Portside

Readers Comments: Charlie Kirk Killing Excuse for Authoritarianism, Fascism; Real Reason for the Attacks Against Us; Medicare Will Require Prior Approval for Certain Procedures; Attack on Environmental Protections to Increase Cancer-Causing Pollution

As an Australian who wrote about the demonstrations while on campus, I gave my phone a superficial clean before flying to the U.S. I underestimated what I was up against.

At a time when civil liberties are hanging by a string, and the institutions that working people have come to rely on to pursue justice for themselves are being gutted, Flynn’s life and career are a wellspring of inspiration.

For centuries, the writ of habeas corpus—a fundamental protection against unlawful imprisonment—has remained a core fixture of democratic governance. Suspending it would defy the Constitution, but Trump is weighing his options.

Trump is seeking to establish a truly chilling proposition: that no one can stop his administration from imprisoning anyone it wants... If the government can disappear any people it wishes, we all should be very, very afraid.

Rather than safeguarding basic rights of freedom of expression, assembly and association, many countries are looking to outdated legislation or enacting new laws restricting peaceful protest and imposing disproportionate punishments.

Amid a surge in book bans nationwide, the Louisiana librarian Amanda Jones was targeted by vicious threats. So she decided to fight back. She went to court against her attackers, and then wrote a book. And, she still a librarian.

Project 2025 is no renamed Agenda 47. The Heritage Foundation is now pretending to shut down the project, and Trump is pretending that the issue is going to go away. It’s not. The blue print for fascism is out there.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is a leading candidate to be Kamala Harris’s running mate. Selecting him would fracture the party.

What to the Slave Is the Fourth July? by Frederick Douglass speaks to the frustrations spurred by the gap between the ideals of the United States and the reality we witness every day, and the threat of fascism. Read/listen to his brilliant speech.