A multi-decade civil war in the Philippines appears to be de-escalating. A representative for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front says they expect the Bangsamoro Basic Law to be fully enacted by the Duterte government.

This comes despite major setbacks like the Mamasapno incident, in which Phillipine National Police (possibly aided by US Special Forces) attempted to upset BIFF but also wound up hitting MILF.

With lots of beautiful Filipino!

If the GOP does not disengage the country’s health-care system from the disaster of Obamacare, we are headed for the misery of single-payer. This is the last chance to divert that outcome.

So come with us now as our GORP obsessed lil buddy, Chris, plumbs the vilest depths of video gaming sin: isolating himself from his friends, lying to his dad, stealing money from his mom's purse, and overall just taking hilariously bad advice from a presumably invisible Pac Man ghost! Can he be saved? Will his high score be beaten?!! Will he ditch church and instead head to the arcade! You'll have to come back for PART TWO in our next post for the answers-- but for now, plunk in a quarter and ...

A video clip of Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Great Dictator’ has been blocked on YouTube at the behest of the military-backed government of Thailand.

‘The Great Dictator’, a Hollywood film by comedian Chaplin, parodied the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in 1940.

On 11 June 2017, the Thai Academic Network of Civil Rights urged the public to watch a YouTube clip of ‘The Great Dictator’ in which Chaplin exhorts the people to take back power from the dictator.

Thailand’s army grabbed ...

As we mark Pride month with celebrations of the Stonewall uprising—the event that launched the modern LGBTQ movement with newly emboldened assertions of queer visibility—we’d do well to reconsider the role and value of visibility politics in the 21st century. How critical is visibility to the strategic advances of vulnerable minorities? How critical is being seen to our sense of emotional well-being, and can the strategic and emotional imperatives of movement politics conflict with one ...

A federal appeals court on Thursday lifted an injunction on a Mississippi law that grants private individuals and government workers far-reaching abilities to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people on religious grounds, though lawyers said the law was likely to remain blocked for the time being during the appeals process.

Thursday’s decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, is part of a legal drama being ...

As Shipman walks toward the car, Bolen asks for his identification. Shipman says he doesn’t have it and Bolen snaps, “That’s another infraction. In the state of Florida, you have to have an ID card on you identifying who you are or I can detain you for seven hours until I figure out who you are.”

That’s not the law, however.

Another story that riles serious hot dog historians is how term "hot dog" came about. Some say the name was coined in 1901 when cartoonist Tad Dorgan drew a cartoon of barking dachshund sausages nestled warmly in rolls. However, historians have been unable to find this cartoon.

The term was current at Yale in the fall of 1894, when "dog wagons" sold hot dogs at the dorms. The name was a sarcastic comment on the provenance of the meat.

Angela Merkel has signalled a change in her party’s opposition to gay marriage after stating MPs should be allowed a free vote in the German parliament.

Speaking at an event organised by the magazine Brigitte, the German chancellor said she felt aggrieved that debate was mainly carried out along party lines and that she hoped it would be “headed towards a conscience vote”.

It is widely believed the Bundestag would legalise gay marriage in a free vote on the issue.

Germany is one of a ...

Three police officers were charged on Tuesday with conspiracy, official misconduct and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation that followed the death of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager fatally shot by a white Chicago police officer three years ago.

The three officers are accused of conspiring in the hours and days after the shooting to “conceal the true facts” to protect Jason Van Dyke, a fellow officer, who fired 16 times at Mr. McDonald, who was 17.

The ...

(Heart-breakingly, the headline is not literal)

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution requires states to list married same-sex couples on their children’s birth certificate. The per curiam decision marks a landmark victory for gay rights, confirming that the court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges protects all rights relating to marriage, not simply the recognition of marriage itself.

In Obergefell, the court held that the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment require states to extend ...

Move over, Rachel Dolezal; there’s someone else out there with even more issues. German “model” Martina Adam, also known as Martina Big (because of her insanely huge breast implants and appearances on Botched), has completed her transition into a “black” woman.

Activists gathered for gay Pride in Istanbul Sunday in defiance of a ban by authorities, and despite riot police who used tear gas to disperse crowds.

Dozens turned up to wave rainbow flags and LGBT banners, watched by much larger numbers of Turkish riot officers as well as far-right protesters.

There were more than two dozen arrests, activists told NBC News, including at least one member of the media trying to cover the event.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he is delaying a vote on a Senate health care bill while GOP leadership works toward getting enough votes.

He says they are "still working toward getting at least 50 people in a comfortable place."

Republican senators are headed to the White House Tuesday afternoon to talk to President Donald Trump about the future of the bill.

McConnell says the White House is "very anxious to help" and encouraged senators to go to the meeting.

McConnell said ...

Two cars of a crowded subway train veered off the tracks Tuesday morning and crashed into a wall in northern Manhattan, injuring dozens of people and causing panic as riders evacuated and made their way through an underground tunnel to the nearest station.

Joseph J. Lhota, the newly named leader of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the emergency brake had been activated, sending the train careening off the tracks, but he could not say why the brake had been deployed. He said all ...

The Trump administration is planning to disband the Labor Department division that has policed discrimination among federal contractors for four decades, according to the White House’s newly proposed budget, part of wider efforts to rein in government programs that promote civil rights.

As outlined in Labor’s fiscal 2018 plan, the move would fold the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, now home to 600 employees, into another government agency in the name of cost-cutting.

The ...

More than 15,000 Americans were losing their jobs each day in June 2009, as the US struggled to climb out of a painful recession following its worst financial crisis in decades.

But Jay Sekulow, who is now an attorney to Donald Trump, had a private jet to finance. His law firm was expecting a $3m payday. And six-figure contracts for members of his family needed to be taken care of.

Documents obtained by the Guardian show Sekulow that month approved plans to push poor and jobless people to ...

More than 120 potential jurors in the fraud trial of Martin Shkreli were dismissed Monday, with some calling him “a snake,” “the most hated man in America” and “the face of corporate greed.”
...
One said she had not known what the trial was about when she walked in and saw Mr. Shkreli. “I looked right at him, and in my head, I said, ‘That’s a snake’ — not knowing who he was,” the woman said.

British advertising agency WPP is among those to say its IT systems have been disrupted as a consequence.
Ukrainian firms, including the state power company and Kiev's main airport, were among the first to report issues.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has also had to monitor radiation levels manually after its Windows-based sensors were shut down.
The Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab said its analysis showed that there had been about 2,000 attacks - most in Ukraine, Russia and ...