Missing Links in Textbook History: War
ScheerPost – March 28, 2024 – Jim Mamer
https://scheerpost.com/2024/03/28/missing-links-in-textbook-history-war/

Because so much of the media is now tied to corporate sponsors or serves the agenda of one political party most Americans are never exposed to real debate. Highly paid broadcasters may be fearful of offending their corporate paymasters when they report on a war involving the United States, especially when their reports have been given a veneer of credibility from “experts” drawn from the ranks of retired military officers, retired CIA personnel and former FBI officials. As a result, there is virtually no media coverage of weapons manufacturers and the profits they make… If we are to escape a future of forever wars, all justifications for war should be questioned and debated before the killing starts.

This Terrifying Book Is a Must-Read for Every World Leader
Mother Jones – March 27, 2024 – Michael Mechanic
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/03/interview-annie-jacobsen-nuclear-war-scenario/

Nuclear war is a topic few care to think about. We sometimes call it unthinkable. But we need to think carefully, and to talk—particularly with high-ranking foreign officials whose motives we may have reason to distrust, just as they distrust ours—about how we can collectively avoid launching a weapon that would end our civilization. Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen’s timely new book, “Nuclear War: A Scenario” is a lightning-fast read intended to put the nuclear threat squarely back on everyone’s radar. Her narrative thread, as the title suggests, is a fact-based (though thankfully fictional) scenario that shows how a nuclear launch can escalate into World War III at dizzying speed… As I show in the book, it doesn’t take but one weapon to set off a chain reaction to unleash the current arsenal, which is forward deployed in launch-on-warning positions and could be fired in as little as a minute—15 minutes for the submarines. There are enough weapons in those positions right now to bring on a nuclear winter that would kill an estimated 5 billion people.

Bridge to the Bottom: Global Deregulation of Shipping
The American Prospect – March 29, 2024 – Robert Kuttner
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-03-29-bridge-to-bottom-global-deregulation-shipping/

One last piece of the story is the obliteration of the U.S. shipbuilding industry. As recently as the 1970s, the American shipbuilding industry was producing over 100 major merchant ships every year. Those ships were built to high standards. That industry is now gone, another victim of race-to-the-bottom globalization. The world’s top producer is now China. United Steelworkers president David McCall points out that shipbuilding uses a lot of steel. With revival of a domestic industry, “If we could run capacity for more ships and the infrastructure to support them, it would create many more jobs which in turn would create more profitable facilities.” Add it all up and the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is one more needless casualty of the use of rampant globalization to undermine safety and labor standards. It doesn’t have to be that way.

In Unprecedented Asylum Case, UK Recognizes Israel’s Persecution of Palestinians
Truthout – March 24, 2024 – Sophie Hurwitz
https://truthout.org/articles/in-unprecedented-asylum-case-uk-recognizes-israels-persecution-of-palestinians/

In a precedent-setting case, a Palestinian citizen of Israel won asylum in the UK, citing apartheid and persecution.

‘Obscene’: Biden Quietly OKs More 2,000-Pound Bombs, Warplanes for Israel
Common Dreams – March 29, 2024 – Brett Wilkins
https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-military-aid-to-israel-2667634511

“It is scary to think of the world U.S. support for Israel is creating. A world with no rules, no limits in war, where norms don’t exist, and where genocide is supportable,” he added. “Good luck getting anyone to listen to you about international law after this… The staggering death and destruction wrought by Israel’s assault on Gaza has drawn criticism from even staunch supporters of the key U.S. ally.

A very bad year for press freedom
Vox – March 29, 2024 – Caroline Houck
https://www.vox.com/24115085/press-freedom-russia-israel-gaza-war-global

Russia’s year-long detention of Evan Gershkovich is one part of a very grim picture for journalism… The most egregious example of what happens when there’s a sense of impunity over attacks on journalists is the Israel-Hamas war. As the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) noted in December, 68 journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of the war — more “than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.” That tally has only grown since… Anywhere there’s a struggle for power or even just a lot of money at stake, the media is at risk — be that from the state, non-state actors (like cartels, terrorist groups, or business interests), or an unholy union of the two. Nowhere is that clearer than in Latin America and the Caribbean… This profession has never been safe. But until a decade ago or so, there was at least a sense that journalists had a recognized role in reporting from even the world’s worst conflicts — and that role afforded them some protection. The last couple of years have felt particularly grim, and the outbreak of two wars by two governments, both known to operate with impunity toward reporters, is an obvious turn for the worse.

How to beat the backlash that threatens the liberal revolution
The Washington Post – March 22, 2024 – Fareed Zakaria
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/22/zakaria-age-of-revolutions-liberalism/

The return of great power competition is part of an even larger story. Tensions over hard power are to be expected when new countries gain power and influence. But the rise of China and return of Russia must also be understood as acts of cultural balancing — responses not merely to the United States’ geopolitical dominance over the past three decades but also to the spread of liberalism across the globe… What is more concerning is that this cultural backlash seems to have infected the West and indeed the United States itself, threatening the very foundations of our modern, liberalized world. The rise of populism in the West strikes at the core of the greatest achievement of Western politics and economics: the creation of free societies and free markets within the rule of law.

