Portside
Material of Interest to People on the Left
Portside
Material of Interest to People on the Left
Trump 2025: The Worst Bribery Scandal Since Teapot Dome
Jimmy Kimmel Suspension Sparks Fears for Free Speech
Authoritarians Want Hopelessness—Don’t Give It to Them
Jews and Israel Are Not the Same
Global Left Midweek — September 17, 2025
New Poll: Democratic Socialism Is Now Mainstream
How Nepal’s Gen Z Used Gaming App To Pick PM
Black Voices Are Vital to Democracy.
Russ Vought’s Scheme Has Been Unmasked
Media Bits and Bites – September 16, 2025
Popular
Medicare Will Require Prior Approval for Certain Procedures
A pilot program in six states will use a tactic employed by private insurers that has been heavily criticized for delaying and denying medical care.
Culture
books
What Abraham Lincoln Understood About the Founders
The New York Times
In “Born Equal,” Akhil Reed Amar paints a sprawling portrait of 19th-century America in thrall to its founding moment.
film
Brazilian Epic the Secret Agent Tackles Politics, Espionage, and Jaws
AV Club
Kleber Mendonça Filho's fantastic thriller interweaves his country's deep-seated corruption and his own love of cinema.
food
The Great Parmesan Cheese Enigma
Slate
According to historian Alberto Grandi, if you want to eat the original Parmigiano like our great-grandparents used to eat, you should go to Milwaukee or Madison.
tv
The Pitt and Other Medical Shows Finally Acknowledge ‘Backbone’ of Health Care: Filipino Nurses
CBC News
Filipino Canadian nurses weigh in on what TV portrayals get right and where they can go next
poetry
Los Vecinos
Poet Alison Luterman offers us lessons in neighborliness.
books
Marx’s Last Studies
Marx & Philosophy Review of Books
Between 1879 and 1882, Marx studied the latest research and writing on communal clan-based social formations around the globe, focusing on the changing nature of land ownership and gender and family relations within these societies.
film
Caught Stealing Is a Wild and Violent Romp
Jacobin
Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing sees the typically pretentious auteur shift gears toward fun and violence in late 1990s NYC. It’s a throwback to gritty 1970s filmmaking but set in the Giuliani era — the perfect setting for downwardly mobile 2025
Labor
labor
‘Like Working in a Prison’: Cuts, Fear and Understaffing at Trump’s Labor Department
The Guardian
Morale has plummeted as staff charged with protecting U.S. workers feel their core mission is being undermined.
labor
Building a Conservative Labor Movement: American Compass and the Right’s Pro-Worker Policy Agenda
New Labor Forum
In the face of a complacent neoliberal Democratic Party, some right-wing figures seek to position themselves as the only ones able to speak to the frustrations of working people facing miserable and uncertain times.
labor
SAG-AFTRA Finally Establishes Fran Drescher’s “Robin Hood Fund”
The Hollywood Reporter
The announcement comes almost two years after the fund was touted as a major win in the 2023 strike-ending contract and includes provisions for background actors, stunt riggers and stand-ins.
labor
The Underestimated “Price of Parenting”
Dollars & Sense
Even a low-ball estimate of the cost of time shows just how misleading an estimate based only on money expenditures really is.
labor
Latin American Musicians Say AI Is Stealing Their Streams
rest of world
Musicians say bots are stealing streams, siphoning income, and shortening the lifespan of songs. Even Bad Bunny isn’t safe.
labor
Solace, Resistance, Action at APALA’s 2025 Convention
The Stand
The APALA Convention served as a reminder that although there is a long way to go before the labor movement reaches its potential as the strong defense it could be against attacks on immigrants, there exists a start within our own communities.
labor
Municipal Labor Committee, In Between Leaders, Takes Up City Health Plan
The Chief
Later this month, the umbrella organization of New York City public-sector unions will vote on a proposed cost-saving municipal health plan negotiated by city and union officials with two major insurance firms.
Friday nite video
Measles and Polio Down in the Schoolyard | Marsh Family Parody
Paul Simon's 'Me and Julio Down in the Schoolyard' provides a fun vibe for the start of a new school year, as misinformation spreads, vaccination rates plummet, and new outbreaks of measles kill again
The Real Problems with America’s Health
MAHA? How unhealthy is the United States? Some key figures show how the US compares to other countries in life expectancy, early deaths and chronic disease.
European Security Depends Upon Ukraine
It is a mistake to consider Ukrainian security as an issue separate from the construction of a new European security order, where Europe can defend itself without the United States
The Mamdani Campaign Presents: A Dramatic Reading From the Hamptons
The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector reads a recent New York Times dispatch from the Hamptons, where there is quiet desperation.
We Got 18,000 of Jeffrey Epstein’s Emails
Bloomberg’s Jason Leopold and Ava Benny-Morrison with host David Gura on the massive trove of emails — what they tell us about Epstein, his powerful network, and Ghislaine Maxwell
The Ballad of Big Balls
Politically charged musical commentary. Listen for yourself.
The Most Corrupt Stock Traders in Congress
How do members of Congress get so rich? Hint: they're scoring record returns in the stock market, raising questions about their use of insider information.
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