Status Sunday: Big Workers Win, State Dept Turns Commando, Reckless FDA Drug Approval
Our weekly newsletter covering what the corporate media covers up...on Sundays.
Happy Sunday! Welcome to the Status Coup Sunday newsletter — your antidote to corporate media’s silence on the real corruption and injustice shaping our world.
Every Sunday, we’re bringing you a curated look at the week’s most important underreported stories and a round-up of key moments from our hard-hitting ON-THE-GROUND reporting few others are doing. As the LEADING independent outlet covering ON-THE-GROUND the stories corporate media covers up —we rely on your support to keep our journalism alive (and grow!). We need more viewers to SUPPORT US as paying members in order to continue. Support SC for as low as 16 cents a day ($5 a month).
And now, onto the stories the corporate media won’t touch!
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Leaked State Department Memo Reveals “Radical Reorganization”
Nicolae Viorel Butler reported for Dropsite News on an alarming leak from the State Department. The 136-page memo lays out “a vision of the State Department stripped of its traditional diplomatic, human rights, and cultural programs — and recast as a command-driven, security-first bureaucracy.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Congressional Note 25-032 is set to be implemented by July 1, and apparently remains unseen by most of Congress (Dropsite could only find one member who had seen it). This will be a “radical reorganization” of the U.S. Diplomatic Corps—eliminating over 100 offices and thousands of jobs—while dismantling longstanding programs tied to free speech, women’s rights, and cultural exchange. Somewhere, far away *”Proud to be an American” is blaring in the background.
The Failures of the Liberal Protest Movement (Sorry, not sorry, Maddow!)
Ahead of the liberal-aligned “No Kings Day” protest (which yours truly will be covering ON-THE-GROUND in Washington D.C. on June 14!), Evelyn Quartz reflects on the failures of the liberal protest movement for The Lever.
Quartz writes: "For the liberal professional class, protest has become a political project, one that reasserts their moral authority while defending their position within a crumbling order. By framing the crisis as a breakdown of norms rather than a reckoning with power, they avoid harder questions: Who holds real influence? How is it maintained? What would it take to change it? In this framework, resistance becomes symbolic performance — an expression of virtue and identity, not a confrontation with the systems that govern us”(it’s an excellent read and articulates a lot of what we’ve observed on-the-ground).
Quite a stark contrast from what’s happening in the South of France where, on Thursday, port workers represented by the General Confederation of Labor blocked a shipment of 14 tons of military equipment designed for Israel—and stateside in Kansas City where striking tenants withheld rent for 247 days before claiming a major victory. Liberals, take note!
After 196 Days on the Line, Southern California Kaiser Mental Health Workers Win Big Against Union-Busting
After 196 days on strike, 2,400 Southern California Kaiser mental health workers won a hard-fought victory amid a national mental health crisis. Members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers secured 20% raises over four years, a revamped pension, and more than double the guaranteed patient care time. Despite no staffing guarantees or full pay equity with Northern California, they broke through Kaiser’s union-busting and delays, backed by broad union and political solidarity, and claimed a major win for mental health care and labor power.
Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” Sneaks in Giveaway for Chilean Mining Billionaire — with Ties to the Trumps
A last-minute addition to Trump’s “Big Beautiful” bill would overturn a Biden-era ban and greenlight Chilean billionaire Andrónico Luksic’s $2 billion Twin Metals mining project on protected Minnesota federal lands despite federal warnings of irreversible environmental harm. From 2017 to 2021, while Luksic rented a D.C. mansion to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, he sued the U.S. government to push the project forward. Not so shockingly, the Trump administration approved the leases a year later. The provision heads to the Senate after years of lobbying. The sudden Twin Metals approval fits a broader agenda by the Trump administration to revive stalled mining projects (Drill, baby, drill!) and hasten the climate collapse.
