Next Time Trump Bashes Mexico, Remember This

Michael Hogan History News Network
Many US historians have advanced the theory that Lincoln spoke against the war for political reasons, subsequent speeches disprove that theory as do his letters to his law partner, William Herndon. He railed against the war a second time a month after his famous “spot resolutions” over objections of the younger members of his party, and even voted for an amendment condemning the war which was tacked on to a resolution honoring war hero Zachary Taylor, who would be next

labor

What Labor Should Learn from Trump’s Victory

Michael Hirsch, Saulo Colon, Murray Schneider, Lois Weiner New Politics
The form of political action that Clinton defenders in labor advocate is a suffocating loser. It seeks accommodation when confrontation is required. It is more concerned with the longevity of the union as an institution – an important consideration for labor, but one that demands a more courageous vision – than with the overall strength of its members vis a vis their employers, which in fact is the only guarantor of institutional survival.

labor

Donald Trump Collected a Massive $168,000 Union Pension. Will He Fight for Yours?

Andrew Joyce Policy.Mic
As recently as 2015, Donald Trump was still collecting a $168,000 pension — and maybe more — from the Screen Actors Guild for playing himself in The Apprentice. Now that Trump is about to be president, the most important question is: What is Trump's plan to save the system that is designed to protect millions of union pensions like his own?

labor

When George Wallace Came to Town

Joe Allen Jacobin
The notorious southern bigot George C. Wallace came hunting for votes and found a ready-made audience among blue-collar workers.

Urgent to Progressives: Stop Fueling the Anti-Russia Frenzy

Norman Solomon Common Dreams
Progressives who treat anti-Russia propaganda spin as fact, in order to weaken Trump, are encouraging a kind of McCarthyism. Of all the good reasons to “delegitimate” Trump, alleged Kremlin intervention in the election should rank low. Focus should instead be on his greed, pathological lying, enthusiasm for oligarchy, bigotry, environmental destruction, racism, misogyny, economic injustice, voter suppression and rampant conflicts of interest.

Trump’s Frightening Picks for U.S. Policy in the Middle East

Stephen Zunes The Progressive
Among the many disturbing appointments by President-elect Donald Trump are the people charged with conducting U.S. policy in the Middle East. Trump’s ignorance of the region will make him even more dependent on his advisers than most Presidents. And that’s not good news.

labor

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

Maggie Penman NPR
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.

Demographics Are Not Destiny

Barry Eidlin Jacobin
Democrats were wrong to think that shifting demographics alone would hand them victory. What then determines whether workers respond to economic grievances with nativism or solidarity? In a word, organization.

labor

Carrier Deal: A Dilemma for Unions & Labor Solidarity

Ruth Needleman
Unions must maintain unity among the workforce split by the Carrier deal, and educate its members on why they should not have voted for Trump. Election data seems to indicate that it was union white workers more than poor white workers who supported Trump to begin with. The divide between highly skilled and paid workers and minimum wage workers harkens back to the 1920s when unions focused primarily on craft workers rather than the expanding industrial workforce.
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