Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City Will Please His Fans and Infuriate His Skeptics
Asteroid City dials up the “Wes Anderson” to 11, leaving an emotional void in its wake.
20931 Article(s) by: Zola Carr
Zola Carr is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, working on a dissertation on the development of experimental brain implants for psychiatric disorder.
France’s Left Has Finally Woken Up to Racist Police Violence
France’s left has often failed to speak up for marginalized minorities. But after the backlash over the police murder of 17-year-old Nahel, left-wing parties have taken a clear stance, refusing to condemn rioters and insisting their anger is justified.
Biden Is Wrong. The Supreme Court Is Already “Politicized.”
President Biden said he won’t expand the Supreme Court because doing so would “politicize” the court in an unhealthy way. But it’s a political institution by its nature — and a disturbingly undemocratic one.
No, We’re Not All to Blame for Poverty
For centuries, US capitalism has let a minority profit while leaving millions of others destitute. The moralistic idea that we’re all partly to blame ignores the systemic causes of poverty and offers no hope of building solidarity.
Remembering Socialist Gus Newport, Berkeley’s “Mayor of the World”
Eugene “Gus” Newport, Berkeley’s socialist mayor from 1979 to 1986, used local office to support and materially aid left-wing revolutionaries from South Africa to Central America and the Caribbean. Newport proved that city hall could have a global reach.
Starbucks Baristas Are Accusing the Company of Homophobic Worker Suppression
This Pride Month, amid a wave of protests targeting LGBTQ-friendly brands, Starbucks workers say they’ve been asked to take down Pride decorations. Workers say it’s part of a larger trend of undermining and demoralizing baristas, who are unionizing nationwide.
Actors Want to Be Paid for Auditions — and Their Contract Already Guarantees It
Under the banner of “Auditions Are Work,” a group of SAG-AFTRA members are organizing to enforce a little-known provision of their contract that guarantees pay for auditions. With many actors spending hours each week auditioning, there’s a lot to gain.
A New Supreme Court Case Could Make It Even Harder to Tax the Superrich
The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear a case designed to preemptively block a wealth tax — another potentially lucrative gift for the conservative justices’ billionaire benefactors.
Actually, Voter Shaming Doesn’t Work
Voter shaming has never been an effective tactic, but the fact that it’s being discussed as one by the likes of Pod Save America’s hosts speaks to the increasingly post-democratic sentiments that have become common among elite liberals.
The Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Ruling Is Not the End of Race-Conscious Admissions
Rather than ending affirmative action, as many headlines have stated, yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling has created new rules about how race can be considered in university admissions — and they might be more in line with left-wing rationales for affirmative action.
The Triumph of Greece’s Authoritarian Right Is the Future the European Union Wants
Greek premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis is cut from the same cloth as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, attacking press freedom and brutalizing refugees. The EU’s leading actors have backed Mitsotakis to the hilt, and his political dominance was forged in Berlin and Brussels.
Elemental Takes Pixar’s Propaganda to a Whole New Level
The once great animation studio continues its fall with Elemental, another clumsy Pixar parable about the joy of finding a career.
Jack Butler Yeats Was a Political Radical
Jack Butler Yeats, the most important 20th-century Irish painter, is often presented in apolitical terms of pictorial technique. Yet his work was deeply colored by Ireland’s independence struggle — and the yearnings for human dignity that inspired it.
Medicare Advantage Insurers Are Making Bank by Denying Care to Seniors
Care denials by Medicare Advantage insurers are threatening the foundational premise of the government’s health care safety net: that people on Medicare should get the treatments that are recommended by a doctor.
When it Comes to Climate, Beware the “Calm Down” Guy
Anyone insisting that you “calm down” about climate change is living in denial about the catastrophes that are at our doorstep.
Cori Bush: “Love Must Be at the Center of Our Work as a Movement”
The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice, says Rep. Cori Bush — but only if we pull it.
The Greek Left Is in Serious Trouble
Following its 2023 national elections, Greece is looking at another four years of authoritarianism, privatization, and further financial and labor market deregulation. A new radical left alternative rooted in organic social movements is urgently needed.
How Capitalism Remade Homophobia
Before tragically dying at age 32, Chris Chitty, a brilliant historian of gay life and capitalism, produced an illuminating unfinished book, Sexual Hegemony. In it, he provided a longue durée account of the development of homophobia and homosexuality.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas Don’t Give a Damn About “Ethics” on the Court
Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have made it clear that they do not care what you think about the fact that they are accepting copious, thinly veiled bribes from billionaires.
Unionizing Made Me a Different Person
Forming a union with my coworkers at the immersive arts company Meow Wolf wasn’t easy. It was stressful and scary. But we pushed past that fear — and ended up transforming our lives in the process.