#TalkRadio – December 9: Confronting The Challenges of Our Times: The Wrongs of the Trump Administration and the Robert’s Supreme Court

Hi Igniters For Change! The Igniting Change Radio Show on Tuesday, December 9th, 2025, from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time, entitled “Confronting The Challenges of Our Times: The Wrongs of the Trump Administration and the Robert’s Supreme Court.”, will be live with Radio Show Co-Hosts and Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC) Co-Leaders Attorneys Barbara Arnwine, Esq. and Daryl Jones, Esq. and will feature special guest Dr. Karen McRae. Show Hosts, Barbara Arnwine and Daryl Jones, Esq., will be joined by TJC Board Member Dr. Karen McRae to examine some of the worst recent actions of the Trump Administration and horrific decisions of the Robert’s Supreme Court. Topics to be examined include: The US Department of Education delisting nursing as a profession for purposes of obtaining governmental loans; the Lawlessness of the Caribbean Boat Bombings; the Supreme Court’s Texas Redistricting decision; The Jasmine Crockett Senatorial Bid; and Supreme Court failure to review the Texas book banning case; and, more.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decided to uphold Texas’s newly drawn congressional map on December 4th, 2025, in a 6–3 ruling, allowing the state to use the map for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections despite a lower federal court finding the map constituted an illegal racial gerrymander (Sherman, 2025; Gerstein & Kanu, 2025). The Supreme Court’s majority argued that the District Court had “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith” and “improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign” by issuing its ruling after the candidate filing period had begun (Sherman, 2025). This action reversed the November 18th, 2025 ruling by a federal court in El Paso, Texas, and temporarily blocked by SCOTUS on November 21st, 2025, which had barred the use of the map (Cohen & Schouten, 2025; Sherman, 2025). The map, enacted on August 29th, 2025, was drawn after the Department of Justice explicitly demanded racial redistricting, resulting in districts that critics argued hit specific racial quotas with surgical precision, such as achieving 50.2%, 50.3%, and 50.5% minority Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP), a measure of the minority population eligible to vote (Wang, 2025; Sommerman, McCaffity, Quesada & Geisler, 2025).

Representative Jasmine Crockett has announced her campaign for the U.S. Senate in Texas, shifting the dynamics of the Democratic primary after Colin Allred dropped his Senate bid to run for the 33rd Congressional District (Aggressive1999, 2025; Birenbaum, 2025). Early survey results conducted from November 21st through 26th, 2025, indicate that Representative Crockett faces a challenging position, starting with a 40% unfavorable rating compared to 33% favorable among all voters, despite possessing the highest name recognition among potential Democratic candidates (Clermont, 2025). This unfavorability rate is similar to that of prominent Republican figures like Ken Paxton and John Cornyn, and nearly half of those surveyed (49%) stated they would definitely not vote for her (Clermont, 2025). In hypothetical matchups against Republican incumbents, Crockett trails both John Cornyn (49% to 41%) and Ken Paxton (50% to 42%), highlighting the difficulty for Democrats in winning a statewide election in Texas, a feat last achieved in 1994 (Aggressive1999, 2025; Clermont, 2025).

On Monday, December 8th, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge regarding the removal of 17 books from public libraries in Llano County, Central Texas, effectively ending a long-standing legal fight led by seven county residents against a campaign of coordinated censorship (Nguyen, 2025). This refusal, for which the Supreme Court provided no reason, leaves standing the ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals which held that the First Amendment does not guarantee a right to receive information in this context (Nguyen, 2025). The decision was sharply criticized by organizations like PEN America, a nonprofit that tracks book bans, which argued that leaving the ruling in place threatens fundamental free speech principles and permits state and local governments to exercise ideological control (Nguyen, 2025). The books removed addressed topics of race and gender, including “Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen” and “They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group,” several of which were on a list compiled by a former state representative identifying objectionable titles (Nguyen, 2025).

