Eternity News Now

Thousands of people in Paris and other French cities hit the streets on Saturday to protest the controversial state of emergency that one organization says is an indication of a "headlong rush into authoritarianism." The measure, imposed following the November attacks in Paris, is set to expire... read more.

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders pulled up to a supporter’s garage in his hulking campaign bus, prepared to give a pep talk to a few dozen devotees who had been tirelessly knocking on doors for him in the final days before the Iowa caucuses. But first he had something to get off his chest. Visibly agitated, Sanders teed off on a television ad being aired by his chief rival, Hillary Clinton, implying he’s on the wrong side of two key issues: gun control and women’s reproductive rights. “Those are inaccuracies, and we can do better than that,” the Vermont senator told his huddled supporters... read more.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that most of the refugees entering Germany from Syria and Iraq are expected to return home once conflicts in their countries have ended. The statement comes as Merkel facing mounting pressure over her open-door policy.   Read more.

A series of blasts have struck the outskirts of Syria's capital, Damascus. At least 45 people were killed in the mainly Shiite neighbourhood, Syria's Interior Ministry reported. The Islamic State terrorist group has taken responsibility for the attacks. According to the ministry, “more than 45 people were killed and dozens were injured.” Police say that the death toll is set to rise... read more.

For Illinois workers anxious about their retirement prospects, relief may be on the way. In a matter of months, the state will roll out a retirement program for more than 2.5 million private-sector workers, run by a government-appointed board.   Read more.

The controversy around Google’s tax deal with British tax officials grabbed headlines this past week, prompting further questions about how overseas criminals launder billions of pounds through the UK. Multinational corporations such as Google and Facebook minimize their European income tax bills... read more.

Boko Haram militants killed 86 people, including children, in their recent attack on villages in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday. Horrifying details of the attacks emerged on Sunday. The Saturday night assault on the outskirts of the Nigerian city of Maiduguri – the birthplace of... read more. 

In 1971, Lewis Powell, before becoming a Supreme Court Justice, authored a memo, now known as the Powell Memo, and sent it to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Powell called on corporate America to take an increased role in shaping politics, law, and education. Business leaders, Powell instructed, must marshal their resources to influence institutions that influence public opinion and wield political power – especially at universities. Four decades later, the public can see examples of Powell's instructions taking hold.   Read more.

David Hackenberg, who first announced the phenomenon now known as 'Colony Collapse Disorder' (CCD) back in late 2006, has lost 90 percent of his bees. Again. "We've lost our bees before, but it's never been this bad," says 43-year-old Davey Hackenberg who now runs Buffy Bee... read more.

From being victims of police killings to facing barriers to educational and health equity, African Americans are facing "systemic racial discrimination" and deserve reparatory justice, a United Nations working group said Friday. Having just completed an 11-day mission with visits to Washington D.C., Baltimore, Jackson, Miss., Chicago and New York City, the five-member Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent say... read more.

Dozens of masked man went on an anti-immigrant rampage in Stockholm in an apparent retaliation for the stabbing death of a young Swedish woman at a refugee center earlier this week, local media reported. The crowd of some 40 to 50 people went on a violent spree on Friday night at around 9 p.m. local time in and around the Swedish capital’s main railroad station... read more.

"Corporate criminals routinely escape meaningful prosecution for their misconduct." This is the damning verdict of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) report released Friday... read more .

If you’re lucky, once in your lifetime, maybe twice if you’re really lucky, you’ll get an opportunity to support a presidential candidate who speaks to your values on a very deep personal level. For me, that chance came the day Bernie Sanders announced his presidential campaign. My reason for supporting Bernie Sanders for president can be summed up in one word: authenticity.   Read more.

Primary season is in its prime and feels familiar in almost every respect. Eight years on, it’s the same candidate, the same point of contention. Is Hillary Clinton warm enough? I’m not debating that this is sexist stuff: all this focus on her warmth, her style, her smile.   Read more.

The Zika virus, linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil, is "spreading explosively" and could infect as many as 4 million people in the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.  Read more.

"Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind," Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, told Truthout shortly after a 9.0 earthquake in Japan caused a tsunami that destroyed the cooling system of Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan.  Read more.

