Portside

Between 2009 and 2013, the number of people ages 50 and older in federal prisons increased by 25 percent, making them the fastest-growing segment. Compassionate release has been granted infrequently. From August 12, 2013, to September 12, 2014,2,621 federal prisoners applied for compassionate release.Of those, only 85 people were ultimately released.

Minneapolis is a case study in how police hate speech fosters a climate of violence.

Baltimore prosecutors failed to obtain a conviction after four trials, meaning there will likely be no criminal accountability for Gray’s death from a ‘rough ride’

Bernie Sanders succeeded in pulling both the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton to the left. But a loud minority fails to see this victory.

Neofash at RNC; Ailes and GOP circle the drain; Pence = death; Return of the lynch mob rope; Election art; Jocks stand up

The complete transcript of the prepared remarks from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ speech to the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Class in America is a complicated concept, and it may be that Trump supporters see themselves as having been left behind in other respects. Since almost all of Trump’s voters so far in the primaries have been non-Hispanic whites, we can ask whether they make lower incomes than other white Americans, for instance. The answer is “no.” (This article appeared during the primaries this Spring. It is still relevant today as we analyze who are the Trump supporters.)

 Identifying the myriad problems is easy. More difficult—and more important—is to resist seeing them as “general chaos.” We need to avoid the facile explanation provided to me by Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes: “These things happen when you host an Olympics in the developing world.” Instead, we need to understand that Rio’s “state of public calamity” is an extreme version of what happens when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) comes a-calling.

The bottom line is that both platforms are bad policy. If the GOP platform were followed, it would produce policies resulting in disaster, not only for Palestinians and US interests in the Middle East, but for Israel, as well. On the other hand, if the Democrat’s platform were followed, it would result in continuing the region’s depressing and dangerous downward spiral of oppression and violence.

Cuba has successfully held off the Zika epidemic and in the process all but eliminated Dengue fever and other mosquito-carried illnesses, Cuba state-run media has reported.