Skip to main content

Dispatches From the Culture Wars - July 21, 2020

More fresh hell from Team Trump, mutual aid and wins for the electoral left in New York State, the generation gap at home, and more

Black Lives Matter protesters gather outside the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse on Sunday, July 19, 2020, in Portland, Ore. Officers used teargas and projectiles to move the crowd after some protesters tore down a fence fronting the courthouse | (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Image: AP

Siege of Portland

The Crackdown and the Election By Heather Cox Richardson, July 19, 2020, Moyers on Democracy

On the Scene By Robert Evans, July 20, 2020, Bellingcat

Oregon and ACLU Sue By Emily Gillespie and Rachel Siegel, July 19, 2020, Washington Post

Wall of Moms By Amelia Edelman, July 20, 2020, SheKnows

Winning in New York

Interview with Luke Hayes

July 17, 2020

Jacobin

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)

Progressives and socialists remaking the state’s politics and establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with. 

QAnon in Congress?

By Arit John 

July 15, 2020

Los Angeles Times

Satanism and sex rings: How the QAnon conspiracy theory has taken political root.

Living Statues in DC

By Alicia Cohn

July 17, 2020

The Hill

A group of artists known as the Trump Statue Initiative installed statues around Washington, D.C. on Friday depicting President Trump as a "destroyer of civil rights and liberties."

SCOTUS and Theocracy

By Lisa Needham

July 16, 2020

Rewire.News

Three decisions suggest that the Christian conservative crusade to blur the lines between democracy and theocracy is bearing fruit.

The Generation Gap At Home

By Fortesa Latifi

July 16, 2020

Teen Vogue

Families are reckoning with differing perspectives on policing and systemic racism.

White House Targets Trans Homeless

By Alex Bollinger 

July 20, 2020

LGBTQ Nation

The memo says homeless shelters can use "factors such as height, the presence (but not the absence) of facial hair, the presence of an Adam’s apple" to find suspected trans women.

A Breakthrough in Iran

By Rohollah Faghihi 

July 5, 2020

Middle East Eye

A number of recent cases, aided by the growing influence of social networks, are helping to challenge a ban on females singing in Iran.

Outer Borough Mutual Aid

By Kay Dervishi

July 15, 2020

City and State New York

Dozens of informal volunteer groups that have been set up to help neighbors in need since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.