As a young artist, Michael Jackson knew he wanted to be legendary. “I will be magic,” he wrote as a teenager, outlining his plans for his career. “I will be better than every great actor roped in one.” Jackson’s drive to succeed and his striking talent as a singer, dancer and songwriter are the focus of Spike Lee’s new documentary... read more.

The people of Michigan hired themselves a GOP businessman to be governor in 2011. And what they got was children poisoned by public water in Flint. That is, what they got was a government run based on GOP business values.  Read more.   Read more.

A Danish teenager who said she was sexually assaulted now faces a fine for using pepper spray against her attacker. The man who pulled her to the ground and tried to undress her fled the scene without any charges. The incident took place in the center of the small town of Sonderborg in southern Denmark at about 10 p.m. local time Wednesday.   Read more.

Ammon Bundy, the leader of an armed seizure of a federal wildlife refuge in rural eastern Oregon, was arrested and one person was killed Tuesday afternoon in a traffic stop in rural Oregon, the F.B.I. and the Oregon State Police said.   Read more.

What does lead do to the human body? Infants and small children can suffer brain and nervous system damage, weakened immune systems and general physical collapse that can lead to death. Pregnant women have a higher risk of stillbirth or miscarriage. A raft of studies has pretty much concluded that lead can cause cancer. It causes cardiovascular diseases and kidney damage which, like cancer, can also kill. The people of Flint, Michigan, are now subject to all of these impacts and more, due to the lead in their water.   Read more.

European states have reacted in some of the most drastic ways yet to the continent’s biggest migration crisis since the second world war, with Denmark enacting a law that allows police to seize refugees’ assets. The vote in the Danish parliament on Tuesday, which followed similar moves in Switzerland and ... read more.

Seemingly undeterred by the consistent critique that her close ties to the financial industry are hurting her campaign, The Intercept on Tuesday reports that with less than a week until the Iowa caucus, Hillary Clinton will soon leave the hotly-contested state to attend a pair of Wall Street-sponsored fundraising events.  Read more.

On January 26, one of the saddest days in human history will be celebrated in Australia. It will be "a day for families," say the newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Flags will be dispensed at street corners and displayed on funny hats. People will say incessantly how proud they are.   Read more.

Restraining practices have been called into question since Denver released a video showing the last moments a homeless man who died face-down while being restrained by five deputies. His family is now calling for a federal investigation into the incident. The release of the video, which runs for more than 45 minutes... read more.

With the Walton billionaires doubling down in their efforts to accelerate the charter school industry and with the Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, throwing in $100 million to privatize traditional public schools, one might think that the U.S. Department of Education would be a major line of defense for America's public schools educating the most underserved students or even a bold investor in sustainable community schools that are truly public.   Read more.

Corporate money has had a devastating effect on the democratic process in the United States, made worse by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. But Americans are fighting back.   Read more.

Amid energetic protests fueled by shared criticisms from people in the streets and opposition political parties that the nation's political process is awash with fraud, the ruling government of Haiti on Friday cancelled national elections scheduled for Sunday by saying it could not guarantee the safety of voters.   Read more.

People took to the streets of several major US cities on Saturday, marching to express their support for the Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. But, as some suggested, the East Coast blizzard stole the attention.   Read more.

Faheem Qureshi’s uncles sat with their neighbors, chatting, cracking jokes and sipping tea, in their family’s lounge for male guests. Qureshi, almost 14, stood nearby, bored and restless, thinking about when he could go to the nearby playground where he and the other Ziraki village kids played badminton and cricket.   Read more.

Major cities, suburbs, and rural communities up and down the East Coast of the United States are digging out Sunday morning after a "monstrous" blizzard dumped multiple feet of snow across a region where tens of millions of people live.   Read more.

A bisexual asylum seeker from Jamaica has won a three year battle to remain in the UK. Orashia Edwards fought to have his rejected bid overturned after a judge ruled that he had been dishonest about his sexuality.   Read more.

Hundreds of monkeys have been sent to Australia for what seem to be dubious medical experiments that raise “serious ethical questions,” the local environmental authorities have warned, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald. More than 370 primates have been part of the research over the past 15 years, and the scientists who conduct the tests are most probably “entirely lacking” in expertise essential to... read more.

