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Chicago Cabbies Fight for a Fairer Fare

Moshe Z. Marvit and Vincent Mersich The Nation
No one is responsible for paying cabbies a “minimum wage,” because these drivers are not considered employees. But Callahan and a group of Chicago cab drivers are challenging that long-held assumption. Under the name “Cab Drivers for Justice,” or, as most call it, “Cabbies for Justice,” they are pursuing what could be a landmark legal case.

MLK's Forgotten Plan to End Gun Violence in Chicago

Simon E. Balto History News Network
The calls for stricter gun control laws are not enough. Although the gun murder rate in some large cities is down, the causes of urban gun violence remain the real problem. At the June 1966 gang summit, Dr. King asked Chicago’s gangs to channel their energies into nonviolent protest of poverty and inequality. He tried to imprint upon the young men gathered at the Sheraton that violence was futile, and would likely get them nowhere but a grave or a prison cell.

Los Infiltradores

Michael May The American Prospect
How three young undocumented activists risked everything to expose the injustices of immigrant detention—and invented a new form of protest.

This Is Bigger Than Paula Deen

David J. Leonard Washington Spectator
The issue is the potential for a powerful individual's racist worldview to manifest itself into discriminatory workplace policies. A black worker threatened to report the restaurant to the EEOC and was told: "You don’t have any civil rights here." That is what we should be talking about, not Deen's contemptible word choice. More broadly, she symbolizes the injustices plaguing the entire restaurant industry. The evidence is mounting. Restaurants are clearly segregated.

The Recovery

Heidi Shierholz Economic Policy Institute
Four Years Into the Recovery and We’re Just a Fifth of the Way Out of the Hole Left by the Great Recession

What Do Ants Know That We Don’t?

Deborah Gordon Wired
Ant colonies have been used throughout history as models of industry, obedience, and wisdom. Although the ants themselves can be indolent, inconsiderate of others, and downright stupid, we have much to learn from ant colony protocols. The ants have evolved ways of working together that we haven’t yet dreamed of.

Profit and Investment: Does More of One Mean Less of the Other

Dean Baker Center for Economic and Policy Research
Anyone who expects a huge uptick in investment to provide a major boost to demand is either smoking something serious or simply has never looked at the data. It hasn't happen in the last 65 years and it's not about to happen now.