From @redemmas.org in Baltimore to @pilsencommbooks.bsky.social in Chicago, @leftiecowboy.bsky.social reports, radical booksellers are building democratically governed spaces where the public is invited to do more than shop: to gather, learn and organize. inthesetimes.com/article/coop...

Bookstores can be more than retail. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social writes that cooperative bookstores are democratically governed spaces where readers, workers and communities build something together—against Amazon, rising rents and “spoon-fed corporate mush.” inthesetimes.com/article/coop...

Union density in the U.S. is around 11%. Strike funds are uneven. Many public sector workers legally can’t strike. So how could May Day 2028 work? @leftiecowboy.bsky.social breaks down the promise and the obstacles.

“To queer something is to question. It is to turn it on its head and say, ‘I don’t think things actually have to be that way.’ This is one small space where that is normal for an evening. People can just be who they are.” chicagoreader.com/city-life/qu...

Alongside protests against raids and deportations, small actions of absurdist disruption can also prove to expose the raw violence of those in power. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social presents the magic of guerrilla theater in the streets. inthesetimes.com/article/guer...

A 50% rent hike hit @pilsencommbooks.bsky.social. Instead of closing, the co-op relocated and expanded its role as a radical bookstore, community hub, classroom and organizing space. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social reports. inthesetimes.com/article/radi...

Radical bookstores don’t just sell books. In Chicago, Baltimore, and beyond, they host book clubs, training sessions, meetings, jail support work, and organizing that can shape entire movements. New from @leftiecowboy.bsky.social

While real abortion clinics are disappearing, Sonia Chajet Wides reports, crisis pregnancy centers mislead patients, dodge medical standards, and siphon hundreds of millions in public funds—even as Medicaid faces historic cuts. inthesetimes.com/article/fake...

"Warnings against rent control policies often come wrapped in dire metaphors about ​'destroying cities' and ​'halting investment,' but, politically, freezes are popular." @leftiecowboy.bsky.social explains how a thoughtfully designed freeze could protect renters. inthesetimes.com/article/the-...

With rising grocery prices and increasingly sparse options, more places are considering municipal-owned grocery stores to create equitable access to food. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social explains how this is Medicaid, but for milk and eggs. inthesetimes.com/article/muni...

As fascism’s grip only grows tighter, the popular fronts of yesterday can become blueprints for solidarity today. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social brings to you the next #BigIdea inthesetimes.com/article/the-...

“From fascist Europe to Cold War America, reactionary movements have framed their aggression as self-defense. Today, this persists in appeals to cultural grievance and racial anxiety, obscuring the immense financial and institutional power behind them.” @shaneburley.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com

I wrote about Pete Hegseth, that terrible modern day American Narcissus, for the new issue of @inthesetimes.com inthesetimes.com/article/amer...

Today, @mauriziogro.bsky.social reports on the union shareholders fighting both ICE & the data brokers feeding it information. "With no one stepping in to create some guardrails, [AI] will become harder and harder to regulate." - Emma Pullman of @bcgeu.bsky.social inthesetimes.com/article/ice-...

Pension funds quietly shape our economy, & their power could be used to secure climate justice & worker security. @bradlander.bsky.social, @seiu521.bsky.social Pres Mullissa Willette, & #TeslaTakedown’s Evan Sutton join @leftiecowboy.bsky.social to discuss the pain & possibilities of pensions.

#BigIdea: Universal Retirement Access for All - Every worker, no matter the job, should have a reliable way to build a nest egg. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social explains the past and present of one solution to support our elders. inthesetimes.com/article/big-...

"The U.S. government has long denied farmworkers the protections of basic labor law. While the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 guarantee workers overtime pay and the right to unionize, both laws ... exclude agricultural workers."

Today, @leftiecowboy.bsky.social explains the necessity of "ending a system in which only those deemed ​'productive' or ​'deserving' are allowed to live well." inthesetimes.com/article/heal...

This month’s @inthesetimes.com features Health Communism in @leftiecowboy.bsky.social’s Big Ideas column—we appreciate the care taken in engaging our work & translating it into such a great distillation (no easy feat lol)—health communism is the antidote to MAHA & is needed now more than ever 🖤

Liberation Theology—a movement born in Latin America—reads Church teachings through a Marxist lens. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social breaks it down: 🔗 inthesetimes.com/article/libe...

"The real solution, then, is not deportations but full rights for all workers. That means not only citizenship rights but labor rights, too." inthesetimes.com/article/farm...

