Portside

Blacks make up 67 percent of the population in Ferguson. But they make up 85 percent of people subject to vehicle stops and 93 percent of those arrested. Blacks are twice as likely to be searched as whites, but less likely to have drugs or weapons. The report found that 88 percent of times in which Ferguson police used force it was against blacks and all 14 cases of police dog bites involved blacks.

One of the challenges we face is that people talk about the death penalty as if it’s a choice between the death penalty and no punishment. In a 21st-century society we have so many ways to incapacitate people who are a legitimate threat to public safety and impose punishments that are serious and substantial, that express community outrage without executing people.

Johannesburg’s inner city has seen dramatic change in the past 20 years. As apartheid began to collapse, laws that kept the black majority out of cities were first disregarded and then repealed. As black people moved in, whites fled to suburbs. The inner city dramatically degraded, with neglected buildings, fewer services and crime. Now this image of downtown Johannesburg is beginning to shift, with the arrival of property developers who are creating affluent enclaves.

Today, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in King v. Burwell, a case that threatens to yank the tax credit away from millions of people.If the Court goes for King, Obamacare as we know it might end. Most people who will be affected by this case do not realize they will be.

1700 of Columbia's 2800 graduate and research assistants sign cards saying they want to unionize.

The Justice Department will issue findings Wednesday that accuse the police department in Ferguson, Mo., of racial bias. “If the report of the Department of Justice findings are accurate, then it will confirm what Michael Brown’s family has believed all along, and that is that the tragic killing of their unarmed teenage son was part of a systemic pattern of policing of African American citizens in Ferguson,” said Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Brown’s family.

Can a dedicated socialist have a significant impact upon American life? Lauren Coodley’s biography of prominent socialist novelist and agitator Upton Sinclair shows that, with a lot of talent and fortitude, that kind of influence is possible.

Netanyahu's main mission was to advance his extremist stance—and undermine Obama's attempt to reach an agreement with Iran. He contended that Iran is bent on destroying Israel and "the Jewish people."

It’s been a harsh several weeks in Madison, Wisconsin for demonstrators against the governor and legislature, worse for the Progressive Era reforms being swiftly eliminated, one after the other. For those who aren’t following life in the Flyover regions, Right To Work passed the state Senate and is moving on to the Assembly, this coming week. With Republicans in charge, passage is all but certain.

Oscar show lays an egg; The song and the snub; Arquette’s gaffe; Snowden laughs it off; Clint and the Crusade