Congress Must Act for the Common Good

The health, economic well-being, and very lives of the American people depend upon Congress putting people over profit and enacting a bold and far-reaching relief package now.

The People’s Bailout: New Center for the Resistance

The conveners of the People’s Bailout have gained political initiative by crafting an empowering framework and pushing it out to tens of thousands ready to agitate and organize.

An Empire in Disarray: Time for a New Party?

If the (Democratic) Party continues to resist real change, then is the time ripe for a third party after the election? Calling for this new party, I represent no organization nor any mass base; just an old-timer with...historical perspective.

The Radical Work of Healing: Fania and Angela Davis

When I learned about restorative justice, it was a real epiphany because it integrated for the first time the lawyer, the warrior, and the healer in me.

This is a Global Pandemic – Let’s Treat it as Such

This is not the time to pull up the (national) hatches and speak simply of the fight against the virus inside our own borders.

New Pathogen, Old Politics

We should be wary of simplistic uses of history, but we can learn from the logic of social responses.

Red America Is Becoming a ‘Democracy Desert.’

The GOP’s decade-long war on voting rights is making it harder to hold fair elections as COVID-19 spreads

1918-2020, Race Colors America’s Response to Epidemics

A look at how Jim Crow affected the treatment of African Americans fighting the Spanish flu

Trump: Global Pandemic a Good Time to Be a Bully

Millions of displaced Venezuelans are at enormous risk in Latin America, and Trump’s decision to threaten the Maduro regime right now is going to make things much worse.

In the Footsteps of Beethoven’s Final Symphony

During this dark and horrible moment here and across the globe, I’ve been sending out a streaming version of the Following the Ninth to anyone who might find it useful, an uplifting message in a bottle as it were. — KERRY CANDAELE
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Culture

food

We Are All Irrational Panic Shoppers

Helen Rosner The New Yorker
On social media, shoppers across the country have been sharing pictures of grocery stores' denuded shelves and shopping baskets overflowing with random groceries.

poetry

On Living

Nâzım Hikmet poets.org
This extract from Nâzım Hikmet’s poetry speaks to the real crisis in these times of trouble.

books

Populism of the Left?

Federico Finchelstein Critique & Praxis
A prominent scholarly critic of the Far Right and its populist pretensions weighs in on an equally problematic stance: the unfortunate valorization of a left populist orientation.

music

I Have Joined the World in Mourning - Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis Slipped Disc
My daddy passed away last night. We now join the worldwide family who are mourning grandfathers and grandmothers, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers- kinfolk, friends, neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances and others.

books

Los Angeles Is Burning

Sasha Frere-Jones Bookforum
This is a new history of the radical and emancipatory movements of the 1960s, as those struggles emerged in and helped define Los Angeles during that era.

Labor

labor

Working or Unemployed, Construction Workers Are Screwed

Hamilton Nolan In These Times
With no firm national standards about shutting down construction projects as the coronavirus stalks the nation, building trade unions and their members are facing a grim multidimensional crisis.

labor

Shut Down Non-Essential Construction

Lauren Sugerman Submitted to Portside
It is impossible for any contractor, project owner or union steward to monitor the protection of each worker to the fullest under these conditions.

labor

In Memoriam: Healthcare Workers Who Have Died of COVID-19

Medscape Editor Medscape
Women places a flower next to a photo of Dr. Li Wenliang As front-line healthcare workers care for patients with COVID-19, they commit themselves to difficult, draining work and also put themselves at risk of infection. More than 100 throughout the world have died.

labor

What Should be Done for Workers' Rights During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Left MEPs in the European Parliament GUE/NGL Website
European Left calls for social benefit protections for all migrant and contingent workers, increased pay for health care, transport, food service, postal and other essential workers, and defense of the right to strike during the pandemic

labor

Some Instacart, Amazon Workers Strike as Jobs Get Riskier

Alexandra Olson and Mae Anderson Associated Press
Some Instacart and Amazon warehouse workers have walked off the job to demand greater safeguards against the coronavirus, even as both companies are speed-hiring hundreds of thousands of new workers to handle a surge in delivery orders.

Friday nite video

video

'My House' | Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys captures the feel of everyday life in quarantine in a way that will make every listener's day a little better

video

Sailors Cheer Fired Navy Captain Brett Crozier

Captain Brett Crozier was relieved of his command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after raising concerns about coronavirus cases aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

video

Samuel L. Jackson Says Stay the F**k at Home

While Jimmy Kimmel is in quarantine, he checks in with the great Samuel L. Jackson at his home. Sam delivers an important message to everyone - “Stay the F**k at Home!”

video

Trump Wants to Reopen America | Seth Meyers

Seth takes a closer look at the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak and the president and some his allies saying we should care more about the stock market than saving lives