A roundup of Trump distraction and distortion seems like fiction

As President Trump announced sending troops into Washington, D.C., to fight a nonexistent crime wave, he also took aim at Illinois’ bail reform, another action defying reality, commenting, “We’re going to end that in Chicago.”

Statistics show that crime in Washington is at a 30-year low, and data from Real-Time Crime Index shows that after Illinois’ system changed in 2021 Chicago has had a historic drop in violent crime.

Trump’s chaotic orders go so far beyond sending soldiers to Washington and Los Angeles, forcing his own honorees on the Kennedy Center and flailing in chummy inanities with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. It’s all a modern version of “The Wizard of Oz” in which we hope for someone to say, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain” despite all the flying monkeys and palace-guard billionaires marching alongside a spineless Congress murmuring the 21^st equivalent of “O-Ee-Yah! Ee-OH-Ah!"

In the wake of this Trump Tsunami are masked thugs seizing people for detention and possible deportation, cowering law firms and universities, judges and prosecutors, government agencies and private companies – plus institutions that try to resist authoritarian waves, such as scientists, inspectors general, political opponents, and organized labor (Trump eliminated union contracts at the EPA, FEMA, Veteran Affairs and even the USDA’s Food Inspection Service).

Of course, there are other literary lessons about rulers manipulating society to control everyday people. Maybe elected Republicans need to re-read Hans Christian Andersen’ short story “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Lewis Carroll’s “Alice through the Looking Glass” (in which Humpty Dimpty tells Alice, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean”), or Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.”

An increasingly uneasy parallel to current events is George Orwell’s “1984,” a cautionary tale of “doublethink” such as the Ministry of Truth, which issues propaganda and falsifies history, and slogans “Ignorance is Strength” and “Freedom is Slavery” (which sounds like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Trump ally who said bondage was also a valuable learning experience).

Some conservative commentators actually objected when Trump fired Erika McEntarfer as Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), accusing her of rigging economic data to hurt him, and hired E,J, Antoni from the Right-wing Heritage Foundation.

Stan Veuger of the conservative American Enterprise Institute said Antoni is “unfit.” Conservative Bill Kristol said the firing and replacement is “part of the broader pattern of the transformation of government information into pure propaganda.” Ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, explained when Trump “gets news he doesn’t like, he needs someone to blame because we won’t take the responsibility himself.” And Philip Klein of the conservative National Review said Trump’s replacing Erika McEntarfer “will help undermine public confidence in yet another American institution.”

Speaking of which, the Smithsonian is under fire to ensure its exhibits “fit Trump’s historical vision,” as the Wall Street Journal reported, and the State Department’s decades-old annual report on international human rights was dramatically cut AND gave a pass to notorious violators such as Hungary, El Salvador, and even China.

Predictably, a President who’s never felt obligated to be factual, whether about history or weather, has attacked universities and media, moving from name-calling and lawsuits to pressuring them to conform or risk losing research funding – and facing his wrath.

Universities that have settled with Trump include Brown, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, with Cornell and Illinois’ Northwestern reportedly close to caving.

The press has seen some surrender and others resist. Jeff Bezos purged the Washington Post opinion pages of voices critical of Trump; CNN forced out independent-minded newsman Jim Acosta, and CBS cancelled “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert.

CBS seems to have been a collaborator with its owner, Paramount, which wanted the FCC’s approval to merge with Skydance. Unsurprisingly, Trump’s FCC Chair Brendan Carr – who as one of the FCC’s commissioners during the Biden administration scolded an effort to pressure cable and streaming companies to drop Fox, NewsNation and One America News for airing misinformation on First Amendment grounds – now backs Skydance is its effort to “root out bias that has undermined trust in the national news media.”\Current FCC member Anna Gomez opposed the merger and said, “We can’t have the government interfering in the free press. I am alarmed by this administration’s campaign of censorship and control. Paramount’s payout and the approval of their transaction would only embolden those who believe the government can and should abuse its power to extract financial and ideological concessions.”

only embolden.” And former CBS News anchor Connie Chung said, “Honest, unbiased, fact-based journalism is being tainted. I fear the end of CBS as I knew it. It all smells.”

