NATIONAL BLUE COLLAR DAY UPDATES

Many Claim They Are and Represent Blue Collar Folks. Try Not To Be Fooled.

-We begin in Syria, where within ten days the brutal dictatorship of the Assad regime fell to rebels that include forces backed by al-Qaida, Political prisoners held by Assad – some for over 40 years – were released amid celebrations and the destruction and desecration of the pictures and statues that festooned the country for decades. And the fall is a decided loss for the forces that used the family as a proxy for their own goals, in particular Vladimir Putin, Iran, HAMAS and Hezbollah.

-It is also not entirely clear where Assad and his family is. Reports were that they were flown out of the country shortly after Damascus was taken, but multiple social media posts after the fall claimed the plane prematurely landed, if not crashed, if not was shot down. Those reports have NOT been verified, though the only reports claiming to be from Assad have come from Russia, who also confirmed that Assad was no longer in power and “a peaceful transition” to a new government should begin. That makes for a reminder that while the fall of Assad is good, what happens next in that country is fraught with uncertainty and more than likely, instability.

-Meanwhile, protests continue in Georgia as pro-Putin forces continue to try to quell protests over what is believed to be elections rigged for the Putinites in that country. For nearly a week, water cannons and increased military presence in the streets have failed to quash the marchers – indeed, there are plenty of TikTok videos of defiant protestors waiving Georgian flags and “showering” through the water blasts, with a new round of parliamentary elections scheduled for December 14.

-For those who continue to look for hope to fight repressive forces – particularly those fueled by Putin – Romania gives you a great example. There, a court ruled that a pro-right pro-Putin candidate was given so much help from Putin, and the efforts to manipulate the election through the use of social media, that it rendered the entire first round of elections null and void. The country will now have to redo the election from the ground up, starting with new nominating petitions for all political parties and all candidates. The candidate who emerged from the first round as the “winner,” a candidate named Calin Georgescu – who spent no money on campaigning and still managed to ‘win’ – naturally denounced the ruling as anti-democratic.

-And we still have the ongoing South Korean pushback, where President Yoon Suk Yeol continues to remain in power after attempting to decare martial law and being firmly rebuffed by both political parties and tens of thousands of protestors who successfully made him rescind the order and apologize (?!) for the attempt. Despite that, an attempt to impeach him failed as Yoon party members left the chamber to defeat the vote. Pressure continues to get Yoon to resign as protests there continue.

-All of this news shows that democracy just may not be on the mat just yet, and should give some comfort as we move on to news of this incoming regime …

-The President-Elect went on MEET THE PRESS to, well, not say anything new he hasn’t said in the months since he left office, frankly. He reiterated his desire to export people he and his minions claim are illegal immigrants, again promised to pardon January 6 insurrectionists, again threatened to imprison members of the January 6 commission – and did so with zero pushback or horror from stenographer-posing-as-interviewer Kristin Welker Todd, further showing the pre-emptive obeisance too many in the legacy mainstream cable news media are showing to Trump and company.

-That coverage continued yesterday in France, where the President-Elect and his manservant Elon Musk (or is Musk the President and Trump the manservant?) joined a number of other world leaders for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral (in a ceremony that also included Catholic choirs and, rather incongruously, Pharrell Williams singing “Happy”). The service included a very comfortable-looking Dr. Jill Biden and daughter Ashley and Trump going full cringe with an attempt to dominate Emanuel Macron with an awkward Alpha Male to Trump handshake.

-Ugh.

-Speaking of Musk, as we sadly must, the full impact of his help in the election became clearer as financing reports showed he poured over $230 million into the Trump re-election efforts. Most brutally, the filings included $23 million spent on a social media campaign that told the flat-out lie that Trump would refuse to sign a national abortion ban if it came to him – and the PAC was named “RGB PAC.” Needless to say, the family of Ruth Bader Ginsberg called Musk and the PAC out on it, but with how close the election turned out and Democrats continuing to self-flagellate (to the glee of the aforementioned mainstream news media), the revelations of such manipulations, and the role Musk played in it, need to be exposed and publicized as best as can be done.

