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Friday Nite Videos | Feb 9, 2018

Portside
Russia Hacks Voter Rolls & Rob Porter Resigns. "Unforgettable." Why Is the Naked Mole Rat So Weird? Our Cartoon President | Series Premiere. A Persuasive Case That Presidents Can Be Indicted.

Philip K. Dick and the Fake Humans

Henry Farrell Boston Review
We’re not living in the dystopias of George Orwell or Aldous Huxley, the author insists, but in the shifty algorithmic universe of Philip K. Dick, where the world that the Internet and social media shape is less a system than an ecology, a proliferation of unexpected niches, and entities created and adapted to exploit them in deceptive ways. In this view, it’s a world in which technology is developing in ways that fudge the difference between the human and the artificial.

Crisis in the Canadian Labour Movement

John Cartwright Socialist Project
The recent split in the Canadian Labour Congress over organizational issues will inhibit the search to renew trade unions. A vision of a powerful, effective, inclusive union movement of the future needs to be developed. If leaders let personal grievances or institutional rivalry dominate the discussion, we will fail, and it may take years to heal the damage.

Tidbits - February 8, 2018 - Reader Comments: Nunes Memo; Puerto Rico; Union Membership; Medicare for All; Teaching Slavery; Antonio Gramsci; Trump's Military Parade - in song; Olympic Truce Actions; Scholarships for Young Activists; and more ....

Portside
Reader Comments: Nunes Memo - Big Dud; Puerto Rico - many still without power; Union Membership Growth...Amidst Decline; Medicare for All - Canadian Readers Tell Their Story; Teaching Slavery; Antonio Gramsci; Trump's Military Parade - in song; Olympic Truce Actions; Cuba's Historic Literacy Campaign; The Puerto Rican Socialist Party; Scholarships for Young Activists; 50th Anniversary of the Orangeburg Massacre; and more....

Dr. Victor Sidel, Who Fostered Health and Peace, Dies at 86

Richard Sandomir The New York Times
This great doctor taught us there can be no public health without world peace. Despite the specter of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War, Dr. Sidel was an optimist and innovator who preached that community outreach was a critical factor in treating vulnerable populations.

$700 Billion For What? How Runaway Military Spending Keeps Us from Meeting Our Real Needs

Mark Haim The Indypendent
During the Cold War, the supposed threat of Communism was the justification for super-sized budgets and a continuous stream of wars and interventions-some overt, others covert or proxy-none of which had anything to do with defending the United States-and none of which ended in victory. These were sold to the American people as being fought to "defend freedom" or "support democracy." After the Cold War ended it became more difficult to justify such a massive military.

Trump’s Financial Arsonists: The Next Financial Crisis -- Not If, But When

Nomi Prins TomDispatch
Written one week before the current Wall Street tumble, economist Nomi Prins writes: Watch out. Even in the seemingly best of times, neglecting Wall Street is a dangerous idea. With a rag-tag Trumpian crew of ex-bankers and Goldman Sachs alumni as the only watchdogs in town, it’s time to focus, because one thing is clear: Donald Trump’s economic team is in the process of making the financial system combustible again.

I Helped Sell the False Choice of War Once. It’s Happening Again. (Now with Iran)

Lawrence Wilkerson The New York Times
Ex- Bush official confesses. President George W. Bush would have ordered the war even without United Nations support. "That led to a war that resulted in catastrophic losses for the region and the United States-led coalition, and that destabilized the entire Middle East". This should not be forgotten, since the Trump administration is using much the same playbook to create a false impression that war is the only way to address the threats posed by Iran.

China Seeks to Become a "Socialist Country" by 2050

Jose A. Díaz and Tania Romero Equal Times
The Chinese Communist Party, at its 19th Congress, set the goal to eliminate extreme poverty by 2022 and then begin process of "socialist modernisation." The challenge the country will face is to combine economic growth with environmental protection and to address the extreme inequality within society.

The Captive Aliens Who Remain Our Shame

Annette Gordon-Reed The New York Review of Books
This "very important" book offers a new examination of the role of African Americans in the American Revolution and of how racism was used in the service of creating the United States in the late 18th Century.