|
Recent Articles
| Image | Title & Summary |
|---|---|
|
LinkedIn Discriminating Against Asians and Disabled People
Letters to the Editor Dear Editor. I hope you will publish my letter. LinkedIn.com refuses to communicate. My name is Pham Hoang. I created an account on their platform and even published a well-written article about space exploration. Despite following all their many rules for account creation, they restricted my account. I cannot use it, which feels as if it has been restricted for no valid reason. LinkedIn requested my ID, and I submitted my Vietnamese government passport. Twice. However, after I sent it to them, LinkedIn immediately restricted my account, which suggests that the platform discriminates against Vietnamese citizens. I can think of no other explanation. I am a poor Vietnames… |
|
Is A Human Journey To Mars Feasible
For more than half a century, Mars has functioned less as a destination than as a promise. It is the place we gesture toward when Earth feels politically exhausted, environmentally strained, or philosophically cramped. Mars is invoked when budgets swell, when rockets roar, when speeches reach for grandeur. It has become the cosmic equivalent of a clean slate, a second chapter written in rust-red dust. But promises are easy to make when they sit 225 million kilometers away. The idea of sending humans to Mars has migrated from science fiction to press release to business plan, and now to something like cultural assumption. The question is no longer “Should we?” but “When?” That shift alone sho… |
|
Winning peace in Lebanon is harder than winning war
But a symbolic meeting would not be enough to resolve the conflict in Lebanon, which has deep historical roots and a wide geopolitical reach. Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to occupy parts of southern Lebanon. The aim of the ongoing operation, as declared by Defense Minister Israel Katz, is to establish a “security zone” over the entire area south of the Litani River – which represents 10 percent of Lebanon’s national territory. The civilian population has been barred from returning to their homes while Israeli forces have continued bombing and mass demolition. Netanyahu appears to be using the narrative of “destroying Hezbollah” to cover up what is really a campaign of mass destruc… |
|
Why AI firm is taking on Trump administration
A row is simmering between the United States government and Anthropic, one of the tech companies that develops artificial intelligence (AI) tools for defence and civilian uses. According to recent reports, Anthropic’s Claude software was used in a US military operation, which resulted in the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro in January this year. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given the company until Friday to loosen its rules about how its AI tools can be used by the Pentagon, or risk losing its government contract, The Associated Press and Reuters news agencies reported on Tuesday, quoting unnamed sources. But Anthropic is refusing to back down over safeguards which … |
|
Democrats fear rising that too many candidates in governor race could lead to a Republican victory
SAN FRANCISCO — Leaders of the California Democratic Party, along with liberal activists and loyal power brokers, are openly expressing fear that their crowded field of candidates running for governor may splinter the vote and open the door to a surprise Republican victory in November. Because of those concerns, the Democrats lagging at the bottom of the pack are being urged to drop out of the race to ensure that the party’s political dominance in statewide elections survives the 2026 election. “California Democrats are prepared to do what’s required,” state party chairman Rusty Hicks told reporters at the California Democratic Party’s annual convention on Friday. “We are ready and willing a… |
|
California named the most air polluted state in US
The 27th annual “State of the Air” study revealed that almost half of kids in the US are exposed to harmful levels of air pollution. That includes 7 million youngsters in California, and more than eight in 10 individuals live in counties with bad air. The research rated the air quality of counties with data from 2022 to 2024 on ground-level ozone pollution, popularly known as smog, and particle pollution, generally known as soot. Los Angeles-Long Beach was once again the most ozone-polluted metropolis in the nation. Bakersfield was the most contaminated for yearly particle pollution, although the area continued to improve in 2026 report. Ground-level ozone pollution, or smog, is a potent res… |
|
US Embassy in Baghdad attacked with missile that hits helipad
The United States Embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has been hit by a missile attack that caused smoke to rise from the building. An Iraqi security source told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the attack destroyed part of its air defence system, without giving further details. A missile struck a helipad inside the US Embassy in Baghdad, two security officials told The Associated Press news agency. The projectile landed within the embassy’s boundaries in the Green Zone, the heavily fortified district in central Baghdad that houses Iraqi government institutions and foreign embassies, added the security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak with the pr… |
