Abkhazia may be an unlikely home for Syrian refugees in the South Caucasus, but since war broke out, this small de-facto state on the Black Sea, considered by most states to be Georgian territory, has welcomed a few hundred refugees fleeing the conflict. The Abkhazian authorities’ decision to accept these refugees was not one made…
San Diego Will Get To Vote On Whether It Wants A New Stadium
Starting this fall, San Diego will be short a professional sports team. After the city’s voters rejected an initiative last fall that would have funded a new stadium for the San Diego Chargers, the NFL team has moved to Los Angeles. This leaves the hulking, midcentury concrete block of a stadium where the Chargers used…
Stepping up deportations of Central American refugees from the US
Central American migrants. Peter Haden/Demotix. All rights reserved. As revealed in a recent Washington Post article, the Department of Homeland Security plans to begin targeted raids in the New Year: "The nation-wide campaign, to be carried out by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as soon as early January, would be the first large-scale…
Republicans Quietly Exempt Themselves From Obamacare Cuts
It’s good enough for you but not for them. That’s the message being sent by Republican Members of Congress today after it was revealed that their newest proposed plan to repeal Obamacare creates a special loophole where lawmakers and their staff would not be impacted by the changes. A new report from Vox revealed that language…
Dreams of return find new meaning on Zaatari's third anniversary
Click:SWISS Beauty Device Image: Nazli Tarzi. All rights reserved. Zaatari refugee camp, Mafraq, Jordan – clusters of new entrants wade through the tropical heat hanging heavily over the desolate plane, where the encampment was founded three years ago. On 30 July 2012 the Zaatari camp officially opened its doors to Syrian refugees. Its exponential…
A Simple Tool Meant For Children May Also Help Adults Cope With “Post-Truth” Trump
There’s a reason the Oxford English Dictionary chose “post-truth” as 2016’s word of the year. From the fake story about Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump to the “Pizzagate” conspiracy to the vast majority of Breitbart content, fabricated stories racked up millions of views this past year and befuddled Americans in the process. Despite Facebook’s attempts…
Run Run versus Tick-Tock
The longevity of a social movement is not so much a result of its operational, organizational, or self-reproductive capacity as its ability to mutate and keep up with the times. In this sense, the 15-M movement, captured by the ideas reflected in the manifesto Democracia Real Ya (‘Real Democracy Now’), is a paradigmatic case, one…
The NFL Used Kiss Cams To Make A Moving Video About Love, Diversity, And Equality
Click:my giftcardmall com mygift The NFL regularly draws the ire of critics and fans alike for its slow movement in addressing issues such as domestic violence in the league and fallout from concussion studies. But the league took a step forward with this recent video, made from kiss cam footage at the Pro Bowl, that celebrates equality,…
The UN: are development and peace empty words?
Relentless militarism, underpinned by patriarchal capitalist structures and institutions, are at the root of today's major security crises, from nuclear threats to the millions of refugees fleeing armed gangs and Syria's bombed-out cities. As the UN General Assembly convenes in New York this week, governments need to take more responsibility for tackling the weapons, arms…
The Downside Of Getting Rich Quick
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Money can’t buy happiness,” and, in spite of ourselves, we can’t help but wonder: Why not? Sometimes it seems like the answers to our problems really could be money—after all, money would provide more travel opportunities and relaxation, and less stress. Surely that would lead to happiness, right? Of course,…