Newsletter 11.06.18

Dearest Patrons,

We know this newsletter is hitting your inboxes later than usual, but--in our defense--we've been standing in line at our local Citations Needed polling place all day.

As always, endless thanks for your continued support for the show and enjoy these articles that caught our attention these past couple weeks.

- Sophia, Adam, Florence, and Nima

*****

Donald Trump, Fascism, and the Doctrine of American Mythology - Intercepted Podcast, The Intercept (10/31/18)

Lots of good stuff on the latest Intercepted podcast, including scholars Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Jason Stanley talking about the rise of fascism, Classical Theatre of Harlem artistic director Ty Jones performing Langston Hughes’s poem “Let America Be America Again,” and -- most importantly -- our own Adam Johnson dropping the media criticism mic on white supremacy, Saudi Arabia, and the ludicrous both-sides paradigm. The show is good enough that we'll almost forgive host Jeremy Scahill for referring to our show as "Citation Needed." Almost. 

Explore the politics of criminal justice reform on the ballot in Nov. 2018, The Appeal 

It's Election Day! The Appeal has an excellent state-by-state breakdown of ballot measures and referenda dealing with the criminal legal system.

Money Still Rules US Politics: An Interview with Thomas Ferguson - Paul Heideman, Jacobin (11/6/18)

Money money money. Always follow the money.

Even the FBI Thinks Police Have Links to White Supremacists — But Don’t Tell the New York Times - Natasha Lennard, The Intercept (11/5/18)

This weekend The New York Times Magazine published an “in-depth” story focusing on how American law enforcement has ignored white supremacists and other racists without acknowledging that American law enforcement is in itself a racist and white supremacist institution, writes last week's Citations guest Natasha Lennard. (Also from Natasha: After Last Week, There’s No Hope That the Media Will Ever Abandon False Equivalencies With the Far Right)

Innovation Under Socialism - Vanessa A. Bee, Current Affairs (10/24/18)

"Proponents of capitalism often brandish rapid innovation as if it were an automatic checkmate on collectivist socioeconomic ideologies," notes Bee, before arguing in favor of what she terms "market socialism."

Socialists Versus Landlords - David Dayen, In These Times (10/23/18)

The Los Angeles DSA chapter has been organizing to pass Proposition 10 on the California ballot to repeal the 1995 Costa Hawkins Act, which prevents new rent control laws for most apartments and all single family homes or condo rentals.

Trump’s NLRB Just Quietly Ruled to Make Union Pickets Illegal - Moshe Z. Marvit, In These Times (10/26/18)

Trump’s all-Republican National Labor Review Board used convoluted labor law to target subcontractors, temps, and other workers boycotting indirect employers.  

How Amazon, Microsoft, Palantir, & other Big Tech profit from ICE and help Trump abuse migrants - Mijente, boingboing (10/23/18)

Mijente, a new political home for Latinx & Chicanx organizing, published a guide explaining how Big Tech directly profits from migrant abuse.

The Wildly Unregulated Practice of Undercover Cops Friending People on Facebook - Kashmir Hill, The Root (10/23/18)

Recent cases and studies have been laying the groundwork for the heretofore uncharted territory of digital surveillance via social media. In some cases, where there are gaps in American law, the rules of Facebook can be used in court.

Charging ‘Dealers’ with Homicide: Explained - Zachary A. Siegel & Leo Beletsky, The Appeal (11/2/18)

In The Appeal’s ongoing “Explainer” series, Siegel and Beletsky break down the myths and realities of the legal ramifications for charging drug dealers with murder.

Trump Admin Opens Up Alaska for Drilling, Threatening Already At-Risk Arctic Biodiversity - Democracy Now! (10/26/18)

Easily missed in last week’s horrifying news cycle, the Trump Administration has approved Hilcorp Energy’s plan to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea, making it the first oil and gas production facility in federal waters in Alaska. 

Universities Must Reckon With Their Role in the Occupation - Lucy Peterson, Jewish Currents (10/23/18)

In March 2018, the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel reiterated the importance of boycotting study abroad programs to Israel, stating, “to enroll, or participate in any way, in a Study Abroad program at an Israeli institution means ignoring if not perpetuating the ongoing violation of the academic—and, indeed, human—freedoms of Palestinians.” Professor Lucy Peterson (alongside Professor John Cheney-Lippold, who’s received more coverage) at the University of Michigan defends her decision to refuse to write recommendations for students wishing to study in Israel.

Chicago Teaches Just Voted 98% to Authorize the First Charter School Strike in U.S. History - Rebecca Burns, In These Times (10/30/18)

Teachers at 15 Chicago charter schools voted 98% to authorize a strike as they bargain with Acero Schools, the largest unionized charter network in the city. Charter teachers are also currently bargaining their first contracts as members of the Chicago Teachers Union.

From Charleston to Pittsburgh, an Arc of Premeditated American Tragedy - Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker (11/1/18) 

Cobb draws an arc of white supremacist violence from Dylann Roof to Donald Trump to Robert Bowers, and documents our collective mourning in response.

After the Pittsburgh shooting, Israeli politicians sound even more like Trump - Mairav Zonszein, The Washington Post (10/30/18)

For a lot of us, the connection between Trumpian white supremacists in the U.S. and Likudnik fascists in Israel has been obvious, but in the wake of the tragedy in Pittsburgh, Israeli politicians are not even trying to hide their affection for the American right-wing, because in their ideal world, American anti-Semitism feeds Jewish diasporic immigration to Israel. (In Slate, Jordan Weissmann observes this from a slightly different angle.)

What Trump and John Bolton Don’t Understand About Nuclear War - Jon Schwarz, The Intercept (10/27/18)

Friend of the show Jon Schwarz, with his usual brilliant dive into history, explains just how dangerous Trump's atomic cowboy posture really is - a literal matter of life or nuclear winter.