Portside

Raw fury over Brown's killing may slowly fade, but the underlying resentment among Ferguson's young black residents about their treatment by a white police force will likely continue to simmer. Washington Post and Huffington Post journalists detained. Today, Governor Jay Nixon ordered Missouri Highway Patrol to take over supervision in Ferguson, MO.

The polarization of American Jews, said Dov Waxman, Professor of Political Science, International Affairs, and Israel Studies at Northeastern University, has increased with each large-scale eruption of fighting between Israel and Palestinians. Jewish Voice for Peace has seen an increase in new supporters, the formation of new chapters since Operation Protective Edge, and in three weeks 50,000 new people signed up for its email updates.

Academy Award-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams committed suicide earlier this week. He was an artist that brought joy to millions. He starred in 80 films and over two-dozen television series. Yet few knew of his psychological demons, or about a family legacy steeped in the history of U.S. racism. These could be seen as both troubling and as a spur to creativity. Here are four takes on his life, work, and the tensions that may have informed his creative persona.

A new left-liberal coalition has formed in Richmond, California, Former mayoral candidate Mike Parker called on voters and supporters to join forces. The task is need to challenge Chevron-backed candidates and those unwilling to stand up against Chevron when representing the community.

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The fight against global inequality and opposition to the Israeli attack on Gaza were highlights of the International Transport Workers Federation. Delegates also pledged to continue their campaign against "Flags of Convenience," and their solidarity with all victims of anti-labor violence.

Saying Israel is a Jewish state in the sense of observant believers would be like asserting that the United States is a Christian state even though about 22% of the population does not identify as Christian (roughly the same proportion as non-Jews in Israel). The point of the US first amendment is to forbid the state to to “establish” a religion.

There is a major retrospective of Art Spiegelman's Life that runs through March 23 at the the Jewish Museum in New York City. I caught up with the esteemed artist to talk about life after Maus, his rejected New Yorker covers, and how Mad magazine shattered Norman Rockwell's America.

Francis is calling for a wider struggle in the defense of the poor and working classes. He writes: “I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”

The main reason for entering electoral or even government terrain and waging struggle there is not so much to `show' the power of our organizations. Rather it is mainly the matter of an earlier step: to build these organizations in the first place, or to take the miniscule ones we have now, and through these struggles, grow and multiply them.