Portside

Republicans in Congress have already filed bills to undermine labor rights, eliminate the agency that oversees workplace safety, and roll back wage protections.

Everything that can be done must done to avert global nuclear annihilation.

The United States has a poverty problem.

Meet the women who nourished the longest strike in Alabama’s history.

The GOP used to do its wonky best to make the case that it was the party of the pocketbook. But it’s all wokeness, all the time now.

Apocalypse is the new normal

A new documentary by Alain Gomis turns footage from an interview with Thelonious Monk into a commentary on the submerged violence of the star-making process.

Ex- Bush official confesses. President George W. Bush would have ordered the war even without United Nations support. "That led to a war that resulted in catastrophic losses for the region and the United States-led coalition, and that destabilized the entire Middle East". This should not be forgotten, since the Trump administration is using much the same playbook to create a false impression that war is the only way to address the threats posed by Iran.

Written one week before the current Wall Street tumble, economist Nomi Prins writes: Watch out. Even in the seemingly best of times, neglecting Wall Street is a dangerous idea. With a rag-tag Trumpian crew of ex-bankers and Goldman Sachs alumni as the only watchdogs in town, it’s time to focus, because one thing is clear: Donald Trump’s economic team is in the process of making the financial system combustible again.

During the Cold War, the supposed threat of Communism was the justification for super-sized budgets and a continuous stream of wars and interventions-some overt, others covert or proxy-none of which had anything to do with defending the United States-and none of which ended in victory. These were sold to the American people as being fought to "defend freedom" or "support democracy." After the Cold War ended it became more difficult to justify such a massive military.