Logo Logo
Armed men in uniform identified by Syrian Democratic forces as US special operations forces ride in the back of a pickup truck in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqa, May 25, 2016.

US Spec Ops Forces Photographed In Syria Wearing Kurdish Rebel Patches

Archives for June 2016

Israel Cutting Palestinians Off From Their Own Water Supply

According to an experienced reporter on Palestine, 50 percent of the water to a city of 40,000 people has been cut off during Ramadan, a time ‘when people need to have access to food and water more than any other time.’

Kit O'Connell
By Kit O'Connell
Palestinians fill empty bottles of water at the New Gaza Boys United Nations School. Israel controls access to Palestinian aquifers, and has been restricting access to local residents.

JERUSALEM --- Apartheid Israel is limiting access to water in Palestine, a long-standing practice that’s only intensified during the holy month of Ramadan, when access to water becomes even more important than usual. Cuts in water supply are hitting the Occupied West Bank especially hard, Al-Jazeera reported on June 23. “Water shortages and

Read Full Article

Latest Poll Shows Trump Riding Wave Of ‘Hatred’ To Tie With Clinton

Brexit serves as troubling backdrop to latest U.S. election polling numbers.

Lauren McCauley
By Lauren McCauley
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump listens as he is introduced at Politics and Eggs in Manchester, N.H., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)

"Hate winning." That's the troubling explanation provided by Quinnipiac University on Wednesday as its latest national poll showed that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are in a statistical dead heat. The latest survey (pdf) published Wednesday finds the contest between two frontrunners "too close to call," with Clinton securing 42 percent of

Read Full Article

Mass Shooting Myth — U.S. Homicide Rate Hits 51-year Low As Gun Ownership Increased 141%

Contrary to what the public has been led to believe; as the homicide rate in the U.S. has fallen to a 51-year low, gun ownership has increased drastically.

Jay Syrmopoulos
By Jay Syrmopoulos
In this March 15, 2016 photo, guns for rent are on display at a shooting range and retail store in Cherry Creek, Colo. . Across the U.S., suicides account for nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths, with 21,334 gun deaths by suicide in 2014, according to federal data. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

In the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre, politicians have attempted to use the tragedy as means of garnering public support for increased gun control measures. Four pieces of knee-jerk gun control legislation were defeated in Congress yesterday, but the debate surrounding gun rights continues unabated. The new narrative is that “mass

Read Full Article

Four Million Americans Have Dangerously High Lead Levels In Their Water

A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has found that there are many other cities facing extreme lead contamination in their drinking water, just like in Flint, Michigan.

Sputnik News
By Sputnik News
Water samples for lead testing sit on an office counter top at Fawcett Elementary School in Tacoma, Wash. After Tacoma Public Schools revealed last month that multiple elementary schools tested positive for lead in the drinking water

The NRDC examined the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) violation and enforcement records from 2013-2015 and found that over 3.9 million people have water flowing into their homes that exceeds the agency’s action level. “Americans take it for granted that the water flowing from their drinking water taps…is clean and safe,” Erik Olson,

Read Full Article

A Third Of California’s Deep Groundwater Aquifers Are Being Used For Oil And Gas

California has a lot more usable groundwater than previously thought — but that water might already be in danger from oil and gas extraction in the state.

Samantha Page | Think Progress
By Samantha Page | Think Progress
In this undated file photo, water flows through the Southern California desert in the Metropolitan Water District's Colorado River Aqueduct from the Colorado River to the Los Angeles area. A pricing dispute has sharply escalated hostilities between San Diego and the agency that delivers water to much of Southern California, straining an odd partnership already defined by years of lawsuits and heated rhetoric. The San Diego County Water Authority launched a website to attack the MWD, its largest supplier, saying it wanted to lift a veil of secrecy. The site displays a trove of internal documents obtained under California’s public records law, including references to a "Secret Society" and an "anti-San Diego coalition." (AP Photo/Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, File)

A study released this week by Stanford scientists shows that there is nearly three times more groundwater in California’s Central Valley than earlier surveys had indicated. “It’s not often that you find a ‘water windfall,’ but we just did,” study co-author Robert Jackson, the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Provostial Professor at Stanford, said in

Read Full Article

New Report Reveals 7 In 10 Women Raped While In Police Custody In Mexico

In a report released early Tuesday, the group said that in interviews with 100 incarcerated Mexican women, 72 reported sexual torture during their arrests. Ninety-seven had been beaten or received some kind of physical abuse. All 100 reported at least harassment or psychological abuse.

Associated Press
By Associated Press
Claudia Medina Tavariz talks during an interview, at the Amnesty International office in Mexico City, Monday, June 27, 2016. Blindfolded and handcuffed, Medina was arrested in August 2012 and believes she was taken to a local Navy base where her captors accused her of working with organized crime. Over a period of hours she was beaten, sexually assaulted, jolted with electric shocks and subjected to simulated drowning. Human rights defender Amnesty International says Medina’s experience is common among women arrested in Mexico.

MEXICO CITY  — Claudia Medina Tamariz was asleep in her home in the Gulf coast port of Veracruz with her husband when Mexican marines burst in and arrested them both in August 2012. Blindfolded and handcuffed, Medina believes she was taken to a local navy base where her captors accused her of working with organized crime. Over a period of hours,

Read Full Article