Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earth’s average surface temperature for 2023 was the hottest ever recorded, according to an analysis by NASA, and the data shows no letting up in the trend toward a warming planet from climate change due to the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation. Global temperatures last year…
U.S. Elections in 2024 Are Secure from Foreign Interference, FBI Director Wray Says
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — FBI Director Chris Wray began the new year with a public appearance to assure the American public and the academic community that, in spite of a growing number of foreign actors and nation-states seeking to disrupt the democratic process in the U.S., the Bureau is well-positioned to defend against…
Alabama Football Coach Nick Saban to Retire: Sources
Tuscaloosa Photographer’s Wife Arrested in China for Suspicion of Sharing Secret Information with a Foreign National
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The wife of a photographer from Tuscaloosa, Alabama has been arrested in China and disappeared on the night of Wednesday, Dec. 27 — two days after Christmas — from the airport in Nanjing, not far from Shanghai. Her husband Mark Lent, formerly a photographer with the Tuscaloosa News,…
If A Tree Falls in the Forest, Will it Ever Be Heard From Again?
Supreme Court Agrees to Review the Colorado Decision to Ban Trump from the Republican Primary Ballot
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the same day when President Joe Biden addressed the nation from Valley Forge warning about the existential threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump, the United States Supreme Court chose to try to usurp the news in a Friday afternoon announcement that it would indeed take up…
On the Eve of Jan. 6, President Biden Condemns Trump as a Dire Threat to Democracy
Video and full text below… By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The sting of Trump’s violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 that nearly brought down a shroud and a pall over American democracy is still fresh like an open, bleeding, infected wound that refuses to heal after three years of Covid and political strife.…
New Hampshire Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy for Harassing and Intimidating Journalists
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — A radical, right-wing Trump supporter in New Hampshire has pleaded guilty for his role in a conspiracy to harass and intimidate two journalists employed by New Hampshire Public Radio. The harassment and intimidation of the victims included the vandalism – on five separate occasions – of the victims’ homes…
The Dumbest Doomsday Idea Ever: Zuckerberg Reportedly Building an Underground Bunker in Hawaii
Year in Review for 2023: Democracy on Trial, the Planet in Peril
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In one sure sign that traditional press and media outlets have been influenced, for good or ill, by the rise of social media, look no further than the end of the year review stories. For a couple of centuries, newspapers filled space between the…
Letters: Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
Editor’s Note: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” is a line from an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church. Written in response to a letter by eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asking whether Santa Claus was real, the editorial was first published in the New York newspaper The Sun on September 21, 1897. “Is There a Santa…
A Christmas Column in a World Torn Asunder: Baby Jesus Under the Rubble in Gaza
Meanwhile the “Orange Jesus” Continues to Parrot Hitler, and President Joe Biden Calls Trump an ‘Insurrectionist’ – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s hard to get excited about celebrating Christmas — or Hanukkah for that matter — when your country is torn asunder by war. So there won’t be…
Verified Accounts on X Thrive While Spreading Misinformation About the Israel-Hamas Conflict
By Jeff Kao, ProPublica, and Priyanjana Bengani, Tow Center for Digital Journalism – ProPublica – “My sisters have died,” the young boy sobbed, chest heaving, as he wailed into the sky. “Oh, my sisters.” As Israel began airstrikes on Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, posts by verified accounts on X, the social…
Tuberville Filibuster Ends as Senate Confirms Biden’s Military Appointments
By Ashley Murray – Maryland Matters – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s one man filibuster of President Joe Biden’s top military appointments effectively came to an ignominious end Tuesday night when the U.S. Senate voted to confirm the remainder of the senior generals and admirals on hold for the past year in a…
Biden Administration Proposes Historic Ban on Cutting Old Growth Trees in National Forests
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the heels of a historic agreement in Dubai calling for the first time for countries to transition away from fossil fuel use for powering energy and transportation, the chief cause of climate change due to global warming, the Biden administration just announced a proposal to conserve old-growth…
Democrats Question Social Media Giants on Spread of Abortion Misinformation
By Danielle J. Brown – Maryland Matters – ANNAPOLIS, Md. — In the new landscape of abortion discourse following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin and other Democrats are calling on top social media sites to combat potentially harmful misinformation related to abortion access and…
Climate Talks End With Call for Moving Away from Fossil Fuel Use
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the final weeks of the hottest year in recorded history, the United Nations climate conference in Dubai known as COP28 ended Wednesday with an agreement for the first time to call on countries to transition away from fossil fuels, the chief cause of climate change due to global…
Texas Police Chief Sentenced to 11.2 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiracy To Obstruct Congress During the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Texas police chief was sentenced to 11.2 years in Federal Prison this week after a judge convicted him of four felonies for his conduct during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Alan Hostetter, 59, of Poolville, Texas, formerly of San Clemente, California, was sentenced by…
The End of Innocence: Everybody Cheats, Even Facebook and Harvard
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Everything has changed since Donald Trump cheated and got himself elected president in 2016. All of us true believers in American democracy were naive, including the top public opinion pollsters and journalists. Almost no one gave him a chance. Now many of the same…