As part of my continuing efforts to post here rather than — or at least in addition to — Facebook, here are some thoughts on the latest horrific massacre in the US, the country music festival in Las Vegas. First, the inevitability of recurrence. When hearing about mass shootings in
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wmtc: what i’m reading: the new jim crow by michelle alexander
When I first heard the incarceration of African Americans in the United States referred to as a “new Jim Crow,” I thought it must be hyperbole. So did Michelle Alexander, a fact she discloses in the introduction to her book. As Alexander researched the concept, the more she learned, the
Continue readingwmtc: lessons from wisconsin and michigan: tim hudak’s threat to ontario workers is not over
Last September, when Tim Hudak announced that he intended to break Ontario’s unions, it came as no surprise to labour activists. The head of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party, cynically framing the issue as one of “choice,” talked about “right-to-work” – a familiar euphemism for union busting – and repealing the
Continue readingwmtc: hedges: "when harper passes right-to-work, you must go on a massive general strike, or you’re finished"
Last night, I heard author, journalist, and activist Chris Hedges speak at the Bloor Street United Church in Toronto, sponsored by the excellent Canadian Dimension. Hedges is a radical intellectual, in the Chomsky vein, also compassionate and fearless, in the mode of Howard Zinn. He touched on many subjects –
Continue readingwmtc: "sharecroppers on wheels": port truckers are organizing, and they are winning
When is an employee not an employee? The answer to this riddle is rapidly becoming the true face of employment in the North America today. In her brilliant investigative book Bait and Switch, Barbara Ehrenreich writes about “jobs” that require scare quotes. These “jobs” provide no salary, no benefits, and
Continue readingwmtc: a teenager’s courage reveals the brutality of anti-choicers: "please stop calling me a whore"
This articulate and courageous 14-year-old girl says she wants to be a science teacher when she grows up. I hope she will also be a writer, because this is one of the best personal essays I have read. I’m a 14-year-old girl who has lived in Austin, Texas, my whole
Continue readingwmtc: hey mcdonald’s: the working poor don’t need financial advice or higher banking costs. they need higher wages.
Part 1: McDonald’s version of company scrip (Part 2 below) Any minute now we’ll see the return of company scrip. In the bad old days before labour unions forced reforms, companies – especially in industries where workers were isolated, like mines, lumber, and farming – would pay their workers in
Continue readingwmtc: jeju island and the constitution-free u.s.-canada border: empire and resistance, at home and abroad
I’ve been hoping to write about this for months, but the right post and adequate time never seem to arrive at the same time. Rather than put it off any longer, I’ll pretend this is Tumblr or Pinterest or somesuch, and post it here without additional commentary. * * *
Continue readingwmtc: 40 years old and already irrelevant: happy birthday roe v wade
Right now there are no American women who were of reproductive age prior to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Yet reproductive rights in the US have never been more threatened. 2011 marked the passage of the most state-level restrictive abortion laws ever. 2012 saw the
Continue readingwmtc: how prisons work, by brian mcfadden
Don’t forget to visit Big Fat Whale for more McFadden funnies. Even better, subscribe to his feed in the New York Times‘ Sunday Review: The Strip.
Continue readingwmtc: rtod: extremism normalized
Revolutionary thought of the day: Remember when, in the wake of the 9/11 attack, the Patriot Act was controversial, held up as the symbolic face of Bush/Cheney radicalism and widely lamented as a threat to core American liberties and restraints on federal surveillance and detention powers? Yet now, the Patriot
Continue readingwmtc: revolutionary thought of the day
In 2005, the 25 hedge-fund managers averaged $363 million. Paul Krugman observes that these 25 were paid three times as much as New York City’s 80,000 public school teachers combined. And because their pay is taxed as capital gains rather than salary, the teachers paid a higher tax rate! From
Continue readingwmtc: i saw so much stupid, i got scared and ran away
I interrupt my Marxism 2011 notes to share with you a frightening vision. No, it wasn’t a vision. It was glimpse of horrifying reality. Last night I did a Twitter search for “Marxism”. But in addition to looking for #Marxism, I also searched on the word, without the hashtag. Big
Continue readingwmtc: texas anti-choice sonogram law: doonesbury cartoon and very real life
If you haven’t seen the abortion-related Doonesbury cartoons that many US newspapers refused to run, you can read them here. Go Garry Go. More importantly, if you would like to see what the Texas sonogram law means in real life to real women, you can read one woman’s heartbreaking story
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