Friday Nite Videos | September 12, 2025

Measles and Polio Down in the Schoolyard | Music Parody. The Real Problems with America’s Health. European Security Depends Upon Ukraine. The Mamdani Campaign Presents A Dramatic Reading. We Got 18,000 of Jeffrey Epstein’s Emails.

Bolsonaro Joins a Rogues’ Gallery of Coup Plotters

When defeated at the polls, both Donald Trump and Bolsonaro tried to overturn the official results. Both attempted to alter vote totals after they had lost and block an election winner from being inaugurated. Bolsonaro faces 27 years in prison.

Appeals Court Judges Publicly Admonish Supreme Court

“They’re leaving the circuit courts, the district courts out in limbo,” one judge said during appeals court oral arguments that turned into a venting session about the high court’s terse emergency rulings.

The Other End of the Weight Spectrum: Very Thin People

Researchers are exploring why some individuals are naturally super-lean and may struggle to gain weight. The causes of such constitutional thinness offer clues to the physiology of weight control.

Did Trump Just Declare War on the American Left?

While others were praying for a sane conversation around how to end the rapidly escalating problem of violence, for the President and Stephen MIller it was about the American right under siege—and what Trump was going to do about it

Far Right Blaming the Left For Charlie Kirk’s Shooting

The attack on the conservative activist Wednesday garnered an outpouring of rage online. Is this our Reichstag moment, similar to what took place in Germany in 1933?

Five Key Questions on Israel's Strike in Doha

Many details surrounding the IDF's airstrike on a Hamas leadership meeting in Qatar remain unclear – including the level of U.S. involvement, the fate of the 20 living Israeli hostages and if Qatar will return to its mediator role.

Electing a Socialist in New York City

What socialism really means is public services for the public good. Using government to socialize the things that can help everyone, rather than allowing the private market to run everything in a way that preys on the public for private gain.

What I Got Wrong About D.E.I.

Math teaches us that D.E.I. initiatives should be about carefully defining metrics we use to measure how far people have come, thus how far they have the potential to go. They should be about uncovering when some people are constantly running uphill

Reader Comments & Tidbits, Sept 11, 2025

Readers Comments: Dept of War, Trump War on All People of Our Country; In Memory of Melissa Hortman; More Martin Niemöller; Mainstream Democrats; Epstein Files and Domestic Violence; MAGA Influencers Rehabilitating Hitler; Block the Bombs Act-Sept 15
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Culture

poetry

Los Vecinos

Alison Luterman
Poet Alison Luterman offers us lessons in neighborliness.

books

Marx’s Last Studies

Charles Reitz Marx & Philosophy Review of Books
Between 1879 and 1882, Marx studied the latest research and writing on communal clan-based social formations around the globe, focusing on the changing nature of land ownership and gender and family relations within these societies.

film

Caught Stealing Is a Wild and Violent Romp

Eileen Jones Jacobin
Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing sees the typically pretentious auteur shift gears toward fun and violence in late 1990s NYC. It’s a throwback to gritty 1970s filmmaking but set in the Giuliani era — the perfect setting for downwardly mobile 2025

books

One Nation, Not Under God

Stephen Rohde Los Angeles Review of Books
This book was first published in 2019 and is a classic whose relevance has only grown over time. Reviewer Rohde offers a detailed tour of this important work.

Labor

labor

Solace, Resistance, Action at APALA’s 2025 Convention

Paige Hazen The Stand
The APALA Convention served as a reminder that although there is a long way to go before the labor movement reaches its potential as the strong defense it could be against attacks on immigrants, there exists a start within our own communities.

labor

How To Fight the Boss and Authoritarianism

Alex Caputo-Pearl Jacobin
In preparing to strike, United Teachers Los Angeles learned how to build broad backing for common-good goals and prepare for nonviolent action to achieve them — lessons that can be used in the fight against rising authoritarianism.

labor

Raid of Hyundai EV Plant in Georgia

Jessica Corbett Common Dreams
A spokesperson for South Korea's foreign ministry said that "the economic activities of our companies investing in the US and the rights and interests of our nationals must not be unfairly violated."

Friday nite video

video

The Real Problems with America’s Health

MAHA? How unhealthy is the United States? Some key figures show how the US compares to other countries in life expectancy, early deaths and chronic disease.

video

European Security Depends Upon Ukraine

It is a mistake to consider Ukrainian security as an issue separate from the construction of a new European security order, where Europe can defend itself without the United States

video

We Got 18,000 of Jeffrey Epstein’s Emails

Bloomberg’s Jason Leopold and Ava Benny-Morrison with host David Gura on the massive trove of emails — what they tell us about Epstein, his powerful network, and Ghislaine Maxwell

video

The Most Corrupt Stock Traders in Congress

How do members of Congress get so rich? Hint: they're scoring record returns in the stock market, raising questions about their use of insider information.