Drone warfare is now coming to your own backyard, said Glenn Greenwald. Local police have begun using unmanned Predator drones like those used in Afghanistan and Pakistan to conduct surveillance of criminal suspects right here in the U.S. This chilling step toward “a Surveillance State”—without the public’s knowledge or consent— was revealed last week by the Los Angeles Times, which […]
Read more
How did the U.S. debt get so high? The crucial turning point came back in 2001, said Lori Montgomery. At the time, Uncle Sam was actually running surpluses, and “the outlook was so rosy” that forecasters were predicting the U.S. could pay back every dime it had ever borrowed. That’s when President George W. Bush made a pivotal decision: Rather […]
Read more
Prison Sentences – Loosening The Shackles U.S. Prison Population The U.S. prison population is the highest in the world. A quarter of the world’s inmates reside in U.S. prisons, despite being only 5% of the world population. Since the 1980’s the U.S. prison population has increased 8-fold to over 2.4 million people. More than $80 billion of taxpayer money […]
Read more
If you don’t have money in your savings to cover an emergency bill of at least $500 you are not alone. About 46% of Americans don’t have the money to cover any emergency which is lower than it was in 2013 when it was 50% according to a Bankrate report. Some Americans say that they have enough in their savings, […]
Read more
Doctors prescribe Fentanyl for severe pain relief since it is 50 to 100 times more effective that morphine. Since this drug can be sold as a patch or lozenges it is fairly easy to abuse and misuse. In the US illegal drug dealers are mixing it with heroin or cocaine to get a better high for the user. Most of […]
Read more
The lower you go on the generational totem pole, the more ethnically diverse you get. Young adults between 18-24 (so-called Millennial) don’t like racial labels because they don’t recognize the dividing lines of the past—they are the vanguard of a “colorblind” culture. But their wildly . diverse life experiences have created an almost-random pattern of values and beliefs, including: • […]
Read more
Washington, D.C. Under current FEC political donation limits, which are adjusted for inflation in odd-numbered years, individuals can give up to $5,400 to candidates—$2,700 for their primary campaigns, and another $2,700 for the general election—and up to $33,400 per year to national party committees in the 2016 cycle. Previously, the limit was $2,600 to candidates and $32,400 to national party […]
Read more
THE UNITED STATES has the highest incarceration rate in the world. In fact, according to the most recent data, the U.S., while having only 4.5% of the world’s population, holds 21 percent of the world’s prisoners. The last few years have shown a slight decrease in incarceration rates, but law enforcement policies continue to both target racial minorities and to […]
Read more
Why are most mass shootings perpetrated by white males? asked Charlotte Childress and Harriet Childress. In the debate over why America suffers so many killing sprees, race and gender are “the elephant in the room.” At Newtown, Aurora, Tucson, Columbine— “month after month, year after year”—it is seething white men and teenagers who use guns to massacre scores of strangers. […]
Read more
The House of Representatives doesn’t represent America as it really is today, said Timothy Egan. The Republican-controlled House governs a “fantasy nation created in talk-radio land,” where black and gay people don’t exist, women remain subservient, and all gun-safety legislation is a step toward tyranny. Thanks to strategic redrawing of districts, Republicans managed to maintain a 33-seat advantage in the […]
Read more