Why Tesla Is Building City-Sized Batteries

Giant batteries are crucial to the future of power grids everywhere, but they are only one of the zanier forms of energy storage already in use around the country.

Friday Nite Videos | August 24, 2018

Portside
Beto O'Rourke on NFL Players Kneeling. The Fractured Politics of a Browning America. Why Tesla Is Building City-Sized Batteries. Inside Flex—Amazon's Army of Everyday Delivery People. David Pecker's Past Practice Puts POTUS in a Pickle.

A Novel Tackles Capitalism and Boredom

Constance Grady Vox
In Ling Ma's debut novel Severance, a radically understated post-apocalyptic novel about boredom, the apocalypse looks a lot like another day at the office.

David McReynolds, Socialist Activist Who Ran for President, Dies at 88

Jacey Fortin; Ed Hedemann; Anthony Giacchino New York Times
David McReynolds, lifelong pacifist and socialist, died last Friday. Twice a presidential candidate, lifetime member of the War Resisters League, well-known photographer, was the first out gay man to run for President.

On Whom Do We Rely For Our Democratic Future? (South Africa)

Raymond Suttner Polity and Daily Maverick (South Africa)
The ANC is in crisis as the “new dawn” stalls. But are other parties ready to drive the democratic project? The DA has lapsed into continued internal conflict. The EFF is not interested in debate. That, too, is unconducive to democratic life.