Portside

There’s no reason to believe lethal injection is a more humane way to end a life than electrocution, poison gas, hanging, firing squad or even guillotine. Of course, we’ll never know. We can tell ourselves any story we want about how quickly and painlessly death arrived, and the one person who could prove us wrong will never speak again.

When you hear somebody trying to scare you about food, ask what they’re selling. If you distrust Big Ag and Big Pharma, you won’t find any better treatment from Big Juice

Most fast-food jobs aren’t even full-time; the average salary for average hours is under $12,000. Last year, fast-food wages fell to levels not seen since 2006. Meanwhile, compensation for fast-food executives has more than quadrupled since 2000. Those CEOs pocketed an average $23.8 million in 2013, making them among the highest paid people in America.

New from Playing for Change: Words of Wonder / Get Up Stand Up. Unlocking the Cage: A ground-breaking documentary from Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker. Thomas Piketty's 'Capital' in 3 Minutes. Meet Emily: Tech Demo.

Portside salutes May Day - rallies around the world; The Internationale in 40+ languages; May Day and labor history tools; Reader Comments -Cecily McMillian Trial Update -= Trial ends tomorrow; Net Neutrality; Chris Hani's political legacy; Ukraine; Israel and Palestine; Paul Robeson, Jr.; UPDATE - Northeastern University has backed down on the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine; A Seeger Fest to Honor Pete and Toshi, and It's Free - July 17 - 21

On May Day, activist and scholar Angela Davis speaks out. "The recent tragic destruction of the Graduate Center for Worker Education and the wholesale purging of progressive faculty, staff and graduate students is an unconscionable assault on an invaluable urban working class institution. Brooklyn College also ended its support for the Center's esteemed peer review journal "Working USA"."

The start of the twenty-first century has seen a continuing decline in union membership and strikes. But it has also seen the emergence of unpredicted mini-revolts. Activists in the Battle of Seattle took over downtown Seattle, put an end to the millennium round of the World Trade Organization, and redefined the question of globalization for millions of Americans.

Mark Weisbrot shows the daily protests are anything but peaceful. In fact, about half of the daily death toll from Venezuela that we see in the media - now at 41 -- are actually civilians and security forces apparently killed by protesters. Dario Azzellini argues the protests in Venezuela represent a vicious attack on the country's social progress under Hugo Chávez, spurred on by anti-Chavista politicians in affluent regions.

The Michigan case, Judge Sonia Sotomayor explained, is simply the latest example of an old and familiar abuse of the Constitution. The white majority used its power to change the rules in the middle of the game and deprive racial minorities of a fair shot at acquiring their just political rights.

On Wednesday, the National Research Council published a 464-page report, two years in the making, that looks at the stunning four-decade rise of incarceration in the United States and concludes that all of its costs — for families, communities, state budgets and society — have simply not been worth the benefit in deterrence and crime reduction.