Portside

This week U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with dissident State Department “diplomats” to hear their call for “targeted” U.S. military strikes on Syrian government troops, a dangerous plan that would violate both U.S. and international law. In an internal “dissent channel” memo leaked to the New York Times on June 16th, the 51 state department officials called for a major military escalation in Syria which, to date, has been rejected by President Barack Obama.

Bernie Sanders Is Not Dropping Out Tonight. Rep. Debbie Dingell's Sitdown Speech. What Would It Take for Donald Trump to Lose Your Vote? Boogie Blues on a Liverpool Street. John Oliver | Brexit.

Great Britain’s citizens haven’t been losing control over their fate to the EU. They’ve been losing it because their own country’s leaders – as well as those of most other Western democracies – are increasingly in thrall to corporate and financial interests.

'What Europe needs more than ever to avoid a slide into a xenophobic, deflationary, 1930s-like abyss'

Stark differences between men and women’s immune responses pose medical conundrum.

Gun safety advocates who until now have relied largely on traditional lobbying need to broaden their strategy to include partnerships with gun owners and civil disobedience.

Alabama poet Chris Emslie writes: "This is a poem in response to [the] shooting in Orlando….a poem that…expresses… gratitude to be both queer and alive. I dedicate it to the shooter…in the spirit of maintaining dignity in the face of hatred."

Two startlingly realistic books by black female authors offering rich, contrasting and brilliantly wrought views of racial conditions for affluent and impoverished African Americans.