Portside

"To educate is to give man the keys to the world, which are independence and love, and to give him strength to journey on his own, light of step, a spontaneous and free being." - Jose Marti, Cuban independence leader, 1853-1895.

As the Hyde Amendment turns 40 in September, activists and legislators are seeking to permanently end the prohibition on federal funds from covering abortion care. According to sexual and reproductive health rights nonprofit group the Guttmacher Institute, between 18 percent and 35 percent of people insured by the federal Medicaid program who have experienced an unwanted pregnancy have been forced against their will to carry that pregnancy to term under Hyde.

Liberal Americans like to think of Donald Trump as an aberration and believe that his idea of building a great wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent immigrants from entering the country goes against American values. After all, as Hillary Clinton says, “We are a nation of immigrants.” In certain ways, in terms of the grim history of this country, they couldn’t be more wrong.

Lipton brings tea from around the world through the Port of Virginia. At its single 20-acre plant in nearby Suffolk, 200 workers roast, blend, package, and warehouse it, producing over 6 billion bags a year. For years on end, these workers have been “drafted”—the company’s term for forced overtime—into working 13 straight days out of every 14.

Before this year, we basically weren’t even able to really provide a very effective number of how many people with mental illness were killed by law enforcement officers. We know, across the country, that people with a mental illness are languishing in jails and emergency rooms, because we simply don’t have enough hospital beds for them.

Over time, the Web has revealed itself to be no freer of discrimination than the physical world it inhabits.

The analysis shows the wealthiest top 1 percent of taxpayers’ share of the tax cut would be 44 percent. Apparently Donald Trump just can't get enough tax breaks.

These laws explicitly remove patient protections. Doctors recommending right-to-try can’t be sued for malpractice or disciplined by their state medical boards, seemingly no matter how inappropriate or incompetently executed such a request might be. Nor can drug manufacturers be sued. Basically, these laws tell terminally ill patients: Good luck. You’re on your own.

All 1,100 low-income residents in the West Calumet Housing Complex in the East Chicago, Indiana are being forced to move due to the high levels of lead. And many are outraged about why the dangerous soils weren't identified and removed earlier and why a branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had assured them they and their children were safe. Test results released in August show alarmingly high concentrations of lead on every street in the complex.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres was feted as a visionary man of peace, but his legacy is more complex and nefarious. He bears prime responsibility for the Oslo Accords, which created a Palestinian Authority without authority and enshrined Israeli control over all aspects of life in occupied Palestine. He launched the military operation that resulted in the Qana massacre of civilians in Lebanon, and sold nuclear weapons to the South African apartheid regime.