Portside

Ta-ta, Twitter; Faux News war pig; Megyn Kelly without tears; Kochs spook Jane Meyer; Drug ad backlash; The new Birth of a Nation

After premiering to prolonged standing ovations and plenty of critical acclaim, the slave revolt drama, Birth of a Nation, set off the fiercest bidding war Sundance has ever seen. Fox Searchlight has come out on top, landing the drama in a record-breaking $17.5 million deal, the biggest purchase in Sundance history.

After decades of campaigns, the global movement against sweatshops had a few modest (but important) victories. However, a recent breakthrough in Bangladesh in encouraging, and may show the way for making more dramatic changes in the garment industry.

The laws of physics work both forward and backward in time. So why does time seem to move in only one direction? One potential answer may also reveal the secrets of the universe’s missing mass.

“Some people feel like it’s not enough, but it’s symbolic,” said Armando Robles, one of the New Era worker-owners and a leader of the occupation and ensuing efforts. “It’s a huge victory.”

The bourgeoisie does not rule by force alone; it does so by inculcating its ideas and values—its ideology—into the population at large. It follows, then, as the GMB’s John Callow argues in his preface to Silvertown, that “history, like politics…is a fiercely contested ideological space.” Historians who claim to be impartial and “value-free” are not to be trusted—or they are simple.

Chicago Police Department officers stashed microphones in their squad car glove boxes. They pulled out batteries. Microphone antennas got busted or went missing. And sometimes, dashcam systems didn’t have any microphones at all, DNAinfo Chicago has learned. Police officials last month blamed the absence of audio in 80 percent of dashcam videos on officer error and “intentional destruction.”

In a not-so-distant future, Norway has elected a radical branch of the Green Party, and its charismatic new prime minister shuts down the country’s supply of oil and gas to continental Europe. Despite an impending climate crisis, the EU is none too pleased with this overnight weaning from petrol, and invites Russia to offer Norway “technical assistance” in restoring its fossil fuel production. Russian gunships descend on Norway’s oil platforms.

Nevada's powerful Culinary Union and the Bernie Sanders campaign say they've resolved their issues after a kerfuffle earlier Thursday had the group at odds with the Vermont senator's presidential operation in a key early voting state.

Report suggests 'some giant corporations--and their executives--have decided that following the law is merely optional.