Only 26 percent of white Americans supported Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1966. As a white Jewish American, I try to hold on to that truth more tightly even than the sepia-toned memory of Abraham Joshua Heschel at King's side. What can I learn, what can I use, in organizing for justice today, with the knowledge of how rare white solidarity with the Black-led struggle for freedom was and is. As a white Jew, it feels critical to interrogate where and how King's adversaries and their legacy might be alive today in our world, in our movements, in ourselves.   Read more.

Experts are voicing strong disagreement with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who on Friday tried to argue that the lead poisoning plaguing the water of the majority-black city of Flint was "absolutely not" a case of environmental racism.   Read more.

Four people have been killed and others injured in a shooting at a First Nation school in Saskatchewan, Canada, law enforcement has confirmed. The suspect has been detained. It was initially stated that five people were killed, but that number was later corrected to be four.  Read more.

The number of dead in a school shooting in northern Canada was revised down to four from five, the Canadian police said late Friday, but gave no new details on either the victims or the one male in custody.   Read more.

Mary Anne Grady Flores is in jail today and American citizens everywhere can surely breathe a sigh of relief that we are safe from her criminal behavior at least for the next six months. That’s the length of the sentence this 59-year-old peace activist in upstate New York began on Tuesday — one day after the United States honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for his commitment to nonviolent civil disobedience.   Read more.

Leonardo DiCaprio blasted the “corporate greed of the coal, oil and gas industries” in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Tuesday. DiCaprio was honored along with will.i.am, Yao Chen and Olafur Eliasson for making important contributions to improving the state of the world.   Read more.

More than 120 international organizations and agencies on Thursday released a letter appealing for an end to the crisis in Syria and to "the suffering endured by millions of civilians." "[T]he war is approaching its sixth brutal year. The bloodshed continues. The suffering deepens," reads the letter... read more.

In Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s State of the State speech Tuesday night, the self-proclaimed nerd laid out the facts of the ongoing crisis that led to the lead poisoning of one of Michigan’s largest cities. Snyder placed primary blame at the feet of the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, the agency responsible for ensuring the safety of the water supply when Flint disconnected from the Detroit Water Authority and began to draw from the Flint River for the first time. “Government failed you at the federal, state, and local level,” Snyder said. “We need to make sure that this never happens again in any Michigan city.”   Read more.

Michigan’s governor did something highly unusual Tuesday night: He apologized to a city. “I’m sorry and I will fix it,” GOP Gov. Rick Snyder told the people of Flint in his State of the State address. “Government failed you at the federal, state and local level.”   Read more .

Last year shattered 2014’s record to become the hottest year since reliable record-keeping began, two U.S. government science agencies announced Wednesday in yet another sign that the planet is heating up.   Read more.

The militant occupation of a wildlife sanctuary in Oregon has stirred the the ire of hundreds of nature lovers and defenders of public lands who have launched their own counter-protest against the group's ongoing "temper tantrum with guns."   Read more.

The day before they convened for President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address, the House of Representatives passed the first major overhaul to the Freedom of Information Act in nearly a decade. Originally passed in 1967, the FOIA requires all federal agencies to disclose information requested unless it is exempted for reasons including personal and national security.   Read more.

The richest 1 percent is now wealthier than the rest of humanity combined, according to Oxfam, which called on governments to intensify efforts to reduce such inequality. In a report published on the eve of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the anti-poverty charity cited data from... read more.

Thousands of supporters, hungry for "political revolution," braved rare sub-freezing temperatures in Alabama on Monday night to rally around the man they hope might bring it. "There must be a mistake," Sen. Bernie Sanders joked to the diverse crowd of 7,000. "Somebody told me Alabama is a conservative state."   Read more.

In a landmark ruling, a British appeals court on Tuesday found that the UK's terrorism law violate the European Convention on Human Rights—a decision that came in the case of David Miranda, who was detained and searched at London's Heathrow airport in 2013 while carrying encrypted documents related to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden.   Read more.

If you are poor, you will almost never go to trial—instead you will be forced to accept a plea deal offered by government prosecutors. If you are poor, the word of the police, who are not averse to fabricating or tampering with evidence, manipulating witnesses and planting guns or drugs, will be accepted in a courtroom as if it was the word of God. If you are poor, and especially if you are of color, almost anyone who can verify your innocence will have a police record of some kind and thereby will be invalidated as a witness. If you are poor, you will be railroaded in assembly-line production from a town or city where there are no jobs through the police stations, county jails and courts directly into prison.   Read more.

