Portside

“The fact that it is a Communist who denounces injustice in the courts, police brutality, and lynching when it happens doesn’t change the truth of his charges."

This World Cup has demonstrated on the largest possible stage the competing forms of patriotism that exist in the United States. This is also a team that openly, unapologetically, and joyfully projected its LGBTQ inclusivity and identity.

This is the perfect time to read the entirety of Frederick Douglass’s famous speech (from 1852), and not merely because of the date on the calendar.(Dave Zirin)

Prison Strike; Superdelegates and Race; Star-crossed Platonics; New Patriotism; Pinterest Meets 8chan; Animal Crackers

The pitfalls of patriotism are everywhere, and at some point those hazards must be honestly faced.

Reader Comments: From Louis Armstrong to the NFL - Michael Meeropol remembers; MLK was also called `Disruptive' and an `Agitator'; Eight-Year Old Football Players Kneel; My Flag - A poem by Seymour Joseph; Puerto Rico Calamity; Reproductive Health Care; Police Unions; Brazil; Resources; Announcements; and more....

This is a stunning piece of analysis on how Donald Trump will go to war with the planet (just as he essentially suggested he would in his America-First inaugural speech). John Feffer, author of the unforgettable new dystopian novel Splinterlands, the latest Dispatch Book, explores how President Trump plans to blow up the present world order and give birth to a new kind of internationalism led by a global confederacy of oligarchs. (Tom Engelhardt)

The rise of a right-wing nationalist regime in the United States is now a realistic possibility.

Jackie Robinson, writing in 1972: I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag. I know that I am a black man in a white world. Jim Brown, the Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame running backin 2016 said he stands '100 percent' behind Colin Kaepernick. Further, Kaepernick 'made all the sense in the world' in explaining his position. This is part of a long tradition of athletes, especially African American athletes combining sport and protest. (* ESPN)

A Special Fourth of July Message About Patriotism. More Torture Talk From Donald Trump. Homeless Man Joins Busker for Spontaneous Street Jam. Jesse Williams' Fiery BET Awards Speech. Jessica Williams Questions Sanders-to-Trump Supporters.