Youth Advocacy
Youth Advocacy
Year 5, Week 07 (309 total reports)
13.05.2026-19.05.2026
REVIEW and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dr. Jerry Goebel
Whether it is a president teetering on insanity, an economy teetering on bankruptcy, a nation teetering on all-out racism, or a country teetering on fascism; this week has brought us to the brink.
Visual Stories!
The Robert’s court has revealed the Chrisitan white supremacist leanings of this administration for everyone to see. This decision does more than undermine the Voting Rights Act, it cripples fair elections for decades to come and draws battle lines that must be fought if the United States is going to be a representative government. This Techno-Rock ballad looks at the this court and says, “This Is What Evil Looks Like.”
Top Links of the Week
19.05.2026
A Different Kind of Fading President
Jonathon Lemire of The Atlantic is spot on in this article examining why T.R.U.M.P. seems to get a pass regarding his obvious senility while Joe Biden was constantly held to the fire (one could even argue that Biden was forced to resign because of his age and that Kamala Harris lost the election because of his delay in retiring). In this article, Lemire reminds us that Donald was the oldest president in history when he took the oath of office the second time. Many would also claim that he was unfit for president then (due to being a malignant narcissist, a convicted rapist, and a pedophile). Recently though, as Lemire points out, things have gone steeply downhill—both mentally and physically for the soon-to-be octogenarian. The signs of Trump’s physical frailty are constantly before us—despite attempts at make-up (not just for his hair and tan) but for the growing bruises on his hands and swelling edema on his “cankles” (meaning calves and ankles). This president cannot focus on a single topic in a sentence nor walk a straight line on a tarmac. He is the butt of jokes internationally and was literally a laughing stock in China where Xi Jinping verbally reprimanded the president while Donald sat with his made-up hands trembling in front of him. His sickly repeated attempts at playing “hardball” with Iran reveal him as the whipping boy of the Iranian leadership and would make him a laughingstock if he had not undermined the world economy through his demented war of choice. Is there anyone—Republican or Democrat—who does not wake each morning wondering if this will FINALLY be the day that the world is freed from this madman’s delusions? We can wish all we want to, but Donald is obviously a symptom of a problem of white Christian nationalism in the United States. When he is gone, it will be a relief, but it will not be a remedy—especially with recent Republican gerrymandering taking hold in the South. This president was not elected by a majority; indeed, no Republican president since Ronald “Supply Side” Reagan has been elected by a majority. They’ve been elected by fixed elections, and the racist Roberts’ court has made that situation worse. The only thing we can do is overwhelm them. Overwhelm them on the streets, overwhelm them with our voices, overwhelm them in the elections. We have to show up, folks! It is not just our civic duty, but our generational duty. Showing up at this election is as important as when service members showed up on Omaha Beach to fight Hitler (only not as dangerous). This is win-or-lose democracy.
18.05.2026
Supreme Court voting rights ruling fuels a new push to defend Black representation
This morning’s article is by Bill Barrow and Matt Brown of AP. They review responses immediately forming across the United States to respond to the racist decision by Chief Justice Roberts of the Supreme Court of Donald T.R.U.M.P. They quote Jared Evans of the Louisiana-based Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, motivating us to a “Second Reconstruction period.” The article discusses the potential of the new “John Lewis Voting Rights Act,” to replace the previous act the Supreme Court struck down. Barrow and Brown also warn us of future attempts by the Republicans to take the electoral fight to the states. Indeed, a major battle is being fought there now as Democrats across the nation are trying to encourage states to abandon the Electoral College and move to a system that is One Person / One Vote. Indeed, the fight is not just about the House and the Senate, but about Governors as well. Inevitably, one person/one vote is the only real long-term solution. Then, using those votes to restructure the racist Supreme Court that this president, the GOP, and Project 2025 have created. To do this, your vote is needed. It may feel useless, indeed, that is the desire of this administration. To undermine trust in every social institution possible. This pressure will only increase as Republicans realize how tenuous their Christian right, white-supremacist hold on the United States has become. They’re desperate, and desperate people will become bolder in their attempts to undermine your confidence—and your vote. Don’t be fooled! Remain resilient.
15.05.2026
What Happens if the U.S. Defaults?
