Jack's Awesome InterWebz Vacuum

Oakland, California

March 25 is the anniversary of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist fire in 1911 that took the lives of 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women. The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition explains what happened next: “There was a trial, but the owners, long known for their anti-union activities, got off. The fire became a rallying cry for the international labor movement. Many of our fire safety laws were created in response to this tragic event.” Learn more and find teaching resources.

Noam Chomsky  (via tusha)

Damn. Real.

“an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements ”

Some fairly common ASL idioms

DO-DO-DO Can mean “What are you doing?” or you are in an awkward situation and wondering how to get out of it

Today in history - March 23, 1918 - More than 100 Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) members were put on trial under the new “Espionage Act” of 1917 for their anti-war stance in opposing US entry into World War I. This was part of a wave of repression against communists, anarchists, labor activists, and immigrants. They were found guilty and given heavy fines and prison terms ranging up to 20 years.

The Frightening Effects of the NYPD’s ‘Mapping Muslims’ Program

One of the program’s more damaging consequences, the report finds, was its effect on freedom of speech. Public talk of politics and foreign affairs, from the mosque to the barber shop (especially discussion involving the tactics of the city’s police department) has now long been and is still seen as an invitation for scrutiny. A father urged his son not to speak with the Associated Press as the investigation was breaking, for fear of backlash. A cafe owner in Bay Ridge stopped tuning his television to Al-Jazeera, in an effort to avoid NYPD scrutiny. (The tactic was duly noted in an NYPD report on Egyptian cafes [PDF].)

Nablus, West Bank, Occupied Palestine: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) holds a memorial demonstration on Palestine Martyrs’ Day for all those who have fallen in the struggle — and for comrade Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. March 9, 2013

Hyderabad, India.