Friday Nite Videos | August 14, 2026

How Much Water Data Centers Actually Use. Donavan McKinney on his Primary Upset. Can Baldness Be Reversed? Steal This Story, Please! India’s Internet War.

After the Primary, Where Next for Wisconsin?

Democratic socialist Francesca Hong won one of the highest vote totals ever recorded in a seriously contested Democratic primary. David Crowley's narrow win could have surprising implications that benefit the party in the redistricting wars.

AI Should Be Made To Serve the Public Interest

From space to telecommunications, the US has a long history of fostering technology for the public good. These AI models could be aligned to democratic values, not corporate profits

Ancient Forests Took 100,000 Years To Recover Last Time

Today, human-caused warming is unfolding vastly faster than during the last global warming. The fossil record shows that forests can recover if humanity avoids pushing them beyond critical thresholds.

The SpaceX Sham

The chief scandal of the AI boom is not the secretive financial machinations of tech oligarchs, but how much money they have raised on the open promise of an automated, transhumanist future.

Insurgents Are Revitalizing the Democratic Party

If established party leaders don’t screw things up—by echoing Republican talking points about a “dangerous” left, or by opting for caution when the electorate is calling for action—this revitalization has the potential to build a vibrant coalition.

El-Sayed’s Win Is Most Consequential Election This Year

In what will be seen as this year’s most significant election Dr Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary. Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and massive US military support to Israel became central themes actively debated across the state

Mamdani for Amazon Workers; Schumer's Daughter Not So

Legislation before the New York City Council would end Amazon’s subcontracting of delivery drivers. Jessica Schumer is the lead lobbyist against it.

'Zionist' Has Become Toxic in America

The American Jewish establishment is in a bind. An organized community that cannot tolerate any dissent will lose its dissenting members, deepening its resistance to alternate views and making it less able to exert any influence outside the community

Reader Comments & Tidbits, Aug. 13, 2026

Reader Comments: Credible Threat?; Todd Blanche?; Contempt of Congress - No Question; New Health Care Crisis; Howard Zinn; Dr. Anthony Fauci; Prairieland; Abortion Rights; How Domestic Workers Built POWER; Announcements - New York City; Cartoons;
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Culture

poetry

Road Sign on Interstate 5

Robert Peake
Poet Robert Peake asks us to consider what a road sign says about the lives and needs of migrants.

food

Fight Hunger and Make Food More Affordable.

Ralph Palladino Submitted by the author to Portside
Given today’s challenging economic landscape and recent federal policy rollbacks, publicly run food stores are a practical, common-sense idea worth pursuing.

poetry

Appalachia

Peter Neil Carroll
If you follow the speaker’s directions, you’ll be as lost as he is. Poet Peter Neil Carroll wonders what’s worth finding in this place that most Americans have forgotten.

books

Mavericks Without a Cause

Charlie Goldberg Dissent Magazine
The memoirs of John Fetterman and Joe Manchin offer revealing insights into two figures granted outsized importance by our broken political system.

Labor

labor

Daimler To Close Portland Truck Plant

Don McIntosh NW Labor Press
The plant closure is a sad end to the high hopes of five years ago, when Daimler chose the Portland plant to make new electric versions of its Class 8 heavy truck and smaller box trucks.

labor

Lawsuit Takes Aim at Deal Granting Trump Sweeping Tax Protections

Alan Feuer and Andrew Duehren The New York Times
Photo of the façade of the IRS building The union representing IRS workers asked a judge to stop the Trump administration from granting Trump extraordinary tax protections, saying the provision was illegal. The request was the first time anyone had used the courts to kill the plan.

labor

Class War in Sugartown

Joe Allen CounterPunch
The C&H Sugar strike was shaping up to be the most politically significant strike in the country. If the ILWU returns to the picket line in sixty days, they deserve wide support.

Friday nite video

video

Donavan McKinney on his Primary Upset

Donavan McKinney, Democratic nominee to represent Detroit/Wayne County in Congress, on democratic socialism, corporate money, data centers and the need for Medicare for All

video

Can Baldness Be Reversed?

New research could lead to breakthroughs in how we understand how cells grow and divide… and that means a cure for /baldness/ could help us study /cancer/.

video

Steal This Story, Please!

A riveting portrait of the iconic independent journalist Amy Goodman by Oscar-nominated Directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal. Executive Producers Rosario Dawson, Jane Fonda and Tom Morello.

video

India’s Internet War

A decade after Modi’s digital-first political campaign, an internet-fueled youth movement called the Cockroach Janta Party (or the Cockroach People’s Party) is using social media platforms to organize protests