NATO’s Plan to Train Libyan Soldiers: A Disaster From the Start

Chris Stephen and Ewen MacAskill The Guardian
Stung by criticism the NATO alliance “walked away” from Libya after its bombing campaign helped overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced an agreement at the 2013 G8 summit to train the reconstituted Libyan armed forces. But the scheme for the UK, US, Italy and Turkey to train recruits has been beset with problems, including who is going to pay for it. Some trainees have returned to Libya and joined anti-government militias.

U.K. Report Urges Tobacco Workers' Rights

Vanessa McCray Toledo Blade
In December 2013, Baldemar Velasquez, the founder and President of the American farm worker union the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), briefed the British House of Commons on the state of human rights for tobacco farm workers in the United States. His report raised deep concern amongst MPs. On July 26 and 27, 2014, we met with farm workers in the fields where they work and within the camps where they live.

The Temple Mount Movement Has Nothing to Do With Civil Rights

Larry Derfner +972 Magazine
Following the murder attempt on right-wing activist Yehuda Glick, leader of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, the claim is being made that he and his colleagues have been leading a civil rights movement for Jews. The Temple Mount movement has never been a movement for religious equality or peaceful coexistence. And continued efforts to change the status quo at the al-Aqsa Mosque could lead to catastrophe.

Voter Suppression in 2014

Sean McElwee Demos
The number of people disenfranchised often exceeded the margin of victory.

Make Election Day a National Holiday

Bernie Sanders Bernie Buzz
Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed a bill to designate "Democracy Day" as a national election holiday to make it easier for Americans to vote.

How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain

When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout.

James Randi: Homeopathy, Quackery and Fraud

Legendary skeptic James Randi takes a fatal dose of homeopathic sleeping pills onstage, kicking off a searing indictment of irrational beliefs. He throws out a million dollar challenge to the world's psychics to prove what they do is real.