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Tidbits - January 15, 2015 - NAACP Bombing, Charlie Hebdo, Ferguson, NYPD, Selma and U.S. history and more...

Reader Comments - NAACP Bombing; Ferguson Grand Jury; Charlie Hebdo and the Religious Right; Ukraine, Russia and Nazi Revival; TPP Power Grab; 2014 Worker Victories; NYPD Insubordination = Drop in Crime; Thomas Piketty; Selma,Martin Luther King, LBJ and Reality; Gap Between Productivity and Pay; BDS, Palestine and Israel; Cheap Gas; Announcements - Cuba Five Book Signing; New Resource - Greece, Golden Dawn and Fascism

Tidbits - Reader Comments and Announcements - January 15, 2015,Portside

Re: NAACP Bombing Shows Failure of Mainstream Media

Y'all sleeping or what? The hypocrisy of our corporate media is deafening. What about domestic white "Christian" terrorism towards blacks?

Kenneth Sullivan
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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"The more things change, the more they remain the same"!

Frank Nelson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Now THESE are homegrown terrorists. When are we going to wake up to that fact? The only difference between this and Paris is that, thank God, no one was killed at the NAACP bombing. Otherwise, same thing: ideological terrorism, pure and simple.

Wendy Belgard Hanawalt
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Portside is an invaluable asset. Big thanks to you, on whom I rely a great deal. It was a pleasure to send you a (small) contribution to thank you for the work you do for all of us. This story is but one example.

Kipp Dawson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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I, for one, do not think that publicizing this news would be in our best interest. Of course, I deplore the action and the sentiment accompanying it. However, mass media coverage would just lead to copy cat offenses and people thinking perpetrators were being glorified by the media.

Orin Osmon
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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In light of the Charlie Hebdo killings and the bombing of the NAACP in Colorado, ponder for a moment how we perceive the events.

It's no news because:
Muslim Shooter = entire religion is guilty.
Black Shooter = entire race is guilty.
White Shooter = mentally troubled lone wolf

Bruce Livingston
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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I learn more and usually much earlier on facebook than I do from the news.

Jeanne Tucker
Posted on Portside's Facebook page


Re: Legal Advocacy Group Asks for New Darren Wilson Grand Jury

don't need a new grand jury - the DA can bring an indictment then they can have a trial - need a special prosecutor

Ivan Thompson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Agreed, special prosecutor charge him with a crime, go straight to trial and let a jury make the decision as to guilt or not.

Calvert Butch Stewart
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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& make this prosecutor an accomplice-after-the-fact.  

Lee Mentley
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Good. People need to stand up and just not accept everything. I like this and would like to see grand juries done away with.

Barbara Fenton
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Oh now they want to do the right thing! Well I guess that is good but too late! The cop is no longer a cop and is gone

Karen Gage
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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YES! And, Yes, he resigned from the police dept. but that does not mean he can't be put on trial for MURDER!

Rose Heredia
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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How about a new prosecutor while the old one is indicted for misconduct???

Nancy Haller Gilbert
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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This is what we mean when we say that there is structural, institutionalized INJUSTICE; Racism is one thing; to be absolutely CLEAR, INJUSTICE is a more efficient term; when we speak of RACISM AND INJUSTICE, then we are entering the sphere of REPARATIONS. WHICH VERY FEW PEOPLE DARE TO MENTION! FOR ME, (you may recognize the irony), REPARATIONS TODAY, REPARATIONS TOMORROW, REPARATIONS FOREVER! The blood and tears of my grandfathers and grandmothers have never been spoken for; the Native American blood on my veins had never YET been calmed or answered for. The Republic of SouthAfrica, led by Bishop Tutu, had a process of RECONCILIATION and TRUTH. It is time, way past time, to DEMAND, FIGHT FOR, and ACHIEVE, A RECONCILIATION OF THE TRIBES. Convince me otherwise, big you can.

Addison Goodson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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If misconduct and improper use of a grand jury on the prosecutor's part isn't grounds for charges to be reinstated we might as well vote on the evidence presented by the media because that's pretty much what happened. Regardless of whether he would be found guilty in a trial or not the purpose of the grand jury is to determine whether there is enough evidence for a trial, not to act as a trial jury. You do not see the injustice here?

Aaron Childers
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: Let's Not Sacralize Charlie Hebdo

Arthur Goldhammer is the author of the article below. He is also the well known translator of Pikettys book "Capital" from French into English. His article differentiates "solidarity with" and "sacralization of" the assasinated people of the French satirist magazine "Charlie Hebdo".
Arthur Goldhammer is a translator, writer and affiliate of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. He has translated more than 125 books from the French. He is also the author of a novel, "Shooting War," and a blog on French politics.

