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The Mediterranean is Europe's Migrant Graveyard

Matt Carr Inter Press Service
More than 3,000 migrants have drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean this year, more than any previous year. The European Union (EU) is ignoring the tragedy unfolding on its southern maritime borders and its impact on the so-called border countries of Greece, Spain, Italy, and Malta. The EU's "woeful response" has transformed the Mediterranean into a “survival test for refugees and migrants," and thousands are paying with their lives.

America's Broken Promise to the Women of Afghanistan

Ann Jones TomDispatch
The liberation of Afghanistan women was one of the Bush Administration's prime selling points for the U.S. invasion in 2001. But for more than a decade the U.S. has repeatedly sided with the most ultraconservative undemocratic forces in Afghanistan to the detriment of the rights of Afghan women. Today, after 13 years of war, and 13 years of U.S. promises, the women of Afghanistan "have been shut out, shut down, and silenced by fear."

The ISIS Quagmire

Fred Kaplan Slate
America’s campaign against ISIS has already lost its way.

Hints of Progress in the Ebola Fight

Dina Fine Maron Scientific American
The number of Ebola cases appear to be dropping in Liberia—but what will it take to stamp out the disease?

Jim Crow Returns

Greg Palast Al Jazeera America
Millions of minority voters are threatened by an electoral purge

Friday Nite Videos -- Oct 31 (Rock the Vote 2014)

Portside
Bad Reputation (music video). Rock The Vote Presents: #TURNOUTFORWHAT. Democalypse 2014 -- Ad of Brothers. Lewis Black Says F#%! Voter Suppression. What Would Happen Under a Republican Senate?

Tidbits - October 30, 2014 - Two Week's Worth

Portside
Reader Comments- Ebola, Capitalism, Cuba, Disease Control; Elections- Black Vote, Voter Restrictions; War against Islamic State; Detroit; U.S. Jews Debate Israel; Berkeley Free Speech Movement, Education- Philadelphia and Common Core; Mexico, NAFTA; Wealth Inequality; New Voters in Ferguson; Announcements- Black & Brown Unity Event-Los Angeles-Nov 8; New York City Labor Chorus Honoring Pete Seeger-New York-Nov 15; SHE'S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE'S ANGRY-New York showing-Nov 16

In Cold War, U.S. Spy Agencies Used 1,000 Nazis

By Eric Lichtblau New York Times
U.S. agencies directly or indirectly hired numerous ex-Nazi police officials and East European collaborators who were manifestly guilty of war crimes. Information was readily available that these were compromised men. The wide use of Nazi spies grew out of a Cold War mentality and McCarthyism. Mr. Hoover, the longtime F.B.I. director, and Mr. Dulles, the C.I.A. director.believed "moderate" Nazis might "be useful" to America, records show.

Will Catalonia Secede From Spain?

Andy Robinson The Nation - November 10, 2014 edition
Catalonia has decided to recast its planned November 9 referendum on independence as a nonbinding consultation.Why are so many Scots (45% in September's referendum) and Catalans (50% in recent polls) set on leaving now? The answer is surely a desperate search for sovereignty with longstanding resentments over discrimination by the power centers in their respective states. Like many other Europeans, they feel cheated by their governments' response to the Great Recession.