Youth Advocacy
Youth Advocacy
Year 4, Week 49 (299 total reports)
10.03.2026-04.03.2026
REVIEW and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dr. Jerry Goebel
War (or whatever you call it) has a way of creating its own fog. This administration already defaults to lies over truth. Expect that to get worse. In the meantime, our role remains to be firm, stand up, and defy.
Visual Stories!
A demented president, a gaggle of Republican sycophants and cabinet members. This country tune reminds us it’s ”A Different Lie; A Different Day.” https://youtu.be/q7w2ofLh09k?si=AW8I59gah0DBkDkc
Top Links of the Week
10.03.2026
What Anthropic’s Clash With the Pentagon Is Really About
Someone bombed a girls’ school in Iran with a U.S.-made Tomahawk missile. The standard press responses throughout the administration have ranged from Trump’s, “no one knows who… there’s lots of Tomahawks in the area…” to Hegseth’s, “It’s under investigation.” Earlier this week, my blog focused on an AI company called “Anthropic,” that was standing up and defying this administration at the risk of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in military contracts. Well, Anthropic held fast and the Administration designated them as a “Supply Side Risk,” a term usually reserved for hostile foreign nations. In turn, Anthropic rightfully sued for breach of contract and that suit went to court today supported by dozens of AI engineers from multiple companies—even some who were with companies that are opponents of Anthropic. Even though these engineers are business opponents, they are not ethical opponents. It seems that many of us do not want the people who targeted a girl’s school in Iran to determine how AI will operate in a war or in domestic surveillance without interaction from humans—preferably democratically elected ones. Thank you to Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei and these engineers for standing up to this administration. Boo to Sam Altman and OpenAI for kowtowing to them. Folks, you know what to do. Since this became an issue, Claud AI (made by Anthropic) has become the No. 1 AI app download in the U.S. Let’s join them as we all “Stand Up and Defy,” this kakistocracy.
09.03.2026
America Isn’t Divided by Race. It’s Divided by Class
William Spivey, of Level, writes to remind us of the history of classism in the United States. His position can be summed up in the following statement: “America built a caste system that protects wealth by weaponizing color.” Personally, I have been in enough jails, prisons, and watched enough trials to give credence to his statement. In almost every trial I’ve seen (juvenile and adult), if you had the money to hire an attorney, you either received a much lighter sentence or no sentence at all. It wouldn’t matter where I was visiting (I’ve had similar experiences working in multiple states), the punitive division wasn’t along the lines of race; it was along the lines of poverty. The poor are always misrepresented in our prison system. They cannot afford justice, and—tragically—minorities are far too often a majority of the impoverished. Spivey points out that this unfairness of representation applies all the way up to the Supreme Court, who recently ruled, “Documented racism isn’t enough to sway their rulings; a plaintiff must prove racism was the intent.” As Spivey reminds us, “Sometimes, it isn’t the intent, just the means. Does that make anything any less racist?” As we watch the Epstein chaos unfold, we are reminded that wealth without boundaries often results in wealth without constraints. Again, I quote Spivey, who reminds us, “That 10% of people who control 72% of the wealth effectively control our government, banks, and law enforcement.” Mid-Terms will tell us if that richest percentage is strong enough to cancel elections in a democracy. We need to do all we can to “Stand Up and Defy,” to show adherents of this billionaire president and his cabinet that there is a cost to their callousness.
06.03.2026
Would Trump Risk an Oil Crisis?
Rogé Karma writes this in-depth article for The Atlantic examining the history of oil prices and (predominantly) Iran. Of course, one cannot write about Middle East oil prices and Iran without also writing about the Strait of Hormuz. Hundreds of ships are now anchored idly in the waters of the Persian Gulf, and insurers will not cover losses on these tankers, so they will not move. About 20% of the world’s oil flows through those straits, and blocking them is causing oil prices to skyrocket. Does T.R.U.M.P. care? About as much as he cares for the lives of soldiers being lost in this war. Perhaps a bit more, because oil prices will impact the U.S. economy, and that will impact mid-terms (if the U.S. has them). Karma points out that the president has said he would use military escorts to protect tankers accessing Hormuz. But that would take much more planning than this administration has shown itself capable of doing so far. In addition to blocking the strait, Iran is targeting the production facilities of oil producers around the Persian Gulf. This includes nations/kingdoms such as the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Iraq. We still do not know the goals of this war, except that the president said on Truth Social this morning that he will accept nothing less than Iran’s unconditional surrender. It is evident that Iran knows that this war is not as supported domestically as Pete Hegseth and Donald T.R.U.M.P. want us to believe. Reuters says that only 25% of the U.S. population supports this war. Is the president even aware of that? Probably not. The evidence points out that this President only surrounds himself with people who affirm his actions. He is surrounded by sycophants that will not let any light shine in. That is why it remains so important that we take action and visibly show the Republicans surrounding him that they are not just disliked, but even loathed. Active defiance is the only way we can restore democracy to the United States. Don’t give in.
