Month: October 2020

On Monday, during the federal holiday set aside to celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr., a new generation of Americans tired of persistent racial inequality, discrimination, and police violence directed at specific segments of society will participate in actions designed to reclaim the legacy of the famous civil rights leader. In…

According to new reporting by the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Marshals Service—an arm of the Department of Justice—has been using small aircraft equipped with technology that can mimic the functions of cell towers in order to capture the data contained on phones and mobile devices of people across large areas on the ground below.…

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, recipient of a prestigious Canadian literary prize, announced this week he is donating the $25,000 award to a grassroots coalition against TransCanada Corporation’s “Energy East” pipeline. His challenge to people across Canada and the world to double his contribution to the group Coule Pas Chez Nous (Don’t Let it Flow in Our Backyard)…

Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday urged lawmakers to act at their “bipartisan best” and authorize new power for the U.S. to wage, without geographical constraints, open-ended war on Islamic militants. Kerry made the comments in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His specific ask was for new authorization for use of military…

A bill awaiting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s signature will make privatizing municipal water systems easier and let “corporate profits replace meeting the needs of consumers and the environment,” critics charge. The legislation in question is the “Water Infrastructure Protection Act,” which passed the Senate 21-16 on Thursday. The measure is sponsored by Republican Senator…

As record-breaking cold weather sweeps across the nation this week, reports from around the nation show how the U.S. homeless population—which has risen dramatically in recent years—are being hit the hardest in the wake of slashed funding that has left shelters overburdened and public services at their breaking point. : : : : : :…

How do you calculate the human costs of the U.S.-led War on Terror? On the 12th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, groups of physicians attempted to arrive at a partial answer to this question by counting the dead. In their joint report— —Physicians for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Global Survival, and the Nobel Prize-winning…

Lewis Hamilton equalled the all-time record of 91 Formula 1 wins laid down by Michael Schumacher after taking victory in the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was runner-up and Daniel Ricciardo landed a maiden podium for Renault after successfully holding off Racing Point’s Sergio Perez to the chequered flag. Pole…

A pipeline rupture in Eastern Montana on Saturday, which spilled up to 50,000 gallons of Bakken shale crude oil into the Yellowstone River, has local residents worried that their water supplies may now be contaminated. “I am not saying the water is unsafe. I am not saying it is safe.” —Mary Jo Gehnert, Dawson County…

Professor Steven Salaita, a Palestinian-American professor of Indigenous studies whose offer of a tenured position at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign was rescinded last year because of his tweets criticizing the Israeli government’s bombing of Gaza, has filed a civil rights suit against the school and its top officials and donors, saying that his…