Portside

Traditionally state vaccination policy and school vaccine mandates have been as close to a nonpartisan issue as we have in this country. There has usually been broad bipartisan support for such mandates and the idea that children should be vaccinated in order to attend school. It’s a consensus that has served the country well for many decades now. What I fear is that this consensus is breaking down, and—even worse—school vaccine policies are becoming a partisan issue.

During the Great Depression, a period of vast unemployment and underemployment, at least over a million—Joe Dunn thinks in terms of maybe almost 2 million—individuals, Mexican nationals and American citizens of Mexican descent, were swept up and expelled out of this country.

Populism is an ideological chameleon—often supplemented with whatever authoritarian, nationalist or socialist inclinations held by those leading the particular movement—populist victories can (and often do) manifest in all manner of terrible ways around the world. Other times, they change the political realm for the better.

As Justice Kennedy writes: “Yet the law responds to proper evidence and valid inferences in ever-changing circumstances, as it learns more about ways in which its commands are circumvented.” This is a strong signal to lower courts not to apply prior cases formalistically or mechanically, but to ferret out unconstitutional racial gerrymanders that take ever-evolving form.

Since April 2015 Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza has waged a war on independent media, accusing journalists of “fighting the government” and creating “fake news,” and declaring them enemies and betrayers of the Burundian people. Journalists have been detained and killed, newspaper offices and radio stations set on fire. Forced to "run or die," three women journalists have courageously found a way to continue reporting on developments in their homeland from exile.

Visualize the Insanity.

According to Anatole, Sam knew everyone in the Left world for decades. One memorable anecdote about his father was when they went to see the movie Reds together. Sam couldn’t keep quiet during the film, as he maintained a running commentary on nearly every major character, whom he had known personally.

As conditions in the U.S. deteriorate, the world will continue to suffer the consequences of U.S. military force--but without the mitigating influences of U.S. foreign aid and diplomacy.

This paper was presented at the International conference “150 years Karl Marx's - Reflections for the 21st century” held in Athens, Greece on January 14-15, 2017. Organized by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Athens Office. The conference discussed the actuality of Marx's theoretical system of the critique of political economy 150 years on from the publication of Capital Volume I.

Could this story indeed be another Watergate? No. It’s potentially a lot worse.