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Portugal: The Left Takes Charge

Conn Hallinan Foreign Policy in Focus
Even though the right-wing Forward Portugal lost the election—it garnered only 38 percent of the votes—Silva allowed its leader, former Prime Minister Passos Coelho, to form a government. That maneuver lasted just 11 days. Coelho introduced a budget loaded with austerity measures and privatization. In the face of growing outrage and a threatened general strike Silva finally asked Socialist Party leader Antonio Costa to form a government.

 How to Understand White Male Terrorism

Max Berger The Nation
 Since the civil-rights movement, the Republican establishment — the big bankers and CEOs that actually run the party — have danced with racists in the white grassroots by conflating racism and fear of the government. Instead of providing all Americans with decent healthcare, education, jobs, or housing, the racist white grassroots and rich establishment agreed that everyone should be on their own — so black people and immigrants don’t accidentally get anything good.

Exxon Targets Journalists Who Exposed Massive Climate Cover Up

Lauren McCauley Common Dreams
"Exxon’s outrageous move to intimidate journalists and academics from doing their jobs is more of the same from a company that has been bullying the public and our elected officials for decades," David Turnbull, campaigns director for Oil Change International, told Common Dreams.

Emanuel Dismisses Top Cop Garry McCarthy Amid Pressure for Change

Bill Ruthhart, Hal Dardick and John Byrne Chicago Tribune
The consequences of the shooting of Laquan McDonald - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she wrote to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking the federal Justice Department to conduct a civil rights investigation into the Police Department's "use of force, including deadly force; "I write to you with urgency," Madigan writes in the letter to Lynch. "Trust in the Chicago Police Department is broken, especially in communities of color in the City of Chicago."

Supreme Court OKs Longer Arguments in High-Stakes Union Case

Jess Bravin The Wall Street Journal
The court is considering whether to overrule its 1977 decision allowing states to require public employees to join a union or pay a fee to cover collective bargaining costs. A win for the plaintiffs—a group of California teachers who say they oppose union efforts to increase pay and protect job security—could cripple public sector unions in about two dozen states that have “agency fee” laws.

Annual Message from the Moderators of Portside to Our Readers

Portside
The fact is, the political climate has changed in the last year. There is a pendulum swing to the left. Social movements are resurgent, from Black Lives Matter to Climate Justice to Fight for 15. The Bernie Sanders campaign has even brought a socialist critique of capitalism to the national discussion. The service Portside provides is in greater demand than ever. We turn for you to help because as we grow, so do our financial needs.

Processed or Ultra-processed: is there a difference?

Andy Bellatti Eating Rules
To combat the voices of health advocates who expressed concerns on the health effects of the Standard American Diet, which is high in processed foods, the food industry cast doubt and reframed the conversation on processed foods.

A Superfund for Workers

Jeremy Brecher Dollars & Sense
How to Promote a Just Transition and Break Out of the Jobs vs. Environment Trap

Red, Reich and Blue: Building the World of ‘The Man in the High Castle’

JEREMY EGNER The New York Times
This new series on Amazon imagines a world in which the Axis powers triumphed in World War II and carved up America into three zones: the Greater Nazi Reich in the East and Midwest, ruled from New York; the Japanese Pacific States, ruled from San Francisco; and a derelict neutral zone splitting them, running roughly along the Rocky Mountains.

When Workers Fight: NUHW Wins Battle with Kaiser

Cal Winslow Beyond Chron
The victory of the therapists, counselors, and social workers at Kaiser Permanente in California is a landmark, in healthcare and above all in mental healthcare. The bottom line: these workers have won patient care ratios, they’ve won the right to advocate for patients, and they won these in a context of a nationwide drive to cut costs and press productivity in an industry awash in cash.