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TIDBITS – JUNE 11 – READER COMMENTS: ELECTIONS-CALIFORNIA, MAINE;
NBA FINALS; TRUMP NBC INTERVIEW; VOTING RIGHTS ACT; TRUE TOTAL COST US
MILITARY BUDGET; ECOSOCIALIST BOOKSHELF; CORPORATIONS BEHIND DATA
CENTERS; CARTOONS; AND MORE…  
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June 11, 2026
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_ Reader Comments: Elections-California, Maine; NBA Finals; Trump NBC
Interview; Israel’s Curriculum for ‘Influencing Public
Consciousness’; Voting Rights Act; True Total Cost US Military
Budget; Ecosocialist Bookshelf; Corporations Behind Data Centers _

Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, AND cartoons -
June 11, 2026, xxxxxx

 

* THE INTERVIEW  --  CARTOON BY SCOTT ROGO
* SHE INTERRUPTED ME  --  CARTOON BY BARRY BLITT
* RE: THE US HOUSE IS TRYING TO STOP DONALD TRUMP’S WAR ON IRAN
 (DEBORAH R KINGERY)
* RE: THE STRANGE EMPTINESS OF THE CROWDED GOVERNOR’S RACE IN
CALIFORNIA  (NORA LAPIN)
* FLAWED CANDIDATE  --  CARTOON BY MICHAEL DE ADDER
* RE: WEMBY IS GOING DOWN!  (AMY MCCARTHY)
* MSG SEAT MAP  --  CARTOON BY JASON CHATFIELD AND SCOTT DOOLEY
* RE: UPDATE FROM VIETNAM  (PAUL BUHLE; TOM EDMINSTER)
* RE: REVEALED: ISRAEL’S CURRICULUM FOR ‘INFLUENCING PUBLIC
CONSCIOUSNESS’  (SUZANNA MILLER)
* ASLEEP AT THE WHITE HOUSE OR SHEEP SLEEP AND TRILLIONAIRE TRASH
 --  CARTOON BY STEVE SACK
* RE: BUCKLE UP FOR PHIL COHEN’S ‘MAXIMUM LEVERAGE’  (TIM
SHEARD)
* RE: PROTEIN POWDER SHORTAGE THREATENS AMERICA’S BIGGEST FOOD
CRAZE  (ELEANOR ROOSEVELT)
* ROBERTS GUTS THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT  --  CARTOON AND COMMENTARY
BY JEN SORENSEN

 

RESOURCES:

* THE TRUE TOTAL U.S. MILITARY BUDGET  (POGO - PROJECT ON
GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT)

 

* ECOSOCIALIST BOOKSHELF, JUNE 2026  (CLIMATE & CAPITALISM)

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

FIGHTING BACK: THE CORPORATIONS BEHIND DATA CENTERS - VIRTUAL EVENT -
JUNE 24  (THIRD ACT).THE INTERVIEW  --  CARTOON BY SCOTT ROGO

Scott RogoJune 7, 2026Scott Rogo Facebook page
[[link removed]] 

 

SHE INTERRUPTED ME  --  CARTOON BY BARRY BLITT 

Barry BlittJune 7, 2026Barry Blitt Facebook page
[[link removed]] 

 

RE: THE US HOUSE IS TRYING TO STOP DONALD TRUMP’S WAR ON IRAN 

No they haven’t been doing a damn thing but bend over

Deborah R KingeryPosted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
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RE: THE STRANGE EMPTINESS OF THE CROWDED GOVERNOR’S RACE IN
CALIFORNIA 

I thought the New Yorker article about the California governor's race
was surprisingly off-target for the usually more astute magazine.
 The race certainly wasn't empty because Tom Steyer, the billionaire
Democratic contender, is actually a very progressive candidate who is
strongly supported by the left despite the unavoidable anxiety about
supporting a billionaire.

Nora Lapin

 

FLAWED CANDIDATE  --  CARTOON BY MICHAEL DE ADDER 

Michael de AdderJune 8, 2026https://deadder.substack.com/
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RE: WEMBY IS GOING DOWN! 

Thanks for a good read!

