The Rise of the Robot Farmer

Tiny automated machines could soon take care of the entire growing process. Fewer chemicals, more efficient – where’s the downside?

The Mayors and the Movements

In 2015, a wave of social movements lifted left-wing mayors to power in Spain. Their experience in office shows the importance of linking institutional power to bottom-up mobilization.

Democratic Consulting Firm Teams Up With Hospital Indus

A formidable opposition campaign, funded by the hospital industry and led by a prominent Democratic consulting firm, threatens to derail the nurse staffing effort.

Tech Giant Faces Crucial Decision Over Saudi Ties

The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), directed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with its $45 billion commitment, is the single largest contributor towards SoftBank’s Vision Fund.

California NAACP Leader Paid to Oppose Rent Control

California NAACP President Alice Huffman.
The President of the NAACP’s California chapter has a history of leveraging the NAACP brand to line her own pockets. This year she is slated to reap at least $800,000 to oppose a statewide rent control measure on the November statewide ballot.

Friday Nite Videos | October 19, 2018

Moses Updates the Ten Commandments. Canned Heat | Election Blues. Does Saudi Arabia Own Donald Trump? Is President Trump Fascist? Donald J. Trump's Guide to Republican Greatness.

Caravan of 3,000 Migrants Crosses Into Mexico

Illegal immigration to the US from Mexico is much lower than in the early 2000s, but growing numbers of families are fleeing the “northern triangle” of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to escape poverty and violence

Turks Knew About Jamal Khashoggi's Murder in Minutes

It also seems almost impossible that the United States intelligence agencies don’t have most, or all, of the information available to the Turkish authorities.

Threats Be Damned. Black Georgians Are Voting.

It will be choices by voters like these — remaining steadfast in the face of intimidation — that will likely decide what polling data says is a close race for governor between Stacy Abrams and Brian Kemp

The Ballot Revolt to Bring Medicaid to Trump Country

Next month, voters in Utah and Nebraska will decide measures to expand Medicaid and polling suggests they have a good chance of passing. But the Idaho ballot initiative may be the most audacious of them all.
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Culture

poetry

Ice Would Suffice

Risa Denenberg Poem-a-Day
Washington state poet Risa Denenberg writes of the fragility of human life on this imperiled planet while “Our sun winks…/without ambition.”

books

Marx at the Chicken Shack

Mike Davis Verso Blog
A paean to Marx's contemporary relevance, the author argues in an excerpt from his new book that what makes Marx a stranger even to Marxist movements is not simply the difficulty of certain key works and passages, but a series of other obstacles.

books

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

Joshua A Claybourn Compulsive Reader
Reviewer Claybourn says this new biography is likely to become the definitive one of the great 19th Century leader of the African American freedom struggle and champion of democracy.

food

What's in America's Freezer?

H. Claire Brown New Food Economy
Frozen spinach in storage outweighs the Statue of Liberty America has millions of pounds of frozen meat and produce in cold storage. As tariffs threaten to curb international trade, those coffers are about to get a lot more crowded. Here's a look at what they hold right now.

poetry

Amoroleck’s Words

Karenne Wood Markings on Earth
On the anniversary of Columbus’s landing in the Caribbean, Virginia poet Karenne Wood depicts the tragic result for North America’s indigenous people.

Labor

labor

State "Uber" Legislation

Gali Racabi On Labor
State TNC and MC Legislation: Preemption and Employment Status of Drivers

labor

33 Zimbabwean Trade Unionists Arrested Ahead of Nation-wide Protests

People's Dispatch
Police assaulted union members before arresting the president and general secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Unionists have accused current President Mnangagwa of trying to implement neoliberal policies in favour of big business.

labor

UPS Contract "Ratified"?

Dave Jamieson Huffington Post
UPS Drivers Voted Down Their Union Contract, But The Teamsters Are Ratifying It Anyway

Friday nite video

video

Moses Updates the Ten Commandments

With evangelical leaders like Pat Robertson downplaying the death of a journalist in Saudi Arabia, Moses publicly clarifies the meaning of 'Thou shalt not kill.'

video

Does Saudi Arabia Own Donald Trump?

In this video essay, Mehdi Hasan examines Trump’s long history of doing deals with Saudi royals. Mehdi asks: “Does Saudi Arabia own Donald Trump?”

video

Is President Trump Fascist?

Jason Stanley has spent the past decade studying fascism, from Mussolini to Duterte. In this video op-ed, he argues that yes, we should be worried.

video

I Shot the Sheriff | Playing For Change

We invite you to enjoy this classic Bob Marley song, "I Shot the Sheriff" performed live outside by Mermans Mosengo and Ali Boulala in the beautiful Kingdom of Bahrain.