Friday Nite Videos | August 17, 2018

Portside
John Oliver: Astroturfing. A Ride Through Oakland With Boots Riley. Amos Lee - “Dying White Light”. Movie | Fahrenheit 11/9. Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson Remember Aretha Franklin.

Simone Weil, Meditations on a Corpse: Sketch for an Article

Simone Weil New Left Review
A pungent and exhaustive evaluation of the short-lived, pre-war popular front government of France, written on the heels of its demise by the brilliant French writer Simone Weil, with an introduction by the NLR editors.

There Is a Coordinated Campaign to Suppress Criticism of Israel

Azadeh Shahshahani In These Times
A new law introduced in the U.S. Congress seeks to clamp down on criticism of Israel at the expense of First Amendment rights. The unconstitutional bill, titled the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2018, conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism

Journalists Are Not the Enemy

The Boston Globe and 300 Newspapers Across the Country The Boston Globe
A central pillar of President Trump’s politics is a sustained assault on the free press. Journalists are not classified as fellow Americans, but rather “the enemy of the people.” This relentless assault on the free press has dangerous consequences.

Aretha Franklin Used Her Voice to ‘Deliver Music tor Social Justice’

Ernie Suggs and Shelia M. Poole The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Aretha Franklin your music lifted us up. Queen of Soul’s influence on the civil rights movement was massive and needed. Your music, your activism, your dignity brought us hope and inspired us. Let's all Say A Little Prayer for Aretha Franklin.