Portside

Immigrant rights activists have developed a strategy to defeat deportations. Those arrested are encouraged to refuse to sign the “voluntary departure," and insist upon having legal counsel. All persons inside the U.S. have a right to counsel (not only citizens). If some 20%- 30% of those arrested begin to refuse to sign, the jails will fill within days – even the private prisons. If those arrested insist on legal counsel, the courts will be overloaded.

Much Orwell criticism centers on his politics, not surprising given how it was his predominant subject. The books under review take a slight detour, viewing his work as he frequently judged others. Orwell's writing is chockablock with sensuous material, such as how class discriminations determine not just life chances but personal hygiene, or how bathos in an otherwise serious tract humanizes the literature and guards against "perfect" politics.

"If the American labor movement thinks that we can just go out there and start and control the organizing that takes place, we’re not going to be successful," says Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. "I think what we can do is create an environment in which organizing takes place... We have to think of ourselves less as an institution, and more as a movement."

Rafia Zakaria shows us how Roxane Gay, in this new collection of short stories, explores interconnections between racism, work, love, violence, and sex.

Several thousand public school teachers in Honolulu packed the grounds of the state Capitol on Monday as part of a rally calling on the governor and lawmakers to increase funding for public schools and raise teacher salaries

Steve Bannon's 2009 film, 'Generation Zero', shows a hellishly bleak vision of our past, present, and future, driven by a magical belief in historical determinism.

Gendered beliefs about food choices affect men and women’s health habits, including the types of foods they actually eat. Socially influenced eating patterns could in part help explain why men are at a higher risk of heart disease and some cancers. Are our ideas about masculinity and femininity negatively affecting our health?

A bill proposed in the Republican controlled state legislature in Iowa will make it illegal for all public employees except “public safety employees” (police and fire) to negotiate over health care, transfers, job evaluations, procedures for workforce reductions, subcontracting, or anything related to seniority.

In its sixth and final season, the HBO show seems to be considering its deeper purpose.

The president has cultivated a relationship with the building trades unions. But early hires at the Department of Labor are opponents of wage standards for construction contracts.