The Far Right’s Weird Obsession With Kamala Harris’s IQ
The refrain from the Donald Trump campaign that Kamala Harris has a “low IQ” showcases the Right’s mainstreaming of quack racist pseudoscience.
18112 Articles by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
Morning Joe: Dems’ Favorite Show, Blatant Pro-Israel Propaganda
Morning Joe is the political show of choice for many elites, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. A Jacobin analysis of six months of its Gaza coverage reveals an unflagging role cheering on Israel’s genocide.
Reckoning With the Left’s Many Failures
Despite all our expressions of moral outrage at Israel’s horrors in Gaza, we have yet to build a movement that can stop the genocide, writes Waleed Shahid. Building such a movement should be our top priority.
Social Democracy Without Workers on Canada’s West Coast
British Columbia’s social democrats, the New Democratic Party, have eked out a victory in the face of a right-wing populist surge that signals growing class dealignment. The party needs to win back its historic working-class base.
The Mass Deaths in Spain Aren’t Just a Natural Disaster
At least 95 people died in flash floods in eastern Spain on Tuesday. Far fewer could have died in the Valencia region if its right-wing government had prepared civil protection measures — and if bosses hadn’t insisted that workers come into work.
The Radicalization of Ta-Nehisi Coates
The argument of Ta-Nehisi’s Coates’s latest book, The Message, is that Israel is not and will never be a democracy. He describes the racist hierarchy on which Israel was founded in terms that are hard to dismiss.
Keir Starmer Will Always Side With Capital Against Workers
A recent controversy involving DP World showed how keen Keir Starmer’s government is to prostrate itself before firms that trample over workers’ rights. Starmer’s economic agenda relies heavily on “de-risking” private investment with public money.
A Matter of Degrees
Trump’s strength with non-college-educated voters is sinking progressives.
All That Remains of Neoliberal Identity Politics Is Fascism
Mainstream Democrats are moving away from identity politics — but the Right has doubled down.
In Georgia, Vote-Rigging Claims Leave Nation Deeply Split
Georgia’s opposition labeled Saturday’s election “totally rigged.” But its insistence that the ruling party’s campaign relied on fearmongering propaganda points to a different story: the opposition struggled to eat into the ruling party’s electorate.
Dark Money’s Plan to Sabotage a Key Transparency Law
Last year, Arizona voters passed a ballot measure that requires dark money groups funding political advertising to reveal the source of their money. Now it has become the target for corporate interests trying to limit campaign finance laws.
Palestine Needs Mass Support, Not Sectarian Marginalization
Over a year after Israel launched its genocidal aggression on Gaza, many in the antiwar movement are rightly furious. But we can’t let that rage cloud strategic thinking about the best way to stand in solidarity with Palestine, says Bashir Abu-Manneh.
Trumponomics
What kind of economic policy could we expect from a second Trump term?
Georges Abdallah’s Release Is Long Overdue
Now starting his 41st year in jail, Lebanese communist Georges Abdallah is Europe’s longest-held political prisoner. French authorities keep finding pretexts to deny his release, trampling on civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism.
Identity Crisis
The global left has moved away from social class as an organizing identity, allowing the Right to peddle a working-class identity politics untethered from the socialist vision.
The Labor Careerists Wrecking Australia’s Construction Union
When Labor PM Anthony Albanese seized control of Australia’s construction union, he claimed to be acting in union members’ interests. But leaked documents show that Labor’s handpicked administrators are paying themselves a fortune — with union members’ money.
On Joe Rogan’s Show, Trump Had Nothing to Offer Young Men
Donald Trump went on The Joe Rogan Experience to connect with young men and demonstrate he has solutions to their concerns. Instead, the conversation showed the hollowness of his brand of fake populism.
Justin Trudeau Doesn’t Understand Democracy
Justin Trudeau’s broken promise on electoral reform reveals his elitist view of governance. He seems to misunderstand that democracy is not about authorizing elite rule, but about enabling popular self-rule.
The Lost World of the European Peasant
A new book, Remembering Peasants, takes a close look at Europe’s vanished peasantry. Mixing history, personal memoir, and anthropology, it is a vivid reminder of an experience that has only recently disappeared from the European landscape.
The Secret Toxins Left Behind After Hurricane Helene
Lobbying by the chemical industry and weak regulations are obscuring details about industrial toxins contaminating areas hit by disasters like Hurricane Helene. If Trump takes office, his administration will likely weaken disclosure rules further.