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Contraception Is Not Abortion, But Right Wing Has Plan to Convince You Otherwise

Deirdre Fulton Common Dreams
The analysis suggests that a coordinated misinformation campaign, spearheaded by conservative groups like the Susan B. Anthony List, Americans United for Life, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Heritage Foundation, is part of an underlying right-wing attempt to chip away at access to commonly used contraceptives such as Plan B or IUDs.

The Power of Political Athletes to Puncture Privilege

Dave Zirin The Nation
The great Indian writer Arundhati Roy once said, “…in the midst of putative peace, you could, like me, be unfortunate enough to stumble on a silent war. The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There’s no innocence. Either way, you’re accountable.”

Report: US-China Trade Deficit Cost 3.2 Million American Jobs

Edward Arnold Opposing Views
The manufacturing industry has been hit hard since China's acceptance in the World Trade Organization. The industry includes imports of computer and electronic parts and accounted for 56 percent of the $240.1 billion increase in the US trade deficit with China. An estimated 1,249,100 jobs were eliminated in the electronic industry.

Is It Bad Enough Yet?

Mark Bittman The New York Times
Of course it’s the same struggle: “It’s the same people,” says Saru Jayaraman, the director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. “Young people working in fast food are the same people as those who are the victims of police brutality. So the Walmart folks are talking about #blacklivesmatter and the #blacklivesmatter folks are talking about taking on capital.”

Exposing the FBI

Lawrence S. Wittner New Politics
A review of The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI, by Betty Medsger (Alfred A. Knopf, 2014) by Lawrence S. Wittner. The Burglary tells the story of how, on March 8, 1971, in the midst of the Vietnam War, eight peace activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, in an effort to discover whether the FBI was working, illegally, to suppress American dissent.

Tidbits - July 3, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Detroit denied water access; Whither the Socialist Left? Round 2; Dead Young Men: Mississippi, Israel, Palestine; Music Changes the Way You Think; Whole Foods Busts Unions; SCOTUS; Harris v. Quinn; Education - Obama's Failed Approach; Karl Marx Is Making a Comeback; Verify Nuclear Weapons-With Math; Ruby Dee; Friday Nite Videos

Is There a Ma Joad for the Piketty Era?

Katie Baker Daily Beast
In the 75 years since novelist John Steinbeck published his masterpiece about the Okie migration, the towering Ma Joad has faded from archetype to anachronism. Ever since Steinbeck published his opus on the plight of the Dust Bowl migrants in 1939, readers have warmed to Ma as a paragon of folksy integrity - "an unforgettably vigorous figure, like Mother Courage without the corruption or rapacity," - and, more recently, praised her as a feminist icon...

Walter Dean Myers, Children's Author, Dies at 76

Felicia R. Lee The New York Times
Walter Dean Myers was lauded for his work, which often centered on young black people struggling in tough environments. Myers, a best-selling children's book author whose crystalline prose often depicted the gritty lives of young people, died on Tuesday in Manhattan.

Supreme Court Rules Disadvantaged Workers Should Be Disadvantaged Some More

Harold Meyerson The American Prospect
Even without repealing Abood, today’s court decision is plenty catastrophic. It will put financial limits on unions’ campaigns to organize two of the fastest-growing categories of American workers—those who care for the elderly and the sick, and those who care for small children