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
It’s hard to remember the days before social media existed. You know, the days when kids rode their bikes with their friends and played outside; when grown adults contributed more to society than cyber-hate behind the anonymity of their computer screens; when people actually read books, went to the library and used the Encyclopedia Britannica
What is the economy for? On the surface, the answer is easy. The economy is the production and distribution of the goods and services that people want or need to live. The term may be politically loaded nowadays, but the concept is basic. Even hunter/gatherers have an economy, though it might be very different from
After months of protesting by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota over the construction of a $3.8 billion oil pipeline designed to cover four states and carry 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day, the government has finally stepped in and all I can say is: it’s about time. Despite a ruling by
In yet another unsurprising case of Big Pharma trying to control the fate of millions of Americans’ health, Insys Therapeutics has donated $500,000 to an anti-legalization of marijuana campaign in Arizona known as Proposition 205. Pro-legalization advocates view the half million dollar donation as a further attempt to line the pockets of powerful drug corporations
Following a Federal Magistrate’s decision to overturn Brendan Dassey’s murder conviction, the Wisconsin Department of Justice has filed an appeal to keep him in jail. Dassey was one of the primary subjects of the Netflix documentary series ‘Making A Murderer,’ in which he confessed to helping his uncle Steven Avery rape, murder and dismember the
Nate Parker has been in the news a lot lately. The celebrated writer, actor and director has been lauded for his directorial debut of the film The Birth of a Nation, which tells the true story of Nat Turner, an enslaved man who led a successful slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831. In addition to
Hanjin, South Korea’s largest shipping company and seventh largest in the world, is on the skids. Although it represents 2.9% of the world’s shipping capacity, the company has posted net losses every year since 2011 and filed for bankruptcy protection on August 31st, 2016. For almost two weeks, 92 of the 141 container ships operated
The Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, published a notice on August 31, 2016, of its intent to temporarily schedule Kratom as a Schedule I drug. According to the DEA, the measure is needed to “avoid imminent hazard to public safety”. Schedule I includes heroin and other dangerous drugs. That rule is scheduled to become effective September
Disgraced Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat have filed separate lawsuits in federal court against the Michigan House of Representatives, investigators, former colleagues and others. This is a case of the corrupt politicians that refuse to go away. Todd Courser was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives to represent the 82nd District in 2014. Cindy