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Dear Progressive Reader,

While the summit in Alaska may not have accomplished anything ([link removed]) toward peace in Ukraine, it sure did get that Jeffrey Epstein guy out of the news. The hastily scheduled meeting, taking place on U.S. soil is definitely being perceived ([link removed]) as a win in Moscow, but future meetings will be needed—meetings that include the Ukrainian president—before any possible outcome can be divined. The history of Alaska made it an interesting place to hold these talks. In March 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the purchase ([link removed].) of the land from Russia for $7.2 million (less than two cents per acre), but at the time the deal was perceived by most Americans as a waste
of money, earning the nickname ([link removed]) “Seward’s Folly”—until gold was discovered there in 1896. Donald Trump’s grandfather Frederick Trump made his fortune ([link removed]) in the 1890s by providing “services” for the miners in the Klondike. His first restaurant in the “red light district” of Seattle, known as ([link removed]) “The Poodle Dog,” advertised ([link removed]) “private rooms for ladies.” In a historical irony, the elder Trump would later die in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic, although his grandson never discussed this ([link removed]) during our more recent bought with a pandemic virus.

The summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin took place at Elmendorf Airforce Base (now called “Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson”) which played a role ([link removed]) in the campaign against Japan during World War II and in the U.S. war against Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s. I remember the nickname that friends who served there had for it, but in recent history, the most memorable comment from the area came from then-governor of Alaska Sarah Palin during her 2008 run for Vice President, when she said ([link removed]) of Russia: “They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.” The line was later mocked and amplified on Saturday Night Live by Tina Fey, as Palin, who quipped ([link removed]) “I can see Russia from my house.” Now, at the invitation of Putin
([link removed]) , Trump may get a chance to see Russia from his house in Moscow.

The actual big news this week was probably not the photo-op in Anchorage, but rather Trump’s overreaching move ([link removed]) to federalize the policing of Washington, D.C. The most ominous moment in Trump’s announcement of this power grab was when he called out other cities he was eyeing for possible similar actions. Mentioning, by name, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore, and Oakland (all cities with Democratic mayors and large non-white populations), he went on to threaten ([link removed]) : “This will go further. We’re starting very strongly with D.C. and we’re going to clean it up real quick . . . other cites are hopefully watching this.” The implications are ominous, and Trump’s recent actions ([link removed]) during anti-ICE demonstrations in Los
Angeles, California, and the summer 2020 deployment of federal officers ([link removed]) (even some park police) to Portland, Oregon, during the protests following the murder of George Floyd, may be seen as trial runs for this new strategy.

This week on our website, David Bacon shares the story ([link removed]) of one immigrant worker who chose “self-deportation” after a stay in an ICE detention center; Eleanor Bader looks at ([link removed]) the difficulty of actually getting compensated for “paid sick leave” in many situations; and Esty Dinur interviews Dr. Feroze Sidhwa who says ([link removed]) of conditions in Gaza, “You feel like the world is ending when you’re there.” Plus Brianna Nargiso Newton writes about ([link removed]) the potential impacts of federal cuts to Medicaid on public school students; and Idi Utuk pens an op-ed
([link removed]) explaining how, from her own experience, “Medicaid is not a luxury, it is a lifeline.”

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

Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

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