Facing a massive budgetary crisis, Zohran Mamdani is breaking with technocratic norms to openly explain the deficit while reiterating his pledges to oppose austerity and tax the rich — which means walking a political tightrope with Gov. Kathy Hochul.
An Infinite State of Exception in Nayib Bukele’s El Salvador
Both Donald Trump and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele style themselves successful businessmen with an affinity for social media, cryptocurrency, and criminalizing poor Salvadorans. And each stands to gain from the relationship with the other.
The Case for Universal Music Literacy
An ideal society would equitably distribute the means of production, and that includes musical production. Universal music literacy would ensure everyone has the tools to take part in the collective human legacy of music.
ICE Detention Contractors Are Reaping Massive Profits
The largest immigrant deportation and prison contractors in the US are expecting an epic payout this year: for every $1 that they donated to GOP campaigns in 2024, these private companies stand to reap more than $11,000 in increased annual revenue.
Iran Is Facing Its Deepest Crisis Since the 1979 Revolution
Discontent over dire economic conditions lay behind the protest wave that rocked Iran earlier this month. A US attack will make things even worse for the Iranian people, whether or not it results in the regime change Donald Trump would like to see.
If Zohran Mamdani is serious about delivering on his promises, he needs more than policies — he needs institutions that empower working people. Popular assemblies offer a way to build a new, bottom-up political culture in New York City.
The Problem With Left Nationalism
Left populists across Europe have sometimes dampened their internationalism in an effort to reach broader audiences. This has produced little in the way of electoral success and often meant giving up a necessary fight against xenophobia.
The Social Forces Behind the MAGA Coalition
The glue that holds Donald Trump’s coalition together is not ideological coherence but a volatile compound of empire, spectacle, and grievance. Understanding these tensions helps explain both MAGA’s successes and its weaknesses.
The Nurses’ Strike Is a Pivotal Battle for Zohran’s New York
New York hospitals are ignoring striking nurses’ demands for patient and health care worker safety and respect and trying to weaken one of the city’s most important unions. Mayor Mamdani and his movement have a key role to play in helping nurses win.
The ACLU Wants to Shrink Workers’ Speech Protections
The ACLU is trying to convince Trump’s labor board to overturn precedent that expansively protects workers’ speech rights. The nonprofit wants the NLRB to instead adopt narrower rules that make it much easier for employers to fire workers for speaking up.
Neoliberalism didn’t win an intellectual argument — it won power. Vivek Chibber unpacks how employers and political elites in the 1970s and ’80s turned economic turmoil into an opportunity to reshape society on their terms.
How Democrats Can End Qualified Immunity for ICE Agents
Democrats have a rare moment of leverage to pass legislation ending qualified immunity for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, dismantling a legal shield that has allowed them to evade accountability for murder.
Silicon Valley Wants to Make Greenland a Libertarian Dystopia
Donald Trump’s push to acquire Greenland has alienated many longtime allies. But it has tantalized a cohort of tech billionaires who see the island as a potential laboratory for “freedom cities,” or privately governed zones without regulation or democracy.
Congress Wants to Publicly Fund Lobbyists at the SEC
House Democrats worked with the GOP to advance a bill establishing a publicly funded corporate lobbying committee within the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several lawmakers pushing the bill are heavily funded by businesses overseen by the regulator.
Even Law Enforcement Officers Think This Has Gone Too Far
The impunity with which ICE and other DHS agents are carrying out violence and murders in cities like Minneapolis is so awful that now scores of law enforcement officials themselves are speaking out against it.