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As Downtown Detroit Gentrifies, Longtime Black Residents Fight Illegal Tax Foreclosures

Bernadette Atuahene Democracy Now!
In Detroit, a recent study found that one in four Detroit properties have been subject to property tax foreclosure between 2011 and 2015—many of which may have been illegal. As downtown Detroit becomes increasingly gentrified, thousands of the city’s longtime residents—mostly African-American families—have lost their homes to foreclosure. For more, we speak with Bernadette Atuahene, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

UAW, Goddamn!

Joe Allen The Indypendent
A labor activist reflects on the United Autoworkers’ (UAW’s) crushing defeat at a Mississipi Nissan plant last week.

We Asked Financial Advisers: How Realistic is Netflix’s New Show, ‘Ozark’?

Tom Teodorczuk MarketWatch
Netflix's Ozark brings capitalism's corrosive effects to middle america through the lens of a financial adviser and money laundering. Right from the opening monologue narrated by star Jason Bateman, Netflix’s new drama “Ozark” makes clear it doesn’t just want to depict a financial adviser up to his neck in danger. It’s out to convey profound truths about money.

Hezbollah Takes Journalists in Lebanon on a Tour to Prove Trump Wrong

Liz Sly and Suzan Haidamous The Washington Post
“The current American president is ignorant of the region,” said Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif, speaking to reporters in a cave until recently occupied by Nusra. “We are the force that fights terrorism while the United States continues to support terrorism in many forms.”

Organizers Say Quaint Baltimore Seafood Business Masks Shocking Labor Abuses

Bruce Vail In These Times
The signature dish at its restaurants is the famed Maryland-style crab cake, and its dining rooms feature models of antique fishing boats and romanticized images of the bay watermen culture that is fading fast. But organizers say it’s mostly fake—a cover story for a rapacious, globalized business that preys on poor Indonesian women to extract rich profits for its U.S. owners.

How Do I Safely View A Solar Eclipse?

Xochitl Garcia / Illustration by Carrie Lapolla Science Friday
On August 21, 2017, people across North America will be able to view either a total or partial solar eclipse. The last time most people in the U.S. were able to observe a total solar eclipse was 1991 and the next time won’t be until 2024! Here’s a guide to get you ready for the big event.

What I’m Reading: An Interview with Eric Foner

Erik Moshe History News Network
Ernest Renan, the 19th century French historian, said “the historian is the enemy of the nation.” I often ask students, what does he mean by that? What he’s saying is nations are built on myths, historical myths, and then the historian comes along and if he’s doing his job, shatters those myths, and often that makes the historian very unpopular. People like their myths but “myth” is not a good way of understanding how the society developed to where it is today.