Portside

We never know what is actually possible until we test it. It may seem a long road from a union trying to protect jobs to a union setting out an alternative agenda for the economy. But surely the main lesson of recent years is that since capitalist corporations think big as a matter of course then we will surely lose if we continue to think small. If we don't raise our expectations, they will be lowered for us. •

Contrary to a too-commonly held assumption, book author Anne Trubeck argues that while writing by hand will likely become less practiced, it will not disappear, but evolve, as she insists its variegated world history amply shows. Just one possible precedent: the metamorphosis of letterpress printing into an artisanal form.

Reader Comments (Lots): Solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against Dakota Access Pipeline - And Then the Dogs Came; America's Own Genocide; Slavery and the National Anthem; Sit with Colin Kaepernick; Woody Guthrie's Assault on 'Old Man Trump'; Donald Trump and White Voters; How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom - Deep in the Swamps; Black Lives Matter; Fred Hellerman; Gene Wilder; Solidarity with Yemen; Announcements; and more...

400 workers at Just Born Quality confections in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania have gone out on strike. The company's most famous product is Peeps. Management wants to replace their pension with a 401(K).

The major powers are planning for war and claim that's the best way to defend against war. Will this mutual hawkishness lead to armed conflict?

This was a big missed opportunity for the network-and for voters. It showed that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, will say just about anything to win in November. Hours before, Trump made an address in Philadelphia where he kowtowed to the Republican foreign-policy establishment, pledging to lavish tax dollars on the military. In a rambling answer to a question about Iraq, Trump noted the biggest mistake made in Iraq was that the U.S. did not 'take the oil.'

A big chunk of money coming out of Pennsylvania is financing the dog siccers and the pepper sprayers -- including tax dollars. It turns out that one of the major investors in Energy Transfer Partners is...the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Records show that as of this June, the commonwealth -- through its pension funds -- owned some 5 million shares of ETP -- valued at some $192 million. That's more than any other governmental or quasi-governmental agency.

In North Dakota the largest gathering of Native people in opposition to the construction of a massive pipeline project is now going on near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The project threatens the only water supply for the impoverished reservation and adversely affects the quality of life for Indian and non-Indian people in the area. Private security with vicious dogs have been used against protesters. Join the Sept. 13 national day of action against the pipeline

NAFTA worsened poverty in Mexico. But some did profit from "Free Trade." Mexico now has 12 billionaires. Before our government started selling off public enterprises to cronies to lay the groundwork for NAFTA, we didn’t have one.

In a newly discovered song, Woody Guthrie sings about his abusive and racist landlord, 'Mister Trump made a tramp out of me.' The Trump he's talking about is Donald's father.