Labor Day 2025, hits different this year.

 

-Norman Rockwell, "The Lineman" 1948

Labor Day 2025.  

Usually Labor Day is the perfect holiday for me.  No expectations to buy or fulfill some ritual - just a day to celebrate working people and spend time with the ones you love.  

I did that part.  I had dinner with my wife and sons (and my older son's wife and son).  Saw a movie with my younger son, enjoyed to perfect weather, spent time with my lovely wife.  But the part where we celebrate the working people of the world?  Felt different.

I started a new job in 2025.  A position I trained and worked hard to move into.  One that was something I could work in with stability and maybe retire out of.  I was proud of what I had accomplished.

Then the President of the United States and The Wealthiest Man in the World created a scheme to take away my livelihood.  I had never missed a day, I had never had anything but positive statements in my review, I had never not fulfilled a single duty of that position.  None of that mattered.  

The Unions sued for breach of contract (which is was) and won and then Donald J. Trump declared almost all Federal Employee Unions illegal.  In one fell swoop he became the most Anti-Worker, Anti-Union President in a century.  The NTEU had represented Treasury Workers for 87 years. The NLRB, which has functioned for 90 years, was declared unconstitutional.

Worker's rights are being eroded like every other right American's have enjoyed since the New Deal.  My Governor is calling a special session to take away Congressional representation for my city. I fear for my family, I fear for my community. I fear for my nation, I fear for the world.

People speak out - we were not silent, my city joined my nation in a giant Labor Day Middle Finger towards those who would unravel this thing called America.

https://fox4kc.com/news/workers-unions-community-members-gather-for-mass-rally/

But despite this the reality of the Post-Prosperity America has hit most of us:

Americans Lose Faith That Hard Work Leads to Economic Gains, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds

https://www.wsj.com/economy/wsj-norc-economic-poll-73bce003?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

That sounds astoundingly negative - but is it wrong?  After a BRIEF period of post-covid employee empowerment aided by the Joe Biden being the most Pro-Labor President of my lifetime - the new reality is setting in.   Corporations collude to lay off and downsize workers even in years of record breaking profits and know they are not limited by courts, lawmakers, or mass/social media because they own all three.  The astonishingly wealthy President and Richest Man in the World who decided the world could not afford the good health insurance my child has had these last 8 months both own their own Social Media platforms where they elevate their own ideas of a world of Avarice and Suffering and suppress any notions of the dignity of hard work, honesty, and integrity.

I fear for this world.  The world could lose all the billionaires tomorrow and we would *ALL* be just as fine or better off for it.  We could not say the same about Linemen, Plumbers, Teachers, IT People, Sanitation Workers or Nurses.

I am still proud of my working class heritage and values.  But I fear for a world where it is open season on the people who get the work done.

Getting out the Message in the year of Chaos.

 At the encouragement of local Democrats in Kansas City I reached out to local news regarding various DOGE cuts back in February.  I learned if you have a compelling story and do your homework to make it easy to present, screen time is not hard.  I gave interviews, went to rallies, communicated events to journalists, and gave an informed but from the heart sharing of what was happening.

The first round of illegal cuts/firing, the return to work after a ruling, and then later with the dissolving of Federal Unions and the most anti-worker, anti-veteran, anti-American administration in American history and the impact of that administration's actions - got a chance to comment on all of it.

Really impressed with the speed and professionalism of our local journalists here in Kansas City.

KCTV5 

4/3/2025 MSNBC Repost:

KCTV5 from MSN Clip (Video from above)

FOX4

P Published Mar 3, 2025

Fox4 Clip from Above

KCTV5 follow up after Court Case:

Published: Mar. 17, 2025

KCTV5 Clip from Above

And I responded to interviews, went to rallies, promoted rallies and generally tried to get information out of there.  

It's important to let us all know that we are not alone.  Most people don't want soldiers in the streets, cuts to the most vulnerable, important services stripped bare and made ineffective, and America and what it means to be diminished at home and in the world.  

*-Note - The camera REALLY gave me the motivation to stop stress eating as a response to all of this.

Shocked and Awed

If you ever box or wrestle, you might have to fight an opponent where you know the strategy is to wear you down, not to necessarily throw the best attacks out there but to always be attacking in every way to just exhaust you.

That is how it feels to be an American right now.  As more military is deployed inside the U.S. not to fight some Army or to rescue people from disaster, but to back up ICE and other agents mass arresting people who show up to work. or school, or court... our Supreme Court is teeing up another blow.  6 decisions getting dropped on a Friday on the last day of a session which is where they put stinkers.  

Can courts prevent illegal actions by the government?  Can President's revoke citizenship?  Does Congress matter?   These are going to come down hard.

Meanwhile the Senate is deciding just how much SNAP and Medicaid need to be cut to offset tax cuts for the wealthiest and corporations.  Sick people.  

I refuse to fall, but the constant attacks on everything good and decent our nation has made by a cabal of the most avaristic people of all time is gruesome.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-meets-friday-decide-040150225.html

Feb 28th to Buy Nothing