Democrats Are Subsidizing Health Insurance Predators

Democrats want to pay billions to put Americans on expensive corporate health insurance plans rather than expand Medicare or create a public option. It’s a gift to a criminal private insurance industry that needs to be completely abolished.

A Corporate Black History Month is Taking Hold

Instead of transformative changes, we get Black History Month-themed Apple Watches and Black sitcom collections on Netflix

Four More States Float Anti Fossil Fuels Protest Bills

Industry-designed bills to silence climate protests are under consideration in Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota and Montana. More are likely to come.

Myanmar's Resistance Has Produced Inventive Protesting

Even picking up onions and tying shoelaces have become anti-coup activities

Global Left Midweek - February 24, 2021

Street rage and strikes in South Africa, Myanmar, Thailand, and more news from four continents

Manchin Called to 'Do What's Right' and Confirm Haaland

"The opposition to Congresswoman Haaland's confirmation is narrow and guided by money, not the qualifications or historic importance of what the nomination of Deb Haaland will do for this country."

How Wall Street Killed Grandma

20,000 nursing home residents died from 2004 to 2016 because they lived in nursing homes run by private equity firms, according to updated data.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poet, Dies at Age 101

Poet and countercultural pioneer put on trial for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s Howl went on to become a beloved icon of San Francisco

Texas’ Freeze Was One Part of a Long Disaster

How can you recover if the crises never stop?

Media Bits and Bytes - February 23, 2021

Dueling monopolies in Australia, what it means for platform regulation and free speech, and more media news.
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Culture

books

The Dead Are Arising—The Life of Malcolm X

Herb Boyd The Amsterdam News
This award-winning biography mines some hitherto untapped sources, including extensive interviews with members of Malcolm X's immediate family, to present the fullest picture yet of the famed Black Liberation Movement leader.

food

Taking it to the street: Food vending during and after COVID-19

Catherine Brinkley The Conversation
Yusuf Abdullah, one of the city’s horse-cart produce vendors known as arabbers, leads Tony and his cart through the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. Curbside produce vendors often help communities that lack a grocery store to maintain access to healthy, inexpensive food. But long before the pandemic, many cities made it difficult for mobile produce sellers and other street food vendors to operate

tv

Nomadland Turns American Iconography Inside Out

Alissa Wilkinson Vox
Nomadland is a piercing look into a country that’s becoming less and less inhabitable for its older men and women, and more stingy about who gets to dream. And, fundamentally, it’s a poignant portrait of a broken heart.

poetry

High School Production of Les Miserables

Connie Post Ovenbird Poetry
Connie Post’s remarkable poem illuminates how our culture programs us to grieve for soldiers but accept exploitation of young women.

books

Cedric Robinson and the Origins of Race

Minkah Makalami Boston Review
As more of Robinson’s books come back into print, the reviewer argues that reading them with his seminal work Black Marxism can enrich our understanding of racial capitalism and offer additional tools for fighting our present political impasse.

Labor

labor

Sex Workers and Covid

Olivia Riggio The IndyPendent
The pandemic has brought about unique challenges for sex workers. Through organizations such as the Sex Workers Outreach Program and BIPOC Adult Industry Collective workers are addressing those collectively.

labor

Despite Slow Vaccine Rollout, Teachers Are Being Pushed Back Inside

Barbara Madeloni Labor Notes
The pressure to reopen school buildings now, rather than wait until all educators have been vaccinated, exemplifies the reckless disregard for educators’ lives that district administrators and politicians have shown throughout the pandemic.

Friday nite video

video

Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln | Driva Man

The opening track of legendary drummer Max Roach's We Insist! Freedom Now Suite. Released in 1960, this album is the result of a collaboration with lyricist Oscar Brown, Jr. and references both the African American civil rights movement and the independence struggles of African countries. 

video

The Next Pandemic

John Oliver discusses what could cause the next pandemic, what we can do to avoid it, and why you shouldn’t kiss pigs.

video

I Love America | Alfred Howard | Playing For Change

Written and performed by lyricist Alfred Howard. Inspired by an encounter Alfred had with an audience member after he read a piece called "Definition of Patriotism" at an anti-war protest, this poem explores the many things that unite us as a human race.