Portside

1) Still Working Hard: An Update on the Share of Older Workers in Physically Demanding Jobs 2) Almost Two-Thirds of People in the Labor Force Do Not Have A College Degree

Upending the patriarchy was always a part of Powerpuff storylines, as trio demolished villain after cackling villain en route to saving the bumbling Mayor of Townsville (voiced by Tom Kenny). That’s not going to change. If anything, the new series will go further, providing commentary both nostalgic Millennials and younger viewers can grok.

Jane McAlevey is a union organizer and a critic of what is generally thought of as the U.S. “labor reform” movement. In this review of her article, I separate her criticism of labor—which I think has merit—from its attribution to Saul Alinsky—which I find without merit.

For the past three years activists have been fighting hard for unionization efforts for farmworkers supplying berries for Driscoll’s in the United States and in Mexico. In 2014, workers in Washington state went on strike after complaining that the piece-rate wage was set too low. Sakuma Farms allegedly brought in hundreds of guest workers under a H-2A visa program to replace the strikers, The Progressive reported.

Growing resistance to antibiotics now allows long-treatable diseases to once again become killers. Yet, pharmaceutical companies are sacking their antibiotic researchers. Even with the looming threat of drug resistant “superbugs,” there are now less than 1,500 researchers who know how to develop antibiotics. It’s a problem rooted in the market-driven nature of the pharmaceutical industry. Big Pharma makes more money by making expensive drugs and selling a lot of them.

This is not war as we once knew it, nor is it government as we once understood it, nor are these elections as we once imagined them, nor is this democracy as it used to be conceived of, nor is this journalism of a kind ever taught in a journalism school. This is the definition of uncharted territory. A new, more frightening America is emerging and we can’t blame it all on Donald Trump. For it is this new America-in-formation that has paved the way for him.

The Israeli mainstream newspaper Yediot Ahronoth held its first conference targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The Yediot Achronot conference attacking BDS has become a veritable carnival of hate. Everyone from delusional Hollywood celebrities (Roseanne Barr) to cabinet ministers, to the leader of the Opposition have pledged fealty to the cause. Two of the speakers are under criminal investigation for corrupt political or financial dealings.

If left leaning activists are serious about their characterization of Trump as a fascist, then they better get serious about the problem of unity...For better or worse, this is not Germany 1932, nor is it Nixon vs Humphrey in 1968. 2016 is unique. There is a political crisis, but nothing like the end of the Weimar Republic. To begin with, it's a stretch to compare the 2016 race to Germany 1932.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s strike today is a challenge to the rest of labor to break anti-union rules.

Martin Espada, “The Pablo Neruda of North American poets," according to Sandra Cisneros, turns his critical eye to the persistence of racist murders in our times.