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The U.S.-Mexico Border - A Constitution-Free Zone

David Bacon ACLU STAND Magazine
Under the Fourth Amendment, the people of the United States are not supposed to be subject to random and arbitrary stops and searches. But within 100 miles of a U.S. border, these rules don't apply.

Getting to the Bottom of Fecal Transplants

Ricki Lewis Public Library of Science
The bottom line is fecal transplants work, and not by just supplying a missing bug but a missing function being carried out by multiple organisms in the transplanted feces

No Renewed Iraq War

United Electrical Workers-General Officers UE
In 2002 the members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, UE, approved a convention resolution opposing George Bush's plans to invade Iraq. Twelve years later the Officers of UE re-affirm their opposition to Obama renewing the war in Iraq.

Whither the Socialist Left? Round 2

Mark Solomon Portside
Last year Portside published Whither the Socialist Left? Thinking the "Unthinkable", which created a lot of controversy, discussion and debate. Now, the author has written an update "Whither the Socialist Left? Round 2." Today he finds the broad progressive community remains largely fragmented, lacking a coherent overarching vision that would not only react to recurring crises, but offer ideas and values to guide and illuminate the road to more transforming change.

Artisanal Union-Busting

Chris Lehmann In These Times
Whole Foods has attempted to crush anything resembling a union drive among its employees. In two Chicago stores, workers have staged wildcat strikes and walkouts to protest what they say are draconian attendance policies and unfair dismissals of workers.

Music Changes the Way You Think

Daniel A. Yudkin and Yaacov Trope Scientific American
Different music encourages different frames of mind. That music can move us is no surprise; it's the point of the art form, after all. What's new here is the manner in which the researchers have quantified in fine-grained detail the cognitive ramifications of unpacked melodic compounds. This investigation of music's building blocks may be more relevant than you suppose.

Today's Supreme Courts Rulings Against Women, Labor, Democracy and the President

Thao Nguyen; Brennan Center for Justice
Today, the Supreme Court handed down a decision striking a Massachusetts law that protects patient access to abortion clinics. The Court, upheld the historically broad interpretation of the president's recess appointments power, and opened the door to new forms of Senate obstruction by ruling that the president's recess appointments were invalid because the Senate had used "pro forma sessions" - sessions in name only - to avoid going into recess.

Tidbits - June 26, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments- Undocumented Student Leaders and Mississippi Freedom Summer; Scott Walker's Scandals; Protect Voting Rights; U S Created Child Migrant Crisis; Egypt Jails Al Jazeera Staff; Precariat and Global Erosion of Job Security; Freedom Summer Legacies; Gabriel Kolko; Doonesbury on Climate Change; Correction to earlier posting Cecily McMillan to be Released next week; Memorial Concert for Pete and Toshi Seeger-July 20; MEDICC's Educational Exchange to Havana