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Dear Progressive Reader,

With only about one week to go in 2022, things have been very busy in Washington, D.C., over the past several days. On Monday, the January 6 committee held their final public hearing, offering a recap of the previous ([link removed]) nine public sessions, plus some new bits of information like the testimony ([link removed]) of Hope Hicks, a close (and previously silent) adviser to Donald Trump. The committee also announced four criminal referrals ([link removed]) for the former President. These were delivered by Congressmember Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland. I interviewed Representative Raskin late last year shortly before his personal story of January 6, Unthinkable ([link removed]) , was released. At that time, Raskin (whose father Marcus Raskin wrote occasionally for The Progressive in the late-1960s
and early-1970s) told me ([link removed]) , “I’m determined, as just one member of the January 6th committee, to bring to light everything that happened both on the insurrection side and on the side of the inside political coup. This is a democracy, and democracies depend on the people having the information they need to govern.” Most notable of the four referrals to the Justice Department (none of which the department is required to act on) is the crime of “insurrection” (18 U.S.C. ([link removed]) § 2383 ([link removed]) ) which is a more serious charge than Justice has leveled at any of the more than 900 cases ([link removed]) so far undertaken in the Department’s investigation of January 6.

The United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol also released its final 854-page report late on Thursday evening, leaving publishers scrambling to issue their promised versions ([link removed]) of the document. The committee’s recommendations, listed in the report ([link removed]) , include a landmark suggestion that the Fourteenth Amendment ([link removed]) be used to preclude Trump from ever again being elected to office. Also in the report, although buried in an appendix, is a discussion of foreign interference (as alleged by Trump – remember the bamboo ballots ([link removed]) ?) and foreign influence (as described by the committee) in the 2020 election. “The Intelligence
Community’s comprehensive March 2021 assessment noted that throughout the 2020 Federal election cycle, ‘Russian online influence actors generally promoted former President Trump,’ ” the report notes on page 837. It goes on, “President Trump’s relentless propagation of the Big Lie damaged American democracy from within and made it more vulnerable to attack from abroad. His actions did not go unnoticed by America’s adversaries, who seized on the opportunity to damage the United States.” This allegation, in the report’s final paragraph, appears to be an additional charge (although not enumerated by the committee), against the former President of treason ([link removed]) .

One item in the report’s recommendations that has already been acted upon, is the reform of the Electoral Count Act ([link removed]) of 1887 ([link removed]) . This rule, which describes how Electoral College votes for the office of President are tallied, was passed ([link removed]) in bipartisan votes in both the Senate and House as a part of the government spending bill ([link removed]) called the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. The bill contains ([link removed]) nearly $1.7 trillion of funding for FY2023, but of that money, $858 billion is earmarked for the military (“defense spending”) and an additional $45 billion in “emergency assistance to Ukraine and our NATO
allies.” This means that more than half ($900 billion out of $1.7 trillion) is not being used for “non-defense discretionary programs”—and even that lesser portion includes $118.7 billion for funding of the Veterans Administration, another military-related expense. What ever happened to “peace on earth, goodwill toward all ([link removed]) ”?

Also this week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy paid what has been called ([link removed]) a “surprise visit” (even though it had been discussed for some months and was in the planning stages ([link removed]) at least since December 11) to Washington, D.C. The visit included time with President Joe Biden in the White House and an address ([link removed]) to a joint session of Congress. The visit is being compared ([link removed]) by many to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s wartime appearance eighty-one years before. However, unlike President Franklin Roosevelt, Biden has not offered ([link removed]) to engage U.S. troops in the conflict, something we
should all be thankful for this holiday season, given the risks of nuclear escalation ([link removed]) in the twenty-first century that did not exist in 1941.

The Progressive has been, and continues to be, a voice for peace and social justice. We have published continuously since 1909, and plan to continue for many years to come. But we can only do it with your help. Please consider a year-end tax-deductible donation to support our work in 2023 and beyond. You can click the button below o donate online today; mail a gift to P.O. Box 1021, Madison, WI 53701; or feel free to call our office during the coming week at 608-257-4626 and make a donation over the phone. I thank you in advance for your support of this important work.

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 ([link removed]) and get it mailed in time for the holidays.

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