Portside

Banned Books Week, the annual end of September "celebration of the freedom to read," brings to light the fact that around 11,300 books have been challenged since a consortium of literary-minded sponsors established the event in 1982. Challenges are defined as attempts to remove the title from libraries or schools, and in 2013, 307 were reported to the American Library Association's (ALA) Office of Intellectual Freedom.

Reader Comments - People's Climate March, Greening of the Labor Movement, What Next; ISIS, Syria, Iraq, Muslim Fundamentalism; Ongoing War in Middle East; Elizabeth Warren and Israel; Theodore Roosevelt; Emmett Till, Michael Brown - Ongoing Struggle for Racial Justice; Guns and the Southern Freedom Struggle; Texas School Text Books; Military Weaponry in Schools - WTF?; Socialism, Worker Cooperatives; Today in History; Abraham Lincoln Brigade celebrations

Rubble Bucket Challenge; Kids' artist hits profiling; White Ferguson betrays itself; Race/class in Silicon Valley; Cooper Union - Cooper vs. $; Klein's latest

Ferguson, Brought to You by the Black Internet; NYT Gets Called Out by Its Own on Ferguson; What 1 Million Net Neutrality Comments Look Like; Boston and Big Blue Look You In the Face; CWA Challenges Local Media Consolidation; Gov't Info Plays Favorites

This weekend's Clearwater Festival will be the first without Pete and Toshi Seegers, founders and mainstays of the Clearwater organization, started 49 years ago. Pete Seeger lived their lives as peoples' artists, fighting for peace, civil rights, nuclear disarmament, defense of the environment, and as a socialists.

The banning of Students for Justice in Palestine at Northeastern University, replicates sanctions being imposed against numerous student Palestinian rights groups across the country. Israel's heavy-handed reaction to these campus organizations is symptomatic of its increasing isolation and concern about waning American support and have alienated traditional supporters of Israel, including many young American Jews.

Why can’t my biography of Shel Silverstein quote the works of Shel Silverstein? His censorious estate.

The NYPD Division of Un-American Activities; Toni Morrison Responds to Ohio School Board Prez; When did Sadness Become a Disease?; Taking Over the Judiciary; "Commie Camp"

The Graduate Center for Worker Education was a beacon of hope and ascendency for working class students seeking intellectual challenges, social advocacy and professional advancement. So I was shocked and dismayed to learn about the closing of the GCWE by Brooklyn College President Karen Gould, following a stream of attacks against the Center's working students, faculty, and staff.

WikiLeaks Rescues Edward Snowden (Literally!); Correcting Bruce Sterling's Revisionist Cyber-History; Lavabit Email Encryption Service, Bites the Dust; Turf Wars in the Internet Underworld; Pirate Bay Turns Ten!