Meanwhile, Trump acolyte Kari Lake, now senior adviser at the Agency for Global Media, is leading the attempt to silence its Voice of America service.

Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian newspaper said, “We’re at a moment of emergency and media crisis.”

Something conservative columnist David Brooks wrote in April echoes even louder now. He wrote, “What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to – Democrat, independent or Republican.

However, if Congress or the courts can’t or won’t rein in the runaway jackass, it’s up to all of us.

“It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising,” Brooks said. “It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.”

We must endeavor to resist – and to hope when cowardly institutions in media, on campus, or in government monkey around with facts, it will enrage even flying monkeys and timid palace guards to rebel.

Opposing unions, oppressing others is a beach of faith(s)

Sixty-two years agio this month a Baptist preacher held hundreds of thousands of Americans spellbound at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, backed by the Teachers, IBEW, Machinists, UAW and other labor unions.

Two years before, that preacher, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., addressed the AFL-CIO convention in Miami, where he stressed the ties between fighting for good union jobs and fighting for freedom from racist policies.

“Dr. King’s speech rested on a moral bond. His manner and his spirituality elicited a deep appreciation for the ethical and moral purpose of collective bargaining rights,” said John Lavin, a former organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers and director of St. Joseph University’s Comey Institute for Industrial Relations.

“Those rights keep people safe at work and ensure workers a just quality of life.”

King recognized the National Labor Relations Act, but said, “like any other legislation, [it] tended merely to declare rights but did not deliver them. Labor had to bring the law to life by exercising its rights in practice over stubborn, tenacious opposition.”

Author Peter Cole – a history professor at Western Illinois University in Macomb and unionist (University Professionals of Illinois-AFT – quotes the minister and Civil Rights leader as remarking, “Our needs are identical with labor’s needs – decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community.”

King asked the labor federation, “What good does it do to be able to eat at a lunch counter if you can’t buy a hamburger?”

Cole added, “If Martin Luther King Jr. still lived, he’d probably tell people to join unions.”

The intersection of faith and labor extends beyond Christianity and ’60s activism. Religious leaders historically have supported labor, but as Labor Day 2025 approaches, it’s obvious that some political leaders who claim to be devout actually oppose unions. Faiths that for centuries have espoused solidarity and compassion have been twisted into acts of cruelty and hate.

Imam Mazhar Mahmood of the Islamic Foundation of Peoria told the Labor Paper, “Islamic tradition prohibits exploitative labor, delayed wages, or unfair treatment. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) stood for workers’ dignity, fair contracts, proper compensation, rest and humane conditions – long before modern labor laws emerged.

“There are several foundational Islamic principles affirming the dignity and rights of working people,” he continued. “A key prophetic saying states, ‘Give the worker his wages before his sweat dries’ (Sunan Ibn Mājah).” (See below.)

In the Quad Cities, Rabbi Henry Jay Karp has addressed current events through the lens of history, focusing on threats to civic order and dishonestly appealing to the population.

“Authoritarian regimes are inherently cruel and self-serving,” Rabbi Karp says. “Hitler wrote in detail about the importance of deceiving the public by telling the Big Lie. He explained that people were more likely to believe a statement ‘fabricated in colossal untruths than a smaller lie’.”

Pointing to the anti-union White House attacking legal actions as “witch hunts,” legitimate journalism as “fake news,” and DEI initiatives as schemes giving “special benefits to individuals on the basis of race, color or ethnicity,” Karp implicitly reminds people of the Ten Commandments in the Jewish Torah. The 9^th Commandment plainly orders people not to bear false witness.

The attack on DEI “is the exact opposite of what the words Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mean,” he says, adding that such “Big Lies” can confuse people or scare them into silence.

Appreciating scripture can be positive, and instead of resenting differences in faith, it’s comforting to realize the common ground virtually all religions share. Wisdom for life and labor, bargaining and participating in democracy, etc., has been taught for centuries in countless countries and languages and faiths: The Golden Rule (NOT the version that today’s billionaires seem to favor: “He who has the gold makes the rules”).

A few years before Christ, the Jewish sage Hillel the Elder summarized the first books of the Old Testament: “That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow. This is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary.”

