Portside

Reason makes possible the calculations, science and technological advances of industrial civilization. But reason does not lift us upward to the heavens. It does not bring us into contact with the sacred. It does not permit us to curb our self-destructive urges. Herman Melville, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Emily Dickinson, Marcel Proust, William Faulkner, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Lorraine Hansberry and August Wilson mocked the myth of human progress and the folly of hubris.

Portside salutes May Day - rallies around the world; The Internationale in 40+ languages; May Day and labor history tools; Reader Comments -Cecily McMillian Trial Update -= Trial ends tomorrow; Net Neutrality; Chris Hani's political legacy; Ukraine; Israel and Palestine; Paul Robeson, Jr.; UPDATE - Northeastern University has backed down on the suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine; A Seeger Fest to Honor Pete and Toshi, and It's Free - July 17 - 21

NYPD twits; Creationists' heads explode; Public school Bible curriculum; Goodbye Columbus; Buffalo Jills pay back the Bills; What Americans really think about inequality

Most people know Charlie Chaplin, whose 125th birthday was April 16, as a giant figure in the history of film. Chaplin's films were as funny as they were deeply revelatory of the human condition. His raucous cinematic assault on fascism, discussed here, helps enrich our understanding about what made this clown one of our most sublime and important artists.

Colbert out on a Limbaugh; IKEA goes windy; The CEO myth; Normcore: threat or menace; Where's the grief?; Class war with a smiley face

Things go better without Koch; Hobby Lobby's secret agenda; Conservative publishing crisis; USAS vs. Teaching for America; Redskins owner sugarcoats his racism; "Happy" goes global.

Hoopsters honor Debs; Pacifica exec exed; Methodists measure up; St Pat's sans Guinness; Reclaiming digital privacy

Moral Monday pix; Fracking for you but not for me; Guggenheim; Google; Smart diapers

Women in the image machine; Arab idol gets the boot; French cultural workers throw down; Civil rights heroes digitized; AIPAC takes a blow

Sid Caesar at the height of his fame, was drawing audiences of up to 25 million. Broadway theatre owners complained, they always had empty seats on Saturday nights - the time that Your Show of Shows and later, Caesar's Hour, were broadcast live to the nation. Caesar's fans included Albert Einstein - who died before their planned meeting - and Alfred Hitchcock, who remarked that "the young Mr Caesar best approaches the great Chaplin of the early 1920s".