Today, women of the senate came together to condemn the abortion bill that was passed in the House yesterday as “an outrage,” The Hill reports. The Republican-majority House passed legislation yesterday that would ban abortions 20 weeks after fertilization. The bill passed in a 228-196 vote, falling mostly along party lines, with only six Democrats voting for it and six Republicans opposin… [more]

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking Democratic member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, powerplayed committee Chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) when he released the full transcripts of an interview, believed to “debunk conspiracy theories” about the IRS Tea Party investigation. This release adds one more rotation in the revolving door of IRS scandal discovery and … [more]

United Technologies Corporation (UTC) has been ordered to repay the U.S. government $473 million for its its overpriced sale of jet engines to the United States government in the 80s and 90s. The appellate court’s decision is the latest in the battle between the UTC subsidiary, Pratt & Whitney, and the government, that started in 1999. During the bidding for the project to build engines f… [more]

A recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Military Expenditure Database showed that American spending on defense tops all other militarized countries. In 2012, the United States spent around $682 billion on defense, towering China over three-fold who spent a mere, by comparison, $166 billion. Of the world’s top 10 ordnance companies, the United States nea… [more]

Exposure to high levels of air pollutants has been linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children, according to the first national study performed on the topic, and published today by Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). The study concludes that “perinatal exposure to air pollutants,” such as diesel, lead, manganese, mercury, methylene chloride, and other industrial byproduct poll… [more]

It is no secret that Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) publicly opposes abortion. The GOP congressman, who is also an OB/GYN, made his position on the abortion debate clear during his time on a U.S. House Committee floor Monday by saying that he supports the proposed Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a bill that would ban abortions at 20 weeks nationwide. Yet, during his speech to fellow lawm… [more]

The United States Supreme Court ruled that “pay-for-delay” programs between larger, commercial drug companies and their generic competitors are illegal. The deals consisted of the Big Pharma companies paying off competing companies to withhold generic forms of brand-name drugs off the market. The decision overturns previous lower-court “rulings that said the agreements were legal, provide… [more]

Florida Gov. Rick Scott delivered a harsh blow to Floridians when he signed a bill that stifles paid sick leave for workers. The bill that Scott signed favored big businesses in the state of Florida, which he justified by saying that the “bill fosters statewide uniformity, consistency and predictability in Florida's employer-employee relationships.” The bill was backed by the Republican, pr… [more]

Former Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, made a guest appearance on Fox News today after a five month hiatus from the network, and it didn't take long for the former Alaskan governor to get on her soapbox with the usual finger-pointing she is known for. With her popularity slowly fading after a mid-term resignation as Alaskan governor and failed bid as vice presidential candida… [more]

Two women are suing Live Oak County, Texas and its former jailers for sexual assault and running what they call a “rape camp,” according to their complaint, which can be read in its entirety here. It was reported today that two women who were previously detained in Live Oak County Jail filed a complaint against former employees Vincent Aguilar, Israel Charles, Jr., and Jamie E. Smith, accusi… [more]

A New Jersey state senator is looking to bring the government-based acquisition of personal information to a literal street level. New Jersey State Sen. James Holzapfel (R-Ocean County) proposed bill S2783, which would grant police officers the ability to confiscate cell phones, primarily after car accidents, to determine whether the wreck was caused by phone use while driving. On the surface, … [more]

In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court struck down Arizona’s Proposition 200, a law that would require immigrated citizens to provide documented proof of their citizenship before being able to vote, affirming the appellate court’s ruling. The legislation had seen bipartisan opposition during its lifetime and far exceeded federal standards that required citizens to identify themselves before … [more]

Al Gore is urging President Obama to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants, as well as veto the Keystone XL pipeline. “This whole project [Keystone XL] is an atrocity but it is even more important for him to regulate carbon dioxide emissions,” he told the Guardian. In an interview on Friday, Gore urged Obama to take action, regardless of opponents, saying, “I… [more]

This week’s Ring of Fire, hosted by Mike Papantonio: Sundays at 12pm Eastern, 9am Pacific.  Full schedule of rebroadcasts can be found at FreeSpeech.org. This week on Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV:  Big money billionaires have taken over everything from our electoral process to our media – author John Nichols will tell us how this happened. The whistleblower who exposed the NSA’s sp… [more]

Below are the top stories from the past week. Papantonio: The Death of the Tea Party Conservative IRS Manager Chose to Scrutinize Tea Party Filings An IRS manager, describing himself as a conservative Republican, told congressional investigators that he and a colleague made the decision to give the Tea Party extra scrutiny, according to Reuters. An official interview transcript was rel… [more]

26 members of Congress, all Democrats, have pledged to live off of food stamps for a week in protest of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cuts made by House Republicans. The 2013 farm bill, that has recently passed a Senate vote, is expected to cut over $20 billion from the SNAP program over the next 10 years should it be passed. This bill has outraged many Democrats in both … [more]

