Exclusively in the New Print Issue of CounterPunch

How the Democrats Destroyed Welfare

Margaret Kimberley combs through the ruins left by Clintons’ destruction of the federal welfare programs. Historian Carl Boggs on the new US/NATO War on Russia; Dan Glazebrook surveys the radical life of Paul Robeson; Andrew Smolski exposes how the Meridia Initiative was used to militarize the drug war on the US/Mexican border; Arturo Desimone reports from Buenos Aires on the new neoliberal government of Argentina; PLUS: Jennifer Loewenstein on the wreckage of Gaza; Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark on the refugee crisis in Europe; Mike Whitney on how the Fed mangled the economy; Yvette Carnell on Hillary as a broker of Black Life; Jeffery St. Clair on Hillary’s Blood Diamond, a visit to Hemingway’s house in Cuba; and Much More.

Puerto Rico: a Junta By Any Other Name

by Miguel A. Cruz Díaz

Empire is once again fashionable. The financial crisis that is presently gutting the island of Puerto Rico plays out like the world’s worst case of botched assisted suicide. The sell of its municipal funds and its constitutionally guaranteed promise of repayment to investors has plunged the island into a very precarious situation for its millions of citizens and the opportunity of a lifetime for hedge fund vultures. While it is laudable that the current economic meltdown on the island has made some headlines, including a mostly well-thought out piece by comedian John Oliver, the same cannot be said for the congressional knee-jerk legislative reaction to it. The bill, H.R. 4900, was designed to impose an oversight board meant to administer the fiscal responsibilities of the Puerto Rican people and has unleashed a firestorm of opposition that was glossed over by Oliver’s otherwise on-point observations. The controversy surrounding this bill has served as a catalyst underscoring the deep disregard bordering on contempt that frames the question of self-determination and complete lack of sovereignty afforded to islanders. More

Where the Bern is Fizzling: Why Sanders Can’t Win the Support of People of Color

by Alfredo Lopez

In the recent Northeast primaries, Bernie Sanders experienced some very cold water thrown in his face. Not only did he lose, and soundly, but he was served a major lesson about one of the primary deficiencies in his campaign.

While the pundits joined his campaign organizers in attributing Hillary Clinton's victory to her past as Senator from the state, most have ignored the problem the this defeat laid bare: Sanders' campaign is weakest among people of color and, among black people, it has virtually no constituent support. More

The Commons and the Centennial of the Easter Rising

by Peter Linebaugh

Last year on Earth Day we sang the Digger’s Song and I promised not to come again unless it was with a jackhammer. Here I am with no jack hammer. So it was at best a hope deferred or at worst a false promise. In any case a defeat.

I was asked to speak about ‘the commons’ and I shall. It begins with where we stand, the library lot. Is it to be a parking lot for developers to lounge at the trough and consume the swill as the vision of development, with Governor Snyder in the middle on Main Street? Passing the buck and making a mess of water, earth, and air? More