Portside

Twenty years ago, after appearing in two phenomenally successful, visually opulent and generally brilliant Batman movies, Michael Keaton decided he didn't want to make any more Caped Crusader films. So he walked away. It was a disastrous move that effectively ended Keaton's career as a leading man, the actor learning the hard way that the only unforgivable crime in Hollywood is to walk away from a phenomenally successful franchise.

Week by week, Monday by Monday, since April 29, a growing coalition assembled by the N.A.A.C.P. has challenged the newly conservative Republican leadership in North Carolina, raising its voice against the loss of the state’s centrist government and what they see as diminished recognition of the poor and minorities.

The media’s lack of skepticism about White House claims

NSA, Syria, Iran, Occupy, surveillance and more ...

A history of ntergenerational poverty and racial segregation

Addressing many of the issues arising from last week's NSA stories

"The telecommunications providers have been forced to set up an electronic interface for the authorities so that IP addresses can be retrieved.. These trends also exist in Europe."

Conservatives applaud President Obama's PRISM program. Mavis Staples' One True Vine released. The Rap Guide to Evolution. Maurice Sendak Google Doodle. Lewis Black's Future Tech. Richie Havens opens Woodstock.

In the face of Iran's economic crisis and declining living conditions, none of the current candidates on the ballot has put forward a tangible economic plan that addresses workers’ concerns. They have made references to difficulties and criticized the Ahmadinejad administration’s mismanagement and corruption, but they have not proposed or discussed any solutions to the workers’ plight.

Season 6 of HBO’s vampire drama True Blood premieres on Sunday night, presumably following up on last year’s cliffhanger where the factory that produces Tru-Blood — the bottled synthetic blood that allows vampires go “vegetarian” — was burned to the ground, destroying the product that made it possible for vampires to non-violently co-exist with people. But out here in the real world, the future of synthetic blood is just beginning.