Youth Advocacy: Year 5, Week 11

Briefing Period: 10.06.2026 - 16.06.2026

By Dr. Jerry Goebel

📣 REVIEW and ANNOUNCEMENTS

Weekly Review: Standing at the Brink

Whether it is a presidency teetering on malignant narcissism, a rogue legislative agenda stripping healthcare from the dying, or a nation tolerating modern-day concentration camps on its soil—this week's news brings us straight to the brink...

🖼️ Visual Stories

The Power of Creative Resistance

Music bypasses traditional cognitive walls and speaks direct truth to institutional power. In this section, I translate our weekly macro-political and economic critiques into original visual stories and lyrical compositions developed via Canva and Suno.

✊ Featured Category: Music for the Movement

While we bear witness to the trauma of our current systems, we must also feed the spirit that allows us to fight back. This weekend, I launched a brand-new song category on our storefront specifically dedicated to fueling this resistance.

We are highlighting our featured single, "Resistance, Resilience," sitting right at the top of the new section. It serves as a powerful musical reminder that our survival depends on community, collective strength, and refusing to break under institutional pressure. You can explore the full collection, watch, stream, and share right now on our main page.

📺 Archive Spotlight: "The Trauma and the Terror"

If you missed last week's briefing, you can still catch our deep-dive single, "The Trauma and the Terror." This track serves as a chilling, visceral reflection on the everyday human costs of systemic state cruelty—from the modern concentration camps in Florida to the calculated stripping of healthcare from our most vulnerable citizens.

📺 Watch on YouTube: "The Trauma and the Terror" Music Video

Join my Official YouTube Channel to explore my fully categorized playlists, splitting my catalog into Social Justice & Reform and Relationships & Personal Growth.

Top Links of the Week

16.06.2026

Source: The Atlantic
The Kennedy Center Is a Metaphor for De-Trumpification
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It feels like a win, but David Graham of The Atlantic reminds us that there will be few easy fixes after this administration is finally gone. Of course, he is talking about the removal of Trump’s name from all things related to the Kennedy Center. As Graham succinctly points out, “You can remove Trump’s name, but not the damage he’s done.” Here’s a broader view that Graham reminds us about: “Even a hypothetical future president who has respect for the rule of law and the separation of powers will have a difficult time fixing what is broken... More important, that president will need to fix what happens inside the White House... That damage is less visible and less easily reversed.” The journalist goes on to talk about the long-term damage done to the military by cosplay imposter, Pete Hegseth. It feels satisfying to watch Trump’s name removed, but it is a short and shallow satisfaction. There is long and tedious work ahead, and the United States will remain in a precarious position while we sort out the extent of the damage. Removing this president will be far easier than repairing the damage his administration and his supporters have done. In many ways, it has only revealed a dark and terrible hole in the soul of the United States. A fearful and widespread racism that never healed after the Civil War.

15.06.2026

Source: Defender Network
Slavery 2.0 could be the next U.S. status quo
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This is a very intriguing examination of civil rights by Pastor and Adjunct Professor, Aswad Walker. He looks beyond the facade of the human warehouses being built by this administration around the globe and invites us to ask if this is the introduction to Slavery 2.0 by a multi-billionaire class in conjunction with the government they own. Of prime importance to his query is this statement: “When chattel slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment, it deliberately left a loophole wide open: ‘except as a punishment for crime.’ The South immediately capitalized on this via the Black Codes and convict leasing, effectively re-enslaving Black people overnight by criminalizing everyday existence.” Given what we’ve seen of this administration and the billionaire class that has been at the heart of such travesties as revealed by the Epstein files, we know that this small group of extremely wealthy people see the rest of the world as their chattel... Are we ready for Slavery 2.0 or are we ready to start dismantling this rising system by taxing the rich and wealthy? The Musks, Zuckerberg, and Bezos of the world do not have our interests at heart... Walker is just asking us to peel the layers back on this evil and see where it inevitably leads. At the end of Pastor Walker’s column, he presents us with four action steps we could take to immediately fight back against this new ICE State. They are well worth examination and action.

11.06.2026

Source: The Guardian
US inflation jumped to 4.2% in May, the third consecutive increase since start of Iran war
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If you had the sense that Donald T.R.U.M.P. doesn’t know what he is doing, you would be right. If you had a sense Donald doesn’t care what he was doing, you would also be right. According to this president, U.S. fuel prices “aren’t very high.” This is from a man who has probably not filled his tank with gas in decades... No one really knows what is going on with the war in Iran, certainly not the President, his staff, or the Republicans who seem all too willing to rubber-stamp anything this “Clueless Clown from Mar-a-Lago” says... If you, unlike these fat cats, actually fill your own tank and buy your own groceries, then you do care. You care where this economy is going. You care that people are being tortured in U.S.-funded concentration camps, you care that people are dying overseas in a war that has “no purpose,” under an administration that “doesn’t care.” You care…

10.06.2026

Source: Yahoo Health
You May Be Experiencing This 1 Type Of Trauma Because Of Trump
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In this article by Jillian Wilson on Yahoo Health, we are invited to examine a type of trauma rapidly growing and being seen across the United States. Psychologists are calling it, “Betrayal Trauma.” In her article, Wilson quotes Sandra Maurer, a licensed professional clinical counselor in Minnesota, who says, "Betrayal trauma is a term that psychologists came up with for a particular kind of trauma when you have a reasonable expectation that you can trust someone, so a partner or a doctor or a person in a position of authority." Some also refer to this as “Institutional Betrayal” which results in a sense of feeling both betrayed and unsafe because of “chaos and unaccountability.” The reporter describes how this growing wave of trauma not only affects those who did not vote for this administration, but also a growing number of people who did vote for T.R.U.M.P. and now feel betrayed as he reveals the unimpeded depth of his malignant narcissism. Fortunately, Wilson goes on to discuss potential paths to healing for the many who are feeling betrayed. The development of a supportive community is always a top option for supporting mental health. And, of course, seeking counsel is always an intelligent choice... One of the fundamental pieces of advice that Psychologist Maurer suggests is, "I would say it is important to not gaslight yourself, so connecting with other people, and also reminding yourself, validating for yourself that it makes sense to feel this distressed." For those unfamiliar with the term, gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse where a person manipulates someone into questioning their own sanity, memory, or perception of reality. In reference to this article, gaslighting yourself would imply doubting that you are experiencing verifiable trauma because of the betrayal of this administration. Betrayal is real and this administration is betraying their oath of office and commitment to democracy.