Collectors Happy Hour: Cataloging Your Collection

Ticknor Society Feb 24, 2023 BOSTON

A discussion between Ticknor members that took place on Friday, February 24th, 2023, about techniques for cataloging your home library (and a host of other topics).

Will the Equal Rights Amendment Finally Be Added to the U.S. Constitution 50 Years After It Passed?

Democracy Now! Feb 27, 2023 Latest Shows

The Equal Rights Amendment, which would codify gender equality in the U.S. Constitution, has been introduced in every session of Congress since 1923. It was finally passed in 1972, and yet never ratified. This week, the ERA will get its first hearing in 40 years when, on Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee meets to discuss a joint resolution to finally affirm the ERA. We speak to Zakiya Thomas and Linda Coberly of the ERA Coalition for more on the historic significance of this hearing and the century-long fight for constitutional protections against sex discrimination.

Free Speech on Trial: Supreme Court Hears Cases That Could Reshape Future of the Internet

Democracy Now! Feb 27, 2023 Latest Shows

We look at two cases before the Supreme Court that could reshape the future of the internet. Both cases focus on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which backers say has helped foster free speech online by allowing companies to host content without direct legal liability for what users post. Critics say it has allowed tech platforms to avoid accountability for spreading harmful material. On Tuesday, the justices heard arguments in Gonzalez v. Google, brought by the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, who was killed in the 2015 Paris terror attack. Her family sued Google claiming the company had illegally promoted videos by the Islamic State, which carried out the Paris attack. On Wednesday, justices heard arguments in the case of Twitter v. Taamneh, brought by the family of Nawras Alassaf, who was killed along with 38 others in a 2017 terrorist attack on a nightclub in Turkey. We speak with Aaron Mackey, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who says Section 230 “powers the underlying architecture” of the internet.

A History of California, Capitalism, and the World: Malcolm Harris on New Book “Palo Alto

Democracy Now! Feb 27, 2023 Latest Shows

We speak with author Malcolm Harris about his new book, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, in which he writes how his hometown in the heart of Silicon Valley and home to many tech billionaires has helped to reshape the economy by exporting its brand of capitalism to the rest of the United States and around the world. “It’s important to see the internet and its history as this relation between capital and the government,” says Harris in a wide-ranging interview.

Fox News bomb goes off: Murdoch confesses they endorsed the lie as billion dollar case heats up

MSNBC Feb 27, 2023 #msnbc #foxnews #rupertmurdoch

Fox News Chief Rupert Murdoch admitted under oath that some Fox hosts “endorsed” Donald Trump’s election lies, according to new court filings. Murdoch acknowledged in testimony that some of Fox hosts, including Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo specifically pushed the lie.

Murdoch’s testimony is part of Dominion Voting’s $1.6 billion defamation suit against the network. NYU Law Professor Melissa Murray and Political Reporter for The Daily Beast Will Sommer join MSNBC’s Ari Melber. (This is an excerpt of the full discussion that aired on MSNBC.) Check out the video playlist for “The Beat with Ari Melber”: www.msnbc.com/ari

The Enduring Relevance of Walter Rodney’s ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’: Karim Hirji

Soon after its publication in 1972, Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa gained global popularity among students, scholars, activists and people concerned with African affairs. His innovative application of the method of political economy transformed the paradigm for rendition of the continent’s past. Because it stridently took the traditional historians and the prevailing neo-colonial order to task, it was also pilloried by the defenders of the status quo. And, in these neoliberal times, mainstream scholars and pundits proclaim that it is no longer relevant for Africa.

In Walter Rodney: An Enduring Legacy, Karim Hirji makes a systematic case that, on the contrary, Rodney’s seminal work retains its singular value for understanding where Africa has come from, where it is going, and charting the path towards genuine development for its people. After giving a broad picture of Rodney and his times, Hirji examines in detail the criticisms levelled against his work, and conducts a focused review of modern day textbooks on African history.