Here's a pop quiz for anyone who calls the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. an American hero. Can you name any of his great speeches or written works without citing "I Have a Dream" or the "Letter from Birmingham Jail"?   Read more.

Los Angeles - A replica of the Montgomery, Ala., bus that Rosa Parks was riding in when she was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger will be featured in the 31st annual Kingdom Day Parade on Monday, one of numerous local celebrations planned to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day.   Read more.

Critics of Ammon Bundy and his followers occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge have launched a protest designed to line the pocketbooks of Bundy's opponents. The campaign, founded by a pair of brothers from Oregon, is known as G.O.H.O.M.E, an acronym that stands for... read more.

Martin Luther King, Jr. day, 2016. This year, as in the past, we’ll hear excerpts from his 1963 speech, “I Have a Dream,” and references to his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize — but probably nothing about his 1967 plan to make the dream come true. Yet his plan is now imperative, more relevant than when he was alive. Americans must act to... read more.

Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday called on Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to resign for his administration’s failure to deal with a lead-poisoning crisis that has sickened thousands of children in Flint, Michigan.   Read more.

This story is prompted by a picket sign I saw at a recent anti-police brutality protest sponsored by two San Francisco families, one Latino and one Black, whose sons were shot dead in separate incidents following a barrage of police bullets. Among the crowd of 150 activists standing in the pouring rain in front of the police-barricaded Bayview police station, were four young people holding a sign that simply read, "The Last 3 Percent."   Read more.

From Warren Buffett to Bill Gates, it is no secret that the ultra-rich philanthropist class has an over-sized influence in shaping global politics and policies. And a study (pdf) just out from the Global Policy Forum, an international watchdog group, makes the case that powerful philanthropic foundations—under the control of wealthy individuals—are actively undermining governments and inappropriately setting the agenda for international bodies like the United Nations.   Read more.

Today — on what happens to be Dr. King's birthday — I am proud to endorse the presidential candidate who I believe most embodies the values and ideals of the man who scared the hell out of the American government and was assassinated in 1968 after so bravely fighting against the Vietnam War and for income equality.   Read more.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 391.86 points (2.39 percent) on Friday, making it the largest daily point loss since September of last year. The sell-off was triggered by plummeting oil prices and turmoil in Chinese markets.   Read more.

There is something terribly disturbing about the contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan. When state leaders can’t even deliver basic services such as safe drinking water, they have failed.   Read more.

Arch Coal had a sizable debt payment due in December, but opted to defer payment to mid-January in a desperate attempt to buy itself more time with debt-holders. The company worked out deal with some of its priority bondholders (folks who own almost $2 billion of Arch debt) which included a formal restructuring under the supervision of a bankruptcy court.   Read more.

Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve had an important role - to solely act as a "lender of last resort" to traditional commercial banks. But during the crisis, the financial support was extended to many non-banking firms like money market mutual funds, the commercial paper market, mortgage-backed securities market and the tri-party repo market. Besides the extensive lending, non-commercial banks (also known as shadow banks) like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers were first to fail, triggering one of the worst financial crises across the world.   Read more.

On January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, leaving hundreds of thousands dead, more than a million displaced and virtually shutting down Haiti’s already weakened government. Out of the devastation, however, came some measure of hope. Haitians came together following the quake, acting in unison to rebuild their shattered nation and make it stronger than ever. The international community pledged $10 billion toward the country’s relief and reconstruction efforts.  Read more.

Yesterday, January 12, 2016, on the sixth anniversary of the 7.0 earthquake, Haitians mourned the countless lives lost. Among the many aftershocks they face is disaster capitalism, in which the Haitian elite and foreign corporations - backed by the US government, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank - are grabbing lands for extraction and mega-development projects. Ricot Jean-Pierre is a social worker and program director at the Platform to Advocate Alternative Development in Haiti (PAPDA), tells how inequitable control of land has devastated the vast majority throughout Haitian history, from enslavement to today.   Read more.

They consist of 16,000 individuals, about the size of a crowd at a professional basketball game. The inequality horror they've fomented is reaching far beyond the half of America that is in or near poverty, for it now impacts those of us well above the median, those of us in the second highest of four wealth quartiles.   Read more.

