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The Price Of Turkey’s Election

Conn Hallinan Dispatches From the Edge
The finally tally is almost everything Erdogan wanted, although he fell short of his dream of a supermajority that would let him change the nature of the Turkish political system from a parliamentary government to one ruled by a powerful and centralized executive—himself. And while the AKP now has a majority, it is at the expense of re-igniting the war with the Kurds, a conflict that has cost Turkey $1.2 trillion and some 40,000 lives.

CT AFL-CIO Adopts Resolution in Support of BDS and Justice and Peace for the Palestinian People

Connecticut AFL-CIO Biennial Constitutional Convention US Labor Against the War
Following the visit of a delegation of AFL-CIO leaders from Connecticut to Palestine this Fall as guests of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), the Connecticut AFL-CIO adopts a comprehensive resolution in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and for peace and justice for the Palestinian people.

Review: She's No Radical! 'Suffragette' Would Rather Show Women Suffering Than Building Bombs

Alan Sherstul The Village Voice
The conversion-narrative approach that Suffragette is rooted in precludes a structure as savvy as what we saw in Ava DuVernay's exquisite Selma, a film of negotiation and confrontation — and one that presumed this was no viewer's first day in this world. Suffragette expends its energy selling us on what we already believe rather than examining the way these activists pressed the world into believing it

Recycling Workers Fight Firings and Win a Union

David Bacon; Photos by David Bacon The Progressive
Workers from Alameda County Industries made the decision to join ILWU Local 6. They convinced the city to provide funding to raise their wages in a new union contract. Their wages are now steadily increasing and will reach $20.94/hour in 2019. Photo essay by David Bacon.

The Bicentennial of George Boole, the Man Who Laid the Foundations of the Digital Age

Colm Mulcahy Scientific American
It wasn’t until almost a century after Boole’s pioneering work that the world caught up. Both Victor Shestakov at Moscow State University in 1935 and Claude Shannon at MIT in 1937 proposed using Boolean logic to design electrical switches, the latter’s work paving the way for a major shift in electrical engineering in the USA. By late 1948, Shannon had introduced what we now know as information theory, and digital computers soon followed.

Is Indonesia's Fire Crisis Connected to the Palm Oil in our Snack Food?

Lindsey Allen The Guardian
The widespread burning of tropical rainforests and peatlands to develop pulpwood and palm oil plantations is one of the largest sources of carbon pollution occurring in the world today. The fires are due to a broken system of international commodity production that will take all of us at both ends of the supply chain to fix. This will necessitate holding Western companies accountable for the consequences of their global operations.

The Okinawa Missiles of October

Aaron Tovish The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
By Bordne's account, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Air Force crews on Okinawa were ordered to launch 32 missiles, each carrying a large nuclear warhead. Only caution and the common sense and decisive action of the line personnel receiving those orders prevented the launches—and averted the nuclear war that most likely would have ensued.

Who Was Rosa Luxemburg?

Kate Evans Beyond Chron
Rosa Luxemburg was at the center of revolutionary politics from 1898-1919, a very complex political time. Connecting her perspectives to the many now obscure movements of the pre-WWI era can get confusing for those who have not much studied the period. That’s why the graphic novel format used by Evans is so vital to understanding Luxemburg’s role.