Portside

The Senate unanimously agreed to ban certain ex-convicts from receiving food assistance for life. Under this amendment, anyone convicted for a violent crime or sexual assault will be shut out of the program for life, even if they served their time or committed the crime long ago.

Obama, banks, drones, Apple, Bulworth and more ....

The Cold War is ostensibly over but training and arming the bad guys never stopped.

“We will not rest, until you divest.”

The ramifications of the Obama speech and Holder letter will be felt in the weeks ahead.

Enjoy the game. Don't buy food.

'Beginning of End' of War on Terror. 'I Will Surive' Muslim Brotherhood. Flashmob: Verdi. Movie: Twelve Years a Slave. Polio's Moving Target.

We used to buy music at independent record shops downtown. We shopped the chain mega-stores that took their place. When these moved online, in the form of iTunes or Amazon, we were there, wallets out. For fifty years, the path to purchase has essentially been the same. Go to the physical/digital record store, buy an album. But what if the record store was inside the album instead? Bittorrent Bundle lets people connect directly with their audience, on their terms.

The Boy Scouts of America has adopted a new policy, which kicks in January 1, that makes it so that member troops can no longer discriminate against gay youth. But anyone who is gay and over 18 years old still won't be allowed to be a Scout leader or volunteer.

A quick point on whether the minimum wage “costs jobs.” Here is the reality: The minimum wage is now the lowest it has been in decades. In fact, 40% Of Americans Now Make Less Than 1968 Minimum Wage, if that wage had kept pace with productivity increases.