Michael Steltzer
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Interesting.......a sad day....cogent comment.....still a very sad tragic day in Paris....toward a non-violent future......PUT DOWN THE GUNS!!!!

Ch Cole
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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This useful article helps chip away at the attempt to find high moral ground for people who mock Islam. I, myself, am an atheist and try to work toward a day when all people can live better without religion, but responsible atheism does not entail public mockery of believers. Mockery is the form of verbal expression which comes closest to, and often provokes, violence.

There's no defending the renegades from Islam who seek to defend its sanctity through murder, and I admire Goldhammer's attempt to stop the reproduction of the Parisian effrontery, but I think he misses one point. We have seen many publicists, and even politicians who draw attention by pretending to have an outlandish position. Larry Flint comes to mind.

It should be clear that no matter what dudgeon these most grotesque of satirists can work themselves into, their real intent is not moral, but egoistic, and in the case of this kind of a magazine, pecuniary. They carve out a niche, call it high morality, and reap a tidy market. It is the nature of capitalism that any market is a legitimate one. Laws that attempt to limit markets get trampled.

Socialism meets human needs thru deliberation and planning. We socialists need not stand among this current species of First Amendment champions, who look a little like Fourth Amendment obsessors, and I believe that Portside senses this. The idea of taking delight in tweaking Islam at the same time as we back the suppression of the Palestinians, is repulsive.

Bill Shortell

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The other march against terror!
dabs & jabs - by Shreyas Navare

Re: After the Charlie Hebdo's Massacre - Support Those who Fight the Religious-right; "There is no way they will make us put down our pens."

You can almost count on it, it will be used as an excuse to continue Racism and take things out on innocent people of the Muslim, faith.

Gary R Tunnell Sr.
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

No more doubt (Ukraine and Russia)

For many, many months now the Russians have been claiming that the government of the Ukraine (in Kiev) was set up by a pro-Nazi coup  and its policies are much like those of the Nazis.  Heavens no! the US State Department and media including CNN CBS NBC ABC and Al Jazeera America (among others) have cried out...  (also most of the German, French and BRitish government agencies and news media) That's just Rooshin propaganda.... the Ukrainian government in Kiev is peaceful and just wants to take back its rightful territory that the Russians have stolen....

So how is one to know?

Now at last it is clear. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, himself, of Ukrainia, speaking in Kiev, today denounced the Russians for having :"invaded Germany during World War II."

There is not much more to say....only perhaps that the US (then allied with the Russians) also "invaded" Germany during WWII. In those days, we thought that Germany under Hitler had invaded Russia and other parts of the world.
But what did we know?

Thank God Prime Minister Yatsenyuk is here to explain it all to us!
Heil Yatsenyuk!

Fred Jerome

Re: Stopping the Biggest Corporate Power Grap in Years
(posted on Portside Labor)

Lots of details in this article -- looks much more important than Keystone XL!

Alfred Rose
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: The 9 Most Important Victories for Workers in 2014

Everyone deserves approx. $15/hour. The idea that 40-hour / week workers have to live in poverty is absurd. If you're too cheap to pay the people who hand you your food? Then you should stay home to flip burgers on your own stove!

Rich Uspel
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: NYPD Insubordination Results - Drop in Crime

A very interesting collection of articles on the NYPD semi-strike.

Boris Epstein
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Yeah, and the city is losing money. They are telling the cops to get back out there, and make the city some money. Hmm... I wonder if people REALLY understand the PURPOSE of the law, especially since they've just exposed it...

Corey J. Allen
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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We MUST support de Blasio against this occupying army.

Jenny Kastner
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Time to decrease the police force, this action on there part has shown we do not need as many cops & overtime, keep the good ones & let the rest flip burgers at Mickey d's

Richard Dennis
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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He is their boss, elected by the people that they are sworn (and paid) to serve. So, they weren't just turning their backs on him, they were turning their backs on the People that he was elected to represent, which kinda makes them an invading armed force.

Steve Anderson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Those union reps are a disgrace. Any cop who is unprofessional enough, to turn his back on the mayor, should be fired. If I treated my bosses like that, I'd deserve it.

David G Brinckerhoff
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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So, the cops quit harassing people and the crime rate drops. Makes sense to me.

Keith Miller
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Whoops. Found out you were creating situations instead responding to them and we are better off without ...time to fire some bad apples who would turn their backs on their job, mayor, and the city.

Christoph Brown
Posted on Portside's Facebook page


Re: Interview with Thomas Piketty: Piketty Responds to Criticisms from the Left

Perhaps the only sociologist that I truly respect these days is this economist, Thomas Piketty.

