Portside

The Trumps retained Roy Cohn, who two decades earlier had been a top aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy during his infamous effort to root out communists in government. Cohn portrayed the Trumps as the victims and counter-sued the government, demanding it pay them $100 million for falsely accusing them of discrimination . . . Goldweber, the Justice lawyer who originally argued the case, said it was a clear government victory. That’s not how Donald Trump considered it.

The Portside moderators send our heartfelt thanks to our readers, for coming through in response to our annual appeal! We don't do a lot of fundraising -- just this annual appeal. We are grateful, and gratified, that the response allows us to keep to this bare minimum. Again, many thanks from the left side of the ship - the portside. Full speed ahead in the new year.

International Left Intellectuals Respond to Venezuelan Government's Legislative Election Setback: We have to ask ourselves, “Do my statements empower and amplify the articulated priorities of the movements and governments I am in solidarity with, or do they strengthen the US government narrative and create even greater space for it to intervene in the sovereign affairs of other countries?”

According to a Tufts University report, "hazardous sites, municipal landfills, incinerators and other hazardous facilities are disproportionally located in poor minority neighborhoods".

Carter ordered Wal-Mart to offer 16 former workers their previous jobs and make them "whole for any loss of earnings and other benefits suffered as a result of the discrimination against them". Wal-Mart was also ordered to hold a meeting in more than two dozen stores to inform workers of their rights to organize under U.S. labor law.

UE National President Peter Knowlton said that UE in the past had “withstood attempts by the U.S. government to silence us during the McCarthy era in the 1950s,” and was “unbowed by the latest attempt of a surrogate of the Israeli government to stifle our call for justice for Palestinian and Israeli workers.”

A new report charges the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest charitable foundation, is dangerously distorting the direction of international development, promoting the interests of corporate America against those of ordinary people seeking social and economic justice rather than charity. The Gates Foundation is aggressively expanding the role of multinational corporations in health and agriculture, particularly in Africa and the global south.

A short compilation of hard times music. Run DMC Hard Times. Ry Cooder No Banker Left Behind. Josh White Hard Times Blues. Willie Nelson Summertime. Charlie Palloy Buddy Can You Spare a Dime.

The Oxfam charity says only higher wages, crackdown on tax dodging and higher investment in public services can stop divide widening

Levins showed it is possible to be a serious scientist and a radical — a revelation for a scientifically and mathematically inclined young adult growing up at the “end of history.” He leaves an extraordinary scientific legacy matched by his legacy as a radical and activist.