Portside

• Why the Women’s March May Be the Start of a Serious Social Movement – Emily Kalah Gade (Washington Post)
• Originalism Is Dumb – Andrew Hartman (The Baffler)
• LGBT Groups Brace for Trump Religious Freedom Executive Order – Emily Cadei (Newsweek)
• Progressives Pour Cash Into Anti-Trump Resistance - Scott Bland (Politico)
• How New Yorkers Deal With Swastikas on the Subway – Gregory Locke (Forward)
• If You Think Lady Gaga's Super Bowl Performance Wasn't Political, You Missed the Point – Phillip Picardi (Teen Vogue)

Why the Women’s March May Be the Start of a Serious Social Movement

By Emily Kalah Gade
January 30, 2017
Washington Post

It didn’t take long after the historically massive Women’s March on Washington (and sister marches around the world) — just one day, in fact — before skeptical commentators began asking whether this was a movement or a one-day wonder. Part of the question, as previous contributors to this TMC series have noted, was whether its many different demands and interests could be channeled effectively.
Research into civil resistance (the term commonly used by nonviolence activists) suggests five reasons the Women’s March may succeed as a movement where others have failed.
 

Originalism Is Dumb

By Andrew Hartman
February 1, 2017
The Baffler

In the minds of conservatives, Gorsuch is a worthy heir to Scalia’s seat—far more so than the Obama White House’s centrist nominee Merrick Garland was. This is not only because Gorsuch typically rules from the bench in a conservative fashion but because, like Scalia, he adheres to the legal doctrine of originalism.
In other words, Gorsuch subscribes to the dumbest judicial philosophy in the world—the Ouija board of legal doctrines—which would have us pretend to decipher the intent of those who wrote the Constitution 230 years ago, almost a century before slavery was abolished.

LGBT Groups Brace for Trump Religious Freedom Executive Order

By Emily Cadei
February 1, 2017
Newsweek

Initially, LGBT advocates thought Trump was most likely to amend or reverse Obama's 2014 executive order extending protections against discrimination within the federal workforce and among contractors to people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Now they fear Trump will issue a more wide-ranging order, along the lines of the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), which Republicans have introduced in previous sessions of Congress.
While the Obama order applies to federal employees and contractors, an order in the vein of the FADA would apply to all individuals and organizations, barring the federal government from punishing them if they denied services based on their religious beliefs. Supporters of the legislation say it is necessary to protect the First Amendment rights of religious people or institutions, like schools, hospitals and nonprofit groups, many of which receive federal contracts.
 

Progressives Pour Cash Into Anti-Trump Resistance

By Scott Bland
February 2, 2017
Politico

The American Civil Liberties Union raised $24 million in online donations last weekend. That sum, taken in while the group was waging a legal struggle against Trump’s executive order banning travel by citizens of certain countries, is more than six times what the group typically raises online in an entire year.
And other progressive groups and Democratic organizations are having similar fundraising success, raising money at a pace more closely resembling the frenzied weeks before an election than the typically sleepy months just after one. Democratic congressional groups, state-level candidates and nonprofit or advocacy groups also are reaping millions from pledges to oppose Trump and stand up for progressive values in the early days of his administration.
 

How New Yorkers Deal With Swastikas on the Subway

By Gregory Locke
February 5, 2017
Forward

I got on the subway in Manhattan on Saturday night, February 4, only to find a Swastika on every advertisement and every window. The train was silent as everyone stared at each other, uncomfortable and unsure what to do.
One guy got up and said, “Hand sanitizer gets rid of Sharpie. We need alcohol.” He found some tissues and got to work.
I’ve never seen so many people simultaneously reach into their bags and pockets looking for tissues and Purell.

If You Think Lady Gaga's Super Bowl Performance Wasn't Political, You Missed the Point

By Phillip Picardi
February 5, 2017
Teen Vogue

Tonight, Lady Gaga literally took a leap of faith (via some very trustworthy suspension cables) when she opened her Super Bowl Halftime Performance with a riff on patriotic classics. After her epic (and already-memed) dive towards the stage, our Lady fearlessly sang her anthem, "Born This Way," resplendent in crystal eye makeup and a glittering ensemble.
Clearly, many people watching didn't realize that the song "Born This Way" is designed for the LGBTQ community. If you've been to a Pride March in the past four years, you'd know a thing or two about dancing to "Born This Way" while you're surrounded by a ton of glitter, bare skin, and glorious, rainbow solidarity. Let's just be clear here, though: Performing a song that's so blatantly gay in front of an audience that includes Mike Pence, one of the most anti-LGBTQ politicians today, is absolutely political — especially when it contains lyrics like "No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgender life." (PS: According to USA Today, that'd "likely" be the first time the word "transgender" was said onstage at a Super Bowl.)
Furthermore, as our friends at The Hive pointed out, the Woody Guthrie song "This Land Is Your Land" is actually inherently activistic.