Portside

Antonin Scalia was quite simply a narrow-minded, mean-spirited man who propagated an intellectually absurd judicial theory known as "originalism."

This poem is about my personal journey as a working class Jewish kid form Philadelphia who traveled to NYC in 1968 to get out of the draft, not knowing that I was stepping into a tornado of social conflict. As a graduate of an elite college I found out that I could avoid the draft if I was willing to do what was considered by many as unthinkable – teach in a poor neighborhood of NYC.

Here’s my twenty-first-century rule of thumb about this country: if you have to say it over and over, it probably ain’t so. Which is why I’d think twice every time we’re told how “exceptional” or “indispensable” the United States is.

The Republican presidential candidates are wrong. Supreme Court nominees can and should be confirmed in election years.

The wastes sent to West Lake have most of the uranium removed from them, but they include concentrated radioactive decay products, some of which are tens of thousands of times more radioactive than the parent uranium. Because they are so highly radioactive, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found that the West Lake landfill holds the “worst” of the Mallinckrodt wastes.

Maryland joins 13 other states and the District of Columbia where citizens are permitted to vote immediately after serving their sentences.

Whereas, most U.S. science teachers include climate science in their courses, their insufficient grasp of the science may hinder effective teaching. Mirroring some actors in the societal debate over climate change, many teachers repeat scientifically unsupported claims in class.

A majority (53.1 percent) of workers earning less than $12.16 per hour—the bottom 30 percent of wage earners—earn so little on the job that they must rely on public assistance to make ends meet.

The good news is Bernie Sanders sent promising signals about his judgment when he opposed the invasion of Iraq; the bad news is his statements on the latest iteration of the conflict have shown none of the acumen that distinguished him over 13 years ago. Without a plan to resolve the ISIS war responsibly, the U.S. war in Iraq could reverberate through yet another generation. If Sanders were elected, that would add a grim asterisk to his “political revolution” indeed.

With the DNC now accepting all lobbyist and PAC donations, it has reversed the policies that were adopted in 2008, when Obama vowed to curb the influence of special interests in Washington.