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The Chemistry of Fireworks

From the sizzle of the fuse to the boom and burst of colors, all of the exciting sights and sounds of Fourth of July fireworks. How familiar rockets that light up the night sky represent chemistry in action.

'Grassroots Movement Working': Bernie Sanders Gains on the Clinton Machine

Lauren Gambino and Ben Jacobs The Guardian
Sanders’ campaign has evolved from a longshot to a legitimate challenge in a very short time. The senator is drawing the largest crowds of any candidate and is gaining ground on Clinton in polls emerging from across the early voting states. Sanders rails against the “grotesque and obscene” concentration of wealth in America, has refused to have a Super Pac support him and is focused on wooing small-dollar donors.

Stop Killing the Elderly With Kindness

Travis Saunders Public Library of Science
If you take a healthy 20 year-old, force them to sit all day, and refuse to let them do any physical labor out of fear they might hurt themself, it would cause them to “age” extremely rapidly. We need to promote more, not less physical activity for our elders. The next time you consider telling your grandmother to sit down, think about whether that’s really in her best interest.

The Political One Percent of the One Percent

Peter Olsen-Phillips, Russ Choma, Sarah Bryner and Doug Web Open Secrets / Sunlight Foundation
Just one hundredth of one percent of people in the United States contributed nearly one third of all the money spent in the 2014 elections, a greater proportion than ever before, according to a new study. In the first full midterm since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, the influence of the One Percent of the One Percent continued to grow. Candidates, parties and super PACs depend on the super elite.

Canada’s Oil Country Promises to Become ‘World Leader’ on Climate Change

Emily Atkin ThinkProgress
Last month, the historically ultra-conservative and oil-rich province of Alberta, Canada, did the unthinkable: It elected a left-wing government. And that new government just made one of its first big moves: It announced a serious clamp-down on climate change, including doubling its carbon tax.

Why We Recommend a NO in the Referendum - In 6 Short Bullet Points

Yanis Varoufakis; Joseph Stiglitz Yanis Varoufakis
The future demands a proud Greece within the Eurozone and at the heart of Europe. This future demands that Greeks say a big NO on Sunday, that we stay in the Euro Area, and that, with the power vested upon us by that NO, we renegotiate Greece's public debt as well as the distribution of burdens between the haves and the have nots.

Flair

Elaine Feinstein Portraits
Louis Armstrong believed his birthday was July 4, 1900 (though a recent discovery suggests August 4, 1901 is correct). But Elaine Feinstein's portrait of that great trumpet player just starting out seems appropriate for this American holiday weekend.

Revolutions Without Borders - Review - Thomas Paine and Other Radicals

Gavin Jacobson The Guardian
A new book chronicles the travelers ignoring borders to spread ideas of liberty and equality, from the American revolution to the declaration of Haitian independence. "Without social media or even an international postal system," author Janet Polasky writes, "revolutionaries shared ideals of liberty and equality across entire continents." Decades before Marx, these internationalist radicals were soon betrayed by the very societies they helped build.

Socialists and the U.S. Political System

Joseph M. Schwartz DSA - Democratic Socialists of America
Barriers to social change posed by our constitutional structure should not overwhelm us with pessimism. The history of the United States is punctuated by radical reform periods: Reconstruction, the Progressive Era, the New Deal and the civil rights era. Militant social movements can make major gains when ruling elites prove incapable of solving major social crises. During these periods a moderate reform party temporarily controls all three branches of government,