Information is power. Our mission at Portside is to seek out and to provide information that empowers you -- that empowers the left. Every day we search hundreds of sources to connect you with the most interesting, striking and useful material. Just once a year we appeal to you to contribute to make it possible to continue this work. Please help.

The NRA’s Financial Weakness, Explained

Political clout doesn’t guarantee a healthy bottom line.

Bonuses Are Up $0.02 Since the GOP Tax Cuts Passed

The bottom line is that there has been very little increase in private sector compensation or W-2 wages since the end of 2017.

The Public Ownership Solution

The US has a surprisingly large amount of public ownership. But in order for it to truly serve the social good, it must be expanded — and democratized.

Texas Judge Strikes Down Obama’s ACA as Unconstitutiona

At issue was whether the health law’s insurance mandate still compelled people to buy coverage after Congress reduced the penalty to zero dollars as part of the tax overhaul that President Trump signed last December.

Miami’s Historic Climate Gentrification Resolution

People try to pass through a flooded street in Miami Beach.
The City of Miami has adopted a resolution residents hope will help curb climate gentrification, the phenomenon where as sea levels rise the wealthy displace low-income residents as they relocate from their once desirable coastal locations.

Trump's Inaugural Swamp: Where Did All the Money Go?

As the inaugural committee planned the landmark celebration, internal concerns were raised about whether Trump’s Washington hotel was overcharging for event space. The spending could be a violation of the law.

Top 6 Reasons: Not a Cent for Trump's Idiotic Wall

The fact of the matter is that Democrats need to stand up to Trump if they are to vindicate themselves. They ran on a more progressive America, not on an America that is a giant prison surrounded by walls.

Florida Is Thwarting the Vote to Restore Felons' Rights

As officials try to frustrate the implementation of constitutional amendment that passed with 65 percent of the vote, a slow-motion crisis is building in the state of Florida.

The 'Deep Earth' Is Full of Life, Scientists Find

A global team of scientists find an ecosystem below Earth's surface that is twice the size of the world’s oceans

Friday Nite Videos | December 14, 2018

Five movies for the holidays: First Reformed | Movie. If Beale Street Could Talk. "Bisbee '17" | Documentary. Minding the Gap | Documentary. Amazing Grace | Documentary.
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Culture

music

10 of the Best Political Albums You'll Hear This Year

Mat Ward Green Left Weekly
Here are the best new albums that related to this month's politics. (David Crosby, Southeast Desert Metal, Indigenoise, Darren Hayman, Midnight Oil, Barbra Streisand, Arturo O'Farrill, Bobby Sessions, Glitoris, OHHMS).

poetry

Why We Need Unions

Stephen Dunn Plume Poetry
The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn reminds us, even if life isn’t fair there’s kindness, even love.

books

Against the Normal

Scott McLemee Inside Higher Ed
December 10 was International Human Rights Day, making the book under review a timely, sobering take on the uphill struggle for human rights at home and abroad in the face of rising nativism, racism, xenophobia - paeans to alleged traditional values.

books

Not All Dead White Men

Tara Wanda Merrigan The Ploughshares Blog
A scholar of the Classics takes a look at how the far right uses, and abuses, ancient texts in its propaganda.

Message for Portside Culture Readers: There's a Storm Ahead

Portside moderators Portside
We'd like to say that everyone can breathe easier after the midterm elections, which delivered an emphatic judgment on Trump and Trumpism. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to this achievement in any way.

food

The Ten Best Books About Food of 2018

Rachel Tepper Paley Smithsonian Magazine
Ten titles from 2018 should satisfy readers hungry to learn more about the history and science of food, including why people around the world eat certain things, how to define “American” food, why some ingredients taste good with other ingredients.

Labor

labor

Chicago Teachers Win First Charter Strike in History

Barbara Madeloni Labor Notes
In a charter network where 90 percent of the students are Latino, strikers won an agreement to designate all its schools as “sanctuary schools,” off-limits to immigration police.

labor

They Took Control of Their Workplace — and They Won

UE News
Ten years ago, 240 workers at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago occupied their factory to prevent its closure. This victory by UE members demonstrated that employers can be challenged and defeated.

labor

Message from Portside Labor: There's a Storm Ahead

Portside moderators Portside
We'd like to say that everyone can breathe easier after the midterm elections, which delivered an emphatic judgment on Trump and Trumpism. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to this achievement in any way.

labor

Defying Predictions, Union Membership Isn't Dropping Post-Janus

Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene Governing
The Supreme Court’s ruling was expected to diminish union membership. But so far, many unions have actually increased their numbers since the verdict. Conservative groups are working to reverse that trend in the long run.

Friday nite video

video

First Reformed | Movie

A drama written and directed by Paul Schrader, starring Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried and Cedric the Entertainer. Rev. Toller struggles with the temptation to destroy himself and the church he pastors in upstate New York with a suicide vest from Iraq.

video

If Beale Street Could Talk

Barry Jenkins' screen adaptation of James Baldwin's novel of the same name, set in 1972. A young African-American woman struggles to clear her husband of false charges before the birth of their baby.

video

"Bisbee '17" | Documentary

A mining town on the Arizona-Mexico border stages a recreation of the town's controversial past: The traumatic deportation of migrant workers in 1917.

video

Minding the Gap | Documentary

The secret to growing up is that no one really knows what they’re doing. It's in the gap between childhood and adulthood that we find meaning for ourselves. A Hulu original documentary.

video

Amazing Grace | Documentary

It took 46 years for this film to see the light of day. It was worth the wait. (Full review.) Sydney Pollack documents Aretha Franklin in two days of live recording at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles that resulted in the best-selling album of live gospel recording of all time.

video

Bernie's Ideas Aren't on the Fringe Any More

'Where We Go From Here' author and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders talks about the meaning of the midterm election his ideas about where the Democrats and the country need to go from here.

video

Line Riders | Beethoven's 5th

Over three months of painstaking hand drawing went into synchronizing this wild journey of a line rider track to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.