Multilevel Marketing Companies Are Cashing In on the Crisis
Behind the growth of “cult-like” multilevel marketing lies the fact that our economy leaves growing numbers of people isolated, insecure, and vulnerable to promises of a quick way out.
19655 Articles by: Benjamin Case
Benjamin Case is a researcher, educator, and organizer living in Pittsburgh.
The Department of Homeland Security May Have Conspired With Ron DeSantis to Kidnap Migrants
Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s kidnapping of dozens of migrants as a political stunt is disturbing. More troubling is the help he seems to have gotten from the Department of Homeland Security, a pro-MAGA federal agency that’s been quietly amassing vast powers.
Democrats Can’t Stop Dark Money Without Ending the Filibuster
Today, Senate Democrats vote on the DISCLOSE Act, legislation that would force nonprofits spending on elections and judicial nominations to publicly name their donors. Lawmakers should pass this bill — but without ending the filibuster, they probably can’t.
Meghan Markle Is Not the People’s Princess
For all the talk of social justice on her new podcast, Archetypes, Meghan Markle seems only to vaguely endorse trickle-down celebrity feminism — and to promote herself as a symbol of the enlightened liberal ruling class.
Bosses at Starbucks and Amazon Want to Destroy Unions by Dragging Things Out
Starbucks and Amazon’s current anti-union strategy is an effective one: infinite delay. Employers can’t always stop workers from winning a union election, but labor law currently allows them to buy time to kill union support.
Corporations Being “Woke” on Climate Change Is Not the Problem. It’s Also Not the Solution.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis recently decried the efforts of “woke capital” to reduce carbon emissions. Two things are true at once: his attacks are disingenuous, and supposedly environmentally conscious corporations are not going to stop climate change.
The COVID Pandemic Isn’t Over, But Biden’s New Deal–Size Ambitions Seem to Be
The pandemic, which continues to kill hundreds of Americans a day, is an argument for transforming US health care. But now Joe Biden is claiming the pandemic is over — signaling not just that he’s in denial but that he’s dropped any New Deal–size aspirations.
Amazon Is the Largest Employer in California’s Inland Empire. Workers There Want a Union.
Ten years ago, Amazon operated zero facilities in California. It now operates close to 40 facilities in the Inland Empire alone, making it the region’s largest employer. Workers essentially live in a company town — which may be why many want to unionize.
You Can’t Imagine Modern Cinema Without Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard was the last radical working in cinema during an era where the medium of movies still genuinely had the power to shock.
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction Is Essential Reading
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America is one of the greatest modern studies of revolution and counterrevolution. It’s also an extraordinary example of a materialist and class analysis of race under capitalism.
Winston Churchill’s Legacy Is Indefensible
Despite overseeing famines in colonial India, celebrating imperial war, and sending troops to attack striking miners, Winston Churchill continues to be celebrated by the British establishment. He shouldn’t be.
The New South Wales Labor Party Is Wildly Corrupt. It Needs Democratic Reform.
Thanks to gerrymandered and malapportioned party elections, the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party is dominated by factional power brokers and bureaucrats. Until that changes, Labor will remain on the ropes.
Eric Adams Can’t Be Allowed to Scrap New York’s Right to Shelter
Mayor Eric Adams has suggested that New York’s response to Governor Greg Abbott’s busing of migrants into the city include rethinking its “right to shelter” law. But the solution to the homelessness crisis is in strengthening housing laws, not eroding them.
Canadian Law Professors Are Speaking Out in Support of Palestinian Human Rights Defenders
Last year, Israel designated several Palestinian humanitarian organizations as terrorist groups. In an open letter, 60 Canadian law professors urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make good on his professed commitment to human rights. He has yet to respond.
“Disinformation” Didn’t Bring Us Donald Trump
Since 2016, the national security establishment has tried to reframe mass disaffection with mainstream politics as the outcome of foreign meddling. But disinformation isn’t the cause of our political malaise, and fighting it won’t get us out of it.
Canadians Deserve to Vote on Breaking With the Monarchy
New polling suggests that a majority of Canadians want a vote on maintaining their country’s link to the British Crown. Imagine that: a long-overdue, democratic debate on cutting ties with a wildly undemocratic institution.
My Son Hunter Is a Total Waste of Hunter Biden’s Wild Story
Breitbart’s movie about Hunter Biden, My Son Hunter, is neither entertaining, informative, competently made, nor politically persuasive. How do you screw this one up?
Putin’s War Is Exposing the Cracks in Russia’s Communist Party
For two decades, the Communist Party has been part of Vladimir Putin’s power system, while also integrating many protest movements from within Russian society. But since the invasion of Ukraine, the party’s balancing act has become ever more precarious.
The US’s Taiwan Policy Could Provoke Another Dumb and Dangerous War
The Taiwan Policy Act has advanced through a Senate committee by a bipartisan vote. It’s the latest instance of the US chipping away at the “One China” policy. The result could be the very war the bill is meant to deter.
Illinois Is Eliminating Cash Bail. To Hysterical Conservatives, It’s the End of the World.
Cash bail creates a two-tier justice system where freedom belongs to those who can afford it. For poor people, Illinois’s new bail reform bill is a step toward justice. For melodramatic conservatives drowning in propaganda, it’s right out of a horror film.