Innehållsförteckning för July 30/August 6, 2018 från The Nation

The stunning victory in June by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old democratic socialist, over Representative Joseph Crowley, a 10-term incumbent and the heir apparent to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, has discombobulated the Democratic establishment and the mainstream media. “No one is safe,” an unnamed and somewhat hyperbolic Democratic strategist announced to ABC News. The media that largely ignored Ocasio-Cortez’s unheralded, underfunded campaign now seem intent on misinterpreting it. On the right, she’s portrayed as a radical extremist leading the Democrats over a cliff. “RED ALERT,” screamed the New York Post headline. “Young socialist upsets King of Queens,” the paper continued, while proclaiming Ocasio-Cortez the “vanguard of the Democratic Party.” The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank rushed to debunk rumors of a broader insurgency, asserting that Crowley lost “because of the changing…

In mid-June, Washington, DC, voters didn’t just mark a ballot in a local-government primary. They also marked an important step forward for some of the district’s most economically vulnerable workers: those who rely on tips. Residents approved a measure that, if implemented, would require tipped workers to be paid the minimum wage guaranteed to everyone else. In DC, that’s $15 an hour by mid-2020. In most US states, tipped workers are guaranteed only a small fraction of the federal minimum wage. District of Columbia voters are not the only ones who have sought this basic standard of economic fairness for waitstaff, hotel employees, manicurists, car-wash workers, and bartenders. Eight states—Alaska, California, Hawaii, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington—have a single minimum wage, whether workers earn tips or not. But in…

‘UNDER TRUMP THE GOP HAS BECOME A CULT’—The Boston Globe So why do they maintain their loyaltyDespite his lies, despite the fact that heActs like a child instead of an adult?’Cause it’s a cult. Why would his people always cheer for himWhile he, in tweets that are profoundly dim,Just flails around for allies to insult?’Cause it’s a cult. His crude remarks imply we should uniteTo keep out anyone who isn’t white.That language tends to make his troops exult,’Cause it’s a cult. It seems impossible that they’re not seeingTheir leader as a dreadful human being.But most of them don’t leave as a result,’Cause it’s a cult.…

I hear a longing for a return to normalcy, for a backward march to stability. I do not share this desire. he Trump era has created a new social ritual, a verbal tic added to any greeting, like a secret handshake to identify yourself as a part of the beleaguered opposition. If I ask someone how they’re doing, the traditionally banal exchange now includes a status update on the person’s emotional response to the fact of this presidency. E-mail greetings that wish me well invariably come with a caveat: “Well, as well as can be expected, given the state of the world.” Life’s normal pitfalls and disappointments get tangled up with Trump’s reign and intensified as a result. Recently, a friend’s partner broke off their relationship on the same day…

@thenation.com Shine That Spotlight I must admit, when I first heard Cynthia Nixon was running for governor, I was not impressed and even thought it amusing. But after hearing her speak and reading about her, I have changed my mind: Cynthia Nixon is ready for the spotlight, and it would behoove the media to cover her with the seriousness she deserves [“Is Cynthia Nixon Ready for the Spotlight?” July 2/9]. I wish I could vote for her. The article reports on how Nixon has fresh ideas that she is not afraid to declare. She supports single-payer health care; real criminal-justice reform; an end to the school-to-prison pipeline; legalizing marijuana; and enacting all possible protections for immigrants. What could be more democratic than that? My only criticism is that, in the…

If you got hiv, say aids. If you a girl,say you’re pregnant––nobody gonna lowerthemselves to listen for the kick. Peoplepassing fast. Splay your legs, cock a kneefunny. It’s the littlest shames they’re likelyto comprehend. Don’t say homeless, they knowyou is. What they don’t know is what opensa wallet, what stops em from countingwhat they drop. If you’re young say younger.Old say older. If you’re crippled don’tflaunt it. Let em think they’re good enoughChristians to notice. Don’t say you pray,say you sin. It’s about who they believethey is. You hardly even there.…

22 States with a “fair share” provision for union collective-bargaining costs prior to the Supreme Court’s Janus decision 3.5% Estimated drop in the Democrats’ 2016 vote share due to right-to-work laws, which decrease union turnout—enough to have cost Hillary Clinton both Washington State and Michigan 726K Number of public-sector workers likely to leave their unions as a result of the Janus decision 35% Amount by which Wisconsin’s union membership declined after the state passed an anti-collective-bargaining law in 2011 $28M Estimated amount the Janus decision will cost the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, which has a $367 million budget…

Once again, the Trump administration has targeted a key climate-science agency for a new round of Orwellian rollbacks. A recent presentation for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed that climate science has been scrubbed from NOAA’s main research pillars and a new core value added, one very much in line with Trump’s energy-“dominance” agenda: “To protect lives and property, empower the economy, and support homeland and national security.” In June, four Republican senators opened a new front in this war, calling for an investigation into the National Science Foundation’s funding of a program to help meteorologists better educate viewers on climate science. Senators Ted Cruz, James Inhofe, Rand Paul, and James Lankford—all of whom count the fossil-fuel industry among their top donors—insisted that the NSF “seek[s] to influence political…

he first case I litigated before Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement on June 27 after more than 30 years on the Supreme Court, was Texas v. Johnson, the 1989 case that established that the First Amendment protects flag-burning. Kennedy, a mild-mannered Reagan appointee, was no flag-burner. But he provided the crucial fifth vote to strike down Texas’s law. A few years later, I invited him to guest-teach my constitutional-law class at Georgetown. I said he could talk about anything; he chose the flag-burning case. But his real subject was judging. In his hour with the students, he not only stressed the importance of having an open mind, but exemplified it in his openness to the students themselves. Not all judges are like this; Justice Antonin Scalia was always…

