“Childless Cat Ladies” and the GOP’s Right-Wing Media

The GOP’s far-right infotainers have become a critical GOP power center that its aspiring politicians must court if they wish to rise within the party ranks. That's a problem for the GOP.

RFK Jr and Trump: Vaccines Are a Success Story

Vaccines have saved many tens of millions of lives in the last 50 years. Nevertheless, misinformation leads many people to reject or be denied their benefits. These are some of the top false vaccine stories purveyed by RFK Jr and similar 'skeptics.'

The Decimation of Gaza’s Academia

With thousands of faculty and students likely killed and campuses destroyed, Palestinian universities in the Strip are barely surviving Israel’s scholasticide.

The First Atomic Explosion, 16 July 1945

Before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was Trinity, the first, test-run atomic explosion in the New Mexican desert. The fallout is still with us, literally and figuratively, 79 years later. This is the story of Trinity, based on declassified documents.

Netanyahu’s Bellicose Congressional Address Draws Scorn

'Our enemies are your enemies,' the prime minister insisted, setting up confrontation with Iran. He didn’t present as someone on the verge of signing a ceasefire deal to end the war and free the Israeli and American hostages.

How Israel Plans To Whitewash Its War Crimes in Gaza

The Israeli army uses the veneer of internal accountability to fend off external criticism. But its record reveals how few perpetrators are punished. Every day, more and more horrifying evidence emerges, revealing what many Israelis seek to repress.

The One V.P. Pick Who Could Ruin Democratic Unity

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is a leading candidate to be Kamala Harris’s running mate. Selecting him would fracture the party.

Vance’s Paean to Blood and Soil

Ours is a nation built upon a set of ideas — ideas not rooted in bloodlines and burial plots but in values and ideals. Anyone who doesn’t understand something so fundamental about the United States is unfit for high office.

July 25,2024-Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements

Reader Comments: Passing the Torch; Calling All Students Going Off to College -- Get Your Absentee Ballots Now; Bernice Johnson Reagon; Ending Taxes On Tips; Record Breaking Corporate Profits - Not Inflation; March To End Climate Destruction-July 27

Couple Rejected As Foster Parents Because of Religion

A Jewish couple were rejected as foster parents because of their religion. This is the future Project 2025 envisions: ‘a biblically based’ definition of marriage and to protect adoption agencies that only work with Christians.
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Culture

poetry

Voyage to Outer Space

William Trowbridge Birmingham Poetry Review
Midwest poet William Trowbridge has a good eye for bargain real estate, perhaps a good reason to stay on Earth.

books

We Can Breathe!

Gabriel Winant London Review of Books
The fascinating history of how the antifascist movement of the 1930s created "the left" as we know it today. Joseph Fronczak shows how socialists, liberals, communists, anarchists, and others achieved a semblance of unity in the fight against fascism

books

The Patriarchs: How Men Came To Rule

Nicoleta Ciubotariu LSE Review of Books
This book "explores the origins of patriarchy, debunking biological determinism and highlighting the role of nation building, social norms, and violence in embedding gender inequality into societies."

food

How the Potato Changed the Course of World History

Matthew Wills JStor.org
The potato is native to the Andes, where it’s been cultivated for at least 4,000 years. Historian William H. McNeill contends that the potato fundamentally changed world history. European armies marched on what they foraged locally even if it meant peasants starved to death as a result.

poetry

On Thin Ice

Anne Gruner New Verse News
The poets says doomsday: climate heat is serious business, coming sooner than you think.

Labor

labor

A Return to Gompers

Dustin Guastella Jacobin
Teamster president Sean O’Brien’s speech at the Republican National Convention may represent a return to nonpartisan realpolitik for unions. But does that reflect labor's strength or its decline?

labor

O’Brien Played Into Trumps’ Phony Pro-Worker Rebrand

Alexandra Bradbury Labor Notes
We get why union leaders want “access”; they’ve been shut out of real influence for so long. But it’s delusional to think that Trump might swap out his anti-worker—really, anti-humanity—policies; they are at the core of his being

Friday nite video

Fox's Kamala Problem

“Cackling,” “ho,” “ditsy,” “bimbo,” “DEI Vice President.” Right-wing media’s favorite jabs against Harris and why they're misfiring this time.

Private Equity Is Coming for Gaming

Investors flocked to buy up video game studios during the pandemic. We get glitchier games and fewer workers are forced to put in inhumane hours.

video

The GOP Wants Us To Forget

Donald Trump accepts the GOP nomination in a rambling speech, following Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock

video

Delta's Illegal Union-Busting Habit

Delta cargo workers move thousands of pounds each day, in brutal heat and bitter cold, for low wages with little time off. Now they’re on the verge of a historic union victory.