This is a Coup

Yesterday elected Bolivian President Evo Morales, the only indigenous president ever in Latin America, resigned under duress due to a coup d’état orchestrated by right-wing opposition and the Organization of American States, and supported by the US.

“Other Than Honorable?” Veterans With “Bad Paper”

“At no point in history,” the report notes, “has a greater share of veterans been denied basic services intended to care and compensate for service-related injuries. (See https://www.swords-to-plowshares.org/2016/03/30/Underserved/)

November 11: Remember Tragedy and Legacy of World War 1

troops from WW1 in a trench
As a country, the US has moved from being a reluctant, late entrant into World War 1 to being the premier merchant of death in weapons sales and premier militarist nation, engaged in a perpetual state of war waged from an empire of military bases.

Reclaim Armistice Day!

November 11 was proclaimed Armistice Day after World War I. But during the Korean War, the Congress rebranded it “Veterans Day” and turned the meaning on its head.

Trump Order to Defy Subpoenas: Grounds for Impeachment

Trump signing documents
We’re headed for a separation of powers showdown between Congress and the president that will ultimately end up in the Supreme Court.

Plague Was Around for Millennia Before Epidemics

Understanding how human behaviors affect the spread and virulence of a disease can inform preparations for the future.

New York City Adopts Ranked-Choice Voting

The biggest city in the US is joining a voting reform movement.

A Preview of Voting Issues We Might Face in 2020?

A GOP incumbent governor won’t admit defeat. Elsewhere, new voting systems underperform.

When America Tried to Deport Its Radicals

A hundred years ago, the Palmer Raids imperilled thousands of immigrants. Then a wily official got in the way.

Trump Administration Undercutting Democracy in Bolivia

Will the US and the Organization of American States once again be able to overturn election results?
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Culture

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Hitler: Still Messing With Our Heads

Christopher Clark London Review of Books
Two new books on the fascist leader walk different paths; one identifying Hitler as key to virtually every juncture of the party’s rise and fall while the other looks more toward his racial worldview as profoundly preoccupied with ‘Anglo-America.

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New Left Memories

Paul Buhle Portside
Two new memoirs portray the activist left over the last half-century.

Labor

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"We're the Sacrificial Lamb": On the UAW Plant Closures

Carter Eugene Adams Organizing Work
Carter Eugene Adams visited workers on the picket line at the Lordstown, OH plant where they had worked for decades. The plant is now permanently closed as part of the deal between GM and the UAW.

labor

Delta’s Flight Attendants Are Organizing

Sarah Jones Intelligencer
AFA’s new drive is separate from a preexisting one organized by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. IAM has been organizing Delta flight attendants and ramp attendants since 2010, the year of AFA’s last loss.

labor

New Threats Put Wildfire Fighters' Health on the Line

Julie Turkewitz The New York Times
In the last three years, California has seen a record number of devastating fires, and thousands of firefighters have been exposed to chemicals they had not previously encountered in such high volumes.

Friday nite video

video

AI Learns to Play Hide and Seek

Agents discover progressively more complex tool use while playing a simple game of hide-and-seek. This suggests that multi-agent co-adaptation may one day produce extremely complex and intelligent behavior.

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Voting Machines

John Oliver discusses how voting machines work, how they don’t, and how we can fix them.

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Nancy Pelosi With Stephen Colbert

Following the House of Representatives' adoption of rules for the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump, Speaker Pelosi has a candid conversation with Stephen