Law & Politics

New global research on equality, inequality, and the happiness of nations. It's an American issue.

How has a tiny fraction of the population arranged for their narrowest economic interests to dominate those of the vast majority?

Here's the story of how Cameron and Osborne secretly tried and failed to kill tougher European rules on bankers' bonuses

Amnesty denounces the conditions of Bradley Manning's detention, while new documents shed light on detainee deaths

Tamsin Allen: Sexual manipulation of climate activists appears to have been a deliberate police tactic, and demands a public inquiry

The scientific community has long agreed that our dependence on fossil fuels inflicts massive damage on the environment and our health, while warming the globe in the process. But beyond the damage these fuels cause to us now, what will happen when the world's supply of oil runs out? In a new video series from The Nation magazine and On The Earth Productions, Bill McKibben, Noam Chomsky, Nicole Foss, Richard Heinberg and other scientists, researchers and writers explain. Visit TheNation.com for more videos in this series.

Truthout is publishing chapter eight of my new book "War Is A Lie." I should explain where it fits in the overall argument I've made. The book strives to make a comprehensive case against the very idea that there can ever be a good or just war, any more than there can be a good slavery or a just rape. While Americans often turn against particular wars after cheering for them, many people maintain the fantasy that there could be a really good or necessary war next month. This delusion helps to keep around what President Eisenhower 50 years ago this week called the military-industrial complex, which is itself a large source of pressure for more wars.

Obama has won the War on Terror debate -- for the American Right.  And they're quite appreciative

WASHINGTON, Jan 12, 2011 (IPS) - In one of U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower's most remembered speeches, he warned against "the acquisition of unwarranted influence" resulting from the close brotherhood between the country's defence agencies, Capitol Hill and private business interests.

WASHINGTON - The Army general who led the investigation into prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison accused the Bush administration Wednesday of committing "war crimes" and called for those responsible to be held to account.

Think tank "scholars" are lavishly funded to defend elite prerogatives

There may yet be justice for the victims of the post-9/11 US torture program. Just not in the United States.

Demands that it be easier to involuntarily commit the mentally ill are knee-jerk and irrational

It's one thing that the United States will soon be taking orders from China (or already is). But what about when we're becoming less forward-thinking than England? That's the only possible reading of the fact that there, the former top drug official Bob Ainsworth has addressed the House of Commons and argued for the legalization of all drugs. Not just pot-all of them. His reasoning is simple, and has nothing to do with the ideology of Timothy Leary: "We need to take effective measures to rob the dealers of their markets and the only way that we can do that is by supplying addicts through the medical profession, through prescription. We cannot afford to be shy about being prepared to do that." He continues: "We spend billions of pounds without preventing the wide availability of drugs. It is time to replace our failed war on drugs with a strict system of legal regulation, to make the world a safer, healthier place, especially for our children. We must take the trade away from organised criminals and hand it to the control of doctors and pharmacists."

Listen to an interview with 18-year-old American Gulet Mohamed from his detention in Kuwait

California's Religion-Based Ban On Same-Sex Marriage Parallels Historic Battle Over Interracial Unions, Say Legal Experts

On CNN last night, I debated anchor Jessica Yellin and Bush official Fran Townsend and their views were identical

Not long ago I was sitting at home writing something for publication - I won't say what, except that it was a passage about a certain politician on the Hill. Out of habit I launched into a description that was full of nasty and personal language, and I was about to press on to the next part of the piece when suddenly I hit a mental speed bump. A voice in my head whispered - this really happened - "If you write that shit and Bernie Sanders sees it, he's going to be disappointed in you." So I went back and removed the gratuitous body blows from the article.

The Justice Department on Wednesday sued BP and eight other companies in the Gulf oil spill disaster in an effort to recover billions of dollars from the largest offshore spill in U.S. history.