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Tidbits - October 15, 2015 - Kunduz bombing;; NLRB at 80; Grace Lee Boggs; Pinochet Murder - CIA knew; prison divestiture, Ethel Rosenberg, Announcements and more...

Portside
Reader Comments: Kunduz, Doctors Without Borders and War Crimes; U.S. Labor Law at 80 - a dissenting view; Grace Lee Boggs; Congress in Chaos; Pinochet Murder and the CIA; Connecticut's Malloy attacks college unions; TPP; Henning Mankell; Prisons and Campaign to Divest from Private Prisons; Ethel Rosenberg Celebrated on 100th birthday in New York; Announcements: Eastampton, MA; New York; San Francisco; Brooklyn' Labor Notes is Hiring

7 Things We Learned from Thabo Sefolosha's Trial

Dave Zirin The Nation
After the NYPD broke his leg and charged him with resisting arrest, NBA star Thabo Sefolosha cleared his name in court. Here's what we learned. The NYPD has a racism problem that was just proven in open court. One of the least covered aspects in this trial was the surveillance footage of the initial approach by police. They passed Thabo's white teammate Pero Antic and making a beeline for Thabo. He was in their sights. He was their target. His skin was a bull's-eye.

Question: When is Shooting a 12-year-old Child Reasonable?

Vincent Warren Center for Constitutional Rights - The Daily Outrage
Answer: When the child is Black and the shooter is a police officer. You're not likely to find any law enforcement person within a 100-mile radius who would dare speak out and say what we all know: this went down badly (not just "tragically," as one of the experts put it) and the officers should be held accountable. Law enforcement culture doesn't allow for people to break ranks without consequences. So please, let's not call these hired consultants independent.

250,000 Germans Rally Against European TTIP

Victor Grossman Portside
The organizers counted 250,000, a quarter of a million. Of course the police scaled that down - to 150,000. But who's counting - it was definitely the biggest since 2003 against the Iraq War. It was a protest against the "Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership", TTIP, and its equally spurned Canadian sister, CETA. Some speakers, and some signs proclaimed: Take TTIP and shove it - and Capitalism with it!

Beyond Abbas and Oslo

Rashid Khalidi The New Yorker
The Oslo Accords have been a disaster for Palestinians and a boon to those who wish to maintain Israel’s nearly half-century-old occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. In his U.N. speech, Abbas, one of Oslo’s architects, declared that he would no longer abide by its terms unless Israel stopped running roughshod over them. This declaration won’t mean much unless it’s translated into concrete action.

These 8 Cities Just Abolished Columbus Day

Dylan Sevett U.S. Uncut
In the past two months, eight cities got rid of Columbus Day in favor of adopting Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Three of those cities adopted Indigenous Peoples’ Day last week.

The Campaign Against Rasmea Odeh

Mark Mondalek The Jacobin
With the US government pressing for prison and deportation, Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh needs our solidarity now more than ever.

More than Economics: TPP, Empire and Common Security Alternatives

Joseph Gerson Common Dreams
Of course we need international trade negotiations and agreements. But, they must be arrived at via inclusive, democratic, open, and transparent processes. They must be designed to reinforce the security and dignity of the world’s peoples and environmental sustainability.