David Frum begins his commentary (podcast) discussing how the new T.R.U.M.P. phone debacle adds another layer of distrust in U.S. institutions, this time in business and entrepreneurialism. For those unaware of this new level of graft, it is worth delving into, but this is not the central point of my review today. Later in his podcast, Frum interviews Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, to examine the solvency of the United States and to post a warning about the potential default on U.S. debt. When Congress passed its One Big Beautiful Bill, it added trillions in debt to the economy. This is not unusual; the tricky part comes from “who will pay” and at what point foreign investors see the U.S. as insolvent because it is not servicing its debt. Part of this, of course, is making sure the country pays on the servicing (interest) of that debt, and both sides of Congress have become pretty innovative (irresponsible) at helping their clientele dodge the tax bullet. Here’s how Frum puts it: “All right, so the current crop of politicians—Republicans, as you would expect; Democrats too—have decided that what the situation calls for is more tax relief—that is the big idea stalking both parties. But not the general kind of tax relief that Ronald Reagan proposed or George W. Bush or even Paul Ryan and Donald Trump in 2017, but highly targeted, highly specific forms of relief for very specific groups. And that’s obviously not very popular, but politically, that’s super efficient because it doesn’t cost so much fiscally to give a remit or a respite to a particular, targeted group of people. They really appreciate it. But you end up with a tax code that makes decreasing sense, and it makes it harder and harder to pay the bills.” Frum goes on to say that this affects trust in the U.S. as a smaller group of people (low to middle-income wage earners) truly pay taxes while the wealthy pay less or even make money servicing the debt. It also doesn’t help when you have a president that says, "I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody.” At least he is finally being honest! Let’s do a reboot of this government and demand that the next one establish a fair tax system as a condition of receiving the honor of your vote.
14.05.2026
Psst: What No One Will Tell You About the National Debt (But I Will)
I have a great deal of respect for Robert Reich, the writer of this commentary. He has been at the heights of political power and understands the inner workings of the global economy better than most of the economic gurus I also read. So, when he warns us about the nation’s debt, I take special interest. There are a lot of people warning us about the growing national debt. David Frum of The Atlantic is similarly concerned about the U.S. defaulting on its ever-burgeoning financial responsibilities. The only ones who seem not to worry are the people in this current administration and the GOP Congress that blindly supports them (One Big Irresponsible Bill). Reich’s major point in this article is that the structure of who owns the debt has dramatically shifted under this administration (and under Republicans in general). The richest of the rich used to pay taxes that would go towards servicing the debt. Now, they own the debt and receive income from loaning money to the country. In other words, the more that the U.S. borrows, the more these small groups of people earn, and the more that they earn, the less taxes that they pay. It is like giving themselves a free loan every time this country borrows. This is an economic feedback loop that benefits only the wealthiest of the wealthy, as many, like Elon Musk (who is in China today “representing” the United States with Donald T.R.U.M.P.), whose personal fortunes are greater than the national domestic income of many nations. These people (who literally own the T.R.U.M.P. administration) have a substantial personal interest in growing national debt. Reich (and others) are raising alarm bells because there are no internal monitors on this feeding frenzy of spiraling debt—especially now that this administration has installed its own patsy at the Federal Reserve. Will the Reserve remain its role as an independent agency or become another example of previous guardrails gone MAGA like the DOJ, the FBI, and SCOTUS? Like Reich, we should be alarmed. Alarmed enough to make our voices heard and get out an undeniable majority at the polls in November.
13.05.2026
What's a bored Donald Trump to do? Apparently, target Cuba.
Heather Digby Parton of Salon informs us that the President is bored of Iran and wants to move on to cause other chaos in the world. Not that the problem is resolved—if anything, it is much worse than it ever was prior to this administration’s involvement. But “solving” problems has never been a priority of this President; “causing” them is his bailiwick. In fact, he considers it one of his primary “negotiating strategies,” to be unpredictable. T.R.U.M.P. is not the first world “leader” to use that strategy; Nixon did it, as did Kruschev; they wanted to look crazy enough that others would not cross them. But, as The Atlantic writer, Vivian Salama states, T.R.U.M.P. has moved from “unpredictable to unreliable.” World leaders know they cannot rely on this President to keep his word and are choosing to move on without him. U.S. voters need to recognize the same thing. This President is unreliable; he is not sane; if he had marbles to lose, he’s lost the very last one. And, he has no cabinet members or GOP leaders to act as guardrails. Indeed, according to Parton, in-house discussions are that Trump would install Marco Rubio as the pseudo-president of Cuba after the regime change, which will occur, according to the White House, merely because they anchor an “aircraft carrier off their coast.” This President is the two-year-old that gets attention breaking things in the toy aisle and just when someone responsible moves in to clean up the mess, he’s moved on to smash another shiny object. This will continue as long as this madman is allowed by the GOP to run rampant in his current role. We need to overwhelmingly show the Republicans that we won’t take it anymore. Gerrymandering, wars, bullying, the attack on our own population; all of it must stop. And it will only stop if we show up and overwhelm them; we need to “Minneapolis” them, we need to “Hungary” them.
