We have seen the world created by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and it doesn’t work. Oh, yes, it works nicely for the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country, especially if they want to shroud their efforts to influence politics behind shell corporations. It just doesn’t happen to work if you think we are a democracy and not a plutocracy. Read full article > >

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The Citizens United catastrophe

We have seen the world created by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, and it doesn’t work. Oh, yes, it works nicely for the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country, especially if they want to shroud their efforts to influence politics behind shell corporations. It just doesn’t happen to work if you think we are a democracy and not a plutocracy. Read full article > >

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The Citizens United catastrophe

Hackers Anonymous release a recording of an intercepted conference call between the FBI and UK police discussing their efforts to fight hacking.

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Hackers breach FBI-UK police call

The new ad from Revolution PAC is pretty powerful. James Williams, a black man, talks about his efforts to get medical attention for his pregnant white wife at a Texas hospital in the 1970s. The crescendo comes when a young doctor named Ron Paul broke through the indifference of the staff to give them the help they needed. Their baby would be stillborn. And Paul paid their medical expenses. Then Williams extols the virtues of Paul — his honesty and willingness to take on the establishment. Read full article > >

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Jonathan Capehart:
Ron Paul deserves to be ‘blot out’

Lady Gaga emails an unsuspecting fan to praise his efforts to “spread tolerance” through an anti-bullying campaign.

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Gaga emails school bully campaign

Admitting gridlock was at hand, lawmakers on the so-called supercommittee cast blame and pointed fingers at one another Sunday as the panel’s leaders prepared to formally acknowledge their failure early this week, bracing for the reaction from financial markets. Using the weekly Sunday political news shows as their outlet, Republicans and Democrats on Congress’s special deficit committee did not officially throw in the towel on their mandate of finding $1.2 trillion in savings before Thanksgiving. However, most of the lawmakers spoke of their efforts in the past tense and said it would take something akin to a miracle to reach a deal, which unofficially must be unveiled before midnight Monday to meet the panel’s parliamentary rules. Read full article > >

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Debt supercommittee members brace for failure

One day after Nancy Grace sacrificed a perfectly good news cycle full of hootin’ and hollerin’ about the Conrad Murray guilty verdict so she could practice for “Dancing With the Stars,” she was rewarded for her efforts by being officially eliminated from the competition, one week shy of the semi-finals. Read full article > >

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Nancy Grace voted off ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Several high-ranking Maryland government officials have testified in federal court in recent weeks that they had no idea that Sen. Ulysses Currie was being paid by a grocery chain that stood to benefit from his high-level intervention. Yet, some of the same witnesses suggested that the efforts of the once-powerful Prince George’s Democrat had little, if any, influence on the outcome of proposed development deals, traffic light requests and other projects supported by Shoppers Food Warehouse. Read full article > >

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Defense to begin in bribery trial of Md. Sen. Ulysses Currie

Several high-ranking Maryland government officials have testified in federal court in recent weeks that they had no idea that Sen. Ulysses Currie was being paid by a grocery chain that stood to benefit from his high-level intervention. Yet, some of the same witnesses suggested that the efforts of the once-powerful Prince George’s Democrat had little, if any, influence on the outcome of proposed development deals, traffic light requests and other projects supported by Shoppers Food Warehouse. Read full article > >

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Defense to begin in bribery trial of Md. Sen. Ulysses Currie

(Originally published Oct. 7) Leslie Knope has never won a Nobel Prize. Sadly, neither has Ron Swanson. But it turns out there is a connection between one of the recently announced winners of the Nobel Peace Prize and NBC’s “ Parks and Recreation .” Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — the country’s first female president — was named as one of three Nobel Peace Prize recipients this year, for her efforts to establish peace and bolster women’s rights in Liberia. And Sirleaf happens to be the aunt of Retta, the sassy, speed-dating master Donna Meagle on “Parks and Recreation.” (Retta’s full name? Retta Sirleaf.) Read full article > >

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What’s the connection between a Nobel Prize winner and ‘Parks and Recreation’?

The Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, 89, one of the bravest and most dynamic leaders of the civil rights movement, who survived bombings, beatings and dozens of arrests in his efforts to end segregation in Birmingham, Ala., and throughout the South, died Oct. 5 at a Birmingham hospital. His daughter Carolyn Shuttlesworth said the cause of death was not known. Rev. Shuttlesworth had been in poor health since having a stroke four years ago. Read full article > >

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Fred L. Shuttlesworth, courageous civil rights fighter, dies at 89

The State Department has released a new series of e-mails about the controversial Keystone pipeline proposal that show a friendly relationship between a U.S. Embassy official in Ottawa and Transcanada’s Washington lobbyist. At times, State Department official Marja D. Verloop–who oversees energy, science and environmental issues at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa–appears to be cheering on TransCanada’s Washington lobbyist Paul Elliott in his efforts to enlist congressional support for the pipeline extension. Read full article > >

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Keystone Pipeline e-mails show friendly exchanges

A Saudi-born American of Pakistani heritage who was raised in Queens, N.Y., was reportedly among those killed in a U.S. drone strike targeting radical cleric and fellow U.S. citizen Anwar al-Aulaqi. A self-proclaimed traitor to America, Samir Khan contributed to the efforts of al-Qaeda’s Yemen offshoot to promote itself among English-speakers. He was apparently a major force behind the widely-read English-language magazine Inspire , a mixture of ideology, first-person accounts of operations and do-it-yourself jihad advice. Copies of the magazine’s bomb-making and other sections have been found in the possession of several would-be attackers in the U.S. and Britain . Read full article > >

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A ‘proud traitor’: Samir Khan reported dead alongside Aulaqi

The government officials and economists who put together a bailout for Greece in May of last year knew there was a substantial chance the program would fail but were unprepared for how fast their efforts unraveled, putting Europe’s economy again at risk , according to people involved with the talks and others who closely followed them. The three-year, $160 billion program was admittedly ambitious, requiring Greece to make deep cuts to its social programs, slash public payrolls and sell state-owned property and businesses. Read full article > >

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Greece’s 2010 bailout falls flat, puts nation back on brink of default a year later

A major wildfire in Arizona continues to grow as strong winds hamper the efforts of more than 2,300 firefighters to contain it.

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Arizona wildfire ‘still growing’