Arch Coal, the United States' second largest coal supplier, on Monday filed for bankruptcy, signaling what environmentalists described as the "end of an era" as the country moves to more renewable, less polluting energy sources.   Read more.

When the news of David Bowie’s death broke this week, and emails circulated that mourned and celebrated the artist, a colleague asked what designers Mr. Bowie had most influenced. “What designer didn’t he influence?” another wrote. It’s a good question.   Read more.

With her lead in the Democratic presidential race in Iowa effectively vanished, Hillary Clinton tore into insurgent rival Bernie Sanders here Tuesday over a litany of issues from health care to gun control. Clinton charged that Sanders’s policy proposals were unrealistic, that the Vermont senator would... read more.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down an aspect of Florida’s capital punishment system, saying it did not give jurors a sufficient role in deciding whether defendants should be put to death.   Read more.

President Barack Obama took to the stage last week to announce the latest initiative in his crusade to make it more difficult for Americans to purchase firearms. He even shed some tears for American children killed in mass shootings. But there is a blatant hypocrisy in Obama’s position on domestic gun control given that he has bombed more countries during his time in office than any president since World War Two.   Read more.

While officers raced to a recent 911 call about a man threatening his ex-girlfriend, a police operator in headquarters consulted software that scored the suspect’s potential for violence the way a bank might run a credit report. The program scoured billions of data points, including... read more

This was not supposed to happen. Ever. Because he had been so many people over the course of his grand and immense career, it was inconceivable that he wouldn’t continue to be many people—a myriad of folks in a beautiful body who would reflect times to come, times none of us could imagine but that he could. He always got to the unknown first.   Read more.

David Bowie, the infinitely changeable, fiercely forward-looking songwriter who taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personas, died on Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday. His death was confirmed by his publicist, Steve Martin, on Monday morning. No other details were provided.   Read more.

The world on Monday mourned the death of David Bowie, the iconic rock star, record producer, artist, and performer whose influence spanned generations and whose ideas constantly pushed boundaries of creativity, sexuality, and custom.   Read more.

They consist of 16,000 individuals, about the size of a crowd at a professional basketball game. The inequality horror they've fomented is reaching far beyond the half of America that is in or near poverty, for it now impacts those of us well above the median, those of us in the second highest of four wealth quartiles.   Read more.

The men who walked into an Oregon federal wildlife refuge Jan. 2 and declared it their own have an acute sense of the media moment. They've seized on fears of federal interference in Western affairs and said just enough, in just the right places... read more.

On Jan. 5, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency in Flint and Genesee County, where lead in the area’s drinking water has been showing up at toxic levels in the bloodstreams of children. The water became toxic because of a decision by the government Snyder runs.   Read more.

Residents of Palawan Island in the Philippines have united to take on the companies that they say have grabbed their land. Palawan is a large island-province of the Philippines that lies midway between the rest of the archipelago and Borneo.   Read more.

Angry White Men with Guns™ have occupied commonly held land, claiming once again, public space for their private use. And generally that is the history of this entire settler colony (and much of the world), but today's headlines refer to the Bundy brothers , who with fellow militia members, have laid siege to the federal Malheur Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon.   Read more.

Gun violence in the United States has produced a culture soaked in blood - a culture that threatens everyone and extends from accidental deaths, suicides and domestic violence to mass shootings. In late December, a woman in St. Cloud, Florida, fatally shot her own daughter after mistaking her for an intruder. Less than a month earlier, on December 2, in San Bernardino, California, was the mass shooting that left 14 people dead and more than 20 wounded   Read more.

A Muslim woman wearing a shirt which read "Salam, I come in peace" was forcibly ejected from a Donald Trump rally Friday night as some supporters of the 2016 presidential candidate reportedly hurled Islamophobic epithets at her.   Read more .

The armed right-wing activists that seized control of a federal wildlife sanctuary compound in eastern Oregon have already committed – and conspired to commit – enough serious criminal violations of U.S. law to land each of them in federal prison for the rest of lives. Of course, as Wajahat Ali points out in The Guardian newspaper, if the gunmen were Muslim or Black, they’d already be dead.   Read more.

