Youth Advocacy
Youth Advocacy
Year 4, Week 14 (264 total reports)
07.05.20245-13.05.2025
REVIEW and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dr. Jerry Goebel
If you’re not yet convinced that this president wants to be King of the United States, then you haven’t been reading the news. This week, his aide, Stephen Miller, suggested repealing the “privilege” of Habeas Corpus. 47 tells Americans to expect less for Christmas while he prepares to accept a new luxury jet from the UAE. Can it be more evident? This man is a tyrant.
Visual Stories!
In order for authoritarians to rule, they first need to cause panic and fear among voters. This song, Rule Them, Scare Them, focuses on how this administration is using fear to force martial law and take powers that do not belong to them.
Top Links of the Week
13.05.2025
The White House Just Casually Floated a Move That Would Be Traitorous to the Very Idea of America
Stephen Miller, White House aide and harbinger of all these unconstitutional acts in the President 45 and 47 Administrations, has declared that “Habeas Corpus”—a right granted to every human being as far back as the Magna Carta, in 1215—is now a privilege instead of a right. A privilege, according to Wright, that this administration has the right to ignore based on their own whims. What he is proposing will make the US a prison state where officials have the right to jail anyone they deem against them. This, folks, is what Project 2025 wants and what this administration longs for. Miller simply is the lightning rod to distract any flak before President 47 criminally acts upon this illegal, immoral, and unethical action. As Charles P. Pierce (author of this Esquire article) puts it: “In 1789, speaking in Congress as part of his Great Flip-flop on the Bill of Rights, James Madison said, ‘In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the cause and nature of the accusation, to be confronted with his accusers and the witnesses against him; to have a compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.’” This is the country that many US citizens voted for, but it is also the country we can take to the streets and defend. Find your nearest protest today and join in. What can you do to make sure your children and grandchildren don’t grow up in a kingdom without rights?
12.05.2025
US popularity collapses worldwide in wake of Trump’s return
This president has done many things during his short, but damaging stint. He has added the US to an international watch list for human rights abuses, he has increased the popularity of China, and he is destroying the US economy. While he is telling Americans to expect less for Christmas, he is receiving a gift luxury jet from the United Arab Emirates. If you voted for this fraudster (or stayed home while others kept their responsibilities), this is what you wanted. For the rest of us, resistance must become a deeply embedded value. As Senator John Lewis would tell us, it’s time to “Get in Good Trouble.”
11.05.2025
Inside MAGA's fight for "Western civilization"
The MAGA fight symbolized in the current presidency can only be truly understood in light of Project 2025 and Conservative Christians’ larger struggle to “save Western Civilization.” This article does an excellent job of examining this larger conspiracy and how it is determining their right-wing policies attacking other cultures, DEI, and women. Alarm bells should go off when you read this article, but it should give you deeper insights into the insidious forces that created this administration and do NOT want to let go of power—ever!
10.05.2025
Trump’s Orwellian Erasure of Women
Sunday, the 11th of May, is Mother’s Day, that is unless you’re living in Donald Trump’s US, then it’s Happy Domesticated Woman’s Day. This article makes it evident that this administration is doing all it can to erase the historic contributions of women. It only wants to feature women in their role as domesticated wives and mothers. This is part of the Orwellian plot to pressure women back to the original roles in the 50s. Happy Mother’s Day, but only if you’re barefoot and pregnant…
09.05.2025
The Republicans’ Budget Makes No Sense
Could anything be more traditional for the GOP than tax cuts for the rich, cutting programs for the poor and middle class, while increasing spending for the military? Once again, the Republican mantra is near-deafening: Medicare and Social Security are “entitlements,” while wealthy tax cuts will “trickle down.” Has this worked before? Never… This is why Democratic administrations continually have to bail out the economy after Republicans have done their economic damage. Post-Reagan, Post-Both Bushes, Post-Trump 45, and it will evidently be the same if there is a Post-Trump 47 (there will not be, according to him and Project 2025). The cronyism and self-enrichment of this administration is unsurpassed in its blatant greed. This budget is the embodiment of that avarice (as are all budgets). If you want to see what the Republicans value, look at their budgets.
08.05.2025
No One Has Ever Defeated Autocracy From the Sidelines
The time for being an observer has passed. This warning from authors, political scientists, and professors— Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way, and Daniel Ziblatt— should alarm all of us—it is a call to immediate action. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt are professors of government at Harvard and the authors of “Tyranny of the Minority” and “How Democracies Die.” Lucan Way is a professor of political science at the University of Toronto and an author, with Mr. Levitsky, of “Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism” and “Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War.” The authors expound on the concept of “Competitive Authoritarianism” and the measurements they would use to evaluate whether or not we live in one. By their metrics, we certainly are. They point out, “The Trump administration’s weaponization of government agencies and flurry of punitive actions against critics has raised the cost of opposition for a wide range of Americans.” Like other autocratic regimes, this administration has attacked the media, universities, private citizens, law firms, and a plethora of entities that it perceives as threats. It has shown disdain for judges that it disagrees with, even trampling on the rights of due process. All of these point to the extent this administration is willing to go to take control and spread fear. In a bold paragraph, these authors call out for civil leaders not to back down and acquiesce as many have been doing… they state; “acts of individual self-preservation have serious collective costs. For one, acquiescence will probably embolden the administration, encouraging it to intensify and broaden its attacks. Autocrats rarely entrench themselves in power through force alone; they are enabled by the accommodation and inaction of those who might have resisted. Appeasement, as Churchill warned, is like feeding a crocodile and hoping to be the last one eaten.” There is much we can still do, but our time is running out. Project 2025 and its mouthpieces (like Stephen Banning) have made great strides to undermine democracy. We can still speak up, speak out, and—as John Lewis would say—“Get in good trouble.” Show up at demonstrations. Don’t be afraid to dig deeper into the opinions of others who have supported or still support this regime. Learn as much as you can and share it wherever you can. This is the beginning of the end for the US Democracy and a continuation of the attack on Global Democracy that has been led by Vladimir Putin.
07.05.2025
‘It’s All Cronyism Going Forward’
Katherine J. Wu does an excellent job of laying bare the amount of cronyism (the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications) occurring in this administration. The account in question involves Matthew J. Memoli, who before his recent appointment as the acting director of the $48 billion federal agency, was a relatively little-known flu researcher running a small lab at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). What are his qualifications? He hates DEI and idolizes RFK, Jr. In essence, he’s a boot-licker of this administration. Now, as the NIH’s principal deputy director, Memoli will soon see his own research thrive as it never has before. As with Defense, Education, and Homeland Security, your background and experience are meaningless—perhaps even detrimental. All that matters is that you honor the Orange God in Mar-a-Lago. As Signalgate and the closing of the Department of Education (DOE) indicate, all that matters is that you blindly do whatever Project 2025 and their President tell you to do.
