Will U.S. Supreme Court Undermine the Fair Housing Act?

Alan Jenkins Rooflines.Org
On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project. The case poses the question of whether the Fair Housing Act protects Americans from all housing policies that discriminate in practice, or only those where intentional bigotry can be proven. The decision to take up this case leads many to conclude the 1968 Fair Housing Act is in grave jeopardy.

The Powerful Surge to Protect Gen. Petraeus

Ray McGovern ConsortiumNews
Ex-CIA official Jeffrey Sterling is going on trial for espionage because he allegedly told a reporter about a botched covert operation that sent flawed nuclear designs to Iran, but powerful people want to spare ex-CIA Director David Petraeus indictment for leaking secrets to his mistress, notes ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern. Sterling, a whistleblower, and Petraeus, a retired four-star general, are being held to "cruelly different standards."

Hollywood’s Making Only One Film About Latinos in 2015

Adam Hofbauer Beyond Chron
Despite the fact that in 2013, Latinos, which only made up 17 percent of the US population, represented 32 percent of frequent moviegoers, the major film studios are planning just one film depicting Latinos in 2015. The continued paucity of U.S. films about Latinos and other minorities is due to the continued deep-seated bias against ethnic diversity and an industry-wide apathy towards change.

Five Years After Haiti's Earthquake: The Sad State of Democracy

Beverly Bell Other Worlds Are Possible
Five years after the earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people and rendered 1.9 million more homeless, the fraudulently elected administration of Michel Martelly has abandoned any pretense of democracy. In the first of a two-part series, veteran journalist Beverly Bell interviews Jackson Doliscar, organizer with the Haitian Force for Reflection and Action on Housing on the state of human rights in Haiti today.

2014: Hottest Year on Record

2014 now ranks as the warmest on record since 1880, according to an analysis by NASA scientists. Nine of the 10 warmest years have occurred since 2000. This continues a long-term trend. The warming trend is largely driven by the increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, caused by human emissions.
 

Movie: Spare Parts

Four Hispanic high school students form a robotics club. With no experience, 800 bucks, used car parts and a dream, this rag tag team goes up against the country's reigning robotics champion, MIT.

Why We Need to End the War on Drugs

Is the war on drugs doing more harm than good? In a bold talk, drug policy reformist Ethan Nadelmann makes an impassioned plea to end this "backward, heartless, disastrous" policy. He gives two big reasons we should focus on intelligent regulation instead.

7 Reproductive Rights Issues to Watch in 2015

Nina Martin ProPublica
In the states, where the 2014 elections gave Republicans control of two-thirds of state legislative chambers, incoming lawmakers also have supersized their abortion agendas. But abortion is just one issue on the minds of activists focused on reproductive rights. There's also birth control, conscience clauses and personhood. Here are seven key trends and themes to watch for this year.