Amy McCarthyPosted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
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MSG SEAT MAP  --  CARTOON BY JASON CHATFIELD AND SCOTT DOOLEY 

Jason Chatfield and Scott DooleyJune 8, 2026The New Yorker
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RE: UPDATE FROM VIETNAM 

we remember Juliet so well from the Marxist school and congratulate
her on her good continuing work.

Paul BuhlePosted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
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     =====

Good article/reporting/ overview...

Tom EdminsterPosted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
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RE: REVEALED: ISRAEL’S CURRICULUM FOR ‘INFLUENCING PUBLIC
CONSCIOUSNESS’ 

so much controlled and planned manipulation  leaves no place for
truth

Suzanna MillerPosted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
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ASLEEP AT THE WHITE HOUSE OR SHEEP SLEEP AND TRILLIONAIRE TRASH  --
 CARTOON AND COMMENTARY BY STEVE SACK 

Trump keeps nodding off during cabinet meetings, and maybe it’s not
such a mystery after all. There’s only so much time a person can
spend listening to a room full of hand-picked loyalists baa-baa-baaing
their agreement before the eyelids get heavy. When every idea is
brilliant, every decision is historic, and every sentence ends with
enthusiastic applause, the line between a cabinet meeting and counting
sheep starts to disappear.

The worst part about it is he always eventually wakes up.

Steve SackJune 11, 2026The Art of Sack
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RE: BUCKLE UP FOR PHIL COHEN’S ‘MAXIMUM LEVERAGE’ 

Great xxxxxx review of new Labor memoir: Buckle Up For Phil
Cohen’s ‘Maximum Leverage’
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It’s just after 9 p.m. in the fall of 1992 and union organizer Phil
Cohen is inside a dingy cement-block building in Cornelius, North
Carolina wondering if he’s quick enough to pull the .38 special in
his shoulder holster before the two irate Klansmen in front of him
start shooting.

The pulse-pounding vignette is just one of many harrowing encounters
Cohen recounts in Maximum Leverage: From the Streets to the Picket
line—the legendary labor organizer’s ultra-gritty new memoir from
Hard Ball Press.

“As the engagement spiraled downhill, I noted Buddy’s hand
twitching within a thigh pocket of his hunting trousers,” Cohen
writes. “Lloyd and James both had one hand resting on their hip
beneath an open jacket. I was carrying a .38 special in a shoulder
holster, taking in the room to see whose hand would move first. Time
slowed and began unfolding in freeze frames.”

Cohen spent 30 years in the field as Special Projects Coordinator for
Workers United/SEIU specializing in, but not limited to, beating back
union-busters in the Deep South. Back in ’92 the union had
dispatched Cohen to break the KKK’s stranglehold on Local 2500 in
Cornelius, North Carolina and do an internal rebuild.

He pulled it off.

Tim SheardPosting on Facebook

 

RE: PROTEIN POWDER SHORTAGE THREATENS AMERICA’S BIGGEST FOOD CRAZE

(posting on xxxxxx Culture
[[link removed]]) 

Almost seven decades on, and I've never once participated in a food
craze.

Eleanor RooseveltPosted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
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ROBERTS GUTS THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT  --  CARTOON AND COMMENTARY BY
JEN SORENSEN 

This cartoon is, of course, addressing the recent Supreme Court ruling
that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act. The recent ruling allows
gerrymandering that will severely curtail the voting power of entire
communities. States are already scrambling to redistrict before the
midterms. John Roberts, who has a long history of hostility to the
VRA, made the statement that “The way to stop discrimination on the
basis of race is to stop discriminating based on race” in 2007
during a case about school integration plans. In 2023, when the
Roberts court basically ended affirmative action, Justice Kentaji
Jackson Brown wrote in her dissent
[[link removed]], “With
let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, the majority pulls the rip cord and
announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat. But deeming race
irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.” 

Jen SorensenMay 20, 2026https://jensorensen.com/
[[link removed]] 

_Jen Sorensen is a cartoonist for Daily Kos, The Nation, In These
Times, Politico and other publications throughout the US. She received
the 2023 Berryman Award for Editorial Cartooning from the National
Press Foundation, and is a recipient of the 2014 Herblock Prize and a
2013 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. She is also a Pulitzer
Finalist._

Join the Sorensen Subscription Service
[[link removed]]!Or subscribe via Patreon
[[link removed]]

 

THE TRUE TOTAL U.S. MILITARY BUDGET  (POGO - PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT
OVERSIGHT) 

There are several ways to calculate the true cost of our military. All
add up to at least $1.5 trillion — and that's before the proposed
half-trillion-dollar increase. 

