Dear Progressive Reader,

The January 6 committee will hold its final public hearing on Monday, December 19 at noon central time. The committee is expected to vote to accept the draft of their final report (which at least a half dozen publishers are anxiously awaiting since they have numerous pre-orders for the book version, which has already been delayed at least once). The committee is also widely expected to vote to send criminal referrals to the Department of Justice for former President Donald Trump on multiple charges. Meanwhile, in response, Trump issued a series of digital trading cards this week (think “baseball cards meets bitcoin”). These cards cost $99 each and sold out almost immediately – reinforcing the accomplished conman’s ego, and lining his pockets with personal funds that are not governed by campaign finance regulations.

Also this past week, solidarity demonstrations were held in at least a dozen cities across the country in support of rail workers in the wake of a federally mandated labor agreement. As Shuvu Bhattarai reports, the rallies took place “after President Joe Biden and the U.S. Congress imposed a tentative agreement on Class I freight rail workers, an agreement that had been voted down by the membership of four rail unions representing a total of around 60,000 workers. The agreement grants only one additional day of paid sick leave, which was a major concern for the rail workers, many of whom are on call virtually 24/7.” In another area of labor struggle, Starbucks workers are currently conducting a nationwide three-day action that involves a walk-out by more than 1000 baristas at 100 stores. Approximately 264 stores have voted to unionize in the past year. December 9 was celebrated as the first anniversary of the first store winning a labor agreement in Buffalo, New York. You can read all of The Progressive’s coverage of the nationwide Starbucks union drive on our website.

Also on the web this week, Nicolas J.S. Davies and Medea Benjamin write about a global campaign to call for a Christmas truce in the war in Ukraine. It hearkens back, they explain, “to the inspirational Christmas Truce of 1914. During World War I, warring soldiers put down their guns and celebrated the holiday together in the no-man’s land between their trenches. This spontaneous reconciliation and fraternization has been, over the years, a symbol of hope and courage.” As I wrote on December 25 of last year, “While the grassroots cessation of hostilities was initially celebrated in the British press, the military leadership quickly sought to tamp down this enthusiasm for peace. . . . This was a lesson that the generals did not want their troops to learn!” Let us hope that this year, as Davies and Benjamin write, “Even if our leaders had rational reasons to favor an open-ended, ever-escalating war over a negotiated peace in Ukraine—and there are certainly powerful interests in the weapons and fossil fuel industries that would profit from that—the existential danger of what this could lead to must absolutely tip the balance in favor of peace.

Elsewhere on our website this week, Jeff Abbott looks at an increased crackdown on migrants in anticipation of the end of the Title 42 law that has been used to turn back asylum seekers at the Southern border. Anthony Pahnke pens an op-ed about “bait and switch” approaches to the climate crisis. Glenn Daigon shares an interview with American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten. And cartoonist Mark Fiore skewers new Twitter owner and self-proclaimed free-speech champion Elon Musk (who recently shuttered the Twitter accounts of journalists who were reporting on his actions.)

AM Alpin writes this week about librarians and their response to attempts to ban a wide variety of books from library and classroom shelves. “The secret to fighting ideological fundamentalism and fascism in the present and future is often found in those vast treasure troves from the past, so thoughtfully and carefully stored to be ready when history comes calling,” she says. Meanwhile, staff and writers at The Progressive share their list of “Favorite Books” from 2022 featuring a dozen topics and titles. Some of these, along with a number of other older offerings, can be found on our website. With a donation to The Progressive (a 501c3 nonprofit organization) you can get a great book as a thank-you gift for yourself or someone on your holiday shopping list!

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 2023 Hidden History of the United States calendar is now available. You can order one online and get it mailed in time for the holidays.

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