Pope Signals Church Could Support Civil Unions In Some Cases

Pope Francis signaled that the Catholic Church could support some civil unions, particularly in order to guarantee property rights or medical care for... Read more

The Texas Tea Party Didn't Win, But It Got The GOP To Move To The Right

"...Overshadowed by both international and domestic developments and beset by terrible weather, Texas held the first major state primaries of the 2014 cycle yesterday. In the absence of a lot of red-hot congressional contests, the Lone Star event will mostly be interpreted as a barometer of this or that national trend, with varying degrees of accuracy..."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/the-texas-tea-party-didn-t-win-but-it-got-the-gop-to-move-to-the-right

Daily Show Mocks Fox News' Obsession With Food Stamps And Seafood (VIDEO)

"The Daily Show" host John Stewart on Tuesday mocked Fox News for its tendency to report on anecdotes about food stamp abuse. Stewart joked about a n... Read more

41 GOP Senators Try To Filibuster Judge, Then Confirm Him Unanimously

The post-nuclear Senate is a strange place. Forty-one Republican senators voted Wednesday to filibuster Pedro A. Delgado Hernandez of Puerto Rico, a ... Read more

A well-preserved trilobite specimen from Morocco that lived during the Devonian Period roughly 400 million years ago.

Read more

How To Reduce Food Stamp Spending Without Cutting The Program

Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would also slash food stamp costs by almost $5 billion per year.The post How To ... Read more

Wisconsin Locals Fight For Regulation Of Carcinogenic Fracking Ingredient

A bill aimed at limiting the power of local governments to regulate frac sand mines is causing controversy in Wisconsin The ... Read more

The Massive Policy Failure That Paul Ryan Wants To Emulate

Paul Ryan says 1990s welfare reform was a major success. Here's how it's failed on almost every metric.The post The Massive ... Read more

Humanity Has Got to Come to Grips with the World's Fresh Water Crisis

The human race has got to get serious about the ways we consume and interact with water sources

 ... Read more

RWW News: Obama's Gay, Not A Real American: Solomon

Phyllis Schlafly applauds Stan Solomon's homophobic rant against Obama.

http://youtu.be/ylnD3Z4IOOQ

RWW News: John Hagee Says The Crisis In Ukraine Is The Beginning Of The Last Days

John Hagee says that the situation in Ukraine is the beginning of the Last Days, as Russia and various other nations prepare to invade Israel.

http://youtu.be/BU3xcg8FGoY

Is the Universe an Accident?

Theoretical physicist Alan Lightman suggests that our universe is one of many possible variations, leaving physicists at a cosmological dead end. Lightman's latest book is The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew.

http://youtu.be/fRG558zuWNU

Housing Crisis 2.0 Coming Soon Thanks To Wall Street

*Housing and consumer activists warn that Wall Street is about to crash the housing market -- again. The activists said they are particularly concerned about the growing number of companies looking to issue bonds backed by rental properties -- bonds that a coalition of groups described as "eerily like" those mortgage-backed securities that helped fuel the last housing bubble...The 2008 housing crisis happened because banks were willing to give even risky borrowers a mortgage, driving home prices to unsustainable peaks. Those mortgages got sold into bonds that defaulted once homebuyers stopped making their monthly payments. This time, gun-shy bankers are hard-pressed to give anyone but the most stellar borrowers a mortgage, said the groups, which include California Reinvestment Coalition and the National Consumer Law Center. Yet, home prices are rising again. That's because Wall Street investors with deep pockets and the ability to pay cash for homes are muscling out ordinary buyers in places hard-hit by the housing crisis, like Phoenix and Atlanta. Once these wealthy investors have bought the homes, they flip them into rentals -- often covering up large issues like plumbing and mold with cosmetic fixes...* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

http://youtu.be/HCDDESkNaAw

5 Christian Right Leaders in Desperate Need of a Civics Lesson About How America Works

"The religious right engages in wishful thinking..."

 ...And what they wish for looks a lot like a Christian form of Taliban and Sharia law for the U.S., where they hope to impose their religion on everyone by force of law, all laws are based on their interpretation of the Bible, and their belief that God loves America best.

 ... Read more

Scary Emerging Scientific Consensus: There's No Such Thing as Safe Plastic

The plastics industry has a big propaganda denial campaign in the works.

