Portside

Baseball may not be a game that handles change without crisis. But it is a game that makes saps of us all.

Prayer vigils, a funeral, daily marches and rallies for the slain teenager Andy Lopez have overtaken the city of Santa Rosa and show no sign of abating. At least two of the marches were attended by over 1,000 people, and the steady patrols and surveillance by helicopters have added to the tension in the city. More events are scheduled as the community's cry for justice mounts.

A new report says that early in-person voting reduces stress on the election system and provides greater access to voting. Based on extensive research, the report recommends that all states and local jurisdictions implement these seven early voting policies to expand the benefits of early voting nationwide.

Scientists speak out against the destruction of experimental fields of Golden Rice, a new type of rice that contains beta carotene, a source of vitamin A with the potential to reduce vitamin A deficiency and resulting blindness in the Philippines and Bangladesh

German Green politician meets US whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow to discuss possibility of helping parliamentary investigation into US spying. Snowden letter: I witnessed systemic violations of law by my government that created a moral duty to act. ... However, speaking the truth is not a crime. I am confident that with the support of the international community, the government of the United States will abandon this harmful behavior.

Following the Ninth (Beethoven!). Tough Questions About Black Lung and Money. LeBron Asks: What Muscles Do We Use When Shooting a Basket? George Carlin on Religion and God. Least Gay Marriage Friendly State: Alabama or Mississippi? Guy Davis -- Goin' Down Slow.

Turkey’s Regional Politics – Old Wine, New Bottle – actually the bottle isn’t that new...After the Egyptian military coup, a number of reports surfaced on Turkey's indignation on the turn over the events there. Yeni Shafak the newspaper close to the Turkish prime minister published a scathing article against the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, UAE as well as Palestinian Mahmud Abbas calling them the "the axis of evil" in the Middle East.

Jon Wiener reviews Bill Ayers' latest book, about the Weather Underground, the U.S. student and anti-war movement, and what happened to SDS - the largest student organization in the history of our country - and a major part of the U.S. Left...And, he is very critical.

Is our relentless quest for economic growth killing the planet? Climate scientists have seen the data - and they are coming to some incendiary conclusions.

This is a movement, not a moment...Moral Mondays have really caught fire. It took several months last spring and early summer for the Moral Monday protests to reach a crescendo. While early statehouse rallies in North Carolina started by attracting about 50 protesters, by July thousands of people from around the state were swarming the state capitol. After three consecutive months of action, there had been around 920 arrests for civil disobedience at the weekly rallies.