Gavin Newsom Is Backing California’s Billionaires
Governor Gavin Newsom is siding with California’s billionaires against a proposed wealth tax to fund health care. Progressives like Ro Khanna are challenging him.
20631 Article(s) by: Wouter van de Klippe
Wouter van de Klippe is a freelance journalist and writer based in Europe. He is particularly interested in organized labor, social and environmental justice, and social welfare states.
The Shady Contractors Training ICE Agents
A variety of shadowy private security and weapons firms have been tapped to provide firearms and combat training to ICE agents. They are among the many private entities lining up for their cut of the Trump administration’s deportation spending blitz.
Motorists’ Party Brings MAGA to Czech Politics
The Czech Republic’s new environment minister is leader of a pro–fossil fuel party called Motorists for Themselves. It’s part of a right-wing backlash in Europe, moving to kill off the EU’s Green Deal.
ICE Has Become a Rogue Paramilitary
It’s time we see ICE as it already sees itself: a domestic army dispatched by the Trump administration to terrorize vulnerable people and violently intimidate political enemies into submission.
A New Day for NYC Taxi Drivers Under Zohran Mamdani?
New York taxi drivers have long been mercilessly squeezed by the city, culminating in their 2021 hunger strike joined by Zohran Mamdani. Announcing a new taxi commissioner yesterday, Mayor Mamdani promised a break with that past.
The Fed Is Quietly Bailing Out Wall Street
The Federal Reserve has quietly delivered nearly half a trillion dollars to Wall Street with few strings attached over the past few months. These cash infusions could signal instability in the broader financial sector.
Most Americans Condemn ICE’s Murder of Renee Good
When Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross shot Renee Good in the head last week, Republicans declared that Americans would overwhelmingly support the killing. In reality, the vast majority find the murder unjustified.
Right-Wing Dark Money Groups Want Regime Change in Iran
As Donald Trump threatens a military attack on Iran, shadowy conservative groups working to gut consumer protections and roll back abortion rights have also been pouring millions into influential think tanks advocating for regime change in the country.
From the Ashes of the Arab Spring
Today marks 15 years since the overthrow of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali, one of the high points of the Arab Spring. The events of 2011 gave rise to an impressive wave of revolutions. Almost all were bloodily suppressed.
New York City Nurses Have Launched Their Biggest-Ever Strike
Nearly 15,000 nurses are now on strike at three New York City private sector hospitals, in the largest nurses’ strike the city has ever seen. Nurses say they are striking to end understaffing that burns out nurses and endangers patients.
ICE Is on a Violent, Illegal, Immoral Rampage
ICE appears to be reveling in the hypocrisy and double standards that the Trump administration’s unqualified defense of their sickeningly violent and occasionally murderous behavior, against Renee Good and innumerable others, has given them license to indulge in.
Israel, From Genocide to Self-Destruction
The genocide in Gaza radicalizes Zionism’s long-standing colonial project. But Israeli leaders’ open rejection of any future possibility of a Palestinian state have undercut their own international legitimacy.
RFK Jr’s New Food Pyramid Is Industry-Approved
The report behind Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s updated dietary guidelines didn’t eliminate food and pharmaceutical industry influence over Health and Human Services decisions. It did the exact opposite.
Trump Needs War to Distract From His Domestic Failures
Donald Trump is making the United States’ affordability crisis worse and suffering historically low approval ratings. He is likely hoping wars abroad will divert the public’s attention from his domestic policy failures.
The Echoes of Ireland’s Bloody Sunday in Renee Good’s Murder
Like Renee Good’s murder in Minnesota, the Bloody Sunday massacre in Ireland was notable for both the blatancy of the crime, carried out in broad daylight, and the audacity of the lies pumped out from the highest levels of the state.
Zohran Mamdani Is Right to Stand By Cea Weaver
The failed push to sink Zohran Mamdani’s appointment of tenant organizer Cea Weaver was an attempt to remove a highly effective advocate for renters, who landlords and the real estate industry hate because she has consistently defeated them.
On the Value of Putting Things in Plain Language
Emily Witt’s memoir begins with the Brooklyn and Berlin underground rave scenes and the appeal of subcultural escapism. What follows is a reckoning with the social conflicts of the present and journalists’ role in a time of rising authoritarianism.
How October 7 Remade Jewish Politics in America
For decades, American Jews were assumed to be uncritical supporters of Israel. But Israel’s war in Gaza transformed Jewish politics in the US and irrevocably undermined the legitimacy of institutions that sustain Zionism.
The Triumph and Tragedy of Russian Women
The first decades following the Russian Revolution saw enormous changes in women’s social role, but early promises of liberation were soon stifled. The record of women’s struggle is among the revolution’s most precious legacies.
In Defense of the New York City Transit Strike
Roger Toussaint, former president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, challenges the claim that New York’s last great transit strike weakened labor — and explains why its real legacy has been obscured.