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Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it.

The ‘Next Citizens United’ May Fuel a Popular Uprising

Katrina vanden Heuvel The Washington Post
The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission any day now. Given the Roberts court’s track record, the biggest campaign-finance decision since Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is likely to blow another gigantic hole in the fabric of our democracy.

WikiLeaks, Ukraine & NATO

Conn Hallinan Dispatches From the Edge
Is the Russian occupation of the Crimea a case of aggressive expansionism by Moscow or aimed at at blocking a scheme by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to roll right up to the Russia’s western border? WikiLeaks has revealed a secret cable describing a meeting between French and American diplomats that suggests the latter, a plan that has been in the works since at least 2009.

Ukraine: The Enemy of Your Enemy is Not Always Your Friend

Zoltán Grossman Portside
Anti-Fascist Action Ukraine estimated that 30 percent of the protesters in Kiev's Independence Square were far-right ultranationalists, and that was before the shooting began, when more of them joined the street battles.

The Disgraceful Rejection of Debo Adegbile

Scott Lemieux The American Prospect
Republicans voted against his approval as part of a broader anti-civil rights agenda, but the 7 Democrats who joined them ought to be mortified by their own cowardice.

Edna Pardo - 1921-2014

Graydon Megan Chicago Tribune
Edna Pardo tireless campaigner on the inequities in Chicago schools, and for fairness in Illinois school finance and the Illinois tax system, and longtime leader of the League of Women Voters of Chicago

Drilling for Certainty: The Latest in Fracking Health Studies

Naveena Sadasivam ProPublica
“The public health sector has been absent from this debate,” said Nadia Steinzor, a researcher on the Oil and Gas Accountability Project at the environmental nonprofit, Earthworks. The science is far from settled. However, waiting for additional science to clarify those uncertainties before adopting more serious safeguards is misguided and dangerous. As a result, a number of researchers and local activists have been pushing for more aggressive oversight immediately.
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