Proclaiming devotion to a religion while openly violating its values is another Big Lie.

The Methodist-trained Idaho minister Benjamin Cremer writes, “If our Christianity causes kids to go hungry, the sick to go without health care, the stranger to be unwelcome, the elderly on Social Security to be called ‘parasites,’ all while billionaires get richer, we’ve profoundly misunderstood the most basic elements of Jesus’ teachings.”

Religious institutions have long embraced worked and endorsed unions when organized labor developed.

“To trade union leaders of the late 19^th and 20^th centuries, ‘Rerum Novarum’[(‘Of New Things,’ Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 Encyclical] was a powerful tool for reminding workers that the Holy Father supported fair wages and healthy working conditions for all God’s people,” wrote Indiana University history professor Janine Giordano Drake in the Saint Louis University Law Journal. (It was influential beyond Catholicism, too, as Protestants’ Federal Council of Churches 21 years later adopted its principles in their “Social Creed of the Churches.”)

“Pope Leo XIII called the employer class to respect the human dignity of workers by offering them generous pay, limited hours, healthy working conditions, and enough time away from work to enjoy their families,” Drake continued. “He harshly condemned those employers who robbed workers of their dignity in their relentless pursuit of greater profits [and] encouraged workers to join trade unions and use them as righteous tools for bringing the real needs of workers to the attention of business leaders and government leaders.”

Besides institutions, ordained individuals have been active proponents of unions.

“Labor priests” used to be more common, including Msgrs. George Higgins and John Egan in the 20^th century, New Jersey’s Russian Orthodox Father David Gerritson, who worked with the International Association of Stage and Technical Employees (IATSE), and – during the 1990s’ “War on Workers” involving thousands of Illinois strikers at Caterpillar, Bridgestone/Firestone and Staley – Father Martin Mangan of the St. James Catholic Church in Decatur. Mangan described that long conflict as “a war zone, and much of it is a spiritual war. I am compelled by God’s teachings to take a stand.”

Today’s most prominent labor priest is Father Clete Kiley, who’s worked with UNITE-HERE and the Archdiocese of Chicago.

He said, “ ‘Rerum Novarum,’ the first of the Catholic Social Encyclicals, provided the basic vision underwriting the [labor] movement: the dignity of work itself; the dignity of every worker; the fundamental right to work and to emigrate in order to secure work; the right to a living wage which provides for a family, health care, savings for retirement; an 8-hour work day; an elimination of all child labor; and the right to bargain collectively and to form a union.

“Pope  Francis said it best: Profit cannot be the only motive for economic decisions.”

Jim Wallis, an evangelical pastor, author and Georgetown University scholar who in 2013 helped SEIU with its “Fast for Families” campaign, has praised such teachings, especially the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 1986 Pastoral Letter saying, “Economic decisions have human consequences and moral content; they help or hurt people, strengthen or weaken family life, advance or diminish the quality of justice in our land.

“The Church fully supports the right of workers to form unions or other associations to secure their rights to fair wages and working conditions. Organizations of this type are an indispensable element of social life. No one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself.”

Wallis ties such statements of doctrine and conscience to today’s chaos and crises.

“On June 25, Alberto Rojas, the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of San Bernardino, said, ‘Authorities are now seizing brothers and sisters indiscriminately without respect for their right to due process and their dignity as children of God.’

“By abandoning any kind of due process in regard to undocumented immigrants, family separation has now become the policy of this Trump administration as it was for a time during Trump’s first term,” Wallis continued. “The difference is now they have made the policy permanent, a slap in the face to Christ and his teaching that individuals and nations should welcome immigrants and asylum seekers.

“All of us – pastors, church members, parents, community leaders, citizens – need to find our ways in our venues to stand up against policies which are both unconstitutional and anti-Christ. It is time to resist.”

Conceding difficulties in finding common ground in a divided society, Imam Mahmood said, “Islam emphasizes muʿāmalāt – righteous dealings with others – as a central expression of faith. The Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) lived in a society with extreme differences in religion, class and politics. Despite that, he built coalitions on shared principles of justice and mercy.”

