Portside

To gauge where this type of gerrymandering is taking place and its magnitude, this report used election results [from 2012, 2014, and 2016] in states with six or more congressional districts to assess the extent and the durability of “partisan bias” — the degree of systematic advantage one party receives over another in turning votes into seats . . . It also looked at the relationship between the body that drew the maps and the degree of bias observed.

The research predicts that a nuclear war fought between emerging nuclear weapon states—with less than 1 percent of the explosive power contained in the global nuclear arsenals—can produce catastrophic long-term damage to global environment and weather. A war fought with 100 atomic bombs can result in the coldest average annual surface temperatures experienced in the last 1,000 years, and this prolonged cold (and drought) would last for several years.

A bill recently introduced in the state legislature by the Illinois AFL-CIO could address some of the problems around reprisals. The Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act, supported by Raise the Floor Alliance and NESRI, would force employers to provide fired workers with a clear and legitimate reason for the discharge, essentially proving that it was not done in retaliation.

On May 15 crusading Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cardenas was gunned down in the streets of Culiacán, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa. He was the sixth journalist murdered in Mexico in 2017. Valdez reported on life under the rule of the drug cartels and the collusion between government authorities and organized crime. His final article was on the deadly attacks on teachers working in Sinaloa’s dangerous neighborhoods, six of which were killed this year.

The first, the WORK (“Worker Ownership, Readiness and Knowledge”) Act, would direct more than $45 million in funding to state-level employee ownership centers, aimed at providing training and technical assistance to current and prospective worker-owners. A second piece of legislation would establish something called the U.S. Employee Ownership Bank, via $500 million in funds for low-interest rate loans and financial assistance for workers who want to buy out the business

Fifteen years after his death, Stephen Jay Gould’s ideas have never been more vital.

Of particular interest is adoption of a proposed international policy for Québec solidaire based on the principles of opposition to imperialism and solidarity with the exploited and oppressed around a global justice (altermondialiste) agenda. The resolution has been debated for more than a year by the QS membership.

The TV show is striking a chord that the novel and movie did not. Maybe it’s because we’re starting to see bits of Gilead all around us.

"It’s important for people to know that important things are, in fact, getting done, and setting this Google News alert is one of those things.”

With Donald Trump and his ‘America first’ rhetoric, these groups are seeing a dramatic surge. It’s up to us to stop them