Portside

There is every reason to be concerned about the threat to Venezuela, given U.S. government hostility to any who seek to become independent of the U.S. or to direct economic activity to benefit local people rather than maximizing corporate profits.

The rest of us have no obligation to indulge centrist delusions.

In the face of powerful Goliaths, the Davids are the next generation of passionate, creative thinkers who single-mindedly refuse to let us forget or rationalize Nagasaki and Hiroshima, who believe in a world of safety without nuclear weapons.

Sanders plans to introduce an estate tax plan with rates up to 77 percent. The "For the 99.8% Act," would tax the estates of those who inherit more than $3.5 million. The proposal comes after Republican senators call for eliminating the estate tax.

States derive their moral legitimacy not from some mythical “right to exist” but rather from the extent to which their policies respect the rights of people.

New York poet Kathy Engel responds to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s rescinding an award to Angela Davis.

Two pieces sum up the Court's decisions on Harris v. Quinn and Hobby Lobby. The first, from Constitutional Accuracy Center, describes how the Court has been ruling in favor of big business. The second, from BillMoyers.com, provides a round-up of commentary on the cases.

Keep one thing in mind: the rebellions of the past three years were led by Arab millennials, twentysomethings who have decades left to come into their own. Don’t count them out yet. They have only begun the work of transforming the region.

In the liberal political imagination, the Supreme Court is an institution that must vindicate principles rather than practice politics. As the philosopher Richard Rorty once acknowledged, liberals “turn to the judiciary as the only political institution for which we can still feel something like awe.

Ruby and Ossie were extraordinarily generous and bold, lending their celebrity to a host of leftist causes and holding affiliations with a variety of groups including some associated with the demonized CP. They fought Joe McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunt and supported its victims, organized to restore Paul Robeson's passport, rallied for the Rosenbergs, and Che Guevara. While the media celebrates her life as an actress, they don't acknowledge the obstacles she faced.