The second week of the court martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the man behind the infamous Iraq war leaks, is coming to an end, with the prosecution picking apart the contents of Manning’s personal laptop and scouring communications between the soldier and Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks website. Assange is currently taking asylum at the Ecuador Embassy in London. Manning is facin… [more]

The House rejected a Democratic proposal today to allow non-religious military chaplains to serve non-religious service members. According to Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), “nearly a quarter of people serving in the military are non-religious, but under current law, spiritual advisors must be appointed by religious organizations, like the Catholic Church,” The Hill reports. Polis’s proposed a… [more]

This week’s Ring of Fire Radio, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern This week on Ring of Fire Radio: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Chris Hedges will be here to tell us about the judicial lynching of Bradley Manning. Investigative journalist Tim Shorrock will talk to us ab… [more]

Technology and processing giant Intel is positioning itself to disrupt the current regime of television distribution as we know of it today, according to The New York Times. The company is looking to provide cable service bundles over the Internet but is being opposed by the current industry giants’, i.e. Comcast, Time Warner, etc., contract deals that discourage the channel from contracting wi… [more]

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) threatened to draw back his support from the current immigration reform bill if an amendment to add gay immigration rights is included. This is not the first time Rubio has spoken publicly about his opposition of homosexual rights being added to the immigration bill he co-authored with the Senate’s Gang of Eight. Several fellow members of the GOP are also opposed, f… [more]

Army general and National Security Agency (NSA) director Keith Alexander has claimed that the NSA spying measures have “thwarted dozens of terrorist attacks;” however, opponents contest the claim indicating there is no substantiation for them. During a Senate hearing this week, Alexander offered little elaboration on his assertion that the spy programs implemented by the NSA were at all eff… [more]

The Supreme Court ruled today that human genes cannot be patented. In a unanimous decision, the justices invalidated two DNA patents held by the biotech company, Myriad Genetics, Inc., according to the Associated Press. The decision could be a breakthrough in genetic testing and research. “Because of this ruling, patients will have greater access to genetic testing and scientists can engage… [more]

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Representative Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) have proposed a bill that purports to hold lawmakers’ checks in an escrow account should the federal government miss its obligations to raise the debt ceiling. The proposed “Pay Your Bills or Lose Your Pay Act” appears to be an effort within Capitol Hill to motivate fellow lawmakers to discuss the debt limit agenda … [more]

Upon leaking documents that expose the NSA’s spying on American citizens, Snowden expressed that he didn’t “want public attention because I don’t want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the U.S. government is doing.” Surely to Edward Snowden’s chagrin, numerous headlines online have been veering away from the real issue of the NSA leak, which is the leak itself, and … [more]

Climate change is causing the Pentagon to fundamentally alter how the Department of Defense (DoD) will evaluate future conflict areas, according to The Hill. At an event last Thursday, Daniel Chiu, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of DoD strategy, said that climate change has prompted Pentagon strategists to think “about global food and water scarcity, mass migration, and the potential for those… [more]

Almost two months after the deadly West Co. Fertilizer plant explosion that wreaked havoc in West, Texas and killed 15 people, residents seeking to rebuild their lives are being met with yet another hardship. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has denied West’s request for any additional funds for rebuilding, preventing those who were within the damage zone of the blast site from ge… [more]

After 16 months of debate, the controversial, unanswered question will be taken to Court: Was the killing of Trayvon Martin self-defense or murder? Over a year ago, George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, fatally shot African American, 17-year-old Treyvon Martin, on his way home from the convenience store. Now, the case is being brought to court to determine whether Zimmerman acted ou… [more]

A federal judge found that Fox Searchlight Picture violated federal law when it refused to pay interns that worked for the production of “Black Swan,” according to Reuters. The decision shakes up the practice many businesses have flocked to of bringing in interns, having them perform tasks that barely differ from the tasks that the employers pay employees to do, and then denying those interns… [more]

A report by CBC news this morning explains that 23 Canadian women are alleged to have died as a result of blood clots that formed while they were taking two of the most popular birth control pills: Yaz and Yasmin. These instances raise concerns that the risk associated with taking the drugs is far higher than is currently understood. Yaz and Yasmin are products of Bayer, suspected by Canadian a… [more]

A handful of senators, in a bipartisan effort, introduced a bill that would force the Attorney General “to declassify significant Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinions.” If signed into law, the bill will dissolve the “secret law” that allows the FISC to keep how it interprets law under wraps. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mike Lee (R-Utah),  Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dean … [more]

