Author: FASHIONISLANDBLOG

Michael Chertoff, the former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the Bush administration, has been paid a “modest sum” by a Virginia-based company trying to retain a profitable government contract for routing millions of phone calls and texts in and out of the country, the New York Times reports on Monday. According…

Raymond Buckley’s frustration with Democrats in Washington runs all the way to the White House. Buckley, New Hampshire’s Democratic chairman and one of five candidates vying to be the next Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman, is laying into the DNC and Washington Democrats for the party’s 2016 electoral losses, caused by what he calls a…

A federal judge on Friday approved New York City’s $41 million settlement with the five black and Latino men who in 1989 were wrongfully convicted of the brutal rape and beating of a jogger in Central Park. “It’s unbelievable the injustice that we suffered throughout all these years and that we continue to suffer till…

Launching a new wave in the fight for “true democracy,” thousands of Hong Kong university students kicked off a week-long boycott of classes on Monday with a mass sit-in and rally protesting what they say is the further colonization of the city by the country’s elites. “How can a few people decide Hong Kong’s future?…

In a challenge to post-Cold War de-escalation agreements, the new secretary-general of NATO declared on Sunday that the alliance can deploy its troops “wherever we want to” in Eastern Europe. The statement came just a month after the alliance pledged to develop “rapid response” military forces aimed at countering Moscow. Jens Stoltenberg, the former Prime…

Journalist and columnist Glenn Greenwald appeared on MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on Tuesday night to address recent violence that took place in Canada, in which soldiers of that nation’s armed forces were targeted, and reiterated his position that understanding and challenging the way the word “terrorism” is employed in such cases is critically…

Declaring themselves “Pacific Climate Warriors,” representatives from a dozen Pacific Island nations—sitting atop traditional outrigger canoes, kayaks, and other small boats—staged a full-day blockade of the Newcastle Coal Port in Australia on Friday as they sent a message to the government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the world that they will not sit idly…

Nearly four months—and over 1,000 bombings—into the U.S.-led military operations in Iraq and Syria, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has vowed to wage war on ISIS “as long as it takes to prevail.” But as the White House continues to side-step meaningful debate in Congress, while expanding air strikes and boots-on-the-ground indefinitely, analysts warn…

Sen. Tom CottonTom Bryant CottonOVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Joint Chiefs chairman says he regrets participating in Trump photo-op | GOP senators back Joint Chiefs chairman who voiced regret over Trump photo-op | Senate panel approves 0B defense policy bill GOP senators back Joint Chiefs chairman who voiced regret over Trump photo-op Harris grapples with defund the police…

A group of environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday to challenge a rule that would allow energy companies to harm mammals in the Arctic while drilling for oil next year. The coalition, which includes environmental and conservation groups like Earthjustice and the Center for Biological Diversity, is…