 ... Read more

Self Pitying Christian Right: How Can We Practice Religion if We Can’t Discriminate? | Alternet

The "liberty" crowd, led by Times columnist Ross Douthat, braces itself for persecution of its views.

http://www.alternet.org/christian-right-how-can-we-practice-faith-if-we-cant-discriminate

How Hyper-Religious Political Stunts by Republicans Keep Voters Captive to Corporate Ideology

The Ten Commandments stunt in Alabama is a case study in how to ensure inequality in the Bible Belt.

 ... Read more

Five Terrible U.S. Supreme Court Rulings That Poisoned American Elections With Big Money

Will an upcoming ruling on contribution limits to political parties be next?

 ... Read more

Don't Listen to Obama's Ukraine Critics: He's Not 'Losing' – and It's Not His Fight

The ‘do something’ pundits rear their heads. Just like they did on Iraq, Afghanistan and every other crisis of US ‘credibility’.

 ... Read more

The Mess on Our 'Information Superhighway'

 No private party ought to be getting rich off a basic public trust.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mess-our-information-superhighway

The Fracking Industry's Contempt for the Public Is Finally Coming to Light

Recent disclosures reveal little else but a interest in making profits.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/fracking-industry-loses-trust-public

Obama Trying Diplomacy with Putin While Neocons Are Trying to Stoke Conflicts

Neocons are doing their best to extinguish all chances for diplomacy.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/us-has-two-foreign-policies-toward-russia-obamas-stabilizing-plan-and-neocon

Chomsky: An Ignorant Public Is the Real Kind of Security Our Govt. Is After

Keeping the public in the dark is the name of the game.

 ... Read more

Tea Party Group Somehow Tries To Blame Mitch McConnell For Progress On Gay Marriage

"...A tea party group released a new ad on Tuesday claiming that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is the reason Kentucky is "stuck with gay marriage," because he recommended a federal judge -- 22 years ago -- who recently ruled in favor of same-sex marriage rights..."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/04/mitch-mcconnell-gay-marriage_n_4899292.html

Taking Liberties: A New Book Explains Why The Religious Right’s View Of ‘Religious Freedom’ Is All Wrong

Religious Right groups can't handle the tides of cultural change that are buffeting the nation – ... Read more

A Progressive Vision

The President's budget is a bold progressive document that calls for an end to the era of austerity.The post A Progressive ... Read more

someonebetter explains to a religious mother how atheists question things.

http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/1zhv3h/my_son_is_atheist_please_read/cftwa95

Al Franken writes letter to FCC warning against Comcast/Time Warner merger

"... says it should be scrutinized because Comcast has ”a history of breaching its legal obligations to consumers.”
Read more

Obamacare Is Giving Medicaid A Significant Boost — Even In The States That Didn’t Expand It

Between 2.4 and 3.5 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid for the first time between October and January.The post Obamacare Is ... Read more

More Than 2 Million Unemployed Workers Are Now Going Without Benefits

Meet one woman struggling with long-term unemployment without a benefit check to rely on.The post More Than 2 Million ... Read more

Five More Duke Energy Power Plants Cited For Storing Coal Waste Improperly

The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Monday cited five more Duke Energy power plants ... Read more

How Dare We Rail on Russia for Foreign Intervention?

Eugene Robinson on the United States' shaky moral high-ground
http://www.newser.com/story/183241/how-dare-we-rail-on-russia-for-foreign-intervention.html

TONIGHT: COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY Live Event on Livestream

On Tuesday, March 4, fans in 10 cities across the country will have the exclusive opportunity to watch a LIVE interactive Q&A of the highly anticipated series premiere of COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY with COSMOS host Neil deGrasse Tyson, writer/executive producer/director Ann Druyan, executive producer Seth MacFarlane, executive producer Mitchell Cannold, executive producer/director Brannon Braga and co-executive producer Jason Clark will sponsored by Samsung Galaxy® and Chrysler.

http://new.livestream.com/fox/cosmosliveevent

Ukraine, Russia On The Brink Of War - Blame Bush?

