Tuesday, June 30, 2020
BSA—Resource Guide
BSA—Resource Guide: The official writings, videos, and more that BSA recommends all Socialists explore, regardless of skin color.
'The worshipping of whiteness': why racist symbols persist in America | World news | The Guardian
'The worshipping of whiteness': why racist symbols persist in America | World news | The Guardian: Tributes to a checkered past exist all over the US, even as Confederate statues are removed and brands reconsider racial stereotypes
Why scientists say wearing masks shouldn’t be controversial | Science News
Why scientists say wearing masks shouldn’t be controversial | Science News: New data suggest that cloth masks work to reduce coronavirus cases, though less well than medical masks.
We Need a Public Health Revolution
We Need a Public Health Revolution: n a matter of weeks, Covid-19 has irrevocably changed society’s expectations about the role of government in protecting health. The nature of the threat — which is likely to endure in one form or another until an effective vaccine can be developed, mass-produced, and then efficiently administered on a large scale — has left the global population highly dependent on state intervention to guarantee its physical safety and in many cases its economic livelihood. In the UK, as in other countries, the legitimacy of our system of government now rests on its ability to institute proportionate and effective measures to avoid excessive numbers of deaths while allowing some forms of essential economic activity to continue.
In one short shock, this crisis has overturned the neoliberal notion that individuals are best placed to manage and navigate risk in the modern world, while government is there to simply nudge us, and to steer and shape the market environment to meet our preferences. This shift is profound and destroys the excessively narrow conception of ‘health policy’ which has come to dominate thinking about the role of government in relation to the health of the population.
This conc
In one short shock, this crisis has overturned the neoliberal notion that individuals are best placed to manage and navigate risk in the modern world, while government is there to simply nudge us, and to steer and shape the market environment to meet our preferences. This shift is profound and destroys the excessively narrow conception of ‘health policy’ which has come to dominate thinking about the role of government in relation to the health of the population.
This conc
The Tar Sands, the Pandemic, and the Keystone XL Pipeline are One Disaster Not Waiting to Happen
The Tar Sands, the Pandemic, and the Keystone XL Pipeline are One Disaster Not Waiting to Happen: Despite these setbacks, TransCanada recently secured multibillion-dollar loans from the province of Alberta and the U.S. federal government. Using these funds, the corporation began construction on the pipeline in April 2020, well into the COVID-19 pandemic’s rampage across the globe. Since oil workers have been deemed essential by both Canada and the U.S., those building the pipeline are exempt from the continued border closure, prompting concerns about potential transmission of the virus.
Far from heeding legal requests to halt construction of the pipeline due to the pandemic, in April, TransCanada’s CEO Russ Girling openly cited COVID-19 as a key component of the corporation’s plan to accelerate construction. Not long afterward, the Alberta government’s energy minister, Sonya Savage, publicly celebrated the pandemic as an opportunity to push the project through at a time when large public gatherings are not permitted.
“Now is a great time to be building a pipeline, because you can’t have protests of more than 15 people,” Savage said on a local podcast. “Let’s get it built.”
Indeed, a global tragedy seems to be providing the Keystone XL project with a moment of promise. The N
Far from heeding legal requests to halt construction of the pipeline due to the pandemic, in April, TransCanada’s CEO Russ Girling openly cited COVID-19 as a key component of the corporation’s plan to accelerate construction. Not long afterward, the Alberta government’s energy minister, Sonya Savage, publicly celebrated the pandemic as an opportunity to push the project through at a time when large public gatherings are not permitted.
“Now is a great time to be building a pipeline, because you can’t have protests of more than 15 people,” Savage said on a local podcast. “Let’s get it built.”
Indeed, a global tragedy seems to be providing the Keystone XL project with a moment of promise. The N
14 Trump White House and Cabinet Officials Have Attended ALEC Events - CREW
14 Trump White House and Cabinet Officials Have Attended ALEC Events - CREW: With Trump’s recent attacks on protestors pushing for racial justice, ALEC’s connections to policies that have disproportionately harmed people of color deserve renewed scrutiny.
Monday, June 29, 2020
How do far-right domestic terrorists recruit youth?
The Great Meme War - VICE TV: Ben reveals memes are the Alt-Right’s powerful weapon in America’s culture war.
Disinformation, Coronavirus, and the 2020 Presidential Election | Right Wing Watch
Disinformation, Coronavirus, and the 2020 Presidential Election | Right Wing Watch: A project of People For the American Way
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Watch Hellertown, Pennsylvania Full Episode - Divided States | A&E
Watch Hellertown, Pennsylvania Full Episode - Divided States | A&E: A fight between students at a Pennsylvania high school leads to assault charges and an investigation into a racist video posted on Snapchat.
Native Americans and Mount Rushmore | American Experience | Official Site | PBS
Native Americans and Mount Rushmore | American Experience | Official Site | PBS: The Black Hills are sacred to the Lakota Sioux, the original occupants of the area when white settlers arrived.
Mark Burns | Right Wing Watch
Mark Burns | Right Wing Watch: A project of People For the American Way
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Say No to Pinkwashing | BDS Movement
Say No to Pinkwashing | BDS Movement: Pinkwashing is an Israeli government propaganda strategy that cynically exploits LGBTQIA+ rights to project a progressive image while concealing Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies oppressing Palestinians. For decades, Israel’s colonial and apartheid regime has robbed, oppressed, ethnically cleansed, impoverished, imprisoned and killed Palestinians, queer and non-queer
How to Annoy the Far-Right - VICE Video: Documentaries, Films, News Videos
How to Annoy the Far-Right - VICE Video: Documentaries, Films, News Videos: The best way to knock a racist is to annoy them - just ask Jamali Maddix.
Friday, June 26, 2020
100 Reasons Trump Is Unfit to Be President - The Bulwark
100 Reasons Trump Is Unfit to Be President - The Bulwark: The Bulwark is a news network launched in 2018 dedicated to providing political analysis and reporting free from the constraints of partisan loyalties or tribal prejudices.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Alice Notley, from For The Ride
Behold. Now is the time to save us!
It’s that some voice, of words, says it! Words themselves want to be saved.
World is coming to an end means, Word is coming to an end.
In the global warming destruction of one’s species as is known,
loss of language as one is the whole show. Build an ark of words.
-- Alice Notley, from For The Ride
Noam Chomsky: “Trump Is the Worst Criminal in History, Undeniably”
Noam Chomsky: “Trump Is the Worst Criminal in History, Undeniably”: In an interview, Noam Chomsky talks about the “absolutely unprecedented scope and scale” of the protests against the police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the importance of Lula’s presidency in Brazil, and why Donald Trump is “the worst criminal in human history.”
Monday, June 22, 2020
What is a turtle dove? - Operation Turtle Dove
What is a turtle dove? - Operation Turtle Dove: Turtle doves are the UK’s fastest declining bird species and they are threatened with global extinction (IUCN Red List of Endangered Species). Turtle doves are a vibrant, dainty species of dove (weighing in at around 140 grams) with a charismatic turrrturrr-ing call from which its name derives (click here to listen). Trends since 1980 show that populations of turtle doves across much of Europe have undergone moderate to serious decline. But this is as nothing compared with the rapid and almost total loss in the UK. https://www.operationturtledove.org/turtle-doves/what-is-a-turtle-dove/
Anti-Slavery Manuscripts
Anti-Slavery Manuscripts: Anti-Slavery Manuscripts invites volunteers to transcribe documents from the American abolitionist movement, working together with the Zooniverse community and the Boston Public Library.
The Virus: What Went Wrong? | Watch S2020 E1 | FRONTLINE | PBS | Official Site
The Virus: What Went Wrong? | Watch S2020 E1 | FRONTLINE | PBS | Official Site: Watch full-length episodes of PBS documentary series FRONTLINE for free. The Virus: What Went Wrong? - As COVID-19 spread from Asia to the Middle East to Europe, why was the U.S. caught so unprepared?
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Hubris syndrome: An acquired personality disorder? A study of US Presidents and UK Prime Ministers over the last 100 years | Brain | Oxford Academic
Hubris syndrome: An acquired personality disorder? A study of US Presidents and UK Prime Ministers over the last 100 years | Brain | Oxford Academic: ‘The history of madness is the history of power. Because it imagines power, madness is both impotence and omnipotence. It requires power to control it. Threaten
Time to take back our trains
Time to take back our trains: Grant Shapps and Rishi Sunak have a decision to make
Saturday, June 20, 2020
25 Animal Bridges That Are Saving Wildlife Across The World
25 Animal Bridges That Are Saving Wildlife Across The World: Animal bridges, or wildlife crossings, are natural-looking structures over highways that provide wildlife safe passage across busy roads.
Americans shell out over $8 billion annually for vehicle-animal collisions.
Americans shell out over $8 billion annually for vehicle-animal collisions.
Adopt a Prairie Dog | Wildlife Adoption | Defenders of Wildlife
Adopt a Prairie Dog | Wildlife Adoption | Defenders of Wildlife: Prairie dogs are burrowing animals that live in large colonies made up of close-knit family groups called coteries in the grasslands of central and western North America. They are considered a keystone species because their vast network of colonies create
Friday, June 19, 2020
Democracy & Z : NPR
Democracy & Z : NPR: Democracy & Z is a student podcast, developed in collaboration with our friends at Elementz. The podcast features young people from communities across our listening area, sharing their unique Gen-Z perspective on issues like immigration, gun violence and the environment.
The BLMC Podcast - Mass Action For Black Liberation | Listen Notes
The BLMC Podcast - Mass Action For Black Liberation | Listen Notes: Current events and issues facing the movement for Black liberation in Cincinnati and around the world. - News podcast from United States
Fundraiser by Cecilia Padilla : Cincinnati Relief Fund
Fundraiser by Cecilia Padilla : Cincinnati Relief Fund: We have made a google form, linked below, for folks who are in need of community assistance whe… Cecilia Padilla needs your support for Cincinnati Relief Fund
Thursday, June 18, 2020
COVID-19 Strike Wave Interactive Map – Payday Report
COVID-19 Strike Wave Interactive Map – Payday Report: We have identified over 763 wildcat strikes that happened since the beginning of March. Between March 1st and May 31st, we recorded over 260 strikes. Since June 1st, we have recorded approximately 500 additional strikes in a little over two weeks since May 31st. In the last two weeks, these...
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Rewilding Knepp
So inspiring! “If we are to be properly humble in our use of the world,” Wendell Berry writes, “we need places that we do not use at all.”
Violence Against the Transgender Community in 2019 | Human Rights Campaign
Violence Against the Transgender Community in 2019 | Human Rights Campaign: As HRC continues to work toward justice and equality for transgender and gender non-conforming people, we mourn those we have lost.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Well... this combines my favourite things, so i'm addicted!
Bird Library – Feeding the birdbrains of Virginia: Feeding the birdbrains of Virginia
Ulysses : James Joyce : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Ulysses : James Joyce : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive: Librivox recording of Ulysses, by James Joyce. Read by Librivox volunteers. Still considered one of the most radical works of fiction of the 20th Century,...
Origins of the police | Works in theory
Origins of the police | Works in theory: New urban working classes in the 19th century resisted their masters through strikes, riots and slave revolts. The masters responded by inventing the cops.
Monday, June 15, 2020
In case you didn't know.... global insect populations are f**ked
FoEE cloud: FoEE cloud - EU Transparency Register no. 9825553393-31
Kroger unmasked - Popular Information
Kroger unmasked - Popular Information: Kroger, the nation's largest chain of grocery stores, has publicly embraced the Black Lives Matter movement, pledging to "better support our Black associates, customers, and allies." Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, in a video posted to Twitter, said Kroger needs "to express we are against racism and injustice in the black community" and said the company was allowing "associates to openly share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences with discrimination."
The Coronavirus: Biopolitics and the Rise of ‘Anthropocene Authoritarianism’ — Russia in Global Affairs
The Coronavirus: Biopolitics and the Rise of ‘Anthropocene Authoritarianism’ — Russia in Global Affairs: If the lesson of the global response to the Coronavirus is that humanity itself is the problem, then Anthropocene Authoritarianism looks set to pose a…
(80) Making sense of the social and political impacts of coronavirus - YouTube
(80) Making sense of the social and political impacts of coronavirus - YouTube: Professor Brad Evans from the Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies speaks about the Quarantine Files - a project he coordinated bringing...
The Sickness of Reason - The Philosophical Salon
The Sickness of Reason - The Philosophical Salon: There was a sickness out there. And it struck us down with silence. Even when people were in close proximity, their voices were notably quieter. It was like the world ... Read More
The Sickness of Reason - The Philosophical Salon
The Sickness of Reason - The Philosophical Salon: There was a sickness out there. And it struck us down with silence. Even when people were in close proximity, their voices were notably quieter. It was like the world ... Read More
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Saturday, June 13, 2020
When will Utica’s and Herkimer’s Statues Celebrating Slavers be Taken Down?