|
Karaoke And The Death Of Public Shame
Opinion There are few sounds more spiritually exhausting than a drunk man discovering a microphone near water. The river carries everything. That is the problem. A terrible singer inside a small bar is survivable. The walls absorb part of the damage. Alcohol softens the rest. But once speakers are dragged outdoors and pointed broadly at civilization itself, the laws of acoustics become instruments of psychological warfare. Somewhere across the dark water, usually male, usually already shouting before the music even begins, a man decides that what the entire neighborhood needs at 11:47 p.m. is his interpretation of “Sweet Caroline.” Interpretation is perhaps too generous a word. What follows … |
|
A Big Win For A Lonely Woman
Human Interest Opinion / Perspective For forty years, a stoneware crock sat on a porch in New York, a silent sentry against the biting winters and the humid, heavy summers of the Northeast. It was, for all intents and purposes, a piece of lawn debris. It held no flowers; it served no function. To the woman who lived behind the screen door, it was simply "there"—a familiar shape in a life that had slowly become a series of familiar, quiet shapes. When her birthday approached, she looked at the heavy salt-glazed vessel and allowed herself a modest, almost apologetic hope: perhaps it was worth a hundred dollars. A hundred dollars for a birthday treat, or perhaps a utility bill, or just the smal… |
|
|
Trial of Stanford students charged in 2024 pro-Palestinian protests deadlocked
The jury found the defendant guilty of vandalism by a vote of 9 to 3 and guilty of conspiracy to trespass by a vote of 8 to 4. After five days of talking about it, the jurors indicated they couldn't come to a decision. Judge Hanley Chew asked each of them if taking additional time to think would help, and they all said no. There was a mistrial in the case of five current and former Stanford University students who were prosecuted following pro-Palestinian protests in 2024, when they locked themselves inside the executive offices of the university president and provost. Chew remarked, "It looks like this jury is hopelessly deadlocked, so I'm going to declare a mistrial in counts one and two."… |
|
Humans are on the way out and there may be no way to stop
Extinction Isn’t a Metaphor I walk through this world like a man pacing a burning house. The walls are cracking, the air is poison, and everyone else is sipping cocktails as if the smoke is just weather. Extinction isn’t a metaphor—it’s the goddamn bill collector at the door, pounding, and we keep turning up the music to drown him out. I see forests gutted like carcasses, oceans foaming like rabid dogs, skies thick with the exhaust of our arrogance. We’re clever enough to split atoms, to stitch genes, to whisper to satellites—but too stupid to stop sawing through the floor we stand on. I want to grab humanity by the collar, slam it against the wall, and snarl: Are you aware of the implicatio… |
|
The New Face of American Power
Opinion | Editorial America’s Doctrine of Power in 2026 The opening week of 2026 has stripped away any lingering illusions about the trajectory of U.S. foreign policy. In Caracas, a military raid removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power. Days later, Washington floated the possibility of acquiring Greenland by force. These are not isolated provocations. They clearly show a belief that control over land can be bargained for, valuable resources are seen as rewards, and military power is used as a way to gain economic advantage. Venezuela: Justice or Oil? Officials framed the Caracas operation as a crackdown on corruption and narcotics trafficking. Maduro and his wife were flown to… |
|
What happened to Lorraine Blondina Bird will shock you
Lorraine Blondina Bird was a woman who lived her life like a flame—bright, stylish, impossible to ignore. Born in East Los Angeles, she clawed her way into success, becoming one of Redondo Beach’s most respected Realtors. She wore silk scarves, kept her nails manicured, and drove a silver Mercedes with a vanity plate that announced her presence: LBBIRD1. She gave her children the kind of life she had never known—ski trips, fine dining, a college education. She was proof that ambition could rewrite destiny. But in the end, Lorraine’s story did not close with champagne and sunsets. It ended in the Mojave Desert, her body curled inside a pile of graffiti-splashed boulders, stripped nearly bare,… |
|
LA Olympics chief Wasserman issues Maxwell apology but denies Epstein ties