Christopher Frederic Lapinel
Posted on Portside's Facebook page


Re: The Erosion of Collective Bargaining Has Widened the Gap Between Productivity and Pay

And since the trickle down theory of economics prevails and we have a corporate owned political process that link between pay and productivity will be reestablished in the year NEVER. In fact, between robotics, computers and overseas labor you are more expendable than ever. Only 10% of the American labor force is unionized and most of those unions are fairly weak replicas of what they once were. We can't even get a raise in the national minimum wage because of corporate pressure on our politicians. Bleak times ahead folks.

John R Gowen Jr.
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: Solidarity, PA
(posting on Portside Labor)

Aside from wishing that someone had proofread Abby Sher's piece on Reading, PA, I found her article very informative and a source for further exploration of alternative economic approaches to our ever-more-corporatized country.  The difficulties she describes in the development of such alternatives are certainly huge, as further witnessed in Pennsylvania by the state-appointed administrator's avowed intention of turning over the entire public school operation in York County to the private sector.  Time's a-wasting!

Jim Young
Harrisburg, PA

Re: It's Critics of 'Selma' Who Are Distorting Civil Rights History

One of the things that LBJ's defenders seem to downplay is that he did little or nothing to control Hoover's attempts to disrupt the Civil Rights Movement, attempts which went well beyond simple, illegal surveillance. Ditto for JFK and RFK before him and Nixon afterwards. And today . . . ?

Jim Price
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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See the movie. I don't think the critics saw the film.

Beth Cioffoletti
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Being from Texas I can say with some authority that Johnson was a son of a bitch who indeed needed prodding to outlaw racist voter laws throughout the South. He didn't help out of the goodness of his heart. He was embarrassed due to national and international news media coverage of the brutality in Selma.

Pancho Valdez
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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The criticism is more about discrediting this Oscar worthy film than it is about whether or not the film is historically correct. When people deal with history it is rarely about the correctness of history.

Vic Moye
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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In an interview with Gwen Ifill on PBS Ava DuVernay said that the film was her vision and she took artistic license with it. I will look for the interview.

Chelsea Dreher
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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I saw (and missed about a half hour of it) I have no doubt in my mind that LBJ called J Edgar Hoover, head of one of the MOST powerful security networks in the United States to ATTEMPT to disrupt his marriage, as psychological warfare! Federal government attacking a man who is chief organizer of the MOST important part of US History is attacked. ......on a PERSONAL level.

Hoover anonymously sends an audio recording suggesting King commit suicide. There is a woman moaning in the background.

As King starts to cry and pleads his innocence, Coretta assures him she knows. ......Because SHE knows how he REALLY sounds like! Hahahahaha!

Even so, it exposes how SICK Hoover's mind REALLY was for this country to utilize his ideas as tools. Then "critics" demonize possible inaccuracies regarding LBJ to discredit the film.

It DIDN'T work.........because this film has affected EVERYBODY!

Marlon Crump
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: Ten Things You Should Know About Selma Before You See the Film

The first time i found out that Rosa was an actual activist. and that it wasn't the myth of "being too tired" but a deliberate act was shocking and a delight. and i was nearly 30 years old. We don't tell that tale. as this opening says, we do a Top Down narrative. I'm so glad we have historians who were there, voices who fought it out, standing and telling the real story, describing real heros, and real, risks dangers and hard work they all did!

Tanya Nguyen
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Selma was infamous before the March.

Paul Omear
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Thanks for posting this. This is a must read. As well if you grew up in the south in those times you can just get into your mental car and drive on down there and take your head to places is has been and have it known those place and times and realize before you see the flick that places and minds exist that are as startling as the world you live in today.

It has been strange to live in and know people in places where no concept of racial discrimination exists. But we humans are creative even in our ignorance. Aren't we?

Everyman Jack
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Saw this movie last night. I think it is hard to capture a movement in 90 minutes. But at least it can put it on the radar for further reading, though and maybe even action.

Heidi Fichtenbaum
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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My "haiku" tribute to MLK:

Seared by Selma's flame
Lynched in every bigot's dream
Missing Dr. King.

William L. Valenti
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Actually, I think the film does a pretty good job overall. It makes it clear that SNCC was organizing in Selma for years prior to King's arrival. It does nothing to prettify LBJ's manipulative role. It is strong in its expose of the viciousness of the FBI. It is clear on the strong role of women, Diane Nash, in particular. You can't put in a two hour film all the details of Taylor Branch's excellent trilogy, but I think it did a credible job. I give it 4 1/2 stars.

