Margaret Thatcher started with the Falklands and finished with the unions: We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty. Scott Walker started with the unions and wants to finish with the Islamic State: If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world. Foreign policy is domestic policy is foreign policy is domestic policy is…

My “Challenge to the Left” has provoked a fair amount of discussion and pushback (the latter mostly on Facebook and Twitter, as well as on email listserves, or so I’m told). Part of the problem with this discussion, to my mind, is that very few people have a real sense of what organizing entails. One of the ones who does have a sense is Jay Driskell, a talented young historian at Hood College. Jay offered some thoughts on my Facebook page, and I asked him to turn them into a blog post.  So here it is. • • • • • Since the defeat of Tuesday’s recall effort in Wisconsin, there has been a lot of debate over whether it […]

The defeat of the recall effort in Wisconsin has, understandably, troubled the waters on the left. Everyone from Ezra Klein to Doug Henwood to Josh Eidelson is trying to figure out what it means. I’ve been doing the same, though I’m still not sure. So I put the question to my Facebook friends.  Lots of folks participated in the discussion: bloggers like Aaron Bady and Seth Ackerman, political scientists like Scott Lemieux and Alan Ryan, journalists like Doug, and labor experts like Gordon Lafer, Stephanie Luce, and Nathan Newman. The discussion was kicked off by my posting Klein’s observations on FB, and everyone took it from there. • • • • • • Corey Robin Here are some sobering thoughts […]

From Poynter: Richard Prince reports that ESPN has reversed its initial stand against staffers posting pictures of themselves in hoodies to show solidarity with Trayvon Martin. After Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera suggested that the 17-year-old’s choice to wear a hooded sweatshirt was partly to blame for him being killed, many pro athletes began to post photos of themselves wearing hooded sweatshirts. ESPN staff were at first warned not to join them. Now the network has decided “to allow this particular expression of human sympathy.” Workplace Tyranny Averted. For Now. Meanwhile, in the not-so-wide world of the media, Gannett has told staffers who signed a petition calling for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s recall that they would be disciplined. More here.