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books

What She Saw at the (Political) Revolution

Jason Schulman New Politics
An eyewitness account of the 2016 Sanders presidential insurgency that weighs its electoral successes against its ability to form the core of social and economic movement resistance to capital.

books

Right Hooks: Trump and the Anatomy of the Alt-Right

Michael Hirsch The Indypendent
The book traces the myriad links between the far right, from Fox News, Tea Party activists, militia supporters, new media trolls, White Nationalists, resurgent Klan members and self-proclaimed Nazis to Donald Trump, where each piggybacks on the rest in honing messages and growing their influence. While the author spends little time referencing left and progressive forces opposing the right's resurgence, his work is exhaustive in researching the phenomena.

books

Trump's Itchy, Twitchy Finger

Scott McLemee Inside Higher Ed
Focusing mainly on Trump's first year in office, the authors emphasize what they call a pattern of systematic reaction, where growing voter frustration regularly drives each party in and out of control. Trump arrived with scant political capital, amassed little and appears to have no strategic competence going forward. While the authors believe Trump can develop one, the essayist faults the authors for offering nothing but wishfulness to back up the assumption.

The Importance of the Fight for the South -- and Why It Can and Must be Won

Bob Wing and Stephen C. McClure Organizing UpGrade
The far right, racism, militarism, inequality, and poverty are all centered in the South. The majority of African Americans, the main protagonist of progressive politics in this country, live in the South. And the South has more electoral votes, battleground state votes, population, and congresspersons than any other region. The South is changing rapidly, giving rise to more progressive demographic groups - especially Black and Latino migrations...

Tidbits - September 14, 2017 - Reader Comments: Environmental Racism; Puerto Rico; DREAMers; What to Do When White Supremacists March; Support NFL Players; Hillary Book Debate; Myanmar; Vietnam; Life After the Soviet Union; Austria Update; Announcements;

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Reader Comments: Environmental Racism; Puerto Rico Hit by Irma, Hedge Funds; Defend DREAMers; What to Do When White Supremacists March; Support NFL Players Who Kneel; Hillary Book Debate; Myanmar; Vietnam; Life After the Soviet Union; Maine Indian children; Austrian Political Update; Syria to Buy Iranian Power Generators for Aleppo; Announcements; and more...

The Threat to American Elections You Don’t Know About But Should

Nicole Austin-Hillery, Sen. Chris Coons Brennan Center for Justice
Many Americans don’t realize that 10% of Americans who are fully eligible to vote don’t have the right form of identification to satisfy new voter ID laws. They don’t notice that DMVs and early-voting places have been closed only in certain neighborhoods, disproportionately impacting communities of color. They don’t realize that after Shelby County, even the most egregious laws often aren’t blocked until after an election, when the damage has already been done.

Trump’s Constitutional Crisis

David Cole New York Review of Books
This is a constitutional crisis. The only way forward is to ensure an independent and credible investigation—whether by a special prosecutor or a select congressional committee or both—into the Russian meddling and the administration’s efforts to obstruct the inquiry into the Trump campaign’s ties to it. The notion that Trump and Sessions took action against Comey because of his unfairness to Clinton may be the most brazen effort at “fake news” or “alternative facts” yet

labor

Labor Unions Appear Set for More State-Level Defeats In 2017

Todd Bookman and Brett Neely All Things Considered, National Public Radio
If New Hampshire, Missouri and Kentucky succeed in enacting "right-to-work" bills, it would be the most states rolling back union power in one year since 1947, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Success in New Hampshire would also make it the first state in the Northeast with a "right-to-work" law. The bills are a further reflection of organized labor's falling clout. Just 10.7 percent of American workers belonged to a labor union in 2016.
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