Intentional Blast Rocks Popular NYC Neighborhood

Hours after a pipe bomb exploded near the Jersey Shore during a 5K charity race for members of the United States Marine Corps on Saturday, the neighborhood of Chelsea in Manhattan was rocked by an explosion that left 29 people injured. New Yorkers were obviously left shaken by the blast, though Mayor Bill de Blasio


Our Hostage Situation

What galls us most about Mylan Pharmaceuticals’ inflating the price of the EpiPen to bursting is the stark image it presents of the fix we’re in. Like distant trees in a midnight flash of lightning, the hands of our corporate masters are for the moment seen clear as crystal squeezing a human throat. Such flashes


Dead Men Walking: Alabama Sets Two Execution Dates

The state of Alabama is set to execute two inmates this year for the first time since 2013. The Alabama Supreme Court upheld the death sentences of Tommy Arthur and Ronald Bert Smith, Jr. on Wednesday, August 14, 2016, setting their dates to die by lethal injection on November 3 and December 8 respectively. Smith


The Decay of our Dental Care System

In 2007, 12-year-old Deamonte Driver died from a preventable brain infection. The Maryland youth suffered from a tooth infection that spread to his brain after his family, who had difficulty finding a dentist who would take Medicaid before their coverage lapsed, was unable to afford dental care. After Deamonte’s death, then-Maryland governor Martin O’Malley introduced


Edward Snowden: Traitor or Patriot?

After conducting a two-year investigation into the actions of former NSA employee Edward Snowden, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released a summary of their findings on Thursday, September 15, 2016; one day before the new film “Snowden” hits theaters. Only three pages of the 36-page report are unclassified, with the other 33 pages


The Multiple Meanings of Fair

What is fairness? We all know it when we see it, right? Yet somehow, we keep disagreeing with each other about what is fair, especially when we feel like we’re the ones getting shafted in any given situation. I submit to you that the problem lies in the multiple competing definitions of “fairness” that vary


Federal Court Rules Against Democracy for Detroit

In a unanimous ruling, a U.S. appellate court held Monday that U.S. citizens have no right to elect their governments. By a vote of 3-0 a panel of Sixth Circuit judges ruled against a complaint that challenged Michigan’s emergency manager law on constitutional grounds. Brought by a group of union officials, municipal officials and pastors,


When Justice Fails: Teen Pedophile Walks Free

In April of 2013 in the city of Ottumwa, Iowa, 16-year-old Kraigen Grooms live-streamed himself raping a baby girl believed to be between the ages of 12-18 months old while another man in New Orleans recorded and watched the gruesome act. After being identified through social media with the help of a Facebook group known


President Designates First Marine National Monument

President Barack Obama has a few things left he’d like to do before leaving office, one of which is designating the first-ever marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean that he will announce today during the Our Ocean conference in Washington, D.C.. Environmental activists couldn’t be happier, as the particular area of ocean has remained


California Bans Breeding, Captivity of Killer Whales

On Tuesday, September 13, 2016, California became the first state in the country to ban the breeding of killer whales and orca entertainment shows after Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that will also make it illegal to keep them in captivity. The law will go into effect in June of 2017. The legislation stipulates