FDA Fails Patients with Drugs Approved Without Proof
A deep dive by Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee reveals the FDA has approved hundreds of drugs — including many cancer treatments — without solid proof they work, often based on weak or surrogate data. These approvals, fueled by pharma lobbying, has let ineffective, sometimes harmful drugs flood the market. Lenzer and Brownlee detail the story of Nieraj Jain, a 60-year-old woman who lost her eyesight to a drug called Elmiron. Not only has Elmiron been linked to rare eye damage, it was put to market despite showing no better results than placebo. From 2013 to 2022, 73% of new drugs failed the FDA’s own standards, with experts warning the agency now prioritizes industry profits over science and patient safety. It’s almost as though healthcare and a for-profit model are incompatible. 🤷🏻♀️
The War on (Pro-Palestine) Free Speech
The FBI secretly obtained a search warrant to dig through a Columbia student’s Instagram over alleged Hamas support, part of a growing federal crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices; meanwhile, ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt is smearing campus speeches like MIT’s student body president’s as incitement to violence paving the way for censorship and surveillance; while Dr. Rupa Marya is suing UCSF for firing her over her outspoken support for Palestinian rights, exposing a broader campaign to silence dissent and protect power under the guise of public safety.
The Working People’s Economy
Jobless claims just hit an eight-month high, corporate layoffs are rising, and everyday Americans are getting slammed by sky-high rents, grocery bills, and vanishing support systems. And in more news we didn’t need a poll to tell you, a new poll shows Democratic voters overwhelmingly want a populist agenda that calls out corporate greed and corruption, not the “abundance” theory currently being pushed by toxic Centrists. But instead of Fighting the Oligarchy like Bernie, all Democrats offer up is surface-level messaging while hemhorraging young voters in the process. As NextGen America’s Victoria Yang warns, if the party won’t take on the billionaire class, they’ll lose a generation to apathy — or to the right-wing outrage machine.
On Our Burning Planet
Following the wildfires that blazed through California earlier this year, families are turning to fire-resistant SuperAdobe homes; insect populations collapse in once-protected forests; Trump slashes climate programs, greenlights Big Oil’s carbon capture scams, and axes NOAA and heat safety experts just before hurricane season and what’s expected to be a record-breaking summer; while 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into Baltimore’s harbor.
And for some rare good news, unionized construction workers make quiet gains in clean energy — fighting to ensure the green transition doesn’t leave workers behind.
Status Coup ON-THE-GROUND
Reporting from the front lines of protest, resistance, and working-class struggle! While corporate outlets stay glued to press briefings and recycled narratives, we’re in the streets — documenting what’s really happening and handing the mic to the people forced to fight back. Status Coup doesn’t parachute in when a story trends — we show up, week after week, where power is being challenged and lives are on the line. (You can support that work here!)
Here’s some of what we’ve seen and captured lately:
Tina-Desiree Berg reported in LA as ICE launched citywide raids rounding up undocumented immigrants — and brutalizing protesters and journalists who got in their way. "I’m still f*cked up from all the chemical weapons, I can't stop coughing," Tina told Jordan following her on-the-ground coverage.
Video-journalist, Jon Farina, infiltrated Chuck Schumer’s event for his new book, Antisemitism in America: A Warning, at the New York Public Library where the senate minority leader was heckled by Pro-Palestine protesters shouting, "Genocide is your legacy!"
Jon Farina captures a violent clash between Pro-Palestine protestors and Zionists outside of Brooklyn College’s graduation ceremony.
And more from the great Jon Farina who covered the Stand Up Against ICE Kidnappings Press Conference where elected officials and community organizers came together to demand real protections under the New York for All Act — legislation that would block local law enforcement from collaborating with ICE and stop the targeting of immigrant communities through the disclosure of immigration status.
And that is only a small fraction of the ON-THE-GROUND reporting we’ve done lately. You can find more here.
And that’s it for this Sunday’s edition of the Status Coup Newsletter! Thanks for spending your Sunday morning with us! And remember, this is not the last you’ll hear from us today: Status Sunday airs at 1 p.m. EST today and we hope to see you there!
-Ashley
In addition to regular writing on Substack brought to you by Jordan and I, we’ve been doubling down on our presence across TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky, and Facebook—so if you want unfiltered updates, dispatches from the frontlines, and exclusive social media content follow us now.
Excellent coverage of the week's news and Status Coup's coverage !!!
Does our planet even have any hope of surviving the human race? 2000 gallons of fuel into the ocean?? In addition to all the other pollution from the genocide, we have no hope of fixing things until we slow the military industrial complex activity.