-Because while Project 2025 looms, the Trump II Presidency is emerging as one where oligarchs will be playing their most prominent roles in American government since the Gilded Age of the late 19^th century. As of last week, nominees to various agencies and Secretary-ships have a collective net work of over $340 BILLION dollars. In contrast, the collective net worth of the Biden cabinet totaled a mere $111 million. And, as we have all seen, most of the appointees have little to no expertise in the departments they are looking to run – or in working with Federal bureaucracies to begin with. That will become more important as the Trump II show comes back to DC and their attempts to bully the departments take the place of actually trying to “dismantle” (read: give those billionaires a chance to cash in on their involvement in the government) their assigned posts.

-THIS JUST IN: One of the few bits of integrity left in the New York Times has announced he is leaving. Paul Krugman, the Nobel-winning economist best known for correctly calling the 2007-08 Great Recession, will be retiring at the end of the year with a final post. Whether he will continue to write elsewhere remains to be seen, though in his last few columns he has warned about the likelihood of the Trump tariffs becoming nests of crony capital bribes and laws designed to help those involved with Trump – as, for example, a report that the government may place restrictions on the electronic vehicle manufacturer Rivian, who in what is surely a purely-by-chance coinkydink one of the main rivals of … Elon Musk!

-Yes, folks, while most of us reading this Substack (I suspect) were and may still be reeling from the election results, and have justifiable FAFO anger towards those who voted for Trump, the fact is there is plenty to fight for and nothing inevitable – so it’s time to move to the acceptance/anger phase and start to choose your fights that are to come.

-We close with notice of the closing of a true social, cultural, and yes, economic phenomenon: in Vancouver tonight, Taylor Swift plays the final show of The Eras Tour. Over two years, the shows sold out football stadiums with tickets going as high as $1,300 each – and is estimated to have generated $10 billion in related business in the United States alone. Add to that the concert movie, the release of a new album, an end-of-tour coffee table book documenting the shows, and of course the gossip mill fodder featuring the short fling with The 1975’s Mattie Healy and the apparently-still-going-strong relationship with Kansas City Chief and Cleveland Boy Travis Kelce. So if you see misty-eyed Swiftie twiddling a friendship bracelet or five, you know why …

-On this date in 1941, the United States declared war on Japan after the “day of infamy” and the attack on Pearl Harbor. On this date in 1965, the Second Vatican Council, which introduced an array of reforms to the Catholic church, ended. On this date in 1987, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed a nuclear weapons reduction treaty. On this date in 2013, Metallica became the first music act to play on all seven continents with a concert in Antarctica. And on this date in 2022, basketball star Brittney Griner was released from a Russian penal colony.

-Debuts on this date: the Immaculate Conception doctrine (1854), the T Formation (1940), the Beach Boys on rcord (1961), HOTEL CALIFORNIA (1976), THE DEER HUNTER (1978), SOPHIE’S CHOICE (1982), NAFTA (1993), SpaceX launching a capsule into orbit (2010).

-Happy Birthday to Mary, Queen of Scots, Eli Whitney, Diego Rivera, James Thurber, Lee J. Cobb, Ernest Lehman, Sammy Davis Jr., Maximillian Schell, Flip Wilson, David Carradine, James MacArthur, Jerry Butler, Jim Morrison, Mary Woronov, Gregg Allman, Dan Hartman, Rick Baker, Kim Basinger, Roy Firestone, Sam Kinison, Teri Hatcher, Teresa Weatherspoon, Sinead O’Connor, Michael Cole, Mike Mussina, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Ingrid Michaelson, Philip Rivers, Nicki Minaj, Dwight Howard, and Raheem Sterling.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Tris Speaker, Golda Meir, John Lennon, Marty Robbins, Slim Pickens, Martin Ritt, William Shawn, Howard Rollins, Bob Bell, Dimebag Darrell Abbott, Jose Uribe, Robert Prosky, John Glenn, Juice WRLD, Paul Volcker, Rene Auberjonois, Robbie Shakespeare, and Ryan O’Neal.

-Feed the Worms: Ann Coulter entered Earth on this date.

-The Number One Song in America on this date … in 2024, “Squabble Up” by Kendrick Lamar … in 2014, “Blank Space” by Taylor Swift … in 2004, “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell … in 1994, “On Bended Knee” by Boys II Men … in 1984, “Out of Touch” by Daryl Hall and John Oates … and in 1974, “Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas.