When Bad Cops Become Private Security Guards

There’s growing evidence that former officers with troubling histories of abuse can easily find second careers in private security.

This Week in People’s History, May 14–20

Historical marker about the 1959 Biloxi, Miss., civil-rights wade-ins
Mississippi Racists Fight Back (in 1959), Bessie Smith, Fortune-Teller (1929), Fortress Germany Unveiled (1939), “The Germans Are Coming!” Or Not. (1919), ¡Karen Silkwood, Presente! (1979), Big Brother’s Listening (1919), Rock Around the Clock (1954)

The Israeli War on Gaza: Post-War Scenarios

The war on Gaza, with all the killing and destruction it has caused, must provide a historic opportunity to start a new path towards a landmark settlement that ends the century-old conflict and achieves stability and peace in the Middle East

Palestine, History: Macklemore v. Hillary Clinton

I have never understood the trope that Israel made generous offers to the Palestinians (it never did) but that the Palestinians rejected them, and therefore the Palestinians should be deprived of all their basic rights forever.

Religious ‘Nones’ Have Soared-Not Number of Atheists

First, what makes an individual more or less likely to identify as an atheist? Second, what makes someone more or less likely to adopt an atheistic worldview over time?

Playing With Kids Is Important for Chimpanzee Mothers

So on this Mother’s Day, consider raising a glass to also celebrate these amazing – and tired – chimpanzee moms.

Supreme Court: Cops Can Steal Your Stuff

By a 6-3 vote, the conservative justices decided that there is no need for the state to provide a preliminary hearing in civil forfeiture cases.

How Bondage Built the Church

Rachel Swarns’s recent book about a mass sale of enslaved people by Jesuit priests to save Georgetown University reminds us that the legacy of slavery is simultaneously the legacy of resistance

Who Created the Israel-Palestine Conflict?

It wasn’t really Jews or Palestinians. It was the U.S. Congress, which closed American borders 100 years ago this month.

What Latin American Lit Can Teach Its Current Leaders

Ariel Dorfman Has Some Recommendations for Culturally Illiterate Presidents and Autocrats
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Culture

The Food Blogger Cooking Through Gaza’s Hunger Crisis

Sarah Aziza Bon Appetit
In a refugee camp, Hamada Shaqoura turns aid packages into pizza wraps, curry, and “Gazan style” tacos, gaining internet-wide attention. On Instagram, he offers the world a glimpse into the scarcity and ingenuity that define Palestinian survival.

poetry

Undone

Michelle Morin Canary Literary Review
South Dakota poet Michelle Morin takes a super-long view of climate change, with or without us.

books

The Illiberalism at America’s Core

Julian E. Zelizer The New Republic
A new history argues that illiberalism is not a backlash but a central feature from the founding to today.

food

The Refillery Is Coming for Your Grocery Store Routine

Kate Ray Taste Cooking
At package-free stores you bring your own container, weigh it, and fill it with the amount of rice or walnuts or Peanut M&Ms that you want to take home. In the bigger context of the zero-waste movement, do these refilleries actually mean anything?

Labor

labor

Organize the Unorganized

Benjamin Y. Fong Jacobin
A limited series podcast covering the 1930s rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and its legacy.

labor

More Than 400 Lab Professionals at LabCorp Win a Union

Stand Stand
The lab professionals employed by the medical lab services company, LabCorp of America, held a union election from March 1-3 where 434 workers voted to join together in a union with the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals.

labor

Organizing the South: We Look Back To Move Ahead

Ben Wilkins Convergence
Taken together, the history, economy & ruling ideology of the US South make it difficult to build workers’ power. But armed with the lessons from the CIO’s Operation Dixie, & fueled by the momentum of recent victories, organizers see a way forward.

Friday nite video

Gaza, Gaza

Probably the most famous actor in Germany, Dieter #Hallervorden, sides with the people of Gaza and for a peaceful future for Israel

video

Smoking Is Awesome

Smoking is way more than a physical addiction; it creates a temporary problem and offers an instant solution. One drag and instantly you feel really good.