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Steve Scalise's Problem Is the Republican Party's Problem

John Nichols TheNation.com Blog
The Republican rising star struggled for two days to get clarity with regard to his appearance at a "white pride" - Ku Klux Klan event in 2002. Initially, his office tried to keep things vague, suggesting it was "likely" Scalise attended. He was a veteran state legislator then, elected from the same precincts where David Duke once ran strong. When it became clear he was not just present but a presenter, Scalise started spinning scenarios that might explain it all away.

Social Democracy in America?

Rich Yeselson Dissent
Kenworthy thinks that capitalism working at its best—an Americanized version of the Nordic model—would be worth fighting for. I agree.

Police Unions and the Challenge of Solidarity

Roger Toussaint The Chief
When unions serve the interests of the few, they lose their way and their ability to be forward-looking. But one of the better-kept secrets is that invariably, they also quietly become alienated from their own members. Inevitably, if the leadership of the PBA continues to ignore and fail on this challenge, new leadership will be destined to take it up.

The Tragedy of the American Military

James Fallows The Atlantic
The American public and its political leadership will do anything for the military except take it seriously. The result is a chickenhawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly combine to lure America into endless wars it can’t win.

Listen up, Women Are Telling Their Story Now

Rebecca Solnit The Guardian
Despite the ongoing pandemic of violence against women, the threats online and the harassment on the streets, women’s voices assumed an unprecedented power in 2014, writes Rebecca Solnit.

Labor Must Reject Police Union President Pat Lynch’s Bitter Bile

Jonathan Tasini New York Daily News
A simple, broad labor statement of unity — supporting New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's efforts, the right in a democracy to protest against police brutality and the good work of the majority of decent police officers, and calls for a new campaign to regulate handguns like the one used to murder two policemen and a citywide dialogue on racism and policing — is in order.

The 10 Worst Civil Liberties Violations of 2014

Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern Slate
While the country has evolved on marriage equality, it often appears to be backtracking on just about every other advance we have made, from the racial and gender progress of the 1960s to the most basic principles of the criminal justice system. Below, we’ve listed the top 10 civil liberties nightmares of 2014 in no particular order.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s 'The Era of the People'

Liam Flenady Links, International Journal of Socialist Renewal
[The people] are supposed to exercise power through parliamentary assemblies. But the financial oligarchy which rule our present situation have taken upon themselves the right to veto their decisions. This is why the system doesn’t fear the left, which it has been able to control … But it has a clear-headed fear of the people.

Labor Must Reject Pat Lynch’s Bitter Bile

Jonathan Tasini New York Daily News
Unions have a special duty to help the city heal. We confront a communitywide moral crisis. A simple, broad labor statement of unity — supporting the mayor’s efforts, protesters’ rights in a democracy and the good work of the overwhelming majority of decent police officers, and calling for a new campaign to regulate handguns like the one used to murder two policemen and a citywide dialogue on racism and policing — is in order.

Stop Kidding Yourself: The Police Were Created to Control Working Class and Poor People

Sam Mitrani LAWCHA, Labor and Working Class History Association
The liberal way of viewing the problem rests on a misunderstanding of the origins of the police and what they were created to do. The police were not created to protect and serve the population. They were not created to stop crime, at least not as most people understand it. They were not created to promote justice. They were created to protect the form of wage-labor capitalism that emerged in the mid to late nineteenth century from the threat posed by the working class.