Youth Advocacy
Youth Advocacy
Year 4, Week 48 (298 total reports)
24.02.2026-03.03.2026
REVIEW and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dr. Jerry Goebel
T.R.U.M.P. is not running for president; he is running from jail. If U.S. citizens saw the unredacted Epstein files, EVEN REPUBLICANS wouldn’t pretend to support him.
Visual Stories!
A cadre of capitalist billionaires controls this president and the Republican Congress. T.R.U.M.P. is allowed to retain power as long as he does what they wish. This song focuses on calling out those people, “Elitists of the Land.” https://youtu.be/V5W-DfebEN4?si=B-gAJmBkOPPxTC2j
Top Links of the Week
03.02.2026
Trump Has Given America a Constitutional Dilemma
This reporting by The Atlantic reporter, Tom Nichols, tells us that congress has two ways to respond to T.R.U.M.P.’s illegal war efforts, first in Venezuela, now in Iran (and next, Nichols doesn’t mention, in Cuba). They have a blunt instrument, to turn off the funding, and a dull instrument, “The War Powers Resolution.” Both have their levels of fallibility, with shutting the funding perhaps being the more irresponsible. Shutting off the funding leaves U.S. Troops undefended in foreign lands, The War Powers Resolution gives four months of funding for this administration to end hostilities and/or explain their rationale and mission to congress and the U.S. Public. The down side is that it signals to foreign powers that they just need to extend the war by that amount of time and then the U.S. will be gone. Now, I’m going to venture into personal commentary aside from the well-researched journalism of Mr. Nichols. We have to remember that T.R.U.M.P. is not seeking to retain his presidency, he is seeking to stay out of jail. If the truth of what has occurred in the Epstein files becomes public, this president would face a backlash that NOT EVEN THE REPUBLICANS could feign support for. This President would face the same accountability as other politicians found in these files in countries which are not controlled by a cadre of billionaires that use the presidency to fund their wealth and power. Our singular hope, at this time, is to demand the complete (unredacted) release of those files. T.R.U.M.P. must be held accountable as well as those that have been protecting him for years, decades.
02.03.2026
Congress gears up for vote on Trump's war powers in Iran — after the battle began
This administration is relying on the laggard response of Congress to impede its aggressive global actions. Congress meets after-the-fact tomorrow to discuss T.R.U.M.P.’s invasion of Iran, but his administration is already discussing another invasion of—well, who is left?—Cuba. This is the M.O. of Project 2025, and this White House moves so fast that the legal system cannot keep up. As this article points out, even if Congress passes a resolution to limit T.R.U.M.P.’s wartime powers, it is highly unlikely they will be able to pass a bill that will thwart the Republican-led House and Senate and be veto-proof when it goes before the President. In other words, Congress is legally impeded from responding. It falls back on voters to overwhelmingly and resoundingly kick out this administration and the Republicans who have kowtowed to everything this President has desired. Nothing short of complete change and impeachment will stop this administration and the Project 2025 madness.
27.02.2026
The High-Stakes Fight Between Hegseth and Anthropic
I’m going to ask you—for the sake of how important this article is—to imagine the degenerate, T.R.U.M.P. Minion, Pete Hegseth. Imagine Donald T.R.U.M.P. and him equipped with the most advanced AI defense program available to mankind. Now, imagine them using it as a weapon of war and a weapon of internal monitoring of citizens. Please forgive me for asking you to do that exercise. This article tells us why that is important. Anthropic, the company that designed Claude AI, wrote (as journalist Idrees Kahloon describes it), “…an 84-page constitution, a ‘soul document,’ that aims ‘to avoid large-scale catastrophes’ such as a “global takeover either by AIs pursuing goals that run contrary to those of humanity, or by a group of humans’ to ‘illegitimately and non-collaboratively seize power.’ When Anthropic began working with this administration, allowing it to use their software, they made two stipulations: “That its technology not be used either for mass surveillance of American citizens or for lethal autonomous-weapons systems.” In short, Hegseth does not want to be hemmed in by these stipulations; he wants free rein over the use of this software to do with as this administration desires. To get his way, he is threatening Anthropic’s leadership with conflicting options: “Either the Trump administration would invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to compel Anthropic to provide the no-guardrails model it desires (a hypothetical creation sometimes referred to as ‘WarClaude’), or the government would sever ties with Anthropic and label it a ‘supply-chain risk.’” Kahloon states that Brendan Steinhauser, a former Republican operative in Texas who now leads the safety-oriented nonprofit Alliance for Secure AI, told me. “This could lead to us losing control of autonomous weapons.” Steinhauser argues that Hegseth should back down rather than provoke a civil-liberties nightmare. This is the nightmare Orwell warned us about, and we need to urge what’s left of Congress to support Anthropic’s constitution. We need to act in defiance of this upcoming nightmare where this administration turns loose AI on those they deem enemies—both external and internal.
