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Hollywood’s Making Only One Film About Latinos in 2015

Adam Hofbauer BeyondChron
Despite the fact that in 2013, Latinos, which only made up 17 percent of the US population, represented 32 percent of frequent moviegoers, the major film studios are planning just one film depicting Latinos in 2015. The continued paucity of U.S. films about Latinos and other minorities is due to the continued deep-seated bias against ethnic diversity and an industry-wide apathy towards change.

The Powerful Surge to Protect Gen. Petraeus

Ray McGovern ConsortiumNews
Ex-CIA official Jeffrey Sterling is going on trial for espionage because he allegedly told a reporter about a botched covert operation that sent flawed nuclear designs to Iran, but powerful people want to spare ex-CIA Director David Petraeus indictment for leaking secrets to his mistress, notes ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern. Sterling, a whistleblower, and Petraeus, a retired four-star general, are being held to "cruelly different standards."

Will U.S. Supreme Court Undermine the Fair Housing Act?

Alan Jenkins Rooflines.Org
On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project. The case poses the question of whether the Fair Housing Act protects Americans from all housing policies that discriminate in practice, or only those where intentional bigotry can be proven. The decision to take up this case leads many to conclude the 1968 Fair Housing Act is in grave jeopardy.

Blood On Their Hands: The Racist History of Police Unions

Flint Taylor Working In These Times
The NYPD police officers union's outrageous assertion that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio had “blood on his hands” in the murder of the two NYPD officers, is consistent with the reactionary role of police unions, which came to prominence in the wake of the civil rights movement. Police unions have played a powerful role in resisting all manner of police reforms, and in defending police officers, no matter how outrageous and racist their actions.

Game Theorists Crack Poker

Philip Ball Nature
An 'essentially unbeatable' algorithm for the popular card game points to strategies for solving real-life problems without having complete information.

Obama to Disband the Marine Corps

SemDem DailyKos.com
To all of my conservative friends, past, present, and future: when you hear something so incredible about your president or, in fact, any politician, will you put a minimum amount of effort to verifying it is true before you spout it as fact? Just ONE google search will usually do it.

7 Reproductive Rights Issues to Watch in 2015

Nina Martin ProPublica
In the states, where the 2014 elections gave Republicans control of two-thirds of state legislative chambers, incoming lawmakers also have supersized their abortion agendas. But abortion is just one issue on the minds of activists focused on reproductive rights. There's also birth control, conscience clauses and personhood. Here are seven key trends and themes to watch for this year.

Tidbits - January 15, 2015 - NAACP Bombing, Charlie Hebdo, Ferguson, NYPD, Selma and U.S. history and more...

Portside
Reader Comments - NAACP Bombing; Ferguson Grand Jury; Charlie Hebdo and the Religious Right; Ukraine, Russia and Nazi Revival; TPP Power Grab; 2014 Worker Victories; NYPD Insubordination = Drop in Crime; Thomas Piketty; Selma,Martin Luther King, LBJ and Reality; Gap Between Productivity and Pay; BDS, Palestine and Israel; Cheap Gas; Announcements - Cuba Five Book Signing; New Resource - Greece, Golden Dawn and Fascism