Further, back to the universality of the Golden Rule, Imam Mahmood shared the “widely accepted and accurate rendering of a saying of the Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH): ‘None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”

Finally, the Protestant Rev. Cremer recalled another Old Testament passage that sounds like something uttered on a picket line: “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed, making widows their prey and robbing the orphan.” -Isaiah 10:1-2

 

A few meaningful passages from different faiths

on life, labor and false worship

* "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others, and if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.” – the Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama

* “To observe religious practices, but oppress your workers is false worship.” The Old Testament’s Isaiah 58:3-7

* “To deprive an employee of wages is to commit murder.” = OT’s Sirach 34:26-27

* "In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” – The New Testament’s Matthew 7:12.

* “All workers should be paid a just and living wage.” – NT’s Matthew 20:1-16

* “Those who become rich by abusing their workers have sinned against God.” – NT’s James 5:1-6

* “One should not behave toward others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself.” – the Hindu text (Anusasana Parva 113.8)

* “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.” – the Confucian text (The Analects 15:24)

 

Finally (Proverbs 6:16-19) could be seen as a warning to corrupt bosses, in negotiations or government: “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.”

Congress gets in bed with the NCAA -- against student athletes’ bargaining rights

Just weeks after a Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) lawsuit was settled for $2.8 billion, the overlords at the NCAA got Congress to bend the knee and propose the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act last month.

Its protections for student athletes are mostly NIL – made more confusing by President Trump’s latest Executive Order muddying the waters even more than appeals stemming from the “House v. NCAA” lawsuit.

And organized labor has forcefully added its objections to the opposition from several lawmakers.

“We write in strong opposition to the SCORE Act of 2025 (H.R. 4312),” said the AFL-CIO Sports Council. “Just as we stand up for our members, protecting them against predatory contracts, we would likewise advise our nation’s college athletes to steer clear of the deal that the SCORE Act offers.

“It is a bad deal for athletes.”

The labor federation’s Sports Council includes the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), the NWSL Players Association (NWSLPA) and USL Players Association-CWA (USLPA-CWA), plus the Major League Soccer Players Association (MLSPA) and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), the NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) and the Professional Hockey Players' Association (PHPA).

Its fierce objection to the 30-page bill has four points: It increases the NCAA’s power by exempting the association from antitrust laws, giving “the NCAA and its members the power to collude against their athletes with no recourse available to those athletes.”

Next, it limits student athletes’ right to enter into a NIL agreement if a college or conference decides their interests conflict. Also, the measure “sets a ceiling on athletes’ rights and protections by preempting state laws, and it prohibits the classification of athletes as school employees.

“This provision disempowers college athletes and prevents them from seeking to join together and bargain over issues important to them,” the Sports Council says. “Once a person is deemed to not be an employee, as the SCORE Act would do, they lose all of the rights that could be associated with employment, including the right to organize a union and collectively bargain.”

Oddly, schools and conferences should support athletes’ designation as employees and labor contracts since that would add stability and uniformity to the current confusion. But colleges, conferences and coaches groups support the bill.

The SCORE Act was sponsored by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Gus Biliraki 9r-Fla.) and eight other Republicans, plus two Democrats: Janelle Bynum of Oregon and Shomari Figures of Alabama. It’s been referred to House committees, including Energy and Commerce, with Illinois Congresswomen Robin Kelly and Jan Schakowsky are members. Schakowsky is against the SCORE Act.

“The most important thing right now is the health and safety of our student athletes,” she said. “I don’t think this piece of legislation is the one that will actually do what we need to do to protect our athletes. [Here,] we’re doing more for the NCAA than we’re doing for the athletes themselves.”

Agreeing with Schakowsky are two Washington state lawmakers – Republican Congressman Michael Baumgartner and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell. They said, “The bill entrenches the NCAA’s authority at a time when the NCAA’s governance structure is becoming increasingly dominated by wealthier conferences.

