Portside

Five years after the earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people and rendered 1.9 million more homeless, the fraudulently elected administration of Michel Martelly has abandoned any pretense of democracy. In the first of a two-part series, veteran journalist Beverly Bell interviews Jackson Doliscar, organizer with the Haitian Force for Reflection and Action on Housing on the state of human rights in Haiti today.

Despite the fact that in 2013, Latinos, which only made up 17 percent of the US population, represented 32 percent of frequent moviegoers, the major film studios are planning just one film depicting Latinos in 2015. The continued paucity of U.S. films about Latinos and other minorities is due to the continued deep-seated bias against ethnic diversity and an industry-wide apathy towards change.

Ex-CIA official Jeffrey Sterling is going on trial for espionage because he allegedly told a reporter about a botched covert operation that sent flawed nuclear designs to Iran, but powerful people want to spare ex-CIA Director David Petraeus indictment for leaking secrets to his mistress, notes ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern. Sterling, a whistleblower, and Petraeus, a retired four-star general, are being held to "cruelly different standards."

On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project. The case poses the question of whether the Fair Housing Act protects Americans from all housing policies that discriminate in practice, or only those where intentional bigotry can be proven. The decision to take up this case leads many to conclude the 1968 Fair Housing Act is in grave jeopardy.

The NYPD police officers union's outrageous assertion that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio had “blood on his hands” in the murder of the two NYPD officers, is consistent with the reactionary role of police unions, which came to prominence in the wake of the civil rights movement. Police unions have played a powerful role in resisting all manner of police reforms, and in defending police officers, no matter how outrageous and racist their actions.

Mahalla is a hotbed of industrial unrest, but the latest strike comes at a time when a crackdown on dissent has weakened street protests.

The executive director of the Missouri ACLU tells Salon why it's supporting "Grand Juror Doe's" fight to speak

An 'essentially unbeatable' algorithm for the popular card game points to strategies for solving real-life problems without having complete information.

To all of my conservative friends, past, present, and future: when you hear something so incredible about your president or, in fact, any politician, will you put a minimum amount of effort to verifying it is true before you spout it as fact? Just ONE google search will usually do it.

In the states, where the 2014 elections gave Republicans control of two-thirds of state legislative chambers, incoming lawmakers also have supersized their abortion agendas. But abortion is just one issue on the minds of activists focused on reproductive rights. There's also birth control, conscience clauses and personhood. Here are seven key trends and themes to watch for this year.