Five Reasons Why San Francisco Must Not Give Up Public Land for Market-Rate Development
Joseph Smooke and Dyan Ruiz, Truthout: With a dire need for housing for its lower-income residents, San Francisco’s plan to use any public land for market-rate housing just doesn’t make economic sense. This piece – the first in a two-part series – explores the city’s desperate need for affordable spaces.
Imagining Social Justice as a Communal Process
Kay Whitlock and Michael Bronski, Beacon Press: Transformative change can only occur by first understanding how “hate” is inextricably bound to broader social and political systems.
In Greece, New Commission Will Audit All National Debt
Michael Nevradakis, Truthout: Eric Toussaint of the Committee for the Abolition of Third-World Debt discusses a new commission to audit Greece’s public debt to determine which parts are illegal, illegitimate, unsustainable or odious.
How the Public Can Shape the Future of Drone Use
George M. Moore, Truthout: The private use of drones, as well as police and military use domestically, needs to be controlled from a public safety standpoint, from a public security standpoint and from a privacy standpoint. The public must take advantage of the present moment to shape how that control functions.
Plutocracy the First Time Around: Revisiting the Great Upheaval and the First Gilded Age
Steve Fraser, TomDispatch: Americans of the 19th century managed to mount a sustained economic, political and cultural resistance to plutocratic rule that is simply unimaginable today. Masses of people refused to accept that tooth-and-claw capitalism was their fate.
Former Iranian Ambassador: Historic Nuclear Deal Has Prevented a New War in the Middle East
Amy Goodman and Juan González, Democracy Now!: After eight days of talks in Switzerland, Iran and world powers have reached a framework agreement on curbing Iran’s nuclear program for at least a decade. In return, the United States and Europe plan to lift economic sanctions on Iran.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
In a Win for Opponents of Mountaintop Removal, West Virginia Will Study Health Impacts
Laura Michele Diener, YES! Magazine: The shift in approach in West Virginia is good news for those who blame the health disparities of southern West Virginia on mountaintop removal mining. It’s also good news for environmentalists worldwide, who want to see more urgency in transitioning society away from fossil fuels.
The Silence Surrounding Alabama’s Debtors’ Prisons
Andrew Cohen, Brennan Center for Justice: You can draw a line from a brilliant exposé of Alabama’s private probation industry last June to the recent filing of a federal civil rights complaint alleging a racketeering conspiracy between a probation company and officials in the Alabama city of Clanton. What lies between is Ferguson, Missouri.
“Biden Plan” for Central America Continues the Crackdown on Kids
Laura Carlsen, Foreign Policy in Focus: Washington’s policy response to the crisis of unaccompanied minors migrating to the United States purports to address the root causes of migration, but actually mirrors – and in many ways intensifies – the causes that forced so many to flee.
Rousseff’s Brazil: No Country for the Landless
Fabiola Ortiz, Inter Press Service: In Brazil, one of the countries with the highest concentration of land ownership in the world, some 200,000 peasant farmers still have no plot of their own to farm – a problem that the first administration of President Dilma Rousseff did little to resolve.
Richard D. Wolff | Economic Update: Economic Change and Personal Life Crises
Richard D. Wolff, Truthout: This episode provides updates on the car parts industry, how Russia’s economy is growing despite sanctions, declining US teaching positions for new PhDs in humanities and huge Mexican strikes against Driscoll berries. We also respond to questions on countries’ currency manipulations and the role of unions in workers’ co-ops.
BuzzFlash
GMO Advocate Claims Monsanto Roundup Is Safe but Is Terrified to Drink It
Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash at Truthout: A paid consultant to toxic chemical companies paradoxically asserts glyphosate is harmless, but says he would be an idiot to ingest it.
How Ohio’s Energy Economy Became a Radioactive 19th Century Relic
New Harvard Research Debunks the NRA’s Favorite Talking Points
Read the Article at Mother Jones
Boy Scouts in New York Hire Openly Gay Eagle Scout in Spite of National Rules
Read the Article at The Washington Post
Iran’s Chief Nuclear Negotiator Receives Hero’s Welcome in Tehran
Read the Article at The Guardian
EPA Restricts Use of Pesticides Suspected of Killing Bees
The Historical Context of Voting Rights
Read the Article at Civil Rights Movement Veterans
Study: Global Deaths Due to Air Pollution Are Substantially Higher Than Previously Estimated
Read the Article at Jonathan Turley’s Blog
Spirit In Action 