Portside

On Monday, the White House took the absurd step of declaring Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat.” Obama is channeling Ronald Reagan, adopting practices similar to those used against the Nicaraguan Sandinista government. But, the world has moved forward, even if Washington has not. Venezuela today has very strong backing from its neighbors against what almost every government in the region sees as an illegal attempt to destabilize the country.

It was widely believed special prosecutor Alberto Nisman died because he was about to expose a criminal pact between Argentine President Cristina Kirchner and the Iranian government to cover up the latter’s responsibility in the 1994 bombing of Buenos Aires’s Jewish community center. It now appears when the U.S. and Israeli governments rejected an agreement between Argentina and Iran that might have lead to solving the case, Nisman set about sabotaging it.

Oklahoma's state scientists have suspected for years that oil and gas operations were causing a swarm of earthquakes, but under pressure from University of Oklahoma President David Boren and oil company executives, they publicly rejected the connection. While other states have shut down wells and imposed strict rules after earthquakes, Oklahoma continues to claim the tremendous growth in seismic activity is from "natural quakes."

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last week the tension between the Republican-dominated Congress and President Barack Obama has reached a near constitutional crisis. While this crisis may subside, the more lasting impact of these developments may well be a change in relationship between the Israeli government, the Republican Party, and the traditionally bipartisan U.S. consensus towards Israel and wider Middle Eastern issues.

A leader in the Afro-Cuban jazz movement, Arturo O'Farrill reflects on the tremendous potential he sees in the new opening to Cuba. “We will be forced to acknowledge that even though we have everything we are starving, and even though they have nothing they are gorging on the richest of all human achievements—love of pueblo, love of community.” Arturo is the son of legendary Cuban trumpeter/arranger Chico O’Farrill, who moved to New York from Havana in 1948.

Ostriker's poem touches the heart of violence against women in a patriarchal culture.

The United Steelworkers (USW) announced today that it has reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract with Shell Oil as a pattern agreement for the rest of the industry.

Dr. Cheryl Chastine represents the future of abortion care; she infuses reproductive justice values and transgender patient care into her practice. She has given up a lot, personally and professionally, to provide care to her patients, but she refuses to back down due to threats or intimidation. She fights back by providing the best possible care to her patients.

That would be enough electricity to power nearly 100 million homes. As wind grows, investments in wind energy would reach as much as $70 billion annually by 2050, according to a new report, at which point the industry would support 600,000 jobs.

Sending a letter to Iranian leadership warning them that conservatives will try to kill any deal Obama negotiates may not have had the effect Tom Cotton and colleagues wanted