Portside

Reader Comments: Rape, Sexual Assault, Power and Kavanaugh; 2018 elections;Jess King, Julia Salazar, Socialism; Climate Change; Healthcare; police crimes; housing; Hiroshima; energy; folk music; Announcements; and more.....

Betsy DeVos Flunked Her '60 Minutes' Test. Sixteen Tums | Parody of Sixteen Tons. The Disturbing History of the Suburbs. Anonymous | Down the Dark Web Documentary. Parkland Survivors Discuss Privilege and Responsibility.

Donald Trump's Rage Against 'Idiot' Sessions. John Oliver | Colin Kaepernick. A Former Neo-Nazi Is Trying to Stop the Spread of Hate. Movie | The Young Karl Marx. Dave Van Ronk | House Of The Rising Sun.

Through more than 50 years of groundbreaking efforts, Ella Jenkins, aptly nicknamed the “First Lady of Children’s Music,” laid the groundwork for the field of children’s music and inspired generations of children’s music leaders who have followed in her footsteps.

Reader Comments: Comey, Trumpism, Family Trump, Afghan Escalation, Sessions' Dept. of Injustice; Poor Prisons; People's History - Henry Wallace; The Man Who Never Returned; The Investigator; Solidarity Statement for Yale Graduate Union - Add Your Name; Announcements: Resistance Summer; Chelsea is Free; Seattle Labor History Mural; 80th Commemoration of Republic Steel Massacre; Book Tours: In the Fields of the North; The Syriza Wave; Left Forum Opening Plenary additions

Most Americans know the song “MTA,” popularized by the Kingston Trio in 1959. It’s the one about a “man named Charlie” doomed to “ride forever ’neath the streets of Boston . . . the man who never returned.” What’s forgotten, however, is that the song was originally made for a left-wing political campaign. In 1949, the Boston People’s Artists wrote “MTA” for a left-wing candidate. The song became a hit — the man behind it disappeared.

Twenty years after the murders of students at Kent State (May 4) and Jackson State (May 15), in 1970, Holly Near wrote "And It Could Have Me." in 1990. "The song has grown over the years, new verses being added as violence continues to interrupt human potential." Today with Trump as President and a right-wing GOP-cabal in control, the song has new meaning - "it could have been me; But instead it was you; So I’ll keep doing the work you were doing as if I were two."