Skip to main content

The Gender Gap in a Post-Automation World

Heidi Liu On Labor
Drawing from research in labor and economic history, this post evaluates the validity of each of these claims; overall, while it’s likely that automation will benefit socially aware individuals, it’s less likely to reduce the gender gap in employment.

Burying the White Working Class

Connor Kilpatrick Jacobin
After decades of being told white workers would never support socialism because they’re racist, we’re now told that they support the socialist candidate because they are racist. Yes, this is where liberals are in the year 2016.

Pennsylvania Township Legalizes Civil Disobedience

Chad Nicholson and Stacy Long PopularResistance.org
Grant Township Supervisor Stacy Long explained, “We’re tired of being told by corporations and our so-called environmental regulatory agencies that we can’t stop this injection well! This isn’t a game. We’re being threatened by a corporation with a history of permit violations, and that corporation wants to dump toxic frack wastewater into our Township.”

Children in Farm Communities Pay Dearly for the Food We Eat

Elizabeth Grossman Civil Eats
Citing an alarming increase in the incidence of childhood cancers and neurological disorders, the Pesticide Action Network’s new study concludes pesticide use is having a devastating impact on the health of children in agricultural communities. A child’s growing body is particularly vulnerable to the harms of pesticide exposure. Yet, according to the report, children in agriculture communities are being exposed to a “double dose” of pesticides.

This is going to be huge - People's Climate March

People's Climate March
In ten days, world leaders are coming to New York City for a UN summit on the climate crisis. UN Secretary- General Ban Ki--moon is urging governments to support an ambitious global agreement to dramatically reduce global warming pollution. With our future on the line and the whole world watching, we'll take a stand to bend the course of history. We'll take to the streets to demand the world we know is within our reach.

How to Combat ISIS Without War

Phyllis Bennis; Michael Eisenscher; Win Without War
Weakening ISIS requires eroding the support it relies on from tribal leaders, military figures, and ordinary Iraqi Sunnis. Here's how to do it without bombs. As has been the case with so many presidents before him, he is telling the rest of the international community that national sovereignty can be violated at will without regard for international law, the U.N. Charter and other treaties whenever it suits the U.S.

What Zephyr Teachout Taught the Country - and the Democrats Better be Listening

John Cassidy; Sarah Jaffe
The meaning of the Zephyr Teachout-Tim Wu 'victory' - not just for New York and New Yorkers - but for the whole country. This was a loud and clear message from the grassroots that says - "Enough, the people - all the people - come before profits." This was the message to the Democrats, especially to Hillary Clinton, and others - You better listen up. People are going to vote their values.

Playing God - The Rebirth of Family Capitalism or How the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Sam Walton, Bill Gates, and Other Billionaires Are Undermining America

By Steve Fraser TomDispatch
Think of this as the year that democracy of, by, and for the billionaires shall not perish from the Earth. In other words, these days, if you have billions of dollars, you can shout from the skies and the rest of us have to listen. They are: Sheldon Adelson, Charles and David Koch, Sam Walton, Rupert Murdoch, Linda McMahon, or hedge fund honchos like John Paulson and Steven Cohen.

Tidbits - September 11, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Remembering September 11 and The Other 9/11; Fast Food Strikes; Retail Workers Find Better Deals With Unions; Justice Dept. to Probe Ferguson Police; Working Families Party; Death Row; Israel Confiscates More Palestinian Land; One-Third of Israelis Consider Emigrating; Wal-Mart-ization of Education; Wages for Housework; Gluten-free; Eugene Debs and Debs Museum; Charlie Haden; New resource - International Human Rights Law: Violations by Israel; more..

Protests Break the Silence of Grief over Turkish Mine Disaster

Kıvanç Eliaçık Labor Notes
Miners visited Parliament during talks on a proposed law to expand subcontracting, though some weren’t allowed to enter because they were wearing work uniforms and boots. thThey are demanding that those responsible for the disaster that killed 301 workers be brought to justice; that the mines be nationalized again; that subcontracting be banned; and that occupational health and safety measures be enforced.