Puerto Rico: The Shift from Mass Protests to People’s Assemblies

Jacqueline Villarrubia-Mendoza and Roberto Vélez-Vélez NACLA
The first people’s assembly at Puerto Rico’s Caguas Town Hall.
In the wake of the massive demonstrations that forced the resignation of Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rossello, dozens of people’s assemblies have sprouted across the island to discuss the critical next stage in the struggle for popular democracy.

Friday Nite Videos | August 23, 2019

Portside
Harrison Ford | Extinction Rebellion. Suckers | Randy Rainbow Song Parody. Bias In Medicine | John Oliver. ICE Shuts Down Hotline for Detained Immigrants After Netflix Episode. What the US Gets Wrong About Minimum Wage.

Bernie Sanders’ Plan Could Put a Union in Every Workplace

Shaun Richman In These Times
Where Sanders’ labor platform is most exciting is its proposal for new workers’ rights and forms of union representation that transcend the National Labor Relations Board framework of enterprise-based contract bargaining

What Republicans Really Mean When They Call Jews Disloyal

Jordan Weissmann Slate
Prominent, non-Jewish Republicans now feel free to censure American Jews for being insufficiently supportive of another country. They’ve divided us into camps of good Jews and bad Jews. So … what happens to the bad ones?

The Hopefulness and Hopelessness of 1619

Ibram X. Kendi The Atlantic
I know hope is essential to African Americans surviving racism another 400 years. In order to bring about change, we have to believe change is possible. Cynicism is the kryptonite of change.

The Misguided Attacks on 'This Land Is Your Land'

Will Kaufman The Conversation
As the author of three books on Guthrie, I wonder how the folksinger would respond to recent criticism of “This Land Is Your Land.” We can’t know for sure, but some of his unpublished writings and recently discovered recordings offer some clues

Harrison Ford | Extinction Rebellion

We are facing an emergency resulting from our toxic economic and political system. The way we relate to each other and to nature is destroying Earth’s capacity to sustain life.

ICE Shuts Down Hotline for Detained Immigrants After Netflix Episode

After an episode of Netflix’s hit show ‘Orange Is The New Black” featuring inmates talking about a real-life helpline offered by a group giving legal advice to immigrants, ICE shut it down. Christina Fialho, Co-founder of “Freedom for Immigrants”, the group behind the helpline says the hotline it has been running for six years and offers ‘people in immigration detention a free connection to the outside world.’