Listen: More Trump Trouble and the Challenge to O’Brien’s Leadership
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By Bob Hennelly
The New York Times is reporting major news organizations around the world calling on Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid entering Gaza and on the movement of reporters in and out of Gaza as Palestinian journalists struggle for the basics to survive.
The war on Gaza has taken the lives of over 230 journalists—making it the deadliest armed conflict for media workers, according to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs Cost of War Project at Brown University.
On this episode of “What’s Going On?” I speak with New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. DiNapoli who outlines the double-hit for New York State from the Trump administration's impounding of billions of dollars in previously appropriated funds from the Biden era and the devastation ahead from the GOP's so-called "Big Beautiful" budget bill.
We also welcome James Henry, Yale Global Justice Fellow, investigative journalist and economist, who is joined by Dr. Joe Wilson, labor historian to discuss why it matters that Trump fired the head of the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after her agency reported a worsening employment picture.
We also hear from Chris Silvera, Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 808 and Rachel Dawn Davis, a New Jersey-based Public Policy & Justice organizer for Waterspirit, a spiritual ecology non-profit sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Silvera discusses the prospects of an internal challenge to the re-election of Teamsters International President Sean O'Brien, who praised President Trump when he addressed the Republican convention in Milwaukee. IBT Local 623 Richard Hooker has announced a challenge.
Jersey-based activist Rachel Dawn Davis outlines what's happening at the grassroots to address the deepening climate crisis amidst Trump's doubling down on climate change denial and attack on public science. Rachel was just appointed a member of the NJ Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
In the second hour we are joined by Larry Hamm, founder of the People's Organization for Progress. Larry was on hand at JFK airport to welcome back Chris Smalls, co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union. Smalls was detained and beaten by Israeli forces when the Gaza bound humanitarian aid ship was boarded illegally in international waters.
Larry is joined by Charles Hall President of Local 108 RWDSU UFCW. Hall discusses the essential role of organized labor historically in social justice movements. He recounts walking the picket line 44 years ago this month, with the striking air traffic controllers who were all summarily fired by President Reagan in a blow to the union movement that had generational consequences. The Local 108 leader recalls challenges he faced organizing workers in the poultry industry in southern right to work states.
Listen to the entire show below: