Portside

Marlene Sanders; BBC in the Red; Avengers Assemble; Reddit Blues; Cybercrime Pays

The value for me personally was in what the protest exposed in Bernie Sanders, and by extension, myself. When asked directly about white supremacy and police violence against people of color, Sanders responded by talking about fixing the economic system and providing more jobs. But the BLM protestors chanted “Say her name!” in reference to Sandra Bland because Bland’s particularity demonstrates that increased economic opportunities alone will not solve the problem.

I respond that I am not here to broker a merger between the secular climate movement and the Vatican. However, if Pope Francis is correct that responding to climate change requires fundamental changes to our economic model—and I think he is correct—then it will take an extraordinarily broad-based movement to demand those changes, one capable of navigating political disagreements.

The goal of strengthening Social Security was only one of the prime liberal issues barely audible from the East Room stage at the July 13 conference. But there was an undercurrent of concern over the prominence of commercial interests on the day’s agenda. Liberal leaders on Social Security have expressed frustration at the president’s “neglect” of calls to increase benefits for the most vulnerable seniors, especially ethnic elders and women.

“A new stage will begin, long and complex, on the road toward normalization, which will require the will to find solutions to problems that have accumulated over more than five decades and hurt ties between our nations and peoples,” Castro said in remarks published on the state-run website Cubadebate. Cuba is trying to forge new ties with the United States “different from those of our entire common history,” Castro said.

If you're like most people in the United States, you have a vague awareness that the U.S. military keeps lots of troops permanently stationed on foreign bases around the world. Have you ever really investigated to find out how many, where exactly, at what cost, to what purpose, and in terms of what relationship with the host nations?A wonderfully researched new book, six years in the works, answers these questions in a manner you'll find engaging.

Based on estimates from the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA), about 14% of the population have received inaccurate and/or delayed water bills for months. Campaign to Reform PWSA, hopes to end what they see as the PWSA's coercive attempts to shake down citizens for money. They also hope to alter PWSA to be more transparent and responsive, because right now PWSA has become a smokescreen for Veolia Environment, largest private water company in the world.

Tula Connell draws insights from the award winning Empire of Cotton: A Global History by Sven Beckert (2014) to understand the events at Rana Plaza and the role of cotton empire today. She also updates us on the efforts of workers to gain rights, and what is blocking it..the empire of cotton.

New investigative reports from two prominent nonprofit news organizations and the International Campaign for Responsible Technology ICRT link the legacy of harm to electronics workers and communities in Silicon Valley to continuing harm to electronics workers globally, particularly in South Korea, Vietnam, and China. Two feature stories from this hard-hitting new series tell this compelling story and underscore urgency to create safe, sustainable electronics industry.

The heartless combination of the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act, the House Republicans flatly shunning the immigration bill and the series of police murders of unarmed Black men should be a wakeup call about the grave dangers posed by the far right and may give rise to a renewed motion among African Americans that could give much needed new impetus and political focus to the progressive movement.