Evening Roundup, December 5
Featuring Terri McCullough with Jennifer Rubin, Roberto Valadez, Jeff Nesbit, Meredith Blake, The Democracy Movement, Emily Beyda, our Contrarian Pet of the Week, and The Contrarian Pod!
Powerhouse Pelosi: Terri McCullough on Working for the Legendary Speaker Emerita
Who could speak to Nancy Pelosi better than her own Chief of Staff? In a special interview with Jen, Terri McCullough gives us an inside look at the legacy of the legislative powerhouse.
The Political Contagion Threatening Public Health
By Roberto Valadéz
The anti-vax movement and the rise of measles outbreaks.
The Fog of Accountability
By Jeff Nesbit
As Pete Hegseth ducks responsibility, the United States risks losing the moral ground that is the foundation of our national defense.
Culture Recs: Help! I Can't Stop Watching The Celebrity Traitors!
What happens when you take a bunch of marginally famous British people, plunk them down in a 19th-century Scottish castle, and force them to compete in a game of backstabbing and skullduggery?
The Contrarian covers the Democracy Movement
Every day (Monday-Friday), we’ll update this space with protests, signs, and other public demonstrations against the actions of the administration. Keep checking to see how Americans all across the country are protecting and defending democracy.
Syrian Lentil Soup Brings the Holidays Home
Dec. 1. The holiday season had arrived. I was sitting on the couch surrounded by laundry, my new baby nursing, my 2-year-old doing something joyful and chaotic with a small wooden tower and a hammer when it hit me: wait, my husband and I are the grownups now.
Pelosi's Former Chief of Staff looks back at life next to the Speaker
Who could speak to Nancy Pelosi better than her own Chief of Staff? Jen spoke with Terri McCullough, the former Chief of Staff to the Speaker Emerita, who shared the inside story of working side by side with the legislative powerhouse.
Government formation: when a state becomes a sovereign nation.
The transition from a state to a nation mainly involves re-educating our citizens, who have been shaped over their lives by social norms. We must recognize that our culture influences all parts of our lives. The language we speak, our social skills, even our religion, and all our habits are shaped by social conditioning. In a sense, we are products of our culture. We often don't realize this conditioning because it happens constantly. We've been led to believe that a free market benefits everyone and that if someone can produce something, they are entitled to keep all the profits and pay their workers a minimal wage. This view is widely accepted and considered correct, and the social norm now is that billionaires are justified in keeping their wealth and should pay lower taxes. We take it for granted that we watch the news on our TV and sit through 20 minutes of silly commercials during a one-hour program. Indoctrination. We've been told and taught that our Constitution is the best of all constitutions, and this idea is repeated in our schools, movies, and on TV. We live in a world where our tax money is sent to distant places, and people make decisions about its distribution, people I don’t know, dislike, or respect. In a sense, we have been living in Plato's Cave, seeing only the shadows on the wall. Customs have their remembering qualities, for instance, my mother always made “gravy” on Sunday, not a “sauce”, and I remember this and love my memory. All these cultural norms must change if we want to transform the fabric of our culture and free ourselves to accept significant shifts in our unconscious thinking.
Now for the new government.
Our election will take place on Saturday or a designated holiday. It should be mandatory, and we will introduce an effective voting system. There will only be a House of Representatives, with no Senate. Our judges will be chosen through a system that emphasizes independence, transparency, and qualifications. The President is elected by popular vote, and there will be a national health plan and free education, including college for eligible students. Unions will be strengthened and supported, and the work week could be shortened to four days. A reasonable immigration policy and environmental regulations will be established. There will be opportunities for all, women's rights will be upheld, appropriate gun laws will be enacted, lobbying and financial donations to influence elections will be banned, and there will be no need to compromise with bigots or racists. Additionally, a social safety net will be established to provide a living pension for everyone who works. Think about how small is better, reduced corruption, and voters having more control.
This is a pipe dream, Rocco. Not precisely, but cooperative communities do exist; the Mondragon Corporation in the Basque Country is the largest federation of workers' cooperatives.
Mondragon cooperatives are united by a humanist approach to business that highlights participation, solidarity, and a shared business culture. This culture is founded on a common mission, along with principles, corporate values, and business policies. It is organized around the 10 Basic Cooperative Principles, including Open Admission, Democratic Organization, the Sovereignty of Labor, the Instrumental and Subordinate Nature of Capital, Participatory Management, Payment Solidarity, Inter-cooperation, Social Transformation, Universality, and Education.
Another example is the Bank of North Dakota, the only state-owned bank in the United States. It functions as the legal depository for the state's funds. Profits from the bank are either deposited into North Dakota's general fund or used to support the state's economic development. The bank also offers free student loans for college. Since its inception, $585 million in profits has been deposited into North Dakota's general fund.
Finally, Norway and Finland rank among the world's happiest countries. These countries follow the Nordic Model, which includes “a comprehensive welfare state and multi-level collective bargaining that the social democrats developed." This model features a broad social safety net, free education, universal healthcare, public pension plans, and a partnership between employers, trade unions, and the government, with high trade union density and collective bargaining coverage. Norway is the only major economy in northern Europe where younger generations are becoming wealthier, with disposable income rising by 13% in 2018.
But you say their taxes are enormously high. I agree. But can you consider how you would feel if your government addressed all the major concerns in your life: paid healthcare, good-paying jobs, education for everyone, a solid retirement plan, a shorter workweek, and an early retirement age, living in a country where your rights and freedoms are protected and guaranteed?
Would not make you feel happy?
RFK has been deliberately spreading disinformation about vaccines and who knows what other kinds of information. He cannot be trusted at all. It’s hard to say who is the worst one in the executive cabinet. Kennedy or Hegseth. At this point I would say they’re fighting for first place.