Protect the Fans from ICE and Trump

The World Cup kick-off is finally here. This is our moment, our celebration, Our Copa.    For the next few weeks, we’ll be cheering for every goal our teams score, celebrating with the people that matter the most to us, and feeling the powerful way futbol has always brought us together.    This historic moment belongs to the people– the fans, the workers, the communities who have built this sport from the ground up and make fútbol the beautiful game that it is. It’s a time to celebrate and reclaim this moment for our gente wherever we are: in the stands, at our local watch parties, or in our living rooms surrounded by our family and compas.    If you’re ready to join this celebration, there’s a place for you. Whether you’re an organizer, an artist, a creator, a fan, or someone who simply loves the beautiful game, there’s a place for you in Our Copa.   Here’s some ways you can connect:

Sign the Petition: Protect the Fans   We’re calling for an immediate moratorium on ICE enforcement during the tournament and the lifting of travel bans that prevent fans from Haiti, Iran, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal from sharing in this historic moment.    Join the hundreds of compas who have already added their voice to demand that every fan–where we live, where we work and where we watch– is safe to celebrate the beautiful game.  PROTECT THE FANS Already signed? We need your help to spread the word and grow our message. Check out our toolkit below to share with your compas across social media in less than a minute.  SPREAD THE WORD

Today, and every single day until the final whistle blows, we’re coming together to remind the world that this is Our Copa. 

 

En la lucha, 

Our Copa and Mijente Comité 

What we are learning

 I detest Trump  and everything he does or says. Ditto his despicable aides and Cabinet members, his unprincipled sycophants and suck-ups.

But it’s possible that someday we’ll look back on this horrendous era and say we needed Trump. We needed to see how horrible it could get before America was able to revive its ideals. 

Please hear me out. Robert Rech. 

Even before Trump, we were barreling down the wrong road. Inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunity were worsening. Legalized bribery was soaring in the form of mounting campaign contributions from big corporations and the wealthy. Workers were getting shafted. On Wall Street and in C-suites, fealty to the rule of law was giving way to “greed is good” selfishness. Giant corporations were monopolizing ever more of the economy. America was losing its moral authority in the world (think Abu Ghraib and the torture memo).

We couldn’t have remained on that road. Even if we didn’t know it then, most of us understand that now. Trump has opened our eyes to the consequences of extreme greed, corruption, cruelty, and utter disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law. His brazenness and shamelessness have awakened us to much that we took for granted.

He and his regime are still dangerous as hell, of course. But the American public is catching on. His polls are in the cellar; they continue to fall. 

It’s as if the nation has been through basic training in democracy, a stress test in civics, a crash course in the importance of having a decent and good government.

Before Trump, how many Americans understood the importance of “checks and balances” among the three branches of government, as envisioned by the Founders? 

Now nearly everyone knows, because we’ve seen what happens when the head of the executive branch usurps the power of Congress and defies the federal courts.

How many of us really knew what “due process” meant when it came to giving people accused by the government an opportunity to defend themselves?

By now most of us have seen videos of people dragged out of their homes in the dead of night by masked agents of the U.S. government and thrown into detention camps without so much as a hearing. And we’ve seen government agents murder American citizens in cold blood on the streets of our cities. 

Did we understand the meaning of corruption, bribes, self-dealing, and pay-to-play before Trump extorted corporations and billionaires to contribute millions to his campaign, his PAC, his inauguration, his ballroom, and his 250th birthday party? Now, we surely do.

Did we really know the importance of professional civil servants before Trump fired tens of thousands of them and substituted brainless loyalists? Before he got rid of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because it published truthful jobs data he didn’t like?

Did we understand the importance of expertise before Trump turned his back on career diplomats at the State Department, doctors and epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control, and experienced lawyers at the Justice Department and replaced them with loyalist hacks?

Or the meaning of “equal justice under the law” before Trump turned the Justice Department into his own private law firm to prosecute political enemies and pardon supporters?

Did we comprehend the true meaning of freedom of speech and expression before Trump attacked our universities for allowing demonstrations he disliked? Before he got CBS to fire Stephen Colbert for satirizing him and muzzle “60 Minutes” for criticizing him? 

Join the Effort to Protect Public Education and Democracy

 

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers describes the problem well.

Why Do Authoritarians Fear Teachers?

Because We Teach Critical Thinking

Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers. 2025. 

“Critical thinking is the heart of democracy, the muscle at the core that keeps democracy healthy and strong. We don’t tell our students who to vote for; we don’t tell our students what to believe. We teach them how to think for themselves, why democracy is important, and how they’re an important part of making it work and making it better. But rather than help teachers build a stronger America based on knowledge and truth and freedom of thought, fascists use fear, bullying, and culture wars to try to shut down teaching and democracy.

