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The FBI's Pseudo-Science and False Convictions

Ed Pilkington The Guardian
The FBI's practice of falsely testifying to guilt based on pseudo scientific "hair comparisons" has lead to a mass disaster of false convictions – at least hundreds of cases. Now begins the "herculean effort to right the wrongs."

European Officials May Be Pushing Regime Change in Greece

Mark Weisbrot Al Jazeera
Are European leaders making impossible demands of the current Greek government as part of a strategy to get rid of it? The European Central Bank not only trained its guns on the new government but started firing on Feb. 4, just nine days after the election, when they cut off the main line of credit to the Greek government.

Social Security: The Surprise of 2016?

Richard Eskow Campaign for America's Future
Social Security surfaced in the very first days of the campaign, thanks to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie going after the program with the zeal of a born huckster, demanding to raise the retirement age. In 2010 equivocation and deficit-reduction obsession from President Obama squandered Democrats' good will on the subject. But this year anything less than an embrace of expansion this time is likely to leave the base unsatisfied.

Guernica, revisited

Richard Vargas Guernica, revisited (Winston-Salem, NC: Press 53, 2014).
April 26 is the 78th anniversary of the bombing of the Basque town, Guernica, by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War. It was this atrocity against innocent civilians that prompted Pablo Picasso to create his most famous painting. As New Mexico poet Richard Vargas writes, however, worldwide public outrage has not stopped the strategy of indiscriminate bombing of civilian populations.

The Numbers are Staggering: US is `World Leader' in Child Poverty (in "Developed" Countries)

Paul Buchheit; Max Fisher
The callousness of America's political and business leaders is shocking. A new report from UNICEF, on the well-being of children in 35 developed nations, turned up some alarming statistics about child poverty. More than one in five American children fall below a relative poverty line. The United States ranks 34th of the 35 countries surveyed, above only Romania and below virtually all of Europe plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. (The Washington Post)

Tidbits - April 23, 2015 - Fast Food Strike; TPP, Hillary; Eduardo Galeano; CIA Infiltration at Home; Sundown Towns; and more...

Portside
Reader Comments - Fast Food Strike, Low-Wage Workers Struggle for More than Wages; TPP - LAtest Leak; Hillary Clinton, Fracking and 2016; Eduardo Galeano; CIA Infiltration at Home; Anne Braden; Sundown Towns; 'Driving While White'; Cuba Coops; NYT and Russian Wages; Charter Schools; Walton Wealth; Announcements: Walden Bello in New York; Vietnam - The Power of Protest and In Defense of the Public Square - Washington

10 Steps to Transform American Society

Jack O'Dell The Nation
An outline for social transformation in the United States, inspired by South Africa's Freedom Charter. The Democracy Charter, summarized below, seeks to enlarge the public's understanding of the connectedness of these issues as a way to achieve a social transformation of American society. This is the ultimate purpose of our movement.

19 Months on the Picket Lines

Ben Chacko Morning Star
The 120 workers at Crown Metal Packaging have now been on strike 19 months resisting a union-busting employer aiming to slash wages and cut pensions. They have been supported by the international solidarity of Workers Uniting, the global union formed by North America's United Steel Workers and Britain's Unite.