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A World at War

Bill McKibben The New Republic
We're under attack from climate change-and our only hope is to mobilize like we did in WWII. It's not that global warming is like a world war. It is a world war. And we are losing. Defeating the Nazis required more than brave soldiers. It required a wholesale industrial retooling. In this war we're in-the war that physics is fighting hard, and that we aren't-winning slowly is the same as losing.

Fight for $15 Organizers Tell SEIU: We Need $15 and a Union

David Moberg In These Times
Fight for $15 organizers have a long list of grievances against SEIU. They say they themselves do not get $15/hour. They are worried about the instability of their jobs and a tendency of the union to ramp up staff for one campaign, then shift only some of the staff to the next project. Ultimately, some workers say, SEIU's position may undermine public support and open up lines for employer attacks. See SEIU's response below.

Progressive Clinton Supporters: You Broke It, You Bought It

Becky Bond, contributor The Hill
Progressives who supported Clinton in the primary should use their leverage to ensure Clinton makes good on her vow to stop TPP and keep other promises she made on the campaign trail to win progressive votes. Bernie supporters will have your back, but it's up to you to lead on this one. It's serious -and - it can't wait until after the inauguration. From the perspective of progressives who supported Bernie in the primary, this election is a shotgun wedding.

Douglas and Lochte - A Tale of Black and White; White Male Privilege at Play; Open Letter to Gabby Douglas

Toni Smith; Emma Gray
White male privilege is why we laugh at Lochte and vilify Douglas. Pay close attention to the words being used to describe them. A small angry minority is often effective at appearing to be the majority opinion. And the truth is, they aren't. They don't represent the millions of others who support Gabby Douglas. There was then, and still is, so much love, inspiration and joy for you and because of you - as an athlete, a person, a black girl, a black woman.

Latino Votes Count or ‘Why Would They Be Trying to Suppress Them?’: Dolores Huerta on What’s at Stake in 2016

Ally Boguhn Rewire
Huerta encouraged people to consider both what is at stake and why their voting rights might be targeted in the first place. “What we have to think about is, if they’re doing so much to suppress the vote of the Latino and the African-American community, that means that that vote really counts. It really matters or else why would they be trying to suppress them?”

‘White Trash’ — The Original Underclass

Alec MacGillis ProPublica
Much of the political debate this election season concerns who will win the support of working class white voters. At the same time, as Alec MacGillis notes in this review of two new books on the history and present conditions of this sector of the population, much of this discourse strains under the influence of condescension, sentimentalism, and a host of explicitly or implicitly stated biases.

Memorial in Alabama Will Honor Victims of Lynching

Campbell Robertson The New York Times
The Equal Justice Initiative, a legal rights organization in Montgomery, is to formally announce the plans on Tuesday. The Equal Justice Initiative will unveil plans for a museum to open in April, in its roughly 11,000-square-foot headquarters, that will trace the country’s racial history from slavery to the era of mass incarceration.