American History X-ed

How The Confederate Flag Was Divorced From Slavery & Segregation
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Dusty twister in Colorado

Beautiful tornado tracks in open farm land narrowly missing a home near Simla, Colorado.
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Greek failure to make IMF payment deals historic blow to eurozone

Athens left without financial lifeline following fortnight of non-stop brinkmanship at highest level of EU leadership
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Fast-food workers likely will get a raise to $15 an hour, wage board says

Most fast-food workers in New York will receive a wage increase to $15 an hour, but the details still have to be worked out. Members of the state wage board said during their meeting this morning that they all agreed the wage should be raised to at least $15 an hour. "The three members on the board are in agreement that there should be a substantial increase," said Byron Brown, chairman of the wage board and mayor of Buffalo.
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Judge Orders Lying, Cheating Government To Return $167,000 To The Man They Stole It From

A federal judge has just ordered the government to return $167,000 it took from a man passing through Nevada on his way to visit his girlfriend in California. The officers really wanted that money, too. They used two consecutive stops to jerry-rig...
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Cuba first to ​eliminate mother-to-baby HIV transmission

Cuba has become the first country to eliminate the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to baby, the World Health Organisation has announced. The WHO’s director general, Margaret Chan, said it was “one of the greatest public health achievements possible” and an important step towards an Aids-free generation. Over the past five years, Caribbean countries have had increased access to antiretroviral drugs as part of a regional initiative to eliminate mother-to-child transmission.
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Liberia Quarantines an Area Where New Ebola Case Appeared

Liberian authorities on Tuesday quarantined two households after the corpse of a 17-year-old boy was found with Ebola, sparking fears the West African country could face another outbreak of the disease nearly two months after being declared Ebola-free. "Liberia has got a re-infection of Ebola," Tolbert Nyenswah, deputy health minister and head of Liberia's Ebola response team, told The Associated Press.
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With court approval, NSA resumes bulk collection of phone data

A secret surveillance court says the government can resume collection for a 180-day transition period.
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High Tea, Afternoon Tea, Elevenses: English Tea Times For Dummies

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the English and their social tea traditions. What time are they each at, anyways? But don't fret. NPR's The Salt is here to offer guidance.
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Alabama chief justice walks back remarks on same-sex marriage

Chief Justice Roy Moore suggested same-sex marriages in his state would be delayed.
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Apple conspired to fix e-book prices: U.S. appeals court

A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a judge's ruling that Apple Inc <AAPL.O> had conspired with five publishers to increase e-book prices, in a win for the U.S. Justice
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The Revolution Has Been Digitized: Explore the Oldest Archive of Radical Posters

The oldest public collection of radical history completed a digital archive of over 2,000 posters.
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Pre-Civil War Baseball Team Card Going on Auction Block in Chicago

For decades, a circa 1860s Brooklyn Atlantics team baseball card was tucked away, first inside a secret drawer of a bedroom set and then between the pages of a photo album.
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Could Supreme Court Decision Lead To Death Of The Gerrymander?

More than a half-dozen other states could implement independent redistricting commissions in the wake of the court's decision Monday to uphold Arizona's commission.
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How 4 Gay Black Women Fought Back Against A Sexual Harasser — And Landed In Jail

They're called the New Jersey 4, a group of young women who were catcalled and allegedly attacked in New York. Why did they — and not their harasser — end up in jail? A new documentary digs in.
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The GOP May Regret Its Lasting Battle Against Gay Marriage

Same-sex marriage is supported by most Americans. And after last week’s landmark Supreme Court decision, it’s also the law of the land. But how it will play out in the presidential campaign is far ...
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Washington Post Encrypts Its News Website

The Washington Post begins encrypting parts of its website to make it harder for governments and hackers to monitor the articles people are reading.
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Ten Commandments monument must be removed from grounds of state Capitol, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday

The Ten Commandments monument must be removed from the grounds of the state Capitol, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. In a 7-2 opinion the Supreme Court found the placement of the monument on the grounds of the state Capitol violate Article 2, Section 5, of the Oklahoma Constitution which prohibits the use of public money or property to directly or indirectly benefit a “church denomination or system of religion.” The ruling overturned a decision by Oklahoma County District Judge Thomas Prince.
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All In: The Bush Family Goes for Number Three

