Information is power. Our mission at Portside is to seek out and to provide information that empowers you -- that empowers the left. Every day we search hundreds of sources to connect you with the most interesting, striking and useful material. Just once a year we appeal to you to contribute to make it possible to continue this work. Please help.

 

Justice Reform Bill Could Return 1000s of Licenses

If Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs the measure that lawmakers passed this week, motorists will no longer lose their licenses for unpaid red-light and speed camera tickets.

US Proposes 5-year Extension of Nuclear START Treaty

The New START treaty is the last remaining deal limiting US and Russia nuclear weapons as Trump withdrew from two others.

Introduction to Budget “Reconciliation”

In the Senate, reconciliation bills aren’t subject to filibuster and the scope of amendments is limited, giving this process real advantages for enacting controversial budget and tax measures.

Sanders, Warren: Senate Majority Power Will Be Used

Both Sanders and Warren said the timely passage of another massive stimulus bill is more important than waiting on GOP lawmakers mired in gridlock.

CTU Rank-and-file Votes to Save Lives

Educators call on Mayor Lightfoot and CPS to adopt CDC health metric, agree to rigorous testing and allow educators to return as they’re vaccinated, among other concerns.

Social Security Transition Report For The Biden Adminis

While important for everyone, Social Security benefits are particularly important to women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and others who have suffered discrimination.

Macron’s France: No Apologies for Algerian Colonization

Algerians arrested in 1956 during the war of independence from France.
While a new French report highlights moves to reconcile Paris and Algiers on 132 violent years of colonization, some thorny issues remain, not the least of which is France’s refusal to apologize for its wrongdoings during its brutal colonial rule.

Human Nature and Lord of the Flies

In striving to institute a culture of justice, it's self-defeating to assume humankind is innately selfish, as Golding did in "Lord of the Flies." Rather, we should rally the majority, appealing to their natural instincts for an egalitarian society.

The Key Environmental Policy Priorities for the South

A protester seeks to block the Byhalia Connection Oil Pipeline in southwest Memphis, TN.
Southern community leaders, environmental activists and lawyers, discuss the most urgent environmental issues the Biden Administration should tackle, including environmental justice, industrial pollution, government transparency, and disaster aid.

Mike Pence: The von Papen of our Times

Pence tried to have it both ways, to inherit the mantle of both old-line conservatism and Trump’s toxic brand of white-nationalist demagoguery.  The chances are he’ll gain neither.  This verdict of his Nuremburg is likely to be political oblivion.
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Culture

food

Hmong Farmers Find Their Own Land in Minnesota

Lindsay Campbell Modern Farmer
Long-term land ownership will bring change to Hmong farmers hoping to improve family farm operations. Hmong farmers represent more than 50 percent of produce growers in Saint Paul and Minneapolis farmers markets but affordable land access has prevented them from further developing their businesses into more sustainable, profitable operations.

Labor

labor

Opening the Door to a More Democratic UAW

Nelson Lichtenstein Labor Notes
More important, the agreement calls for a vote of all 400,000 members to decide whether they want direct election of top leaders.

Friday nite video

video

Goodbye Donald Trump

Not with venom, not with scorn, but with optimism, jubilance and celebration.

video

The White Tiger | Movie

The anti-Slumdog Millionaire: the epic journey of a poor Indian driver (Adarsh Gourav) who uses his wit and cunning to break free from servitude to his rich masters.

video

Get Up Stand Up | Skip and Cedella Marley

For this version, we added Skip and Cedella Marley, Malian blues rock band Songhoy Blues, harmonica virtuoso Lee Oskar and an excerpt of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

video

Documentary: MLK/FBI

Award-winning editor and director Sam Pollard lays out a detailed account of the FBI surveillance that dogged King’s activism throughout the ’50s and ’60s, fueled by the racist and red-baiting paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover. Full review.