U.S. and the World

Revisiting “Tawdry” Treatment of Reporter who Broke Story on CIA-Contra-Crack-Cocaine Connection

The premise of Webb’s 1996 three-part exposé, “Dark Alliance The Story behind the Crack Explosion,” was that the explosion of crack-cocaine in America’s ghettos was indirectly abetted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The chief source of drugs for the number one street distributor was a Nicaraguan exile connected to the right-wing, CIA-backed Contras, who were fighting to overthrow that country’s leftist Sandinista-led government. read more

U.S. Army’s Latest Plan to Battle Colombian Guerillas: A Radio Soap Opera

The U.S. Army sent out a request to contractors for proposals for a radio program that would convince rebel forces in Colombia to put down their weapons. Interested companies must explain how they will produce 20 radio novela episodes in Spanish and regional dialects for use by the Army’s Military Information Support Operations in Colombia. read more

Women Are the Primary Breadwinners in Nearly Half of U.S. Family Households

Women are now the primary breadwinners in nearly half of all U.S. households. About 40% of homes with children under 18 now include a mother who is either the sole or primary earner, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau and polling data. The rate is the highest on record—four times that in 1960. read more

U.S. Human Rights Violations Outlined by U.N. Rights Commissioner

Navi Pillay, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, singled out the ongoing detentions of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, as well as international kidnappings (aka renditions) and the use of drones, as troubling threats to laws and principles intended to protect individuals from abuse. read more

Caribbean Bank is Focus of IRS Hunt for Tax Evaders

Kiger used data obtained from IRS programs that allow previous U.S. tax evaders to voluntarily disclose details of their crime in exchange for receiving reduced penalties and no jail time. To date, more than 39,000 tax evaders have fessed up through those programs, resulting in a recoupment of $5.5 billion by the IRS. Of those cases, there are at least 129 that involved FCIB and its Caribbean predecessors. read more

Aftermath of Vietnam Civil War Spills over into U.S. Courts 38 Years after End of Conflict

Duc Tan, a refugee and school teacher, was labeled a communist and an undercover Viet Cong agent by five Vietnamese-Americans in an August 7, 2003, public notice and local community news stories because they said that a Santa Claus apron found near a booth run by Tan’s organization at a community fair included gold stars resembling those used on the Vietnamese communist flag. read more

Benefits of Drug Legalization May Outweigh Increase in Number of Drug Users

The benefits of decriminalization or legalization would be greater than their costs, pointing out that the “available evidence suggests that reducing penalties for possession of small quantities has little effect on the number of users but retains the benefit of reducing judicial case loads and incarceration rates.” Legalization would save money on enforcement costs, reducing rates of disease, death associated with drug use and violent crime.. read more

520 Scientists Issue Statement with Solutions to Global Life Support Problems

Recognizing that these five crises are deeply intertwined with one another, the report sets forth “broad-brush” policy proposals to slow the destruction humanity is wreaking on the biosphere. These include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, better land management, slowing the rate of population growth and changing industrial processes to reduce toxic waste. read more

Appeals Court Rules Government Cannot Deny Visa on “Terrorism” Grounds without a Stated Reason

Two years later, Berashk finally was granted an interview with a U.S. consular officer After waiting nine months for a decision from the U.S. embassy, only to learn Berashk had been turned down, Din filed a lawsuit to force officials to explain why her husband was denied entry into the U.S. The only thing the State Department did was point to a broad 1,000-word provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that excludes applicants for a variety of terrorism-related reasons. read more

U.S. Energy Grid under Attack

The investigation by the staffs of Representative Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Representative Henry Waxman (D-California) found that the U.S. power grid has been the focus of daily cyber attacks, with one utility reporting it was subject to 10,000 attempts a month. In addition, “More than a dozen utilities reported “daily,” “constant,” or “frequent” attempted cyberattacks ranging from phishing to malware infection to unfriendly probes.” read more

Federal Government Charges Researchers with Using U.S. Grant to Help Chinese Commercial Spying

A federal prosecutor in New York accused Yudong Zhu, Xing Yang and Ye Li, all of whom are Chinese citizens, of accepting bribes from a Chinese medical imaging company, United Imaging, and SIAT, a Chinese-sponsored research institute. In exchange for the money, the three shared nonpublic information about their NYU work. It is thought that Ye returned to China before she was charged. read more

Tightened Arizona Border Security Pushes Migrants to Dangerous Routes, More Deaths

The largest number of the deaths in FY2012 occurred in Arizona near Tucson, which is also the busiest stretch of the Mexican border for illegal crossings. Another dangerous stretch is in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. There, 77 bodies of immigrants were recovered between October 1 and April 30, an average of almost three a week. Last year, more than half of the dead were identified as having come not from Mexico, but from Central America. read more

Global Increase in Bigotry against Jews and Muslims

In parts of Europe and Asia, anti-Islamic sentiments went up, while growing anti-Semitism was noted in Venezuela, Egypt and Iran. The International Religious Freedom Report quoted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who praised comments by a religious leader calling for Allah to “destroy the Jews and their supporters.” In Venezuela, state-controlled media published multiple anti-Semitic remarks, including opposition to a Catholic presidential candidate with Jewish roots. read more

Pacific Islanders Ask U.S. Military to not Use Pagan Island for Target Practice

The controversy centers on Pagan Island, part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), which is itself made up of 14 islands, three of which are inhabited (Saipan, Tinian and Rota). American forces intend to occupy all of Pagan Island for live-fire training and military exercises. Pagan was inhabited for more than 3,000 years, but the population was evacuated during a volcano eruption in 1981. read more

Federal Court Panel Says Florida Cannot Punish Businesses with Cuban or Syrian Connections

The state adopted the Cuba Amendment, which banned businesses from receiving state and local contracts if they had dealings in Cuba or Syria, or maintained connections with companies that did so. The law also required companies to certify that they did not have business operations in any of the two countries when bidding on a government job or renewing a contract with a government agency. read more

Alleged CIA Spy Nabbed in Russia Said to be Investigating Boston Marathon Bombing

To some observers, there may be more to the story than meets the eye because so much of it strains credulity—such as the unlikely use of a cheap-looking disguise, a recruitment letter written in such a potentially compromising way, and the fact that Russian authorities and media—already on the scene of the arrest—moved with lightning speed to plaster photos, video and information across the media landscape. read more