When Pope John Paul II visited Damascus in May 2001, Bashar used his welcoming speech to denounce the Jews, saying, “They tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad.”   read more

At the bottom of the popularity scale is Kansas’ governor, Sam Brownback, with a 26% approval rating. Brownback is widely disliked in his state for his financial policies that have forced massive cuts in school funding and infrastructure spending. Second from the bottom is Republican Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, with 35%. Since Republicans hold more than 60% of the governors’ seats in the United States, it makes sense they would land at both ends of the scale.   read more

Investigators say Centcom may have underestimated the threat posed by ISIS and later overplayed the effectiveness of military operations against the Islamic militants.The investigations may be hampered by missing documents, because some were destroyed before the materials were given to investigators. Sources told The Daily Beast that Maj. Gen. Steven Grove and his civilian deputy, Gregory Ryckman, deleted emails and files from computer systems before the inspector general could examine them.   read more

The FDA found one blood test to detect ovarian cancer wasn’t effective, yet medical professionals continued to rely on it, resulting in “unnecessary surgery to remove healthy ovaries.” Other women have had abortions after being told possibly inaccurate tests showed abnormalities in the fetus. “The problems are more prevalent than people want to recognize,” said FDA's Dr. Jeffrey E. Shuren. “Doctors and patients rely on these tests... If they get inaccurate results...people get hurt as a result.”   read more

Texas faces the greatest threat from drought and wildfires by 2050 and the second-greatest threat from extreme heat, with 115 dangerous heat days per year. However, the state has done little to prepare for the threat. Arkansas faces a high risk of wildfires coupled with an extreme flooding threat. That state has done virtually nothing to prepare for either catastrophe. Nevada’s prospects for drought aren’t too bad, but it has done nothing to prepare for it, according to the report.   read more

Smith, a formerly homeless ex-convict with a learning disability, was fired after he was interrogated by three security managers and told to sign a statement, which he could not read because he did not have his glasses with him. He signed it anyway because he did not want to argue and risk violating his parole. The controversy has resulted in “a groundswell of indignation spurred an online petition, calls for action against the retailer and hundreds of angry comments on social media.”   read more

This prohibition, which is unique among states that have adopted medical marijuana laws, is being challenged in court by two Libertarian candidates running for office. Claire Ball and Scott Schluter sued Attorney General Lisa Madigan and eight members of the Illinois Board of Elections in federal court, claiming the state’s prohibition on medical cannabis cultivators and dispensaries from making campaign contributions violates their First Amendment rights.   read more

“The process is the most intensive of any check conducted for people seeking admission to the United States,” wrote CAP’s Jawetz and Gude. “It is specially designed to mitigate any threats and helps ensure Americans are not placed in harm’s way.” The ordeal takes a year-and-a-half to two years. “If at any stage in that process there is ever the slightest shadow of a doubt or the slightest whisper of suspicion, they are removed from the process. That is that,” said the U.N.'s Christopher Boian.   read more

U.S. ranking in the report was 28th, down eight spots from last year, due to slightly “less perceived wage equality for similar work,” the report states. In some areas, the U.S. fell even further in the rankings. Measured for political equality, it dropped 18 spots to No. 72. “The number of American women in cabinet-level positions dropped to just 26 percent from 32 percent last year, and only 19 percent of congressional positions are held by women,” ThinkProgress noted.   read more

Seventy-two percent of Americans believe that the country is still in recession, although the Great Recession ended in 2009. Janell Ross at The Washington Post said these numbers may reflect how bad off many people still are financially. “A situation where people’s personal economic circumstances remain either so bad or so reduced from what they were in the run up to the Great Recession that they continue to view the economy through irrationally grim glasses,” she wrote.   read more

Supporters of the laws say the change will help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. But some medical professionals say the new laws don’t go far enough, preferring that birth control be available over the counter, cutting both pharmacists and doctors out of the process. “My basic tenet is there should be nobody between the patient and the pill,” said Dr. Mark DeFrancesco. “I’m afraid we’re going to create a new model that...[will] derail the over-the-counter movement.”   read more

A new report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development says the number of those living without proper housing has gone down every year since 2010. Last year, for example, the number of homeless in the U.S. dropped by 2%, or 11,742 individuals. Homelessness among youth and veterans declined even faster, according to ThinkProgress. Still, the number of homeless exceeds 560,000, with 69% of those people staying in shelters.   read more

In the immediate wake of the attacks, as France declared war on ISIS and sharply escalated its bombing campaign against the terrorist group’s targets in Syria, stock prices of major weapons manufacturers skyrocketed. “The markets could barely wait to start buying,” Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept wrote. “The private-sector industrial prong of the Military and Surveillance State always wins, but especially when the media’s war juices start flowing.”   read more

U.S. law prohibits domestic abusers, drug addicts, fugitives and felons from buying guns, but not suspected terrorists. There are about 700,000 people on the terrorist watch list, and none of them are prohibited from buying a gun as a consequence of being on that list. “The majority of the victims in Paris were shot with Kalashnikov rifles, which are sold at...gun shows across this country. There is simply no excuse for Congress to not close this dangerous loophole,” said Sen. Feinstein.   read more

Experts said the rules don’t go far enough to really impact corporate inversions. For example, in response to the proposed regulations, Pfizer has reportedly begun to structure its purchase so that Allergan would technically be the buyer, even though Pfizer is making the purchase. Such a maneuver would, Pfizer believes, prevent the deal from being classified as an inversion and cause it to fall outside the scope of new federal rules.   read more

Since 1964 the fund has provided money for parks and conservation projects in every county in the U.S. But Bishop's goal is to turn the fund into a gift for oil and gas drillers. His bill not only would gut the LWCF, but would earmark 20% of its revenues to return to the energy industry to help finance oil and gas exploration. It would also severely hamper LWCF’s ability to purchase land and make it nearly impossible to do so in the West, an area particularly attractive to fossil fuel producers.   read more

The former drone operatives see a link between recent terrorist attacks and the program for which they had worked. “We cannot sit silently by and witness tragedies like the attacks in Paris, knowing the devastating effects the drone program has overseas and at home,” they wrote. The killing of innocents in drone strikes has, they say, served as one of the most “devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.”   read more