May
02
2013
Last December, Care Net—the nation’s largest network of evangelical Christian crisis pregnancy centers—featured a birth announcement of sorts on the website of its 10-year-old Urban Initiative. Under the headline, “Plans Underway for Care Net’s Newest Center in Kansas City, Mo.!” a block of upbeat text described how a predominantly white, suburban nonprofit called Rachel House had “made contact” with “various African American pastors and community leaders,” who helped them “plant” a “pregnancy resource center” in …
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May
02
2013
(Reuters) – Tens of thousands of National Rifle Association members gather in Houston this weekend for the first time since the Senate rejected a plan last month to expand background checks for gun buyers, but officials say attendees will not sit back to celebrate victory.
“We view it as an opening battle in what will be a multi-year war,” said Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the NRA, which lobbied against the proposal. “We’re definitely not resting …
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May
02
2013
Police in Athens broke up a Greeks-only food handout by far-right party Golden Dawn on Thursday, carrying out Athens mayor Giorgos Kaminis’s vow to prevent “thuggery” in his city.
Riot police met Golden Dawn supporters at Athens’ central Syntagma Square as they arrived with trucks full of food, using tear gas to stop them from unloading, and scattering the members, reports Greek news website Enet.
According to the Guardian, Golden Dawn’s members – who are …
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May
02
2013
Ever since a building with garment factories collapsed in Bangladesh last week, killing more than 400 people, Western apparel companies with ties to the country have scrambled to address public concerns about working conditions there.
Benetton repeatedly revised its accounts of goods produced at one of the factories, while officials at Gap, the Children’s Place and other retailers huddled to figure out how to improve conditions, and some debated whether to remain in Bangladesh at …
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May
02
2013
Echoing what Joan Walsh called Mayor Bloomberg’s “ugly” defense of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practice, police commissioner Ray Kelly asserted Wednesday night that African Americans are “understopped” by police. During an interview with ABC, the commissioner and the policing tactic’s greatest defender, said that “African Americans are being understopped in relation to people being described as perpetrators of violent crime.”
While Mayor Bloomberg has been mayor, the NYPD has carried out over 5 million stop-and-frisks. Analysis by …
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May
02
2013
I never liked riding the bus as a kid. With its limited possibilities for adult supervision, the school bus was the venue of choice for kicking someone’s ass or exploring the more psychological expressions of adolescent torment. One day a boy my age looked at me defiantly across the aisle and set his jeans on fire. The first time I heard the word “cunt” yelled with real conviction? On a school bus. But had it …
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May
02
2013
Today, the Justice Department will brief the Senate Judiciary staff on the prosecution of the late activist and Internet pioneer Aaron Swartz, who died in January. Swartz has become a lasting symbol for how the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) can be twisted by authorities to mete out draconian punishments and turn millions of Internet users into criminals.
Previously, Sen. John Cornyn asked pointed questions to Attorney General Eric Holder about the case in an …
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May
02
2013
In the West, Buddhism is often understood as a religion of compassion and peace, with gauzy images of serene meditation, the hum of chanted prayers, a symbolic lotus bloom. So what are we to make of a currently circulating video of a robed Burmese monk wielding a sturdy pole as he joins a killer mob beating a defenseless Muslim man to the ground? In the background, mosques and houses are burning and Muslim children are …
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May
02
2013
GUATEMALA CITY — The Guatemalan government declared a state of emergency and banned public gatherings Thursday in four townships east of the capital following clashes between police and anti-mining protesters.
Several days of violent clashes between local residents and police and mine security guards have left one officer dead, six residents wounded by rubber bullets, and police cars burned. Twenty-three police officers were briefly held by protesters who claim the mine threatens local water sources.
The government …
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May
02
2013
President Barack Obama will use a visit to Mexico this week to discuss a potential rift over the unfettered cross-border access enjoyed by US agents in the war against drugs cartels.
Intent on demonstrating independence from the US, Mexican president Peña Nieto is ending the unprecedented degree of access that US security operatives enjoyed under former president Felipe Calderón.
The White House, briefing reporters ahead of Obama’s two-day trip to Mexico and to a meeting of Central …
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