Portside

Scientists have figured out how microbes can suck energy from rocks. Such life-forms might be more widespread than anyone anticipated.

The meeting was underway Friday in St. Louis for scarcely more than an hour when the committee’s chairman, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), called a multiple-hour recess to resolve disagreements that were beginning to stir acrimony among committee members

Debuting writer-director Nate Parker stars in this searingly impressive account of the Nat Turner slave rebellion.

A brief primer, for those unfamiliar with Penny Dreadful: the show takes place in a fictional Victorian London where gothic creatures of the night exist, seances abound, and famous literary characters (Victor Frankenstein, Dorian Gray) mingle with original characters.

(Orginally published in Spanish on SubVersiones, see links at the end.) If the national teachers movement in Mexico manages to bring down the educational reform, there will be a path to bringing down all the structural reforms that are occurring in the country’s strategic sectors, such as the energy sector. This is the assessment that teachers are making. This is precisely the fear of the federal government.

Indeed, the parallels with the United States are clear. In the lead up to the November elections, rampant inequality continues to grip the nation while campaign finance laws push lawmakers to unabashedly peddle policies that solely benefit the corporate elite.

A guide to tomorrow’s Spanish election.

Why do we defer from 9 to 5? The “master-servant relationship” is a feudal phantom that still haunts today’s workplaces, thanks to English common law. Peter Hall-Jones argues that it’s time to exorcise the old ghoul. The workplace democracy movement aims to do just that, but where do unions fit in? The way they respond to this agenda might well determine their relevance in the workplace of the future.

Our nation’s watchlisting system is error-prone and unreliable because it uses vague and overbroad criteria and secret evidence to place individuals on blacklists without a meaningful process to correct government error and clear their names.

But above all, no independent observer believes PG&E has signed this agreement out of love for the planet, its workers, the public well-being or the spirit of the law. It could mark a significant leap toward shutting Diablo Canyon, but it does not seal its fate. Indeed, unless accompanied with fierce activism, some fear it could offer PG&E political cover to prolong its operations.