*Russian troops took control of vital installations across the Crimean Peninsula on Saturday, and Russian President Vladimir Putin secured authorization to send in more as the Kremlin set the stage for a high-stakes international showdown over the future of Ukraine. On Sunday, Ukraine's leader urged Putin to pull back his military, saying "we are on the brink of disaster," according to the Associated Press. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine's new prime minister, spoke after a closed session of his new parliament in Kiev. On Saturday, the interim president of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov, said, "We consider the behavior of the Russian Federation to be direct aggression against the sovereignty of Ukraine." Hours later, President Obama, who had warned Putin on Friday against military intervention in Crimea, had an apparently tense 90-minute telephone exchange with the Russian president...* Did George Bush set a terrible precedent with this pre-emptive war with Iraq? The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

http://youtu.be/wT1eALgDAMo

Documentary Exposes Corrupt "Kids For Cash" Judge In Pennsylvania

"Kids for Cash, opening on February 28 in New York and major cities. The story begins in 2003 in a courthouse in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, when Judge Mark Ciavarella began sentencing teenagers to juvenile detention centers for offenses as minor as trespassing in a an abandoned building or poking fun at a principal with a mock MySpace page. For the next six years, over 3,000 children would be swept into the juvenile justice system under a "zero tolerance" policy. Most of the defendants had been convinced to waive their right to a lawyer. Many were taken away in shackles. Once in the system, some of the kids were incarcerated for years."

http://youtu.be/BTRppZjVbfk

Professor Asks When It's Okay To Shoot A Student

"Boise State biology professor Greg Hampikian wrote an OpEd piece for the New York Times Friday about his opposition to a bill working it's way through the Idaho State Legislature." Read the op-ed here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/opi...

Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, Ben Mankiewicz and Jimmy Dore of The Young Turks discuss the amazing op-ed.

http://youtu.be/yXmz5nzoGgA

Some Of The Craziest Republican Quotes Ever & A Sad, Scary Truth

"A Republican state lawmaker from Maine says he regrets making decades worth of offensive comments about gays, rape, and abortion that were compiled recently by a liberal activist.

Blogger Mike Tipping dug up several offensive comments made by state Rep. Lawrence Lockman (R-Amherst) from old news reports he posted on the Bangor Daily News website, which has spurred Democratic calls for the lawmaker's resignation.

In one of the quotes posted on the blog, Lockman falsely suggested HIV and AIDS could be spread by bed sheets and mosquitos, and he also said the progressive movement helped spread the virus by claiming "the practice of sodomy is a legitimate alternative lifestyle, rather than a perverted and depraved crime against humanity.""* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

http://youtu.be/_Iak_3wDzjE

Bullying Schoolchildren And Shooting 'Wetbacks' - GOP Racism Edition

"A Kansas lawmaker's proposal to track the citizenship status of public schoolchildren has raised alarm in one of the state's most diverse communities, where district administrators worry that even raising the question with parents and students would damage the welcoming environment they have tried to create.

Republican Rep. Allan Rothlisberg and officials of the Garden City district in western Kansas agree that under a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, all students are entitled to a public education regardless of their citizenship status or that of their parents. But Rothlisberg, of Grandview Plaza, introduced his bill with the goal of calculating how much Kansas is spending to educate children who are in the U.S. without legal permission."* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

http://youtu.be/d3u4caV7kho

Why Wall Street Just Threatened Republicans

*Wall Street is warning Washington Republicans: The money spigot is turning off.
Rep. Dave Camp's tax proposal — which jacked up taxes on banks and threatens the bottom line of some major private equity players in New York — has infuriated donors in high finance. Private equity and investment firms in New York are telling key Republican players in D.C. that commitments for big-dollar fundraising have been "canceled for the foreseeable future," according to one GOP lobbyist with knowledge of the conversations...* What about Democrats? The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

http://youtu.be/YCkZyPDEssI

Christian Lawmakers Fall For Noah's Ark Scam And Then...

*It might have been a warning sign when he said he'd found Noah's Ark. Ponzi schemes are notoriously attractive at the onset, then look awfully stupid in the rear-view mirror. The latest, in Texas, involves conservative Christian lawmakers and a man who promised outsized profits on energy trading software, milking lawmakers with his alleged Christian bona fides. "I ran into him at a conservative event," state Rep. Bill Zedler told the Dallas Morning News. "What he had said was he was in the Mount Ararat region and they had come up with some stuff. He may have given me a DVD." In essence, they say they put their faith in a man who played at being godly and literally buttered his pitch in bible verse...* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

http://youtu.be/eyVT-9XNHZE

Rep. Ryan's New Poverty Report: A Fat Thumb on the Evidentiary Scale

Paul Ryan and the majority Republican staff of the House Budget Committee are out with a big document that purports to provide a balanced evaluation o... Read more

Here's What Family Values Really Look Like

One of the joys of watching world cinema is that it takes you outside your standard frames of reference. In some cases this means stories with fewer g... Read more

When You Hear Conservatives Talking About Religious Liberty, Watch Out

“Religious liberty” might sound nice, but it conceals a hard-line agenda... The Rhetoric of Religious Liberty... Religious Liberty Justifies New Anti-Gay Movement... Religious Liberty Rhetoric Leads to Government Shutdown...

