Portside

The Ebola outbreak, which is the largest in history that we know about, is merely a reflection of the public health crisis in Africa, and it’s about the lack of staff, stuff and systems that could protect populations, particularly those living in poverty, from outbreaks like this or other public health threats.

It's a relatively new invention—is it time to shave another day off?

The time has come for a balanced and dispassionate discussion that must include difficult questions, such as whether there are experiments that should not be undertaken because of disproportionately high risk.

Understanding the turbulent, complicated beginning of the “Labor Day” holiday can help us to rethink the significance of this holiday today.

The tentative agreement reached between the ILWU and the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association (PNGHA) would impose a major reduction in working conditions and shop floor power, including the loss of the union controlled hiring hall, and no overtime pay until after 12 hours. The agreement would prevent work stoppages because it would allow the employer the right to use its own managers to replace union workers during work stoppages.

Unless the institutions of international finance are wrested from the control of a few wealthy nations, and unless there are checks on the ability of the U.S. and its allies to devastate a country's economy over a disagreement on foreign policy, those figures bode for some serious trouble ahead.

Trans Pacific Partnership, Progressive Caucus Budget, NSA, Fukushima, Elizabeth Warren

The deaths of Tony Benn and Bob Crow in the same week have led many to ask what's left of the left. Plenty, actually – and in any case, it's not about individuals, it's about collective action.

We want to be friends with Ukraine and we want Ukraine to be a strong, sovereign and self-sufficient country. Ukraine is one of our biggest partners after all. We have many joint projects and I believe in their success no matter what the current difficulties. Most importantly, we want peace and harmony to reign in Ukraine, and we are ready to work together with other countries to do everything possible to facilitate and support this.

So up to now, I have remained speechless in the face of what appears to me to be utter madness.