Andrew Scott Berman
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Freedom's Ring is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, animated


Click here to begin


Re: The Amazing Things BDS Movement Achieved in 2014

REAL Jews do not support Israel, Netanyahu or the IDF. The name, Neturei Karta, was given to a group of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem who refused (and still refuse) to recognize the existence or authority of the so-called "State of Israel" and made (and still make) a point of publicly demonstrating their position, the position of the Torah and authentic unadulterated Judaism.
The group was founded in Jerusalem, Palestine in 1938, splitting off from Agudas Yisroel. Agudas Yisroel was established in 1912 for the purpose of fighting Zionism. Gradually lured by money and honor they sold out to the "Golden-Calf" (see Exodus, XXXII) of Zionism. Those who wanted to maintain their faith and continue the struggle against Zionism, dissociated themselves from Agudas Yisroel and associated parties.

John Dwyer
Posted on Portside's Facebook page


Re: Punishing the Palestinians for Going to Court

Israel and the United States do not like following all the laws that we expect others to follow.

Keith Miller
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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When politics trumps your tenets you may wish to reevaluate your tactics. At this time, the Israeli coalition government (not the people) has wilfully relinquished the moral high ground.

Carlos Quiroga-Lassepas
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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How do you punish someone more, after you have blown up their homes and killed their children and parents?

Michael Bailey
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Neither the US nor Israel have ratified the Rome Treaty.The US has demonstrated little respect for the legitimacy and authority of major international human rights tribunals and key human rights instruments. The US did not ratify the Inter American Convention on Human Rights and plays cat and mouse with jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Philip Althouse
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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The fuel cut off to Gaza is now helping freeze to death more children & those most vulnerable.. THAT is criminal punishment...

Tom Edminster
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Please note that the U.S. and Israel have refused to become members of the International Criminal Court because that would make them vulnerable to charges of crimes against humanity for which they would be brought to trial..

David Alpert
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

Re: The Real Reason U.S. Gas Is So Cheap Is Americans Don't Pay the True Cost of Driving

This article feels like an industry plant, not a meaningful discussion. Ignored is the fact that in Europe many social programs still exist like socialized medicine, day care, housing, etc. In the US people have to pay for these services at a fairly high rate for mediocre service. So, no, this article is out of context and has to be read as propaganda

Tanya Marquette
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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so whats next? should we pay for oxygen? and what happened to all this talk about our oil reserves? i remember a story about the U.S. having enough oil to significantly reduce foreign dependency. I always said that because of Capitalism, the gas prices will remain high to support the hybrid electric car industry. Now all of a sudden when gas is low the stock market does bad. We should not be concerned about what other countries are paying. We should use this opportunity to find ways to keep the prices down. Salaries are not increasing we deserve a break. we deserve to travel, and take trips to see our relatives without worrying about having enough money for gas.

New Namiri
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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What happens to the figures when we add the costs to people and environments in the U.S. and elsewhere of the U.S. efforts to manage oil resources by political manipulation, foreign aid, and wars?

Joe Maizlish,
Los Angeles

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Why would you want to support a regressive tax?

Levon Chorbajian

Book signing and celebration of the release of the Cuban Five with author Stephen Kimber - New York - Jan. 16

Friday, January 16th, 2015
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Labor Center 1199/SEIU
New York, New York

Visit our website

The Venceremos Brigade and Black Lives Matter presents: Ferguson to NYC to Cuba! - New York - Jan. 19

An open dialogue and panel discussion on solidarity movements for racial justice

Monday January 19th from 2-5pm at
Correctional Association of NY
2090 Adam Clayton Blvd Ste. 200

Refreshments will be provided

Please share far and wide!

Resource - RACISM WITHIN THE GREEK STATE APPARATUS


DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT  (English)

This study does not cover ultra-right political culture in Greece in a general way, nor even Golden Dawn per se, but poses a simpler question: How is to be explained that Golden Dawn is being treated by the State as another organization in the mold of the "17 November" group, despite the obvious fact that the latter, quite unlike Golden Dawn, only operated for many years under cover of darkness and illegality? What are the ties, the inactions, the ideological or other mechanisms that for so long prevented the Greek State from doing its job with respect to an organization now all-too easily characterized as "criminal" under the relevant article of the penal code? For example, why must the minister in charge first issue an order to the leadership of the Supreme Court before a criminal investigation can even begin?

In the famous conclusion by the deputy public prosecutor at the Supreme Court, one reads that all it took to begin the recent anti-Golden Dawn mobilization was for a document to be sent over by the minister of public order and citizen protection (the latter being, again, the same person who a year earlier had announced his intent to sue The Guardian for the newspaper's article on the torture of anarchists by police officers with Golden Dawn sympathies or affiliations).

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - New York Office

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Inc.
275 Madison Avenue, Suite 2114
New York, NY 10016

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