How To Convict Trump

The potential for conviction and actually winning a jury verdict are two very different things — particularly against the notoriously combative and slippery former president. To convict, Mr. Smith will have to overcome four significant hurdles.

Who Gets To Try Trump First?

Nothing in the U.S. Constitution or federal law dictates that federal criminal cases get priority over state cases, or that prosecutions proceed in the order in which indictments are issued.

“People’s Media" Network, but Pro-Russia and Pro-China

Tech mogul Neville Singham’s vast dark money network has fueled BreakThrough News and a raft of other online outlets pushing Moscow and Beijing’s favorite narratives.

SCOTUS Voting Rights Win Will Impact Multiple States

A Supreme Court ruling in an Alabama gerrymandering case upheld a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, but challenges remain for communities of color.

Is Killing Blacks a Growth Industry?

A growth industry is a sector of an economy that experiences a higher-than-average growth rate compared to other sectors. Growth industries are often new or pioneer industries that did not exist in the past. Lynching Black men is nothing new....

RFK Anti-Vax Claims Nor Candidacy Have Little Basis

At a time when disinformation and narrow-mindedness are at an all-time high, the last thing we need is a purported “reform” candidate who contributes to the mess. The danger of Donald Trump or the GOP's hold on Congress is just too great.

“This Ain’t No Disco,” Broadway Tells David Byrne

The former Talking Heads front man is battling Broadway musicians, the concept of musical theatrical productions on Broadway, and the local musicians’ union over a production that relies on prerecorded music. No live music, Not a musical.

Readers Debate: Pervasiveness of American Arrogance

Last week Portside ran John Feffer's column, which generated a number of likes and shares on Portside's Facebook page. We are are sharing two comments from readers Kevin Young and Charles Patrick Lynch. We asked John Feffer to respond to these.

Jun 8, 2023-Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements

Reader Comments: Why I voted no on the McCarthy agreement; Supreme Court rulings; Henry Kissinger; Ukraine War; UPS Ready To Strike; Karl Marx’s Critics; Wealthiest Billionaire in Each State; Bill Fletcher's New Novel; Cartoons; more....

CO2 Hits Level Unseen in Millions of Years

The only way to stop this march to a fully tropical globe is to stop burning gasoline and diesel in our vehicles, and to stop generating electricity and heating our homes with coal and fossil gas.
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Popular

Culture

poetry

The Arc

Kenneth Pobo Freshwater Literary Journal
The so-called “arc of history,” says poet Kenneth Pobo, does not “bend toward justice,” and he tells us why!

books

The Tricky Thing With Humanism, This Book Implies, Is Humans

Jennifer Szalai The New York Times
Sarah Bakewell’s sweeping new survey of the philosophical tradition, “Humanly Possible,” says that putting your faith in human behavior means confronting complacency and nihilism — but it can be worth it.

food

Food Innovations That Came From War

Diana Hubbell Atlas Obscura
Many processed foods now common in civilian life were first created by and for the military-industrial complex. Thank Uncle Sam for Cheetos, air fryers, and other modern mainstays.

poetry

Upon Voiding Pills

Lavinia Kumar New Verse News
Lavinia Kumar’s poetry protests the government’s repression of safe medical abortion.

books

The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On “Liberal” as an Adjective

Mario Clemens LSE Review of Books
In this new book, writes reviewer Clemens, author Walzer "muses on the evolution of the word liberal, from indicating a fixed ideology to signifying a ‘universal’ set of values that can be attached to a diverse array of political projects."

film

The Discovery of a Little-Known History of the Nuremberg Trials

Peter Canby The NewYorker
“Filmmakers for the Prosecution” producer describes emptying out her mother's loft and under a daybed, found boxes of documents concerning the first Nuremberg trial and a 1948 never-released 16 mm film "Nuremberg: It's Lesson's for Today."

Labor

labor

US West Coast Port Workers Shut Some Terminals in Showdown Over Pay

Greg Miller Freightwaves
ILWU Local 13 said employers have "thumbed their noses" at worker pay requests. The local, representing 12,000 longshoremen in Los Angeles and Long Beach, said rank-and-file union members "had taken it upon themselves to voice their displeasure."

labor

Ben & Jerry’s Is the Anti-Starbucks

Terri Gerstein Slate
Something unusual happened in Vermont last week. The flagship location of Ben & Jerry’s in Burlington recognized the Scoopers United union after almost all 39 workers voted in favor of it.

Friday nite video

Why Did Our Brains Shrink?

We've lost a lemon sized piece of brain. Here are three hypotheses that try to explain what happened.