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/when-you-hear-conservatives-talking-about-religious-liberty-watch-out?page=0%2C1&paging=off&current_page=1

Bigot On TV: What Discrimination Against Gays?

"A 19-year-old Texas man has been federally charged with a hate crime in the beating and abduction of a gay man he lured to his home via social media. According to the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Brice Johnson of Springtown severely beat the victim, then locked him into the trunk of his own car.

The victim — identified by police only as "A.K." — was hospitalized for 10 days following the attack for blunt force trauma injuries, including skull and facial fractures.

The attack took place in September. The federal criminal complaint against Johnson said that he told police that he had intended to prank the other man because of his sexual orientation, but that it turned out to be a "joke that went too far and wrong.""* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.

http://youtu.be/Crwzg7-CSWs

Is This CNBC Anchor Stupid, Ignorant Or A Paid Corporate Shill?

"Climate change, and January's record-setting heat, probably had nothing to do with increased CO2 emissions, CNBC's Joe Kernen said Thursday morning. According to Kernen, the better explanation is that it's just inexplicable.

"It's almost like witchcraft," Kernen said. "In the middle ages it was witchcraft. You would have attributed adverse weather events to witchcraft. Now we just have CO2 at this point."

It's understandable how, if a person had never once consulted a scientific paper or sat down for a serious, ideology-free conversation about climate change with one of the overwhelming majority of scientists who agree that man-made climate change is a real, observable phenomenon, he could be confused into thinking that the greatest challenge of our time is comparable to the medieval superstitious that arose in the absence of scientific understanding. It's also deeply ironic."* The Young Turks hosts Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.

http://youtu.be/Wxdn54g1zTw

Senator Tweets His Own Raging Hypocrisy

"In the span of one day, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) came out against cutting entitlements and for cutting entitlements.

On Monday afternoon, he tweeted a quote of his in Reuters attacking the cuts enacted under Obamacare to private insurers under Medicare Advantage."* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

http://youtu.be/gkmfFgQPex0

Disincentivizing Workers (This Modern World)

Darrell Issa must love wooden dolls with very, very long noses

House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa's mendacity has gotten so out of hand that even Fox News Sunday ... Read more

GOP Bill to 'Save American Workers' Would Actually Strip Health Care From a Million Workers, CBO Reports

The Republican battle against the Affordable Care Act just can't catch a break. First, the website is repaired and currently runs quite well. Then we ... Read more

Top 5: MORE fuel economy myths!

We received a ton of e-mail about our "Top 5 fuel economy myths" segment and many of those messages we got from you were ... Read more

No, American Weakness Didn't Encourage Putin to Invade Ukraine

"In fact, we've pushed U.S. power further east than anyone could have imagined when the Soviet Union collapsed...

If you've listened to President Obama's critics in recent days, you've almost certainly heard two claims. First, that under Obama, America is in retre... Read more

How 'Religious-Freedom' Laws Could Come Back to Hurt the Faithful

"If conservative Christians really believe they are becoming a marginalized movement, why would they want to disempower marginalized people in the marketplace?"

"I'd like to purchase a wedding cake," the glowing young woman says as she clutches the arm of her soon-to-be husband. "We're getting married at the B... Read more

7 Numbers that Show How Most Americans Were Robbed of a Comfortable Retirement

Millions of baby boomers are the victims of 35 years of deregulated greed.

