Readers Comments: GOP Budget ‘Total Betrayal’ of Working Class; Immigration and Health in Rural America; Story behind removal of Univ of Virginia president - eliminate DEI as fight against anti-Semitism; David Schwartzman-RIP; Announcements; more...
Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, AND cartoons - July 17, 2025, xxxxxx
John Case you posed a question that is intriguing to me. Based my experiences in Teamsters Local 327, and my study of union history, I interpret your question as relevant to our time when unions are beginning to be the next target of the Trump neocon offensive.
I would assess labor's current status as "a marginally legal association", headed into "deportable deplorables", or 'outlaw' status unless they have direct economic power, or just assassination targets if they start shutting things down. Note that when the Labor movement hit the streets in LA, the Marines were called. Zachary Shrewsbury is looking prescient: "check your self-defense and weapons training". I would add build mutual aid and "who-to-call_networks". Learn to take photos of everything. Get some lawyers on a list. Some of them are bound to be motivated now. Lawyers are just a kind of "cultured" weapon.
I'm willing to bet that when the data is collected and analyzed you will see a massive "brain drain" from red states to blue states over the course of this administration. Any left-leaning person in a red state with the ability to pick up and move to a better situation in a blue state will do so. Teaching might be the "canary in the coal mine" but it will happen in other professions as well. Healthcare workers for sure.
Rural health care for everyone is about to decline, as hospitals and clinics depend on Medicaid for a reliable revenue stream. Many are likely to close. The good news is that billionaires can have weddings on the moon.
Excellent article analysis highlights the limits of the categories of "documented and undocumented workers" to understand the many other social and cultural factors that make it possible for some undocumented workers to access healthcare in rural areas. The author shows how language, ethnicity and a culture of solidarity enables individuals and the larger community to survive and resist the power of health providers, government, and the legal system. The personal stories and her overall theoretical perspective provide lessons for all of us.
Although lengthy, this is an important analysis of what has been cut from necessary care, and also pointing to a future health system that's fair to all.
Netanyahu met with Trump and said that Palestinians can decide whether to stay or leave Gaza. Really? The genocidal war criminal is giving people a choice? How nice.
"The plan is, first, to reorganize the entire Middle East to secure access to oil ...The first objective goes back to the Iran–Iraq war..."
Or further back to 1953, to the overthrow of democratically-elected socialist Mossadegh. It has been suggested that the US was afraid that the new government would socialize the oil industry, cutting off US access to "our" oil.
In what appears to be a nostalgic sequel to the 2020 election circus, the Trump administration is once again stirring up anxiety among state and local election officials—this time with sweeping requests for voter rolls and behind-the-scenes attempts to inspect voting machines. The Justice Department has asked at least nine states to hand over voter data, while a former aide to Rep. Lauren Boebert has been cold-calling Colorado clerks, claiming he's working with the White House on an “election integrity” project that suspiciously resembles federal meddling.
Red Channels" was also a vicious shakedown racket, in which a company run by a supermarket operator from Syracuse would "clear" accused performers in exchange for a cash consideration. The American Way indeed.
The brazen and often shameless attacks on NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani from members of his own party reveal how they could be going on the offensive against Trumpism and the naked bigotry of far-right extremists if they were so inclined. Yet the Democratic leadership apparently has no trouble going out of its way to condemn a popular progressive candidate who actually inspires voters.
Many old guard Democrats went so far as to back the repulsive Andrew Cuomo, who was forced to resign the governorship over a report that he harassed eleven female employees. Thankfully, we’ve seen Democrats like the honorable NYC comptroller Brad Lander rise to the occasion. ” On Colbert, Lander said “No mayor is going to be responsible for what happens in the Middle East, but there is something quite remarkable about a Jewish New Yorker and a Muslim New Yorker coming together to say, ‘Here’s how we protect all New Yorkers. Jewish New Yorkers and Muslim New Yorkers are not going to be divided from each other. We build a city where you have affordable housing and good schools and safe neighborhoods for everyone.’” That’s how you do it!
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David Schwartzman passed away at the age of 81 on Tuesday July 1, 2025 in Washington, DC following months of cancer and serious illness.
David was born in Brooklyn, NY on October 31, 1943, a date that, as he liked to remind friends and family, was exactly nine months after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. The implication - that his father Max and mother Miriam conceived David in celebration of the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis - meant that from even from his embryonic beginnings, David was cosmically tied to the victory of socialism over fascism.