“Second, while we are pleased that college athletes can earn a share of the revenue they generate for their schools, the SCORE Act’s formula for determining the size of revenue shared with players will make it difficult for small and mid-sized schools to compete with wealthy schools. Third, the SCORE Act ignores important national policies regarding college sports. It ignores the explosive growth of women’s sports and how revenue sharing under the ‘House v. NCAA’ settlement may jeopardize these gains and lead to far less money flowing to women’s sports. It ignores the importance of college athletics to the Olympic pipeline. The SCORE Act will inevitably lead to the loss of men’s and women’s Olympic sports as schools are implicitly forced to devote ever more resources to the college football arms race. The SCORE Act also fails to address how conference realignment has changed the map of college sports and the absurdity of sending college athletes coast-to-coast on a weekly basis while foreclosing any opportunity for athletes to have a voice at the table to advocate for themselves as these changes continue to play out.”

The ”House vs. NCAA” settlement would include provisions to compensate athletes who competed in 2016-2024,  and to form a College Sports Commission to enforce rules on NIL deals, revenue-sharing and roster limits (rules yet to be written). However, the day after House Speaker Mike Johnson sent members home for summer recess (possibly to avoid action demanding the White House release files about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein), CBS News reported Trump’s Executive Order plans to establish national standards on his own.

Meanwhile, the non-profit American Economic Liberties Project released its objections to the SCORE Act for several “fundamental flaws”:

* The bill specifically prohibits universities from treating college athletes as employees, ensuring they would never receive the benefits and protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act. This would undo last year’s decision from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the NCAA cannot use “amateurism” as an excuse for denying athletes employment status;

*  The SCORE Act would grant the NCAA an exemption from antitrust laws that the Supreme

Court unanimously denied in “NCAA v. Alston”;

*  Unworkable NIL compensation standards. The Act’s definition of “prohibited compensation” limits college athletes’ earnings;

* Flawed “Pool Limit” system advantages wealthy programs;

* Unfunded mandate on universities;

* Data collection provisions enable wage suppression;

* The bill preempts all state laws governing “the compensation, payment, benefits, employment status, or eligibility of a student athlete.” This deprives states of the ability to govern state-run educational institutions funded by taxpayer dollars and deprives college athletes of protections identified by their state legislators; and

* Limited stakeholder input.

 

The SCORE Act’s future is uncertain. While it could be considered next month, when the House reconvenes – weeks after approving an unpopular budget bill, but seven Senate Democrats would have to join all Republicans for passage there.

'Big Beautiful Bill' is the curse that keeps on cursing

The budget measure that President Trump bullied Congress into passing last month provides a new “spigot” for “trickle-down” nonsense, and regular Americans are still learning how and when they’ll be affected.

Besides cutting SNAP food assistance, expanding a Farm Bill loophole letting farmland owners (as opposed to farmers) benefit even more from federal programs, enacting tax breaks for gun silencers, and revoking countless grants for green-energy projects, dramatic changes in health care loom.

Immediately, Medicare Savings Programs will be harder to enroll in;

next month, grants to states for rural health-care providers will be available – but they’re 10% of what was sought;

on Jan. 1, 2026, premiums for the Affordable Care Act will increase by 15%;

Oct. 1, 2026, legal immigrant will no longer be eligible for Medicaid;

Dec. 31, 2026, will usher in Medicaid re-determination authorization will be mandated at least every six months;

on Oct. 7, 2027, federal funding will decrease for states that expanded Medicaid coverage;

Oct. 1, 2028, will see co-payments for Medicaid increase; and

on Dec. 31,2028, new work requirements will take effect for Medicaid enrollments.

 

It’s all laissez-faire capitalism, meaning “let people do what they want” – with little or no regulations, more privatization and few taxes. A laissez-faire approach assumes wealth eventually will trickle down to the rest of us (which hasn’t worked since Ronald Reagan popularized the concept in the 1980s.)

Of course, it’s not unusual for the GOP to sacrifice everyday workers for fat cats, but the scale of the damage alongside the scope of enriching the wealthy is as enormous and insulting as Republican lawmakers’ devotion to the Bully-in-Chief.

Republicans occasionally respond to reform ideas with accusations of “class warfare,” but they neglect to admit a key detail, which multi-billionaire Warren Buffet explained in 2006: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Jill Schlesinger –an Emmy Award-winning business analyst, author (“The Great Money Reset”), podcaster and network commentator – recently wrote about winners and losers from the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

The biggest winners are the wealthy. “The richest Americans would receive the biggest benefit, instead of losing 2.9% in income like the bottom earners, the top 5% would gain 2.9%. The bill also permanently increases the estate-tax exemption to $15 million ($30 million for married couples), beginning in tax year 2026. This rule obviously benefits the wealthiest families.”

