Comparing the DSA, a pressure group within the Democratic Party, to an independent political party stresses the tension DSA must resolve: to keep working within the system or against it

On this day in 1930 the founding convention of the Unemployed Councils of the USA took place in Chicago. Organized with the backing of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and the Trade Union Unity League, the gathering drew 1,320 delegates to address the Great Depression.

Schumer's pitch is "electability." This means choosing candidates who won't drive away the donors that support the DSCC. He spent $10 million defending this idea against a Senate candidate backed by Warren in Iowa. He still refers to it as a "path to the majority." thehill.com/homenews/sen...

A 30-year Dem incumbent lost to a barista. Not because Denver swung right or left, but because voters could smell the dark money. The centrist concern over "electability" is just a euphemism for donor comfort www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

The document doesn't disarm Hezbollah; it blames Lebanon for that failure. Oslo-style "declarations of intent" defer hard questions and shift blame to the weaker party. Israel gets a signed permission slip for the next war.

Kiros beat DeGette by focusing on her donor list rather than her track record. They both supported Medicare for All and the abolition of ICE. The main difference was who paid for their campaigns. Money funded ads, but it didn’t persuade anyone. www.axios.com/2026/07/01/m...

On this day in 1960, Ghana officially transitioned into a sovereign republic, and Kwame Nkrumah was inaugurated as the country’s first President. Nkrumah, an anti-colonial Marxist, led Ghana to independence as the first Black African nation to gain independence.

On this day in 1984, during the British miners' strike, Mark Ashton, Mike Jackson, and friends founded Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). LGSM gave miners support without expecting reciprocal backing. Mining unions joined Pride events across Britain, leading the 1985 London Pride march.

The people who threw the first punches at Stonewall were the ones the respectable movement later airbrushed out: drag queens, trans women, homeless kids, many of them poor and not white.

Americans are turning against unconditional aid to Israel. So this year’s NDAA does the opposite of scaling back: it wires the relationship into the US defense supply chain, beyond the reach of annual votes.

Iran wants to charge tolls on the Strait of Hormuz. Washington wants it “free,” meaning patrolled by the 5th Fleet parked in Bahrain. Underneath the flags it’s a fight over who collects rent on a fifth of the world’s oil.

Born 157 years ago today. The government built an entire deportation case around Emma Goldman because she told working people their misery was organized, not natural. Still the most dangerous thing anyone can say

The victory of Mamdani-endorsed socialists was contingent on a couple of things: a highly mobilized group of grassroots supporters; voters focused on material interests like affordability and housing; but most critically, Mamdani’s record of effectively delivering services

Free with purchase at a gaming store

Grover Furr is a Harry Potter name.

Hundreds of journalists killed in Gaza barely moved Western newsrooms. The same outlets would erupt over one of their own. "Objectivity" turns out to mean whose deaths count is decided before any reporting starts, depending on where the institution sits. www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/22/t...

Neither the Lebanese nor Israeli governments joined the talks forming the "Lebanon de-confliction cell," yet they're expected to enforce any ceasefire. That hands Iran veto power over Lebanon and signals U.S. acceptance of Iran’s regional leadership. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/...

Prison abolition is often discussed as if prisons are a moral mistake we can simply choose to stop creating. They aren’t. Law and punishment are shaped by how we organize production. You don’t eliminate a system just by disapproving of it.

A 19-year-old in Gaza who trained for the World Cup now watches it paralyzed, shot by a drone while reaching for flour at an aid point. The tournament sells football as the planet's shared joy while the same order decides who's allowed to reach for food and live. truthout.org/articles/gaz...

A school in Minab: 156 dead, 120 children. Anthropic's CEO can't say how Claude was used there, only that it "doesn't even violate our red lines" because a human gave the order. The safety brand holds as long as someone else signs the strike. www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/19/t...

More people have been arrested for putting their hands in Trump’s reflecting pool than have been arrested for being in the Epstein files

What happened in Belfast and now in Edinburgh is the result of the hateful rhetoric used by Nigel Farage, Suella Braverman, Lee Anderson, Priti Patel, Douglas Murray, Katie Hopkins, and countless others. They stoke the fires; the blood is on their hands. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

The reflecting pool fiasco is the perfect metaphor for the USA on its 250th birthday: cracking apart from years of decay, its false luster peeling away, with anyone who dares to point out the ugly truth subject to arrest by "patriots" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This week could bring an unprecedented diplomatic agreement Israel must honor despite not being a signatory. Driven by international pressure, UN action, or allied enforcement, it would set a new precedent. www.axios.com/2026/06/20/v...

