The Northeast is under a heat dome. The U.S. remains the world’s largest oil and gas producer. And more than 50 countries are beginning to chart a different course. Basav Sen reports on the first diplomatic conference dedicated to phasing out fossil fuels.

A wealth tax and Supreme Court expansion and term limits are table stakes for democratic presidential candidates now. Anyone unwilling to get there on day one of the campaign should not be taken seriously

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project has found that private equity firms now own some 3 million apartments nationwide. As AvalonBay and Equity Residential move toward a $69B merger, housing advocates warn that Wall Street landlords are consolidating power.

Last week’s results showed what @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social reported from Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre: New York’s socialist electoral movement is not symbolic. It can win. Every Mamdani-endorsed candidate won, turning a rallying cry into a political fact.

The 250th celebration of the United States arrives as Trump-aligned Christian nationalists push ever deeper into government. Last year, @kathrynajoyce.bsky.social spoke with Jerome Copulsky about the long history behind the Christian Right’s war on liberal democracy.

Online gambling is already everywhere. Prediction markets expand its reach further, allowing users to wager on nearly any event imaginable, including war, natural disasters and the possibility of nuclear detonation. @hadasthier.bsky.social on the growth of the gambling economy.

“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” This July 4th week, revisit Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech on liberty, hypocrisy and the “gross injustice and cruelty” hidden beneath national celebration.

At Trump’s America 250 kickoff, @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social writes, the crowd was sparse, the entertainment was grim, and the menace was hard to miss. “Happy anniversary, America. The worst is yet to come.”

During July 4th week, Eugene Debs’s 1901 Independence Day speech still cuts through the fireworks: “What is wanted is not a reform of the capitalist system, but its entire abolition.”

Last week, the people of NYC won a rent freeze. Over the former mayor's tenure, stabilized rents rose by more than 12%. But the data showed that income in rent-regulated buildings kept rising faster than operating expenses.

“What is the Democratic Party if not its voters?” Zohran Mamdani asked after a slate of socialist-backed candidates swept key New York primaries. @milesklassin.bsky.social reports on the Left’s growing electoral momentum.

“The people have the eternal right to rebel against and overthrow” institutions that enslave, rob, and oppress. For Emma Goldman, independence meant more than flags and founding myths. #july4th

I’m getting some clues reading Crack-Up Capitalism by Quinn Slobodian. It’s an eye-opener to get a closer look at what some massive egos want for themselves.

Claire Valdez won her race by more than 20 points; Darializa Avila Chevalier unseated Adriano Espaillat, & Brad Lander defeated Dan Goldman by over 30 points. New York’s socialist electoral wave, @milesklassin.bsky.social reports, is no longer theoretical.

“What happens when U.S. capitalism simply needs fewer humans?” @sarahljaffe.bsky.social on automated taxis, AI, ICE raids, data centers and the rebellions taking shape against a system that treats workers, migrants and whole communities as disposable.

“This is a city’s crisis.” Via: @inthesetimes.com

Trump’s “most epic party in all of American history” turned into a militarized spectacle on the National Mall. “There was menace here as well,” @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social writes, “the menace that fascism always ensures is at the forefront of the public imagination.”

Court packing, defined simply: a plan to reform the Supreme Court by adding more justices. The Constitution creates the Court, but Congress sets its size. @leftiecowboy.bsky.social breaks down the history, the proposals and the debate.

The U.S. strikes on Iran have renewed fights over War Powers, weapons transfers, military spending, tech contracts and deportations. @neginowl.bsky.social reports on the organizing aimed at each point in the war machine.

“That’s not fair! Only we’re allowed to hold the economy hostage.” @mcfadden.bsky.social, @rubenbolling.bsky.social, @tomtomorrow.bsky.social, & @jensorensen.bsky.social, take on oligarchy, strikes and the state of the world. inthesetimes.com/article/new-...

Wonder if they missed the piece @hadasthier.bsky.social wrote about how Polymarket and other prediction market platforms are a symptom of a deeply sick economy. inthesetimes.com/article/pred...

“It feels like an impossible time to celebrate anything,” writes Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel. “But there are Persian traditions thousands of years old that demand we honor our changing seasons and recognize our perseverance as a community.”

Pennsylvania parents are not just watching anti-LGBTQ policies spread through school boards. They’re showing up, filing Right-to-Know requests, suing over secret meetings and organizing locally to stop them.

As institutions scrub queer history from public view, citizen archivists are racing to save it. @invisiblehistories.bsky.social, @qzap.bsky.social and queer zine makers are preserving the records of survival, resistance and joy.

"...the unlucky planners were forced to cobble together a show plausible enough to satisfy the president’s ego, without the benefit of any actual celebrities." @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social reports on the "America Party" where celebrity no-shows gave way to “Shit Disneyland” on the National Mall.

