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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.

Actually, Slavery Was Very Bad

Clint Smith The Atlantic
The president’s latest criticism of museums is a thinly veiled attempt to erase Black history.

Can Donald Trump Police the United States?

Cristian Farias The New Yorker
In a trial over the legality of the President’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, there may be a definitive answer to where his power ends.

Friday Nite Videos | August 22, 2025

Portside Portside
Putin Is Trapped by Trump's Misunderstandings. The Catastrophic Risks of AI — and a Safer Path | Yoshua Bengio. Lonely Avenue | Jon Batiste. White House Evacuated After Trans Alarm Goes Off.

With Trump, the Antisemitism Is Coming From Inside the House

Branko Marcetic Jacobin
Trump’s crackdown on antisemitism seems to have strangely missed all of his appointees and allies who associate with a range of unabashed anti-Jewish bigots. It almost makes you suspect the White House’s charges of antisemitism are purely cynical.

How a Government Autism Study Could Destroy Vaccine Access in America

Jess Steier Unbiased Science
A government study promising to identify "the cause" of autism by September is being positioned to blame vaccines despite decades of evidence to the contrary. These aren't isolated policy changes. They're coordinated elements of a strategy.

Colonizing Mars Is a Really, Really Terrible Idea

Stuart Jeffries The Guardian
Woah! say Kelly and Zach Weinersmith in this romp through the many rooms of a space folly. “Leaving 2C warmer Earth for Mars would be like leaving a messy room so you can live in a toxic waste dump.”
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