This weekend, at a panel on the U.S./Mexico border in Marfa, Texas, GRITv friend, reporter Mark Danner discussed the “thinning out” and hardening of politics. When there's insecurity, violence and threat, he noted, people flock to those who promise to deliver security and stability even at the cost of their personal liberties. Iraq, Afghanistan, Mexico—whomever offers protection attracts popular support.

The divide in the U.S. right now often looks as much like a split between cities and rural areas as it does between "red" states and "blue" states, and cities continue to suffer under budget crunches as well as the ongoing decline of industry. So what would pioneering author and urban activist Jane Jacobs have said about it all? What about Robert Moses, credited with shaping the modern American city?

"Poverty is a one-day event, we get a report released and we're going to talk about poverty, but every day we hear what the stock market does," says Dean Baker, GRITtv economics correspondent. The problem with that kind of coverage, Baker notes, is that "many more people will experience poverty than will strike it rich in the stock market."

"Poverty is a one-day event, we get a report released and we're going to talk about poverty, but every day we hear what the stock market does," says Dean Baker, GRITtv economics correspondent. The problem with that kind of coverage, Baker notes, is that "many more people will experience poverty than will strike it rich in the stock market." Millions of Americans experience poverty not as a one-day affair, but as a constant, grinding force in their lives.

Earlier this week, the adorable young women who work themselves to starvation to keep you in your Adidas, Puma, and Gap sportswear decided they weren’t going to do it anymore at half a living wage. Sixty thousand of them walked off their jobs Monday. Twice as many Tuesday. By Wednesday, labor leaders were estimating that 210,000 workers had walked out of 95 factories in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. By Thursday morning, a meeting was set to renegotiate wages.

Mooz-lum is a new film, directed by Qasim 'Q' Basir and starring Evan Ross, Nia Long, Danny Glover, Roger Guenveur Smith, Summer Bishil and Dorian Missick. Focused on the story of one Muslim family living in the U.S., it illuminates not only the usual coming-of-age issues, the struggle of parents and children to understand one another, but the unique struggle of a Muslim family to retain their identity in a country where fear and hatred for their religion is increasingly commonplace.

Simone Weil was a philosopher, a mystic, and an activist; she inspired those who read her work to reconsider their position on suffering, on politics, on action and religion. Documentarian Julia Haslett found herself so inspired and began work on a film that deals with Weil's legacy today, over sixty years after her death.

Mooz-lum is a new film, directed by Qasim 'Q' Basir and starring Evan Ross, Nia Long, Danny Glover, Roger Guenveur Smith, Summer Bishil and Dorian Missick. Focused on the story of one Muslim family living in the US, it illuminates not only the usual coming-of-age issues, the struggle of parents and children to understand one another, but the unique struggle of a Muslim family to retain their identity in a country where fear and hatred for their religion is increasingly commonplace.

We've had a lot of talk this week about the Left: where is it? Why does the media ignore it? What can we do to rebuild it? And whose fault is any of this? The mainstream media might ignore voices from the Left, but here on GRITtv those are just the voices that matter--and today, we welcome two you may have heard of: Tariq Ali and Alexander Cockburn.

The announcement that came this week, that Elizabeth Warren would sort of maybe possibly be appointed to do something like help institute the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She will benamed an assistant to the president and special adviser to Treasury Secretary Geithner, and will oversee creation of the Bureau. Though this doesn't preclude her being named to head the agency, it's still not enough.