JACOBIN

MAY 16. 2025

Trump’s War on Palestine and Free Speech Hits a New Setback

With a judge’s ruling this week that Georgetown postdoctoral researcher Badar Khan Suri should be released from detention, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio’s McCarthyite campaign to squash protest against Israel’s genocide in Gaza suffered a defeat.

MAY 15. 2025

Hasan Piker’s Detention and the Attack on the 4th Amendment

Decades of precedent, from RICO to asset forfeiture to “good faith” exceptions, have normalized warrantless search and gutted the Fourth Amendment. Hasan Piker’s detainment is the latest proof that constitutional rights are now largely a legal fiction.

When Cities Partner With Predatory Financial Ghouls

When people fall behind on property taxes, this shouldn’t become an opportunity for private profiteering. But that’s precisely what happens in tax lien sales, where city governments collude with financial predators to extract wealth from struggling people.

How Yemen’s Houthis Brought Maritime Capitalism to a Halt

A month after Israel began its brutal war on Gaza, Yemen’s Houthis launched a blockade of shipping routes in the Red Sea. The US-led attempt to restore safe navigation was a disaster that has exposed deep fragilities in the global maritime trading system.

The GOP’s School Voucher Program Is Anti-Populism

The GOP is smuggling a $5 billion school voucher program into the budget reconciliation bill. It’s a major giveaway to wealthy school-privatization boosters — and a slap in the face for many of Donald Trump’s own voters.

RFK Jr’s Plan to Dismantle Support for Americans With Autism

Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s comments about autism are part of a long legacy of right-wing politicians deciding which people’s lives are and are not worth living.

My Grandfather Resisted the Nakba. It Still Isn’t Over.

Palestinians mark May 15 as Nakba Day, anniversary of the foundation of Israel. That state was born amid mass displacement and ethnic cleansing — and it’s getting even worse today.

MAY 14. 2025

Pepe Mujica: My Generation Made a Naive Error

The late Uruguayan statesman José “Pepe” Mujica argues that capitalism is not just property relations but a set of cultural values that the Left must confront with a culture of solidarity.

The Online Scam Industry Is Capitalism Built on Slave Labor

Centered in the lawless region of Southeast Asia known as the Golden Triangle, the scam industry is a new kind of capitalism built on corruption, organized crime and slave labor — and it’s growing.

Pro-Israel Neo-McCarthyism Is Rising in Indiana

In the name of defending intellectual diversity and protecting Jews, Indiana University is investigating a Jewish professor over his criticism of Israel. It’s exactly what critics of the state’s newly passed SEA 202 law feared would happen.

Tech-Backed Dems May Endanger California’s Clean Energy Laws

In the California legislature, Democrats are pushing a bill that could hand control of the state’s energy markets to the pro–fossil fuel Trump administration. Expert analyses suggest the bill could jeopardize California’s trailblazing clean energy laws.

Republicans Are Giving Rental Price-Fixing a Green Light

The GOP’s budget reconciliation bill includes a ban on state-level artificial intelligence regulations that could undermine efforts in several states to rein in pricing consultants like RealPage, a company that helps landlords use AI to “optimize” rent hikes.

New Podcast Series: Histories of the Palestinian Left

Red Star Over Palestine, a history podcast from Jacobin Radio, looks at the different strands of the Palestinian left and the role of figures like Emile Habibi, Leila Khaled, and Ghassan Kanafani in Palestinian politics and culture.

Tariffs, Like Free Trade, Discipline the Global South

Nations across the Global South were forced to surrender economic self-determination under the banner of free trade. Absent a collective response, Donald Trump’s dismantling of this order will only further erode developing nations’ economic sovereignty.