The Oil and Gas Industry Wants ‘Energy Transition’ to Mean More Fossil Fuels
Time Magazine – March 22, 2024 – Justin Worland/Houston
https://time.com/6959795/the-oil-and-gas-industry-wants-energy-transition-to-mean-more-fossil-fuels/

It is, of course, true that the world requires fossil fuels to meet near term needs. But it bears repeating that discounting climate change carries grave risks, not just from rising temperatures but also from the societal challenges that will result. To avoid these, policymakers will need to use a variety of tools to push the market to a sustainable future.

Extreme heat drives up food prices. Just how bad will it get?
Grist – March 27, 2024 – Kate Yoder
https://grist.org/economics/heatflation-study-extreme-weather-food-prices/

No place on the planet looks immune. Countries in North Africa and the Middle East, where hot temperatures already push the comfortable limits of some crops, are expected to see some of the biggest price shocks. The study’s results were striking, Wagner said, but at the same time very believable. He thinks the calculations are probably on the conservative end of the spectrum: “I wouldn’t be surprised if follow-up studies actually came up with even higher numbers.” It adds up to a troubling picture for the future affordability of food.

Obama opened a door between Cuba and the US. Why is Biden closing it again?
The Guardian – March 26, 2024 – Bhaskar Sunkara
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/26/joe-biden-cuba-policy

Simply, the US owes a debt to the Cuban people for its decades of economic warfare. At the very least, the president should make good on his campaign promises and immediately remove Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. If the US can establish full relations with Vietnam, a one-party state that it engaged in bloody armed conflict against for years, there is no reason why its cold war with Cuba cannot end. Our message should be simple: let Cubans decide the future of Cuba without coercion. It’s time to overcome the objections of a small lobby of hawks and cease a policy that stands against the interests of ordinary Americans and Cubans alike.

Steven Spielberg Warns of Antisemitism: ‘The Echoes of History Are Unmistakable’
Reader Supported News – Haaretz – March 27, 2024 – Rachel Fink
https://www.rsn.org/001/steven-spielberg-warns-of-antisemitism-the-echoes-of-history-are-unmistakable.html

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg during a speech he gave Monday evening, invoking Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s famous speech to the British Parliament in 1948. Speaking at an event celebrating the 30th anniversary of his USC Shoah Foundation, Spielberg went on to say, “I am increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history – to once again have to fight for the very right to be Jewish.” At the event, the renowned Jewish filmmaker was awarded the prestigious University Medallion by the University of Southern California in recognition of his work at the Shoah Foundation, an organization Spielberg founded in 1994… Spielberg said in listening to the accounts of survivors, “the echoes of history are unmistakable in our current climate.” “The rise in extremist views has created a dangerous environment and radical intolerance (that) leads to a society that no longer celebrates differences, but instead conspires to demonize those who are different to the point of creating the other.”

The Current Attack on Abortion Pills Will Fail. The Next One Will Be So Much Worse.
Slate – March 26, 2024 – Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/03/mifepristone-supreme-court-alito-national-abortion-ban.html

Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas are never ones to let an embarrassment of a lawsuit go to waste. And they were openly eager to embrace the chilling argument at the heart of ADF’s case: the notion that the Comstock Act of 1873 prohibits the distribution of abortion pills and perhaps even equipment used for procedural abortions. Under this theory, abortion is already a criminal offense under federal law, and every abortion provider in the country may be prosecuted and imprisoned immediately… Alito and Thomas know they will likely lose this case, so they’re preparing for the next one. Maybe Trump will win and commence Comstock prosecutions. Maybe Kacsmaryk will issue a new ban on mifepristone at the behest of red states, as he is currently threatening to do. Either way, Comstock is racing toward the Supreme Court. And two justices have already aligned themselves with a sweeping interpretation of its puritanical prohibitions.

Inside the historic suit that the gun industry and Republicans are on the verge of killing
Propublica – March 27, 2024 – Vernal Coleman
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-gary-indiana-lawsuit-guns-gop

Relentless legislative and legal efforts across the country have eliminated a flurry of lawsuits initiated by cities against the industry two decades ago. A bill approved by the Indiana legislature and signed into law this month by Gov. Eric Holcomb may be the final blow to Gary’s suit, the last one standing from that original group of cases.

