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“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”

Back in the day on April 3rd, 1968 the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. gave his last speech entitled “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” The emblematic civil rights leader was in Memphis, Tennessee at the time to support striking sanitation workers ahead of the planned Poor People’s March on Washington. As …

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Even as President Obama shifts troops and resources away from Iraq into Afghanistan, fresh fighting has erupted in Baghdad that threatens to unravel any nascent stability. The fighting broke out over the weekend in response to the arrest of Adel Mashadani, a key figure in the Sunni “Awakening” movement, whose fighters were paid by the US to lay down their …

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According to data released this Tuesday, American home prices plunged in January at a record pace. The S&P/ Case Shiller index recorded that nationwide home prices declined 2.8 percent in value in January compared to 2.6 percent in December. Overall, home prices nationwide have declined nearly thirty percent from their peak in 2006. Locally in Los …

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Earlier this week, Blair Mountain in West Virginia made it onto the list of the National Register of Historic Places. In an often overlooked historical moment, the site was home to what many historians consider as the largest armed insurrection in the post-Civil War period. In 1921, thousands of union coal miners took up …

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Jeannette Rankin Takes Her Seat

Back in the day on April 2nd, 1917 Jeannette Rankin was sworn in as the first Congresswoman in the history of the United States. It didn’t take long for this pacifist woman from the state of Montana to make trouble in the halls of Congress. Just four days into her term, …

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The month of March marked an anniversary that barely went noticed. Forty years ago in March, an action on the campus of UC Berkeley called “Third World Strike,” led to the creation of ethnic studies programs to college campuses that many of us take for granted today. Four ethnic student groups and their allies led a campaign that lasted near two months to demand …

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NY Assembly Expels Socialists

Back in the day on April 1st, 1920, the New York State Assembly voted by an overwhelming margin to expel five socialist members from its legislative body. Finding the democratic will of the people to be an “April Fools Joke,” the action taken against them was not enough for one Assemblyman, …

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In speaking to reporters yesterday at the White House, President Barack Obama announced the need for immediate restructuring to save the American auto industry. The President’s statements came a day after he asked General Motors Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner to resign. After the auto corporation led by Wagoner failed to submit adequate restructuring plans in …

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Thirty five thousand people marched in London on Saturday in advance of this week’s G20 summit. President Barack Obama heads to the British capital for the meeting, his first trip to Europe as President. Obama is expected to make the case to the Group of 20 countries that US capitalism is sound, even though US and British …

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Responding to reports of abuses by its soldiers, the Israeli government this week ended an investigation that concluded no abuses took place during the recent attack on Gaza. The investigation was prompted by leaked first-hand accounts of Israeli soldiers at a university conference. The accounts included firing on unarmed Palestinian women and children. Nine Israeli human …

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