Portside

"Bernie Sanders and other progressive politicians need to hit issues of police murder and police terror... But it's very important never to downplay the critique of Wall Street domination or downplay the critique of capitalism as a whole. In that sense, indeed, Bernie Sanders is a prophetic politician."

It’s remarkable that most of the Republicans who would be president are declaring that the retirement age — which has already been pushed up from 65 to 66, and is scheduled to rise to 67 — should go up even further. Americans love Social Security, so why aren’t the candidates at least pretending to share that sentiment? The answer is about Big Money.

"It's hard to imagine Democrats' 2016 nominee will be truly tough on Wall Street banks that break the law, if they won't commit to banning their advisors from receiving legalized bribes from those same banks," says Charles Chamberlain of Democracy for America. Still Hillary Clinton has refused to address the issue.

A huge study -- of 100 scientific papers in psychology, published in high-quality journals -- has failed to confirm the results claimed by about two thirds of the papers. Is this a colossal failure of science? No, say the authors of the study. It's an example of the value of skepticism and the step-by-step, sometimes indirect, process by which uncertainty is reduced.

The resolution also endorses the worldwide BDS movement – Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions – to pressure Israel to end its apartheid over the Palestinians just as similar tactics helped to end South African apartheid in the 1980s. UE is now the first U.S. national union to endorse BDS.

America’s neoconservatives and their liberal interventionist sidekicks have pushed an aggressive “regime change” strategy that has left bloody chaos in their wake. The cumulative impact, including Mideast refugees flooding Europe and overuse of sanctions, is now contributing to a global economic crisis. According to columnist Robert Parry, international pragmatism, including working with adversaries, may be the only way to prevent a devastating financial crash.

On the 60th anniversary of Emmett Till's murder, his cousin says history still hasn't told the whole story. His cousin recalls the night he last saw him. It's been 60 years since the murder of Emmett Till, but his story remains unfinished. His death helped spark the civil rights movement and frame the ongoing debate over racism in America.

It's way past time for everyone, and certainly anyone who considers themselves a progressive, to center race in our conversations...I'm able to work on a broad range of issues that affect people's lives, while at the same time building trust back with discouraged people who feel like maybe they can start to trust government again.

The pope's contribution to the climate debate builds on the words of his predecessors...He also cites the pathbreaking work of Bartholomew, the Orthodox leader sometimes called the "green patriarch"...Still, Francis's words fall as a rock in this pond, not a pebble...He has, in effect, said that all people of good conscience need to do as he has done and give the question the priority it requires.

Culminating a 90-mile walk for justice and peace across Wisconsin, on August 26th, some of the walkers will commit nonviolent civil resistance at Volk Field, carrying the messages about drone warfare and racial profiling into courts of law and public opinion.