Portside

Another year of what we call news

American federalism is often touted as a source of local democratic engagement, political innovation, and responsive public policy. But in practice, the American states have served as laboratories of autocracy and inequality.

Only 1,800 people enrolled — and critics blame the paltry expansion on an overly complex program with too many hurdles for people to clear.

Bethlehem is usually brimming with cheer—and tourists—this time of year. But the war in Gaza has turned it into a “ghost town.”

Katie Maurice is a Democratic Socialists of America member and labor activist. She was recently elected president of the Vermont AFL-CIO on a platform of boosting rank-and-file participation and building power outside the Democratic Party.

Newly released data from the Census Bureau points at big shifts in state representation in the House after the 2030 census.

Whether the Christmas tree arises out of pagan worship or the nature-based polytheism of Egyptian lore, the Christmas tree plays a special part in our lives today, demonstrating that our relationship with nature goes back millennia.

Ebola Alarm Ignored (in 2013), Ma Rainey's Swan Song (1928), Endangered Species Act Too Young to Die (1973), Sinking Ship No Place for Rats (1958), Is THIS Emergency Response? (2013), Think Before You Drive (1938), Ho Chi Minh's Popularity (1963)

Sun Moon Star, Kurt Vonnegut's only children's book (which is probably a good thing for the sake of all malleable minds), is a Christmas book because of the story he chose to tell.

"Innocent New Yorkers will continue to sit in our jails and prisons, or remain saddled with an unlawful criminal record in our communities, unable to clear their names," warned one critic.