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Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it.

The Banana As We Know It Is Dying…Again

Nathaniel Scharping Discover Magazine
At the heart of the conflict is the sturdy little fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense; it infects and kills banana plants and, since the banana industry relies so heavily on one species, it is spreading steadily across banana-rich Southeast Asia and into Australia and the Middle East.

Friday Nite Videos | Dec 29, 2017

Portside
What “Casablanca” Teaches About Refugees and Compassion. Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason (Lyrics). How Trump Makes Extreme Things Look Normal. How the Animal Kingdom Sleeps. The Post | Movie.

17 Things We Learned About Money in Politics in 2017

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy Brennan Center for Justice
What did we learn about money in politics during the Earth’s ride around the Sun this year? The Trump Russia investigation could turn on campaign finance law.

US Nuclear Tests Killed Far More Civilians Than We Knew

Tim Fernholz Quartz
When the US entered the nuclear age, it did so recklessly. New research suggests that the hidden cost of developing nuclear weapons were far larger than previous estimates, with radioactive fallout responsible for 340,000 to 690,000 American deaths from 1951 to 1973. The nuclear bombs dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulted in 250,000 deaths. And now, Donald Trump is threatening to use nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.

Extreme Poverty Returns to America

Premilla Nadasen The Washington Post
U.N. study finds growing numbers of Americans are living in the most impoverished circumstances. The growth of extreme poverty in the land of plenty is an indicator that we shouldn't be talking about how to slash spending on social programs, but how to expand services and better meet the needs of the vulnerable among us. One and a half million American households live in extreme poverty today, nearly twice as many as 20 years ago.

Let Yemenis Live

Kathy Kelly Common Dreams
Just over 1,000 days of Saudi-led coalition war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen has been deadly and devastating for Yemeni civilians. The UN says that 7 - 8 million Yemenis are one step away from starvation. The BBC reports that more than 80% of Yemenis lack food, fuel, water and access to health care. The number of suspected cholera cases in Yemen has reached one million, according to the International Commission of the Red Cross.

A Subversive Bull: Robert Lawson and The Story of Ferdinand

Philip Kennedy Illustration Chronicles
Published by Viking Press in 1936, the release of Ferdinand came during the era of the Great Depression. That year also saw the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. In light of these events, Ferdinand started to take on a much greater significance. Ferdinand, the bull presented a Spanish character who stood out from society and refused to fight. Those who supported the violent uprising that was led by Francisco Franco viewed it as pacifist propaganda and they banned its publication.
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