Earlier this week Diane Tran made national headlines after a Texas judge threw 17-year-old teen in jail for missing school. Now she's in the headlines again for turning down a 100K check that a website started in her name fundraised for her. ABC News reports: "We saw her trying to work and trying to go to school and trying to do all these things an […]
The Martinez Family. (Pacific Parks)On Friday morning Gus Martinez broke the world record for the longest time spent on a Ferris wheel. The Los Angeles police detective rode a Santa Monica, Calif. ferris wheel for 25-hours to raise funds and awareness for Special Olympics Southern California. Martinez's 23-year-old son, Jason, is a Special Olympics athl […]
On Thursday, California State senators rejected a bill that would have downgraded charges for simple possession of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from a felony to a misdemeanor. Senate Bill 1506, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Fransisco, would have changed the penalty for simple possession of drugs under state law from a felony, which is punishable by up to t […]
The parents of 10,800 New York City kids are in danger of losing their subsidized child care as early as the end of June due to budget cuts and Mayor Michael Bloomberg restructuring the funding system for day care programs. Day care centers in the city's Latino, Asian and black communities are the hardest hit. The Epoch Times breaks down the numbers: Ro […]
Democracy scored a split decision in Florida yesterday when US District Judge Robert L. Hinkle granted a preliminary injunction against key parts of Florida's HB 1355 law, a law passed last year that curtailed voter registration activities so much that civic organizations such as League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote suspended registration operations […]
Today's May unemployment report shows what many Americans already know: the economy remains firmly in the disaster zone and jobs are a key component of the collateral damage. Stock markets plunged on the news. After promises of an employment dawn earlier this year--the third recovery prognostication since 2009--the goal of putting America back to work c […]
For Julio Salgado, telling the uncomfortable truth is its own reward -- a way for disenfranchised folks to own their stories before someone else, ally or otherwise, co-opts them. He's come out of the closet twice, as queer and as undocumented, to different groups of loved ones. His recent 'Undocu-Queers' poster series has shown in galleries ac […]
by Alexandros Stavrakas from: The Guardian If by “hope” we mean a feeling of yearning and expectation for something to happen, and by “change” we mean an improvement of our present condition, then this is Greece’s moment of hope and change – and it is an overdue moment indeed. But, before this moment is lost [...]
Listen here to the debate at the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, held on May 5th. Speakers: • Stathis Kouvelakis, Kings College, London • Kevin Featherstone, Director, Hellenic Observatory, LSE • Costas Lapavitsas, Economics, SOAS • Peter Bratsis, Politics, Salford University • Costas Douzinas (Chair) Birkbeck Introduction by speakers: Open debate: […]
by Alexandros Stavrakas The commentary on the Greek crisis has predictably descended into a spectacle of cheap moralisation. Over the past months, we have been bombarded with accusatory tirades aimed against corrupt politicians, greedy bankers, depraved technocrats and more or less anyone who’s had a chance to use and abuse the system in order to [...]
A debate to be held at the Birkbeck Institute of Humanities on May 5th, Wednesday 5th May 6.30pm – Room B04, 43 Gordon Sq. Speakers: Constantinos Tsoukalas, Emeritus Professor, University of Athens Kevin Featherstone, Director – Hellenic Observatory, LSE Costas Lapavitsas, Professor of Economics, SOAS Costas Douzinas, Birkbeck Peter Bratsis, Sal […]
Jacqueline Rose’s talk at the Asia Society on April 21 – organised by the London Review of Books on their 30th anniversary. Rose discusses parallels of the Affair with today’s political predicaments, including the role of the public intellectual. If the player doesn’t work, click the link below: Dreyfus Affair – Jacqueline Rose( […]
A talk by Tariq Ali in New York on Monday April 19th – organised by the London Review of Books If the player doesn’t work, click below: Obama’s War – Tariq Ali
by Costas Douzinas How different does Europe look today from ten years ago. In 2000, influential commentators hailed the dawn of the ‘new European century’ to replace the atrocious ‘American’ 20th century. Europe was on the way to becoming the model polity for the new world. The re-unification of Germany, the successful introduction of the [...]
In this month of the ‘Greek passion’ one thing is certain. The country will never be the same again. But while the commentators, academics and ‘experts’ discuss endlessly the economic crisis, the deep political malaise has gone unnoticed. The three ‘waves’ of ‘stability’ measures have befallen Greece like an evil tsunami which will turn the current recession […]
by John Gray from the London Review of Books There wasn’t anything inevitable about David Cameron’s rise. If Kenneth Clarke had stirred himself into running something like a campaign when competing for the leadership with Iain Duncan Smith and been ready to appear more tractable on Europe; if David Davis had moved decisively in the [...]
by Alexandros Stavrakas from The Guardian Google decided two weeks ago to shut down its hitherto self-censoring search service in China. This allegedly costly gesture, intended as a bold statement rather than a formal articulation of corporate “foreign policy”, is congruous with the company’s liberal philosophy and juxtaposed to the aged co […]