"Alarming trends" is the understatement of the day!

A second time around, this expose on the culture of corruption & secrecy that allows Border Patrol officials literally get away with murder was even more rewarding & meaningful: it is an absolute must-read, regardless of your political persuasion.

A near unanimous Supreme Court today ruled Washington state can release the names of the roughly 138,000 people who signed ballot petitions to overturn a same-sex domestic partnership law.

- From Iran’s repressive crackdown on anti-government demonstrators to China’s bloody suppression of minority Uighurs, millions of people’s lives across the world continued to be torn apart last year by repression, violence, discrimination and death, Amnesty International says.

President Jacob Zuma has lashed top civil servants as he described administrative systems in the government as the worst in the world.

He said that apartheid could no longer be blamed for service delivery ills, and that directors-general - and not junior officials - should personally handle public queries. He said lack of accountability, and not money, was responsible for most of the country's service delivery problems.