Portside

Why did Israel launch an air attack on Syria on January 29th? There is no evidence that the attack had anything to do with the SA-17, which, in any case, both Tel Aviv and Washington know would not pose any real danger to Israel. So what are some other possible reasons for the attack?

What started as a warehouse workers’ strike in California late last year has grown into a global struggle against the world’s largest private employer. The 2.1 million Walmart workers constitute the third-largest workforce in the world, following the U.S. Department of Defense and the People’s Liberation Army of China. And they are revolting.

The growing grassroots democracy movement took another huge step forward this week when Congressional Representatives Rick Nolan (DFL-Minnesota) and Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin) joined Move To Amend coalition organizers Ben Manski and George “Leesa” Friday at the National Press Club to announce that the “We the People Amendment” was being introduced in Congress (H.J.Res. 29).

What all of this might mean in political terms is not yet quite clear. However, one thing is certain. If community organizers allow this incipient coalition -- potentially the largest progressive force in US history -- to slip away, we are missing the opportunity that only comes once in a generation to change the trajectory of American politics.

In Ontario, 465 union workers used to make locomotive engines. Then Indiana passed ALEC's anti-union legislation, and Caterpillar moved the works to Muncie. And that's bad for everybody.

How HSBC hooked up with drug traffickers and terrorists. And got away with it. So now we have an arrestable class and an unarrestable class. We always suspected it, now it's admitted. So what do we do?

Late last month, the Missouri House started considering [a bill] that deviates in staggering ways. Instead of being quiet about its intent, it redefines science, provides a clearer definition of intelligent design than any of the idea's advocates ever have, and it mandates equal treatment of the two. In the process, it mangles things so badly that teachers would be prohibited from discussing Mendel's Laws.