One afternoon in may, some 20 second graders sat in pairs around their classroom in Ravenswood, West Virginia, playing an arithmetic game with dice. Trudy Humphreys, their teacher, sat to one side, with a student whose glasses protruded from her elfin face. “How’s it going? What’s been happening lately?” Humphreys asked as the girl counted on her fingers, adding up 11 and six. “My parents have finally been getting along,” the child responded brightly. Carefully, she marked “17” on the paper in front of her. When that game was over, Humphreys played with a serious, curly-headed boy who spoke in a voice so soft that I could barely hear his response when she asked how things were at home. It’s a question she’s been asking more often lately, as “home”…

By the time the Bogotá-based band Monsieur Periné bounced onstage to accept the 2015 Latin Grammy Award for Best New Artist, they had already established themselves as a jaunty brigade of theatrical vaudevillians, intent on channeling the rollicking charms of 1930s swing and Latin jazz into eager, chipper tunes for the present day. A carefree jubilance enlivened their first two albums and acquainted listeners with the bubbly vocalist Catalina García, the guitarist Nicolás Junca, and the multi-instrumentalist Santiago Prieto. The leaders of the nostalgic ensemble often appeared more interested in jiving to their own beat than chasing trends, like a bunch of quirky theater kids doing the Lindy on prom night. For a moment, it seemed like mainstream Latin music might fully embrace the vintage sensibilities championed by Monsieur Periné.…

For all the heists and scams of the Trump era, perhaps the greatest theft occurred before he even took office—and Mitch McConnell was the perpetrator. As Senator Elizabeth Warren noted recently, “They stole a Supreme Court seat, and they installed union-buster Neil Gorsuch on the bench. And now their investment is paying off.” Indeed it is. So far this year, the Supreme Court has delivered blow after blow to workers, culminating in the Janus v. AFSCME decision, which declared that public-sector workers do not have to pay “fair share” union fees to support collective-bargaining activities. And this is only the beginning—especially with the recently announced retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. As Democratic contenders for the presidential race in 2020 stake out positions like a federal jobs guarantee and Medicare for…

Stephanie Wilkinson, owner of the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, made a fatal mistake when she politely ushered White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders off the premises. Instead of basing her objection on the discomfort of her LGBTQ staffers, she should simply have said that serving Sanders was against her religion. She could have quoted Psalm 101:7: “No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.” Or I Corinthians 15:33: “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” If there’s one thing the Bible has plenty of, it’s fulminations against putting up with bad people doing bad things. Like lying to the American people about why thousands of children were being ripped from their parents with no plan to reunite…

On June 14, key members of Australia’s right-wing government suggested adopting an English-language requirement for migrants seeking permanent residency status. Though it’s not yet clear how such a requirement would be enforced, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has proposed a test demanding “conversational” proficiency. The announcement came just a few months after the Australian Senate rejected a previous proposal that would have required new citizens to pass a university-level English test, which sparked a backlash even among senators in the right-wing alliance. It’s hard to ignore the xenophobic undertones of the new proposal, which would narrow the pool of eligible immigrants while upholding a centuries-old imperial legacy. Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge warned that an influx of people speaking other languages could lead to the development of “parallel…

The Tea Party experiment of drastically cutting taxes in the hopes of sparking economic growth has blown up in lawmakers’ faces. Growing up in a poor family in northeast Oklahoma, Scott Helton decided what he wanted to be while still in high school. “I had a slew of really, really, really good teachers that loved me and took care of me like I was their own kid,” said Helton, whose boyish face could still be mistaken for that of a student. He recalled one English teacher in particular who would stay late and talk to him. “That was the moment when I realized: ‘I want to do this—forever. I want to do for kids what she’s doing for me right now.’” He also wanted to teach in his home state.…

ACROSS 1 Like a small percentage of Beatles songs, I say (2,6) 5 Engrave X’s on train (6) 10 Admire Baroque scepter (7) 11 • Chicago squad • captures • alien (7) 12 This much is certain: Bundy the serial killer comes back around within range, with lethal weapons (5,3,5) 14 Star performer to lead one elderly relative (3,6) 16 Trick Georgia into a dance (5) 17 Seethed from expression of uncertainty in banking system (5) 19 Metaphorical jumping site of Spooner’s nosy supporter (6,3) 21 One who hopes to marry a million Thompsone? (7,6) 25 Red lips belonging to prisoner (7) 26 Where to study a colony with a deranged frat man (3,4) 27 Willing to backpedal about grand musical style (6) 28 Extremely tired of standing in the…