5 Ways Mitch McConnell Explains Our Bleak World

Mitch McConnell does not exactly fire the imagination. The Republican leader in the Senate is so much a cardboard cutout of a Beltway suit that his blandness inspired apopular Internet meme earlier this year. But what if McConnell's inscrutability is precisely why we should take a closer look at him? As powerful as he is -- he very well may be on the verge of becoming the Senate Majority Leader -- he has gotten oddly little attention over the years, in large part because he offers little superficial appeal for the color-seeking journalist. This is a grave error. After researching and writing a new e-book on McConnell's career, The Cynic, I've come to believe that he holds the key to understanding how our politics and government have come to such a low point. If you want to come to grips with the demoralizing, dysfunctional state of affairs in Washington, you must peer into that blank visage to see the five dark truths that lurk within.

U.S. Coalition Excludes Countries Already Fighting Islamic State

A hollow laugh might be permitted at the alliance now announced as the result of Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest journey through the Middle East, this time to construct an alliance to counterattack the latest Arab menace to America, ISIS.

President Barack Obama and John Kerry are assembling a coalition “of the willing” to deal with the self-proclaimed new Islamic Caliphate and its singularly bloodthirsty leader, again self-appointed, the Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Meet ‘the Elizabeth Warren Wing of the Democratic Party’

Suppose an insurgent movement with a sharp critique of Wall Street and a determination to end the Democratic Party’s compromises on core economic issues was taking shape across the country. Suppose the candidates associated with this movement were winning tough primaries and developing the outlines of a fifty-state strategy that rejects the self-interested calculations of party elites. Would that count as big news? Not yet, perhaps, since most mainstream pundits are still obsessed with the wrangling over which extremes the Republican Party will embrace. But while GOP insiders were busy beating back their Tea Party wing, the progressive populist tendency within the Democratic Party was going from strength to strength.

Harper suspended Commons committee reviews of Gascon’s Supreme Court appointment in June: House documents

PARLIAMENT HILL—Prime Minister Stephen Harper suspended special Commons committee reviews in June of his nominations to the Supreme Court of Canada following an unprecedented public dispute in May over Conservative allegations that Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin had attempted to lobby against a 2013 appointment by the Prime Minister.

Documents show that although Mr. Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) scrubbed a House committee review in June of newly-appointed Justice Clément Gascon because there was “some urgency” in filling the position, the Prime Minister’s Office also suspected the review process had resulted in “breaches of confidentiality” during the 2013 elevation of Federal Court Judge Marc Nadon to fill a Quebec vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Three New Charts That Reveal Disturbing Inequality In America

New official estimates of income and poverty from the Census Bureau released on Tuesdayreveal that, despite the economic recovery, massive inequality remains a big problem in the United States.

Scientists Find ‘Direct Link’ Between Earthquakes And Process Used For Oil And Gas Drilling

A team of scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey have found evidence “directly linking” the uptick in Colorado and New Mexico earthquakes since 2001 to wastewater injection, a process widely used in the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and conventional drilling.

In a study to be published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America on Tuesday, the scientists presented “several lines of evidence [that] suggest the earthquakes in the area are directly related to the disposal of wastewater” deep underground, according to a BSSA press release. Fracking and conventional natural gas companies routinely dispose of large amounts of wastewater underground after drilling. During fracking, the water is mixed with chemicals and sand, to “fracture” underground shale rock formations and make gas easier to extract.

The true legacy of the Franklin expedition

Raw footage of the Franklin ship is blue and wan. Under floating motes lies the sunken span of spars and timbers that aspired in their heyday to signify Britain’s colonial glory. Today’s Canadian government grasps at credit for resuscitating that glory, yet fails to notice that everything about the new-found Franklin ship has become dead and somehow shameful, as has the old colonial idea of the Northwest Passage itself. The true emotional content of these new images is not triumph, but disgrace.

The Gender Wage Gap Didn’t Budge Last Year

The average woman working full time, year round made 78 percent of what a man with similar employment made in 2013, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau, a slight but not statistically different increase from 77 percent in 2012. There hasn’t been a significant increase since 2007.

Obama Is Open to Ground Troops in Iraq, a Top General Says

President Obama has repeatedly declared there will be no combat troops on the ground in Iraq to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. But a Senate hearing Tuesday with top US military officials revealed that pronouncement is on very shaky ground—there is now no question ground troops are under active consideration at the highest levels of government.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in his opening remarks he isn’t ruling out asking Obama for ground troops. “To be clear, if we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I will recommend that to the president.”

Armed Forces' manual suggests war crime by Israel

OTTAWA - The Canadian Forces' military doctrine suggests that Israel may have committed a war crime in 2006.

The 2008 Land Operations conduct manual states that "indiscriminate harassing fire from Israeli artillery killed seven members of one family, including both parents and five siblings" during a military operation in the Gaza Strip in June 2006.