The U.S. criminal justice system has kept millions of Americans in an endless cycle of poverty and incarceration, creating barriers for former inmates as well as their families, communities and national economy, according to a new report published Tuesday. Adding to the body of research that has shown mass incarceration to be a principal driver…
Read moreVows of 'We'll Be Back' As Police Clear Hong Kong Protest Camp
Police moved to clear the last remaining pro-democracy “umbrella movement” protest camp in Hong Kong on Thursday, as demonstrators vowed, “We’ll be back!” Lawmakers, student organizers, and even a pop singer were among those arrested at the more than 11-week occupation, more than 1000-people strong, of the Admiralty district—the epicenter of the protest movement. Media…
Read moreSanders Has a Couple More Good Ideas: Break Up Big Banks, Expand Social Security
Promising to put forth and lobby on behalf of two bold progressive policy ideas in the months ahead, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has announced his intention to push for new pieces of legislation in the next session, one of which would break up the nation’s largest Wall Street banks and another that would expand the…
Read moreUS to Spike Private Mercenaries in Iraq Amid Expanding War, Says Senior Official
The U.S. government is preparing to hike the number of private mercenary forces in Iraq, as part of the expanding war in that country and neighboring Syria, an anonymous senior U.S. official told Reuters. There are currently at least 1,800 private contractors in Iraq, and the official said it is not immediately clear how many…
Read moreOver Two Dozen Killed in Rocket Attack on Afghan Wedding Party: AP
A rocket has killed at least 26 people attending a wedding party in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. AP reports that the deadly strike, which may have also wounded up to 60, occurred amidst fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan soldiers, though it not indicate which side fired the rocket that hit…
Read moreAustralian Troops in Iraq Working With Fighting Forces Accused of War Crimes
The Sydney Morning Herald just revealed that Australian Special Forces in Iraq are now directly working with a U.S.-formed, -backed, and -trained “elite Iraqi security force accused of killing prisoners and other human rights violations.” Click Here: Maori All Blacks Store Published early Saturday morning Australian time, the Herald article notes that Prime Minister Tony…
Read moreNot One, But Eight Reports Show Big Money Dominates Post-Citizens United Landscape
Five years after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision helped unleash unprecedented amounts of outside spending in U.S. elections, a coalition of major pro-democracy groups came together for the first time on Wednesday to release eight separate reports examining outsized corporate influence, the proliferation of dark money, and the corrupting role of money in politics….
Read moreAsked by Veteran to Apologize for Horrors of Iraq War, Karl Rove Says No
Click:bearing manufacturer Karl Rove may be a lot of things, but being sorry for the 2003 invasion of Iraq is not one of them. A 32-year-old Iraq war veteran confronted Rove at the University of Connecticut this week, calling on the former senior advisor to President George W. Bush to apologize for the horrors of…
Read more'Brutality Beyond Words': Kenyan Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesting Children
Kenyan police fired tear gas at a crowd of children protesting the seizure of their school playground by a property developer on Monday. About 100 children between eight and 13 years old from Langata Road primary school in Nairobi, along with a smaller group of parents and activists, converged in front of a newly built…
Read moreHow Al Qaeda’s Biggest Enemy Took Over Yemen (and Why the U.S. Government Is Unlikely to Support Them)
Sanaa – Yemeni President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, his prime minister and entire government cabinet resigned en masse today, just 24 hours after Houthi rebels occupied the presidential compound in Sanaa. The resignations give unprecedented power to the Houthis, a Shiite minority from the country’s isolated northern highlands. The political crisis also opens the door…
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