Bob Dylan -- Desolation Row

Released just 50 years ago this month as the last track on Highway 61 Revisited, Desolation Row is a complex and enigmatic meditation on the cultural chaos of the times. It is also a cultural break point in its own right, a nostalgic goodbye, as Dylan's sole acoustic riff on an album that transitions to electronic rock.

Affordable Housing Crisis in NYC

More New Yorkers than ever are struggling to keep up with rising rents, leaving less and less of their paychecks for food and healthcare. 

Pastor Dewey Smith: Homosexuality

Dewey Smith, Jr., the Senior Pastor of The House of Hope Atlanta, has some impassioned words on sexuality, keeping it real, religion, and the real life of the church.

Cornel West Talks Sanders, Trump and Black Lives Matter

Zeeshan Aleem Policymic
"Bernie Sanders and other progressive politicians need to hit issues of police murder and police terror... But it's very important never to downplay the critique of Wall Street domination or downplay the critique of capitalism as a whole. In that sense, indeed, Bernie Sanders is a prophetic politician."

Republicans Against Retirement

Paul Krugman The New York Times
It’s remarkable that most of the Republicans who would be president are declaring that the retirement age — which has already been pushed up from 65 to 66, and is scheduled to rise to 67 — should go up even further. Americans love Social Security, so why aren’t the candidates at least pretending to share that sentiment? The answer is about Big Money.

Progressives Call on Clinton to End Wall Street-to-Washington Revolving Door

Deirdre Fulton Common Dreams
"It's hard to imagine Democrats' 2016 nominee will be truly tough on Wall Street banks that break the law, if they won't commit to banning their advisors from receiving legalized bribes from those same banks," says Charles Chamberlain of Democracy for America. Still Hillary Clinton has refused to address the issue.

In Science, Failure Sometimes Marks Progress

Alison McCook retractionwatch.com
A huge study -- of 100 scientific papers in psychology, published in high-quality journals -- has failed to confirm the results claimed by about two thirds of the papers. Is this a colossal failure of science? No, say the authors of the study. It's an example of the value of skepticism and the step-by-step, sometimes indirect, process by which uncertainty is reduced.

UE Becomes First National U.S. Union to Endorse BDS

Alan Hart, Managing Editor, UE News Portside
The resolution also endorses the worldwide BDS movement – Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions – to pressure Israel to end its apartheid over the Palestinians just as similar tactics helped to end South African apartheid in the 1980s. UE is now the first U.S. national union to endorse BDS.

The Case for Pragmatism in International Affairs

Robert Parry ConsortiumNews
America’s neoconservatives and their liberal interventionist sidekicks have pushed an aggressive “regime change” strategy that has left bloody chaos in their wake. The cumulative impact, including Mideast refugees flooding Europe and overuse of sanctions, is now contributing to a global economic crisis. According to columnist Robert Parry, international pragmatism, including working with adversaries, may be the only way to prevent a devastating financial crash.