Earlier this month, I wrote about a bill including marijuana legalization that United States House of Representatives Democratic leadership had planned to bring to the House floor for a vote this month. The bill — the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884), I noted, appears to have no chance of being approved in the Republican majority US Senate or of receiving a signature from President Donald Trump. This is because the virtually “Democrats only” bill includes race-based provisions and marijuana business subsidies that are anathema to many Republicans, including those who favor legalization.Indeed, I wrote in my article about…

When he moved to Medford, Oregon, in 2016, a rented trailer was the best that Monty Potter could afford. The $950 per month he paid for the two-bedroom mobile home didn’t leave much room for error on his wages as a grocery store supervisor, but he could manage it for himself and his two school-aged sons. Then came the Almeda fire. Starting in Ashland on September 8, flames ripped northward up the 18-mile greenway that connects a string of communities in Jackson County, all but wiping out the smallest two, Talent and Phoenix. Two people died and at least 2,350 homes were destroyed, including Potter’s, which stood near…

(Beirut) – Qatari authorities’ efforts to protect migrant workers’ right to accurate and timely wages have largely proven unsuccessful, Human Rights Watch said in a report and an accompanying video released today. Despite a handful of reforms in recent years, withheld and unpaid salaries, as well as other wage abuses, are persistent and widespread across at least 60 employers and companies in Qatar.The 78-page report, “‘How Can We Work Without Wages?’: Salary Abuses Facing Migrant Workers Ahead of Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022” shows that employers across Qatar frequently violate workers’ right to wages and that Qatar has failed to meet its…

Students are facing particular challenges during the corona crisis: switching from study groups and campus life to a laptop and online courses makes it even more difficult for many students to organise their own programme of learning, which is hard enough in any case. Students now rarely come into direct contact with their tutors, so they have no chance to ask quick questions or get assignments adjusted to their learning level. Though universities have been highly dedicated in their response to the corona crisis and have declared this a digital semester, learning in the virtual sphere remains a challenge. Interactive digital tools could help. They provide…

The entire mainstream media (plus Fox News!) have been assuring us that Portland was a tranquil town, with the occasional peaceful protest … until President Trump’s storm troopers showed up and turned it into a war zone.   This portrayal contrasts markedly with videos that have been posted on Twitter every night for more than two months now, especially by @MrAndyNgo, showing helmeted psychotics hurling Molotov cocktails at the police, among other acts of mindless destruction. Whom to believe? Videos of the riots? Or smug journalists telling us that they saw nothing untoward? Luckily, there’s the Newspaper of Record to give…