Portside

• Vanity Fair Photo Lauding Late-Night Hosts Sparks Twitter Firestorm - Libby Hill (Los Angeles Times)
• Ahmed Mohamed is Just One Example of the Bigotry American Muslims Face - Linda Sarsour (Guardian)
• Pope Francis Calls for Ending Tax-Exempt Status of Churches That Don’t Help the Needy - James Woods (U.S. Uncut)
• Sheldon Adelson Is Ready to Buy the Presidency - Jason Zengerle (New York Magazine)
• The Refugee Crisis (Granta)
• Rabbi Establishes Non-Zionist Congregation in U.S. - (Chicago Tribune)

Vanity Fair Photo Lauding Late-Night Hosts Sparks Twitter Firestorm By Libby Hill

September 14, 2015
Los Angeles Times

Vanity Fair found itself in a bit of a social media firestorm Monday morning, when the photo accompanying its article about the state of late-night television unintentionally summarized the true state of late-night television better than any think piece ever could.
Though Vanity Fair's article eventually goes on to speak about how outrageous it is that there is still such a dearth of female representation in the late-night world, nothing it says could speak louder than the unintentionally revealing photo that accompanies the article itself.

Ahmed Mohamed is Just One Example of the Bigotry American Muslims Face

By Linda Sarsour
September 16, 2015
Guardian

The only plausible explanation for a teacher at a school chartered for innovation to respond to a student’s invention with incarceration is that the student was Sudanese American and Muslim, and the teacher, like many Americans, had been saturated with anti-Muslim bigotry and Islamophobia.
The irrational response of school officials in Irving, Texas isn’t limited to one student, one school, one city or even one state. In 2015, anyone can engage in bigotry against Arab Americans and American Muslims and seemingly get away with it. Bigotry against us is acceptable (and sometimes even politically necessary) for elected officials, candidates for public office, pundits and others to advance their careers – or their television ratings.

Pope Francis Calls for Ending Tax-Exempt Status of Churches That Don’t Help the Needy

By James Woods
September 15, 2015
U.S. Uncut

On the eve of his visit to the United States, Pope Francis blasted religious institutions who are exploiting tax loopholes to make money instead of helping the needy.
In an interview with a Portuguese Catholic broadcaster, the Pope discussed the need for Christians to fight the temptation of the ‘God of money’, into which many religious institutions often fall. He then called out those institutions that have opted to enter into the hospitality industry while exploiting a legal loophole to keep from paying taxes on their business enterprise operating under the guise of doing “God’s work.”
 

Sheldon Adelson Is Ready to Buy the Presidency

By Jason Zengerle
September 9, 2015
New York Magazine

Over the past 30 years, and especially in the last decade, the GOP’s attachment to Israel has become remarkably fierce, to an extent that is basically unprecedented in modern American politics. On issue after issue — from military aid to settlement policy — the GOP now offers Israel unconditional and unquestioning support, so much so that some Republicans now liken the country to America’s “51st state.” The person most responsible for this development is the multi­billionaire casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson.
Among the 17 candidates currently vying for the Republican presidential nomination, most are also competing in the “Adelson primary”: the hotly contested race for the donor’s heart, which runs through Israel. Adelson’s support for the Jewish state is so intense that he opposes American efforts to broker a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, arguing that the Palestinians are “an invented people” whose “purpose … is to destroy Israel”; rather than negotiate with Iran, Adelson has called for a preemptive nuclear strike against the Islamic Republic.

The Refugee Crisis

September 2015
Granta

Today, one in seven people is a migrant. This year, crossings of the Mediterranean Sea have already exceeded 300,000, and at least 2,500 lives have been lost in the process. What does it mean to be a migrant – or a refugee – in our time? What human rights can we rely on? And what hope is there for those who have fled their homes? Granta asks its authors to share their reactions to this profound human crisis. What follows is a collection of statements, poems, images and personal reflections from across Europe and beyond.

Rabbi Establishes Non-Zionist Congregation in U.S.

By Manya Brachear Pashman
Chicago Tribune
September 19, 2015

As the sun vanished below the horizon one recent Friday night, Rabbi Brant Rosen looked out over the standing-room-only crowd packed into the muggy basement of a Lutheran church in the city’s Lincoln Square neighborhood.
On the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, they had come from miles around to learn more about a new congregation, focused on supporting human rights, named Tzedek — Hebrew for justice. But members of the Tzedek Chicago congregation also are defined by what they question: steadfast loyalty to an ethnic Jewish state.
Members of the non-Zionist congregation — believed to be the only one of its kind in the U.S. — seek to separate their Judaism from Jewish political nationalism. Instead, they hope to focus their energy and efforts on relieving poverty, engendering equality and fostering peace and justice both locally and worldwide.