Portside

Clinton, the favorite, made a calculated decision to wrap herself tightly to Barack Obama. She praised his health care reforms and pledged to “defend and build on the Affordable Care Act” and to “make it work,” and while Sanders praised President Obama, whom he supported in 2008 and 2012, he made it clear he had differences with him – and that this country needed transformative change.

Supporters of this revamped weapon of mass destruction argue that, by ensuring greater precision in bombing “enemy” targets, reducing the yield of a nuclear blast, and making a nuclear attack more “thinkable,” the B61 Model 12 is actually a more humanitarian and credible weapon than older, bigger versions. Other specialists, such as the Federation of Atomic Scientists, were far more critical. . .

After years of flirting with America’s right wing and egging on a growing rage, the GOP establishment is "shocked" by Trump's success -- and scrambling to save face.

New Yorker writer Jane Mayer examines the origins, rise and dominance of a billionaire class to whom money is no object when it comes to buying power

Bernie’s plan will cover the entire continuum of health care, from inpatient to outpatient care; preventive to emergency care; primary care to specialty care, including long-term and palliative care; vision, hearing and oral health care; mental health and substance abuse services; as well as prescription medications, medical equipment, supplies, diagnostics and treatments. As a patient, all you need to do is go to the doctor and show your insurance card-you'll save $$$$$

Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were legendary actors and activists. “Life’s Essentials With Ruby Dee,” a new documentary about their remarkable partnership by their grandson Muta’Ali Muhammad, will premiere on Centric this Sunday.

Science doesn't need another moonshot, and it really doesn't need another vaguely thought-out initiative dropped on it during a State of the Union address. What it needs is much more important—and probably much more difficult politically, because those needs are much less flashy. What science needs is stable, sustainable budget growth. Take the NIH budget and promise to grow it at a percent or two above inflation for a number of years. The number 10 would be good.

President Obama’s final State of the Union address serves as an epitaph for a tenure that began with a promise to halt the Iraq war but ended with capitulation to the status quo. Long forgotten is his pledge to end the “mindset” that led the U.S. into that war. President Obama will leave office as Bush did: passing on to his successor two wars, one the longest in American history, the other a reboot of the conflict he promised to end, no longer boasting of ending either.

According to a new finding, described as a "shock" by its discoverers, a single mutation 600 million years ago may be responsible for the emergence of complex organisms -- including all of the plants and animals that we are familiar with -- from a single-celled ancestor. This evolutionary accident enabled cells to communicate with each others and therefore to cooperate.

The impact of GE's move to Massachusetts remains unclear. The company said it expects to move roughly 800 jobs to Massachusetts, but the company has notoriously kept billions of dollars of profits offshore, leading to it typically paying a state tax rate of less than 2 percent.