Portside

Bank of America and the other giant banks have set their predatory sights on the 25 percent of U.S. residents who rely on the unregulated system of payday lenders, check cashing joints, and pawnshops for their financial services. While the giant banks see an opportunity for maximizing profit, others say this population would best be served by banking through a non-profit institution such as the U.S. Postal Service.

Transnational cereal maker Kellogg's has locked out 220 members of the IUF-affiliated BCTGM since October 22 at its factory in Memphis, Tennessee in an effort to force union acceptance of a plan to radically increase the use of casual workers. Yesterday a Judge ordered Kelloggs to return the workers to work.

The Environmental Protection Agency, the government agency charged with safeguarding the country's health from environmental pollutants, pursues criminal charges in “fewer than one-half of one percent” of total legal violations. And the U.S. Justice Department has an even worse record. Consequently, all corporate violators, even repeat offenders and those involved in the illegal release of large amounts of dangerous toxic chemicals, escape criminal prosecution.

Hundreds of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are worried about what’s being called the new Agent Orange: open air burn pits. Burn pits are open-air areas where the US military burned water bottles and plastic-foam cups, as well as human and medical waste. In a survey of some 2,000 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, three-quarters reported being exposed to burn pits and half said they have "symptoms associated with that exposure."

Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is gone but Libya is now more dangerous than ever. Where are the NATO Alliance "liberators" that facilitated the demise of the Libyan dictator's regime and left the country to the fate of warring militias and tribal warlords? Libya desperately needs viable political institutions and a credible security apparatus but "none of the 'liberators' seem interested any more."

There are fundamental differences in the way right-wingers and left-wingers understand poverty.

Atlantic City needs to diversify its economy away from casinos if it wants to continue attracting large numbers of visitors, union leaders argue in response to announcements of closures. New solutions are needed for workers and the wider community to prevent Atlantic City from again going into decline.

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Kiev's siege of the Donbass, supported by the Obama administration, is escalating an already perilous crisis.

Kids who identify with the hero of J.K. Rowling's popular fantasy novels hold more open-minded attitudes toward immigrants and gays.