It's happening. As expected, dynastic politics is prevailing in campaign 2016. After a tease about as long as Hillary's, Jeb Bush (aka Jeb!) officially announced his presidential bid last week. Ultimately, the two of them will fight it out for the White House. By Nomi Prins.
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Stalin's Rope Roads

The mining town of Chiatura, Georgia, surrounded by steep cliffs, is criss-crossed by a network of aging Soviet-era aerial tramways that are still in use today. In the early 20th century, after the U.S.S.R. annexed Georgia, Soviet authorities were intent on extracting the vast manganese deposits beneath Chiatura. In the 1950s, planners began work on what locals call the "Kanatnaya Doroga," or "rope road," that still connects almost every corner of the town.
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Death toll in Indonesian military plane crash rises to 74

MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian air force transport plane carrying military personnel and their families plowed into a residential neighborhood in the country's third-largest city of Medan shortly after takeoff on Tuesday, killing more than 70.
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Test Pilot Admits the F-35 Can’t Dogfight

New stealth fighter is dead meat in an air battle.
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Spiky Armored Worm had 30 Legs

The 518-million-year-old creepy crawler is one of the first known animals on Earth to develop protective armor
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Carlos Slim scraps project with Donald Trump after Mexico insults

A television company controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has canceled a project with real estate developer and TV personality Donald Trump after his comments insulting Mexicans, Slim's spokesman said on Monday. This is the third company to cut ties with Trump, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the November 2016 presidential election.
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Colorado Court Rules Use of Public Funds for Private Schools Is Unconstitutional

The state’s Supreme Court ruled against the district’s voucher program, which was passed in 2011, saying it violated a plank of the State Constitution that explicitly prevents public money from going to schools “controlled by any church or sectarian denomination whatsoever.”
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30th June 1934 - Night of the Long Knives

In Germany, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future.
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The World's Most Spoken Languages And Where They Are Spoken

This beautifully illustrated infographic (above), designed by South China Morning Post’s graphics director Alberto Lucas Lopéz, shows the most spoken known languages in the world and where they’re spoken by the 6.3 billion people included in the study.
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With No Credit Cards Allowed, No Cash In ATMs, No Banks Open, Tourists In Trouble In Greece

Banks all across Greece are closed today, and will remain closed for the rest of the week. Not because it’s a holiday, but because the Greek government is trying to stop the banking system from collapsing as money flows out of the country while its long-running debt crisis reaches a critical point. As a result, tourists in Greece are finding themselves unable to pay for basics like food and shelter.
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Someone Is Trying to Crowdfund a Greek Bailout, and Donations Are Surging

A new campaign has been set up on Indiegogo, an online funding website with a mission of "empowering everyone to change the world." With a goal of raising 1.6 billion euros, the "Greek Bailout Fund" aims to do what the Hellenic Republic's creditors apparently cannot. And, unlike Greece's actual bailout package there are no (austerity) strings attached. Only 1,599,917,718 euros to go.
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50 Essential Science Fiction Books

This was a virtually impossible task. Put together a list of 50 must-read science fiction books and don’t make anyone angry. Science fiction is the most discussed and argued over genre in literature but it actually goes way beyond books and into film, TV, video games and even toys.
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Slow-motion tragedy for American workers

Lung-damaging silica, other toxic substances kill and sicken tens of thousands each year as regulation falters
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‘It’s Time for Good Cops to Do Something About Bad Cops’

What do law-and-order conservatives propose to do about abusive policing? By Conor Freidersdorf.
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Saudi Officials Linked to Jihadist Group in WikiLeaks Cables

Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, had high-level contacts with America’s most deadly adversary in Afghanistan, the Haqqani network, according to purported Saudi diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. The documents, which couldn’t be independently verified, say the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan met in 2012 with Nasiruddin Haqqani, the chief fundraiser for the jihadist group who has been on a United Nations terrorism watch list since 2010.
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Good news for the 99%...absolutely killer news for the 1%

The 99% finally saw their income grow in 2014. But income inequality grew as well.
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London: the city that ate itself

