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Looking for a Longer Jail Sentence? Cooperate With the FBI!
By Jill Vaglica
A friend of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to six years in prison—after cooperating with the FBI in its investigation. Other known Tsarnaev associates who did not cooperate were let off without so much as a questioning. What is going on here?
WHO
Charleston Church Founder Was A Former Slave Rebellion Leader
Nearly 200 years after Denmark Vesey led an unsuccessful attempt to organize a massive slave revolt, the church he founded bore witness to a shocking massacre. The deadly shooting took place one day after the anniversary of the June 16, 1822 slave rebellion. The original church was burned down in response to the rebellion. Almost two centuries later, Dylann Storm Roof entered the church, prayed… and then opened fire.
Pope Urges Revolution to Save Earth, Fix ‘Perverse’ Economy
The Vatican officially released the Pope’s much-anticipated and previously-leaked encyclical on the environment. This comes on the heels of a new Gallup poll showing that, unlike the declining faith of their religious peers, Catholics’ confidence in organized religion is slowly recovering after a steep decline. This is an ominous trend for the GOP and its resistance to climate issues. Although they’ve got Evangelicals, they’ve been burned before by their resistance to a change in Catholicism.
WHAT
The Theology of American National Security
Andrew J. Bacevich is a West Point graduate, veteran of the Vietnam War and America’s most prolific and consistently relevant critic of the American empire in the post-9/11 era. In this piece, Bacevich skewers the war on the Islamic State, the illogical rationale for the growing mission in Iraq and the logical—if widely ignored—conclusion that will lead America back into Iraq through an incremental “base building” strategy.
WHY
Startling Link Between Pregnant Mother’s Exposure to DDT and Daughter’s Risk of Breast Cancer
The story of DDT is the epitome of man’s foolhardy attempt to poison nature into submission. After decades of widespread, indiscriminate use it was finally banned in 1972 after its deadly impacts were detailed in Rachel Carson’s bestseller Silent Spring. Since then, scientists have failed to link it to breast cancer among generations of women directly exposed to DDT during its heyday. But a new study indicates that the cancer risk that didn’t show up in DDT-era women did get passed on to their daughters… to the tune of a four-fold increase in the risk of breast cancer.
Nightingales Show Off Their Fathering Skills Through Song
What’s in a song? Well, if you hear the dulcet tones of a male nightingale, you might be hearing his big pitch to prospective females… but it’s not the typical love song you’d expect from a single guy. Although the nightingale has about 180 songs in his repertoire, when he courts a lady he doesn’t tout his virility or his sexiness or his machismo. No, he’s selling himself as a good dad and a good provider for the kids he really-really wants to have with her. Scientists haven’t determined if he also indicates upfront that he doesn’t really want, or need, a tie for Father’s Day.