Wealth of the Top 1% in US Hits All-Time High of $45 Trillion
Common Dreams – March 29, 2024 – Thor Benson
https://www.commondreams.org/news/rich-rrecord-income-inequality

The wealth of U.S. billionaires is currently at $5.5 trillion, which is up 88% since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The nation’s rich accruing so much wealth in recent years has renewed calls for a wealth tax. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and others are pushing to pass the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, which would put a 2-cent tax on every dollar of wealth over $50 million. Warren referred to U.S. President Joe Biden calling for higher taxes on billionaires during his State of the Union when the bill was reintroduced earlier this month… “As President Biden says: No one thinks it’s fair that Jeff Bezos gets enough tax loopholes that he pays at a lower rate than a public school teacher,” said Warren. “All my bill is asking is that when you make it big, bigger than $50 million dollars, then on that next dollar, you pitch in 2 cents, so everyone else can have a chance.”

AI “agents” could do real work in the real world. That might not be a good thing.
Vox – March 29, 2024 – Kelsey Piper
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24114582/artificial-intelligence-agents-openai-chatgpt-microsoft-google-ai-safety-risk-anthropic-claude

For those who worry about humanity losing control of our future if we build extremely powerful AI systems without thinking about the consequences (I’m one of them), it’s pretty obvious why the idea of AIs with agency is nerve-racking. The transition from systems that act only when users consult them to systems that go out and accomplish complex goals in the real world risks what leading AI scientist Yoshua Bengio calls “rogue AI”: “an autonomous AI system that could behave in ways that would be catastrophically harmful.”

Building on the Best of New York’s Social Housing Policy
Jacobin – March 26, 2024 – Jonathan Tarleton
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/new-york-mitchell-lama-co-ops-social-housing

The New York state legislature is calling for the revival of Mitchell-Lama, a program that built over 160,000 affordable housing units in the mid-20th century. It’s a welcome proposal — but we need bigger ambitions for social housing policy today.

Worker-to-Worker Unionism: A Model for Labor to Scale Up
Jacobin – March 24, 2024 – Eric Blanc
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/worker-to-worker-unionism-starbucks-amazon

There has been a shift in how people are organizing together to petition for representation. What was once a top-down approach, whereby the union would seek out a group of individuals, has flipped entirely. Now, individuals are banding together to form grassroots organizing movements where individual employees are the ones to invite the labor organization to assist them in their pursuit to be represented. Labor analysts have also begun to grapple with the strategic implications of this new movement. Here I focus on the strengths of worker-to-worker unionism — drives that are initiated by self-organized workers and/or in which workers take on key responsibilities traditionally reserved for union staff, such as training in organizing methods. The major promise of this approach is that it’s capable of scaling up… The most important potentiality of worker-to-worker organizational forms is that they are cheaper and easier to scale up than traditional, staff-intensive models. A decrease in organizing costs is a major historical development with important strategic consequences.

The Marginal Realists of Standing Together
The American Prospect – March 26, 2024 – Harold Meyerson
https://prospect.org/world/2024-03-25-marginal-realists-of-standing-together/

An all-too-rare organization of Israeli Palestinians and Jews works for an unfantastical solution to the enduring conflict… The drivers of actual policy on both sides of the conflict are ultranationalists: Hamas for the Palestinians, and the settlers-über-alles members of Netanyahu’s cabinet for the Israelis, who seek to drive all Palestinians out of both the West Bank and Gaza. Both those drivers envision an ethnically homogeneous state from the river to the sea, however effectively impossible that goal may be. At a time when violent maximalists fight violent maximalists, the hardest thing to find amid the current horrors is a trace of realism. That trace, however, was eloquently presented last week at a remarkable forum hosted by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). There, two young progressive Israelis—one Jewish, one Palestinian—made the case for a bilateral cease-fire and a two-state solution. Sally Abed, a Palestinian Israeli recently elected to the Haifa City Council, and Alon-Lee Green, who organized and founded Israel’s National Waiters Union, are both leaders of Standing Together, an organization of Israeli Palestinians and Jews working to promote civic equality and security, social justice, and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Foremost among Standing Together’s missions, said Abed, is “debunking the myth that Jewish security depends on the military suppression of Palestinians.”

Wisdom From Women Changemakers
Yes! Magazine – March 26, 2024 – Kristen Zimmerman & Shawna Wakefield & Rufaro Gwarada
https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2024/03/26/women-change-stories-murmurations

The deliciously nonlinear process of weaving this story together allowed us to feel, see, taste, and touch the world we long for—for our descendants, ancestors, and, yes, ourselves. Speculative, embodied storytelling is especially important now, given the level of uncertainty, conflict, and collective grief many of us are experiencing. Climate disruption has us literally navigating uncharted waters and unprecedented weather. Powerful new technologies, for healing and war, are evolving faster than we can grasp or govern them. Conflict is pervasive and escalating… Yet all is not lost. We need not brace ourselves and hold our collective breath. Instead, we can take low and slow breaths into our bellies, knowing that more people are remembering our right relationship to each other, to Water, Earth, Fire, and Air—sensing this is a crucial moment to leap into ways of being that foster repair, interconnection, and mutual thriving.