Portside

Islamist militancy in Nigeria is being strengthened by western and regional fossil fuel interests. The roots of the country's security and instability go back to its formation by the British during colonial times: the Muslims in the North, the Christians and animists in the South. The country's Civil War/Biafran War, from 1967 to 1970, was the first rupture because of ethnicity.

Newly Published Photographs Share Rich Lives of Former Slaves After Emancipation; Web Series Tells "What Black Folks Don't Do"; Customs Destroys Rare Bamboo Flutes; NYT & NPR Maintain Latino Stereotypes; Native American Studies Association Supports BDS; Chart Illustrates You Vote What You Drink

"The chief executive officer of a state university has the authority to suspend, dismiss or terminate from employment any faculty or staff member who makes improper use of social media...including but not limited to blogs, wikis, and social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. `Improper use of social media' means making a communication through social media" that directly incites violence or some other "immediate breach of the peace,"

With General Alexander calling for NSA reporting to be halted, US and UK credibility as guardians of press freedom is crushed.

The Government is collecting phone records for millions and millions of Americans under the PATRIOT Act. It's an outrage: The Guardian has obtained long sought-after evidence of the extent of ongoing spying on Americans under the PATRIOT Act -- and it's as bad as we'd worried. The NSA is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

Verizon Communications has responded to an explosive report that outlines the telecommunications giant's role in an ongoing domestic spying program. The response, in a memo to employees, seems aimed at containing a public relations disaster. The wording, however, has to adhere to restrictions, imposed on Verizon by the secret court, not to disclose that the company was ordered to hand over phone logs to the FBI and the National Security Agency.

The civil liberties group said leaked details of the case could portray the suspect in a triple murder in Waltham in an unfair light.

Some eager-to-believe progressives heralded the speech as a momentous change, but Obama's actions are often quite different than his rhetoric

The Cold War is ostensibly over but training and arming the bad guys never stopped.