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‘And Still We Rise’: Palestinian Soccer Stands Tall

Dave Zirin The Nation
The Palestinian team has had to confront a lack of resources, poverty, isolation, but above all else, obstacle after obstacle imposed upon their development by the state of Israel. The national team has been crippled for decades by the violent targeting of soccer players on both the Olympic and national teams by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Latin America’s Rightwing Parties Are Falling Apart

Grace Livingstone Le Monde Diplomatique
Rightwing parties in Latin America give themselves populist names, keep the manifesto rhetoric modest and talk of appealing to the street. But they aren’t winning many votes. Meanwhile business is learning to work with governments of the left.

Freedom Summer II

Robert Reich Truthdig
Today, as then, a group of Americans is denied the dignity of decent wages and working conditions. Today, just as then, powerful forces are threatening and intimidating vulnerable people for exercising their legal rights. Today, just like fifty years ago, people who have been treated as voiceless and disposable are standing up and demanding change.

Myths and Facts About EPA’s Carbon Pollution Standards

Denise Robbins Nation of Change
The Environmental Protection Agency's forthcoming regulations on greenhouse gas emissions will provide legally required protection for the health and welfare of Americans at a cheap cost, while allowing states flexibility -- contrary to media fear mongering about the landmark standards.

Rehab Aid Focused in Gentrifying Areas, Distressed Areas Languish

Angela Caputo The Chicago Reporter
Chicago began receiving program money in 2009, roughly a year after the housing market crashed. In the six years since, the city has collected $169 million — of which $140 million went to rehabbing and demolishing homes. But records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show the city spent money on buildings with luxury finishes in gentrifying areas while distressed properties in some of the city’s hardest hit neighborhoods were left to languish.

Fasanella Captured The Pain, Joy Of Working-Class America

Bill Mosley Portside
Fasanella copied no one: not Van Gogh, nor Grandma Moses or Edward Hicks. He was sui generis, and when his paintings finally came to be appreciated, it was for their uniqueness, not their adherence to any school or formal style. Most of all, they are celebrated for forcefully conveying the ideals he lived and worked by, as summarized in his motto: “Remember who you are. Remember where you came from. Don’t forget the past. Change the world.

The History of Black Cooperatives

Bernard Marszalek Counterpunch
African Americans have a long, rich history of cooperative ownership, especially in reaction to market failures and economic racial discrimination . . . My research suggests that African Americans, as well as other people of color and low-income people, have benefitted greatly from cooperative ownership and democratic economic participation throughout the history of the United States -- from the introduction to Collective Courage

Strange Animals May Have Their Own Distinct Nervous System

John Timmer Ars Technica
If you think this suggests that early animals started out simple and gradually evolved new features, and things like sponges branched off before they were added, you wouldn't be alone. Over the years, lots of researchers argued the same thing. But a recent genome sequence indicated that the oldest branch of the animal family tree that led to the comb jellies, with muscles, nerves, and tentacles, were an older branch than sponges.

Seven Key Takeaways From Joseph E. Stiglitz’s Tax Plan for Growth and Equality

Bill Moyers billmoyers.com
According to a new white paper by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, our labyrinthine tax system is encouraging corporations to invest in creating jobs overseas, when unemployment remains doggedly high here at home, while giving US-based multinationals good reason to deprive our treasury of revenues when we should be investing in infrastructure and the American people.