We Don’t Need More Brinkmanship With Russia
With threats of sanctions and military aid, US saber-rattling over Ukraine is escalating an already tense confrontation with Russia. It’s a dangerous game that the United States should stop playing.
19529 Articles by: Jonathan Sas
Jonathan Sas has worked in senior policy and political roles in government, think tanks, and the labor movement. He is an honorary witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. His writing has appeared in the Toronto Star, National Post, the Tyee, and Maisonneuve.
Today’s Supreme Court Reformers Should Learn from the Popular Politics of FDR’s Court-Packing
There are few fights as urgent in American politics as the one to reduce the reactionary, undemocratic power of the Supreme Court. To win that fight, reformers should examine how FDR took his case for court reform to the masses.
Carbon Capture Can Be Part of the Climate Solution
Fossil fuel companies tout carbon capture as a way to shore up their own profits. But the technology holds the potential for good — helping us to save the planet, and ourselves, from ecological catastrophe.
How the Koch Network Is Spreading COVID Misinformation
As the Omicron variant surges, an institute funded by the Koch network may be undermining government attempts to stop the pandemic.
Don’t Listen to Centrists When They Say Good Things Are “Politically Impossible”
The Biden administration’s U-turn on distributing millions of COVID tests free of charge — after White House spokesperson Jen Psaki ridiculed the idea two weeks ago — is a case study in how meaningless claims of “political impossibility” often are.
Powershop’s Sellout Shows the Free Market Won’t Stop Climate Change
The Australian green energy provider Powershop launched in 2012 with the support of a range of environmental NGOs. Last month, Shell bought the company and took over its clients.
Eric Adams Just Racked Up a Surprising Political Loss
New York City’s incoming mayor, Eric Adams, was dealt an early defeat last week when his hand-picked candidate for council speaker was rejected in favor of Adrienne Adams. It’s a sign that Mayor Adams will not have a rubber-stamp council at his disposal.
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Stands the Test of Time
Looking for something other than sappy Christmas movies to watch over the holidays? There is no greater and more prescient skewering of the absurdity of the American national security state than Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.
Tyler Stovall Was a Groundbreaking Historian of Modern France
Forged in the best traditions of American radicalism, historian Tyler Stovall remained loyal to the struggle for a better world throughout an illustrious academic career.
Fossil Fuel Company Enbridge: Climate Change Means We Need to Make Money Now, Not Later
The pipeline giant Enbridge is making a novel argument in defense of jacking up consumer prices: the climate crisis is heating up, so Enbridge needs to make higher profits now.
In HBO’s Sex and the City Reboot, the Thrill Is Gone
At its best, the original Sex and the City took the romantic lives of its characters seriously while presenting them hilariously. But its reboot, And Just Like That…, has sucked all the fun out of its stories.
In Berlin, Overworked Hospital Staff Went on Strike for a Month — and Won
The COVID-19 pandemic has heaped even more pressure on understaffed hospital wards. In Berlin, medics organized to do something about it, launching a monthlong strike that forced hospital management to guarantee minimum staffing levels.
Entertainment Monopolies Are Zombifying Mass Culture
Mass culture is becoming a museum dedicated to itself, its artifacts curated by an ever-narrowing family of conglomerates. Nowhere is that clearer than in the decline of The Simpsons, whose groundbreaking satire was killed by monopoly capitalism.
No, Large-Scale Societies Don’t Need Massive Inequalities
Serious consideration of the archaeological record puts to bed the myth that human history follows an evolutionary arc from simple and egalitarian to complex and hierarchical, challenging the assumption that democracy can work in small groups while scaling up requires domination.
How Dark Money Bought Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court Seat
In her confirmation hearings, Amy Coney Barrett feigned ignorance of dark money groups. But she should be very familiar with such groups: new documents show that dark money bankrolled her Supreme Court nomination.
Illapa Sairitupac Wants to Bring Socialist Representation Back to Lower Manhattan
Illapa Sairitupac is a social worker and socialist running for New York State Assembly. In an interview, Sairitupac talks about his family immigrating from Peru, socialism’s history in Lower Manhattan, Christianity, and his plans to fight climate change.
Billionaire Space Flights Are a Carbon Bomb That Will Destroy the Planet
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are dead set on expanding commercial space flight — even though a single person taking one of their carbon-spewing joy rides will produce more pollution in a few minutes than people belonging to 1/8th of the world population will in their entire lives.
The Democrats Are Trying to Lose
Democrats are going beyond refusing to give Americans an affirmative reason to vote for them: in sabotaging their own purported agenda around Biden’s Build Back Better bill, they seem to be trying to lose to the authoritarians in the GOP they claim to oppose.
In Switzerland, Construction Workers Are Refusing to Shoulder the Costs of the Crisis
Workers on Switzerland’s construction sites have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic. Bosses’ efforts to use the crisis to undermine established labor rights have prompted an impressive wave of resistance.
To End Hyperexploitation, Seasonal Workers Need Union Solidarity
In October, Australia introduced a new visa for seasonal agricultural workers that is supposed to create pathways to permanent residency. But history shows that seasonal workers can only guarantee their rights if they’re organized into fighting unions.