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Bishops Back Unions in U.S. Supreme Court Case that Could Cripple Public Employee Unions

Mark Pattison Catholic News Service
“The Catholic bishops of the United States have long and consistently supported the right of workers to organize for purposes of collective bargaining,” a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says.brief says. “Because this right is substantially weakened by so-called ‘right-to-work’ laws, many bishops - in their dioceses, through their state conferences, and through their national conference - have opposed or cast doubt on such laws, and no U.S. bishop has expressed support for them.”

The Death Penalty and California: 2017 in Review

David Crawford Death Penalty Focus
It’s easy to forget that California is a state with the death penalty on its books, and it’s not hard to see why. The state has not executed anyone in 12 years as January 2018. Nevertheless, California has sentenced nearly 1,000 people to death since the current system was adopted in 1978. There have been 13 executions in that time, and we currently house more people under sentences of death than any other jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere.

Humans, “Aliens,” and “Shithole Countries”

David L. Wilson Monthly Review
On January 11 of this year, the eve of the anniversary, Donald Trump reportedly described Haiti to a group of lawmakers in the White House as a “shithole country.” At about the same time, his immigration agents in New York were detaining the popular Trinidadian-born activist Ravi Ragbir, the executive director of the faith-based New York Sanctuary Coalition. A week earlier they had detained another of the organization’s activists, the Haitian-born Jean Montrevil.

Dr. King and Ms. Baker

Ted Glick Future Hope
Dr. King and Ella Baker were the two primary leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in its first couple of years of existence, between 1958 and 1960. King was the heart, soul and speaking voice of SCLC; Baker was the Executive Secretary. Baker was a public speaker too, but she was primarily the behind-the-scenes, get-things-done, relationship-building person.

We Can't Let Hindu Nationalists Rewrite India's History

Teesta Setalvad Alternet
The absence of institutional memory when it comes to dealing with communal conflict is glaring. After independence and partition, while report after report of officially appointed judicial commissions has analyzed and indicted certain discernible trends behind escalating violence and pogroms, the formal judiciary and courts appear not to have internalized these findings and recommendations. The very fact that a significant part of the 1998-Justice B.N.

Cashing in on Water Crises: Public-Private Partnerships Are Not the Solution

Julia Kassem Truthout
Lebanese farmers irrigate their malt fields.
In the USA privatization practices contribute to increased water bills and jeopardize water quality, endangering one of residents' most basic needs. We can gain some perspective on the consequences of water privatization by looking to a glaring overseas example: In Lebanon, mismanagement of infrastructure has provided ample opportunity for privatization to proliferate. In both cases, the pursuit of privatization comes from cash-strapped places prioritizing cost-cutting over resource conservation and quality.

Soak the Beans: India, Puerto Rico and Austria mingle in a Georgia kitchen

Anjali Enjeti Southern Foodways Alliance
Cooking their dishes can connect us to our grandparents
My childhood dinners were an international smorgasbord. The scents of these dishes beckoned me from my bedroom to the kitchen, where I’d watch my mother in the final stages of sprinkling garnish. Now, in my forties, I feel I owe it to my children, to the generations that follow, to fully and actively educate myself in my family’s food.

Union Membership Gains: Three Analyses

Neal Tepel, John Schmitt and Chris Hubbuch
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on union membership on January 19th, 2018. There were several spots of bright news for unions.