‘Defending’ Vatican, Roman Cops Harass Peaceful Feminist Protesters
Reading Time: 2 minutes A peaceful protest outside the Vatican for women’s rights turned violent when police descended to break up chants for equality in Church deliberations.
Voting Rights Activists Score Big Win in New York
Reading Time: 2 minutes A lawsuit challenging the state’s electoral practices, which plaintiffs argue allowed for large-scale voter disenfranchisement, has been allowed to proceed in federal court.
Resolution to Reveal All From 9/11 Documents Clears Senate Hurdle
Reading Time: 2 minutes US Sen. Richard Blumenthal insisted Wednesday that there is no threat to national security in declassifying all documents related to the attacks of September 11, 2001. His fellow senators did not object.
Florence, Pig Poop, Poisonous Snakes, Alligators, Fire Ants — What Could Be Worse?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hurricanes unleash all kinds of horrors besides floods — snakes, alligators, pig poop — but things are bound to get even worse because of climate change deniers.
John Oliver Takes On Felon Disenfranchisement
Reading Time: 1 minute John Oliver shines light on the pressing problem of felon disenfranchisement in a hilarious yet thoroughly fact-based report.
Collective Interests: Going Numb on 9/11
Reading Time: 3 minutes Another year has passed since 9/11, and it seems as though accountability for those who financed and supported the perpetrators is further from reality than ever. While yet more evidence has surfaced this year about the people involved in covering up the crime, secrecy reigns supreme in Washington. Yelling “national security” a whole lot, which Read More
Trump Is Dangerous, but Is #Resistance Just as Dangerous?
Reading Time: 3 minutes A recent New York Times op-ed by an anonymous high-level administration official bemoans the dangers of President Donald Trump. But the ideology of this self-described “resistance” member may be even worse: it masks itself as “sanity” — while promoting some of the same dangerous policies.
The American Lobbyist Who Undermined a Democracy
Reading Time: 8 minutes Recent developments in a Ukraine courtroom have shed new light on US special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Prosecutors in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev have filed a court motion against Viktor Yanukovych, a Ukrainian politician closely allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Yanukovych is also the subject of two criminal cases filed against Paul Manafort, Read More
Georgia Officials Knew Equipment Was Vulnerable — Before the 2016 Election
Reading Time: 3 minutes Despite ample warning of the feeble condition of the state’s election infrastructure, officials failed to address vulnerabilities before the 2016 election.
Mueller Is Not the End, but Just the Beginning
Reading Time: 4 minutes No matter what the eventual outcome of Mueller’s investigation, the US’s national nightmare is just getting started. Because even if Trump is removed from office, Trumpism is alive and well — and armed to the teeth.
Your ICE at Work: Another Nanny Rounded Up and Sent Packing
Reading Time: 2 minutes The US can feel a little more secure today. On July 19, US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) successfully removed Marta Rodriguez from our shores. Marta came to this country more than a decade ago with the criminal aim of earning enough money as a nanny to send $600 a month back to Honduras to Read More
Did the NRA Launder Russian Money to Help Trump Win the 2016 Presidential Election?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Counterintelligence officials confirm Russia played a major role in helping Donald Trump get elected. Now the Justice Department is investigating whether key Kremlin officials used the NRA to donate money to Trump’s campaign.
A Deep State: The Gun the US Doesn’t Have
Reading Time: 6 minutes The Plame affair reminded us spies are real. And the Trump investigation is reminding us that spying might be necessary … but a sophisticated intelligence apparatus is not necessarily a Deep State.
It Devours: Smartphones Are Seducing Us Out of Reality
Reading Time: 6 minutes In 1996 came the Internet and it made the world instantly global. Then, in 2008, the iPhone arrived, and we as a society became universally and ubiquitously plugged-in. Mainlined into the cosmic collective, and buttressed by an accompanying explosion of virtual “communities” through social media sites.Today this omniscient virtual world is summoned on average 85 Read More
Arrays of Light for Puerto Rico’s Power Grid
Reading Time: 3 minutes When the power went out in Puerto Rico in April, the lights remained on in a handful of fire stations. Why did they have power? They relied on solar energy as part of an initiative that seeks to better prepare the island for emergencies by making critical infrastructure more resilient — particularly in the aftermath Read More
To Flip Manafort: Is Mueller Gathering Plea Deals?
Reading Time: 4 minutes While many others targeted by special counsel Robert Mueller have agreed to cooperate, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has pleaded not guilty to various charges brought against him. In Washington, DC, Manafort faces 15 to 20 years in prison if found guilty of conspiracy against the United States, lying to prosecutors, making Read More
Long Strange Trip: On the Death of Kennedy and Huxley
Reading Time: 5 minutes Aldous Huxley died on the same day as John F. Kennedy. It’s an interesting factoid, but does it mean anything? Here’s one take on the possible significance.
Official Bullshit on RFK Murder Recycled
Reading Time: 5 minutes On the 50th Anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, May 24, 2018, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz trumpeted this headline: Why Sirhan Sirhan, a Jerusalem-born Palestinian, Shot Bobby Kennedy Bobby Kennedy’s assassination, 50 years later: Sirhan Sirhan, whose family fled Jerusalem in 1948, may have been America’s first Middle Eastern lone-wolf terroristAnd the article was pretty much Read More
Rosenstein Is Caught Between Doing His Job and Appeasing Trump
Reading Time: 3 minutes Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has one of the toughest jobs in Washington. He wants to ensure that the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election can proceed while also having to handle the increasingly frequent tantrums from President Donald Trump. The latest chapter in this ongoing saga started in late April when Trump Read More
America Makes Torture Great Again
Reading Time: 2 minutes The US Senate has confirmed Gina Haspel as CIA director. Because three Republicans opposed her, some Democrats were needed to get the necessary votes. In the end, six of them voted with the rest of the GOP to confirm “Bloody Gina.” That’s some #Resistance. Haspel oversaw torture at a secret CIA prison in Thailand during Read More