Ten years after the United States’ invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and set off a sectarian war that continues to this day, thousands of Iraqis are eligible for resettlement to the U.S. because they risked their lives to help the war effort as interpreters, cultural advisers and other support staff.
But of the legislated allotment of about 25,000 “special immigrant visas” – which offer permanent residency as a reward to Iraqis who worked with the U.S. government – just 4,669 cases have been approved since 2008, and the program is scheduled to end in September.
U.S. pledge to help Iraqis who aided occupation largely unfulfilled
Leaked Audio of Bradley Manning’s statement released by Freedom of the Press Foundation
The Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which I am a board member, today published the leaked audio of Bradley Manning's statements to the court during his hearing last week. A statement from the organization follows.Today, Freedom of the Press Foundation published the full, previously unreleased audio recording of Private First Class Bradley Manning’s speech to the military court in Ft. Meade about his motivations for leaking over 700,000 government documents to WikiLeaks.
While unofficial transcripts of this statement are widely available, this marks the first time the American public has heard the actual voice of Manning.
Physicists say they have found a crucial building block of the universe
The search is all but over for a subatomic particle that is a crucial building block of the universe.
Physicists announced Thursday they believe they have discovered the subatomic particle predicted nearly a half-century ago, which will go a long way toward explaining what gives electrons and all matter in the universe size and shape.
EPA reverses water pollution decision after lobbyist steps in
When Uranium Energy Corp. sought permission to launch a large-scale mining project in Goliad County, Texas, it seemed as if the Environmental Protection Agency would stand in its way.
To get the ore out of the ground, the company needed a permit to pollute a pristine supply of underground drinking water in an area already parched by drought.
Further, EPA scientists feared that radioactive contaminants would flow from the mining site into water wells used by nearby homes. Uranium Energy said the pollution would remain contained, but resisted doing the advanced scientific testing and modeling the government asked for to prove it.
‘Dirty War’ Questions for Pope Francis
If one wonders if the U.S. press corps has learned anything in the decade since the Iraq War – i.e. the need to ask tough question and show honest skepticism – it would appear from the early coverage of the election of Pope Francis I that U.S. journalists haven’t changed at all, even at “liberal” outlets like MSNBC.
The first question that a real reporter should ask about an Argentine cleric who lived through the years of grotesque repression, known as the “dirty war,” is what did this person do, did he stand up to the murderers and torturers or did he go with the flow. If the likes of Chris Matthews and other commentators on MSNBC had done a simple Google search, they would have found out enough about Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to slow their bubbling enthusiasm.
Meet Scott Prouty, the 47 Percent Video Source
"Scott Prouty." The fellow on the other end of the phone call pronounced his name with hesitation. For nearly a fortnight, he and I had been building a long-distance rapport via private tweets, emails, and phone conversations as we discussed how best to make public the secret video he had shot of Mitt Romney talking at a private, $50,000-per-plate fundraiser in Boca Raton, Florida.
Now I was almost ready to break the story at Mother Jones. I had verified the video, confirming when and where it had been shot, and my colleagues and I had selected eight clips—including Romney's now-infamous remarks about the 47 percent of Americans he characterized as "victims" unwilling to "take personal responsibility and care for their lives"—to embed in two articles.
Research exposes racial discrimination in America's death penalty capital
Back defendants facing trial in Houston – the death penalty capital ofAmerica – are more than three times as likely to face a possible death sentence than whites, new academic research has revealed.
The study, by a criminologist at the University of Maryland, exposes the extent of racial discrimination inherent in the administering of capital punishment in Harris County, the ground zero of the death penalty in the US. The county, which incorporates Houston, Texas's largest city, has carried out 116 executions in the modern era – more than any entire state in the union apart from Texas itself.
Four dead after 2 shootings New York
Six people have been shot in two separate incidents in Herkimer County, four of whom have been confirmed dead. It seems that police are looking for one suspect for both incidents.
Two people were shot and killed at Gaffey's Car Wash on Mohawk Street in the Village of Herkimer. Four people were shot at John's Barber Shop on Main Street in Mohawk. Two were killed and two were injured.
There were also reports of an explosion/fire at South Washington Street in Mohawk shortly before the shootings.
'Most exotic' distant planets described
U.S. astronomers say detailed observation of four planets orbiting a star relatively close to the sun has revealed them to be among the most exotic ones known.
The researchers said the findings were made possible by a first-of-its-kind telescope imaging system that allowed the astronomers to pick out the planets amidst the bright glare of their parent star and measure their spectra, the rainbows of light that reveal the chemical signatures of planetary atmospheres.
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