Oath Keepers is one of the fastest-growing “patriot” organizations on the right. Founded April 2009 by Yale-educated lawyer and ex-Ron Paul aide Stewart Rhodes, the group has established itself as a hub in the sprawling anti-Obama movement that includes Tea Partiers, Birthers, and 912ers. There are scores of patriot groups, but what makes Oath Keepers unique is [...]
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that “more than 3 million people–one in every three Haitians–were severely affected by the earthquake, of whom 2 million need regular food aid. Over 1.1 million people are homeless, many of them still living under sheets and cardboard in makeshift camps. The government of Haiti estimates [...]
Charter schools are more racially isolated than traditional public schools in virtually every state and large metropolitan area in the country. A nationwide report study from UCLA based on an analysis of Federal government data and an examination of charter schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia, along with several dozen metropolitan areas with large [...]
On January 30, 2009 IndyMedia, an alternative on-line new source, received a subpoena from the Southern District of Indiana Federal Court for the “IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information” of all the site’s visitors on June 25, 2008. IndyMedia was then prohibited from notifying visitors of this release of otherwise private and protected [...]
For the past 8 months, the Kenyan government has carried out a brutal campaign of violence against indigenous Samburu People in north-central Kenya, using their own police and military forces as well as government-funded mercenaries from Somalia. The most infamous attack took place in April, when military forces sprayed a caustic chemical onto group of [...]
James Neal Blue, who helped devise the Predator unmanned aircraft that are in use in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is the director of a company that bought the Four Mile uranium mine in Australia. Blue is the chairman of Quasar Resources, which is affiliated with General Atomics, a major United States weapons and nuclear [...]
The Obama administration is currently working with a group of UN nations on the development of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade agreement, ACTA. The new law is being developed in secrecy from the public and might allow government access to personal content on hard drives thought to be a breach of copyright. Copyright infringements have been a [...]
In 2008 it was estimated that the U.S. Government paid more than one hundred billion dollars to private contractors, half of these contractors were private mercenaries for combat and “security”. In a June 2009 interview with Bill Moyers, journalist Jermey Scahill reported that private war companies or “contractors” have risen 29% in the past three [...]
On October 6, 2009, Aljazeera news reported that three Iranian reformist newspapers, Day’s Analysis, Culture of Reconciliation, and Ideals were closed during a night raid by the government, stopping the production of the news. Since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rise to power the government has shut down multiple news sources around the country. The government has revealed [...]
The International Committee of the Red Cross has reported that the underground water system in Gaza is at risk of collapsing. The water system could also contaminate the area’s drinking water, potentially causing an outbreak of Hepatitis A and parasitic infections. Although the Israeli government has de facto responsibility over the area of Gaza, the [...]
