Apr
17
2013
There’s a common factor in the gun debate and the investigation into the horror in Boston. The common factor is the National Rifle Association.
The NRA has done everything in its power to neuter the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. As the ATF and FBI explosives experts investigate the bombs, it would be helpful if they could identify the source of the explosive materials. In 1996, an effort was made to require the use of …
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Apr
17
2013
ARABIC speakers escorted off a flight by police, planes searched on the tarmac and airports evacuated as US security goes on high alert after the Boston bombings.
United States security is on high alert after two explosions ripped through the Boston Marathon killing at least three people and injuring more than 170.
At Logan International Airport in Boston two men who were not seated together started speaking Arabic, My Fox Boston reported. That was enough to …
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Apr
16
2013
Capping four years of explosive growth sparked by the election of America’s first black president and anger over the economy, the number of conspiracy-minded antigovernment “Patriot” groups reached an all-time high of 1,360 in 2012, while the number of hard-core hate groups remained above 1,000. As President Obama enters his second term with an agenda of gun control and immigration reform, the rage on the right is likely to intensify.
The furious reaction to the Obama …
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Apr
16
2013
SACRAMENTO — A drive to ban most stores from handing out single-use plastic bags got an important boost Monday when the California Grocers Assn. announced its support for a bill.
The measure by state Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) would prohibit the bags in grocery stores and pharmacies beginning on Jan. 1, 2015. Shoppers would be urged to bring their own reusable cloth or plastic bags or would have the option of paying the actual cost of …
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Apr
16
2013
WASHINGTON — A nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation and detention programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks concludes that “it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture” and that the nation’s highest officials bore ultimate responsibility for it.
The sweeping, 577-page report says that while brutality has occurred in every American war, there never before had been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred …
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Apr
16
2013
Police in Bahrain have fired tear gas and clashed with students in a raid on a secondary school in the capital, Manama, reports say.
Officers stormed the Jabreya school for boys after students staged a protest demanding the release of a colleague arrested on Monday, activists say.
About 100 people have been arrested this month amid growing tension ahead of Sunday’s F1 Grand Prix in Bahrain.
The kingdom has been rocked by anti-government protests since early 2011.
The latest …
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Apr
16
2013
By Rebecca Leber on Apr 16, 2013 at 10:25 am
After months of initial negotiations, the Senate gang of eight released a comprehensive immigration reform bill that creates a 13-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. In addition to creating a long path to citizenship, the legislation adds new powers for the Department of Homeland Security to strengthen enforcement, attempts to clear the backlogs of people waiting for visas, and expands E-Verify. Here are the essential …
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Apr
16
2013
The deterioration of the nation’s public transportation, like the deterioration of health care, education, social services, public utilities, bridges and roads, is part of the relentless seizing and harvesting of public resources and programs by corporations. These corporations are steadily stripping the American infrastructure. Public-sector unions are being broken. Wages and benefits are being slashed. Workers are forced to put in longer hours in unsafe workplaces, often jeopardizing public safety. The communities that need public …
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Apr
16
2013
With 12 votes needed, only 11 members of the Philadelphia City Council were willing to override Mayor Michael Nutter’s veto of the sick leave bill. For the second time in three years, corporate interests defeated a measure that would allow more than 180,000 Philadelphians to finally earn sick days.
“I’m very disappointed,” said city councilman Bill Greenlee, who tried but failed to get the 12 votes needed to override Mayor Nutter’s veto. “I’m particularly disappointed …
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Apr
16
2013
The Vatican announced that Pope Francis supports a controversial plan approved one year ago by Pope Benedict which calls for leaders of the organization representing the majority of American nuns to function under a Vatican-appointed overseer. The pope’s decision lets stand an investigation critics say is of dubious research, and which has been likened to a modern ‘inquisition.’
Upholding the “supervision” of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) signals that despite his conciliatory …
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