Portside

Israel’s Civil Administration is advancing plans for the development of 1,065 housing units in eight different settlements throughout occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, a settlement watchdog announced on Thursday.

Eight years after accepting a drastic two-tier system of wages and benefits—and nearly a decade since the first tier got a raise—the United Auto Workers are bargaining with the Big 3 automakers.

The 42nd Annual Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) got underway July 22 in San Diego. The mood was convivial, attire corporate casual: Brooks Brothers suits without ties, Dockers and sports shirts. ALEC, (secretive rightwing bill mill funded by Koch Brothers and global multibillion dollar corporations), has been described as a legislative dating service that arranges hookups between mostly Republican state lawmakers and corporate lobbyists.

There are as many reasons to desert military service as there are deserters. All countries’ militaries like to snatch young men when they are uneducated, inexperienced, and unemployed. It takes a soldier far greater courage to throw down his weapon than to kill a stranger. There are deserters in every country that has an armed forces. Armies demand blind obedience and human beings crave liberty. Why do men desert? Certainly not from cowardice.

The community surrounding the University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus has one of the highest shooting rates in Chicago and consequences of the lack of a Level 1 adult trauma center are acutely felt. In Oakland, California, activists and trained first responders were frustrated by the lack of urgency they observed among police and EMTs after shootings. Keeping trauma care inequality campaigns grassroots gives lasting power and impact. Elsewhere, activists agree.

UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education has just published the third book in a series Dreams Deported edited by Kent Wong and Nancy Guarneros. Utilizing the Center's politically powerful approach that ensures that people speak and act collectively for themselves seeking justice, Dreams Deported is a significant contribution to the movement for immigrant and worker rights here in USA and internationally. Buy this book -- and use it!

USA’s new hacker drama is a surprise hit that deserves attention for its subtle critiques of gender norms and masculinity.

Reflecting the growing influence of the Black Lives Matter movement, the progressive national network Democracy for America has made candidates’ proposals for addressing racism among the central criteria for its endorsements. DFA changed its endorsement process following the Black Lives Matter protest at Netroots Nation, where Democratic presidential candidates Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders “failed to empathize with and adequately respond” to protesters’ concerns.

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, the author looks at the pain index for those who were left behind. The population of New Orleans is noticeably smaller and noticeably whiter now and despite the tens of billions poured into Louisiana, the impact on poor and working people in New Orleans has been minimal. While not all the numbers are bad, they do illustrate who has benefited and who continues to suffer 10 years after Katrina.

In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) complaint filed last week against three U.S. government agencies, documentary film maker Laura Poitras charges she was subjected to intense rounds of detention and questioning on more than 50 occasions between 2006 and 2012. It’s an important story with profound implications for the press. Yet, her lawsuit also highlights a second threat to journalism in the U.S., the worrisome way the federal government handles FOIA requests.