In promising and long-awaited developments, Guatemala and El Salvador, where U.S.-backing and training helped the military forces commit crimes against humanity, this week took legal steps towards justice for victims. In El Salvador, more than 25 years after members... read more.

Workers across the United States are bracing for a major Supreme Court case, set for argument on Monday, that could strike a devastating blow to public sector unions nationwide.  Read more.

Campbell Soup Co said it will label all its U.S. products for the presence of ingredients derived from genetically modified organisms, becoming the first major food company to respond to growing calls for more transparency about ingredients. The world's largest soup maker also said it supports the enactment of federal legislation for a... read more.

Calls for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's ouster—and arrest—are growing after internal emails showed that his high-level staffers were aware of lead poisoning in Flint's public water supply six months before the administration declared a state of emergency.   Read more.

A settlement in our challenge to  NYPD surveillance of New York Muslims was announced today, heralding new safeguards to protect against bias-based and unjustified investigations of Muslim and other minority communities.   Read more .

Antipathy to environmental protection and disdain for the government's role in protecting the public's well-being have been prominent themes of the Republican Party in the era of the Tea Party. The scandal of toxic levels of lead in Flint, Michigan's municipal water supply reveals how dangerous these ideas become when put into practice. Thousands of children in Flint are now facing the lifelong... read more.

A truck rigged with explosives crashed into a police training camp in Zliten, Libya, on Thursday, killing dozens and injuring up to 200, according to various sources.   Read more.

The market turmoil in China spread around the world on Thursday, as global investors grew more anxious about the country’s currency and the health of its economy.   Read more.

The US Geological Survey reported three earthquakes striking Northwest Oklahoma overnight. Fracking is blamed for the ever more common series of temblors in the state, which has already experienced 27 tremors in 2016.   Read more.

The Department of Homeland Security’s recent nationwide immigration raids have spread panic and fear among immigrants, many of whom have barricaded themselves in their homes. They have additionally triggered criticism of Obama’s tactics.   Read more.

A California police officer was recently busted after driving 247 pounds of marijuana all the way across the country. Yuba County Deputy Christopher M. Heath was caught in York, Pennsylvania with a shipment of marijuana that was worth over $2 million. Heath was reportedly on vacation from his job at the Yuba County Police Department at the time of his arrest. Read more.

Cologne police were not ready to deal with the mass sexual assaults committed during New Year’s celebrations, the city’s police chief told RT, adding that they have never experienced such incidents before.   Read more.

At Central Florida's Lowell Correctional Institute, the largest women's prison in the country, the most salacious of women-in-prison movie scenarios meets a real life "Dante's Inferno"; in this case, the nine circles of suffering embody day-to-day life. A recent Miami Herald I-Team investigation found Lowell Correctional Institute to be a cesspool of corruption, where prisoners have been forced to exchange sex for basic necessities... read more.

As of Sunday afternoon, The Washington Post called them "occupiers." The New York Times opted for "armed activists" and "militia men." And the Associated Press put the situation this way: "A family previously involved in a showdown with the federal government has occupied a building at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon and is asking militia members to join them."   Read more.

Some of the same armed "militia" involved in the Cliven Bundy affair in Nevada have occupied federal land in Oregon formerly reserved for the Northern Paiute. Ironically, the "legal" basis for starting a fight with the federal government is that sovereignty "really" belongs to Oregon rather than the Paiutes, who have seen their federal rust land shrink from... read more.

The backlash against US Confederate symbols spilled into a North Carolina cemetery when a number of graves were vandalized with anti-racist graffiti. Nine graves in the Confederate section of Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh were targeted just before the New Year, most of them... read more.

Capitalist enterprises have little incentive to work for ordinary people, and instead they do whatever is necessary to enrich the owners of their corporate stock. Choosing the leading job-killing industry is a difficult task with so many candidates. But technology, pharmaceuticals, and the "sharing economy" are clearly in the running.   Read more.

A group of armed activists who have seized control of part of a federal wildlife refuge in southern Oregon appear to be aiming "to overthrow the county and federal government," a local law enforcement official said Sunday.   Read more.

A treaty facilitating relationships between Vatican and Palestine – referred to as a “state” in the text – has entered full force, sealing de-facto recognition of Palestinian statehood by the Holy See.   Read more.