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Mahalla is a hotbed of industrial unrest, but the latest strike comes at a time when a crackdown on dissent has weakened street protests.

Public defenders know that the trouble with our justice system extends far beyond abusive policing.

Is the enemy of my enemy necessarily my friend? Or is this a situation not of righteous heroes and evil enemies, but bad jokes and even worse policies? Murder is murder. The attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris were murder. We should all grieve the twelve people whose lives were stolen, as well as the four people who were taken hostage and killed at the kosher market. We should also stand against the Islamophobic reaction from Western governments and media.

Cities and the federal government have already offered a slew of concessions: civil rights investigations, body cameras, civilian review boards, increased diversity in police departments. These reforms are not likely to fulfill protesters' demand for a transformation of policing in the United States. Where the protests are headed .. 'If we recognize the system doesn't work for us . then you're talking about getting rid of capitalism.'

An ACLU map of anti-Muslim activity shows, Muslims across the country, from California to New York, to Texas to Ohio, have faced vandalism or other criminal acts targeting their places of worship or refusals by local officials to issue necessary zoning permits. Preventing Muslims or any other group from practicing their faith is unAmerican. Religious freedom is one of America's most fundamental liberties and a central principle upon which this country was founded.

Reader Comments - NAACP Bombing; Ferguson Grand Jury; Charlie Hebdo and the Religious Right; Ukraine, Russia and Nazi Revival; TPP Power Grab; 2014 Worker Victories; NYPD Insubordination = Drop in Crime; Thomas Piketty; Selma,Martin Luther King, LBJ and Reality; Gap Between Productivity and Pay; BDS, Palestine and Israel; Cheap Gas; Announcements - Cuba Five Book Signing; New Resource - Greece, Golden Dawn and Fascism

Lawmakers must stop functioning as handmaidens to the rich in an economic scheme that has failed the 99 percent from the very day the 1 percent got Ronald Reagan to buy it.

A compilation of articles by Richard Steier, the "best full-time reporter on the New York City labor beat." He is the editor of the Chief where these articles first appeared. This is the book to read if you want to know what was happening on the municipal labor scene since the mid-1990's.

I'm going to make me a good sharp axe, Shining steel tempered in the fire, Ill chop you down like an old dead tree, Dirty old town, dirty old town.

A new House rule creates a legal obstacle course that would make it harder to shift funds from the Social Security retirement account, which has a big surplus, to the smaller disability account. Such transfers have been done routinely in the past under both Republican and Democratic presidencies, including four times under President Ronald Reagan.