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A Lesson Plan for A+ Teachers

Joel Klein The Wall Street Journal
Former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein on how to raise the quality and performance of teachers.

Toni Morrison and Angela Davis on Friendship And Creativity

Dan White University California Santa Cruz
UC Santa Cruz Review writer Dan White had separate in-depth conversations this summer with Toni Morrison and Angela Davis about their past collaboration, their longstanding friendship, and their bedrock belief in the power of literature. Davis introduced Morrison while she was in Santa Cruz to deliver the Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture at the Rio Theater on October 25. The subject: “Literature and the Silence of Goodness.”

Amid Shootings, Chicago Police Department Upholds Culture of Impunity

Sarah Macaraeg and Alison Flowers Truthout
An exclusive Truthout investigation - released today on a day of national protest against police brutality - reveals that the City of Chicago fails to recognize, let alone sanction, police guilty of repeated episodes of violence, including the shooting deaths of unarmed civilians.

All I Want for Christmas is a Union that Fights Climate Change

Gary Engler Dissident Voice
Two pieces on the labor movement and climate change. First, an article by Gary Engler, who argues, "There is nothing more important than a healthy environment. Without that, all the other fundamentals — food, housing, education, family, leisure, pensions etc. — are at risk." Second, a link to a video interview of Sean Sweeney, by Laura Flanders.

15 Wins for the Progressive Movement in 2013

Joshua Holland Bill Moyers and Company
While Washington was stuck in the grip of the politics of obstruction, grass-roots activists did their part, scoring some major wins for economic justice, civil liberties and democracy. As we near the end of the year, here are some of the biggest progressive wins we saw.

Overthrow the Speculators

Chris Hedges Truthdig
We can wrest back control of our economy, and finally our political system, from corporate speculators only by building local movements that decentralize economic power through the creation of hundreds of publicly owned state, county and city banks.

Boeing Workers Take a Stand & Take the Heat

Carl Finamore Portside
It was clear from the beginning national IAM officials were upset with the Nov 13 overwhelming rejection of their deal with Boeing and they seemed to be making the point more emphatically by ordering a new vote. Obviously disappointed with the national leadership, a longtime IAM member told me “this rushed vote is not right,” and pointed out “35% of our members are on vacation during this period,” unable to get the information and participate in a democratic discussion

Fireworks, Past, Present and Future

Victor Grossman Berlin Bulletin
New Year's Fireworks: While the statistics prove that the immigrants, their labor, their taxes and their children are actually a boon to the economy, those on the right only increase their ranting about the “continuing misuse of European travel freedom for poverty migration”, helped by all those in the media who stoke fears of “free loaders and criminals”.