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What I Learned From Susan Burton, a Modern-Day Harriet Tubman

Michelle Alexander The New Press
Reading her life story will change the way you view the world. This is not simply a story about a formerly incarcerated woman dedicated to working for justice and freedom in the era of mass incarceration. It is a story of a black woman who, as she often tells me, is “nothing special” and yet has somehow managed to transform her own life as well as hundreds of lives around her. She has emerged as a leading figure in the movement to end mass incarceration.

Tidbits - May 18, 2017 - Reader Comments: Comey Firing, Trump Base, Family Trump, Afghan Escalation, Sessions' Dept. of Injustice; Poor Prisons; Solidarity Statement for Yale Graduate Union; Resistance Summer; Chelsea is Free; and more...

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Reader Comments: Comey, Trumpism, Family Trump, Afghan Escalation, Sessions' Dept. of Injustice; Poor Prisons; People's History - Henry Wallace; The Man Who Never Returned; The Investigator; Solidarity Statement for Yale Graduate Union - Add Your Name; Announcements: Resistance Summer; Chelsea is Free; Seattle Labor History Mural; 80th Commemoration of Republic Steel Massacre; Book Tours: In the Fields of the North; The Syriza Wave; Left Forum Opening Plenary additions

Why Are Economists Giving Piketty the Cold Shoulder?

Marshall Steinbaum Boston Review
Piketty's radical and largely on-target critique of contemporary capitalism, the reviewer says, was mostly greeted with hostility by the economics establishment, when not simply ignored, stonewalling Capital in the Twenty-First Century, so it would not have the impact on economics research agendas that it merits, particularly in explaining inequality — in effect a dead zone in mainstream economic analysis. The reviewer thinks much can be gleaned from Piketty's work.

Trump Nominates Actual Fascist David Clarke for Department of Homeland Security

By Jonathan Chait New York Magazine
That one of our major political parties allows a figure like Clarke to exist comfortably within it at all is deeply disturbing. That he would even be considered for a position at a security agency, where he would presumably work to implement his fascistic beliefs, is one of the most disturbing signs yet of the Trump administration’s increasingly evident disregard for democratic norms.

Time to Talk Impeachment

Lawrence Tribe, Robert Reich, Kali Holloway The Boston Globe
Constitutional scholar Lawrence Tribe and Robert Reich weigh in. A majority of the public agrees. To rescue democracy, we need to make it happen.

Freestyle Marxism

Max Holleran The New Republic
This new collection of essays offers an interesting glimpse into the work of this consistently interesting Marxist thinker and cultural critic.

Jeremy Corbyn's Church House Speech

Jeremy Corbyn Morning Star
The establishment complains I don’t play the rules: by which they mean their rules. We can’t win, they say, because we don’t play their game. We don’t accept that it is natural for Britain to be governed by a ruling elite, that the people just have to take what they’re given. And in a sense, the establishment is right. I don’t play by their rules. And if a Labour Government is elected on 8 June, we still then we won’t play by their rules either.