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U.S. and Argentina threaten to ban Venezuelan oil
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is threatening to ban the import and export of oil and crude products from Venezuela into the U.S. to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to “return to the constitution.”
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Signs of economic trouble ahead
The current expansion has gone on for 102 months. Only the expansions from March 1991 to March 2001 (120 months) and from February 1961 to December 1969 (106 months) are longer. Unfortunately, growth during this expansion has been slow and the gains have largely gone to a very few. And there are signs of economic trouble ahead.
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A trial for Lula and Brazilian democracy: What’s next for Brazil?
Brazil has just taken another step toward the dismantling of its democracy. On January 24, an appeals court confirmed a previous ruling against former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party), sentencing him to over 12 years in jail.
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Too many whites are in denial about the extent of race-based economic inequality
A recently published paper by three Yale scholars reveals “that Americans, on average, systematically overestimate the extent to which society has progressed toward racial economic equality, driven largely by overestimates of current racial equality.”
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Leaked nuclear posture review lays out policy changes that would increase risk of nuclear war
A draft of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review leaked to the Huffington Post indicates that the White House is planning changes to the U.S. nuclear arsenal and its nuclear-use policy that would increase the risk that nuclear weapons will be used.
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Capitalism’s life source: the domestic and social basis for exploitation
Social reproduction theory (SRT) sounds quite intimidating, but the (rather grandiose) anthology of big words masks a relatively simple question: if capitalist production is fundamentally the production of commodities, and it is workers who produce such commodities, who ‘produces’ the worker?
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Evgeny Pashukanis: Commodity-form theory of law
Whether one believes that law is provided by God (Natural Law), is created by human intellect (Positivism), a gendered institution perpetuating patriarchy (Feminism) or the maintainer of the status quo against marginalised groups (Critical Legal Studies), undergirding those beliefs is the assumption that law is autonomous.
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As ‘epic winds’ drive California fires, climate change fuels the risk
Santa Ana winds are whipping up wildfires in Southern California after a devastating season in wine country. Rising temps can make the West dangerously combustible.
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Melbourne protesters defy cops, challenge Milo Yiannopoulos
Milo Yiannopoulos, an avid and notorious alt-right figure, ended his night with several hundred anti-fascist protesters. Joined by residents of the Flemington and Kensingston commission flats, protesting and showing the need for radical anti-capitalist defiance against fascists, such as Yiannopoulos.
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Führer Trump tweets neo-Nazi anti-Muslim propaganda
On Wednesday, Donald Trump used the bully pulpit of the U.S. presidency to spread neo-Nazi anti-Muslim propaganda to the world.
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Honduras’ Opposition Alliance says election ‘stolen,’ won’t accept results
Former President Manuel Zelaya, leader of the opposition, accused the TSE of stealing the election from the alliance.
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‘Valve-Turners’ putting lives on the line for our climate emergency
In October 2016, while President Barack Obama was still in office, five climate change activists, including me, cut chains and closed emergency shutoff valves on five tar sands oil pipelines in four states. In one morning, we briefly stopped the flow of all Canadian tar sands oil into the United States.
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Venezuelan company lets 55 tons of flour rot
The company received more than US$85 million in government subsidies in 2015 for the production and distribution of food at fair prices.
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Against legal fetishism (part two)
Couching Trump as a “lawless” autocrat-in-the-making has become a matter of routine, something of a mantra repeated by “liberals” and “conservatives” alike. The trouble with this characterization is not that it is inaccurate, but rather that it is incomplete.
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Against legal fetishism (part one)
Law here, law there, law everywhere. The first nine months of the Trump administration have thrust questions about the force of law, legal strategy and tactics, and the role of judges in the United States’ much-vaunted system of constitutional checks and balances to the fore of public attention.
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Just say no to NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is unpopular with many working people in the United States, who correctly blame it for encouraging capital flight, job losses, deindustrialization, and wage suppression.
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The “Amazon Amendment” would effectively hand government purchasing power over to Amazon
This week, representatives of three major internet platforms — Google, Facebook, and Twitter — are testifying before Congress about their role in facilitating Russian meddling in the 2016 election. But a fourth giant sat comfortably removed: Amazon.
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‘I made this… but didn’t get paid’: Garment workers appeal directly to shoppers
Factory workers draw attention to mistreatment and unpaid wages with notes hidden inside clothing items.
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Yanis Varoufakis’s self-incriminating account of the Greek Crisis (Part 3)
[box type=”note” style=”rounded”]Part 1: Proposals Doomed to Fail Part 2: Varoufakis’s questionable account of the origins of the Greek crisis and his surprising relations with the political class Part 3: How Tsípras, with Varoufakis’s aid, turned his back on Syriza’s platform [/box] Yanis Varoufakis traces his collaboration with Alexis Tsípras and his alter ego, Nikos […]
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Yanis Varoufakis’s self-incriminating account of the Greek Crisis (Part 2)
[box type=”note” style=”rounded”] Part 1: Proposals Doomed to Fail Part 2: Varoufakis’s questionable account of the origins of the Greek crisis and his surprising relations with the political class Part 3: How Tsípras, with Varoufakis’s aid, turned his back on Syriza’s platform [/box] In his latest book Adults in the Room, Yanis Varoufakis gives us […]