January 28, 2015 at 12:57:00
I Do Not Care About Your Baby

It's not that I hate your little sprog. Just don't ask me to indulge your narcissism. At some point, as is natural, your friends will pair off. They will then marry. Copulate. Impregnate. And birth children. This is all beautiful. Their children will be beautiful. Their children will be special. And gorgeous. And brilliant. Your friends will tell you all of the things their baby does with the expectant urge of a best friend telling you a salacious piece of gossip about a mutual, long-forgotten friend from college. You will reply in murmurs of excitement, amazement and wonderment.

January 28, 2015 at 11:37:00
People With No Religion Underrepresented By a Factor of 100 in New Congress

20 percent of Americans have no affiliation with organized religion. Only 0.2 percent of Congress says the same. Americans expect their Congress members to represent the depth and breadth of the public. Our country was founded on the notion of representative democracy--that lawmakers would be of the people. But a new Pew report that digs into the religious backgrounds of the 114th Congress reveals it is actually wildly unrepresentative of the religious makeup of the American public at large.

January 28, 2015 at 11:02:00
The 13-Year-Old Boy Who Grew Up In a Georgia Prison

Michael Lewis is now 18 years into a life sentence. He and his supporters claim he is innocent. This is the first part of a six-week series on Michael "Little B" Lewis. In January of 1997, as a 17-year-old high school senior, I submitted my application to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Eight months later I'd call Atlanta and Morehouse home. In the 18 years since, I became a student leader, graduated from Morehouse, married my high school sweetheart, had three kids of our own and adopted two more, wrote and published my first book, started a church, started a charity, bought and sold our first home in Atlanta, nearly died in a car accident, started and sold three businesses, moved to California, moved to New York City, and moved to South Africa. I've now been alive longer since I sent in that application than I was before I sent it.

January 28, 2015 at 10:42:00
Potential GOP Presidential Nominee Says Bakers Who Oppose Gay Marriage May Poison Wedding Cakes

Conservative political commentator Ben Carson made these bizarre comments to reporters. Former neurosurgeon and conservative political commentator Ben Carson is contemplating a run for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. On Saturday, in remarks given to reporters after the Iowa Freedom Summit, Carson sounded off on LGBT rights with a truly bizarre comment: "I believe in justice and fairness for everybody. And I don't care what people's sexual orientation is. If two adults want to be together, I'm not going to stop them from being together," Carson said, after being asked about same-sex marriage. "If they even want to have a legal contract so they can share property and have visitation rights, I don't have a problem with that. What I have a problem with is when people try to force people to act against their beliefs, because they say, 'they're discriminating against me.' So, you know, they can go right down the street and buy a cake, but no, let's bring a suit against this person because I want them to make my cake, even though they don't believe in it.

January 28, 2015 at 08:47:00
6 Unexpected Blessings of Mental Illness

There are silver linings to the storms of mental illness. Thirty years ago, panic episodes, anxiety disorders and Tourette's syndrome clouded my view. But now I see that though the fog was exceptionally dark, good things were developing; good things inside of me. Conventional wisdom states that certain environments lend themselves to the formation of certain character traits. Team sports, for example, are credited with fostering cooperation and commitment. In exchange for service in our armed forces, soldiers learn the essence of duty, honor, sacrifice and discipline.

January 28, 2015 at 07:16:00
Fox News Is Helping the GOP Disingenuously Rebrand Itself As the Party of the Middle Class

But for years, the network attacked Democratic policies designed to alleviate income inequality as "class warfare." Fox News is burying Republican policy positions that exacerbate income inequality in order to help the GOP rebrand itself as a party for the middle class. This effort follows years of Fox figures blasting Democratic policies designed to alleviate income inequality as "class warfare." Fox Figures Spend Years Attacking Efforts to Reduce Income Inequality as "Class Warfare"

January 27, 2015 at 21:30:00
How Hundreds Turned to Craigslist to Find Hot Dates and Sex Buddies to Keep Warm During the Blizzard

Some New Yorkers sought out digital opportunities for snuggles as the snow fell. Winter storm Juno got a lot of hype before it even hit. And after everyone finished off their pre-storm to-do lists, some realized they wanted one more thing: company. Where some people saw disaster, hundreds of other New Yorkers saw romantic opportunity. Since no one wants to wait out a blizzard alone--even if it means inviting a stranger over--they decided to post ads on Craigslist.

January 27, 2015 at 16:01:00
How We Lost Track of Real Happiness -- and Where to Find It Now

Consumerism isn't a recipe for sustainable happiness. There are alternatives. The following is an excerpt from Sustainable Happiness: Live Simply, Live Well, Make a Difference, edited by Sarah van Gelder and the staff of YES! Magazine (Berrett-Koehler, 2014). In the last 100 years, we got very confused about happiness. This is no small thing. The way we define happiness drives what we do, what we're willing to sacrifice, and how we spend our money and our time.

January 27, 2015 at 14:25:00
GOP's Frightening Plot to Build Laboratories for Plutocracy in States They Control

Right-wing initiatives such as tax cuts and 'right-to-work' legislation are on the table. In the American political tradition, states are known as "laboratories of democracy," miniature examples for the rest of the country to learn from. Following the 2014 elections, Republicans gained more power in state legislatures than they've had in their party's history, controlling 69 of the 99 different state chambers across the country.

January 27, 2015 at 13:59:00
This Black Man Was Shot to Death by the Cops After Calling Police for Help

Family members are heartbroken that Kevin Davis died alone, "with the identity of a criminal." Kevin Davis and his girlfriend, April Edwards, lived on the outskirts of Decatur, GA, a predominantlyblack community just outside Atlanta. Davis, 44, was a longtime employee at Sawicki's, a sandwich shop located in the more affluent downtown area of Decatur, where Edwards also worked. By all accounts, he was kind-hearted, generous, never late, and a visible contributor to his relatively small community of family, friends and colleagues. It was this very kindness which prompted him to invite Terrance Hilyard, 47, a co-worker in a rough spell, to stay with him and Edwards at their one-bedroom apartment.

January 27, 2015 at 12:56:00
Koch Network Vows To Spend Nearly $900 Million To Buy Presidency And Congress

America's weak democracy is being killed before our eyes. The robber barons are back and are buying American politicians at the highest level in more than a century, as several hundred of the wealthiest Americans led by the Koch brothers say they will spend $900 million in 2016's presidential and national elections. "For that kind of money, you could buy yourself a president--oh right, that's the idea," Mark McKinnon, a longtime Republican political consultant told Politico.com, when asked to comment on the 2016 agenda presented at the Koch's donor retreat this past weekend near Palm Springs, CA.

January 27, 2015 at 12:52:00
The Nightmare Libertarian Project to Turn This Central American Country Into Ayn Rand's Paradise

And naturally, the US is pushing the efforts along. Since the 2009 coup against President Jose Manuel Zelaya and subsequent election of Porfirio "Pepe Lobo" Sosa and his favored successor Juan Orlando Hernandez, Honduras has embarked on a devastating neoliberal economic program that has contributed to its status as one of the poorest and most unequal countries in the region. The privatization of Honduran society has been accompanied by a militarization of public security efforts in the country, both of which have been fueled by a network of U.S.-supported policies and programs.