Portside

Reader Comments - Lessons from Syriza and Podemos; Kshama Sawant; 2016 elections; Prison Reform, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, Israeli elections; Venezuela, Greece, Ukraine; Measles; Culture - music, television, films; Franz Fanon; Roger Burbach - Presente! Announcements - Break the Cuba Blockade - Venceremos Brigade; WRL new "Pie Chart"; Mondragon and Workers Cooperatives; Fighting Inequality Conference

Reader Comments - Ferguson and Racism; Venezuela - New Coup, Made in USA; Selma, Voting Rights and Today; International Women's Day, Wonder Woman; Netanyahu, Israel, GOP and Iran; Wisconsin Attack on Unions; Ukraine; Death Penalty, 'Justice', Incarceration; Leonard Nimoy; Books on Upton Sinclair, Michael Harrington; Announcement - Triangle Shirtwaist Fire commemoration; Today in History

Leonard Nimoy's passing reminds us of the spirit of wonder and discovery represented by Spock and the Star Trek series. He not only inspired millions of us to become scientists, but he inspired us to understand the importance of questioning all authority. Part of Nimoy's gift was his ability to project serene confidence and compassion for humankind at the same time that we assumed he knew the deepest secrets of the universe.

The Central Park Five - five young African American men were arrested, charged and convicted.- wrongly. News headlines blasted from the press captured the nation's attention. Last June, under Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City agreed to pay the Central Park Five a $41-million settlement - giving the men about $1 million for each year of wrongful imprisonment. "The Bullpen," is a play related to similar experiences in the NYC incarceration system.

Lesley Gore, whose song "You Don't Own Me" in 1964, became a rallying cry, proclaiming that men did not own women, "so don't tell be what to do". "The power of women just saying that phrase together: "YOU. DON'T. OWN. ME." Not to our special someones ... but to our government. Until now! Dayum! Gauntlet thrown!" (Upworthy). Gore died on February 16 after a bout with cancer.

Billie Holiday had been effectively murdered by a conspiracy to break her, orchestrated by the narcotics police - but what could she do? At Billie's funeral, there were swarms of police cars, because they feared their actions against her would trigger a riot. In his eulogy for her, the Reverend Eugene Callender said: 'We should not be here. This young lady was gifted by her creator with tremendous talent . . . She should have lived to be at least eighty years old.'

Koch Industries' Mysterious Swiss Bank. Black and White in the War on Drugs. The Courage of Stuart Scott. Why Are There No Women in The Hobbit? Jerusalem's Most Contested Neighborhood.