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Go Red! Thoughts on the Labor Movement in the age of Trump. Response to Fletcher and Wing, Portside December 5, 2016

Peter Olney Portside
I argue that a defection of working class voters to Trump was key to the loss of historic battleground states, and thus the election. These are voters who have been voting for change at least since 2008 and they haven’t gotten it from a corporatist Democratic party. The problem in Fletcher and Wing's analysis of working class support for Trump is that they resort to income as a proxy for class.

Activists: Charges in Flint Crisis Won’t Restore Faith in Government

Auditi Guha Rewire
Karina Petri, founder of Project Flint, said grassroots organizations like hers are struggling to find a voice for residents who have given up, some of whom have gone back to using the tainted water because they no longer care about the health consequences.

North Carolinians Revolt Over Republicans' Brazen Post-Election Coup

Lauren McCauley CommonDreams
"The avalanche of anti-voter surprise bills introduced yesterday by the extremist leadership of the North Carolina General Assembly in a constitutionally suspect 'extra session' is an insult to the democratic values held by all people of goodwill in this state."

Following Negotiations, No Rockettes Will Be Required to Perform at Inauguration

Maggie Penman National Public Radio
After a stern message to the dancers from their own union, the American Guild of Variety Artists, reminding them of the terms of their contracts and that refusal to perform at Trump's inauguration could result in termination, both the employer and the union have issued new statements. However, the AGVA emphasized the original compulsory contract terms by saying the there was no room for politics in the workplace.

What Percent Virus Are You?

Hannah Moots FiveThirtyEight
With advances in genome sequencing and computational tools to analyze genomic information, researchers are able to estimate that about 8 percent of the human genome is made of sequences that originated as invasive retroviruses. To put that number in perspective, genes make up about 1 percent to 1.5 percent of your genome.

Walter Rodney and the Racial Underpinnings of Global Inequality

Tianna Paschel Items: SSRC
While inequality has become a topic of increased popularity and politicization in recent years, most of the attention has focused on how 1% own an increasingly large share of the world’s wealth, rather than on inequalities between nations. In a global context in which national borders and citizenship pose few barriers to the mobility of capital, the reality is also a story of the world’s richest nations continuing to reap a disproportionate amount of the globe’s profits.

Donald Trump, Democracy, and the Might of the Generals

William J. Astore TomDispatch
President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to elevate ex-generals to the highest civilian offices in America’s national security state represents a de facto military coup against civilian oversight of the world’s largest military machine. Former generals Michael Flynn, a warrior-crusader against Islam, will be Trump’s national security adviser; James “Mad Dog” Mattis, will be the nation’s secretary of defense; and John Kelley will head the Department of Homeland Security.