Portside

The absurdity of privatizing prisons, institutions whose purpose is to rehabilitate, so that their economic motivations no longer match up with their social missions, has for years been at the forefront of conversations regarding criminal-justice reform.

This young Toronto-based poet won a place on the best-seller lists with her epigrammatic, haiku-like poetry that sometimes addresses emotionally difficult subjects. This is an unusual accomplishment for poetry in today's culture. Here is this remarkable writer's story.

Minimum wage referendums will be on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington in November. Democrats hope this will energize voters to come to the polls.

Bernie Sanders, Daniel Ellsberg, former members of the NSA and more weigh in on whether Obama should grant clemency to the divisive whistleblower

It is the festival's Documentary Programme that offers the most bang for the buck. Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, about urban activist Jane Jacobs who saved New York neighborhoods in the 60s; it’s been awhile since we’ve seen a film about the revered muckraker, but All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone will once again raise the issue of truth in the media; the Canadian doc Black Code exposes how governments use the Internet to spy.

O’Brien points the finger; Community media saves the day; Iraq war legacy watching you; Net win in EU; Fox News’s big bad wolf vs vengeful vixens

Well aware that the votes were most likely not going her way, she stoically delivered a defense aimed more at the history books and the broader public than at the senators. She recalled her previous appearance at a show trial during the dictatorship, and the torture she endured as a result. She discussed the Workers’ Party project and policies. To the irritation of her accusers, she repeatedly referred to the proceedings as a “coup” and an affront to the Brazilian people

What’s happening at Standing Rock is extraordinary and possibly transformative for native rights, Sioux history, and the intersection of the climate movement with indigenous communities.

The data "starkly illustrates how our inefficient, private-insurance-based system of financing care is fundamentally incapable of providing universal coverage," said pediatrician and PNHP president Dr. Robert Zarr. "The fact that 29 million people remain uninsured—a figure that won't change much over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office—is totally unacceptable to me as a physician."

No one could sue the United States for damages, reasons Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, a sponsor of the bill, because “the United States does not engage in international terrorist activity.” He may honestly believe that, but judges in other countries might disagree.