Making prisoners work for purposes outside the prison keeps wages down for free workers. An especially clear example is happening now in New Orleans: using prisoners as scabs. The regular workers went on strike demanding protective equipment and paid sick leave, as well as more pay.

Using prison labor for anything except running the prison tends generally to drive down wages. So the question is what we want: to reduce prison expenses, or have a prosperous society.

A report details how animal farming in the US became more concentrated from 2012 to 2017.

The price of hamburger meat nearly doubled during the period. On the one hand, this shows that increased concentration is not more efficient. On the other, if it leads people to eat less beef, that is a change for the better.

The article does not mention the tendency of corporate farms to breed antibiotic-resistant bacteria which could someday kill millions of humans.

Afghanistan veteran Erik Edstrom refutes the claim that he was "serving his country" by fighting in that war.

Soldiers and veterans don't need priority boarding, 10% discounts at gimmicky chain restaurants, or a few crinkled bills stuffed into a charity's coffee can. What they need is a nation that can find the courage and conviction to stop misusing their service.

We must shun the ritual utterances that pretend that what US soldiers do nowadays is service to their country.

*'Disaster Capitalism at Its Worst': Report Details Big Oil's Efforts to Cash In on Coronavirus.*

The Supreme Court found a strained excuses in 2000 to hand supposed victory in Florida to Dubya. It could do the same sort of thing this year.

It was only later that Greg Palast showed how the Republicans had stolen the election before election day, by systematically preventing elegible black voters from voting.