Portside

. . . the U.S. is helping the Mexican government cover up information about grave human rights violations. Indeed, a thorough analysis of internal government files, released through Freedom of Information requests or through leaks, reveals a pattern of abuses and cover-ups . . .

Homeopathy is, as Steve Novella characterized it, an “excellent example of the purest form of pseudoscience,” and as I, more blunt that Steve, like to call it, “The One Quackery To Rule Them All.” Failing to make that clear in media coverage of homeopathy lets advocates of homeopathic quackery to label skeptics as “homeopathic naysayers” and claim that the current FDA regulatory framework for homeopathic products is working just fine.

“Daredevil,” adapted from the long-running Marvel comics franchise, is a superhero show about the evils of gentrification—a politically engaged work which is energized by debates about urban inequality. These debates are salient not only in the era of Mayor Bill de Blasio but also have roots deep in the city’s history.

The California Nurses Association is calling on more than 2,400 nurses to strike Providence Health and Services hospitals in Santa Monica and Torrance and at Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center over staffing levels and retention rates.

The finance committees of the House and Senate have approved amendments to a trade bill (TTP) that equate boycotts of West Bank settlement products with boycotts of Israel, strengthening efforts by the Israeli right to silence opponents of West Bank settlements. A separate measure approved by the House panel as an amendment to the customs bill goes a step further and takes action against some foreign companies if they shun the settlements.

“Victims can be perpetrators, too.” It’s important for people to understand that.

Claims Iran is supplying the Houthis with weapons ignore the fact the group was already flush with American arms from ex-president Saleh.

Since last weekend more than 1,000 people have drowned off the coast of Libya. Another 600 died during journeys to Europe earlier this year. According to Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Europe must change its course and assume responsibility for preventing similar tragedies. He calls for changes in the legislation governing asylum and migration, which has only increased migrants’ vulnerability—and made smugglers richer.

El Salvador joined the near unanimous appeal by Latin American and Caribbean governments for the Obama Administration to repeal its executive order declaring Venezuela a “threat” to national security. The U.S. is now issuing veiled threats that it might deny El Salvador’s participation in its proposed $1 billion Alliance for Prosperity program for Central America, which ostensibly is designed to reduce the influx of migrants to the United States.

In the midst of a historic drought, Californians have no way of knowing who is guzzling the most water. That’s not an accident. It’s by design, thanks to an obscure 1997 measure that weakened one of the state’s chief open government laws, the California Public Records Act. For the source of this legislation, look no further than Silicon Valley, where the city of Palo Alto decided it needed to do more to protect the privacy of the tech elite.