Portside

There is only one group in Israel that is strong enough, cohesive enough, determined enough to take over the state: the settlers. The process is already well advanced. The new police chief is a kippah-wearing former settler. So is the chief of the Secret Service. More and more of the army and police officers are settlers. In the government and in the Knesset, the settlers wield a huge influence.

SNL has scheduled Donald Trump as host on Nov. 7, shocking Latino leaders. "It's hypocritical of them to go back and put Donald Trump on as the face of the program, given that NBC said it would terminate its relationship with Trump over his comments about Mexican immigrants," says Juan Escalante, a Venezuelan immigrant who has launched a petition urging the network to drop Trump.

A new study has shown that people who live traditional lifestyles in Namibia, Tanzania, and Bolivia don’t fit with any of the common notions about pre-industrial dozing. “People like to complain that modern life is ruining sleep, but they’re just saying: Kids today!” Much like the Paleo diet, these ideas are based on unsubstantiated assumptions about how humans used to live.

“Revolution soon come” seems like a fantasy. But Sanders’ view that nothing will change unless people rise up, demand change, go to the polls in large numbers and hold their representatives accountable is compelling. By not raising money from billionaires, not setting up a super PAC, by raising stunning sums in small donations (nearly $2 million after the Democratic debate), he isn’t just calling for a popular movement, he is helping to build it.

Eric Garner, a sometime gardener who was killed by a New York City policeman's choke hold in 2014, lives on in Ross Gay's plain tribute to a man who worked with his hands.

The organizers counted 250,000, a quarter of a million. Of course the police scaled that down - to 150,000. But who's counting - it was definitely the biggest since 2003 against the Iraq War. It was a protest against the "Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership", TTIP, and its equally spurned Canadian sister, CETA. Some speakers, and some signs proclaimed: Take TTIP and shove it - and Capitalism with it!

Answer: When the child is Black and the shooter is a police officer. You're not likely to find any law enforcement person within a 100-mile radius who would dare speak out and say what we all know: this went down badly (not just "tragically," as one of the experts put it) and the officers should be held accountable. Law enforcement culture doesn't allow for people to break ranks without consequences. So please, let's not call these hired consultants independent.

After the NYPD broke his leg and charged him with resisting arrest, NBA star Thabo Sefolosha cleared his name in court. Here's what we learned. The NYPD has a racism problem that was just proven in open court. One of the least covered aspects in this trial was the surveillance footage of the initial approach by police. They passed Thabo's white teammate Pero Antic and making a beeline for Thabo. He was in their sights. He was their target. His skin was a bull's-eye.

El Faro was an overaged ship -- and the problem with old ships is that they are about as safe as old trucks. Commercial truckers don't drive 40-year old vehicles on their routes.