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Boom & Bust in the City of Gold - Living & Leaving San Francisco

Carl Finamore Portside
The dramatic changes in the economic and social landscape of San Francisco has not gone unnoticed by some city officials, especially when confronted with continuing community pressure such as a the very lively and youthful Oct. 4 march through the Mission demanding an end to evictions.

As Wealthy Give Smaller Share of Income to Charity, Middle Class Digs Deeper

Alex Daniels The Chronicle of Philanthropy
The wealthiest Americans—those who earned $200,000 or more—reduced the share of income they gave to charity by 4.6 percent from 2006 to 2012. Meanwhile, Americans who earned less than $100,000 chipped in 4.5 percent more of their income during the same time period.

Crime Fiction and Political Activism: Where They Meet and How

Peter Handel Truthout
From the crime novel's mainstream inception in the early 20th century in the United States, numerous authors have explored a wide range of politically charged themes, including class distinctions, government corruption and the oppression of women and people of color.

California Pension Fund Gives the Boot to Hedge Funds

Dean Baker Al Jazeera
Investment of public money needs transparency and accountability. The CalPERS decision to end hedge fund investments should be a clarion call for pensions to re-examine their relationship with these and other nontraditional investment instruments. Trillions of dollars of public money as well as the retirement security of millions of workers are at stake.

Here’s Everything Wrong with the White House’s War on the Islamic State

Peter Certo Foreign Policy in Focus
The Obama administration’s war plans in Iraq and Syria are illegal, ill-conceived, and destined to fail. With scarcely a whisper of serious debate, Obama has become the fourth consecutive U.S. president to launch a war in Iraq—and in fact has outdone his predecessors by spreading the war to Syria as well. Here’s everything wrong with the White House’s so-called War on the Islamic State. And here's what should be done instead.

Leading Jewish Professors Denounce Pro-Israel Group's 'Blacklist'

Paul Berger Jewish Daily Forward
Forty leading Jewish Studies Professors have denounced the pro-Israel group, AMCHA, for degrading the "currency of academic freedom." AMCHA is circulating a list of 218 professors it charges with "an anti-Israel bias" or "antisemitic rhetoric." The Jewish Studies Professors in North America said AMCHA's monitoring of university lectures and conferences is "deplorable " and "strains the basic principle of academic freedom."

Hong Kong: The Battle Over How Much Autonomy

Binoy Kampmark Global Research
The massive demonstrations in Hong Kong are an enormous test for China's commitment to its complex "one country, two systems" approach to Hong Kong, implemented after Britain's return of the region to Chinese sovereignty in 1984. Student demonstrators and others are challenging China's decision on how the next Chief Executive of Hong Kong will be selected and the very meaning of the "high degree of autonomy" promised to Hong Kong's residents.

Court Ruling Devastates Texas’ Abortion Clinic Infrastructure

Tara Culp-Pressler ThinkProgress
The number of Texas clinics providing safe abortion services to women were reduced to eight overnight. On Thursday, the conservative judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed an earlier court decision that had allowed 13 other clinics to remain operating in the country's second largest state. According to one clinic operator, Texas now "faces a health care crisis, brought on by its own legislators.”