Have We Found Life on Planet K1-18b?

Astronomer Carl Sagan asserted that ‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.’ What precisely does that mean? And does the evidence of life on a distant planet recently detected by the James Webb Space Telescope meet that challenge?

Walden Bello: Lessons From History

Walden Bello’s memoir wrestles with tough questions of political strategy and radical ethics in a world full of uprisings, wars, obscene inequality, and aggressive counter-revolutionary movements.

How Black Women Are Resisting Now

Black women are rejecting narratives that suggest their lack of visibility since November 5 translates into inaction.

MADRE’s Global Legacy of Organizing and Solidarity

There are moments in history when liberatory movements are ascendant, and moments when we are constrained. Staying mobilized in these moments of constraint or backlash is critical.

It Didn’t Start with Donald Trump

Sending people to another country didn't start with Donald Trump, but with George W. Bush in the War on Terror, called "extraordinary rendition." “Extraordinary” when it occurs outside of normal legal strictures, as with Abrego García today.

Friday Nite Videos | April 25, 2025

Who's Breaking Immigration Law: Not Who You Think. Trump & Tariffs | John Oliver. Amateurs Solve a Famous Computer Science Problem. Trump Administration Arrests Judge. 20 Lessons on Tyranny | Read by John Lithgow.

The Surprising Brain Benefits of Vaccines

New research suggests routine immunizations may help reduce dementia risk

Larry David: My Dinner With Adolf

Larry David (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm) spoofs the fawning "book report" Bill Maher delivered on his show, Real Time With Bill Maher, describing Maher's amicable dinner with Donald Trump.

In Kyiv, our Reality Is More Dead Civilians

At the scene of the deadliest attack on our capital this year, I see the war on Ukraine is still very real – and Putin shows no signs of ending it

Whither American Catholics?

The Church in the U.S., as in much of Europe, is shrinking. In exiting the Church, liberals and radicals and the just plain disgusted have left in their wake a right-wing laity and priesthood arrayed against liberalism’s embrace of the marginalized.
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Culture

poetry

Small Ode to Joy

Charlotte Muse At the Corner of Hope and Despair
Poet Charlotte Muse knows this life is fleeting, and yet it is the sweetest comfort in the face of political and social chaos.

books

‘Infinite License’

Omer Bartov The New York Review of Books
An Israeli-American historian of Holocaust and Genocide Studies covers the dynamic of a Jewish state that has thrived on Holocaust roots, how that legacy has been exploited becoming an apartheid state, a practitioner of genocide of Palestinians

Labor

labor

Three Times Workers Resisted Fascism in Minnesota History

Amie Stager Workday Magazine
Workers have a long and storied history of resisting attempts to pit them against each other. We found examples specific to Minnesota’s labor movement, which has a militant legacy that can be learned from today.

labor

AFT Welcomes New Affiliates, Hard-Fought Contracts in Higher Ed

Virginia Myers American Federation of Teachers
The AFT’s higher education affiliates have been generating a flurry of activity: This fast-growing sector of our union has two brand-new affiliates, at Ohio University and Nevada State University

labor

Shawn Fain: We Need a Political Movement for Workers

Shawn Fain Jacobin
United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain explains his union’s position on tariffs and argues that we need a political movement that puts working-class people first to address the current political crisis in the US.

Friday nite video

video

Who's Breaking Immigration Law: Not Who You Think

Corporations are bringing in hundreds of thousands of foreign farmworkers under the H-2A visa program: basically a human trafficking scheme — to replace farmworkers who unionize and fight for higher pay.

video

Trump & Tariffs | John Oliver

John Oliver discusses the ongoing chaos surrounding Donald Trump and tariffs, why the past week could have lasting repercussions, and why your grandma might be looking to start an OnlyFans.

video

20 Lessons on Tyranny | Read by John Lithgow

Now, more than ever, we need the wisdom of our intellects, the patriotism of our citizens, and the passion and talents of those who still believe in the American experiment.

video

Palantir: The New Deep State

Specialists in surveillance, they’ve been hired by the Department of Defense, the FBI, ICE, and even Wendy’s. Now DOGE will likely hire Palantir as well.