When will Utica’s and Herkimer’s Statues Celebrating Slavers be Taken Down?: by Brendan Maslauskas Dunn Propelled by the rebellion that has swept the nation following the police killing of George Floyd, on June 7th demonstrators in Richmond, VA – the Confederacy
Russell Brand, Henry Giroux and Brad Evans on Fighting Fascism
Russell Brand, Henry Giroux and Brad Evans on Fighting Fascism: The left must embrace education as a tool against fascism.
Moyers, 'A New Story for America'
America needs something more right now than a “must-do” list from liberals and progressives. America needs a different story… the leaders, and thinkers, and activists who honestly tell that story and speak passionately of the moral and religious values it puts in play will be the first political generation since the New Deal to win power back for the people… The right story will set our course for a generation to come…
Tell it – for America’s sake.
Bill Moyers, “A New Story for America” (2006)
Friday, June 12, 2020
Was Churchill a racist? Oh yes!
Was Churchill a racist? Oh yes!: As Winston Churchill is fawned over by politicians fifty years after his death, Annette Mackin looks at the legacy of the man who was beaten by Mr Bean in a poll of great Britons
The racist history behind 10 US Army facilities named after Confederate leaders, explained - Vox
The racist history behind 10 US Army facilities named after Confederate leaders, explained - Vox: Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, Fort Hood, Fort Lee, and more US Army facilities were named after Confederate leaders. The Army may soon change the names.
Abraham Lincoln on radical generation
On December 1, 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, just weeks before he was to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Annual Message to Congress, saying:
Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history… The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We – even we here – hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free – honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.
It Is Later than You Think: The Need for a Militant Democracy....
The basic story in the American past, the only story ultimately worth the telling, is the story of the struggle between the creative and the frustrating elements in the democratic adventure...
Every generation needs to know what it is fighting against, whom it is fighting with, what it is fighting for…
At critical stages in the struggle with plutocratic control, there have been upsurges of democratic strength…
To me the most important development in the radical movement does not lie in its replacement of capitalism for fascism as the tyrant-symbol, nor even in its Popular Front tactic… It lies in its rediscovery of the past…. We have looked back to history, and we have found a usable past – and one that we can call ours. And such a discovery of the past, if it is sincere and deeply experienced, may set us on our own path to the future.
– Max Lerner, It Is Later than You Think:
The Need for a Militant Democracy (1938)
Every generation needs to know what it is fighting against, whom it is fighting with, what it is fighting for…
At critical stages in the struggle with plutocratic control, there have been upsurges of democratic strength…
To me the most important development in the radical movement does not lie in its replacement of capitalism for fascism as the tyrant-symbol, nor even in its Popular Front tactic… It lies in its rediscovery of the past…. We have looked back to history, and we have found a usable past – and one that we can call ours. And such a discovery of the past, if it is sincere and deeply experienced, may set us on our own path to the future.
– Max Lerner, It Is Later than You Think:
The Need for a Militant Democracy (1938)
Black Lives Matter Is More Popular Than Donald Trump
Black Lives Matter Is More Popular Than Donald Trump: National support for Black Lives Matter has soared — while President Donald Trump’s approval rating has plunged ten points in a single month. The movement for racial justice is more popular than Trump's presidency.
Thursday, June 11, 2020
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Republicans Only Want Certain Cops on the Beat
Republicans Only Want Certain Cops on the Beat: Republicans are simply outraged at calls to defund the police. But for years, they've had no problem defunding the agencies tasked with enforcing laws against the world's most hardened, powerful criminals: corporations.
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Monday, June 8, 2020
Sunday, June 7, 2020
People of color will be a majority of the American working class in 2032: What this means for the effort to grow wages and reduce inequality | Economic Policy Institute
People of color will be a majority of the American working class in 2032: What this means for the effort to grow wages and reduce inequality | Economic Policy Institute: In 2032, people of color will become a majority of the American working class, defined as people without a college degree. Since nearly two-thirds of the U.S. labor force is working class, policies aimed at raising working class living standards are critical to tackling wage stagnation and economic inequality. Working people from diverse groups must recognize that they share more in common than not, and work together to achieve a higher minimum wage, universal high-quality child care, criminal justice reform, and other overlapping goals.