Ironically, there is one thing fascists and teachers agree on—that we cannot create a truly democratic, inclusive nation committed to opportunity for all without public schools. Fascists fight against public education because they want to control our minds, control our ideas, and control the future. And what do teachers do? We teach. It’s that simple. Class after class, year after year, we equip the next generation to think for themselves and preserve our nation’s precious bond between individual liberty, opportunity, and the common good.”

We Want Kids to Think—and Read—for Themselves

Excerpt from  Why Do Fascists Fear Teachers?

https://www.ahttps://www.aft.org/ae/spring2026/weingarten_wolfsonft.org/ae/spring2026/weingarten_wolfson

 

Read the book. Why Fascists Fear Teachers.  Public Education and The Future of Democracy. 2025. 

A project to organize and support efforts to Defend Democracy with a focus on public education is developing.  Watch this blog for more.  There is a place for you- dear reader. 

America’s colleges and universities are the “envy of the world,” driving economic growth and providing better lives for students and their families, said AFT President Randi Weingarten at a launch of the blueprint April 15 in Texas.

“But instead of investing in the next generation, the federal government is stripping hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants, attacking diversity, saddling millions of borrowers with student debt and abolishing minority-serving institutions—all in a cynical attempt to punish political enemies and control knowledge.”

The new policy platform, “A Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education,” details a vision where colleges and universities, not corporations, are treated as key forces in creating a functional democracy.

 

Teaching Democracy Through Critical Thinking, Civic Participation, and Democratic Engagement

Democracy depends upon an informed, thoughtful, and engaged citizenry. Public education plays a central role in preparing students not only for careers and personal success, but also for meaningful participation in democratic society.

Goal:  to assist teachers to shape their teaching toward preserving democracy.  To  encourage teachers to teach about and encourage democracy in our nation, state, and local institutions, including schools

To assist teachers  and faculty in resisting the increasing demands from the authoritarian right  that  right wing ideology be taught as truth or normal  in our schools. 

“Educate yourselves because we will need all of your intelligence.” Antonio Gramsci.

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Fired CBS Newsman Alleges He Was Asked to Insert Falsehoods Into his Reporting.

The longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who was fired by CBS News on Tuesday after clashing with the network’s new management, issued a public statement accusing the network’s new executives of silencing employees and claiming they instructed him “to inject falsehoods and bias” into his reporting.

“‘60’ has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories,” Pelley wrote in the lengthy statement he shared on social media on Wednesday morning.

“When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.”

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Pelley criticized the new leadership at CBS, adding: “Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.”

He continued: “For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them.

“Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.”

He concluded his statement by saying that he was departing “after 37 years at CBS with one emotion – a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again – a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.”

CBS News did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment about the statement.

Bari Weiss addressed Pelley’s termination on the network’s morning call on Wednesday.

Trump Is Trying to Rig the Election

https://youtu.be/3ReeMwsghhU?si=OLwc2N8qjC1dFs69

Vote ! Voté

Xavier Becerra has actual governing experience. Tom Steyer has never held elected office and is trying to buy this election. 

Becerra:

• 30+ years of actual public service

• 24 years in Congress

• California’s first Latino Attorney General

• First Latino HHS Secretary in US history

• Built his entire career defending working people, immigrants, and families

• His resume was earned,  not purchased

Steyer:

• Never held elected office. Not one day in government. Ever.

• Ran for president in 2020, spent $250 million, won zero delegates, dropped out after losing three straight contests.

• Now wants to run the world’s fifth largest economy with zero governing experience

• His qualification is his checkbook. That is not enough.

Xavier Becerra has actual governing experience. Tom Steyer has never held elected office and is trying to buy this election. 

Becerra:

• 30+ years of actual public service

• 24 years in Congress

• California’s first Latino Attorney General

• First Latino HHS Secretary in US history

• Built his entire career defending working people, immigrants, and families

• His resume was earned,  not purchased

Steyer:

• Never held elected office. Not one day in government. Ever.

• Ran for president in 2020, spent $250 million, won zero delegates, dropped out after losing three straight contests.

• Now wants to run the world’s fifth largest economy with zero governing experience

• His qualification is his checkbook. That is not enough.

 

The Judge That Shook the MAGA Tree

 https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/a-truly-amazing-exercise-of-justice?

https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/a-truly-amazing-exercise-of-justice

Some good news for you, today– It was just on Thursday that we filed to block any funds being paid out from Donald Trump’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” – aka, the “slush fund.” Well, it didn’t even take 24 hours – in fact, barely more than 12 – for a federal court to take action in our case: The Trump-Vance administration is barred from taking any more action on their slush fund. That means Trump and his allies can’t take any further action related to the fund, including transferring money to it, considering submitted claims, or disbursing taxpayer dollars. The next step is our hearing planned for June 12th. This is a huge win for the American people and taxpayers across the country, especially because there had already been a filing to request nearly $3 million from that fund. Now, a federal court has put the brakes on everything – and that’s because of your support of this work. Thanks – and have a great weekend. We sure will. Democracy Forward