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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.

Friday Nite Videos | August 21, 2026

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Rosie Sings an Irish Classic for a Very Special Boy. We Investigated Uber Again. It’s Worse Than Last Time. Was Mamdani's Mandarin AI? The Blooper Reel Reveals the Truth. John Oliver: Trump & Crypto. Trump in Diapers and Losing Control?

Why It Might Be Time To Rethink the Human Family Tree

Ian Towle The Conversation
New fossils, advances in genetics, and better ways to figure out who’s related to whom show the current grouping into Homo, Australopithecus and Paranthropus doesn’t reflect the true shape of our family tree.

We Are Witnessing the Decline of Corporate Democrats

Robert Reich The Guardian
Voters are backing progressives because they want candidates who will fight for the working class. Corporate Democrats are on the defensive because their campaign cash isn’t working the way it used to.

Trump Pardons Have Cost Crime Victims $1.7 Billion

Scott MacFarlane MeidasTouch Network
The investigation by the Judiciary Committee and ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) detailed dozens of pardons which zeroed out unpaid fines and restitution of Trump allies and supporters, including money owed by January 6 Capitol rioters.

What Is “Far Left”?

Peter Dreier Portside
The growing visibility of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and victories by some DSA-backed candidates has triggered an upsurge of redbaiting by Republicans and fear-mongering by moderate Democrats.

Kate Bronfenbrenner, the Union Organizer’s Scholar

Alex N. Press Convergence
Kate Bronfenbrenner, who retired this year from Cornell University, has studied how workers win unions, how employers stop them, how organizers can learn from one another for four decades. Her findings have changed how unions think about organizing.

Gen Z Isn’t Apolitical. It’s Lost Faith in Capitalism.

Dora Mengüç Convergence
This generation does not trust parties, leaders, or institutions. It also votes, boycotts, protests, organizes online, quits jobs, channels its anger through digital platforms. Most importantly, it can turn everyday life into a political battleground

The Collapse of Nuclear Arms Control Puts the World in Peril

Lawrence S. Wittner CounterPunch
Nuclear weapons spending is soaring, arms-control treaties are collapsing and national leaders are once again threatening mass destruction. Last month Trump promised nuclear weapons to Saudi Arabia, and today is threatening nuclear war against Iran.
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