Portside

Donald Trump just ordered the launch of dozens of Tomahawk missiles to strike Syria. It's an illegal and unauthorized escalation that could have devastating consequences, killing innocent Syrians and U.S. service members. Escalation against Syria will not help the victims of this heinous chemical attack, it will not bring the devastating war in Syria to a quicker end, it will not bring back the dead children. It will not defeat ISIS or end terrorism.

South African President Jacob Zuma's reshuffling of Cabinet members without consulting the ANC has created a crisis. The trade union federation Cosatu and the South African Communist Party, have called upon him to resign. Zuma's opponents charge that he has disrespected the ANC and the country and that those who still protect him do so out of their own self-interest. He won’t go of his own volition and needs to be made to do so.

50 years ago today, King blasted militarism, racism and poverty in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech. The new Beyond the Moment campaign carries forward his radical vision.

After compiling a five-year, 50-state, 30-issue database of corporate-backed legislation, political scientist Gordon Lafer has come to believe that business groups are waging a coordinated campaign in state legislatures to impose a deeply unpopular agenda on America.

Socialists are torn between seemingly incompatible goals—to build genuinely democratic international governance; to preserve space for regulation of economic life; to advance the interests of the particular national constituency we are accountable to; and to address pressing global needs like climate change and inequality.

It’s easy to dismiss Kim Jong-un as a madman. But there’s a long history of US aggression against the North, which we forget at our peril.

"When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” MLK, Jr. from "Beyond Vietnam"

‘Get Out’ breaks a barrier; Globe bloviates; Climate claptrap; Lefties have more fun; Public radio in the hood

You have a right to know how much your coworkers are paid — and if you want to close the wage gap, you should.

A $1 trillion investment would help make good on Trump’s repeated assertions that he will be “the greatest jobs producer that God ever created.” But here’s where Trump’s populist pose (not to mention the habit of raiding public coffers he developed as a real-estate mogul) meets the constant Republican desire to shaft the poor. Trump’s trillion dollar infrastructure plan could be his biggest con yet.