A heartwarming victory is only marred by the situation itself: one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S.

MEMPHIS, Tennessee - Long-forgotten photos that show James Earl Ray being brought to jail after his arrest for assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. were unveiled Wednesday to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of the civil rights leader's death.

The man accused of bringing young girls from Mexico to the Atlanta area and forcing them to become prostitutes was sentenced to 40 years in prison Thursday.

This is a phenomenal video of the immigrant rights community in southern Arizona & their battle last summer against Governor Jan Brewer's draconian legislation regime....

Another report from police chiefs denigrating the ACCESS programs' inevitable results of destroying all the trust which they have spent years building with the immigrant community & driving that population underground into a world of fourth-class citizenship!

Police from around the world say they have broken up the largest internet paedophile ring yet discovered. Rob Wainwright, head of Europol, the European Police Agency, said the abuse network had 70,000 members and links to 30 countries.

The operation has identified 670 suspects and 230 abused children.

This latest report by Wendy Cervantes and Donald J. Hernandez of First Focus shows that we cannot afford to ignore the needs of the children of immigrants.

A Gwinnett County woman was arrested Saturday for allegedly trying to bring two children from Mexico to Georgia.

It's comforting to know that at least some Republicans are standing up to the newly-established orthodoxy, as Daniels here shows by calling for a "truce" in the culture wars so that government can deal with the financial crises we are all facing....

"Mandatory E-Verify without comprehensive immigration reform will not end illegal immigration, free up jobs for unemployed Americans, or save the country money. In fact, studies of E-Verify predict the opposite."

Paul Barrow points out that "the real focus" of DHS "is not on prevention but on management of disasters" which "have created immense political backlash." But the real backlash will come when we attempt to use the new software & there's noone to show us how!

An overview of the trial of Shawna Forde in Tucson tells us little we don't already know.... I kept missing the fact that she was a beautician....

A fascinating overview of the issues surrounding the expansion of immigrant detention in Essex County, New Jersey, & around the country....

How can anyone justify threatening rape victims with a Bad-Conduct Discharge if they dare to speak out about their assaults? I'm just dying to hear the argument, if you've got one!

The show at the Capitol yesterday sounds hysterical alright: everyone from the most ardent advocate of children's rights to the most extreme right-wing nativist! The only thing to which I can imagine comparing it is the endless array of comments at the end of the article....

Rick Scott says that he's going to focus on jobs, education, and the rule of law; but Gary Borders is running Lake County like his own personal mafia! And the governor is instead involved in promoting an Arizona SB1070-copycat bill - I guess that's his definition of rule of law!

Apparently, Tony Leys of the Des Moines Register has finally discovered this incredible documentary by Luis Argueta of the ICE raids at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa & the impact which it had on that midwestern town & the families involved.

Fascinating debate about the MSM's power or lack thereof over the outcome of the revolution on the streets of Cairo....

An interesting little tidbit of on-the-ground coverage by my dear friend Medea Benjamin - of CODEPINK & Global Exchange helped me remember that I forgot to include the most obvious & important in the ranks of the counterrevolutionaries: the police!

If you were fascinated by the treatment of Couric & Anderson, you should be mesmerized by the way the rest of the foreign press is being handled by the Mukhabarat - though not surprised as they have been trained & funded by the CIA for decades!

Typical dictatorial tactics on display here in Cairo & Alexandria: import the poor, migrant workers and combine them with the corrupt bureaucratic officials who have become the nouveau riche through the dispensation of the regime & employ them at critical junctures to counter the …

Contrary to what I'm sure you're going to hear this weekend: Reagan was not one of our most popular presidents, both during his reign & for the first decade after it (how quickly we forget!);

A crucial reminder that myths are precisely that: halfway between fact/truth & lies/falsity! As Joan says:

Words from the street in Cairo echo in my mind, "It's time for change!" We need to legalize prostitution so that we can regulate it and protect children from being exploited!

Another shock video campaign proven to be based on a hoax!

At least now we know that the right-wing extremism isn't just reserved for violating the civil rights of immigrants: LGBT & DV victims are now(?) included in the list of victims of the state's culture wars.... Or as a native has put it on the comments page:

Once again, the data shows that 287(g) programs are violating people's civil rights, fighting efforts at accountability & oversight, & choosing to ignore the directive to focus on dangerous criminals rather than increasing their numbers by picking on the easiest targets in the im …

Perhaps we should listen to more of what the "real socialists" have to say.... What do you think?

You don't need to read the 46-page Missouri Supreme Court decision to determine that this Guatemalan mother's due process & maternal rights were infringed upon: it's common sense!

A genius piece of journalism on "the other Arizona" explores the state that time forgot, the liberal intelligentsia oft overlooked by the MSM: it starts with a story of how a (most likely Muslim) African scout led the first (Spanish) settlers to the gates of the Salt River & ends …

"Alarming trends" is the understatement of the day!

