Clearwater Music Festival Keeps Pete and Toshi Seeger's Legacy Alive

Jim Farber; Steven Jonas
This weekend's Clearwater Festival will be the first without Pete and Toshi Seegers, founders and mainstays of the Clearwater organization, started 49 years ago. Pete Seeger lived their lives as peoples' artists, fighting for peace, civil rights, nuclear disarmament, defense of the environment, and as a socialists.

The Rosenbergs were Executed 61 Years Ago Today - The Rosenbergs' Last Letter

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Rosenberg Fund for Children
On June 19, 1953, hours before their execution, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg wrote one final letter to their two young sons: Michael and Robby. Your lives must teach you, too, that good cannot really flourish in the midst of evil; that freedom and all the things that go to make up a truly satisfying and worthwhile life, must sometimes be purchased very dearly...civilization had not as yet progressed to the point where life did not have to be lost for the sake of life.

Tidbits - June 19, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Iraq; Ruby Dee; Cecily McMillan and Wall Street; Ukraine; Detroit Shuts Off Water to Thousands; Working Families Party; Civil Rights Movement; Children's Literature and Diversity; Common Core; Testing; Support Philly Jewish school teachers; Gabriel Kolko; Hatriot Politics and Las Vegas Killers; Argentina and US Banks; The Presbyterian Church and Divestment; Net Neutrality; Historic Slave Cemetery Bulldozed In Houston; Freedom Summer 2014

Creating Community On Skid Row

David Bacon Equal Voice
Starting around 1999, public policies that spurred development in Los Angeles' Skid Row started. Buildings that were dubbed underused were transformed in the 50-block area. Well-heeled residents have moved in. In 2014, Skid Row's streets have a vibrancy of sorts - one in which families, the homeless, the hip, the elderly and even well-treated dogs coexist in an ever-changing place.

After Rana Plaza: Setting the Record Straight on the Bangladesh Safety Accord

Sarah Newell, Robert Ascherman and Garrett Strain United Students Against Sweatshops
The campaign for the Bangladesh Safety Accord, coordinated by United Students Against Sweatshops, that included two Bangladeshi worker tours, six sit-ins and countless direct actions across the country, 23 universities, including Penn State, UW-Madison, and NYU, have required their brands to sign the Accord, and 17 college-logo brands, including Adidas and Fruit of the Loom, have signed the agreement since September.

Scott Walker Suspected of Coordinating with Outside Groups

By Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger The Washington Post
Wisconsin prosecutors have alleged that Gov. Scott Walker was part of a wide-ranging “criminal scheme” to coordinate the activities of conservative groups that spent millions to help him and other Republicans fend off recall efforts.

Friday Nite Videos -- May 30, 2014

Portside
On a cool note, Miles Davis gets a NYC street. Neil deGrasse Tyson on Weather vs Climate Change. What's So Scary About Smart Girls? Maya Angelou - I Am Human. Documentary: 'Daddy I Do'.

Miles Davis Way

On May 24, a crowd of hundreds gathered to mark the renaming of a stretch of West 77th Street in New York City as Miles Davis Way. The remarkable jazz musician Davis, who would have been 88 this week, was a long-time resident of the block now being renamed in his honor. Here is a video of Davis performing So What? 

Weather Versus Climate Change

Neil deGrasse Tyson breaks down the differences between weather and climate change. Next on the National Geographic series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (airs Mondays at 9PM).
 

What's So Scary About Smart Girls?

A video produced by the Half the Sky Movement. As Nicholas Kristof notes, "Ultimately, the greatest threat to extremism isn't drones firing missiles, but girls reading books." Read his full article on smart girls here.