In a state with one of the most challenging referendum processes in the nation, organizers gathered more than double the number of required signatures to give voters a chance to defeat an anti-union bill. inthesetimes.com/article/utah...

NYC used ranked-choice voting in it's mayoral primary. Read about how it works: inthesetimes.com/article/rank...

"Hunger strikes have deep roots in Chicago—and across the country—as escalations in campaigns for justice." inthesetimes.com/article/jewi...

"If we don’t use this opportunity to build lasting power, then we’re just blowing off steam," @ufcwforward.bsky.social told reporter @lfelizleon.bsky.social Luis reported on protests in six cities and what's next after the 5 million strong nationwide mobilization inthesetimes.com/article/no-k...

By engaging in this very public, and risky, protest tactic, the hunger strikers are picking up on a long tradition of calculated starvation as a method of forcing a public confrontation with crises." @shaneburley.bsky.social inthesetimes.com/article/jewi...

My essay about the brilliant, pioneering & shockingly forgotten showrunner-pioneer Gertrude Berg, who invented the family sitcom (pre-Lucy!), then got eaten by the blacklist in the 1950s — a story with disturbing modern parallels www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

SEIU was already stepping up for immigrants, but the Los Angeles raids and David Huerta's arrest propelled it to the forefront of the fight against authoritarianism. read @lfelizleon.bsky.social for @inthesetimes.com inthesetimes.com/article/davi...

I recently wrote about the importance of just-cause eviction laws, but this is a powerful reminder that renters don’t have to wait on lawmakers to take action. The power to organize—and win—is already in our hands. @rebeccaburns.bsky.social @inthesetimes.com inthesetimes.com/article/rent...

"Landlords have a lot of power over tenants’ living conditions, and just-cause laws shift some of that power back into the hands of renters, promoting housing stability and better quality of life." @leftiecowboy.bsky.social inthesetimes.com/article/big-...

From draconian laws, FBI intimidation & trumped-up RICO charges to online doxing campaigns, defunding & deportation threats, the Trump admin is attacking protesters from all sides. But activists refuse to back down. Read Adam Federman’s new cover story @inthesetimes.com & @typeinvestigations.org.‬

“They’re destroying the port that gets fuel in and destroying the port that gets food in. That’s a recipe for famine. I can’t even think of words to use to describe what’s going to happen.” inthesetimes.com/article/no-w... by @sarahlazare.bsky.social

This article is a joint publication of @inthesetimes.com and @workdaymagazine.bsky.social. You can see the Workday Magazine version here. Thanks so much to @leftiecowboy.bsky.social for the excellent edits!

“I feel like alders are missing the fact that teens need a space, a space that is welcoming and a space that doesn’t really limit them. There are rules everywhere, but I feel like there should be a space where teens can meet up and not be watched by 100 policemen.”

India’s salt-production industry has seen massive growth over the past 75 years, but the working conditions of the country’s salt pan workers are deteriorating.

Two years ago today, middle-school-teacher-turned-union-organizer Brandon Johnson was sworn in as mayor. @asha-rrs.bsky.social writes about what Chicago's left movement has won and what’s still to be done to deliver a more equitable city. ⤵️

Yesterday, thousands of workers hit the streets and joined picket lines—but unions like UAW and CTU have their sights set on May Day 2028. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social breaks down the plan. ⤵️

In an executive order, Trump targeted the Smithsonian and the National Museum of African American History & Culture suggesting that it is “divisive” and pedaling “improper ideology.” So, I took a trip back to the museum, and what I saw was a place trying to tell the unvarnished truth about America.

or maybe don't?

The 10% tariff alone is a $2500 per household annual tax hike!

As @leftiecowboy.bsky.social explains, it's hard to imagine a world without capitalism. To move beyond it, "the Left needs to occupy new political terrain and offer people solutions to the problems that capitalism creates."

You hate to see this because it could inspire copycats here in the US. Awful

"Affordable housing — which typically involves giving tax breaks to real estate developers — isn’t working so well." As @leftiecowboy.bsky.social explains, social housing offers a permanently affordable solution for working people.

“I knew we could do better in the U.S. because I had seen better elsewhere—we don’t have to cut from whole cloth to build the world we need.” — @natashakimiz.bsky.social

even snowing and with temperatures near zero c, chicago turning out to protest the reduction in trans care at seneca park in front of lurie children's

As housing costs and homelessness surge in the West, the HOUSES Act would turn the fire hose of luxury development on public land—up to 681,000 acres of it.

Ranked-choice elections, which allow voters to express their preference for third-party candidates without “splitting the vote,” could help bring disillusioned Americans back to the ballot box.