Portside

The outsourcing of public services to private go-getters has concentrated wealth the whole world over. The best answer to that concentration? That just may be new forms of public ownership.

There is no doubt that an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle are the two chief drivers of the obesity epidemic, but many researchers are confident that they will eventually hit on specific brown fat–based treatments, although most admit that such interventions most likely are 10 years away at least.

Almost a decade of bruising debate has led to the absence of any serious policy alternative and paralysis over the way forward

We can tell, for sure, from video images and even photographs that the Iron Dome system is not working very well at all. It hits a targeted missile maybe 5 percent of the time—could be even lower. ... Meanwhile, the Israeli government presents Iron Dome's performance as part of a sophisticated public relations effort.

How Chicago's school choice system is tracking kids into separate high schools based on achievement (and race).

There will be a mail-in vote for union representation from July 21 to Aug. 4 for teachers at the "I Can" charter school in Northeastern Ohio. The American Federation of Teachers plans to file Unfair Labor Practice Charges for alleged retaliation against nine teachers whose contracts were not renewed. Teachers are concerned over class sizes as large as 40, and special needs students not having their needs met. Click the link at the bottom to watch the video.

Spike Jonze Presents: Lil Buck and Yo-Yo Ma. If Latinos Said the Stuff White People Say. Johnny Winter: Live at the Fillmore East. Reggae Got Soul. Murder on Abortion Row.