December 2011
22 posts
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WatchAnger over food prices helped contribute to the toppling of Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak. Through the story of one migrant family, we explore how displaced farmers, angry about agricultural policies that favor “crony capitalists,” now struggle to put food on the table.
This story is the beginning of a new series: “Food for 9 Billion,” a year-long project of the...
November 2011
30 posts
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New reality show offers two men $1M to sneak out... →
From our homeland security reporter G.W. Schulz …
ageofperil:
It’s almost 2013, so perhaps no one should be surprised that a reality show in the works would mimic the 1996 dystopian flick “Escape From L.A.” What’s chilling is that the show is not fiction and may in the end say more about the post-Sept. 11 surveillance state than anything else so far.
Two everyday Americans will be...
“The relevant constitutional text is the Fourth Amendment which says, ‘The right...”
– On today’s Fresh Air, law professor Jeffrey Rosen talks about United States v. Jones, a case the Supreme Court is currently considering. At issue is whether police need to have a warrant from a judge before attaching a secret GPS monitor to a car to track a suspect around the clock. (via...
“When I was 16 years old, I assembled a 2.3 million electron volt beta particle...”
– Michio Kaku built a particle accelerator in his garage in high school (via nprfreshair)
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npr:
Gangs Enter New Territory With Sex...
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Murder of crows. Pride of lions. Gaggle of geese.... →
From CIR’s homeland security reporter G.W. Schulz.
ageofperil:
Pilotless drones have become a fixture in the public’s imagination and potent symbol of the nation’s 10-year war on terror. Who could have imagined such a thing when, say, “Back to the Future” was still in theaters?
Now that it’s a reality, and now that the Department of Homeland Security is slowly deploying them with...
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“Delaying action is a false economy: For every $1 of investment in cleaner...”
– A quote from the 2011 World Energy Outlook report by the International Energy Agency. The agency warns that we are on the path to 11-degree warming if we don’t curb emissions now.
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Nixon Grand Jury Testimony Released
From NPR: “The Nixon Library and National Archives have released a trove of documents relating to former President Richard Nixon’s grand jury testimony. The testimony, taken after Nixon resigned, was the first by a sitting president. Nixon was interviewed at his California home on June 23 and 24, 1975, after he had been pardoned by President Gerald Ford.”
Photo by AP.
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WatchOn Oct. 13, heavily armed Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Northstone Organics, a medical marijuana cooperative in Mendocino County. The farm is part of a county-wide program that remains the only effort in California to impose local controls on marijuana production. The program has generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for the sheriff’s department and has...
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“When we would become friendly with an office and they were important to us, and...”
– Former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now released from prison, explaining how he commonly dangled jobs to win favors from congressional staffers. He told CBS “60 Minutes” that he’s thinking of writing a book: “The Idiot’s Guide to Buying a Congressman.” (via officialssay)
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Another California solar company with federal loan...
californiawatch:
SunPower Corp., a San Jose-based solar power company that received a last-minute Department of Energy loan in September, announced today that it lost more than $370 million in its fiscal third quarter – more than double its second-quarter loss – and that its chief financial officer would resign. The company said it also would likely lose money in its fourth quarter and would...
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WatchAnother wonderful video production from our project California Watch.
californiawatch:
Living in industry’s shadow: After years of illnesses, family looks for answers
The Martin family lives 10 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, in a neat yellow house in a city called Maywood. Starting a few blocks from their home, nearly 2,000 factories churn out Southern California’s hot dogs, pesticides,...
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WatchThis spring, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that her country would be the first in the world to completely abandon nuclear power. This radical policy change was motivated in part by the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, but it also has roots in Germany’s strong anti-nuclear movement.
CIR Producer Marjorie McAfee follows the story of Ursula Sladek,...
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Watchcaliforniawatch:
More than three years of research and filming resulted in this groundbreaking 2006 documentary that goes inside one of California’s most violent and organized gangs.
Nuestra Familia, Our Family, a presentation by the Center for Investigative Reporting and Latino Public Broadcasting, features interviews in prison and on the streets with family members and gang members opening...
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Members of Congress had a collective net worth of more than $2 billion in 2010, a nearly 25 percent increase over the 2008 total, according to a Roll Call analysis of Members’ financial disclosure forms.
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WatchSince the collapse of communism in 1989, millions of people from the former Soviet bloc migrated abroad with the hope for a better future. These waves of migration breathed life into one of the oldest yet darkest criminal enterprises—the trafficking of human beings into sexual slavery.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of women from Eastern Europe have been sold into prostitution...
