Today, the Toronto Star reported the proposed Keystone XL pipeline has surmounted yet another obstacle blocking its construction. This proposed pipeline would connect Canadian oil infrastructure with American refineries in Texas, creating an oddly unknown number of jobs – Republicans say the project will create ten times more jobs than Democrats report; the two camps
So often in times of danger or fear, civil rights come into conflict with security interests. We forego some civil rights – usually our rights to privacy, expression, or due process – because we think such sacrifice will make us safer. Sometimes it can, sometimes it does. And sometimes, dissenters will ask, “If not these
Today, the New York Daily News reported two wrongfully convicted brothers will be released from prison and paid $17 million for their trouble. The settlement will be shared with a third brother, who died in captivity. Unfortunately, the brothers will be unable to purchase lost time with their settlement. Since the article is short, I’ve
Recently, the lawsuit “People of the State of California v. General Motors L.L.C., 14cv7787” was filed. There, citizens of California are suing the General Motors car company over its mishandling of the ignition switch recall. To be clear, the issue with the faulty ignition switches was that they would allow keys to slip and shut
In recent days, the online retail giant Amazon has pushed back against a potential new Vermont Internet sales tax, barring “Vermont residents and companies from earning money by referring customers to the Amazon website” (USA Today). USA Today also reported “Vermonters participating in the Amazon Associates program were notified by email Tuesday of their immediate
Click above to hear a great episode of one of my favorite programs, On Point with Tom Ashbrook, from WBUR in Boston. Here’s Tom Ashbrook’s teaser for the show: “The new GOP-led Congress has Obamacare in its sights — what’s ahead for American health care and the Affordable Care Act? The new Republican Congress, all sworn
Yesterday, I posted about the connection between Viagra and melanoma. To recap, a few – but just a few – studies have shown that the risk for melanoma is about doubled by Viagra use, but because there aren’t too many such studies, it’s hard to say for sure what’s going on. Undeniably, there’s a correlation
This year, a team of medical researchers from Harvard Medical School published a study in JAMA that demonstrated men who used Viagra (sildenafil) were more than twice as likely to suffer melanoma as men who never used the drug. Here, we’ll discuss another article from Harvard University that raised concerns similar to those found in
It’s funny how often people tend to read things supporting their own beliefs. Recently, I read one such pro-immigration article in The Economist about how migrant labor helps – not hurts – the US economy. So often, right-wing politicians and pundits will pontificate on how immigrants take jobs from hard working Americans; some even proclaim
A flurry of orders have issued from the chambers of the Hon. Joseph R. Goodwin, the United States District Judge presiding over the pelvic mesh MDLs in the Southern District of West Virginia, Charleston Division. The Court vacated and reset a bellwether trial set for December 4, 2014 to March 2, 2015, in Bellew v.