The parents of Trayvon Martin are asking people to mark the one year anniversary of the teenager’s death in a controversial case by wearing hoodies during a candlelight vigil tonight.

Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the teenager’s parents, and their lawyers will be hosting a Million Hoodies Candlelight Vigil in New York’s Union Square.

They are asking supporters to join them “for a moment of silence in honor of Trayvon Martin and all victims of senseless …

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Listen to Thom Hartmann discuss modern monetary theory with Economist Stephanie Kelton.

HARTMANN: First of all, can you give us a snapshot, your summary of what modern monetary theory means.

KELTON: Well, I guess the easiest way to say it is that it’s a way of doing economics that brings us into the 21st century. It recognizes the simple fact that we’re not on a gold standard …

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One year ago, after his breathtakingly beautiful Iranian drama, “A Separation,” won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, writer/director Asghar Farhadi delivered the best acceptance speech of the night.

“[A]t the time when talk of war, intimidation, and aggression is exchanged between politicians,” he said, Iran was finally being honored for “her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics.” Farhadi dedicated the Oscar “to the …

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Last week, a hundred million workers in India conducted a General Strike. Eleven trade unions with divergent political traditions and programs came together to bring out their members for two days (never before in India’s modern history have all the unions joined together, and never has the working-class held a two day strike of this magnitude). They were united by a ten-point list of demands, including checks on inflation, creation of a jobs program and …

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ROME — Italian voters delivered a rousing anti-austerity message and a strong rebuke to the existing political order in national elections on Monday that threatened to plunge the country into political paralysis after early results failed to produce a clear winner. Political experts said the situation would most likely lead to a shaky coalition government and once again expose Italy and the euro zone to turmoil if financial markets question the new government’s commitment …

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Listen to Thom Hartmann discuss trade deficits with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown.

HARTMANN: You’ve got this plan for a national network for manufacturing, innovation, jobs and this sort of thing. Please tell us about this.

BROWN: Well, first of all, we know a number of things. We know that in order to create wealth you grow it, you make it or you pull it out of the …

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WASHINGTON — It’s looking increasingly like the government is about to impose on itself $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts. So as part of its strategy to pressure Republicans into accepting new revenues as part of a deal to prevent the sequester from taking effect, the White House released new reports on Sunday that outline the ugly effects those cuts would have in individual states.

Each state’s report is linked below. But Jason Furman, principal deputy …

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Thanks to the Kenyan presidential election, Wilson Omondi finally has steady work. The 25-year-old scours the internet every morning to find out where prime minister Raila Odinga, one of the frontrunners in the race, will be that day. Then he packs a bag full of Odinga-branded paraphernalia he has had made and hops on a bus.

He’ll spend the day walking around the crowd, selling baseball caps, T-shirts and posters. On a good day, he says, …

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The World Economic Forum held its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland last month. The official theme was “Resilient Dynamism,” a catchphrase that makes about as much sense as the futureless economic policies trotted out at the meeting. At least the attendees had something to ponder at cocktail hour. The mission of the forum, on paper at least, is “improving the state of the world.” And there is clear room for improvement: trillions …

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Outside campaign committees affiliated with two powerful city employee unions have spent more than $2.2 million on their bid to make Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel the city’s next mayor, according to Ethics Commission records posted Saturday.

Working Californians, which is heavily backed by the Department of Water and Power union, reported spending an additional $770,000 on Greuel, much of it for campaign commercials. That brings the group’s total to $1.65 million — money that …

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