Portside

Bittorrent has just released a new streaming service, BitTorrent Live, to the public. The goal is to make it possible for the public to send video to thousands of people, all over the world. From dissidents reporting on uprisings to soccer moms who want to send video of a game to family and friends, everyone is included. Bittorrent Inc's Justin Knoll says, “We’re aiming for this to be a democratization of streaming technology.”

Just cause” protection is helpful because one of the main reasons private sector workers shy away from organizing is their fear of being fired.

Focus on jobs and restarting the economy, not deficits and cuts to social programs. 'A reminder that we don't need to cut teachers and school lunches when we can eliminate wasteful giveaways to fossil fuel corporations.'

Everybody's talking about Pope Francis, but nobody's asking about his role in Argentina's bloodiest war. Critics of new Pope Francis have claimed that he maintained his silence as Argentina's brutal military dictatorship raged a dirty war against left wing activists. Claims were made in the wake of the publication of an interview with Argentina's former military dictator Jorge Videla.

Readers Comments on: Wealth Equality; Robert Reich on raising the minimum wage; Unions and evictions; Wither the Socialist Left? - another response to Mark Solomon; LA School Board election and Big Money; Hugo Chavez: Lest We Forget; Guns, the NRA and Newtown; Why not better unions; Philip Bonosky Memorial April 21 in New York; Francisco Aruca R.I.P.; Robin Hood rides again - April 20 - Washington; The Literary Left - Tribute in honor of Alan Wald - March 21 - Ann Arbor

President Obama called for a modest raise in the federal minimum wage to $9, and several Democratic legislators have upped his bid with a proposed increase to $10.10. But an insidious effort to lower the wage floor is already underway much closer to the ground - in the state legislatures. Among the proposals are measures to undercut minimum wages for teenage workers, restrict overtime pay and repeal or ban local laws to improve working conditions.

Staughton Lynd's tribute to Herbert Shapiro, fellow historian and staunch civil rights and anti-racist activist.