U.S. Aid Wrapped In A Body Bag: Suing the Drone Makers

Mohammed Al-Qawli, an educational consultant in Yemen, remains haunted by the day in January 2013 when he spent hours trying to collect the burned body parts of his brother Ali, a schoolteacher, and his cousin Salim, a student, both "accidentally" killed in a U.S. drone strike. Now Al-Qawli and rights group Reprieve are mounting a legal challenge against the U.K government for failing to investigate human rights violations by a British communications giant allegedly facilitating the killings of many hundreds of innocent people. Al-Qawli has also launched the National Organization for Drone Victims to work toward ending the program. His hope: "That the American people (will) stand against the violent actions of their Nobel Peace Prize–winning president." "I have received U.S. gifts and U.S. aid, wrapped in a body bag...The U.S. and Yemeni governments killed a young man who strongly opposed terrorism and tried to bring change through education - the very same things they purport to want themselves. I want to know why."

Read more

Colorado GOP Woos Women Voters By Telling Them Poilitics Is Just Like the Dating Game

At a surreal debate this week aimed at wooing Colorado women voters wary of their egregiously misogynist policies, three of four GOP candidates for governor offered no actual ideas about the issues facing women - unequal pay, domestic violence, health clinics closing, a pending anti-abortion “personhood” bill - but did praise a panel of four women as "ornamental" before inviting them to interview the candidates - "Bachelor #1! Bachelor #2! Bachelor #3!" - to the theme music from that '70s idiocy The Dating Game. Yeah, that'll bring the gals running.

Read more