Amber brings two coffees and sets one down in front of Josh, the green feathers of her rising-phoenix tattoo glinting in the sunlight. “It’s all about trust,” Josh continues. He has begun explaining why he and Amber will be voting for Hillary Clinton. “So you started without me,” Amber says as she sits. Amber and
On Wednesday, September 5, the Southern Center for Human Rights filed a federal lawsuit in the state of Georgia on behalf of 22-year-old Cleopatra Harris against the city of Columbus, a number of police officers and judge Michael Cielinski after Harris was ordered to pay a fine for refusing to press charges against her boyfriend,
A $40 million civil rights lawsuit filed by protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, against the city’s police force has been dismissed by a federal judge. The suit alleged the attending officers used excessive force during the demonstration, which began in response to the 2014 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed with his hands
Facebook, for all of its flaws, is a rich source of food for thought if you have the right contacts. Today I was scrolling through my newsfeed when I came across a good friend’s homage to Ambrose Bierce, author of the Devil’s Dictionary and late 1800s prequel to the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen
For many cities with a significant homeless population, a lot of money, time, and effort goes into compelling them to move along. Various methods have been deployed, from spikes embedded in the sidewalk where homeless folks might take shelter from the elements, to the intermittent waterfall that a church in San Francisco built over its
In what is being called a “landmark settlement,” a Minnesota woman has won a lawsuit that will prevent the priest who sexually abused her from returning to the ministry in India. Megan Peterson was just 14-years-old when she alleged Father Joseph Jeyapaul raped and assaulted her in her hometown of Greenbush. The abuse took place
A 29-year-old woman was recently awarded a $175,000 cash settlement from the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, after a sanitation worker attempted to rape her in her home while on the job. The civil suit was filed by the victim in 2010 after city employee Marcel Sifuentes Rodriguez, who purportedly snorted cocaine just prior to
It was announced on Tuesday, September 27, that New York City has settled with the family of a mentally ill Rikers Island inmate who died in custody for $5.75 million. The information was provided to the press by attorneys for the family and the Legal Aid Society Prisoners’ Rights Project, who helped work on the
During Tuesday’s first (and only) televised vice-presidential debate between Hillary Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine and Donald Trump’s running mate Mike Pence, the issue of abortion was brought up, quickly changing the tone of exchange between the two men. When CBS news correspondent Elaine Quijano, who served as moderator of the debate, asked the question
After what was supposed to be a routine gynecological procedure, a California woman realized it would wind up being anything but. Michelle Doig-Collins visited her OB/GYN in April 2016 for a uterine ablation and tubal ligation; the mother of three had been experiencing prolonged bleeding during her menstrual cycle, which left her in a great