Portside

According to the Academic Pediatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, the effects of poverty are the most important obstacle to the health and well being of young people. To try to remedy that, the American Pediatric Association Task Force on Childhood Poverty is beginning a long-term effort to address the problem by looking for solutions that will be effective, sustained and “protected from retrenchment."

Backed by security forces, bosses at Arabtec - a massive construction firm with interests across the oil-rich Gulf states - ended a strike on Monday, but the fallout continues as more workers are receiving deportation orders. The strike ended after management refused to accept demands for increased wages from people earning about $200 a month to complete mega-projects in 40 degree Celsius heat.

The Senate unanimously agreed to ban certain ex-convicts from receiving food assistance for life. Under this amendment, anyone convicted for a violent crime or sexual assault will be shut out of the program for life, even if they served their time or committed the crime long ago.

The idea that some racial groups are, on average, smarter than others is without a doubt among the most discussed (and debunked) “taboos” in American intellectual history. It is an argument that has been advanced since the days of slavery, one that helped push through the draconian Immigration Act of 1924, and one that set off a scientific firestorm in the late 60s that’s hardly flagged since.

All right. Most Portside readers are not into pure mathematics . . . it's too hard, too boring, not relevant to real life, whatever. We hope you'll give this article a chance, even if you don't "get" every detail. It's still a very cool and very rewarding read. And it gives just a taste of what it feels like when a mathematician (or scientist) scores a break though . . . and opens up a whole new, previously unimagined, world. -- Moderator

Enjoy the game. Don't buy food.

The ramifications of the Obama speech and Holder letter will be felt in the weeks ahead.

“We will not rest, until you divest.”