President Donald Trump invited the Dodgers to the White House. Many of their fans feared that the team, by accepting, would humiliate themselves and betray the team’s large Latino, Asian and African-American fan base. Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter, along with co-owner Magic Johnson, have proposed a solution. Trump has promised that if he can keep the championship trophy, the Commissioner’s Trophy, he will end all seizures and deportations of immigrants.   read more

The World Economic Forum lists the U.S. at No. 20 in its 2014 Global Gender Gap Report. In some categories, the U.S. ranking was even lower, like 47th for equal labor force participation and 65th on equal pay for similar work. Then there’s the matter of paid family leave, something offered in most nations. There’s still no requirement for this benefit in the United States.   read more

Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp has not processed registrations for at least 40,000 new voters who were signed up under a program to register minorities. A lawsuit forcing him to do so hit a wall in the form of Fulton Judge Christopher Brasher, who denied the plaintiffs’ petition. “All in all – a Republican appointed judge has backed the Republican Secretary of State to deny the right to vote to a largely African American and Latino population,” said NAACP's Dr. Francys Johnson.   read more

“We are extremely concerned and find it unacceptable that the FBI misappropriated the name of The Associated Press and published a false story attributed to AP,” said AP's Paul Colford. “This ploy violated AP’s name and undermined AP’s credibility.” ACLU's Christopher Soghoian said the FBI’s actions demonstrate that the “ends do not justify the means. It’s a dangerous road impersonating the media. If people do not trust the news media, then our democracy cannot function properly.”   read more

“We see from Denmark that it’s possible to run a profitable fast-food business while paying workers these kinds of wages,” said U.S. economist John Schmitt. “We Danes accept that a burger is expensive, but we also know that working conditions and wages are decent when we eat that burger,” noted Soren Kaj Andersen of Copenhagen. “We can still make money out of it — and McDonald’s does, too," added Martin Drescher. "Otherwise, it wouldn’t be in Denmark.”   read more

Last year alone, USPS approved nearly 50,000 “mail cover” requests from police and agency inspectors to secretly monitor individuals’ mail for criminal and national security investigations. Law enforcement agencies have stepped up use of mail covers as part of counterterrorism and criminal cases since 9/11. But the scope of the surveillance was not previously known to be so widespread, nor was the absence of oversight from potential abuses.   read more

One of the nation’s leading universities has come forward with its own numbers on the disturbing problem of sexual assaults, which could spur fact-finding by other institutions. Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported that one in six female undergraduates had been sexually assaulted while attending the prestigious school. University President L. Rafael Reif said he was “disturbed by the extent and nature of the problem” at MIT. “Sexual assault violates our core MIT values."   read more

Farm chemicals banned by European and Asian countries are still being used, often in large measure, across the U.S. At least five pesticides being applied to American farms have been outlawed overseas. Some of the most popular are neonicotinoids, which farmers use widely on corn and soybean crops. Another chemical banned in Europe as well as China is paraquat, which kills weeds and was famously used in marijuana eradication efforts in Mexico. It may also cause Parkinson’s disease.   read more

Independent groups from both sides have spent at least $36 million on the race—in a state with only 490,000 registered voters. About 280,000 of those are considered to be likely voters. The spending averages out to about $120 per likely voter. And that figure doesn’t or can’t account for the actual amount that’s gone into the election from third party interests. So much money is being spent on the Senate race that it’s crowding other candidates off the airwaves.   read more

The FBI has identified a federal contractor suspected of leaking sensitive documents about the terrorist watch list to journalist Glenn Greenwald. Agents searched the suspect’s home, leading to an investigation by federal prosecutors in Northern Virginia. “It’s fair to say that there are people who have been inspired by Edward Snowden’s courage and by the great good and virtue that it has achieved,” said Greenwald.   read more

As the old saying goes, as temperatures rise, tempers flare. That adage also applies to the effects of global warming on the human condition. Researchers found 55 credible studies linking increases in violence with rising global temperatures. Those increases ranged from personal conflicts (domestic violence, road rage, assault, murder, and rapes) to country or group conflicts, including riots, ethnic violence, invasions, gang violence and civil wars.   read more

One example cited is Komen’s decision to accept $100,000 from Baker Hughes, supplier of equipment to the oil and gas industry. Baker Hughes has helped companies carry out hydraulic fracturing operations that use cancer-causing chemicals. In response to public pressure, Komen canceled founder Nancy Brinker's acceptance of the check. Komen has also partnered with water bottling companies that use BPAs, a carcinogen, and fast-food providers accused of selling food containing carcinogens.   read more

Led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and former President José Ramos-Horta of East Timor, the Nobel laureates want Obama, who won the prize in 2009, to make “full disclosure to the American people of the extent and use of torture.” That would include releasing the Senate report on the CIA's use of torture last decade against al Qaeda members and others. “When a nation’s leaders condone and even order torture, that nation has lost its way,” wrote the laureates.   read more

In some instances, patients find themselves being billed for the room they sat in while seeing a therapist. “How could it be that the doctor was in network and the hospital was in network, but I had to pay separately for the room?” asked Leo Boudreau, who found such a charge on a bill. Some ophthalmologists are now charging “refraction fees” as part of eye examinations. A person with a broken arm is now billed separately for the sling. A visit to an ER can result in an “activation fee.”   read more

The numbers are eye opening: Tokyo has 13.4 million residents, but only 1,697 are homeless. Compare that to New York, where there are 56,000 homeless. "Income inequality is a massive and growing problem in the U.S., while Japan has historically had one of the lowest rates of inequality among developed countries,” wrote Scott Keyes. In Japan, government provides more social services to help the homeless than the U.S. does, and families have a strong sense of duty to relatives in need.   read more

Federal law enforcement has increasingly used a key provision of the Patriot Act to pry into people’s lives without having to tell them. This practice has been justified under the guise of counterterrorism, but government statistics show that less than 1% of all “sneak and peek” actions involve suspected terrorists. Only 51 such requests during 2013 were for terrorism out of 11,129 total requests that year. The biggest reason for the warrants was to investigate drug crimes.   read more

Of the 2,379 Pakistani drone fatalities, only 704 could be identified. Of those, only 295 were identified as members of an armed group inside Pakistan. “Almost 30% are not even linked to a specific group,” Jack Serle reported. “Only 84 are identified as members of al Qaeda – less than 4% of the total number of people killed.” These findings “demonstrate the continuing complete lack of transparency surrounding U.S. drone operations,” said Mustafa Qadri.   read more