Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the commander of US forces on the Korean peninsula, told reporters at the Pentagon today that he believes that North Korea is likely able to miniaturize a nuclear device. However, the US has not yet seen evidence that North Korea has actually conducted a miniaturized nuclear weapon test.
Police in Ferguson committed human rights abuses: Amnesty International →
And whatever your politics on Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson...
The use by law enforcement of rubber bullets, tear gas and heavy military equipment and restrictions placed on peaceful protesters all violated international standards, the group said.
The Disgust Election →
Spending by outside groups has gone to $1 billion in 2012 from $52 million in 2000.
If you want to know where your democracy went, look to the top, where the ever-more-insanely-competitive elections are juiced by an increasing number of special interests, but which are controlled by fewer private actors.
Ebola: The Real Reason Everyone Should Panic: Our Global Institutions are Broken →
Containing Ebola is a no-brainer, and not that expensive. If we fail at this, when we know exactly what to do, how are we going to tackle the really complex problems we face?
Climate Change? Resource depletion? Other pandemics?
The UNC fake class investigation and the ‘myth’ of the student-athlete →
Anyone else think we take sports too seriously?
The numbers alone are surprising. At the University of North Carolina, more than 3,100 students, many of whom were athletes, took phantom classes in a “shadow curriculum,” netting high marks despite the fact that the classes never met and there wasn’t any work beyond a final paper no one read. The scheme ran for years, between 1993 and 2011, and the athletes “didn’t have to take notes, have to stay awake … they didn’t have to meet with professors … they didn’t have to pay attention or necessarily engage with the material.”
Did Michael Brown have his hands up when he was shot? →
If we want justice, this must go to trial.
As Jamelle Bouie writes, in commentary on the linked article:
That the autopsy is consistent with Wilson’s account is a godsend for the police officer. And to that end, there’s speculation that the autopsy was leaked as a prelude to news that Wilson would escape an indictment from the grand jury.
At the same time, it’s important to note the extent to which this autopsy agrees with one conducted in August by Dr. Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner for New York City. According to his autopsy, Brown was shot six times, including twice in the head. “This one here looks like his head was bent downward,” he said, referring to the wound at the top of Brown’s head. “It can be because he’s giving up, or because he’s charging forward at the officer.”
And both autopsies fit the opposing accounts from other witnesses. “[Wilson] reached out the window and tried to choke my friend. We were trying to get away, and he tried to pull my friend into the car,” said Dorian Johnson, who was with Brown, saw the whole encounter, and never claimed there wasn’t a fight at the police vehicle. The question, rather, is what precisely happened. Later, we learned of two witnesses who saw the shooting and filmed their near-instant reaction. “He had his f-ckin’ hands up,” said one of the men, echoing other reports.
New Freedoms in Tunisia Drive Support for ISIS →
A recurring theme of revolutions is an "intellectual vanguard"
Unemployed college graduates — a large group in Tunisia, where education is inexpensive but jobs remain scarce — are prime candidates for jihad, their friends and Tunisian analysts say.
The article mentions a host of reasons this particular demographic may be joining ISIS.
Six Reasons an Ebola Travel Ban Makes Us No Safer — and No Sense →
But here’s why a travel ban is pointless—or could even make us less safe...