London is a city ruled by money. The things that make it special – the markets, pubs, high streets and communities – are becoming unrecognisable. The city is suffering a form of entropy whereby anything distinctive is converted into property value. Can the capital save itself?
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Supreme Court Blocks Parts Of Texas’ Abortion Laws, Allows Clinics To Remain Open

The Supreme Court on Monday blocked Texas from enforcing its rules governing abortion clinics — some of the strictest in the nation — allowing the Lone Star State’s remaining abortion clinics to remain open for the time being.
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How Chief Justice John Roberts Made Himself a Footnote to History

The case that may define the Roberts court was decided without the chief justice’s vote.
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Nearly $3 million transferred from golfer Phil Mickelson to an intermediary was part of 'an illegal gambling operation'

A 56-year-old former sports gambling handicapper, acting as a conduit for a gambling operation, pleaded guilty last week to laundering approximately $2.75 million of Phil Mickelson's money.
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This is Rikers

From the people who live and work there.
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Why we need Arnold Toynbee’s good life

As the dreams of Silicon Valley fill our world, could the dowdy historian Arnold Toynbee help prevent a nightmare? By Ian Beacock.
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29th June 1995 - U.S. space shuttle docks with Russian space station

On this day in 1995, the American space shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian space station Mir to form the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth.
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Supreme Court strikes down EPA clean-air rule, says cost must be accounted for

A divided Supreme Court on Monday ruled the Environmental Protection Agency must take cost into account when deciding whether to regulate mercurcy and other toxics emitted from coal-burning power plants. In a case that pit states against each other, and split the energy industry as well, the court’s 5-4 conservative majority said the EPA acted unreasonably in not taking cost into account.
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Crown's fake shake: How a $12,500 cocktail helped cover a $32m heist

It was the cocktail that grabbed global headlines. Sold in 2013 for a mind-boggling $12,500, it even gave Crown Casino's Club 23 - the bar owned by James Packer, Shane Warne and Joe Hachem - a Guinness World Record. Except, despite the billing, it wasn't the most expensive drink ever sold - technically, it wasn't sold at all. Fairfax Media can reveal the purchase was faked to help cover up a $32 million heist that had taken place at the casino just a day before.
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How a law that failed to protect eagles could offer a lesson to save honeybees

The Bald Eagle Protection Act, signed into law 75 years ago on June 8, 1940, was well-intended. A multi-pronged assault on the raptors was taking its toll...
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Great Wall of China reported disappearing, exposed to weather, tourism and theft

BEIJING, June 29 — Around 30 per cent of China’s Ming-era Great Wall has disappeared over time as adverse natural conditions and reckless human activities — including stealing the bricks to build houses — erode the UNESCO World Heritage site. In places it is so dilapidated that estimates of its total length vary from 9,000 to 21,000 kilometres (5,600 to 13,000 miles), depending on whether missing sections are included. Despite its length it is not, as is sometimes claimed, visible from space.
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Cellphone Marks 30 Years in Canada

Cellphones debuted in Canada on July 1, 1985. From advances in technology to plummeting prices, the mobile phone landscape has changed drastically in the past 30 years. Here's a look back at the evolution of the cellphone.
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Rand Paul Would Rather End Marriage Than Share It With Gay People

While most of the football team’s worth of Republicans running for president have reacted to the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision with straightforward rejections, Rand Paul decided to get cute about it. “Perhaps the time has come to examine whether or not governmental recognition of marriage is a good idea, for either party,” he argues in an editorial in Time.
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How the rainbow became the symbol of gay pride

The fascinating story involves Judy Garland, Harvey Milk and a drag queen named "Busty Ross"
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NBC to Donald Trump: You're Fired

NBCUniversal has cut ties with Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate and reality TV star, for his "recent derogatory statements" about Mexican immigrants, the company announced on Monday.
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Supreme Court upholds Arizona's system for redistricting

The outcome preserves efforts in 13 states to limit partisan influence in redistricting. The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Arizona congressional districts drawn by an independent commission and rejected a constitutional challenge from Republican lawmakers. The 5-4 outcome preserves efforts in 13 states to limit partisan influence in redistricting. Most notably, California uses an independent commission to draw electoral boundaries for its largest-in-the-nation congressional delegation.
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