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Did you know that Washington keeps 450 nuclear ICBMs on "hair-trigger alert"? Washington thinks that this makes us "safe." The reasoning, if it can be called reason, is that by being able to launch in a few minutes, no one will try to attack the US with nuclear weapons. US missiles are able to get on their way before the enemy's missiles can reach the US to destroy ours.

If this makes you feel safe, you need to read Eric Schlosser's book, Command and Control.

The trouble with hair-triggers is that they make mistaken, accidental, and unauthorized launch more likely. Schlosser provides a history of almost launches that would have brought armageddon to the world.

In Catalyst, a publication of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Elliott Negin tells the story of Soviet Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov. Just after midnight in 1983 the Soviet Union's early warning satellite system set off the alarm that five US ICBMs were headed for the Soviet Union.

April 13, 2015, WASHINGTON — On Monday, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia introduced a resolution of disapproval to overrule the FCC's Net Neutrality order. Thirteen other Republican members of Congress joined Collins on the resolution.

Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress can review new rules issued by federal agencies. The rules are invalidated if both houses adopt a joint "resolution of disapproval” and it’s signed by the president. Congress has 60 legislative days from the date of the rules' publication in the Federal Register to pass the resolution.

Free Press Action Fund Policy Director Matt Wood made the following statement:

"It's bad enough to be creating more profit incentive for war," I told former head of Blackwater Erik Prince, "but you recycle part of the profits as bribes for more war in the form of so-called campaign contributions. You yourself have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to political parties and candidates. The three of you," I said, referring to Prince, another guest, and the host of a television show that had just finished filming and was taking questions from the audience, "you seem to agree that we need either mercenaries or a draft, ignoring the option of not having these wars, which kill so many people, make us less safe, drain the economy, destroy the natural environment, and erode our civil liberties, with no upside. But this systemic pressure has been created for more war. Will you, Erik Prince, commit to not spending war profits on elections?"

The majority of citizens want social security to continue and to be improved, according to a survey by the National Academy of Social Insurance done in January 2013. This includes respondents from all political-party affiliations, family income levels, and generations. Overall, 89% answered that social security benefits are more important than ever, 84% answered they do not or did not mind paying Social Security taxes, and 75% replied “we should consider increasing Social Security benefits.

Be reminded that Social Security is wage insurance based primarily on taxes on wages/salaries, bonuses, and stock options that fund programs for qualified retirees, disabled people, and the spouse and children who survive the death of a worker, as well as medical benefits under Medicare. It is matched by employers who can include their contributions in their tax returns as tax-reducing costs of doing business.

Why is there so much popular support for Social Security?

From 350.org:

Leaked text from the deal shows that the TPP, if signed into law, would give foreign fossil fuel corporations the right to sue city, state and national governments if climate action hurts their profits.

It’s an enormous corporate power grab: any time we took action to keep carbon in the ground -- like by banning fracking, or stopping a pipeline, or putting a price on carbon pollution -- the fossil fuel industry could sue for the right to dig it right back out and sell it.

The good news is that this is a plan we can stop. Today, Congress introduced a bill that would allow the TPP to be signed into law. This legislation, called Fast Track, faces a close vote -- if enough Members of Congress come out against this plan in the next few weeks, TPP stops in its tracks.

Today we're calling on all our members of Congress to stand up to the TPP and vote no on Fast Track. Can you send a message to your members of Congress now to stop the TPP?

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The U.S. did not meet Thai military officials in
Hawaii during March to plan their 2016 multinational military training
exercise and instead indefinitely postponed future contact, signaling
an ongoing rift between the two allies after Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha
seized power in a coup last year.

"Decisions concerning the exercise will be made over the course of the
next months in consultations with Thailand, the co-host of the
exercise, and other participating countries," said a statement issued
by the U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) and the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok,
according to Stars and Stripes which is an authorized Department of
Defense news outlet.

"The United States has indefinitely postponed a planning meeting with
Thailand for next year's Cobra Gold exercise, a decision that comes
months after the U.S. scaled down its part in one of the world's
largest multinational military events," Stars and Stripes reported
from Tokyo on April 16.

Shortly after the U.S.-Thai meeting fell through, Gen. Prayuth

When he signed up to play lacrosse at Ohio State, Tate Stover never anticipated weekends like the one he had in the fall of 2013. Stover should’ve been studying for Calculus 2 exam and yet he found himself on the back of a bus traveling six hours for a game with Maryland.
  “We had access to laptops and everything but the studying got really hard at that point,” the 2013 Olentangy High School graduate says. “I just needed to go somewhere, get some coffee and start studying.”
  After less than a season with Ohio State, he decided to continue his career playing for Capital University, a Division III program almost eight miles down the street from Ohio State’s campus.

Since science fiction’s golden age in the 1950s, the Hugo Awards have honored the best of science fiction and fantasy writing in the form of novels, short stories, films and even fan media. The awards are voted on not by an exclusive panel but by the attendees of the World Science Fiction Convention (aka Worldcon). It’s considered by many to be the most prestigious SFF genre fiction award.
  Well, at least it used to be.

Lightning flashed across Kentucky skies a few nights ago. "I love storms," said my roommate, Gypsi, her eyes bright with excitement. Thunder boomed over the Kentucky hills and Atwood Hall, here in Lexington, KY's federal prison. I fell asleep thinking of the gentle, haunting song our gospel choir sings: "It's over now, It's over now. I think that I can make it. The storm is over now."

I awoke the next morning feeling confused and bewildered. Why had the guards counted us so many times? "That was lightning," Gypsi said, giggling. The guards shine flashlight in our rooms three times a night, to count us, and I generally wake up each time; that night the storm was also a culprit.

As the day continued we saw large pools of water had collected at each entrance to Atwood Hall. Prisoners from drought-ridden areas wish they could collect the rainwater and send it home. Fanciful notions, but of the kind, at least, that can help us remember priorities. I suppose it's wise, though, to focus on what can be fixed. The elevator here, for instance.