Trump Administration Fires Half of Ed Department Staff

"Trump and Elon Musk have aimed their wrecking ball at public schools and the futures of the 50 million students."

An Inequality Tale of Two Capital Cities

In one, lawmakers are taxing the rich. In the other, they're rushing the rich a free pass at tax time.

Wisconsin Lesson: The Stealthy School Voucher Threat

The message from Wisconsin to other states considering so-called voucher or private school “choice” programs: Beware. Well-funded right-wing forces have their eyes on dismantling our public schools.

Democrats Must Defend Mahmoud Khalil

Individual Democrats have made strong statements against the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil. The bulk of the party and its leadership has offered silence or mealymouthed equivocation.

Global Left Midweek – March 12, 2025

Women worldwide speak as one

Cuba Sends Doctors, the US Sends Sanctions

The United States calls Cuba’s medical internationalism "human trafficking" — but it’s really an internationalist lifeline for the Global South.

Columbia Activist Was The Public Face of Protest

Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident of the United States, was arrested in his Manhattan apartment and sent to Louisiana. His detention sets up a fight over free speech.

How Trump Is Robbing America of Its Greatest Strengths

While Trump fixates on the symbols of 19th-century power, he systematically dismantles the infrastructure of 21st-century American influence.

The Need To Protect Direct Democracy

Citizens in half the states have the power to place initiatives or referendums on the ballot. That process is under threat, but in an era of partisan gerrymandering and unresponsive legislatures we must keep it viable.

Dispatches From the Culture Wars – March 11, 2025

Filling in for services under attack
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Culture

books

The Missing Persons of Reconstruction

Joshua D. Rothman The New Republic
Enslaved families were regularly separated​. A new history chronicles the tenacious efforts of the emancipated to be reunited​ with their loved ones.

Labor

labor

Massive Layoffs at the Department of Education Erode Its Civil Rights Division

Jodi S. Cohen and Jennifer Smith Richards ProPublica
The Office for Civil Rights’ locations in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco are being shuttered, ProPublica has learned. Offices will remain in Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

labor

WNBA Athletes Are Done With Being Underpaid

Jack Bedrosian Jacobin
The WNBA is more popular than ever. On the back of this success, and with rival leagues threatening to outbid it by offering athletes higher pay, the WNBA’s union has decided to use its strong position to renegotiate a contract for better pay and ben

labor

Trump Is Launching an Assault on Social Security

Branko Marcetic Jacobin
Despite his previous rhetoric to the contrary, it’s clear that Donald Trump is trying to finally be the one to successfully carry out the long-standing GOP goal: destroying Social Security.

labor

Postal Workers Brace for Trump’s Wrecking Ball

Alexandra Bradbury Labor Notes
“As a true unionist in my blood, withholding labor is always an option. I’m not scared of it. A general strike of all federal workers and postal workers would show the country what’s going to happen if they dismantle everything.”

Friday nite video

video

A Sad Moment in American History

In aligning himself with the dictator of Russia, Vladimir Putin, Trump is not only undermining the independence of Ukraine and its democracy, but showing us the kind of corrupt, oligarchic society he wants the United States to be. 

video

The Town Elon Musk Took Hostage

Elon Musk sold hope to this Texas town, one of the poorest communities in America. Instead, SpaceX has caused earthquakes and rampant workplace injuries, while securing millions in corporate welfare.

video

No Other Land | Oscar-Nominated Movie

Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel's occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist. Too hot for any streaming service, but you can watch it in theaters.

video

Clean Slate | Prime Video

This heartfelt Norman Lear comedy follows an old-school car wash owner in Alabama who has a lot of soul searching to do when the child he thought was a son returns as a proud, trans woman, Desiree