The yearlong fight over emergency contraception has hopefully come to an end as the federal government agreed Monday to comply with U.S. District Judge Edward Korman’s previous, April 5th, court ruling which made emergency contraceptive pills, also known as “Plan B” or the “morning-after pill”, available over-the-counter to women of all ages. The Obama Administration pulled back its eff… [more]

Tech organizations are speaking out against the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) recently exposed surveillance program PRISM, by forming a bipartisan coalition to call upon lawmakers. The surveillance program has been publicly condemned by an array of 86 different civil liberties and privacy organizations, even those who were allegedly linked to the scandal. Firms such as Mozilla, Reddit, Du… [more]

Last year, global energy emissions hit an all-time high, exceeding the 2 degrees Celsius goal industrialized countries agreed to in Copenhagen. A report released Monday by the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that “The world is not on track to meet the target agreed to by governments to limit the long-term rise in the average global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius.” The study conclud… [more]

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. discusses whistleblowers Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden with author and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Chris Hedges, on RoF Radio. Kennedy and Hedges discuss the prosecution of Manning, the United States Army soldier on trial for passing classified government documents to the website WikiLeaks. RFK, Jr. and Hedges discuss the recent National Security Agency whistleb… [more]

The gross misuse of government power has been scattered across the headlines lately in the wake of the NSA leaks.  But power abuse isn’t only being exercised on a federal level, but on local levels also.  Law enforcement on all levels has been exuding a severe lack of discretion and has been over-exerting their authority. Recently in Miami, 14-year-old Tremaine McMillian was taken down, sub… [more]

56 percent of Americans feel that the NSA’s wiretapping program is an acceptable means by which the government can investigate terrorism, according a Pew Research Poll released yesterday. The numbers reflect that the public is divided on the subject however as 41 percent of Americans consider the practice unacceptable. The poll, conducted in early June, was sponsored by The Washington Post, … [more]

Whistleblower Edward Snowden, a former CIA analyst and now contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton for the U.S. National Security Agency, may be facing prison time in the U.S. for his disclosure of top-secret documents to The Guardian and the Washington Post last week, exposing a nationwide government surveillance program run by the National Safety Agency (NSA). The NSA surveillance program has be… [more]

An IRS manager, describing himself as a conservative Republican, told congressional investigators that he and a colleague made the decision to give the Tea Party extra scrutiny, according to Reuters. An official interview transcript was released yesterday by Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, which cited the conservative manager saying he and “an underling set aside ‘Tea Party’ and ‘patrio… [more]

The United States' credit rating score has been improved by credit rating agency Standard & Poors (S&P), according to Reuters. The agency had previously downgraded the U.S. ranking from AAA to AA with an outlook that was negative. The new score changes that outlook from negative to “stable” but S&P voiced concerns over the government’s ability to deal with the need to issue i… [more]

Last Thursday, Senate Republicans filibustered the Democrats’ bill that would prevent a spike in student loan rates. The student loan rate is set to double, to 6.8 percent, on July 1 of this year if Congress does not take action. The Democrats’ bill would freeze need-based student loan interest rates for two years, giving Congress time to find a long-term solution to the ever-increasing stud… [more]

Below are Ring of Fire’s top stories from the past week.   Bradley Manning Trial Gets No Stenographers, Orders Court After majors news outlets raised over $60,000 to hire stenographers to record Pfc. Bradley Manning’s trial, the military court overseeing the trial has denied the stenographers press passes, cutting off any written record of the proceedings. … Read more. Despit… [more]

This week’s Ring of Fire, hosted by Mike Papantonio: Sundays at 12pm Eastern, 9am Pacific.  Full schedule of rebroadcasts can be found at FreeSpeech.org. This week on Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV:  We’ll be talking about the illegal activities taking place in the US military – from covering up of sexual assault, to misdiagnosing mental disorders.  Investigative journalist Rick Outzen… [more]

Is it comforting that government officials have come forward to say that they do not have people review the contents of the majority of wire intercepts? Instead, the vast majority of data and metadata collected by the government from telecom companies and websites is sorted by algorithms and only a small portion is ever reviewed by actual human beings. This is intended to provide some comfort, al… [more]

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) took to the Senate floor Friday to argue against the “Gang of Eight’s” immigration reform bill and to criticize the government on its recent focus on only deporting serious crime-committing immigrants, with the senator saying “nobody” is being deported from the country . "The federal government has reached a point now where virtually no one is being depo… [more]

The hacker with Anonymous that exposed the Steubenville rape suspect is facing 10 years incarceration for leading a computer-hacking operation against the suspects of the Steubenville rape.  The two players from the town’s high school football team convicted of raping a 16-year old girl only received one to two years incarceration. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the home of… [more]

The Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families (ACHESS) shows that the children are not only “thriving,” but have higher rates of “family cohesion,” or getting along with their family. The University of Melbourne study is the largest of its kind, and aims to determine the “complete physical, mental and social well-being” of children with at least one same-sex attracted pare… [more]