He grew up among a thriving community of largely leftist working-class Jews in Brooklyn. He displayed an early passion and curiosity for science and the natural world that his family encouraged. He attended Stuyvesant High School, after which he completed his undegraduate studies at the City College of New York (B.S., Chemistry and Biology, 1964). He then moved to Providence, Rhode Island and obtained his Masters and then his Ph.D at Brown University (M.S., 1966 & Ph.D., 1971, both in Geochemistry). In 1973, David moved to Washington, DC and began teaching at Howard University. After 39 years as a professor, including time as Department head, he retired in 2012 as Professor Emeritus.
David was a long-time member of the DC Statehood Green Party, with which he ran for citywide office three times, and he was a tireless activist for racial and economic justice and for DC statehood. He contributed to countless other organizations and campaigns, from the Fair Budget Coalition to One DC to DC Metro Science for the People. Among his biggest goals, tax increases on the wealthy to fund essential services like childcare and affordable housing, was partially achieved with legislation that the DC City Council passed last year. Indeed, his lifelong devotion to speaking out against racial and economic injustice remained evident until the very end of his life: he provided testimony at DC City Council one final time less than two weeks before he died. David's committed presence at demonstrations and events and his mentorship of younger activists will be sorely missed.
He was an extensively published author, with two books, Life, Temperature, and the Earth and The Earth is Not for Sale (co-authored with his son, Peter), and a remarkable output of articles, book reviews, book chapters and online essays. He was still working on his final book, Solar Communism, at the time of his passing. David's scientific work across multiple fields, including Geochemistry and Climate Science, was recognized around the world - he was an invited speaker or presenter at more than fifty international academic conferences, and he was selected for several prestigious professional affiliations.
David loved daily walks in Rock Creek Park, watching tennis, researching and discussing UFO's and Cryptozoology, (particularly Bigfoot), and global travel. With his wife Joanne, he travelled extensively around Europe, and he especially enjoyed walking the long-distance footpaths of England and spending time at Joanne's cottage in North Devon in England.
David leaves behind his wife Joanne; sons Peter and Sam; Sam's mother, Emilie; his grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and a home in DC where he lived for almost fifty years. His loved ones are planning a memorial and Celebration of his Life on Saturday, August 2 at the Josephine Butler Center in DC.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
These actions taken in the name of countering antisemitism are a direct threat to the core research and education missions of universities, and they are causing material harm to our community. (Photo by Kayla Moore | The Cavalier Daily)
We are Jewish faculty and staff at the University. We join our Jewish colleagues across the country in our alarm at the pernicious use of antisemitism to damage higher education and, most recently, our own institution. As members of the Jewish community living in the wake of the Aug. 11 and 12, 2017 attacks, we know what it feels like to hear men with torches chant “Jews will not replace us.” We have good reason to take antisemitism seriously as a threat to diverse forms of Jewish life here and around the world. But, we stand opposed to using the pretext of protecting Jewish members of the University community as justification for dismantling the very systems designed to include and protect Jewish faculty, students and staff.
If the University’s Board of Visitors is indeed committed to rooting out antisemitism, we — Jewish faculty and staff at the University— implore the Board to support efforts aiming for a diverse, equitable and inclusive university. Dismantling this programming will only make antisemitism worse, as Jews are a minority globally and at the University.
We have diverse politics, areas of expertise and relationships to Israel and Palestine. We write united in extreme concern, as we witness an exploitation of the term antisemitism deployed in an effort to harass, expel, arrest, deport, dox and defame students, faculty, staff and other academic workers across the country as part of a broader assault on higher education. Politically disfavored speech is disingenuously being labeled “antisemitic.” This misrepresentation makes Jews the face of political repression and the face of the suppression of speech — this itself is a form of scapegoating. This makes Jews less safe. We also note that we have heard the word “antisemitism” used more in the last 18 months than we did in the immediate aftermath of August 11 and 12, when President Donald Trump called the neo-Nazis who marched on our campus “very fine people.”
These actions taken in the name of countering antisemitism are a direct threat to the core research and education missions of universities, and they are causing material harm to our community. Meanwhile, the actions of the Trump Administration — including the decimation of the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Justice’s demand that former University President Jim Ryan resign due to his defense of DEI programs — demonstrate that fighting antisemitism is not their true aim.
We feel an imperative to recognize and resist the Trump Administration’s weaponization of antisemitism against our university. As Jews, recognizing the signs of authoritarianism and the risks of letting them go unchallenged is a part of our heritage.
