Jeremy Corbyn became the leader of the British Labour Party largely because of the support of rank and file members. But in order to get on that ballot, he had to meet a threshold among the MPs in parliament and despite their lack of enthusiasm for a socialist, they deigned to include him among the candidates on the ballot as a sop to party left wingers that they were not being completely marginalized. The party establishment were blindsided by the degree of rank and file support for Corbyn that resulted in him becoming elected to the leadership.
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We have now reached a stage in American politics that is sadly all too familiar. Both Republican and Democratic parties are on the verge of nominating candidates that many of us progressives have reactions to ranging from dislike and distrust (in the case of Hillary Clinton) to utterly revolting (Donald Trump). We are then faced with the dilemma of whether to vote for the lesser of the two evils or say to hell with both of them and either not vote or vote for someone else who is more closely attuned to our own agenda but will definitely not win. In the current race, the Green party’s Jill Stein fills that role.
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Journalist Barrett Brown has been spending time in prison and I have written before about how he ended up in this situation. I have also linked to his articles from prison and they are always fascinating because he is a really good writer. His latest missive gets into the nitty-gritty of what life is like in solitary confinement.
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While presidential elections tend to galvanize people and focus attention, I have come to believe that too much attention is placed on them at the expense of other important political activity. The best hope for progressive politics in the long term is to organize at the state and local levels, and elect progressive people to school boards and municipal and state governments where often the issues are far more concrete and immediate than at the national level. Those lower level elected officials form the backbone of the party structure.
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The search for the next prime minister of the UK ended abruptly when one of the two remaining contestants Andrea Leadsom withdrew from the race leaving Theresa May. May will take over from David Cameron on Wednesday, showing how quickly these transitions take place in the UK when compared to the US.
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You can be sure that the Republican convention that will take place July 18-22 is going to find the city crawling with police, Secret Service, and other security personnel armed to the teeth and supported by an array of military-style vehicles and equipment. This was due to fears of unrest and violence because of the strong emotions generated even within the Republican party by those factions supporting and opposing Trump, in addition to those who are opposed to Republican policies in general.
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In order to save time for everyone, here is a graphic that all media outlets can use pretty much every day. (Via Crooks & Liars)

Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz, died earlier this week at the age of 87 and is being widely eulogized. But Max Blumenthal writes that while there were many good things about Wiesel, what is being overlooked is the fact that his humanitarian impulses did not extend to everyone and his blind allegiance to Israel led him to excuse any action they took, however deplorable, and treat Palestinians as if they did not matter, that led the late Israeli politician Yossi Sarid to call Wiesel an “ethnic cleanser in a prayer shawl”.
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