It is seen that most of the claims against Rodney lack a sound basis and that direct representations of his ideas are replete with distortions, unfair selectivity and political bias. Yet, the long term influence of Rodney on African history is unmistakable. Hirji’s succinct, coherent defence of an intellectual giant who lived and died for humanity is an essential read for anyone with an interest in Africa and related regions.

Review

This book is an impassioned reintroduction for some, and an introduction for others, of work of the great 20th century Marxist and Pan Africanist, Walter Rodney. It demonstrates the continuing relevance of Rodney’s insight, frame- work and many conclusions for the struggles facing the African World in the 21st century. — Bill Fletcher, Jr., former President of TransAfrica Forum, writer & activist.

About the Author

Karim F Hirji is a retired Professor of Medical Statistics and a Fellow of the Tanzania Academy of Sciences. A recognized authority on statistical analysis of small sample discrete data, the author of the only book on the subject, he received the Snedecor Prize for Best Publication in Biometry from the American Statistical Association and International Biometrics Society for the year 1989. He has published many papers in the areas of statistical methodology, applied biomedical research, the history and practice of education in Tanzania, and written numerous essays on varied topics for the mass media and popular magazines.

He is the author of Exact Analysis of Discrete Data (Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2005), Statistics in the Media: Learning from Practice (Media Council of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, 2012) and Growing Up With Tanzania: Memories, Musings and Maths (Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam, 2014).

He also edited and is the main author of Cheche: Reminiscences of a Radical Magazine (Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam, 2011). His most recent books are The Enduring Relevance of Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Daraja Press, Montreal, 2017), The Banana Girls (Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam, 2017) and The Travails of a Tanzanian Teacher (Daraja Press, Montreal, 2018). He resides in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and may be contacted at kfhirji.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Daraja Pr (February 7, 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 134 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0995222398
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0995222397
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.7 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.28 x 9 inches

See related:

• Some Troubling Chapters in The Political Ecology & History of West African Agriculture

Wealth & Poverty Class 1: “What’s Happened to Income & Wealth” by UC Berkeley Professor Reich (2022)

Robert Reich Feb 14, 2022 Wealth & Poverty

I’m so pleased to be able to bring you the big undergraduate course I teach on Wealth and Poverty — starting with this first class, and continuing every Monday for 14 weeks.

The questions we’ll focus on today: Is some inequality both inevitable and necessary? At what point, if ever, does it become a problem? What’s the difference between income and wealth inequality, and which is more important? How do income and wealth inequalities overlap with race and gender? And the real puzzle: why did these inequalities begin to widen so dramatically starting in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and continue widening since then?

Even though this isn’t a real classroom and I’m not with you in person, I hope you find this both enjoyable and challenging. Don’t expect to learn by just watching and listening, though. I want you to be an active learner — which means answering questions I pose and putting various puzzle pieces together. I’m not going to tell you what to think. I’m going to try to provoke you into thinking harder and more deeply.

If you wish, I’ve shared some select readings from the syllabus for you.

They’re available at: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/we… .

Class Outline

They’re available at: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/we… .

 

Class Outline

0:00 Intro

9:40 The paradox

33:57 Economic inequality by race

44:43 Poverty

50:52 Mobility

1:02:09 Should we care?

1:06:22 The $1,000 experiment

1:15:55 Public values and social change

See related:

• The Corporation (Full Movie) chapters 1 to 23

* * *

How Wealth Inequality Spiraled Out of Control | Robert Reich

Robert Reich Nov 3, 2021

#ElonMusk #WealthGap #TaxTheRich

Here it is: The full story of wealth inequality in America. The top 1% holds 15x more wealth than the bottom 50% combined. If you’ve never watched a video of mine, please watch this one. Watch More: Does Trickle-Down Economics Actually Work?

• Does Trickle-Down…

00:00 The Second Gilded Age

01:17 The Basics

03:00 Why the Wealth Gap is Exploding

05:21 Why Wealth Concentration is a Problem

07:10 The First Gilded Age

10:20 How to Reduce the Wealth Gap

Yes. Republicans are on the record proposing cuts to Social Security.

Senator Bernie Sanders Feb 27, 2023

Intersectionality is a recognition that people are multidimensional.

27 Feb 2023