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Seizing Freedom: David Roediger with Peter St. Clair

David Roediger with Peter St. Clair Brooklyn Rail
The North won the Civil War, but the South won the Reconstruction. The victorious Northern armies preserved the Union and the slaves were emancipated but the Confederates won the historical interpretation of those events by perpetrating the myths that became the accepted story over the next one hundred years.

Oilfield Wastewater Used to Grow Food in California May Contain Toxins

Maureen Nandini Mitra Earth Island Journal
Did you know that some of the fruits and veggies out on supermarket shelves are grown using wastewater from oil and gas operations? For the past several years, many drought-stricken farms in California’s Central Valley, which produces 40 percent of the nation’s fruits and vegetables, have been increasingly irrigating their crops with wastewater. Chemicals present include 16 the state classifies as carcinogens or reproductive toxicants, says EWG report.

Early Voting Ends in North Carolina

Joe Gamm / Tierney Sneed Greensboro News and Record / Talking Points Memo
Guilford County, like North Carolina as a whole, set an all-time record for the number of ballots cast during early voting despite GOP efforts for suppress voter turnout.

Measuring Global Inequality

Michael D. Yates Monthly Review
The response to growing economic inequality must start with mass resistance within every country and maximum solidarity among all workers and peasants, in rich and poor countries alike. The details of such struggles have to be worked out in each place. The key is solidarity among all workers and peasants, within and between the states of the world.

Young Adolescents as Likely to Die From Suicide as From Traffic Accidents

Sabrina Tavernise The New York Times
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, the suicide rate for children ages 10 to 14 had caught up to their death rate for traffic accidents. The number is an extreme data point in an accumulating body of evidence that young adolescents are suffering from a range of health problems associated with the country’s rapidly changing culture.

Indigenous Rights Key to Fighting Climate Change, New Study Finds

Jonathan Watts The Guardian
According to a new study by a group of academic institutions and environmental non-governmental organizations, leaving forests in communal hands cuts carbon emissions, helps local communities and offers long-term economic benefits. The November 1st report says the expansion of tribal land rights is the most cost-effective way to protect forests and sequester carbon and urges national governments to ensure indigenous communities a central role in climate policies.

Will Barriers to Black Voting Tip the Critical Battleground State of North Carolina?

Chris Kromm Facing South
One of the biggest reasons is likely the decision of 17 counties to adopt early voting plans, approved by the Republican-led state election board, that reduced early voting hours and locations, especially in the first week of early voting. Looking at the first week of early voting data, the research group Insightus noted the correlation of counties with reduced early voting options and lower African-American turnout.