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Is Trump the American Berlusconi?

Carlo Invernizzi Accetti, Francesco Ronchi Le Monde diplomatique / Alternet
Former Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi and Republican front-runner Donald Trump share a flaunted machismo and political incorrectness, saying outrageous things to get free media coverage, and targeting predominantly blue-collar white males who feel threatened by globalization, multiculturalism and women’s rights. Berlusconi was initially dismissed as wholly unelectable. His political momentum lasted more than 20 years.

Ahmed Mohamed Is Tired, Excited to Meet Obama – And Wants His Clock Back

Matthew Teague The Guardian
“It’s worth it, once you realize what you’re fighting for,” says Ahmed Mohamed. And what is he fighting for? He looks around the room, and like any American 14-year-old grappling with issues beyond his control, he answered with the rising inflection of a question. “Not just for Muslims?” he said. “But for anybody who has been through this?”

Friday Nite Videos -- September 18, 2015

Portside
Bernie Sanders, With 200,000 Grassroots Volunteers, Says 'I Am Running to Win.' Movie -- Time Out of Mind. Steve Earle - Mississippi It’s Time. Joe Hill Documentary. Pete Seeger - Casey Jones.

Intersectional Black Power: CLR James on Capitalism and Race

Lawrence Ware and Paul Buhle Portside
To ignore race, C.L.R. James often said, in many contexts and many ways, was a disaster in any social understanding; only the ignoring of class would be worse. Or to put it in his own words: The race question is subsidiary to the class question, and to think of imperialism in terms of race is disastrous. But to neglect the racial factor as merely incidental, is an error only less grave than to make it fundamental.

Tidbits - September 17, 2015 - Left and Labor Dialogue on Sanders and Corbyn; A Sanders - John Lewis ticket?; David Hilliard on Black Panther film; 9/11 and Cancer; lots of announcements; and more....

Portside
Reader Comments: Left and Labor Dialogue on Sanders and Corbyn; A Sanders - John Lewis ticket?; David Hilliard on Black Panther film; 9/11 and Cancer; Labor Debate on Who to Endorse; Kim Davis; Student loans and College Costs; Sean O'Casey; Reconstruction; Announcements : Chicago Freedom Struggles Through the Lens of Art Shay -Sept 17-Dec 19; Operation Condor film, Bolivia's Largest Film Ever, Coming to NYC Theaters; Witness Venezuela's Elections This December

Woman Held in Mental Health Facility Because Police Didn't Believe BMW Was Hers

Samuel Osborne The Independent (UK)
African American Kamilah Brock, a banker, was driving her BMW in Harlem. Police did not believe that African American woman could own a BMW or be a banker. She was taken into custody, transported to a psychiatric ward, stripped and forcibly, and repeatedly, injected with sedatives - for eight days. She is now suing New York City. Only in America...in 2015.

5 Vital Lessons from American Labor's Rise and Fall

James M. Larkin The Nation
America's unions have been in retreat for decades - but can history point toward some fresh starts? Steve Fraser's book The Age of Acquiescence reminds us that America's worker movement-100 years ago-was a rather militant creature compared to today. Then, it was worker militias, "bread and roses," and unabashed class conflict; now, it's defense and dwindling membership, and disappointing Democrats. How did we get here? Is there still power in a union?

Meet Rhiannon Giddens, A Singer Revitalizing Old-Time's Black Roots

Charlie Shelton & Frank Stasio WUNC 91.5 - North Carolina Public Radio
Meet Greensboro, North Carolina native Rhiannon Giddens; see and hear why she has taken the music world by storm. Hear her music, and that of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. See why she is stretching the borders of traditional folk music, blues, country and old-time music. Hear her tribute to the Charleston Nine.

Young Activists Getting Results--In Chicago, Across the Nation

Lolly Bowean and Dahleen Glanton Chicago Tribune
From Ferguson, Mo., where the "Black Lives Matters" movement took off, to the South Side of Chicago, where Fearless Leading by the Youth launched the trauma center campaign, young people are leading the call for justice. And increasingly across the country, they are strategically amplifying their message to get results.