Portside

The cascade of trauma center closures around the country epitomizes the challenges to combating healthcare inequities in a for-profit system. In the absence of federal or state regulations mandating the availability of trauma care, hospitals in high poverty areas have found that simply closing their trauma units improves their bottom line.

If Republicans block Obama's Labor Secretary Nominee Thomas Perez over his actions in the St. Paul case, it won't be because of corruption or ethics. It will be because he rescued a civil rights law they oppose from almost certain death at the hands of the Roberts court.

In all of these cases, the government pursued maximum punishments and generally took zero-tolerance approaches to plea negotiations. These prosecutions reflected an obvious institutional terror of letting the public see the sausage-factory locked behind the closed doors not only of the state, but of banks and universities and other such institutional pillars of society. This is a Wizard of Oz moment, where we are being warned not to look behind the curtain.

A mass extinction caused by volcanic activity wiped out some of the dinosaurs' competitors, allowing them to assume ascendancy. Of course, another mass extinction, caused by a meteor impact caused their demise. Earth is not as hospitable to life as we might like to think.

Where can we turn politically? Who is on our side, to fight for an alternative?

It is very important for progressives to keep building a movement to demand a plan for jobs – like the Back to Work Budget.

A crucial lesson as we stand up to the escalation of Obama’s drone war and continue to challenge those who call for war against Iran.

US peace activist was killed by Israeli bulldozer in Gaza as she tried to block the demolition of a Palestinian home.

Bradley Manning, Cyprus, peace movement and more

Tina Fey IS Sarah Palin! Again! * Gun Shop: Why We Need More Guns * A 12-Year-Old's Letter to Justice Roberts on Marriage Equality * The International Arms Trade Treaty * The Trouble I've Seen: Reviving 'Cold' Civil Rights Killings * Dying Iraq War Veteran Explains His Decision to End His Life