The Necessity of Football

JAMIL SMITH The New Republic
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.

Friday Nite Videos -- Fourth of July, 2015

Portside
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.

Roy Zimmerman -- 'America'

How's this for love of country: 'America is a '57 Chevy that veers to the Left and lurches to the Right'? And lots of other crazy, authentic, striking images. Nevertheless, Zimmerman thinks it might just work.

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son

Some folks are born 
made to wave the flag
Ooh, they're red white and blue

It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no senator's son

This Vietnam wartime song (1969) puts a spotlight on the unequal sacrifices hidden by patriotic spouting.
 

My Visit With Edward Snowden

Jesselyn Radack The Nation
Although living in exile from the country he loves, Snowden is warm, centered and engaged and follows debates about surveillance with a keen legal acumen.

Tidbits - July 11, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments: Citizens United; Zimmerman Trial; Egypt; Plane Wreck at Los Gatos("Deportee"); Elizabeth Warren; Capitalism & Austerity; Voting Rights Act; American Left; Progressive Patriotism & July 4th Songs; Fracking and Greens; Announcements - Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions - New York - Jul 24 - Jewish Voice for Peace; Left Labor Project - New York - Aug 1; Call for articles on building international labor solidarity - Working USA; Paid Internship Opportunity

Celebrating Progressive Patriotism; Top Ten July 4th Songs

Peter Drier, Richard Flacks and Peter Rothberg
To some, patriotism means "my country -- right or wrong." To others, it means loyalty to a set of principles, and thus requires dissent and criticism when those in power violate those standards. Not enough Americans are aware that much of what we consider our patriotic culture, especially our iconic music, was created by artists and writers of decidedly left-wing sympathies.

Camouflaging the Vietnam War: How Textbooks Continue to Keep the Pentagon Papers a Secret

Bill Bigelow Zinn Education Project
The Pentagon Papers that Ellsberg exposed were not military secrets. They were historical secrets - a history of U.S. intervention and deceit that Ellsberg believed, if widely known, would undermine the U.S. pretexts in defense of the war's prosecution. Like today's whistle-blowers Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden, Daniel Ellsberg knew the consequences for his act of defiance. He was indicted on 11 counts of theft and violation of the Espionage Act.
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