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Sovereignty and the State of Emergency

Jean-Claude Paye Monthly Review
The U.S. government, following the 9/11 attacks, expressed no intention of reforming its Constitution. It was left free of any procedure for exception or emergency. This does not mean that the United States has remained a more democratic country than France. Attacks against privacy, civil rights, and, above all, habeas corpus have proven even more virulent in the United States than in Europe.

Tyrus Wong, ‘Bambi’ Artist Thwarted by Racial Bias, Dies at 106

Margalit Fox The New York Times
Mr. Wong died on Friday at 106. A Hollywood studio artist, painter, printmaker, calligrapher, greeting-card illustrator and, in later years, maker of fantastical kites, he was one of the most celebrated Chinese-American artists of the 20th century. But because of the marginalization to which Asian-Americans were long subject, he passed much of his career unknown to the general public.

A Ph.D. in Organizing

Dawn Tefft and Jeff Schuhrke Labor Notes
Newly armed with the right to collective bargaining, teaching assistants, graduate assistants, and research assistants at private universities are organizing to join the ranks of the unionized.

TTIP: Chevron Wants Investor “Right” to Challenge Government Laws

Arthur Neslen The Guardian
As negotiators begin the 13th round of talks to close the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’s (TTIP) deal, new revelations surfaced regarding Chevron Oil’s attempts to incorporate Investor State Dispute Settlement Courts into the TTIP. These panels threaten national sovereignty because they can rule against a country’s social or environmental laws, if they are deemed to have reduced profits below those projected at the time of the investment.

Author Michael Chabon: On His Recent Visit to the Occupied West Bank

Naomi Zeveloff Jewish Daily Forward
Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Michael Chabon speaks with The Forward’s Naomi Zeveloff at the end of his weeklong tour of the Israeli Occupied West Bank earlier this month. Chabon was a member of a literary tour organized by the Israeli group, Breaking the Silence, which collects and distributes testimonies of Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories. He termed the occupation “the most grievous injustice I have ever seen in my life.”

Free From Jail, Imprisoned by Debt

Libero Della Piana OtherWords
People in at least 30 states are barred from voting because they're unable to pay their court fines.