Portside

Working hard for Russia or hardly working for America?

Randy Rainbow's exclusive interview with Vice President Mike Pence inspires a zany, upbeat music homage to the greatness of a wall

Trump fires back at Nancy P after she proposes postponing the State of the Union address. Cardi B sounds off about the government shutdown. Michael Kosta unpacks the use of crowdfunding to help unpaid federal workers.

In this award-winning gem, a veteran shoplifter and his son come across a little girl in the freezing cold and take her in, testing their family bonds. Full review.
 

In an electrifying talk, Stacey Abrams shares the lessons she learned from her campaign for governor of Georgia, some advice on how to change the world -- and a few hints at her next steps. "Be aggressive about your ambition," Abrams says.

Robert Reich explains why the growing federal debt enriches Wall St. bankers and wealthy Americans.

The President confirmed on Thursday that he will likely potentially certainly improbably possibly doubtfully absolutely declare a national emergency. For sure, maybe.

How do extraordinarily complex emergent phenomena — like ants assembling themselves into living bridges, or tiny water and air molecules forming into swirling hurricanes — spontaneously arise from systems of much simpler elements?

Survivors Asante McGee, Kitti Jones, Lizzette Martinez, Lisa Van Allen, backup singer Jovante Cunningham, performing artist Sparkle, and ex-wife and survivor of R. Kelly, Andrea Kelly, address R. Kelly directly in this bonus clip from Episode 6 of Surviving R. Kelly, "Black Girls Matter." #SurvivingRKelly

Bob Dylan's memorable 1988 Live Oakland performance of With God on Our Side made into a historical / lyric video.

Student loans are leaving millions of Americans with really bad hangovers.

AlphaZero taught itself from scratch chess, shogi and Go, beating a world-champion program in each case and discovering new and creative playing strategies that hint at the potential to tackle other complex problems.

A classic Paddy Chayevsky film starring Faye Dunaway and William Holden about a the role of the media in the corrupt system by which the very rich screw the middle class and poor. Now in a theater version with Bryan Cranston.

In the Trump era, everyone from comedians to pundits have claimed that “nothing matters”. MSNBC anchor Ari Melber runs through an exhaustive list of times when Trump has been defeated or stopped by facts and reporting. “In a democracy, things matter when we make them matter.” 

Parody of "Party In The U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus

The critically acclaimed, three times extended, Broadway phenomenon makes its global debut on Netflix.

The official Vice trailer about our most notorious vice president, starring Christian Bale. Full review here.

Gee, it's more difficult than they thought.

What happens if Santa is fired? Is there anything that could save Christmas?

The pride of the Late Show, Jon Batiste, performs the song from his album 'Hollywood Africans' that earned a Grammy nomination for Best American Roots Performance. 'Saint James Infirmary Blues.'

Thousands of migrants Central America have trekked across Mexico as part of the wave after wave of caravans fleeing persecution, violence, and poverty in their home countries. A Vice News Special Report (HBO).

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Nadine Labaki's Capernaum ("Chaos") tells the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the "crime" of giving him life. Full review.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.