometimes you have to take medicine to fix things." The problem is, we weren't sick. Now we are.

Rob Rogers
April 8, 2025
TinyView

 

Re: Ongoing Influence of Slavery and Jim Crow in the South

(posting on Portside Labor)
 

The ongoing influence of slavery and Jim Crow means high poverty rates and low economic mobility in the South

Mike Budd
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Following Orders  --  Meme

 

 

Ode to DOGE

By Joseph G. Ramsey
 

To end “Waste, Fraud, Abuse,” was what he vowed,
Even if the cuts were not allowed:
Things protected by the Constitution,
Things enshrined in Congress, Institutions.
He’d Fund a gorgeous Tax Cut with the Trillions
Trimmed from sick, poor, loser, fat civilians.
“Waste” was rampant. “Fraud,” “Abuse” systemic.
Just count the money spent on the pandemic…
Or count the years the elderly were living--
All those people “taking” and not “giving”:
Surely tens of billions could be saved
If retirees could have a few years…shaved.
Trimming Medicare, Social Security
Privatized to restore Market purity,
And gutting Medicaid—this budget third
Would have lifelong effects: they’d thin the herd.
To have so many poor folks live so long:
How did THAT help USA stand strong?
He’d let the winners win—just bet on crypto!—
And let the losers die.

But here he’d tiptoe…
For though the truth was he admired the Fuhrer
And how he helped His nation’s blood run purer,
He knew This nation wasn’t quite yet ready
For open talk of euthanasia. Heady
Stuff this was. Brave heads, cold hearts were needed;
Razor eyes to see the “waste” defeated.
Just cut the programs on which folks depend
And slowly, surely, loser lives would end
Sooner than they would have otherwise—
A year or three or maybe five. There lies
A trillion-dollar savings to be saved
helping greedy grandmas to the grave.
With AI tech his crack team was equipped
To decimate the needy—coupons clipped.
The waste: it wasn’t paper. It was people.
Imagine all the savings, once the feeble

Could be purged from all those fraudster programs!
A cleaner way to kill them: fewer pogroms.
50 million over 65!
Imagine if just ten percent were not alive!
How wise! How cutting edge! to have such guts
To kill poor old folks off to fund tax cuts.
He’d cultivate great fields of golf-course green
In ways America had never seen.
Imagine all the private lawns a’growing
Fertilized, without an old bone showing.

 

You’ve got SPAM!  --  Cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz

 


 

Lalo Alcaraz
April 8, 2025
https://www.pocho.com

 

Vermont Maple Syrup  --  Cartoon by Jeff Danziger

 

Jeff Danziger
April 5, 2025
Rutland Herald (VT)

 

Black Federal Workers by State

 

By Valerie Wilson
April 9, 2025
Economic Policy Institute

Fig.A - Click here to bring up image, then click on state

Among the most harmful actions taken by the Trump Administration have been DOGE’s illegal and arbitrary cuts to the federal workforce. Though much of the attention has been on D.C.-based federal workers, over 90% of federal workers are employed outside the nation’s capital. The ripple effects from large-scale job cuts are expected to show up in higher unemployment and the disruption of critical public services and government functions throughout the nation.

For Black Americans, public sector employment has historically provided a pathway to better, more equitable job opportunities for skilled and often highly educated Black workers compared with available private-sector jobs. This fact sheet gives a snapshot of Black federal workers in each state (excluding USPS employees), offering context for the potential impact planned agency cuts—particularly at the Department of Veterans Affairs (up to 80,900 cut jobs), Social Security Administration (about 7,000), and civilian employees at the Department of Defense (up to 39,000)—could have on Black workers across the country.

Figure A presents the Black worker share of each state’s federal employees (excluding USPS) along with the share who are veterans and their average years of employment in the federal government. While 18.7% of all federal workers are Black, they account for at least one-fifth of the state’s federal workforce in 15 states and the District of Columbia.1 The Black worker share of state federal employment is highest in Georgia (43.8%), Louisiana (37.6%), Mississippi (34.8%), and Tennessee (34.6%).

Black federal workers average 10 or more years of service in 36 states and the District of Columbia. Black workers in D.C. (16.4 years) and Maryland (15.3) have the longest average tenure in federal employment, reflecting a commitment to non-political career service across various agency headquarters. Nationally, Black federal workers average 12.3 years of service.

Read more here

Economic Policy Institute
1225 Eye St. NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-775-8810 • epi@epi.org

 

Turkey's New Protest Movement  --  Online Event  --  April 16  (MERIP - Middle East Research and Information Project)

 

I have been closely watching some surprising developments in Turkey over the past month. Beginning with the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the popular mayor of Istanbul and presumptive presidential candidate from the main opposition to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a new wave of protests erupted across the country. Primarily driven by university students, and working closely in coordination with Turkey’s opposition parties, this movement seems to depart from norm. In response, Erdoğan has stepped up repression, imprisoning hundreds of protestors, journalists, and civil society figures in an attempt to quell the protests. 

Today, I’m pleased to announce that we’ll be hosting an online event to discuss these developments with our colleagues at George Washington University’s Institute for Middle East Studies. I’ll be moderating the event and joined by three researchers and analysts who are paying close attention to how the ground is shifting – Selim Koru (The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey), Fulya Pınar (Middlebury College) and Gönül Tol (The Middle East Institute). I hope you’ll be able to join us for this discussion, and please feel free to send questions along to me in advance!
 

