Snapshot: Don’t Stop and Smell the Flowers Snapshot: Don’t Stop and Smell the Flowers
A student attempting to smell a magnolia blossom in NYC on Earth Day 1970. Now, teenagers in California are suing six federal agencies under the Public Trust Doctrine for failing to devise a climate change recovery plan. The National Association of Manufacturers has intervened against them. The case now goes to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
Apr 22, 2014 / Spring to Action
Why Has Obama’s Approval Rating Among Latinos Fallen 20 Points Since Election Night? Why Has Obama’s Approval Rating Among Latinos Fallen 20 Points Since Election Night?
His deportation policy isn’t just a moral failure—it’s bad politics, too.
Apr 16, 2014 / The Editors
Could an Unknown Civil Libertarian Unseat Susan Collins? Could an Unknown Civil Libertarian Unseat Susan Collins?
Shenna Bellows can’t match the millions of her opponent. But she’s dialing for activists, not dollars.
Apr 16, 2014 / John Nichols
9 Questions for Errol Morris 9 Questions for Errol Morris
The legendary documentary filmmaker takes on the unknown knowns of Donald Rumsfeld.
Apr 16, 2014 / Jon Wiener
What the French E-mail Meme Says About Your American Job What the French E-mail Meme Says About Your American Job
What if we really worked 9 to 5?
Apr 16, 2014 / Michelle Chen
Comix Nation Comix Nation
Apr 15, 2014 / Matt Bors
Snapshot: Into Thin Air Snapshot: Into Thin Air
The Seder, by Samuel Eisen-Meyers, dedicated to “a generation that sees hope and justice in a divided sky.” In April, Secretary of State John Kerry criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for abandoning the promises made in US-brokered peace talks. “And poof!” Kerry said. “That was sort of the moment.”
Apr 15, 2014 / Samuel Eisen-Meyers
How the Supreme Court Blowtorched Democracy and What You Can Do About It How the Supreme Court Blowtorched Democracy and What You Can Do About It
The McCutcheon campaign finance ruling is only the latest in a series of bad decisions that have sparked growing grassroots resistance.
Apr 8, 2014 / The Editors
Mozillagate, Brendan Eich and Right-Wing Hypocrisy Mozillagate, Brendan Eich and Right-Wing Hypocrisy
Conservatives are suddenly very unhappy to see moral judgments about sex and families invading the corporate realm.
Apr 8, 2014 / Michelle Goldberg
Noted Noted
In 2011, the Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel gained some unwanted notoriety when Joey DeFrancesco quit his service job with the help of his bandmates in the What Cheer? Brigade. A video of Joey’s raucous exit has 4.3 million views on YouTube. “They were stealing our tip money, paying us poverty wages, making us work double or triple shifts,” DeFrancesco told The Nation. “When I quit, I didn’t want to go quietly.” On December 4, the workers declared a boycott. The Unitarian Universalist Association, which had intended to hold its annual business meeting at the Renaissance, canceled 847 reservations. Local politicians voiced their support. On March 19, thanks to the combined efforts of students and hotel workers, the Brown University Community Council (BUCC) voted to discourage the Brown community from patronizing the Renaissance. Since the fall, members of Brown’s Student Labor Alliance had been marching with Renaissance workers on the picket lines. When the boycott started, students invited the hotel workers to attend a BUCC meeting and share their stories with administrators. “We have certain leverage at Brown,” says Mariela Martinez, a Brown senior and SLA member, “We have to use it.” Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50! When the university president cut off hotel worker Santa Brito in the midst of her testimony, the SLA went outside official channels, handing out hundreds of leaflets at Brown’s extravagant 250th anniversary events. At the next BUCC meeting, SLA members packed the room. The council voted almost unanimously to support the resolution, which “encourages the Brown community to take all appropriate measures to avoid holding any events at the Renaissance Hotel in Providence during the current labor dispute.” Martinez, who comes from a working-class family in South-Central Los Angeles, says of the Renaissance workers, “They are facing real intimidation on a daily basis…. We’re just going to class and going to meetings.” Says hotel worker Marino Cruz, “They are fighters, just like us.” Read Next: StudentNation, The Nation blog by and for student activists and journalists
Apr 8, 2014 / The Editors