The Maryland redistricting debate intensified after Governor Wes Moore announced the creation of the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission on November 4th, 2025, signaling an effort by state Democrats to consider redrawing congressional lines ahead of the 2026 elections, potentially to offset Republican gains in other states (NBC News, 2025; The New York Times, 2025; Alsobrooks, 2025). The goal is controversial even within the Democratic Party, as State Senate President Bill Ferguson opposes mid-decade redistricting, warning of the risk of legal challenges and the potential to lose seats, echoing concerns stemming from a 2021 attempt to create an 8-0 map that was rejected by a state court for illegal partisan gerrymandering (WYPR – 88.1 FM Baltimore, 2025; Cox & Shepherd, 2025; WYPR – 88.1 FM Baltimore, 2025). Maryland Republicans responded on November 13th, 2025, by announcing The Fair Districts for Maryland Act, a bill intended to standardize the process as a once-a-decade event tied strictly to the census, arguing the Governor’s efforts are highly partisan and ignore unaffiliated voters (Baylor, 2025). During the Redistricting Advisory Commission meeting on December 5th, 2025, numerous citizens testified both for and against redistricting, viewing it either as a necessary defensive act against national authoritarianism or as a dangerous power grab (WYPR – 88.1 FM Baltimore, 2025; WYPR – 88.1 FM Baltimore, 2025). Proponents of redistricting outnumbered those in opposition at the December 5th Hearing. A final hearing will be held on December 12th, at which both Daryl Jones and Barbara Arnwine are scheduled to testify.

The Say Her Name campaign marked its 11th anniversary on December 14th, 2025, continuing the movement established in December 2014 by Kimberlé Crenshaw, founder of the African American Policy Forum (AAPF), to combat the erasure of Black women, girls, and femmes (a term encompassing Black women, girls, and gender-nonconforming people) from discussions on police brutality (AAPF, 2024; Dawson, 2024; AAPF, n.d.-b; Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, Andrea J. Ritchie, Rachel Anspach, Rachel Gilmer & Luke Harris, 2015). The movement uses an intersectional framework to highlight how Black women experience gender-specific forms of state violence, such as sexual assault by police, and are overlooked in anti-Black violence narratives, despite studies indicating Black women are disproportionately vulnerable to police encounters (Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, Andrea J. Ritchie, Rachel Anspach, Rachel Gilmer & Luke Harris, 2015; AAPF, n.d.-b). Even as the campaign entered its second decade, the foundational frameworks that underpin its advocacy, such as critical race theory and intersectionality, were noted to be facing external political challenges (AAPF, n.d.-b; AAPF, 2024; Wikipedia, n.d.-a). Consequently, the core focus of the movement remains the commitment not only to speak the name of victims but also to “#TellHerStory” and build a unified community committed to education, amplification, and demanding justice and accountability in the face of ongoing systemic violence (AAPF, n.d.-b; AAPF, 2024; Dawson, 2024).

The Department of Education (DOE), following mandates within the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), has reclassified graduate nursing programs as “non-professional degrees,” a policy shift taking effect on July 1st, 2026, which significantly limits federal loan access for students pursuing advanced nursing degrees (Powell, 2025; Ruiz, 2025; Roberson, 2025). Under the new rules, graduate nursing students, including those in Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs, will face a lifetime federal loan cap of $100,000 (with an annual limit of $20,500), and lose access to Graduate PLUS loans that covered the full cost of attendance, including living expenses (Powell, 2025; American Nurses Association, 2025; Roberson, 2025). In stark contrast, fields like medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and law maintain their “professional degree” status, retaining higher borrowing limits of $200,000 lifetime (Powell, 2025; Telles, 2025; Roberson, 2025). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and other critics argue that this policy ignores decades of professional progress and exacerbates critical workforce shortages of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), nurse midwives, and nurse educators, often disproportionately affecting women and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who rely on these funds for education (AACN, 2025; Ruiz, 2025; Ms. Editors, 2025; Roberson, 2025).

U.S. Navy operations targeting alleged drug trafficking vessels off the coast of Venezuela, linked to the Caribbean naval deployment Operation Southern Spear, began in earnest in early September 2025, with President Trump justifying the destruction of these boats by claiming they were operated by “narcoterrorists” moving illegal substances. By December 3rd, 2025, at least 22 boats had reportedly been sunk under the authority of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, despite counter-evidence from federal intelligence agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) suggesting that Venezuela is overwhelmingly absent from the primary supply chain for fentanyl reaching the U.S.. Although Venezuela serves as a transit country for a minor portion of cocaine traffic, the increased U.S. deployment and the designation of smugglers as “unlawful combatants” raised serious questions about the legality of the attacks. The Venezuelan Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs denounced the operations, including an “illegal incursion” by U.S. combat aircraft, which they argued violated the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and led the Venezuelan government to announce a formal complaint to bodies such as the United Nations Security Council.

See Full Reference List here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jylgkNMf3iJH1vHlWTNIx0X7K0BchaWQ32uTVsL40-M/edit?usp=sharing

(Note: this summary was constructed and sourced with the help of AI, and extensively directed, researched, reviewed, refined, and then partially rewritten by TJC.)

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