Portside

In a bleak year filled with bad news, people from Edward Snowden to Elizabeth Warren were brave enough to shake up the establishment. "Fighting the power," as people used to say, is no easy task. Victories are hard to come by and can quickly slide away because the power establishment of money, lobbying, lawyers, PR machines and out-and-out corruption are like Neil Young's rust: they never sleep.

Obamacare was conceived at the Heritage Foundation, and birthed in Massachusetts by Mitt Romney. Obama took Romneycare, a program designed to keep the private insurance industry intact, and improved some of its provisions. In deciding what course, the question for the new administration, which successfully ran a campaign with a large plank to make major changes to the health care delivery system, try to go around the existing insurance industry or through it?

The university presidents denouncing boycotts have largely been silent regarding Israel's abuses of Palestinian academics and Palestinian human rights in general. Those presidents may oppose our principled stance, they should at least have the decency to acknowledge those abuses. The recent passing of Nelson Mandela has reminded us of a time when people bravely stood up to apartheid by initiating boycotts and other proactive measures to isolate the South African regime.

Reader Comments - Pope Francis, Catholic Church and The Sound of Music; Year in Review, 2014 and Bernie Sanders for President; Inside Llewyn Davis and Dave Van Ronk; Duck Dynasty; Universal Healthcare; Corporate Greed and Financial Speculators; Fast Food Workers; Hollywood and McCarthyism; Facebook is Dead? Niilo Koponen - R.I.P.; Seeking memories of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

"The chief executive officer of a state university has the authority to suspend, dismiss or terminate from employment any faculty or staff member who makes improper use of social media...including but not limited to blogs, wikis, and social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. `Improper use of social media' means making a communication through social media" that directly incites violence or some other "immediate breach of the peace,"

Taylor Farms workers want more than a living wage. They want respect and dignity in the workplace. Instead, they endure unsafe working conditions and the company’s routine termination of workers who are injured on the job - So on a windy Thursday before Christmas, Teamster members in the region joined Taylor Farms workers and community allies in an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike against the company.