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

The seven whistleblowers also urged Congress to adopt legislation, the Surveillance State Repeal Act, which would end the Patriot Act and roll back government surveillance on Americans’ personal lives. They also criticized the administrations of President Barack Obama and George W. Bush for trying to punish whistleblowers.   read more

Defense Reform Consensus, a group of 38 analysts from a list of think tanks representing all parts of the political spectrum, say the government should close more military bases and reduce the number of civilians who work for the Defense Department, among other recommendations.   read more

The Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015, which cleared the House 240-179 on a nearly party-line vote, would amount to a $334 billion tax break for 25 of the nation’s billionaires. Republicans insist they just want to prevent mom-and-pop companies and family farms from being affected by the tax, although the GOP hasn’t been able to produce one such example.   read more

During the 2014 midterms, 31,976 donors (out of 323 million people) were responsible for pouring $1.18 billion in disclosed political contributions at the federal level. And that doesn’t even include dark money that was spent through the use of loopholes in federal tax laws that allow the uber-rich to avoid revealing certain contributions.   read more

Dr. Micah Young was dean of health sciences and career programs at Malcolm X College until February 4, when he was fired for “alleged performance issues.” But Young claims the firing had more to do with his report of the discovery last summer of four decomposing bodies in an unrefrigerated walk-in safe on campus.   read more

A court ruling that legalizes same-sex marriages would allow GOP candidates to publicly decry the decision, giving their conservative supporters what they want to hear. But it would also allow them to concentrate on other issues instead of continually defining themselves as socially intolerant leaders whose views are unacceptable to millennials, the next generation of voters. If they can’t change this perception, the consequences to them could be even worse in the years ahead.   read more

The Wall Street Journal has reported Obama “secretly approved a waiver” that gave the CIA “more flexibility in Pakistan than anywhere else to strike suspected militants.” That may have cost two hostages, American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto, their lives. “If the exemption had not been in place for Pakistan, the CIA might have been required to gather more intelligence before that strike,” Adam Entous reported in the Journal.   read more

“Francis sullies his office by using demagogic formulations to bully the populace into reflexive climate action with no more substantive guide than theologized propaganda," wrote Maureen Mullarkey."Pope Francis...would do his flock and the world a disservice by putting his moral authority behind the United Nations’ unscientific agenda on the climate," said Joseph Bast, president of the Koch brothers-funded Heartland Institute.   read more

At least a dozen people protesting the decision not to prosecute the police who killed Eric Garner were detained by the NYPD. They later said they were questioned about their political associations and other matters related to their involvement in street protests. The interrogations could have a chilling effect on Americans lawfully exercising their right to protest and may also put the department in violation of a 1985 consent decree that came out of a federal court case.   read more

Tyson’s move “sends a message to other producers that the tides are turning,” said Nicole McCann, director of food campaigns for advocacy group Green America. The move also makes good business sense. Eighty-six percent of consumers support the availability of drug-free meats in grocery stores, according to the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Next, Tyson plans to talk to its suppliers of beef, pork and turkey about eliminating antibiotic use in their meat.   read more

If all of the permafrost becomes exposed, it could release more than 10 times the amount of carbon than has been discharged into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. The carbon deposit in the Arctic is so great it would represent two and a half times more carbon than already exists in the atmosphere today. This could amplify climate warming, which would cause more permafrost to thaw and release more carbon, and so on.   read more

What’s $300 million when a project could end up consuming more than $50 billion over its lifetime? Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) called the continued funding of the MOX facility a “zombie earmark.” DOE officials are so fed up with the project that they were ready to shut it down. But backers in Congress, including Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C), made sure there was $300 million in the 2014 year-end spending bill for MOX. They even prohibited the Energy Department from putting MOX in cold standby.   read more

The Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), an enormous floating radar ship, was supposed to be able to detect even tiny incoming objects into U.S. airspace from thousands of miles away. SBX, built by Boeing and Raytheon, was going to guide rocket interceptors to enemy ballistic missiles before they could reach U.S. soil. But after a $2.2 billion investment, MDA realized SBX couldn’t distinguish between missiles and decoys. The technology has been mothballed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.   read more

A group of former Southern California Edison computer workers who were replaced by foreign workers on H-1B guest-worker visas sued DHS, contending the visa program violates immigration laws and unfairly hurts them get new jobs.The utility forced the workers about to be laid off to train their foreign replacements in order to qualify for severance benefits. “This is a slap in the face to the tens of millions of Americans suffering from unemployment,” said Dale Wilcox.   read more

Since being embarrassed by a high-profile whistleblower and a mass murderer, both of whom had government security clearances, the Obama administration has worked to reduce the number of individuals who have access to classified information. But there are still more than a million people with access to top secret materials. “There’s still some fat in the system [to] be trimmed away,” said Steven Aftergood. Efforts to declassify information will lead to further reductions in security clearances.   read more

Losing control of the U.S. Senate in the last election wasn’t all bad for President Obama. With Republicans in charge, the Senate stands a better chance of embracing what might be Obama’s last great policy goal: the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Many Democrats are strongly opposed to the TPP, calling it a corporate bill of rights that will undermine U.S. sovereignty and do little to help average Americans. Fortunately for Obama, Democrats are in the minority in both houses of Congress.   read more