Portside

"Several American labor unions reacted angrily to the Senate’s vote July 25 to take yet another crack at dismantling Obamacare. AFSCME President Lee Saunders called the vote “morally indefensible,” while Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers said it was “cruel and heartless.”

Dumbing down; Jews divide; Kochs’ revenge; From red states to red tide?; New time of the toad; Southern Baptist: “Basta!”

“Trump came in there to the factory last December and blew smoke up our asses. He wasn’t gonna save those jobs. And, if that’s the case, he would have saved us and Rexnord, a company around the corner from us that makes parts.

"Massachusetts law provides no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer beyond the time that individual would otherwise be entitled to a release from State custody,” the unanimous Supreme Judicial Court ruling states.

The US has a lot to learn from people powered movements, cities across Europe are increasingly deciding to reclaim public services, spearheading a growing movement for "remunicipalization," meaning the return of public services from private to public.

At Highlander, the Charleston workers were joined by 30 other workers — African-American fast-food workers mainly — from Birmingham; Atlanta; Richmond, Virginia; and several cities in North Carolina. Over the course of the two-day workshop, the workers, with a few organizers and guests, practiced talking union to fearful coworkers. They analyzed poems by Langston Hughes and verses from the New Testament, and learned of the history of Highlander.

Nyack Library workers voted Monday night to unionize, making it among the small handful of Rockland County, New York libraries where employees are covered by unions. They will be joining the New York State United Teachers.

Numerous colleges and universities in the last decade have studied and acknowledged the role of slavery in building and running their campuses, or financing the institutions. Other colleges have changed the names of buildings that honored people with ties to the Ku Klux Klan.

Exxon wants to topple Venezuela for geopolitical and geo-economic reasons.

On June 23rd, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt expressed that a proposal to repeal the Clean Water Rule enacted in 2015 would be sent out by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers. This proposed repeal would not only bring back the confusion and discord over what exactly the Clean Water Act protects, but would make it easier for polluters to contaminate the nation's waters.