Fictional Teen Dystopias Reflect Real Capitalist Nightmares
Dystopian teen films will remain popular as long as they keep reflecting truths about young people’s prospects under capitalism.
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The Afroman Ruling Is a Victory for Artistic Speech
Seven sheriff’s deputies sued musician Afroman for defamation after he mocked their failed raid in viral diss tracks. His victory comes at a moment when the lines of what constitutes artistic free speech are continually being redrawn.
We Can’t Income-Tax Ultra-Elites. We Must Tax Their Wealth.
To tax the richest Americans, we need to go after their wealth, not just their income. Two proposals — one in California, one in Congress — could finally do it. The alternative is an ever-more-powerful billionaire class that threatens democracy itself.
When Students Struck to End the War in Vietnam
In May 1970, four million students went on strike across the country, shutting down classes at hundreds of colleges, universities, and high schools and demanding an end to the Vietnam War.
Ground Troops in Iran: An Idiotic Idea for an Idiotic War
Donald Trump is weighing whether to make the Iran War even more of a disaster by sending in ground troops. It’s a terrible idea that almost everyone agrees won’t achieve anything but kill US troops and draw the United States deeper into war.
Bummerland Sends Up Austin’s MAGA Tech-Bro Culture
A new essay collection by Randolph Lewis chronicles how Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, an Apple campus, and scorched-earth MAGA capitalism killed Austin's famous weirdness — and finds unexpected glimmers of hope even in big-box America.
ICE Is Trying to Avoid Oversight by Buying Private Prisons
The Trump administration is considering purchasing a number of private immigrant detention centers across the US. Doing so may allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to bypass state laws geared at curbing abuses in the facilities.
Behind MrBeast’s Cold, Dead Eyes
Twenty-five years ago, someone like Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson would have had little to offer the world. His rise to global phenomenon suggests that virality is emptier than even pessimists thought possible.
Donald Trump Is Unpopular. That Only Matters in a Democracy.
US democracy has been degrading for years. Donald Trump has the motive, the disposition, and the political and legal infrastructure to simply circumvent it, especially with such low approval ratings and midterm elections around the corner.
Study How Zohran Mamdani Handles This Heckler
In just a few seconds, Zohran Mamdani takes a fairly sophisticated argument in political theory and translates it into a funny but substantive response to a heckler that redirects the conversation to affordability.
In Denmark, the Center Did Not Hold
Tuesday’s Danish election punished the Social Democrats as well as their center-right government partners. The result again showed voters’ distaste for managerial coalitions spanning the neoliberal center ground.
Hugh Mulzac’s Journey From Black Nationalism to the New Deal
Pioneering ship captain Hugh Mulzac’s remarkable life story reflects the maturation of black politics in the early 20th century. He began as a black nationalist but soon saw the singular promise of multiracial labor struggle to improve black workers’ lives.