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Dear Progressive Reader,

On January 9, the world commemorated the passing of former President Jimmy Carter with ceremonies, reminiscences, a pause in trading on the Stock Market, and a postal holiday. Amitabh Pal, who has written about Carter several times in The Progressive, noted in a new article ([link removed]) this week, “It is hard to be too harsh on a man who tried in his own way to do the right thing and make the world a better place. Perhaps the smile that captured me when I was a child continues to entice me even now.”

But January 9 was also an important anniversary for us here at The Progressive. On that date, 116 years ago, Robert M. “Fighting Bob” La Follette Sr, together with his wife and partner, feminist activist ([link removed]) Belle Case La Follette, launched ([link removed]) a new publication called La Follette’s Weekly, that would serve as a voice for the progressive movement and lives on today as The Progressive magazine (renamed in December 1929). As historian Nancy Unger writes in her biography, Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer ([link removed]) , “His magazine provided La Follette with an uncensored forum to justify and rationalize, defend and attack, criticize and promote.” Today, that legacy through this magazine continues, as we say in each issue, “[tackling]
the forces distorting our economy, corrupting our democracy, and imperiling our planet, and [championing] peace, civil liberties, equality, and justice.”

Our task is difficult, as La Follette wrote ([link removed]) in 1910, on the magazine’s first birthday: “The path we have chosen is not strewn with roses. No magazine or newspaper that sets out to speak fearlessly and truthfully about the wrongs committed in the name of Big Business and Big Politics finds the way smooth and the profits certain.” Today those threats are magnified by time, technology, and the consolidation of corporate and political power. Writing in the latest issue of Extra!, the newsletter ([link removed]) of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, journalist Ari Paul notes, “As [Donald] Trump returns to power, he’s likely to seek revenge on the press.” Paul goes on to chronicle some of Trump’s recent lawsuits against The New York Times, ABC, 60 Minutes, and Penguin Random House publishers. “Expect more of this,” Paul continues, “except this time Trump will have all the levers of the state on his
side.” These attacks, intended to chill free speech and investigative reporting, will no doubt serve to, as Paul describes, “empower [Trump's] anti-democratic political agenda.” The Progressive, in its historic tradition of speaking truth to power, will continue in spite of these threats to be “a voice for peace and social justice.” I hope you will travel with us on this road as we move forward into our 117th year and beyond!

This week on our website, Medea Benjamin looks at ([link removed]) the future of the movement for Palestinian rights under a new Trump Administration; Matt Minton examines ([link removed]) the work of Palestinian filmmakers chronicling their own story; Melinda Tuhus reports from ([link removed]) New Haven, Connecticut, on how local groups are preparing for Trump’s deportation threats; and Paul Von Blum relates stories of concern ([link removed]) among international students on his campus. Plus Helen Stiver pens an op-ed
([link removed]) on the need for Congress to pass the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act; and Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early opine on ([link removed]) a remaining group of veterans for whom President Joe Biden should issue pardons before he leaves office.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. - The new 2025 Hidden History of the United States calendar is now available. You can order one online and have it mailed to you. Don’t miss a minute of the “hidden history” of 2025. Just go to indiepublishers.shop ([link removed]) , and while you are there, checkout some of our other great offerings as well. There is still time to get your items delivered for the holidays.

P.P.S. – If you like this newsletter, please consider forwarding it to a friend. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to this free weekly email, please share this link: [link removed].

P.P.P.S. – If you don’t already subscribe to The Progressive in print or digital form, please consider doing so today ([link removed]) . Also, if you have a friend or relative who you feel should hear from the many voices for progressive change within our pages, please consider giving a gift subscription ([link removed]) .

P.P.P.P.S. – Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated to support The Progressive! We need you now more than ever. If you have not done so already, please take a moment to support hard-hitting, independent reporting on issues that matter to you. Your donation today will keep us on solid ground and will help us continue to grow in the coming years. You can use the wallet envelope in the current issue of the magazine, or click on the “Donate” button below to join your fellow progressives in sustaining The Progressive as a voice for peace, social justice, and the common good.
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