May Day: While the World Celebrates Workers, the US Celebrates “Loyalty” and “Law”
Justin Doolittle, Truthout: Let us mourn the loss of May Day here in the United States, and defy it by expressing solidarity with workers all over the world and gratitude that the US government’s shameless attempt to replace May Day with contrived expressions of obedience and propaganda has so utterly failed.
“Rising Voices for a New Economy” Connects the Dots
Sam Knight, Truthout: “Rising Voices for a New Economy” brought over a thousand activists together in Washington DC to protest rising economic inequality, poverty and family-destroying deportations in the absence of immigration and other structural reforms.
Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, Truthout: From no acknowledgment at all, to a proud celebration of “Mexican-ness,” to a commercialized beerfest, Cinco de Mayo has seen many transformations in the last half-century. It is time to transform it again and recover meaning.
The Untold, Real-Life Story of the Prison in “Orange Is the New Black”
Victoria Law, Waging Nonviolence: The Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, is the prison made famous by Piper Kerman’s memoir-turned-Netflix-show “Orange Is the New Black.” It’s also where the real-life group Families for Justice as Healing got its start.
The Working-Class Mini-Revolts of the 21st Century
Jeremy Brecher, Labor Network for Sustainability: Each of these 21st century mini-revolts, whether or not successful in realizing immediate objectives, succeeded in transforming the understanding of the world and of the possibilities for action for millions of people.
In Spite of Corporate Lobbyists, Vermont Residents Organize to Raise the Wage
Jonathan Leavitt, Truthout: While legislators in the Vermont State House seem to more often be swayed by Koch-funded lobbyists than the concerns of their constituents, The Vermont Workers’ Center and other activist groups are organizing to win livable wages in the state.
The Serendipity of Social Media – Sevim Irmak’s Fight for Her Country
John de Graaf, Truthout: The author of Affluenza learns the power of social media to help him understand the world beyond his borders, specifically the strange case of neoliberalizing and fundamentalizing Turkey.
Execution Chaos: Witness Recounts Botched Killing That Caused Oklahoma Prisoner’s Fatal Heart Attack
Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now!: Oklahoma death row prisoner Clayton Lockett was injected with an untested cocktail of lethal drugs and died of a heart attack after a botched execution Tuesday night. Journalist Ziva Branstetter was present and discusses what she witnessed.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch: As the US economy starts to look more like the old economy of the Great Depression, the divide between rich and poor seems to grow ever starker. Peter Van Buren has been traveling the Rust Belt, taking the temperature of a land with a significant fever. Here’s his account.
The Neoliberal Turn in American Health Care
A. W. Gaffney, Jacobin: The failings of the Affordable Care Act are rooted in a long shift away from the idea of a truly universal health care. The law leaves intact a system of health care based on key neoliberal beliefs including the “moral hazard” of free care and the primacy of health consumerism.
Economic Update: Shameful Economics
Richard D. Wolff, Economic Update / Truthout: Updates on Alabama prison/slave labor; automobile irrationalities; and the California drought. Major discussions of cutting public employee pensions; cutting state support for public higher education; and lotteries as disguised taxes on middle and poor Americans. Responses to listener questions on the Federal Reserve “creating” money and why corporations operate overseas and then want government (taxpayers’) support for corporations’ foreign operations.
The FCC is proposing to end the open Internet in favor of a system that favors corporate content. The Internet is pushing back, trying to save itself.
BuzzFlash
The BuzzFlash commentary for Truthout will return soon.
World Health Organization Calls for Urgent Action to Preserve Power of Antibiotics and Make New Ones
Read the Article at The Guardian
Egypt Mass Death Sentences: 60 Percent of Defendants Not Present at Scene of the Crime
Military Sexual Assault Reports Skyrocket 50 Percen
Why Is Alaska Fighting the Cleanup of Chesapeake Bay?
Hawaii Raises Its Minimum Wage to $10.10 an Hour, Strikes a Big Blow Against Tipping
Natural Gas CEO Pulls in $142 Million, Despite Company Never Turning a Profit
Read the Article at Al Jazeera America
This American Refused to Become an FBI Informant, Then the Government Made His Family’s Life Hell
Read the Article at Mother Jones
Spirit In Action 