ABC news reported that the suspect, a military officer's wife, was hospitalized on Saturday, and had complained that her children were "mouthy."

At least the British press is covering the trial of Shawna Forde for this outrageous murder of 9-year-old Brisenia Flores & her father by the renegade Minutemen operative.

A brilliant academic piece which shows that not only will rescinding birthright citizenship create a massive new bureaucracy at a time when we need to streamline but it would deprive us of the crucial resource of young people who are paying taxes, fulfilling civil & military serv …

A heady combination of reflections on our willingness to do whatever we want with our prisoners regardless of the treaties to which we are signatories & notification that Amnesty International has a letter condeming Bradley Manning's treatment; his lawyer David Coombs has stated  …

"Mandatory data retention 'raises serious privacy and free speech concerns'

The judge, Patricia Cosgrove, says that prosecutors refused to consider the lesser, misdemeanor charges & forced her to rule on the felonies:

I hope you weren't thinking that the people in the government who were putting you in harm's way were actually going to make sure that you received the treatment you deserved for your services.... If you were, perhaps you should look at Joe Rogan's youtube page!

A rundown on the follow-ups to the Mississippi move this week....

Here come the states!

"Count to ten; & take a deep breath!"

A former St. Petersburg man accused of war crimes in Bosnia was deported from the United States on Saturday, immigration and customs enforcement officials said.

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 fairly decent rundown on the 287g controversy in Tennessee: a must-read if you care about the ensuing civil rights struggle in this country! When was the last time you were indefinitely detained because of the color of your skin?

It does us well to reflect on the stories of our victims....

Another brilliant piece on the rising anti-immigrant states-rights extremists being accepted into the mainstream discourse of American politics just as they are being elected into the mainstream offices of American jurisprudence (however unprudently) leaves me wondering if the Ut …

I can't believe that "no state or federal judge has ever been impeached to punish a judicial opinion" yet in the history of our country: unfortunately these Family Leader folks dont' seem to be weary of "dangerous" roads....

It takes a pretty sick mind to come up with the many things that Limbaugh has been spewing over the years, but this one could be his "David" moment....

How hard is it to recognize that if we're going to send so much money to Mexico, that we ought to make sure that at least some of the money goes to fund development projects rather than flooding corrupt police & government officials' offices with more grease for their wheels?

This is terrible news!

Apparently, House Republicans are not reading the same briefs on the topic as we are....

I'm always afraid when the most liberal court in the country hands down a fascist decision like this: hopefully not a sign of things to come!

An encyclopedia of rightisms!

Now this is what an adult conversation looks like!

Close Guantanamo: it's a no-brainer!

WBAI's Evening News had the best coverage, detailing the stories of the unscrupulous restauranteur who answered a plea for payment with a whack of a frying pan & the contractor who threw someone out of a moving vehicle after they had severely beaten them - all for asking when the …

Imagine if your employers felt that they could strike you upside the head with a frying pan when you asked to get paid or throw you out of a moving car after severely assaulting you - & get away with it! Would you believe in the need for better labor laws then?

Can we take a moment to reflect on children, and what the world really does have in store for them?

FORT LAUDERDALE — The little girl is standing beside an elephant statue somewhere in Thailand. She wears a pretty white dress with dark stripes and has a little girl's pretty, shoulder-length hair.

Largo, Florida - A raid of two Pinellas homes and a business may have connections to human trafficking. The early morning raids found 27 men and women living in cramped conditions.

"A University of Colorado student who started wearing hijab after converting to Islam is fighting the Boulder County Jail's insistence that she remove her headscarf for a booking photo, saying that to do so would violate her religious beliefs.

With the help of their 1.8 petaflop supercomputer, Jaguar, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee are sifting through internet traffic in search of suspicions patterns that will lead police to the perpetrators of child pornography.

In standard police work, checking a suspect's hard drive will show whether they have been downloading illegal content such as child pornography. But catching the criminals that produce such material in the first place is even more important, because they can often lead police to the children who are being abused. It is far from easy, since you can't necessarily tell who took the illicit images stored on a hard drive.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The number of hate crimes reported in Florida last year reached their lowest levels since 1990. Law enforcement agencies in the state reported 148 hate crimes in 2009, well below the annual average of 262 hate crimes.

Three Broward pimps each were sentenced Friday to at least 8 1/2 years in federal prison for their roles in a loose-knit group that prostituted women and at least three underage girls at local hotels.

BEIJING - China has sentenced a woman to a year in a labor camp for "disrupting social order" by retweeting a satirical message urging Chinese protesters to smash the Japan pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, an international rights group said.

WEST PALM BEACH — After a tearful Veronica Martinez denied forcing two Honduran sisters into the sex trade in Palm Beach County nightclubs, a judge sentenced her on Wednesday to more than seven years in federal prison.

Pine Manor, Florida -- A tablecloth acts as a makeshift curtain over a cracked, tinted window at the beige Eighth Avenue apartment unit where deputies say a woman enslaved four children. Piles of clothes are visible when peering inside.