 ... Read more

The Simple Solution to Obamacare's Employer Mandate Problems

In the last month, two more misleading headlines -- one on lost jobs and the other on premiums for small businesses -- have further roiled the overhea... Read more

Michigan's Gary Peters Attacks Land On Auto Bailout

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Democratic Rep. Gary Peters sought Monday to put Republican Terri Land on the defensive in their U.S. Senate race by hi... Read more

5 Reasons Paul Ryan Is In A Budget Jam

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) muscled his signature budget blueprint through the House of Representatives for three straight years, basking in praise from the... Read more

Vladimir Putin’s Crimean mistake:

The Russian president is miscalculating how easy it will be to control Crimea.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/03/vladimir_putin_s_crimean_mistake_the_russian_president_is_miscalculating.html

How Virginia’s Speaker Just Saved Taxpayer Subsidies For Secretive Lobbying Groups Like ALEC

Virginia House Speaker William Howell (R), a former national chairman of the corporate American Legislative Exchange Council ... Read more

Paul Ryan’s Audit Of Federal Anti-Poverty Programs Finds Many Are Actually Very Effective

Paul Ryan praises the nation's largest single-payer health care system and homeless prevention programs. The post Paul ... Read more

Canadian Conservatives Call On The Government To Enact More Environmental Regulation

"If you are in the energy business today, then you are in the environment business today," a high profile Canadian conservative ... Read more

4 Things Paul Ryan Misses About Medicaid In His New Poverty Report

The former vice presidential candidate attempts to make the case that Medicaid is an inefficient program that doesn't safeguard ... Read more

How Europe Could Get 16 Percent Of Its Road Fuel From Garbage By 2030

Around 225 million metric tons of the EU's waste from agriculture, forestry, and municipal garbage could be sustainably ... Read more

Kentucky Churches Giving Away Guns To Help People Discover Jesus

The Kentucky Baptist Convention wants to "point people to Christ" by giving away guns at Second Amendment Celebrations hosted ... Read more

Newark Archbishop's pricey retirement home spurs backlash as parishioners withhold donations | NJ.com

"...Reeder, 48, counts himself among those hard workers. He built a sheet-metal manufacturing and installation business out of nothing. Last week, as he worked on the roof of a Jersey City building, he said he loves the church and hopes people continue to attend Mass.

At the same time, he said, "I’m not an apologist or enabler."

"This shows the need for reform," Reeder said. "And the only way they will listen to us is if we hit them in the wallet. Hard."...

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/03/archbishops_pricey_retirement_home_spurs_backlash_as_parishioners_withhold_donations.html

Here’s The Anti-Gay ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill Arizona Lawmakers Are Still Considering

Arizona isn't done considering legislation that would make it easier to discriminate against same-sex couples.The post ... Read more

Uproar Greets Newark Archbishop's Luxe Home - John Myers tacking 3K square feet onto already huge retirement home

John Myers tacking 3K square feet onto already huge retirement home.

http://www.newser.com/story/183160/uproar-greets-newark-archbishops-luxe-home.html

Scared Of America Becoming A Theocracy? Here's A Peek

"Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) added another tile to the increasingly colorful mosaic of his political record yesterday, explaining that he will only consider voting for a bill if it fits "Judeo-Christian Biblical principles."

Broun, currently running in a crowded field for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, also said legislation needed to be constitutional, but did not delve into the First Amendment's prohibition on Congress passing a law "respecting an establishment of religion."

His comments came during an interview with the Tea Party Express."* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

http://youtu.be/gAxY87fFYv8

LibraryThing: Track your books and to whom they are out on loan; join the world's largest book club

A home for your books.

Enter what you’re reading or your whole library. It’s an easy, library-quality catalog.
A community of 1,700,000 book lovers.

LibraryThing connects you to people who read what you do.

And it is free.

http://www.librarything.com/home

Stress And Consequences For American Teens (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

Americans are not strangers to stress.  The economy, the environment, the snow, the drought, the pace, the pinging of all those apps and phones.  But the news this week was still arresting:  the most stressed Americans now are American teenagers.  We know they’ve got tests and college applications and all the rest but still, we hate to hear it.  And what’s more, researchers warn, pinning the needle on stress in teenage years can have lifelong implications for health and happiness.  So what’s going on?  And what do we do about it? This hour On Point:  Teen stress, pinning the needle in America. /Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/02/13/stress-teens-ama-parenting

Headline Nation: Making Sense Of The News (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

The news is everywhere.  The news is too much.  The news is not serious enough, not factual enough, not contextual enough.  Everybody has an opinion about the news.  Fox News, celebrity news, “lame-stream media.” Alain de Botton has written about sex and travel and Proust and philosophy.  Now he’s writing about news.  A kind of philosopher’s take on what we’re getting and not getting.  How we’re overwhelmed and under-nourished by the news.  How the news can power a democracy, or cut it down.  This hour On Point:  We’re thinking through, getting meta, on the news.  / Tom Ashbrook

Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/02/27/headlines-news-media-newspapers-journalism