June 9, 2026By David Vine, John Bellamy Foster, and Gisela
CernadasProject on Government
Oversighthttps://www.pogo.org/reports/the-true-total-u-s-military-budget

 

* "annual [U.S.] military spending is at a minimum between $1.5
trillion and $1.8 trillion, and between $1.7 trillion and $2.3
trillion when counting interest payments on U.S. government debt
attributable to military spending."
* "there are hundreds of billions of dollars in military spending
outside the DOD’s annual budget appropriated by Congress."

Foreword
[[link removed]]By
Greg Williams

Director, Center for Defense Information at the Project On Government
Oversight
[[link removed]] 

For many years, the Center for Defense Information (CDI) at the
Project On Government Oversight has offered analyses of how much the
United States spends on our military, including amounts that fall
outside the budget of the Department of Defense. We do so in order to
support CDI’s goal of building a far more effective national
security policy at a significantly lower cost — a task that would
prove impossible without a comprehensive understanding of what our
military costs today.

To illustrate the variety of ways one can quantify military spending
in the United States, this report compares the methodologies used by a
diverse set of experts and introduces a novel methodology for
calculating this spending. While the total cost produced by each
method differs from the others, they each support one important
conclusion: Military spending in the United States has long been
radically underestimated.

It’s reasonable to wonder why a group of budget analysts with,
collectively, decades of experience could not agree on a single way to
define the United States’ military budget. As this report explains,
however, each methodology brings its own benefits and comparing them
helps us recognize the right questions to ask when adding up our
nation’s military spending.

Read further here
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Download report here - PDF
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PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT (POGO) [[link removed]] 1100
13TH STREET NW, SUITE 800WASHINGTON, DC xxxxxx

PHONE: (202) 347-1122

EMAIL FOR GENERAL INQUIRIES: [email protected]

 

ECOSOCIALIST BOOKSHELF, JUNE 2026  (CLIMATE & CAPITALISM) 

 
Image credit:  Parents.com
_Ecosocialist Bookshelf is hosted by IAN ANGUS. Books described here
may be reviewed at length in future. Inclusion of a book does not
imply endorsement, or that C&C agrees with everything (or even
anything!) it says. __Climate & Capitalism_
[[link removed]]_ has received review copies of
some of these books, but we do not receive any payment for reviews or
for reader purchases._

Todd Dufresne_THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO FIGHT_
[[link removed]]_CLIMATE
REVOLUTION FOR BEGINNERS_
[[link removed]]McGill-Queen’s
University PressCapitalism, the essential driver of carbon emissions,
is reaching its inevitably brutal endgame. We need to prepare for
climate revolution. A manifesto against well-mannered nihilism that
dares to imagine a new world built on empathy, justice, and reason.

Jeremy Lent_ECO-CIVILIZATION_
[[link removed]]_MAKING
A WORLD THAT WORKS FOR ALL_
[[link removed]]Penguin
Random HouseHumanity faces an imminent choice: continue with a system
built on extraction and endless growth or remake civilization. Lent
offers his view of a regenerated Earth that he believes is not only
desirable, but entirely feasible.

Daniel Simberloff_ECOLOGICAL EXPLOSIONS_
[[link removed]]_THE
HISTORY OF BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS AND INVASION SCIENCE_
[[link removed]]University
of Chicago PressAn invasive species expert examines the development of
invasion science, from early research to the field’s future. He
explores asks how ecosystems might adapt to a rapidly globalizing
world and ever-increasing numbers of introduced species—including
the joro spider, lionfish, spotted lanternfly, common reed, and Asian
carp.

Gerald Kutney_CLIMATE DENIAL IN AMERICAN POLITICS_
[[link removed]]_#CLIMATEBRAWL_
[[link removed]]RoutledgeClimate
denial in the White House and Congress, and the ‘climate brawls’
on social media. A comprehensive survey and analysis of the sordid
history of the propaganda that has promoted climate denial and
corrupted politics in America.

