Schumer and Fetterman Are All For the Billionaire Heist

While the senators claim to be fighting for the working class, their actions—like voting for a government funding bill that slashes social spending while protecting corporate interests—show they’re just focused on keeping the same old machine running

A Strategy for Social Self-Defense

Trump’s MAGA juggernaut has many vulnerabilities. But these will not automatically lead to its downfall. That will require an active struggle to defend society against the MAGA assault — it will require in short, “social self-defense.”

Decolonizing Palestine in a Post-American Century

Why South Africa's ambassador was ousted, why USAID isn’t coming back, and the perils and possibilities facing the Global South in the months and years ahead

Media Bits and Bytes – March 18, 2025

MAGA media mishigas

Learning From the Courage of the Civil Rights Movement

Many on the Left are wondering what to do against the Trump administration’s vicious assaults on workers, immigrants, and free speech. We can look to US civil rights activists, who kept taking great risks even after demoralizing setbacks.

This Week in People’s History, Mar 19–25

1935 newspaper with headline Harlem Uprising Reveals Misery
Rioters in Harlem Win Concessions (1935), A Big Win for White-Collar Strikers (2000), A Century of Classroom Censorship (1925), Witch-Hunt Targets Get a Very Belated Apology (1980), The Long Road from Selma (1965)

Don’t Wait Out Four Hard Years: Speak Truth to Power

These are dangerous times. Scientists globally must stand together for sound science and resist bigotry, bias and hate. To honor one of its core values — a commitment to the truth wherever it might lead — scientists must stand up when DEI matters.

Don’t Forget the History of COVID in Prison

The pandemic bared the cruelty of prison in new ways. It was a lost opportunity to move away from mass incarceration.

Trump and Musk Getting Spanked in the Courts

Some 25,000 federal employees will be back at work Monday. Look beyond Capitol Hill: The resistance, in fact, is strong.

Destruction of Ukraine Dam Consequences

Breach of Kakhovka Dam now threatens seasonal floods thick with toxic heavy metals, other pollutants
Read more

Culture

poetry

He Left Me Hundreds

Florence Weinberger In the Black, In the Red: Poems of Profit $ Loss
Poet Florence Weinberger contemplates what her husband, an Auschwitz survivor, left behind.

Labor

labor

Unionizing UnitedHealthcare

Benjamin Y. Fong Jacobin
The largest NLRB union election win in February was at the primary care group Optum Care, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare. The vertical integration of health care has brought frustrating consequences for health workers, who are now organizing

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.

Friday nite video

video

Why the US Has Birthright Citizenship

The short answer is that birthright citizenship in the US came about as a way of granting citizenship after the American Civil War to the large population of formerly enslaved Black people

video

Oligarchs Are Our Modern Day Kings

Elon Musk has clarified that we live in an oligarchic society. Billionaires dominate the economy, the media and government. Ruling classes have always believed these things are theirs by right.

video

Blood Moon, Trump Trade War, MAGA Stock Market

A federal judge ordered thousands of fired federal workers to be re-hired, Republicans don’t like the Department of Education, and Trump has been systematically alienating our allies

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.