Full Scheme Ahead
Confronting a history (and future) of capitalism and climate change.
Ecologist Andreas Malm explores the coal-fired Industrial Revolution roots of both capitalism and climate change, and explains how current political solutions to emissions just serve to continue business as usual, and why confronting global climate change must begin with confronting the global economic system that fuels it.
Andreas is author of Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming from Verso Books.
Why the West wants a Malala without context or consequence.
Writer Ayesha Siddiqi critiques Western media's shallow coverage of Malala Yousafzai - coverage that robs Malala of agency and authority, erases the political background of Western violence in the Swat Valley, and allows power to celebrate itself in the co-opted image of a girl it victimized, then appropriated.
Ayesha wrote the VICE essay Does America Deserve Malala?
Development's dark side: US complicity in violence against the Philippine people.
Attorney Vanessa Lucas surveys the damage to land and lives done by the Philippine government for the interests of global corporate profit - violence committed to silence political dissent, but excused under the guise of fighting terrorism and communism - and explains why the US government is more than a bystander to the crimes committed against the Philippine people, it's an active partner.
Vanessa co-wrote the Foreign Policy in Focus article The Philippine People Are Under Attack from Washington - and Their Own Government.
A long history of the Islamic State's short rise to power in the Middle East.
Journalist Michael Griffin provides a comprehensive background on the conditions in the Middle East that lead to the rise of the Islamic State - from the organization's multiple incarnations as it navigated the shifting realities of post-invasion Iraq, to the ways it exploited sectarian, tribal and geopolitical divisions within the region - and explains why the US can't bomb or arm its way to stability in the Middle East.
Michael is author of Islamic State: Rewriting History from Pluto Press.
Mergers, bubbles and buyouts: Reviewing 2015 in craft beer news.
The Hopleaf's Michael Roper reviews a merger heavy year in the beer world, where small breweries are cashing out big time, medium breweries went global, and global conglomerates fight each other (and everyone else) over space in bars and grocery stores. Michael also talks about expanding his charity program Kegs 4 Kids to a dedicated tap at the Hopleaf, where you can donate your sobriety to benefit a neighborhood public school.
Michael also throws in a free double Libation of the Week suggestion - Alpha Klaus from 3 Floyds "a real holiday beer," and Jungle Boogie from Marz Brewing in Bridgeport.
On Hitchens, circle-jerk solidarity and the shackles of smug atheism.
In 2015's final Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen torments the soul of smug atheism, with its selective Stalins, Jesuses in disguise, staged debates and dishonest arguments, malicious voyeurism, anti-Muslim casual wear, retrograde historicism, and fundamental misunderstanding of horses and riders.
