Mar
29
2013
The use of drones by domestic US law enforcement agencies is growing rapidly, both in terms of numbers and types of usage. As a result, civil liberties and privacy groups led by the ACLU – while accepting that domestic drones are inevitable – have been devoting increasing efforts to publicizing their unique dangers and agitating for statutory limits. These efforts are being impeded by those who mock the idea that domestic drones pose unique dangers …
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Mar
29
2013
Prisoners on hunger strike in Guantanamo Bay are now being denied water among other abuses as prison guards attempt to force them off the strike, the prisoners’ lawyers said Wednesday.
Several of the prisoners’ lawyers have filed an emergency motion in a federal court in Washington saying guards are refusing to provide drinking water to the hunger strikers and have kept camp temperatures “extremely frigid” in an effort to “to thwart the protest.”
“The reality is that …
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Mar
29
2013
The EPA announced this week that it will study the health and environmental risks of 23 chemicals, with an emphasis on chemical flame retardants that are found in many common products.
Even though they were phased out of baby clothes back in the 1970s due to health concerns, flame retardants are still used in baby cribs and car seats, couches, and electronics. Many have been linked to cancer and neurological and developmental problems, particularly in children. …
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Mar
29
2013
WASHINGTON – An environment group here is warning that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a key government regulator, may have been haphazardly approving thousands of pesticides for decades, some of which pose risks to both human and environmental health.
Critics say the EPA should not have approved clothianidin, a potent pesticide that belongs to a family of substances linked to the current widespread die-off of global honeybee populations. (Credit: Bob Peterson/cc by 2.0) Following on …
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Mar
29
2013
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the last year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation’s fruits and vegetables.
A conclusive explanation so far has escaped scientists studying the ailment, colony collapse disorder, since it first surfaced around 2005. But beekeepers and some researchers say …
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Mar
29
2013
On Saturday, March 23, sixteen year-old Kimani Gray was buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, surrounded by family and friends. Gray had been killed two weeks earlier by a pair of plainclothes New York City police officers, who shot him seven times on an East Flatbush sidewalk. The officers claim the teenager pointed a gun at them, but witnesses, along with family and friends, vehemently dispute the NYPD’s narrative. In the days before Gray’s …
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Mar
29
2013
TUCSON, Ariz. — A campaign promising free shotguns for people to protect themselves in Tucson’s most troubled neighborhoods has divided some residents in a community still reeling from a shooting rampage in 2011that killed six people, left a congresswoman and several others wounded, and made the city a symbol of gun violence in America.
The Armed Citizen Project is part of a national campaign to give shotguns to single women and homeowners in the nation’s crime-ridden …
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Mar
29
2013
A panel made up mostly of Los Angeles political insiders will spend the next six to eight months developing strategies for addressing two problems that have bedeviled City Hall — how to eliminate a persistent budget gap and create more jobs after a deep economic downturn.
City Council President Herb Wesson, appearing with lawyer and former U.S. Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor, said Thursday that the 12-member L.A. 2020 commission will submit proposals later this year to …
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Mar
29
2013
Rep. Don Young (R-AK) on Thursday night stood by his use of a racial slur to describe Latinos, saying that he “meant no disrespect” when he told an Alaska radio interviewer, “We used to hire 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes”:
“During a sit down interview with Ketchikan Public Radio this week, I used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in Central California,” …
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Mar
28
2013
One Michigan Republican National Committeeman promoted an article’s claim that “part of the homosexual agenda is to get the public to affirm their filthy lifestyle,” Slate reported Wednesday.
Dave Agema, a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, took to his personal Facebook page (only viewable by Agema’s friends) to express his views on the gay and lesbian community, sharing an article titled “Everyone Should Know These Statistics on Homosexuals.”
In addition to labeling gays and …
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