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The Fight for Free Time

Miya Tokumitsu Jacobin
The demand for fewer working hours is about liberation — both individual and collective.

What Explains U.S. Mass Shootings? International Comparisons Suggest an Answer

Max Fisher and Josh Keller The New York Times
After Britain had a mass shooting in 1987, the country instituted strict gun control laws. So did Australia after a 1996 shooting. But the United States has repeatedly faced the same calculus and determined that relatively unregulated gun ownership is worth the cost to society. That choice, more than any statistic or regulation, is what most sets the United States apart.

It's Marie Curie's 150th Birthday, And Her Legacy Deserves More Nuance

K.N. Smith Forbes
On her 150th birthday, that leaves us with the question of how to view Curie and her work. It would be wrong to downplay the significance of her scientific discoveries or her equally groundbreaking career, but it’s important not to focus on the temptingly romantic version of her story at the expense of a more clearheaded look at her legacy and what it means to modern science.

When Unions Lead Education Reform

Rachel M. Cohen In These Times
Like Bargaining for the Common Good, TURN members also believe teachers need to approach bargaining more creatively and boldly. Specifically, TURN wants to see unions negotiate over policies that “advance student learning,” such as reducing the number of standardized tests students must take while also pushing for new kinds of assessments that measure skills like creativity.

Louis C.K. Is Done

Matt Zoller Seitz New York Magazine
A New York Times investigation published today put names and specifics to unsourced stories that had been circulating for years, alleging that the filmmaker-performer pressured five female colleagues to watch or listen to him masturbate.

Los Angeles Airport Service Companies to Face Labor Peace Requirement

Dan Weikel Los Angeles Times
Andrew Gross Gaitan, director of the Service Employees International Union's airports division, which supports the measure, said unionized companies could develop labor peace agreements with the unions representing their workers or any other organization or employee committee. Non-unionized companies elsewhere have reached such agreements, he said. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who received $198,000 in contributions from SEIU in the last election, backs the proposal.

Are We Giving Cesar Chavez too Much Credit?

Frank P. Barajas History News Network
Too much credit or not enough? The film highlighted the realities of what farmworkers experienced in the past and present. People who watched the film were brought to tears by episodic scenes of farmworkers, Filipino and Mexican, being terrorized by vigilantes. Cesar Chavez also illustrated the feudal rule of the agricultural industrial complex consisting of growers interlocked with the institutions of law enforcement, politics, agencies of the state, and finance.