"The American public has never had an atheist president, although three of them have had no formal religious affiliation. The most recent one, Andrew Johnson, left office in 1869. Since then, every president has been affiliated with a Christian church. (Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln are the other two.)"

Fascists and Pro-Russia Stalinists/conservatives are killing each other in Ukraine. Nobody is going to win. Here is AWU's analysis:

"The final result of such policies will be a civil war in Ukraine, which will mean an ultimate catastrophe for the working class. ... We can see that this scenario is being pushed forward by the alliance of various right-wing groups, nazis, conservatives and Stalinists. ... The cure is well-known: we should realize our own class interests, organize at workplaces and direct our rage against the real enemy, not at each other. In days like these global workers’ solidarity means very much. The global working class is doomed to eliminate itself: either in the process of social revolution and construction of a classless society or in the process of a barbaric all-out war."

Several historians discuss the impact of the Haymarket bombing.

"Haymarket left a lasting stigma on radical movements. Ever since, the public has imagined anarchists as bomb-throwing fiends. Tensions were already running high between wealthy business owners and poor workers in Chicago, but Haymarket made them even worse. Historians say it set back the labor movement for decades."

"The Haymarket affair is generally considered significant as the origin of international May Day observances for workers."

Denver Homeless Out Loud and the Catholic Workers both get mentions in this article on tiny homes.

"The city bans anyone from living in an RV, and people who break that rule often encounter the same hassles as do homeless people who sleep in their cars: tickets, harassment, and orders to pack up and move on."

This was written by a kid who was convicted for his part in Seattle's May Day 2012 riots. It amounts more to a list of socioeconomic facts than to an argument, but it is articulate and interesting for its perspective if nothing else.

“My enemies in the South States consisted of those who oppressed the black-slave. My enemies in the North are among those who would perpetuate the slavery of the wage-slave. My whole life has been sober & industrious; was never under the influence of liquor, was never arrested for any offense, & voluntarily surrendered for trial in the present case.”

"let me assure you I die happy on the gallows, so confident am I that the hundreds and thousands to whom I have spoken will remember my words; and when you shall have hanged us, then—mark my words—they will do the bombthrowing! In this hope do I say to you: I despise you. I despise your order, your laws, your force-propped authority. Hang me for it!"

More readable link: https://www.readability.com/articles/pbic99nb

Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will!

Those silly utopian socialists.

Another view of the Ukraine situation after the Odessa tragedy. This is the most lucid analysis I've read, and it seems to be rather balanced. The author (who is not Ukrainian) doesn't think the Fascists were able to convert Maidan into any real gains, and emphasizes that the thing to do now is stay out of conflicts on either side as the protests devolve toward civil war:

"However, none of the fears of «fascist takeover» have materialized. Fascists gained very little real power, and in Ukraine their historical role will now be that of stormtroopers for liberal reforms demanded by the IMF and the European Union — that is, pension cuts, an up to five times increase in consumer gas prices, and others. Fascism in Ukraine has a powerful tradition, but it has been incapable of proceeding with its own agenda in the revolutionary wave. ...

"Whereas it may occasionally be worth it to swallow tear gas or to feel the police baton for a bourgeois revolution, it makes no sense at all to die in a civil war between two equally bourgeois and nationalist sides. It would not be another Maidan but something completely different. No blood, anarchist or otherwise, should spill due to this stupidity."

I don't know what direct democracy is, but it sounds tedious.