A brave Cape Flats woman has spoken out about her horrific rape ordeal at the hands of her trusted doctor the day before her son's burial.

Turkey's Human Rights Hypocrisy

When judges here sentence convicted criminals, a new and unusual variable is available for them to consider: what a given punishment will cost the State of Missouri.

MIAMI (AP) -- A South Florida couple has pleaded guilty after a federal human trafficking investigation.

The gunman holding hostages in the Silver Spring, Md., headquarters of the Discovery Channel has been tentatively identified as James Jay Lee, an apparent eco-fascist who thinks that immigrants are breeding "filthy human children" and helping to wreck the planet.

This week, the Iranian regime completed its ridiculous and unjust show trial of seven Baha'i leaders and sentenced them to 20 years in prison. -- all upstanding Iranian citizens whose only crime is that they belong to the Baha'i community.

PALM BAY, Fla. - A 14-year-old Palm Bay teen accused of attacking someone for listening to rap music could be charged with a hate-crime.

The Utah Supreme Court on Tuesday morning threw out the rape convictions of the polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs and sent the case back for a new trial, ruling that the instructions given to the jury during his prosecution were faulty.

The sleazy secret life of Jon Venables has been laid bare. In two hours at the Old Bailey on Friday, more was learnt about what happened to the young man paroled from a life sentence for killing little James Bulger than ever before.

It laid to rest the myth and speculation surrounding one of the perpetrators of a crime that horrified Britain when he and fellow 10-year-old murderer Robert Thompson were locked away in 1993.

In Jerusalem, lying your way into a woman's bed can get you in big trouble. A court has convicted an Arab man of "rape by deception" and sentenced him to 18 months in prison after he posed as a Jew in order to have sex with a Jewish woman...

Convicted felon Byron Williams loaded up his mother's Toyota Tundra with guns, strapped on his body armor and headed to San Francisco late Saturday night with one thing in mind: to kill workers at the American Civil Liberties Union and an environmental foundation, prosecutors say …

A Wilton Manors man has been accused by federal authorities of taking lewd pictures of four young boys with their genitals exposed in the Dominican Republic.

The human trafficking case now working its way through the federal court system is likely the first of many such cases that will be made in the region, according to investigators.

The Vatican today made the "attempted ordination" of women one of the gravest crimes under church law, putting it in the same category as clerical sex abuse of minors, heresy and schism.

A home on the street in the same Eastpointe neighborhood where several black families received hate mail is now the subject of an arson investigation.

A Miramar man was arrested Tuesday morning on charges he battered a disabled man while working as a security guard at a mental healthcare facility in Florida City.

New York, July 10 : Mel Gibson has now been accused of using a handgun to threaten ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva during one of their heated clashes.

PORT RICHEY, Fla. (AP) -- A Tampa Bay-area teen has pleaded no contest to raping an 89-year-old woman at her Pasco County home.

A former transit police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man at an Oakland train station was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, capping a racially charged case that raised fears in the Bay Area of possible violence after the verdict.

A federal indictment unsealed Tuesday afternoon alleges dozens of Haitian nationals were the victims of human trafficking in 2008 when they were delivered to rural Alachua County and forced to work on area farms.

TAMPA - A Tampa man is accused of pimping out a 17-year-old girl in a hotel room.

A 2007 report by the Immigration Policy Center noted that "for every ethnic group, without exception, incarceration rates among young men are lowest for immigrants, even those who are the least educated.

The seventeen-year-old victim, who has cerebral palsy, has the mental capacity of a seven-year-old and is confined to a wheelchair.

Troy Davis, on death row in Georgia since his 1991 conviction for the murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail, sat in white prison scrubs with chains on his waist, as his lawyers presented their case to the U.S. Supreme Court in a rare innocence appeal Wednesday.

South African Dr. Sonnet Ehlers was on call one night four decades ago when a devastated rape victim walked in. Her eyes were lifeless; she was like a breathing corpse.

Two Orange County Jail corrections officers were arrested today after an investigation found they kicked and hit an inmate — then didn't tell the truth about what happened.

A man has been convicted of strangling his common-law wife after finding she was cheating on him.

But Ramakgale Mokoena claimed in mitigation that he put his hands around Tebogo Brenda Ramafatse's throat to make her let go of his testicles. A row broke out on November 28, when Mokoena visited Ramafatse at the Tshikondeni mine in Venda where she lived and worked, the Pretoria High Court heard.

Tampa, Florida - There are new developments in the Pinellas "sex slave" case, where a Treasure Island man was found not guilty after being accused of raping women and holding them against their will.

State police agents Monday arrested a veteran Northeast Florida lawman accused of abusing a disabled motorist and a second man in two separate incidents.

Five Years Later, 5 New Orleans Cops Charged NEW ORLEANS - Five current or former New Orleans police officers were charged Friday in the shooting death and burning of a New Orleans man during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.