Los Angeles 2028 Olympics chief Casey Wasserman has apologized for communicating with whom convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, after the publication of a series of personal emails between the two. New files related to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell’s former boyfriend, published by the United States Department of Justice on Friday, included flirtatious email exchanges between Wasserman, who was married at the time, and Maxwell dating from 2003. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2021 by a jury in New York on charges including sex trafficking of a minor. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting tr… |
|
President Trump Fires Attorney General Pam Bondi
President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi in the middle of an escalating international conflict, removing the nation’s top law enforcement authority at the exact moment legal clarity matters most. There was no transition window, no easing into change—just a sudden rupture that leaves a sharper question than the conflict itself: who is enforcing the law now, and on whose terms? A sitting president has dismissed his attorney general in the middle of an escalating international conflict. Not after resolution, not during a lull, not at the clean edge of a policy cycle—but in the thick of it, when legal clarity and institutional steadiness are not luxuries but requirements. That tim… |
|
Former lieutenant governor of Virginia kills wife and himself
Virginia’s former lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, has shot and killed his wife before taking his own life in an apparent murder-suicide, according to authorities in the United States. The 47-year-old politician and his wife, 49-year-old dentist Cerina Fairfax, were found dead in their home in the Washington, DC, suburb of Annandale in northern Virginia. Their teenage son called the police shortly after midnight to report the crime. Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said on Thursday that the incident appears to have been related to the couple’s ongoing divorce. “It’s very sad for this community,” Davis said. “A lot of people who know the Fairfax family. Everybody’s shocked. We’re s… |
|
Philippine politician wanted by the International Court
Philippine Senate President claims that a lawmaker wanted by the International Court (ICC) is no longer in the Senate building, where he had been taking sanctuary, fearing his arrest. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, former national police commander and main enforcer of the murderous “war on drugs” under former President Rodrigo Duterte, has been ?shielded by the Senate, he is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same allegations that Duterte faces. Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano informed reporters on Thursday that the sergeant-at-arms verified he is not in the building anymore. The declaration came a day after shots rang out in the Senate, where Dela Rosa remained locked up. Confusion and … |
|
US says Taiwan needs to become a hornet nest of drones
Taiwan needs a “hornet’s nest” of drones to help deter conflict and provide security, says the top United States ?diplomat to the self-governing island that China claims as part of its territory. Speaking at a forum on drones in the central city of Taichung, Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in ?Taiwan and the de facto US ambassador, said on Thursday that drones represented a “game-changing opportunity” to enhance Taiwan’s security and reinforce peace in the broader region. The US, Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite their lack of formal diplomatic ties, has strongly supported the government’s military ?modernisation plan and increased defe… |
|
A few Senate races will decide the future of America
Editorial The American presidency draws the cameras, the rallies, the chants. The Senate decides what survives the morning after. Long after the campaign buses pull away and the victory speeches decay into archive footage, it is the upper chamber that writes the terms of governance: who gets confirmed, which laws live or die, whether crises are met with action or theater. Control of the United States Senate is not a procedural detail. It is the difference between a country that can act and one that performs its arguments until time runs out. This election cycle is saturated with noise—culture war skirmishes, personality feuds, the endless re-litigation of the last decade. Yet the Senate map … |
|
Trump and US officials targeted by accused shooter
WASHINGTON — Federal authorities are investigating what they describe as a targeted attack near the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner after a man opened fire Saturday evening outside the secured perimeter of the event, prompting a rapid response from Secret Service agents and other law enforcement. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that investigators believe the suspect intended to target President Donald Trump and members of his administration who were attending the annual dinner, one of Washington’s highest-profile political gatherings. According to Blanche, the suspect traveled from California to Washington, D.C., by train, passing through Chicago along the way… |