Jamie Woodward_A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE EARTH_
[[link removed]]Yale
University PressFrom the formation of the Solar System, the evolution
of our atmosphere and oceans, and the first signs of life, through to
dinosaurs, mammals, and humans. A fast-paced, informative and lively
account of how our planet came to be.

William D. Hartung and Ben Freeman_THE TRILLION DOLLAR WAR MACHINE_
[[link removed]]_HOW
RUNAWAY MILITARY SPENDING DRIVES AMERICA INTO FOREIGN WARS AND
BANKRUPTS US AT HOME_
[[link removed]]Bold
Type BooksA hard-hitting investigation into how the Pentagon’s
runaway spending embroils America in foreign wars, squanders its
wealth, and enriches a privileged elite. Policy experts Hartung and
Freeman show who is pulling the strings and pushing for war, and
offers a blueprint for shutting down the war machine.

 

FIGHTING BACK: THE CORPORATIONS BEHIND DATA CENTERS - VIRTUAL EVENT -
JUNE 24  (THIRD ACT) 

People everywhere are demanding a halt to the rapid expansion of
AI-driven data centers. Join us to take a closer look at real-world
tactics that target corporations, and how these tactics can help us to
win data center moratoria.

Events Details

JUNE 24, 2026

6:00 PM ET5:00 PM CT4:00 PM MT3:00 PM PT

LOCATIONJOIN FROM ANYWHERE

REGISTER HERE
[[link removed]]
- CLICK HERE
[[link removed]] 

About this event

Driven by the explosion of AI infrastructure and its immense resource
demands, data centers have become a highly salient, contentious, and
rapidly evolving political and environmental issue. A lack of public
oversight threatens to only further enrich the ultra-wealthy
technocrats who are undermining our democracy.

The window is closing for rational voices to intervene. Third Act is
convening monthly calls on data centers this year to cover multiple
strategic pathways to counter the threat: we’ll cover legal,
corporate, political, and narrative approaches to winning these
fights.

We’ve discussed legal and regulatory approaches to moratoria in
April; this month we’ll review opportunities to target corporations
to stop data center construction.

PONY KNOWLES, ORGANIZING & CAMPAIGNS LEAD, THIRD ACT

Pony Knowles’ (he/they) former Director, National Campaigns, Trans
Justice at the ACLU National Political Advocacy Division, working with
a team that fights for LGBTQ and trans rights at the federal level,
including access to gender affirming care, employment and housing, sex
work decriminalization, and full inclusion in communities. Prior to
working at the ACLU, Pony was the US Campaigns Director at Change.org,
responsible for expanding media coverage, helping develop product
innovations for better civic engagement opportunities, and most
importantly identifying and developing campaign opportunities across a
full slate of issue areas. Notable campaign victories include bringing
Brittney Griner home, protecting gender affirming care in states like
Kansas, and clemency for Julius Jones and Rodney Reed.

Previous to his work at Change.org, Pony led the National Engagement
team at SAGE, leading innovative initiatives to connect LGBTQ elders
to larger communities of care and policies that protect and affirm
them as they age. Other past experience includes leading student
engagement for Empty the Shelters and Poor Peoples’ Human Rights
Campaign, and teaching French literature and history — with a
particular focus on the stories we tell each other about revolution
and social change — at a number of universities in the US and
abroad.

MICHAEL RICHARDSON, THIRD ACT CAMPAIGNS DIRECTORPrior to joining Third
Act staff, Michael co-founded the Third Act Working Group in Upstate
New York. He has been a leader within New York’s climate movement,
serving on the steering committee of NY Renews – the coalition
behind the landmark New York State climate law – and as co-chair of
Public Power NY – the coalition for furthering the buildout of
publicly-owned renewable energy.

Across a wide-ranging career—including organic farmer, solar heating
contractor, labor economist, county legislator, and municipal
consultant Michael has consistently applied his skills to
strengthening democracy, protecting the climate, and advancing
community-led solutions.

Who We Are

At Third Act, we are a dedicated group of organizers, campaign
strategists, and communications professionals working together to
build a powerful elder-led movement for climate action and democracy
protection. Our team operates across multiple departments, each
playing a crucial role in advancing our mission.

There are so many ways to get involved with Third Act and plug into
our campaigns. Check out opportunities below to get started on your
third act.

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