Portside

Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with legendary director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp to discuss Disclosure Day, the science and psychology of alien contact, and why Spielberg believes there’s more out there than meets the eye.

A Protest that Congress Can’t Ignore (1990), ¡Breonna Taylor, Presente! (2020), A McCarthy Victim’s Belated Vindication (1950), Happy Sunshine Week!, Herbie Hancock’s Early Hit (1965), When a Postal Strike Was a National Emergency (1970)

Shining light on federal records in 1966. Segregating the U.S. civil service in 1913. Smallpox scam in 2002. March of the Mill Children in 1903. A big win for airline workers in 1966. 14th Amendment inked in 1868. Telstar fried by a nuke in 1962.

"The U.S. government's harassment of whistleblower and activist Chelsea Manning is intensifying."

The U.N. says he has the right of free passage to freedom, but this is denied. He has the right to medical treatment without fear of arrest, but this is denied. He has the right to compensation, but this is denied.

In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) complaint filed last week against three U.S. government agencies, documentary film maker Laura Poitras charges she was subjected to intense rounds of detention and questioning on more than 50 occasions between 2006 and 2012. It’s an important story with profound implications for the press. Yet, her lawsuit also highlights a second threat to journalism in the U.S., the worrisome way the federal government handles FOIA requests.

In all of these cases, the government pursued maximum punishments and generally took zero-tolerance approaches to plea negotiations. These prosecutions reflected an obvious institutional terror of letting the public see the sausage-factory locked behind the closed doors not only of the state, but of banks and universities and other such institutional pillars of society. This is a Wizard of Oz moment, where we are being warned not to look behind the curtain.