Portside

Despite the warning signs all around us, the Departments of the Treasury and Transportation appear to be running headlong into a crash - and not just the kind of crash that takes place on a highway. The Obama administration appears to have bought into Public Private Partnerships spinning straw into gold.

Losing the sense of smell predicts likelihood of death within five years, according to new research.

Voters in fifteen states—many with tight races—will face new restrictions at the polling booth for the first time in November.

Ebola is a problem that will not be solved, because it isn’t profitable to do so.

The confidential memo from a former pollster for President Obama contained a blunt warning for Democrats. Written this month with an eye toward Election Day, it predicted “crushing Democratic losses across the country” if the party did not do more to get black voters to the polls.

Hundreds of current and former drivers are suing a FedEx subsidiary, seeking back pay for overtime worked and for paycheck deductions.

MEA President Steve Cook said in a statement, "Banning payroll deduction of dues only for school employees is clearly an attack on the First Amendment rights of our members and retaliation for our activism in fighting the right-wing, anti-public education agenda."

What is happening is that researchers are studying one possible factor at a time, and seeing only a tiny part of the whole picture. It’s the parable of “The Blind Men and the Elephant”, where each one describes only that which is in their range of perception, instead of examining ALL of the evidence (including reading ALL of the literature) and coming up with a theory which explains all of it. We’ve got a pile of incomplete theories all competing for the media spotlight.

The potential Tribune sale would be a high-profile litmus test of the unions' financial self-awareness. Public-sector workers from Massachusetts to California can force their investment managers to make a choice: sell to the Kochs, or keep managing their retirement billions. If the Kochs want to buy newspapers, this is a free country, and nobody can stop them. But the people whose benefits they want to slash don't have to help them get there.

It's difficult for exploited workers to organize and build popular support. Companies can pack up and move to the next low-wage country where people and governments are desperate for jobs and income, however pitiful. This cycle of exploitation is destined to continue until the world runs out of poor countries to exploit, or until citizens in rich countries, like the U.S. get over their ignorant indifference and face up to their complicity for evil done in their name.