Portside

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.

Too few of us recognize ourselves in the beauty and the carnage the NFL presents each Sunday. The game won’t change because we’re not changing. I hope a new audience will be exposed to Dr. Bennet Omalu’s story and understand that the only way to get football to change is to present its faults in an uncompromising fashion, pressuring the NFL and those who love the sport to face themselves and do better.

Which America should we recall on the Fourth of July? The "all men are created equal" of the Declaration of Independence or the gross inequalities by race, class and gender, the crying disparities of wealth, voice and security in real life? Both. Because the lofty declaration is more than a platitude and a snare; it has also always been a goal and a call to strive "to finish the work we are in." Lefty alternatives for the Fourth: songs, thoughts, a little inspiration.