In Solidarity,

James Ryan
Executive Director

Middle East Research and Information Project
30 Ardmore Ave.
PO Box 390
Ardmore, PA 19003

 

Gender Gap: Capitalism and the Anti-feminist Agenda  --  Kick-off Session of the Webinar Series: The Ideological Gender Gap  --  Webinar  --  April 22  (transform! Europe)

 

 

transform! europe is launching the Gender Gap Webinar Series The Ideological Gender Gap: Feminist Breakthroughs and Anti-feminist Reaction, starting with the kick-off session: Gender Gap – Capitalism and the Anti-feminist Agenda.

This series will explore how ideological shifts shape feminist and anti-feminist movements worldwide and their impact on politics and society.

Kick-off Session:
Gender Gap – Capitalism and the Anti-feminist Agenda

Tuesday, 22 April 2025 | 11:00–13:00 CET

Click >>here to register

  • Marga Ferré, President of transform! Europe
  • Gabriele Michalitsch,  Political Scientist & Economist
  • Barbara Steiner, Director of transform! Europe (MODERATION)

We introduce the series with a general discussion that puts into perspective the political gender gap we are observing in many elections and mobilisations across Europe and the world. Women increasingly lean towards the radical left, while men shift towards the extreme right.

What exactly is this ideological and political gender gap we are referring to? What have been the recent feminist breakthroughs, and what kind of backlash has the far right organised against women’s victories?

Finally, how can we reflect on the politicisation of women and men based on their economic and political position in capitalism?

Join us for this thought-provoking discussion with Marga Ferré and Gabriele Michalitsch!

Click >>here to register

Further Reading: Gender, Capitalism & the Anti-Feminist Backlash

The ideological gender gap is deeply intertwined with economic structures, social hierarchies, and political power struggles. From the growing backlash against feminist movements to the precarious conditions of care work, capitalism continues to shape gender relations in profound ways.

To delve deeper into the intersection of feminism, capitalism, and the ongoing fight for gender justice, explore the following analyses from transform! europe:

These pieces offer critical insights into the global gender divide, the commodification of care, and the resurgence of anti-feminist narratives in neoliberal societies.

 

About transform! Europe

 

 

transform! europe is a network of 38 European organisations from 22 countries, active in the field of political education and critical scientific analysis, and is the recognised political foundation corresponding to the Party of the European Left (EL).

This cooperative project of independent non-profit organisations, institutes, foundations, and individuals intends to use its work in contributing to peaceful relations among peoples and a transformation of the present world.

Overcoming war, the dominance of capital over labour, social injustice, patriarchy, imperial rule, and militarism, as well as racism, working towards the establishment of an association in which the uninhibited development of each and every person is the condition for the uninhibited development of all shall represent the highest goals of this undertaking. The equality of all people and their solidarity represent the most important values transform! is based on.

Neoliberalism and the policies implemented in its name, particularly austerity, as stipulated by the treaties of Maastricht and Lisbon, the Stability and Growth Pact, etc., have exacerbated the impact of the global financial crisis on European societies, particularly in the Southern and Eastern European EU member states. Moreover, the intransigent dogmatism with which austerity has been imposed has brought the European Union to a political crisis. The view of large parts of society towards Europe today has become much more sceptical than it had been in previous decades.

This represents a political as well as a cultural and intellectual challenge for the radical left which transform! aims to face. Experience has demonstrated that the noble and progressive idea of European unification cannot be asserted in the face of the ubiquitous and growing nationalisms and the far right by uncritically defending the status-quo of the existing European Union.

transform! is committed to critical research on the European Union. It aims at providing spaces for free and unprejudiced discussion of democratic alternatives to pave the way towards a democratically and peacefully united Europe. It unequivocally combats all forms of nationalist, fundamentalist, racist and misogynist ideologies which have arisen with the growth of far right parties and have managed to penetrate to the centre of our societies.

transform! is a pan-European network. Although it receives funds from the European Parliament and the overwhelming majorities of its member and observing organisations are located in the European Union the scope of its activity and political interest reaches beyond it, especially to neighbouring regions of Europe.

The members of the transform! network coordinate their scientific and educational work, cooperatively organise theoretical and educational events and discussions regarding key issues for the democratic left in Europe and the world, and work together on publications and educational materials aimed at an intercontinental dialogue of the left and its scientific and educational institutions.

transform! represents an open network. Any organisation can become a member who shares transform!’s goals and commitments and is able and willing to be actively involved in promoting the ideals and values agreed on by all members.

The Board is elected by the Members’ Assembly for a period of two years.

 

LABOR AND THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY: Working-Class Politics in an Age of Authoritarianism  --  New York City & Zoom  --  May 8 and 9  (CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies)

 

Thursday, May 8 & Friday May 9

Register to join us in-person or virtually:

slucuny.swoogo.com/8May2025

Free and open to all. Breakfast, lunch, and refreshments will be served.

The full conference program is now available here.

Featuring:

THURSDAY MORNING KEYNOTE ADDRESS:

THURSDAY EVENING PUBLIC FORUM:

  • Robin D.G. Kelley - Distinguished Professor and Chair in U.S. History, University of California, Los Angeles
  • SungHee Oh - International Affairs Director, Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union 

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY ACADEMIC AND PRACTITIONER PANELS:

Including panels on the following topics:

  • Organizing in Repressive Regimes
  • Strikes
  • Organizing in the U.S. / Navigating U.S. political context
  • Learning from the 1930s
  • Studying the Right Wing, Comparative Perspectives
  • Intersectional Approaches to Organizing

REGISTER for info, updates, and reminders