26.02.2026
US and Iran begin talks seen as crucial to prevent conflict
https://apple.news/ApGShGJlhQtGBYMFGV5RnPg
Somehow, having Jared Kushner (who walked away with billions from the Middle East during the first T.R.U.M.P. presidency) and Steve Witkoff (T.R.U.M.P.’s long-time real estate friend and golf partner) doesn’t make me feel like the United States is being fairly represented in Iran. What we do know is that a substantial U.S. naval presence lies off the shore of this country, and T.R.U.M.P.’s daily demagoguery becomes increasingly threatening with every hour. In his State of the Union, T.R.U.M.P. praised the military, but never explained to the parents, Congress, or the rest of the United States what in the hell the military was doing back in Middle East waters after being expensively sent to the waters off of Venezuela (estimated costs are about $3 billion so far for the round trip). Is T.R.U.M.P. worried about Iran’s nuclear program? Didn’t he say that was obliterated back on June 25, 2025? Are we there to “re-obliterate” it? Isn’t it up to Congress to decide who we go to war with? Is it not the purview of our elected Congress to at least hear the case for war and decide if it is the best course of action for the United States’ interests? One would think that a President that was recently told by the Supreme Court that he is not unilaterally able to set U.S. economic policy through tariffs would also understand that he cannot set U.S. political policy by involving the country in wars against other nations (or regions). The U.S. does not belong to the T.R.U.M.P. family yet! We have to stand up and defy these actions. Defiance needs to become part and parcel of all of our lexicons. Defy and act. It is our duty to this country, our globe, and our children. As stated during the State of the Swamp rally yesterday, “We defy because we love America.”
25.02.2026
President Trump’s State of the Union Variety Show
I’ll proudly admit I did not watch the State of the Union (SOTU) address yesterday. I didn’t want to give him my rating to this administration, and I already knew what their “Dear Leader” would say. In this article by Tom Nichols of The Atlantic, my low expectations were affirmed. Basically, Nichols tells us that the address was more a circus than a speech, with T.R.U.M.P. being the ringleader. Here’s how Nichols puts it: “But Trump tonight went far beyond what even the most self-indulgent presidents would have envisioned. Beset by scandal, facing multiple defeats in America’s courts, and hitting levels of unpopularity that would make President Richard Nixon nod with empathy, he turned the State of the Union into a vulgar, populist carnival.” I think that Nichols’ closing is especially worthy of merit; here is what he states: “Trump made a great show of honoring a handful of U.S. military heroes. Meanwhile, thousands of young men and women are a world away, waiting for his orders to go to war. The president of the United States might have taken a moment tonight to tell their families why they’re out there and what they’re supposed to do. But why bother? The show must go on.” As for me, I gave my rating to the alternative, “State of the Swamp” show by Democrats in a different location. I know the Dems are trying to win over the “Turning Point” crowd that seems less directed with the death of their demagogue leader, Charlie Kirk, but I found the atmosphere disappointing. It seemed more like a circus carnival to me (but keep in mind I’m admittedly an old fuddy-duddy). In contrast, the speeches and panels were electrifying. The primary message was made during a panel/crowd involvement rally that stated, “We defy because we love America.” I know that is why I’m going to continue to join in defiance of this Republican-supported authoritarian regime.
