Portside

Many Americans do not to know that thalidomide was never approved for use in the US, and that was almost entirely due to the vigilance and, yes, outright stubbornness of one brave woman, who could sniff out spin and misinformation in a drug company application and would not be swayed by unrelenting pressure.

Conservative opposition to the internationally-negotiated deal to limit Iran's ability to obtain a nuclear weapon has been the subject of numerous editorials and op-eds in U.S. newspapers that have pushed false information about the agreement and warned that it compromises U.S. and Israeli security, despite widespread praise from nuclear arms control experts who say the deal is "excellent compared to where we are today."

A&P expects to sell 118 stores to Stop & Shop, Acme Markets and Key Food. Another 25 stores will be closed.

The conditions of employment for domestic workers vary from house to house, but along with miners, domestic workers have long endured one of the most exploitative employment relationships in South Africa’s history. Although a new minimum wage is more than domestic workers have ever earned, it is still not enough -- what is needed is a living wage.

If this attack is successful it would decimate the National Treasury Employees Union and leave IRS staffers without union representation. More that than, it would weaken federal unions generally by making them all vulnerable to a similar assault.

Strip clubs have provided me and many other dancers with steady income for our entire adult lives. I’m thankful to have enjoyed decades as a paid entertainer. But we deserve the same protections and respect given to any employee in any other work force.

Congress is in revolt, inflation is rising, Brazil’s credit rating is flirting with junk status, a huge corruption scandal looms, and polls put her approval rating at 8% ahead of Sunday’s planned protests – can things get any worse for Rousseff?

Having misunderstood the Iraq War, U.S. Republicans are taking a dangerously hawkish turn on foreign policy.

Perhaps in no U.S. city is the wreckage wrought by today's capitalism better seen than in Detroit, the once mighty auto metropolis now morphed into a showcase of post-industrial abandonment. New signs of rebirth and redevelopment there are fraught with contradictions, as artists and gentrifiers engage in what Dora Apel calls "ruin lust." Here, Scott McLemee reviews Apel's take on the (former?) Motor City and post-industrial tourism and aesthetics.

As gaps in income and wealth continue to widen in the United States and structural and institutional barriers to economic security persist, this report reminds us that there is still much work to do to ensure that all women, children, and families have a fair shot at success and opportunity in our society.