The middle class faces a “mixed bag,” she said, depending on whether you work overtime, rely on tips, or own a home in a high-tax state.

And the bottom 20% of households “lose the most,” she continued, citing the Penn Wharton Budget Model. “Those earning less than $18,000 would see their income reduced by 2.9%, or about $885 in 2030. The reason is that many of these people are not paying much in federal income taxes to begin with, so there's not much to save. But they are likely to get hit by cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, valuable and important benefits on which these families rely.”

(UAW President Shawn Fain was more forceful in his criticism, saying, “The bill that the Republicans passed isn't just bad policy—it's a full-blown attack on America's working class. For the UAW and the millions of workers we represent, four core issues define what it means to live and work with dignity: a livable wage, affordable health care, retirement security, and time to enjoy life beyond the job. On every one of those fronts, this bill delivers nothing but setbacks. [It’s] a brutal agenda: stripping working-class people of security, dignity and power while lining the pockets of billionaires.

“This bill isn't governance,” Fain said. “This is a class war waged from Capitol Hill. It shifts the balance of power even further toward the billionaire class and hollows out the rights and dignity of labor. By passing this legislation, the government is telling working-class families they're on their own while billionaires get even more tax breaks. It's a total betrayal.”)

The U.S. economy will be “a loser,” Schlesinger added,  “This bill is going to cost at least $3.3 trillion over the next decade. According to Wharton, the bill will lower GDP growth over the next 30 years.”

Thomas Kahn, former staff director of the House Budget Committee under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said, “The consequences of this debt explosion are not theoretical — they hurt working Americans. Growing debt pushes prices higher at a time when inflation is already too high. It drives up interest rates for people paying off credit card debt, families trying to buy homes or cars, and small businesses looking to expand. It siphons off trillions in taxpayer money to pay interest to bondholders — money that could otherwise fund education, health care or defense. And it makes our country more vulnerable to foreign adversaries such as China, which owns almost $1 trillion of U.S. debt, and it could wreak havoc on our economy by unloading it.

“The last thing America needs is another multi-trillion-dollar tax cut vastly tilted toward the wealthy, especially one that adds trillions in debt and slashes support for society’s most vulnerable.”

Former WTVP exec seeks lawsuit’s dismissal

On Aug. 22, Judge Timothy Cusack is scheduled to preside over the initial appearance in the lawsuit against former WTVP Finance Director Linda McLaughlin and the estate of the late Lesley Matuszak, the former WTVP CEO, and Cusack is expected to hear arguments by McLaughlin’s lawyer to dismiss the case.

The Cincinnati Insurance Co. in March sued to recover money it paid WTVP for the station’s claim of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars the Peoria Police describe as embezzlement.

Representing McLaughlin, Peoria attorney Philip O’Donnel, in his April motion to dismiss, said the insurer’s claim is “seriously lacking in identified, concrete factual allegations.”

Between 2019 and 2023 police said WTVP funds were misspent through use of the station’s credit card, getting $100,000 from WTVP’s line of credit at PNC, and liquidating $320,000 from the station’s investment holdings. WTVP’s board of directors in 2023 questioned some spending; Matuszak committed suicide and McLaughlin resigned. The two, who’d worked together in similar roles at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Peoria, were never charged. The Peoria Police Department investigation said there was probable cause to charge Matuszak, but she was dead, and “probable cause has not been reached for [McLaughlin’s] arrest, unless she is able to be communicated with,” and police department declined to comment further.

Later, WTVP reported a total loss of more than $870,000.

Among O’Donnel’s arguments to dismiss the suit is that neither the insurer nor WTVP itself “demanded” the return of property police say was improperly taken. Also, McLaughlin’s lawyer said the suit has no foundation to support the assertion that McLaughlin used funds “for her own personal use and enjoyment,” no proof she “willfully misrepresented the financial condition of WTVP,” and no evidence there was a conspiracy between her as Finance Director and Matuszak as CEO.

“Plaintiff appears to make Linda the scapegoat.”