Last week, New Yorkers won a rent freeze for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. Many tenant groups had argued for a rollback after data showed income rising faster than expenses in rent-regulated buildings, while financial distress declined. Housing affordability is a labor issue.

On day one of jury selection in the Prairieland “antifa” trial, Judge Mark Pittman declared a mistrial after learning defense attorney MarQuetta Clayton was wearing a T-shirt with images of civil rights leaders under her blazer. He called it prejudicial.

Immigrants detained at Delaney Hall say they have been denied medical care, served food with worms and forced to work for as little as $1 an hour, or for no pay at all.

And read this bsky.app/profile/inth...

I am usually very much in opposition to doxxing. But if elected officials want to approve the doxxing of their political opponents up to and including average citizens that happened to just one time sign a petition that they don't like, I think we need to have a serious debate about their privacy.

“AI is not inevitable.” From Michigan to western New York, communities are organizing against the massive infrastructure projects powering Big Tech’s expansion, including data centers proposed on or near Native land. inthesetimes.com/article/data...

Power the Press. Fund the Fight. Become a monthly $5 sustainer and help keep In These Times journalism in print, online and in the fight. Monthly sustainers receive each print issue. bit.ly/4bb6fdW

Community Legal Services of East Palo Alto worked with tenants facing evictions and fees after Equity Residential came to control more than half the city’s multifamily rental market. @rebeccaburns.bsky.social reports that history matters as Equity and AvalonBay seek to merge.

At a packed DSA rally in Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre, Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders and a slate of socialist candidates made the case for something bigger than one election: an organized Left with the power to win and govern.

Minnesota trade unionists are among 15 people federally indicted after months of organizing against ICE and Border Patrol. @sarahlazare.bsky.social & @radicalamy.bsky.social report the indictment cites worker assemblies at the United Labor Centre in Minneapolis as evidence of a criminal conspiracy.

Trump’s America 250 kickoff was announced as a big concert. Then, @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social writes, “the announced acts — all the way down to Milli Vanilli and Bret Michaels — pulled out in fear of public backlash.” What remained was a “Great American State Fair” without the great.

The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission is obscure—until you’re a miner fighting retaliation for raising safety concerns, or a family watching black lung ravage Appalachia. @kimkelly.bsky.social on the latest cuts to coal miners’ protections.

The rent freeze passed last week after months of organizing by tenants, CUNY workers, taxi workers and housing advocates. The case was clear: stabilized rents had risen more than 12% under Adams, even as data showed landlord income continuing to outpace operating expenses.

The Prairieland case began with a noise demonstration outside an ICE detention center in Texas. It became a federal “antifa” trial with draconian convictions and prison sentences. Now the FBI’s own records raise questions about one of the government’s central claims.

Whoa this is quite an essay. And FYI, this contains info on how to support the legal defense of the Minnesota 15. labornotes.org/blogs/2026/0...

Extremely excited for this!

The war on protest does not always begin with mass arrests. Sometimes it begins with a city (ATLANTA) publishing the names and addresses of 100,000+ people who signed a petition, sending a message about what dissent may cost.

PSC-CUNY is one of the best, most militant higher ed unions. And has done terrific work for its retirees.

“The whole thing felt like a show that might be inflicted upon a desultory crowd of students at a reform school,” writes @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social about the Great American State Fair, “forced by their principal to listen to the hits of the past, with the threat of juvenile hall looming.”

“This is a desperate government whose plan is shot.” Trump’s war with Iran was supposed to project strength. Instead, it is exposing oil shocks, dollar pressure and the panic of an empire losing control.

This week, New Yorkers won a rent freeze. @psc-cuny.org members testified after seeing students face eviction and housing insecurity. “This is a city’s crisis, and it’s not just the CUNY students who are suffering.”

“The prosecution broke the law when it hid this evidence from the Prairieland defense,” said Texas attorney George Lobb, who is representing one defendant in the state’s case. 🧵

“Prediction markets go one better than sports gambling because they widen the online casino’s tent to encompass any possible topic you could think of — from the mundane to the grotesque.” That now includes bets on wars, wildfires, disease outbreaks and nuclear detonation.

“Monopolies in rental housing have the same effect as any other monopoly—only in this case, it’s monopolization of something that’s a human right.” @rebeccaburns.bsky.social reports, tenants are organizing as they face junk fees, rent debt & opaque utility charges.

The stakes were never just one primary. @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social wrote that NYC is a place where socialist candidates are building the kind of machine politics that can force the Democratic Party left. On Tuesday, every Mamdani-endorsed candidate won. inthesetimes.com/article/dsa-...