05.03.2026
The American King Goes to War
Adam Serwer, of The Atlantic, gives us a constitutional framework for T.R.U.M.P.’s unilateral decision to engage in an illegal war with Iran. He points out, “Who can decide when a country goes to war is one of the crucial distinctions between a republic and a monarchy. The Founders’ decision to give Congress the authority to declare war is not a coincidence. It was one of several deliberate moves to limit the ability of an executive to wage war based on grudge, impulse, or personal profit. The restraints on the executive branch’s ability to wage war exist to ensure that if the nation makes a choice to go to war, it does so only after careful planning and deliberation. That is to say, the opposite of what happened here.” Serwer points out that there is no plan for post-invasion reconstruction, and the explanation for why the U.S. started the war changes on a daily basis (and depending upon whom grants the press an interview). Serwer does not believe there is a plan; however, his partner at The Atlantic, David From (in his weekly podcast), says essentially, the plan is simple: take out the top 40 people and continue to take people out until you find a person that is willing to do what T.R.U.M.P. wants, then let that person build a coalition and rebuild the country. Serwer continues his important history lesson by quoting Akhil Reed Amar, author of “America’s Constitution: A Biography.” Serwer explains, “Dividing the authority to wage war between the executive and the legislature was a deliberate innovation because ‘in England, the king had the power to both declare war and command troops.’ The king was seen as the embodiment of the people, and therefore his decisions regarding war and peace did not require their consent. America is famously founded on the opposite proposition. A monarch can take their nation to war for petty or personal reasons; a president should not be able to.” As of this morning, the Republican-led Congress seems comfortable granting their leader, King-like powers. Democrats (sans John Fetterman, D-PA) are feigning resistance, but only so they can later point out they voted against T.R.U.M.P. What can we do against such odds? Continue to use your voice to demand answers. Why did we invade Iran? What is the plan now and beyond the next 4-5 weeks? Who will rebuild their infrastructure once Israel and the U.S. have destroyed it? Is this a war against nuclear weapons, against terrorism, for regime change? Will this administration follow proper channels prior to any other preeminent invasions (for example, of Cuba)? When will the Justice Department release the unredacted Epstein files?
04.02.2026
The ghost in the machine has changed sides
You might wonder why I’m featuring this article, by Jeff DeGraff, on my blog today, but if you’ve been following the domestic war between Pete Hegseth, this administration, and the leaders of Anthropic, you will certainly understand. In this article, DeGraff discusses the concept of “Spectral Accountability” and British philosopher Gilbert Ryle’s concept of “The Ghost in the Machine.” Briefly (very briefly), Spectral Accountability examines human agency in the AI decision-making process. This administration wants to use AI without human agency, allowing AI to decide on military strikes or how to monitor the public in its own defense. If you’re not comfortable with the way this administration has already been monitoring, arresting, and even shooting U.S. citizens, then you should be uncomfortable—even shocked—at how Hegseth and this administration are clumsily trying to bully Anthropic. We know—we don’t assume—that we are preemptively at war with Iran for two reasons: 1) to shift the focus from the Epstein files, and 2) so T.R.U.M.P. can declare emergency powers and avoid mid-term elections. We know this based on this administration’s behaviors and clues from the Supreme Court instructing T.R.U.M.P. how he could use emergency powers legally. The Roberts court is trying to teach this administration how to end democracy by a sort of political “Whack-a-Mole”; the administration blunders and the Court tells T.R.U.M.P.’s lawyers what they did wrong and how to do it differently next time. What we must also learn from this glimpse into this presidency is that we must be courageous and defiant. Minneapolis taught us that this administration will back down when faced with a community of like-minded, resolute, peaceful protesters. Bovino is gone, Bondi and Noem are digging their own legal graves while lying to Congress, similarly with Rubio and Hegseth, and T.R.U.M.P. will eventually have to face the consequences of his primary role in the Epstein empire. But only if we “Stand Up and Defy!”
