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.

Obama to Disband the Marine Corps

SemDem Daily Kos
To all of my conservative friends, past, present, and future: when you hear something so incredible about your president or, in fact, any politician, will you put a minimum amount of effort to verifying it is true before you spout it as fact? Just ONE google search will usually do it.

Game Theorists Crack Poker

Philip Ball Nature
An 'essentially unbeatable' algorithm for the popular card game points to strategies for solving real-life problems without having complete information.