Trump Is Helping Airlines Reduce Payouts for Flight Mishaps
The Trump administration has just paused an initiative aimed at increasing compensation for airline passengers when carriers lose their luggage or overbook flights.
19500 Articles by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
Ukraine Is Betrayed by Its Friends Once More
Donald Trump is demanding $500 billion in mineral riches from Ukraine in exchange for supporting its war effort. The bid to loot Ukraine’s resources makes a mockery of calls to defend its national sovereignty.
US Economic Decline Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
A focus on GDP and national accounts gives a misleading picture of US economic power. In the age of globalization, production can be based in countries like China while most of the profits flow back to American firms, reinforcing US economic hegemony.
Keir Starmer’s Government Copies Far-Right Migration Plans
Anti-immigration politicians around Europe have increasingly outsourced border policing to authoritarian states in Africa. Britain’s Labour Party has followed the same approach.
Jair Bolsonaro Could Finally Go to Jail
Brazil has charged ex-president Jair Bolsonaro with conspiring to murder President Lula da Silva and stage a military coup. It’s a serious blow to the far right, but unless the material conditions of the majority improve, Bolsonarismo will remain a threat.
Zohran Mamdani: How Much Does NYU Langone Owe New York City?
A wealthy hospital system is caving to Donald Trump on LGBTQ and immigrant rights, writes socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani — while receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks from the city.
The Communist International’s Failure Still Haunts the Left
Although it ended in tragic defeat, the Communist International was one of the most ambitious exercises in transnational political activism ever conceived. Its rise and fall gives us a crucial window into the history of the 20th century.
Tech Workers Can Still Fight Silicon Valley’s Overlords
Don’t let the AI of it all fool you — tech workers can still bring Silicon Valley to a halt.
Bob Dylan’s Newport Performance Was a Great Political Drama
Bob Dylan’s legendary 1965 performance at the Newport Folk Festival takes center stage in the new biopic A Complete Unknown. To really make sense of what happened at Newport, you need to understand the link between US folk music and left-wing politics.
Trump Is Ripping Off America and Calling It “Anti-Woke”
The Trump team has hit on what it thinks is a winning formula: every time it wants to rip Americans’ health care away or let a predatory corporation off the hook, it just says it’s fighting “wokeness” or “DEI.” It’s lazy, cynical stuff.
Donald Trump Is Dismantling Liberal Internationalism
America’s belief that it can be militarily dominant in every major region appears to be wavering. But without challengers, the Republicans’ loss of conviction in liberal internationalism will harden into a more dangerous global authoritarianism.
A Mass Shooting Is Always Political
The February 4 school shooting in Örebro was the deadliest such attack in Swedish history. The killer didn’t leave a manifesto, and officials are reluctant to call this a “terrorist” attack. But this shooting was not apolitical.
In 1930s Melbourne, Communists Fought Police Repression
In 1933, a young Melbourne communist scaled a moving tram to distract police while his comrade locked himself in a steel cage below. Their protest sparked the “Battle for Phoenix Street,” which resulted in the repeal of draconian anti-protest laws.
Why the Center Left Struggles to Escape Its Neoliberal Past
Despite now pushing for a more assertive economic agenda, center-left parties worldwide are on the defensive. Their vulnerability? They helped create the very neoliberal order they now claim to challenge.
Public Health Should Be Politicized
As America’s health crisis deepens, some experts are calling to “depoliticize” public health. But what we need isn’t less politics in health care — it’s a mass movement to transform our broken system into one that serves everyone.
This Camera Kills Fascists
In the 1960s, leftist filmmakers from France to Japan revolutionized the documentary. Anti-fascism was not just the heritage of past generations but a message carried forward by the avant-garde on-screen.
The NLRB Can’t Punish Employers Strongly Enough
The problem of case backlogs at the National Labor Relations Board goes deeper than budget shortfalls. Without serious penalties for employers who break the law, the board will continue to be hampered by a pileup of charges.
France’s Anti-Palestine Backlash Undermines Free Speech
In France, trade unionist Anasse Kazib faces prosecution for pro-Palestinian tweets. The overheated allegations of “apologia for terrorism” express a broader crackdown on civil liberties, today targeted at Palestine solidarity activists.
Young Snipers in Love Across The Gorge
Apple TV+’s The Gorge finds two attractive young snipers, Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, flirting across the abyss as they guard the gates of hell below. It’s a promising premise, but it never pays off.
Syria Remains a Battleground for Competing Regional Powers
Turkey’s ruling AKP views the fall of Assad in Syria as an opportunity to project power across the region. But the conflicting interests of the Gulf monarchies, Israel, and the US will make attempts by any one power to exert influence over Syria fraught.