As Jewish University faculty and staff, we know that when powerful institutions scapegoat and harass marginalized communities, it hurts the entire community, and it makes the world less safe for Jews.
Our investment in debate and disagreement stems not only from our individual beliefs and experiences but also from core Jewish values of engaging with disagreements and protecting the strangers in our midst — this is the heart of “B’tselem Elohim,” a core Jewish value that affirms the dignity of every human being. As scholars and teachers, we know that dissent and debate strengthen our intellectual commitments and moral judgments rather than threaten them. We reject any attempt to deny these basic truths.
We write to add our voice to demands being formulated by the Faculty Senate, the University Staff Senate and members of the University faculty, staff and student and alumni bodies, as well as the Charlottesville community:
Transparency on the events leading up to and following Ryan’s resignation
An investigation of possible collusion or irresponsible complicity by the Board of Visitors, either in whole or by individual members, in their discussions with the DOJ
Meaningful community participation in the process of choosing the University’s interim and next president.
The signatories of this letter are listed below and number 40. They can be reached at [email protected].
The opinions expressed in this guest letter are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. The letter represents the views of the signatories alone.
Ila Berman, School of Architecture
Aniko Bodroghkozy, College of Arts and Sciences
Larry Borish, School of Medicine
Josh Bowers, School of Law
Elizabeth Carpenter, U.Va. Hospital
George Cohen, School of Law
Nancy Deutsch, School of Education and Human Development
Edward Egelman, School of Medicine
Howard Epstein, College of Arts and Sciences
MC Forelle, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Thomas Frampton, School of Law
Caren Freeman, International Studies Office
Leora Friedberg, College of Arts and Sciences
Laura Goldblatt, College of Arts and Sciences
Bonnie Gordon, College of Arts and Sciences
Jeffrey Grossman, College of Arts and Sciences
Richard Handler, College of Arts and Sciences
Deborah Hellman, School of Law
Chloe Hawkins, School of Architecture
Caroline Kahlenberg, College of Arts and Sciences
Michelle Kisliuk, College of Arts and Sciences
Thomas Klubock, College of Arts and Sciences
Jonathan Kropko, School of Data Science
Gabrielle Kruks-Wisner, College of Arts and Sciences
Daniel Lefkowitz, College of Arts and Sciences
Manuel Lerdau, College of Arts and Sciences
Melissa Levy, School of Education and Human Development, Sarah Milov, College of Arts and Sciences
Peter Ochs, College of Arts and Sciences
Vanessa Ochs, College of Arts and Sciences
Caroline Rody, College of Arts and Sciences
Jennifer Rubenstein, College of Arts and Sciences
Herman Mark Schwartz, College of Arts and Sciences
John Pepper, College of Arts and Sciences
Cora Schenberg, College of Arts and Sciences
Richard Schragger, School of Law
Sam Shuman, College of Arts and Sciences
Bethany Teachman, College of Arts and Sciences
Bruce Williams, College of Arts and Sciences
Elizabeth Wittner, Center for American English Language and Culture
Outside the Wells Fargo• 535 7th Ave, New York, NY 10018
The U.S. Postal Service is under threat of privatization and Wells Fargo has led the charge with a blueprint to help big corporations cash in on our public Postal Service. It's time for us to speak up and stand up for our public Postal Service. Join us outside Wells Fargo to make our voices heard.
The US Mail Not for Sale is a worker-led campaign sponsored by the American Postal Workers Union. The campaign brings together labor unions, elected officials, member organizations of A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service, community supporters and the public to fight plans to sell the public Postal Service to the highest bidder.
Our goal is to preserve affordable, universal mail service for all – without regard to where they live, age, nationality, income, or race.
From 2018 to 2021, we successfully pushed back the administration’s attempts to sell off our public Postal Service for private profit. Together, we ensured the Postal Service kept delivering through the pandemic. With that momentum, we organized to win monumental postal reform legislation in 2022. But now we face a new threat – an illegal takeover of the USPS by the White House and a threat to sell some or all off to the highest bidder.
War Resisters League Hiroshima-Nagasaki Exhibit
Saturday, August 9, noon to 5 pm
Tompkins Square Park, Temperance Plaza, just east of Avenue A and St. Marks Place
Special ceremony with Pax Christi NYC at 1 pm to commemorate the 80 years since the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing an estimated 250,000 people (mostly civilians)
Stop by anytime between 12 and 5 pm to read the 20-panel photo exhibit!
