U.S. to Withdraw Troops From Chad

The departure of U.S. military personnel in Chad and Niger comes as both countries are turning away from years of cooperation with the United States and forming partnerships with Russia. The Pentagon will withdraw dozens of Special Operations forces from Chad in the next few days, the second major blow in a week to American…

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Antony Blinken Visits China

Tensions over economic ties are running high, threatening to disrupt a fragile cooperation between the U.S. and China. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken cheered on the sidelines at a basketball game in Shanghai on Wednesday night, and spent Thursday chatting with students at New York University’s Shanghai campus and meeting American business owners. It…

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Arizona House Votes to Repeal 1864 Abortion Ban

The almost-complete ban on abortions in the state could go into effect as soon as June 8 if the State Legislature does not repeal it, the state’s attorney general said. Arizona took a major step on Wednesday toward scrapping an 1864 law banning abortion, when three Republican lawmakers in the state House of Representatives broke…

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Blinken’s Visit to China: What to Know

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is in China this week as tensions have risen over trade, security, Russia’s war on Ukraine and the Middle East crisis. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is meeting officials in China this week as disputes over wars, trade, technology and security are testing the two countries’ efforts to…

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If Arizona Repeals Its Abortion Ban, the Far Right Won’t Blame Trump

Anti-abortion signs in front of the Arizona statehouse in Phoenix.Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times On Wednesday, anti-abortion activists packed the gallery of the Arizona House to protest plans to repeal the state’s unpopular 1864 abortion ban. Before the day’s legislative business began, a man in a white cowboy hat, invoking a tradition from…

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Columbia Says Student Protesters Agree to More Talks and to Remove Some Tents

Nemat Shafik, Columbia University’s besieged president, faced skeptics on Wednesday in a meeting with the university senate that could vote to censure her over her handling of protests on the Upper Manhattan campus. Dr. Shafik, who last week called in the police officers who made more than 100 arrests while they cleared a student protest…

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3324 – “Liberal” Companies Union Bust; Saving Rent Stabilization w/ Jeremy Gantz, Leah Goodridge

It’s Hump Day! Emma speaks with Jeremy Gantz, contributing editor at In These Times, to discuss the recent unionization efforts at Trader Joe’s. Then, she speaks with Leah Goodridge, Commissioner on the New York City Planning Commission and former member of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board, to discuss efforts to support rent stabilization in the city. First, Emma runs through updates on the incumbent victories in yesterday’s PA primaries, Trump’s legal woes, the Senate’s Ukraine-Taiwan-Israel aid package, new mass grave reports coming out of Gaza, Biden’s new labor regulations, Elon Musk’s desperate Tesla promises, a DOJ settlement, the Supreme Court’s anti-labor agenda, and fascist legislation coming out of Idaho, Tennessee, and North Carolina, before watching Summer Lee’s phenomenal speech in the wake of her massive victory against a Pro-Israel challenger. Jeremy Gantz then joins, diving right into the major recent developments in the bargaining process between Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United, with Atlanta hosting the first genuine sit-down bargaining session in almost a year, before stepping back to walk through the two years of hardline union-busting, despite consistent pushback from both the NLRB and the general public, with only the negative change to their public image pushing them back to the table. Next, Gantz expands to the greater context of the retail industry, with major companies like Trader Joe’s and REI operating their own en-masse union-busting campaigns, exploring why the decentralized nature of the industry, as well as the high employee turnover rates, make these particularly difficult organizing efforts. Wrapping up, Jeremey walks Emma through the role of the ongoing suit sponsored by SpaceX and joined by Starbucks attempting to undermine the NLRB, and what the future of these unionization drives will likely entail. Leah Goodridge then joins, first bringing Emma through her own experiences working with New York’s housing industry, and the major issues facing the affordable housing sector, both in its policy and access, and in the greater construction and maintenance it requires. Expanding on this, Goodridge explores the ever-present power struggle with developers and landlords on one side, and tenants and homeowners on the other, tackling how the former group can both manufacture the public rhetoric and villainize their opponents, often presenting their domination over the industry as heroic or necessary for a functioning of society. After touching on some of the major issues in what makes up the affordable housing market (unaffordable, single-bedroom units), Leah and Emma look to the role of the Faircloth Amendment in killing federal investment in the expansion of the affordable housing market, and pushing the responsibility for constructing and maintaining the infrastructure almost entirely onto the private sphere. Next, Goodridge touches on the major factors of the broker system and the epidemic of vacant units (often used as speculative assets) in driving up housing costs, before she and Emma dive deep into the topics of rent control and Tenant’s Rights, unpacking what these terms entail and how the media completely misrepresents the role they play in equalizing the power dynamic between landlords and renters, before wrapping up with a brief assessment of Squatter’s Right’s minor (yet unsurprisingly overblown) role in the conversation. And in the Fun Half: Emma covers Elon Musk’s unsurprising response to Tesla’s cratering profits and stock price (make unachievable and absurd promises), Garrett from VA on the growing extraction of profits from medical clinics by insurance companies, Rick from Baltimore explores how he came to MR, and Kowalski from Nebraska gives his takes on the rent control and Big Tech conversations from the day. The MR Team also watches the harrowing footage of (content warning) a Zionist counter-protester getting bonked by a flag, listens to some powerful reflections from a Columbia University anti-zionist Jew, and gives some much-needed aesthetic advice to Trump’s attorney. Newt Gingrich has a stunning parallel for the ‘persecution’ of Donald Trump, plus, your calls and IMs! Check out Jeremy’s work at In These Times here: https://inthesetimes.com/authors/jeremy-gantz Find out more about Leah’s work here: https://www.leahgoodridge.com/ Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Check out Seder’s Seeds here!: https://www.sedersseeds.com/ ALSO, if you have pictures of your Seder’s Seeds, send them here!: [email protected] Check out this GoFundMe in support of Mohammad Aldaghma’s niece in Gaza, who has Down Syndrome: http://tinyurl.com/7zb4hujt Check out the “Repair Gaza” campaign courtesy of the Glia Project here: https://www.launchgood.com/campaign/rebuild_gaza_help_repair_and_rebuild_the_lives_and_work_of_our_glia_team#!/ Get emails on the IRS pilot program for tax filing here!: https://service.govdelivery.com/accounts/USIRS/subscriber/new Check out StrikeAid here!; https://strikeaid.com/ Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Check out today’s sponsors: Shopify: Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/majority. Go to https://shopify.com/majority now to grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. Fast Growing Trees: This Spring Fast Growing Trees has the best deals online, up to half off on select plants and other deals. And listeners to our show get an ADDITIONAL 15% OFF their first purchase when using the code MAJORITY at checkout. That’s an ADDITIONAL 15% OFF at https://FastGrowingTrees.com using the code MAJORITY at checkout. https://FastGrowingTrees.com code MAJORITY. Offer is valid for a limited time, terms and conditions may apply. Aura Frames: Right now, Aura has a great deal for Mother’s Day. Listeners can save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com/MAJORITY to get $30-off plus free shipping on their best-selling frame. That’s https://AuraFrames.com/MAJORITY. Use code MAJORITY  at checkout to save. Terms and conditions apply. Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech @BradKAlsop Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon’s show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza’s music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder – https://majorityreportradio.com/

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