Wall Street Firms Make Money From Teachers' Pensions -- And Fund Charter Schools Fight

David Sirota, Avi Asher-Schapiro and Andrew Perez International Business Times
The largest injection of money from donors linked to a MassPRIM money manager came from Berkshire Partners executives Bradley Bloom, David Peeler, Robert Small and Ross Jones. Together they have given a quarter-million dollars to Great Schools Massachusetts. Their 2016 donations came only months after the MassPRIM board committed $175 million to a Berkshire-managed fund. Assuming standard fee rates, that deal could generate more than $3 million in annual management fees

UN Rejects Cuban Blockade; After 25 Years US Abstains

TeleSUR/hg-mk teleSUR
In a historic step toward lifting the blockade on Cuba, the United States abstained in the United Nations General Assembly vote calling for the end of the Cold War practice. On Wednesday, 191 of the 193 member states in the Assembly voted for the resolution. Only the United States and Israel abstained. The U.S. abstention is significant, but only the U.S. Congress, where Republicans have rebuffed normalized relations with Cuba, has the power to lift the blockade.

Friday Nite Videos -- October 28, 2016

Portside
Opioids: John Oliver. A Change Is Gonna Come | Live in Brazil. Terror Lynching in America. Trump and the GOP Crack-Up: A Closer Look. Before the Flood | Documentary.

Opioids: John Oliver

John Oliver discusses the extent and root of the nation’s epidemic of opioid addiction.

Terror Lynching in America

Our history of racial terror casts a shadow across the U.S. landscape. We must engage it more honestly.