Documentary: 'Daddy I Do'

"Daddy I Do" examines Abstinence-Only Education versus Comprehensive Sex Education in America and its influence on the rates of teen pregnancies, abortions, and STDs, as well as poverty and sexual abuse. Directed by Cassie Jaye. Winner of the Best Documentary Award at the 2010 Cannes Independent Film Festival. DVD available here.

Maya Angelou - I Am Human

An interview in memory of Maya Angelou (April 24, 1928 - May 28, 2014). 'If a human being dreams a great dream ... if a human being dares to be bigger than the condition into which she or he was born, it means so can you.' 

What's So Scary About Smart Girls?

A video produced by the Half the Sky Movement. As Nicholas Kristof notes, "Ultimately, the greatest threat to extremism isn't drones firing missiles, but girls reading books." Read his full article on smart girls here.

Weather Versus Climate Change

Neil deGrasse Tyson breaks down the differences between weather and climate change. Next on the National Geographic series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (airs Mondays at 9PM).
 

Miles Davis Way

On May 24, a crowd of hundreds gathered to mark the renaming of a stretch of West 77th Street in New York City as Miles Davis Way. The remarkable jazz musician Davis, who would have been 88 this week, was a long-time resident of the block now being renamed in his honor. Here is a video of Davis performing So What? 

Friday Nite Videos -- May 30, 2014

Portside
On a cool note, Miles Davis gets a NYC street. Neil deGrasse Tyson on Weather vs Climate Change. What's So Scary About Smart Girls? Maya Angelou - I Am Human. Documentary: 'Daddy I Do'.

Walmart Faces Fresh Protests over Workers' Rights and Conditions

Karen McVeigh The Guardian
Walmart workers and supporters in the labor movement say they plan a new series of protests over wages and conditions at America's largest private employer, in which they will target the firm's family-friendly ethic ahead of its annual shareholders meeting next week. Hundreds of mothers who work at stores across the US plan a number of strikes in 20 cities nationwide. Others will travel to Walmart headquarters in advance of the upcoming shareholders' meeting next week.

Tidbits - May 29, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Cecily McMillan; Prison Labor; William Worthy; Syria; Timothy Geithner and Wall Street's Bailout; College Debt; U.S. Subversion in Latin America; Venezuela; Announcements - This Weekend - Left Forum (May 30 - June 1) - Reform and/or Revolution: Imagining a World with Transformative Justice; Raising America's Pay - Launches June 4; Meet UnionWiki; Call for Papers - Fighting Inequality: Class, Race, and Power

National Forum on Police Crimes Calls for Civilian Police Accountability Councils

Pat Fry Portside
National Forum on Police Crimes held earlier this month in Chicago. Speaking at the closing rally Angels Davis said, mass incarceration and police killings stem from "structural and systemic racism rooted in the failure to fully abolish slavery." Global capital expansion and its pursuit of profit, she said, fuel the prison-industrial complex. Call issued for legislation to create Civilian Police Accountability Councils.

Attack on Piketty’s Capital Gets it Wrong

Mike Konczal; Jennifer Rankin; Chris Giles; Neil Irwin
Piketty's central theme is not that inequality of the ownership of wealth is going to skyrocket. The central theme is that the 1% already owns a lot of the capital stock, and the capital stock is going to get gigantic relative to the rest of the economy. Whatever the weakness this meg-tome and mega-best seller, there is no denying - the rich are getting richer, the poor, poorer. (And Piketty is not a Marxist.)