In Cincinnati Insurance’s response, attorney Stuart Brody of Chicago said that no such demand to return misappropriated funds is required under Illinois law, and “the absence of a precise allocation of damages between the two defendants is not a pleading defect,” Brody said, “it reflects the reality that McLaughlin and Matuszak acted in concert.

“These allegations are not mere conclusions, but a concrete narrative supported by facts that satisfies Illinois’ fact-pleading standards.”

Further, Brody said, “The plaintiff is not required to prove their case at the pleading stage. They need only allege sufficient facts addressing each element of a particular claim. All that is required at the pleading stage is that the plaintiff allege facts showing the defendant’s involvement in the wrongful control of the property.”

Proof of McLaughlin’s intent is reserved for trial, Brody continued.

“Plaintiff asserts the fact that McLaughlin knew of the falsities,” he wrote. “Whether or not she actually knew is a matter for trial.”

McLaughlin’s position at WTVP carried responsibilities, Brody added.

“As WTVP’s head of the Finance Office, she directly owed the duty to honestly perform her job,” he said. “In her capacity as head of the HR Department and the Finance Office, she is the person who made misrepresentations to the Board. McLaughlin knowingly presented false financial information to the Board, provided misleading financial statements during board meetings, and falsely certified the accuracy of board meeting minutes and financial documents when in fact said document concealed her fraudulent misappropriation of company funds.”

As to the issue of conspiracy, Brody said the standard for pleading affirmed by the Illinois Supreme Court is that civil conspiracy consists of “a combination of two or more persons for the purpose of accomplishing, by some concerted action, either an unlawful purpose or a lawful purpose by unlawful means.”

Brody said, “At some point in 2019, Matuszak and McLaughlin reached an agreement to carry out fraud. This concerted effort continued until … 2023.”

Brody is seeking denial of the motion to dismiss “so the parties can move forward with written discovery.”

At deadline, there has been no response from attorneys representing the Estate of Lesley Matuszak.

Caterpillar shows internships can be paid

August is time for some college students to check to see if their hoped-for fall internships are still there.

This August is also time to give credit where credit is due on internships – to Caterpillar, Inc.

This spring, Big Yellow hosted hundreds of summer interns from more than 100 colleges for a welcome to Big Yellow at the corporation’s Edwards facility.

Plus, although it may seem to be common sense, Cat is uncommon for PAYING its interns. (About half of all internships are unpaid, according to the Associated Press.)

A Fortune 500 company, Caterpillar should be praised for rising above the ranks of corporate America by paying its interns about $27 an hour, according to the employment search site indeed.com

Internships can be important, a bridge from school work to work-work. At their best, they offer real-life experiences that expand knowledge from classrooms to more tangible applications and marketable skills, plus the start of professional networking (with peers as well as supervisors).

However, internships can also exploit students and be less educational than free help for cheap employers.

“Students who take part in paid internships receive more job offers and garner higher starting salaries than those who participate in unpaid internships,” reports the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), whose most recent survey found that paid interns averaged 1.4 job offers, while unpaid interns averaged 0.9 offers.

Unfortunately, unpaid internships are too often the norm, especially in government, professional sports and non-profit organizations as well as media employers.

“Unpaid internships are a barrier to achieving equity and opportunity for all college students,” said NACE executive director Shawn VanDerziel.

When I was a reporter and NewsGuild union officer at the Peoria Journal Star, there were newsroom interns, but they were paid. It was in our union contract. But when I taught journalism at Western Illinois University, I helped students get internships – and I felt terrible that virtually no newspaper in downstate Illinois paid student interns – who themselves paid tuition and fees for the experience and credit hours.

In the building trades, a parallel to internships is apprenticeships, but virtually all of those union-contractor joint programs compensate their trainees.

For other occupations, prospective interns face a situation almost like indentured servitude, except without the promise of the old “freedom dues” that provided tools, provisions and even land to help indentured servants start independent, self-sufficient working lives afterward.

Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation calls an unpaid internship economy an insidious piece of an “American internship-industrial complex.”

In the book “Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy,” author Ross Perlin’s writes that American employers’ increasing reliance on unpaid and low-paid interns is morally bankrupt and illegal.

