A day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th U.S. President, women (and men) around the country took to the streets in historic numbers. Yesterday, Julia and I joined more than 4 Million protesters nationwide, and almost 20,000 here in Raleigh to help counter the divisiveness and misogyny that propelled this administration into […]

Today is the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – one of the most important historic events in my generation’s lifetime. Ironically, this watershed event was precipitated by a simple, clerical error. To me, the events of November 9, 1989 are profoundly German: a tired, overwhelmed official –  Günter Schabowski –  reads […]

The state of North Carolina can no longer prohibit two consenting adults from getting married. Not because they are of different race or ethnicity, nor because they are the same sex. U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn ruled today that the state laws prohibiting same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. “The issue before this court is neither a […]

25 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. He almost named it the Mesh. Happy Birthday, WWW! Let’s keep the Web free and open!

Rest in Peace, Madiba. Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this […]

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit!

When the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last December, it caused an uproar among those paying attention. The NDAA expanded the authority of the US military to detain and deprive of any due process anyone the US Government suspects of being involved with a […]

Wednesday, Jan. 18, some significant parts of the Internet will go on strike. The websites will only show one page related to the protest against the SOPA legislation the US Congress is considering. This law would allow the US government to shut down any site if there is any suspicion of copyright infringement. If the […]

… and no end in sight. Despite his promises, President Obama has not closed the beacon of injustice that is the prison at Guantánamo bay. Arond this week’s 10th anniversary of the opening of this facility, the story of one of its former inmates, Lakhdar Boumediene, has been making the rounds: In 2001, Lakhdar Boumediene […]

Fight PIPA and SOPA today! The Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261), known as “SOPA,” is scheduled for consideration at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee [today]. The bill is aimed at taking down sites that allow Internet users to acquire pirated versions of original artistic content online. At a recent hearing, the ACLU expressed opposition […]

Today the US Senate rejected the Udall Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and decided to bring this country closer to marital law than ever. The NDAA contains language that declares that the United States is a battlefield and that the US military has the authority to detain ANYONE for ANY reason and […]

As the Left in the US has become quite disillusioned with the Obama administration, and the conservative Tea Party movement is deflating, Occupy Wall Street and the entire Occupy movement managed to shine a huge spotlight on the biggest problem in America: corporate greed. Occupy’s actions bring focus to populist anger about the “1 percent” […]

Historic day in Egypt! Amazing turn of events … congratulations to all those stubborn activists on Tahrir square and all over the country.

Starting on March 1, 2011, the German military will “suspend” the general draft that has been in effect since 1957. After that date, only volunteers will be drafted into German military service – which essentially transforms the German military into a volunteer army. This morning Der Spiegel reported that the general draft is only suspended […]

Not sure this is going to help resolve the crisis in Côte D’Ivoire: The UN Security Council has issued a statement saying that Ivory Coast opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara won the disputed presidential election. The statement came after three days of debate at the UN, in which Russia expressed concern that the UN was exceeding […]

As of last weekend, Côte D’Ivoire has two competing presidents: incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo, and is challenger Alassane Ouattara, whom the international community considers the winner of the run-off election. The electoral commission, controlled by Ouattara’s party RDR, certified the result of the Nov. 28 runoff and declared Ouattara the winner with 54 percent of […]

This is not just another story of how a large corporation exploits poverty in Africa to extract the wealth from African soil and make lots of money. Even if you don’t care that much about whether the Touareg people have a place to live and whether they can breathe, you might still want to pay […]