"In the days of ... colonialism, the imperial power had ... to ... justify at home the actions it was taking abroad. In the colony, those who served the ruling imperial power could at least look to its protection... With neo-colonialism, neither is the case." -- Kwame Nkrumah

I find it amusing that Hearts of Iron DLC lets you elect a bear as the king of Poland or have Hitler as leader of the restored Byzantine Empire, but a communist path for Siam/Thailand was considered too unrealistic.

UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Vanessa Frazier sharply rebuked Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon during a heated exchange over sexual violence against Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

On June 8 in Belfast, a knife attack filmed on video involved an African asylum seeker and a white resident. Days later, mobs of white men attacked Black and brown migrants, burned homes, and forced families to flee.

This strikes me as win-win for Iran. 1) Trump ditches Bibi and severs the US-Israel axis of evil or 2) Trump celebrates the United States Semiquincentennial with the U.S. looking like an Israeli puppet www.dropsitenews.com/p/iran-trump...

Farage and his hard-right followers can be beaten, but there is no time left for delay. Keir Starmer must immediately set out a timetable for stepping down as leader of Labour. He has become a clear obstacle to defeating Farage at the next general election. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Even Kaja Kallas admits in private what everyone knows: Israel is an apartheid state where non-Jews are treated as either second-class citizens or non-persons. Every day on social media we see a new Sharpesville massacre

Inspired by the election of a socialist mayor in DC? Get involved in local DC politics by running against right-wing ANC commissioners like Ashley Schapitl (@AshleySchapitl) and Joe Bishop-Henchman (@jbhenchman). These careerists only win because no one runs against them!

World-class vaccine research that produced three COVID vaccines is grinding to a halt as 20-hour blackouts continue to grip Cuba www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

It's good that this war is ending. It violated international law, claimed too many lives, and should never have been started. Trump and Netanyahu never cared about the people of Iran. In the end, the war may even have stabilized the Iranian regime. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/...

In these times, it is so essential that major news outlets hire journalists critical of AI. Instead, legacy media like the NYT is hiring people who merely leverage a column or a podcast into becoming AI entrepreneurs themselves

Construction conglomerates like Hyundai, Caterpillar, and Volvo have been caught aiding and abetting Israel in its wanton destruction of southern Lebanon, a war crime

The “resist Trump, except when he’s bombing Iran” crowd is a rounding error in the country and a supermajority on cable. The gap between who’s on the panel and who’s in the audience has never been wider.

It’s funny how both right-wing Labour MPs and some US communists valorize a specific type of working class that has eroded significantly in the UK and US. The modern working class is not just miners and factory workers; it is nurses, coders, gig workers, call center reps, etc

Abu Dhabi’s anti-Islamist terrorism campaign and tolerance get coverage, stressing image while obscuring foreign policy. Yet the UAE has backed militias and autocrats, fueling conflicts that cement Emirati power and wealth with Western approval. www.tni.org/en/article/t...

“The US, Iran, and their allies agree to immediately and permanently end military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon” This, to me, is more fatal to the deal than unfreezing assets or reparations. Genocidal Israel has not and will never agree to this.

ANC 7D09 commissioner Ashley Schapitl (@ashleyschapitl) was one of the people pushing lies about Mayor-elect JLG. If you live in Hill East and want representation that actually listens, remember that her seat is up in November.

Al-Arabiya has published a draft US–Iran memorandum. It requires fighting to stop on all fronts, including Lebanon, and the US to give Iran $300 billion for reconstruction. english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-...

Since the Second World War, international institutions haven't demonstrated their usefulness in building world peace. While UN resolutions or reports can help mobilize, the G7 clearly serves imperialist powers. apnews.com/live/g7-summ...

The DC election results track with race and class. JLG and White did especially well in the wards with the highest concentration of Black and impoverished voters. McDuffie only did well in white affluent NW DC (Chevy Chase, Spring Valley) while Pinto only did well in Georgetown

"No ruling from any court is going to convince people that their conscience is wrong, and no amount of legislation will make support for Palestine disappear.” morningstaronline.co.uk/article/trav...

DC comrades: National Guard soldiers and law enforcement must stay at least 50 feet from polling places and dropboxes—their presence at the polls is itself voter intimidation. If you see them nearby, film them and call 866-OUR-VOTE.

G7 countries cut $48 billion in development aid. That's how much money billionaires from these countries earn in just 9 days.

While Trump was having his private firework display in the middle of the night, I was moving to a new home in Atlanta, GA. Goodbye DC!

“Marxism must abhor nothing so much as the possibility that it becomes congealed in its current form. It is at its best when butting heads in self-criticism, and in historical thunder and lightning, it retains its strength.”

Robert Redford visits Moscow, 1987