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Tidbits - January 8, 2015 - Selma, Police, Palestine, Climate, Sports and more...

Portside
Reader Comments - Selma; Civil Rights Tour led by Julian Bond; Ferguson Grand Jury; Police, NYPD, PBA, de Blasio; Women telling their Story; Wealth and Inequality; Sports - A Radical Proposal; BDS, Israel, Palestine, Solidarity; Sony; The Interview; Privatization and Hucksterism; Climate Change, Marx and Nature; Healthcare; Superbugs; the Ukraine; Announcements - The American Labor Movement At A Crossroads; Elections in Greece: Can Syriza Break with Austerity?

Stopping the Biggest Corporate Power Grab in Years

Arthur Stamoulis Foreign Policy in Focus
TPP is a corporate power grab clearly worthy of Seattle-caliber mobilization. But the fight against this reprehensible deal requires different types of tactics. And the place to start is by derailing “Fast Track,” the mechanism that would allow TPP approval to rush through the U.S. Congress with little debate and no amendments.

Interview with Thomas Piketty: Piketty Responds to Criticisms from the Left

by Antoine Dolcerocca and Gökhan Terzioğlu Potemkin Review
Potemkin Review met with Thomas Piketty at his Paris office and talked to him about his book Capital in the 21st Century, asking detailed questions about his arguments therein as well as on broader issues, which anyone who has been following the debate should find useful.

Let’s Not Sacralize Charlie Hebdo

by Arthur Goldhammer Al Jazeera America
In the wake of the tragedy, many publications across the West have rushed to print reproductions of Charlie Hebdo covers as proof that terrorist violence cannot dampen free expression. Such homage to the magazine in its agony is in one sense fitting and proper, but in another sense it is the precise opposite of what the living Charlie was about.

Legal Advocacy Group Asks for New Darren Wilson Grand Jury

By Matt Pearce Los Angeles Times
“Our review of these proceedings has raised grave legal concerns, including knowing presentation of false witness testimony, erroneous instructions on the law, and preferential treatment of Mr. Wilson by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office," wrote NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund president Sherrilyn Ifill.

A Day Later, Still Unclear Whether NAACP was Target of Bomb in Colorado Springs

By Wesley Lowery The Washington Post
“Lets you and I be honest, we live in a country where there are still some that do not want to accept black and brown people into the circle of power,” said NAACP branch President Henry Allen. “Those people have been around forever and will continue to be around forever. But the majority of Americans want the same thing – a peaceful community that involves all of us."

The Next Big Fight Among Democrats?

Greg Sargent The Washington Post
Progressive Senators who have already criticized the administration on other economic issues — Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Tom Harkin — wrote a letter last spring to Obama, applauding his decision to revisit overtime pay. But in their letter, the liberal Senators also set forth their desired threshold: Around $54,000 per year, rather than $42,000, the amount the Obama administration is supposedly eying.