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Here are links to my latest work, Daily Posts from the archives (June 23-27) in case you missed them, and articles, old and new, from around the internet. My aim is not to give you up to the minute news, but to provide a historical understanding of our current times—too many people see everything going on as uniquely special to the current moment. Even when things are especially horrible, it’s important to see that their origins go back longer than we think. You can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook (I am not accepting new friends on the last platform, but you can use the “follow” option).
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This has been another one of those weeks, and at this point I’m just reconciled to horrible stuff happening all the damn time. I will be taking a week’s break and back with an update on July 11th. The writing will continue, and you can find any new work here, as always.
NEW WORK!
I wrote a lot: it’s how I cope.
Here’s “War, F-Bombs, and the Infantilisation of the Other.” And right after I wrote it, NATO’s chief Mark Rutte called Donald Trump “Daddy.” Sometimes being this prescient is a curse.
I was on Radio Inquilab, with Rupande Mehta. This is Part I of a two-parter, “The Politics of Everything.”
“Compromise or Surrender?: Leave No One Behind.”
“We Don’t Have to Humanise the Ones We Bomb.” Really, we don’t. Bombing them is the problem, not whether or not we recognise their essential humanity.
“Do Protests Matter?” The long and the short of it.
And “Even Terror Should Have a Point.”
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FROM THE ARCHIVES!
In light of Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York primary, here’s a reminder:
“On AOC’s Endorsement of Mamdani, and Hope.”
Gays have always been part of the elite: never forget. Here’s “Choose Your Elite: Edith Windsor, Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump.”
Remember, dearies, “Don’t Share Your Book Proposal.”
It’s New York, New York, all the time, so here’s “New York: The Invention of an Imaginary City,” in Current Affairs.
“Who’s Left?: A Taxonomy of Sorts.”
“First They Came for the Criminals.”
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ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB!
Beyoncé, the most overrated singer on the planet, wore a weird t-shirt. And some of us were reminded that bell hooks was always right about her.
A deaf and mute Mongolian man is trapped in an ICE prison.
A Canadian citizen has been found dead in ICE custody.
Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar” is scared for his family, because of criticisms of his deportation of thousands of people (often kidnapped off the streets), and he no longer lives with his wife. Thoughts and prayers.
In Current Affairs, Stephen Prager points out that “The War Hawks Aren’t Even Trying To Persuade Us Anymore.”
Tamara Nassar writes, in Electronic Intifada, that “Transnational shipping company Maersk has announced that it will effectively be divesting from companies linked to Israel’s settlements.”
This is about the US-led strikes on Iran, and a useful history: “Culmination,” by Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, in New Left Review.
Democracy Now had a range of Iran experts on to talk about the strikes.
The UK-based group Palestine Action may be proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK. Here’s Sally Rooney’s criticism of the proposal.
Zohran Mamdani’s win in the primary is deeply significant. Here are a couple of perspectives:
In Left Voice, Olivia Wood asks, “Zohran Mamdani’s Primary Win: What Does It Mean for the Left?”
In Current Affairs, Nathan J. Robinson writes that “Zohran Mamdani’s Victory Is Just What The Left Needed.”
CA was among the first to take Mamdani seriously: you can read or listen to a March interview here. Subscribe!
A lot (too many), non-Chicagoans like to wax on about Chicago’s socialist mayor as if they know all about it, and they don’t. From May, in In These Times, here’s Asha Ransby-Sporn with “Two Years After Electing a Mayor, Chicago’s Left Keeps Contesting for Power.”
And I really appreciated this reminder from @xianb8, on Twitter:
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Labor Notes published this, “The Art of Organizing: 18 Tips from a Veteran Union Organizer.” These are all very good (note there’s none of the usual “be good, do good” b.s), but I think my favourites are the ones about relationships (not the kind you think) and fear. You may have your own, and that’s fine.
Abigail Glasgow writes about how “How the U.S. Exports Punishment,” in Time.
According to The Guardian, Harvard “hired a researcher to uncover its ties to slavery. He says the results cost him his job: ‘We found too many slaves.’” Well, whoops.
Several experts, including Eric Stanley, responded to the Supreme Court ruling on medical care for trans minors.
Bluestockings, the beloved radical bookstore in New York, needs funds. Please support them if you can.
Mariame Kaba is running a book drive to support the store.
This Newsweek chart shows the net worth of presidents before and after office.
Izzy Wisher writes about ancient art-making, in Aeon.
Anna Wintour is stepping down as editor-in-chief of Vogue. This has bigger ramifications than will be obvious at first. More later.
This is a fascinating piece on the houseboats of the Thames, by Sam Esser in The History News Network (via Scholar Sunday on Substack).
Bill Moyers, an icon and a part of many of our lives, died on the 26th of June. I’m sharing Maya Schenwar’s eulogy, with permission.
Few people had more of an impact on my life as a young journalist than Bill Moyers. When I was struggling to start out as a freelancer while working a day job and engaging in antiwar activism, I heard Bill on the radio saying he loved when people wrote him actual, pen-and-paper letters in the mail. So I wrote him a letter, not expecting an answer, pouring my heart out about the difficulty of the journalism field and my fears that independent journalism wouldn’t survive. Not only did he write back, but it wasn’t a form letter! He responded to my points and also gave me contact info for editors at some great publications. He told me that staying in independent journalism would be hard, but if I had a “fire” in my belly, it would be the most rewarding thing I could possibly do
Fast forward a few years, and I was suddenly running Truthout in late 2009, and had no idea what I was doing! Bill helped, giving me pep talks on the phone. He affirmed my belief that it was important for Truthout to be an openly social justice-driven news organization, and encouraged our work, particularly our Public Intellectual Project and our book reviews. He later flew me and a colleague to New York, gave us advice, and eventually gave Truthout a transformative grant through his foundation in 2011.
My most treasured memories of Bill, though, played out on a more personal level. Like me, he had a loved one who wrestled with addiction, and we had many conversations about drug dependency, and about how to support our loved ones while living our own lives. In the first years of my sister’s addiction, few people offered such a compassionate listening ear, and such humble and wise words. He had a deep, spiritual, and profound love for humanity, which extended to a sincere care for those he’d never met, like my sister, and I could tell in every conversation. That meant more to me than I can express, particularly in a field where many of us (at the time) weren’t really bringing our “whole selves” to work. I’ll never forget it.
Bill’s memory will always be a blessing on so many lives, mine among them. I’m sending love to the countless others on whom he made an everlasting impact.
Two bears escaped from their enclosure in a UK wildlife park, made it all the way to the food store, devoured a week’s worth of honey, and promptly fell asleep (which, honestly, describes my perfect weekend).
There are two orcas left in captivity in France, and William Shatner (yes, that William Shatner) has joined with Earth Day to plead for their relocation and eventual rehoming.
In “Feral Knowledge,” published in Psyche, Margret Grebowicz writes about what she learnt about dogs after being bitten by a street dog.
A few movie anniversaries this past week: Jaws is 50, and so are The Thing and Blade Runner.
Here’s a disco version of the Jaws theme, from the BBC (released the same year as the movie).
Indigo Girls, “Closer to Fine,” baby.
And I leave you with Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”
(Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze?)
You can find previous Updates here.
Remember: that heat is more dangerous than you think, even if it looks like a “lovely day” out. Stay hydrated and inside, as much as possible. I will see you on the 11th of July.
Image: Album cover for Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, by Aubrey “Po” Powell, of the design studio Hipgnosis. The documentary, Squaring the Circle: The Story of Hipgnosis is worth a watch.