Indeed, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has specific criteria for legitimate internships. They must provide training tied to the intern’s formal education, and complement –not replace – the work of paid employees, for example.

Independent groups such as the nonpartisan “Fair Pay Campaign,” organized in 2012, for years have advocated for at least complying with existing statutes.

“We see Democrats talking about a ‘living’ wage while not paying their interns,” said the group’s founder Carlos Vera. “Republicans haven’t made labor a center point of their agenda, yet they in fact pay their interns at a higher rate than Democrats do. Frankly, it’s time for Democrats to practice what they preach.”

Politically, NACE has called for federal action: “We advocate for legislation to eliminate unpaid internships and provide support for employers in converting unpaid internships to paid internships.”

Legally, courts have ruled against some employers for violating the FLSA, including Fox Searchlight Pictures. Others facing lawsuit have included Conde Nast magazines, the Charlie Rose TV show, and the Hearst Corp.

Adam Klein, the plaintiff’s lawyer against Hearst and its magazine Harper’s Bazaar, said, “The practice of classifying employees as interns to avoid paying wages runs afoul of federal and state wage and hour laws.”

Elsewhere, a few colleges, such as Wake Forst, have tried to fill the compensation gap by providing modest stipends to help students cover some of their costs while they work for free.

And some unions are organizing directly. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has a program, Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), which this year has already won six National Labor Relations Board elections not only unionizing hospitals, but workplaces like Whole Foods Market and a warehouse.

It’s past time to reject the backyard dare “Don’t be yellow” and instead challenge cheap or cheating employers is to mimic Big Yellow: Pay interns.

Peoria Black Panther Mark Clark remembered with plaque installation

More than 60 people crowded into the Ward Chapel A.M.E. Church for a dedication and installation of an historical marker about Black Panther Defense Captain Mark Clark. It was held June 28, on what would have been Clark’s 78^th birthday had he not been shot to death by police in a controversial raid on a Chicago Black Panther residence.

The plaque commemorating the program and Clark is a key stop on the Black Panther Party Heritage Trail in Illinois, recognized by the National Register of Historic Places – and the only such marker downstate.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to witness this day,” said the Rev. Dr. Elaine Gordon of the church, who along with pastor Cyrus Burns led the proceedings. “His legacy lives on in perpetuity to inspire generations to come [with] his willingness to take risks, to step outside the norm and do what is right.”

Part of Clark’s doing what was right was establishing a free breakfast program for children operating out of the Ward Chapel church.

Born at St. Francis to a large family, Mark is remembers as a bright, athletic youngster who attended Roosevelt School and was mentored in part by Juliette Whittaker at Carver Center. He eventually was introduced to the Black Panther Party by a California relative and joined the organization.

In the spring of 1969, he organized the Peoria chapter of about 50 Black Panthers and an additional 20 or so regular supporters who helped Clark run the free breakfast program.

Others made brief remarks, people from the NAACP and the City of Peoria (Councilwoman Denise Jackson), but perhaps the most stirring was Gloria Clark Jackson, Clark’s sister and author of the book “Mark Clark: Soul of a Black Panther.”

One of several family members present, Gloria has said it’s vital to correct the false narrative about Clark and the negative stereotype of the Panthers, a need made timely when some powers try to delete facts from public spaces and even schools.

“He was not a troublemaker, but a peacemaker, a freedom fighter,” the family said. “He was part of this life and ministry of this community. He did things [here] when others did not – when people knew it was the right thing to do.”

In the early morning of Dec. 4, 1969, police stormed the Illinois Black Panther Party apartment in Chicago and killed Chairman Fred Hampton and shot Mark in the chest, killing him instantly and causing the gun he’d been holding to discharge as he fell. It was the only gunshot not fired from police. Thirteen years later, much of the truth had come out and his family received a settlement from a civil-rights lawsuit.

After Clark’s Peoria funeral reportedly drew about 1,000 mourners hear Whitaker and others speak, Clark was buried in Springdale Cemetery. But people haven’t forgotten.

“We lost a true servant of the people,” said Leila Willis, executive director of the Historical Preservation Society of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party. “We want to preserve and celebrate the life and legacy of Mark Clark.”