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Tidbits - September 25, 2014 - Lots of 'em

Portside
Reader Comments - People's Climate March, Greening of the Labor Movement, What Next; ISIS, Syria, Iraq, Muslim Fundamentalism; Ongoing War in Middle East; Elizabeth Warren and Israel; Theodore Roosevelt; Emmett Till, Michael Brown - Ongoing Struggle for Racial Justice; Guns and the Southern Freedom Struggle; Texas School Text Books; Military Weaponry in Schools - WTF?; Socialism, Worker Cooperatives; Today in History; Abraham Lincoln Brigade celebrations

"Pro-Sustainability" Companies Funding Climate Change Denial

Bruce Watson The Guardian
Some of the U.S. corporations most known for their so-called commitment to fighting climate change are actively supporting lobbying organizations and politicians most active in the movement for climate change denial. According to a recent report, "pro-sustainability companies" are pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of the "climate denier caucus" in the U.S. Congress in exchange for support of legislation that benefits their bottom line.

How to Talk Occupation at a Rosh Hashanah Dinner and Make it Out Alive

Noam Sheizaf +972 Magazine
What were you thinking? Everyone in the family noticed that anti-war status you posted this summer, and the hasbara video they sent that you didn't `like.' Tonight they are going to air it all. The keyword of the evening: ISIS. You're going to hear it a lot. Because the Israeli leftist is a specimen: an object to identify, educate, and if that doesn't work, to chop up and make meatballs out of.

For Muslim New Yorkers, a Long Path from Surveillance to Civil Rights

Moustafa Bayoumi The Nation
For years, Muslim New Yorkers have been spied on, not heard; now they're finding their political voice. As the gears of federal government have ground to a halt, a new energy has been rocking the foundations of our urban centers. From Atlanta to Seattle and points in between, cities have begun seizing the initiative, transforming themselves into laboratories for progressive innovation. This is the latest in the The Nation's series, Cities Rising.

Burning Ideas: Celebrating Banned Books Week

Roisin Davis Truthdig
Banned Books Week, the annual end of September "celebration of the freedom to read," brings to light the fact that around 11,300 books have been challenged since a consortium of literary-minded sponsors established the event in 1982. Challenges are defined as attempts to remove the title from libraries or schools, and in 2013, 307 were reported to the American Library Association's (ALA) Office of Intellectual Freedom.

Moral Mondays Comes To Indiana

By Harry Targ PopularResistance.org
Moral Mondays movements in North Carolina, and 13 other states in the South and Midwest have begun to build a new fusion movement that draws together workers, women, young and old, black, brown, and white people, documented and undocumented, environmentalists, people of faith and atheists, and the LBGT community based upon “moral” and “constitutional” agendas.

Ten Points Towards a Two-State Solution

By Meredith Tax Dissent Magazine
A different strategy is needed to mobilize people who believe in a two-state solution: one that focuses on the Israeli right and the settlements and on nation-building in Palestine.

Hundreds of Students Walk Out of Schools in Suburban Denver

By Jesse Paul Denver Post
Community members are angry about an evaluation-based system for awarding raises to educators and a proposed curriculum committee that would call for promoting "positive aspects" of the United States and its heritage and avoiding material that would encourage or condone "civil disorder, social strife or disregard of the law."

L.A. City Council Votes for Minimum-Wage Hike to $15.37 at Big Hotels

By Emily Alpert Reyes & David Zahniser Los Angeles Times
The higher hotel wage was the product of two years of organizing by a coalition that included labor unions, more than a dozen neighborhood councils, the ACLU and other nonprofits, which billed the measure as a critical step in addressing poverty.