Newsletter 7.2.19

Hi all,

Thanks as always for your support, here's this week's newsletter. Be sure to look out for our latest episode tomorrow on US media's false choice between "labor" and fighting climate change. 

And (if you're in the US and not forced to work) we hope you enjoy your holiday!

--Nima, Adam, Florence, and Marco 

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Conservatives are Nudging the Supreme Court to Dismantle Affordable Housing Policies Rachel M. Cohen, The Intercept (June 25, 2019)

Conservatives see the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court as an opportunity to overrule affordable housing policies. A right-wing law firm in California is challenging an inclusionary zoning policy, which is meant to ensure that a certain number of houses are affordable, with the hopes of taking the policy to the Supreme Court with the hopes that the conservative majority takes it down. 

Beto O’Rourke’s “War Tax” Is Classic Democratic Militarism, Adam Weinstein, The New Republic (June 25, 2019)

Beto O’Rourke proposed a tax on households where no member has served in the military to pay for any future wars. This policy is a wrongheaded attempt to teach civilians the cost of war that ignores penalizing the actual people who profit off of going to war. 

At Vox Media, Workers Win a Voice Beyond Wages Ari Paul, FAIR (June 18, 2019)

Vox Media’s recent collective bargaining agreement with WGA East secured plenty of economic benefits for Vox Media employees. The agreement also included a promise that nearly half of applicants that make it past phone interviews are from underrepresented backgrounds, binding wage justice with promoting diversity. 

Any Dem Who Wants to Be President Should Reject War with Iran, Not Hide Behind Process Criticisms Julianne Tveten, In These Times (June 21, 2019)

The Trump Administration’s recent agitation for a war with Iran was criticized by too many Democrats on procedural grounds that Congress should approve an attack rather than on moral grounds. While many presidential candidates have been silent on the issue, some like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris used the process critique while Bernie Sanders came out stronger against a war with Iran.

Sydney Ember’s Secret Sources Katie Halper, FAIR (June 28, 2019)

Sydney Ember, The New York Times’ reporter charged with covering Bernie Sanders’ campaign received criticism for her historically questionable framing of Bernie’s opposition to the Nicaraguan Contras. Her other articles are riddled with quotes from establishment Democrats and lobbyists without acknowledging the potential conflict of interest in citing sources that are paid by those threatened by Sanders' politics. 

Wayfair Workers Walk Out Natalie Shure, The Nation (June 28, 2019)

Wayfair workers organized a walk out to protest a contract the company has to furnish a detention center. While the outcome of the protest remains uncertain, it revives the tradition of labor organizing to fight systemic injustice.

Behind Oregon’s GOP Walkout Is a Sordid Story of Corporate Cash Zoë Carpenter, The Nation (June 28, 2019) 

Oregon Senate Republicans halted a vote on a climate bill by walking out of the capitol and going into hiding with the aid of militias. These Republicans are heavily funded by corporations that own timber mills in the state oppose cap-and-trade policies. The dirty tactics on display in Oregon are a warning sign that of the lengths bad actors will take to thwart climate measures.  

Spotlight: the Citizenship Question, the Supreme Court, and Who Deserves a Do-over Sarah Lustbader, The Appeal  (Jun 28, 2019)

While the Supreme Court’s refusal to allow a citizenship question to be added to the census based on the well-documented evidence that it was designed for racist purposes is a brief reprieve for voting rights advocates, the Roberts Court made it clear that another effort that had a less openly racist justification could be approved.  

The Democratic Debates Showcased the Most Dangerous Form of Climate Denial Thea N. Riofrancos, In These Times (June 28, 2019)

The Democratic debates allotted paltry time to addressing the climate crisis and most answers were watered down technocratic solutions. This attempt to play down the climate crisis by suggesting a bipartisan consensus is a dangerous form of climate denialism from the center-left party ostensibly concerned with climate change. 

Whose Concentration Camps? Noah Kulwin, Jewish Currents (June 19, 2019)

The controversy surrounding Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s use of the term “concentration camp” to describe U.S. immigration detention centers has been drummed up by right-wing forces who want to obscure the cruelty of their policies. Mainstream Jewish organizations have unfortunately joined the Right in policing the memory of the Holocaust while ignoring the history of the term and narrowing the definition of “Never Again.”