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Mozambique Decriminalizes Homosexual Relationships

Milton Nkosi BBC News
Mozambique has decriminalized homosexuality, making it one of a few African countries where same-sex relationships are legal. The revised penal code, which went into force July 1st, drops a colonial-era clause outlawing so-called "vices against nature". While there were no prosecutions under that clause, gay rights activists say this change is important, coming at a time when a number of African countries are introducing new draconian laws against homosexuals.

Benghazi and Hillary: Missing The Story in the Emails

Conn Hallinan Dispatches From the Edge
There is indeed a story embedded in the controversial emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that goes beyond Republican claims of “cover-up” and Democratic dismissals of the matter as nothing more than election year politics. And that story is deeply damning of American and French actions in the Libyan civil war, from secretly funding the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi, to the willingness to use journalism as a cover for covert action.

Anti-Abortion Extremists and Domestic Terrorism

David Cohen and Krysten Connon Al Jazeera America
Anti-abortion extremism, which has created fear among providers that something violent can happen to them at any time, is domestic terrorism, according to the authors of the new book, “Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism.” Yet, anti-abortion terrorism has been almost completely absent from the renewed national conversation about domestic terrorism spurred by last month’s church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

Bumblebees Being Crushed by Climate Change

Cally Carswell Science
While many species are migrating toward the poles as the climate warms, many North American and European bee species are failing to colonize new habitats, according to a new study. “Climate change is crushing [bumblebee] species in a vice,” says ecologist Jeremy Kerr, the study's lead author. “There's no way you can nail a bee with neonicotinoids, invasive pathogens, and climate change and come out with a happy bee.”

U.S. Justice Department Must Investigate American Psychological Association’s Role in U.S. Torture Program

Physicians for Human Rights
A report by a former federal prosecutor, based on extensive interviews and review of internal emails and documents, has found overwhelming evidence of criminal activity by staff and officials of the American Psychological Association, including colluding with the U.S. Department of Defense, the CIA, and other elements of the Bush administration to enable psychologists to design, implement, and defend the post-9/11 torture program.

Greece’s Economy Is a Lesson for Republicans in the U.S.

Paul Krugman New York Times
If you really worry that the U.S. might turn into Greece, you should focus your concern on America’s right. Because if the right gets its way on economic policy — slashing spending while blocking any offsetting monetary easing — it will, in effect, bring the policies behind the Greek disaster to America.

Friday Nite Videos -- July 10, 2015

Portside
Jon Batiste & Stay Human -- St. James Infirmary. Megan Rapinoe: 'Being Yourself Is Most Important.' Retrumplican Party. Rep. Jenny Horne on the Confederate Flag. Movie: What Happened, Miss Simone?

Tidbits - July 9, 2015 - Greek NO Vote; Ban the Flag; Dominican Republic Bans Haitians; the Nina Simone film; Culture and Cultural Workers; Hillary and Israel; and more...

Portside
Reader Comments: The Greek NO Vote; Argentina; Puerto Rico; Anti-Confederate Flag Flurry; Dominican Republic's Ethnic `Cleansing' of Haitians; Support the Iran Deal!; Nina Simone film; Culture and Cultural Workers; Hillary and Israel; Salon Staff to Unionize; Police are Killing Mentally Ill People; Add Your Name: The Charleston Imperative: Why Feminism & Antiracism Must Be Linked

Scott Walker's Budget Undermines Public Education, with Bull's-eye on Milwaukee

Bob Peterson Educate for Democracy
For Wisconsin's schools, Scott Walker's new budget is a blueprint for abandoning public education. In Milwaukee, in addition to insufficient funding, the budget includes a "takeover" plan that increases privatization and decreases democratic control of the city's public schools.

Why do People Believe Myths About the Confederacy? Because Our Textbooks and Monuments are Wrong

James W. Loewen Washington Post
False history marginalizes African Americans and makes us all dumber. The Confederates won with the pen (and the noose) what they could not win on the battlefield: the cause of white supremacy and the dominant understanding of what the war was all about. We are still digging ourselves out from under the misinformation they spread. When each state left the Union, they made clear they were seceding because they were for slavery.