Foreclosure Crisis Fueled Dramatic Rise of Racial Segregation: Study – Sarah Lazare

The foreclosure crisis that drove approximately 9 million people across the United States from their homes disproportionately displaced black and Latino households and led to a spike in segregation along racial lines, a new study finds. In fact, displacement was so dramatic that Matthew Hall, assistant professor at Cornell University and lead author of the study, told Common Dreams that the crisis …

Move Over Mexico: China Now Sends Most Immigrants to US – RALPH TURCHIANO

China has replaced Mexico as the top country of origin for immigrants to the United States, according to a new review of 2013 immigration data. The American Census Bureau study, conducted primarily by statistician/demographer Eric Jensen, was based on annual immigration data collected from the years 2000 through to 2013. It found that of 1,201,000 immigrants in the US, 147,000 …

Government prepares to track unvaccinated adults

The latest assault on human and civil rights in the United States has been quietly taking shape, but rather than media and public outcry, this attack is being met with cheers from the very corners that condemn other forms of discrimination. What is the object of this attack?  Believe it or not, it’s adults who have not complied with the vaccination …

Koch Funding of Universities Shrouded in Secrecy – Kalin Jordan

In a recent column entitled “The Campus Climate Crusade,” The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel spent over 800 words arguing the basic conceit of UnKochMyCampus, a campaign uniting students at universities around the country who are working to increase transparency on their campuses and fight attempts by corporate donors like Charles and David Koch from influencing their education. Her core arguments? The left …

Dixie Justice: The roots and legacy of the South’s incarceration boom

It’s not news that the United States is the incarceration capital of the world: The 2.4 million people behind bars in the U.S. today is, as Matt Ford at The Atlantic noted, “more than the combined population of 15 states, all but three U.S. cities, and the U.S. armed forces.” As Adam Gropnik wrote in hiscompelling 2012 piece, “The Caging of America”: …

10 Ways That Musical Training Boosts Brain Power

Did you play a musical instrument when you were growing up? Do you continue to play an instrument today? Neuroscientists continue to find evidence that musical training tremendously benefits a child’s brain development in ways that can improve cognitve function throughout his or her lifespan. As the father of a 7-year-old, I am gratefulthat my daughter is fortunate enough to have access to musical …

The Politics of Extinction

Maybe baby steps will help, but the world needs a lot more than either the United States or China is offering to combat the illegal traffic in wildlife, a nearly $20-billion-a-year business that adds up to a global war against nature. As the headlines tell us, the trade has pushed various rhinoceros species to the point of extinction and motivated poachers to …

Unjust Public Policies Drive the Massive Racial Wealth Gap in America: Study

The yawning racial wealth gap in the United States is no accident, but rather, driven by unjust public policy decisions—from the re-segregation of education to the redlining of home ownership to poverty wages, according to a new analysis by Brandeis University and the public policy organization Demos. Inequalities are vast, note the researchers. For example, Census data shows that, in 2011, median …

Are you a descendant of Genghis Khan? Millions of modern men descendants of 11 Asian dynastic leaders

Geneticists from the University of Leicester have discovered that millions of modern Asian men are descended from 11 powerful dynastic leaders who lived up to 4,000 years ago — including Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan. The study, which is funded by the Wellcome Trust and published in the journal European Journal of Human Genetics, examined the male-specific Y chromosome, which is passed …