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A Christie Life Primer

Gail Collins New York Times
When the political ship is going down, nobody will bother to rescue the unattached woman and the dork from senior year.

So, the Pope and Obama Walk Into a Slum ...

Chris Arnade The Guardian
When you bend the rules to favor the wealthy, they never give back. Francis knows this because it is how Argentina, and much of Latin America, has been run for centuries.

Friday Nite Videos -- March 28, 2014

Portside
Sarah Jones: One Woman, Eight Hilarious Characters. Donald Rumsfeld: The Unknown Known. A Dog, a Noun and a Verb. Open Access Explained! Stop Freaking Out About the Debt.

Tidbits - March 27, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Ukraine; Russia; Climate Change; Wall Street; Capitalism; Wanted: Populist Movement of the 99%; Angela Davis; Charter Schools; Government Spying, NSA; NCAA Racism; TPP Announcements - Left Labor Project - Election Strategy Discussion -New York -Apr 3; Need 100 Jewish voices in New York against anti-boycott bill; 2014 Moving Beyond Capitalism Conference; New resource - Politics and ideology in the American Historical Profession

Beyond the Minimum Wage: Interview With Jobs With Justice's Sarita Gupta

Amy Dean, Truthout Interview Truthout
There's a growing population of people who have to make ridiculous choices between paying for food or paying for rent or paying for health care - basic necessities. There's actually a need for us right now to create a whole new generation of smart policies. The fight for raising the minimum wage and all these wage campaigns are actually part of creating a long-term vision around what economic democracy looks like and needs to be.

The Rise of Vermont's Fracked Gas Battle: Communities Organize Against Pipeline Plans

Keith Brunner Toward Freedom
If built, the proposed Addison-Rutland Natural Gas Project would extend Vermont's gas pipeline grid south into Addison and Rutland counties, with the possibility of further expansions linking up with the US pipeline network in the Albany, New York area. The entire pipeline project was dealt a major blow on March 4, 2014, when three affected communities passed Town Meeting Day resolutions opposing the pipeline.

Polarization - European Parliament Elections

Barbara Steiner, Anna Striethorst, Walter Baier transform! (European Network for Alternative Thinking and Political Dialogue)
The elections to the European Parliament (EP) in May 2014 will be marked by the capitalist crisis and its - regionally quite differentiated - political impact. By contrast to 2009 when the elections evidenced a shift to the right, this time they may result in a polarisation between a new bloc of right-wing populist parties and the left wing of the left.

Socialism for the Rich -- It's Capitalism - A Nation of Takers

Nicholas Kristof, Op-Ed New York Times
The wealthiest Congress in history, the first in which a majority of members are millionaires, we have a one-sided discussion demanding cuts only in public assistance to the poor, while ignoring public assistance to the rich. And a one-sided discussion leads to a one-sided and myopic policy. We're cutting one kind of subsidized food - food stamps - at a time when Gallup finds that almost one-fifth of American families struggled in 2013 to afford food.

New York Schools Most Segregated in the Nation

The Civil Rights Project / Proyecto Derechos Civiles
“In the 30 years I have been researching schools, New York State has consistently been one of the most segregated states in the nation--no Southern state comes close to New York,” commented CRP Co-Director Gary Orfield. “Decades of reforms ignoring this issue produced strategies that have not succeeded in making segregated schools equal."