President Barack Obama outlined his strategy to take down the Islamic State in an address to the nation on Wednesday, comparing his plan to employ airstrikes to take down terrorists while supporting partners on the ground to past efforts to take out terrorists in Yemen and Somalia.
Continue reading Richard Engel: Obama’s ISIS, Al Qaeda Comparison ‘Wildly Off-Base,’
Continue reading Hillary Clinton Praises a Guy With Lots of Blood on His Hands | Mother Jones
The following clip is taken from James Baldwin’s 1968 appearance on the Dick Cavett Show. In all honesty, how many of his words don’t apply in 2014 America? Continue reading #JamesBaldwin on #Racism: 1:01 minutes of Truth
Hay-Adams Hotel Washington, D.C.
The relationship between Islam and the West will be a defining feature of the 21st century, particularly in the Middle East. How should U.S. policymakers engage with the Muslim world? Will the spread of democracy throughout the Muslim world blunt the militant forces generating terrorism? How will European governments and populations deal with their burgeoning Muslim populations, and how will this affect U.S. foreign policy priorities and alliances? Continue reading Islam and the West: A Conversation with Bernard Lewis | Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project
Continue reading Iraq’s unique place in the Sunni-Shia divide | Pew Research Center
By Kyle Wagner
Last Wednesday, we launched an impossibly ambitious project: cataloguing every police-involved shooting in America over the last three years. After one week, we’re further along than we could have imagined. Continue reading Deadspin #Police-#Shooting Database Update: We’re Still Going
Mariya Strauss is the economic justice fellow at social justice think tank Political Research Associates. You can follow her on Twitter @mariyastrauss.
Editor’s note: The Moral Mondays movement began as a grassroots response to North Carolina’s rightward lurch after Republicans won complete control of the state’s government for the first time since 1870. Modeled on the civil rights movement, it has united a diverse group of citizens in opposition to the draconian legislative agenda that’s turned what was once the most moderate state in the South into a laboratory for conservative ideology. Continue reading Rev. Dr. William Barber II on North Carolina’s Fight for Democracy | BillMoyers
In its violent crackdowns on demonstrations since a white police officer shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in early August, Ferguson police revealed a fresh proclivity for abusing its citizens. However, the city’s finances suggest the St. Louis suburb’s criminal justice system has been stealthily exploiting residents—particularly those who are black or poor—for years. Ferguson’s economy steadily withered over the last decade, as did its population. Yet even as the number of adult residents fell 11% between 2010 and 2013, fines collected by the city’s court system surged 85%, hitting $2.6 million last year.