Resource Guide: Prisons, Policing, and Punishment - Micah Herskind - Medium
Resource Guide: Prisons, Policing, and Punishment - Micah Herskind - Medium: “Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the worlds you cannot live within.” This resource guide offers introductory sources on policing, prisons, and…
Saturday, June 6, 2020
Betsy DeVos Made More Than $56 Million Last Year - CREW
Betsy DeVos Made More Than $56 Million Last Year - CREW: Betsy DeVos reported up to $100 million or more in income last year while serving as the Secretary of Education, according to a review of her personal financial disclosures.
Friday, June 5, 2020
The Bail Project | Freedom should be free.
The Bail Project | Freedom should be free.: The Bail Project is a national nonprofit organization that pays bail for people in need, reuniting families and restoring the presumption of innocence. Because bail is returned at the end of a case, donations to The Bail Project can be recycled and reused to pay bail two to three times per year, maximizing the impact of every dollar.
Amiri Baraka | STOP KILLER COPS – BLACKOUT ((poetry & politics))
Amiri Baraka | STOP KILLER COPS – BLACKOUT ((poetry & politics)): Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) During the Newark Riots, July 14-1967 [by Fred W. McDarrah] Shortly after the 1965 publication of his novel The System of Dante’s Hell, Amiri Baraka – then …
Thursday, June 4, 2020
Big Banks
There are five big banks, four big airlines, one dominant social-media company, one maker of EpiPens. A small set of institutional investors—BlackRock, Fidelity, Vanguard—holds stock in a vast percentage of public companies, so even sectors that look somewhat competitive are less so than they appear. CVS and Walgreens, for instance, have a strikingly similar set of major shareholders. The same is true for Apple and Microsoft. Such business concentration is a leading cause of inequality and wage stagnation.
Note on unemployment
Unemployment is an integral part of the ‘normal’ capitalist system. Those out of work should be offered either a job or accredited training, and paid at least the living wage, with priority given to work that helps shift towards a low-carbon future economy. However, as an economic rule, reduction in unemployment shifted the balance of power at work sharply towards workers, which in turn provoked a reaction from employers who feared not so much the loss of profit as the loss of control; in effect, a loss of the conditions under which profits can be produced. Any guarantees of future employment should arrive without compulsion, and with the conditions the worker organizations sets out – safe conditions, proper pay, and socially useful work.
Johnson and Impeachment
Lincoln's assassination left America with an openly white supremacist president, Andrew Johnson who had been a slaveholder, opposed Reconstruction and voting rights for Blacks, and showed up drunk on inauguration day. After meeting Johnson, no less an authority on character than novelist Charles Dickens declared him “a man not to be turned or trifled with. A man (I should say) who must be killed to be got out of the way.” William Teignmouth Shore, Charles Dickens and his Friends (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library, 1909), p. 296. Anthony Trollope attended his impeachment trial.
LOOTED: note on CARES Act
The CARES Act only protected homeowners from foreclosure who were covered with federally-backed (a.k.a. “agency”) mortgages, and was conceived so badly that it gave further encouragement to the systemic threat that mortgage service firms pose. Even if homeowners themselves weren’t required to make payments under the CARES Act, servicers – overgrown collection agencies – like Quicken and Freedom still had to keep paying the bondholders every month.
Servicers tricked customers into skipping the forbearance program, telling homeowners that even if they thought they were getting a bailout break, they would still have to make it all up in one balloon payment at the end of the deferral period. As we found out in 2008, homeowners facing servicer disruptions can immediately be confronted with all sorts of problems, from taxes going unpaid to payments vanishing to incorrect foreclosure proceedings taking place. Such problems can take years to resolve. A likely scenario would involve their businesses being swallowed up by big banks, perhaps with the aid of incentives tossed in from yet another bailout package.
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Betsy DeVos Is Looting Public Schools | Opinion
Betsy DeVos Is Looting Public Schools | Opinion: The secretary's directives to divert CARES Act funds to private schools abandon America's commitment to help those most in need and defy the very framework of her job.
Erik Prince Recruits Ex-Spies to Help Infiltrate Liberal Groups - The New York Times
Erik Prince Recruits Ex-Spies to Help Infiltrate Liberal Groups - The New York Times: Mr. Prince, a contractor close to the Trump administration, contacted veteran spies for operations by Project Veritas, the conservative group known for conducting stings on news organizations and other groups.
Monday, June 1, 2020
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