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Election Day Alert: When Democracy Broken, Progress Impossible

Jon Queally Common Dreams
"If we don’t have a responsive democracy, all the debates [on progressive issues we care about] aren’t real debates. When elections are not democratic, even the most populist discussions become superficial, disconnected from real power; they are theatre."

Gaza Cut Off From All Sides As 'Collective Punishment' Deepens

Sarah Lazare Common Dreams
The Israeli Defense Ministry stated Sunday it has closed its Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings to Gaza in response to a single rocket fire from Gaza, which resulted in no injuries, deaths, or damages. Palestinian rights campaigners warn that the closures are especially dangerous as traumatized and displaced Gaza residents struggle to rebuild from Israel’s recent seven-week military assault in which 2,000 Palestinians—at least 75 percent of them civilians—were killed.

Teachers Unions at Jewish Schools? Rare and Getting Rarer.

Julie Wiener Jewish Daily Forward
Unions exist in only a handful of schools, all of them Conservative movement-affiliated or pluralistic, and the number is dropping. Over the past year, three Conservative Jewish day schools have effectively eliminated their teachers unions. Perelman Jewish Day School, an elementary school just a few miles away from Barrack, and the Solomon Schechter School of Greater Boston have both declined to negotiate with their teachers unions.

106 IDF Ex-Generals, Spy Chiefs Urge New Peace Bid

J.J. Goldberg Jewish Daily Forward
In what appears to be the largest-ever joint protest by senior Israeli security personnel, a group of 106 retired generals, Mossad directors and national police commissioners has signed a letter to PM Netanyahu urging him to “initiate a diplomatic process” based on a regional framework. Retired generals have occasionally made joint statements in the past, but never in such numbers and rarely on political matters that aren’t directly related to army business.

Full Employment: The Recovery’s Missing Ingredient

Jared Bernstein and Dean Baker The Washington Post
The bargaining power of most American workers is at a historical low point. The best way to restore it is to get the economy back to full employment.

Amid Shootings, Chicago Police Department Upholds Culture of Impunity

Sarah Macaraeg and Alison Flowers Truthout
An exclusive Truthout investigation - released today on a day of national protest against police brutality - reveals that the City of Chicago fails to recognize, let alone sanction, police guilty of repeated episodes of violence, including the shooting deaths of unarmed civilians.