Portside

The researchers behind this experimental communication network developed by the US government campaigned for it to become a national common carrier, making its benefits available to the broader public.

The fiscal constraints the island’s bondholders have inflicted will make hurricane recovery very difficult.

The workers protested against unreasonable rules, including a required three-day notice to take leave for a death in the family.

Complaining About Hillary's Campaign Book Is a Huge Waste of the Progressive Movement's Time. Why aren't they focusing on the anti-democratic practices that split the Democratic Party?

On August 31st, the National Football League ended it’s much ballyhooed $30 million commitment to fund the National Institute of Health’s research into football-related brain injuries. The NIH balked, with $16 million unspent, when the NFL tried to place restrictions on its “unrestricted gift.” The NFL, with projected revenues of $14 billion in 2017, has taken the science in-house, ending any pretense NFL-funded “concussion" research will be independent.

'More Southern Dudes Need to Say Black Lives Matter.' From police treatment of African-Americans to the current presidential election, the issues roiling America today have led the Drive-By Truckers to drill down on the topic that has preoccupied them for 20 years - the South - while bringing a relatively unheard perspective to pop music's discourse: that of the progressive white Southerner.

'Luckily, not everyone has been glued to the screen, eternally watching The Donald. From Black Lives Matter to the climate change movement, activists have, as TomDispatch regular Rebecca Gordon points out, never stopped working to make this a better world and, as she indicates, if we can take our eyes off the media spectacle-cum-circus for a few moments, they offer us a kind of hope for our future that shouldn't be ignored.' - Tom Engelhardt

An open letter to the left from 47 grassroots organizers. Defeating Trump in the presidential election is a top priority for the left. And at a minimum, that means mobilizing voters for Hillary Clinton in swing states. When we hear people say they don't know who to vote for because both candidates are equally bad, we get worried. A Trump victory would embolden hard-core racists, Islamophobes, misogynists, and anti-immigrant groups.

A librarian in Kansas City, Missouri was arrested for standing up for a library patron's free speech rights. The right to read, to think, to discuss and listen to ideas in a public forum is essential to an open society, as is our individual privacy. One hopes that the Kansas City case-only the most recent of many-will be resolved, and that librarians there and everywhere will be able to do their jobs without taking on the added burden of battling for our freedom.

Reader Comments: Trump-A Setting Time Bomb; You Can Help Protect Our Elections; Inequality (and Climate Change) ARE Defining Issues of Our Time; Women Share Rape Stories; Paul Ryan's Fear - GOP Loss is Win for Bernie Sanders; Lift Us Up - A song for America (Sung by Bethany Yarrow; written by Peter Yarrow); Thoughts on Syria; Announcements: 70th Anniversary of Southern Youth Legislature; Justice for Laquan - Chicago; Book Talk: Women Fight the Islamic State