This week’s Ring of Fire Radio, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern This week on Ring of Fire Radio: author and historian Andrew Bacevich will be here to discuss the American culture of endless war. Investigative journalist Rick Outzen will discuss the growing epidemic of rape in the mi… [more]

Mega-corporation Verizon Wireless has been disclosing its customers’ phone records to the government, and it seems the backlash being seen from the wireless company’s angry customers is doing very little to thwart the government’s surveillance program anytime soon. The wireless company continues to release daily customer phone records to the National Security Agency (NSA) for review.The Oba… [more]

Politically conservative-minded people are more yielding than those who are more liberal-minded, a Gallup poll finds.  The study released by Gallup was placed in the frame of Republican and Democratic views of assisted suicide.  It found that a simple alteration of verbiage could easily alter a Republican’s opinion on an issue. This finding ultimately proves that Republicans piggyback their… [more]

A new EPA survey shows that the US will need $384 billion for drinking water infrastructure by 2030. The survey, released yesterday, accounts for the needs of 73,400 water systems across the country, including American Indian and Alaska Native Village water systems. The EPA estimates that the billions of dollars will be needed to continue to provide safe drinking water to 297 million Americans. … [more]

What crawled up Stuart Varney’s craw yesterday that sent him badmouthing “the poor”? Nothing really, he’s always had it out for “the poor,” which some would call "Americans." Ring of Fire host Mike Papantonio has gone toe-to-toe with Varney on multiple occasions to defend the working-class, and the story from Varney has remained the same: let the rich get richer and the poor, poorer. … [more]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has obtained “sworn testimony and documents” that link Michele Bachmann to various criminal actions, such as wire and mail fraud. In mid-May, the FBI joined a criminal investigation launched by the Iowa Supreme Court to determine whether or not Michele Bachmann had a direct hand in ethics violations such as paying off former Iowa chairman and state … [more]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has requested that automaker Chrysler recall 2.7 million Jeep models that the federal agency claims are dangerous and could potentially cause rear-impact fires due to defects within the fuel system. Chrysler, however, is blatantly refusing the federal agency’s request to initiate a recall. In the NHTSA’s letter to Chrysler, the requ… [more]

While a recent study finds that a majority of physicians in the US would prescribe medical marijuana to their patients, politics in the United States continue to prevent research on the short and long-term effects of marijuana in clinical settings. Due to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana was placed in the most restrictive use category, Schedule I, which classifies it as a drug … [more]

An explosion of domestic and international protests against Monsanto has been a testament to the biological engineering company’s complete negligence of the environment and consumers’ well-being.  This past week has seen marches, lawsuits, and suspensions of international imports of Monsanto’s products. Monsanto has been on the unethical side of many issues.  The company has poisoned fa… [more]

Over the course of his career, President Obama has had many opportunities to make great strides for progressive causes but has remained sadly ineffective on important issues at the hands of his opposition. Sure, the president has faced staunch opposition from the right. But continuing to seek bipartisan support for every policy he needs to see through enactment will only serve to distance him fro… [more]

Sometimes, you just can’t trust that the advice you’re being given, even from a “professional,” is all that straightforward or uninfluenced. Eugene Goldman is a physician in Pennsylvania who was convicted earlier this week for being involved in a kickback scheme involving the referral of patients to hospice care for over a decade according to a press release from the Department of Justice… [more]

After majors news outlets raised over $60,000 to hire stenographers to record Pfc. Bradley Manning’s trial, the military court overseeing the trial has denied the stenographers press passes, cutting off any publicly-accessible written record of the proceedings. Numerous news organizations that pooled together and formed the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) started the fundraiser to pay f… [more]

  Corporate America doesn’t care about solving the problem of climate change. Rather, they are concerned with the profit they can make from it. Because we are already seeing effects of climate change, part of the solution to dealing with climate change will now include adapting to those effects. And with that need for adaptation, corporations have found a new niche to exploit. Wh… [more]

An advertisement by the online women’s rights group, Ultraviolet, that was set to air during the Fox Business Show “After the Bell” was rejected by the network. The ad called for commentators Lou Dobbs, Erick Erickson, and Juan Williams to be fired for their negative comments made on the network last week regarding women who pursue successful careers. The trio’s comments included compla… [more]

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkNsNPB1WnM There are at least 233 reasons why President Obama should not waste energy trying to be a president of compromise. For five years, every Republican in the House has tried desperately to prevent America from prospering. Remember, not one Republican could force themselves to acknowledge that 10 million Americans are unemployed. Not one of those… [more]

The major insurance companies are threatening to raise insurance premiums, despite their claims that the Affordable Care Act will raise them.  Their threat came amid their record-high profits and a slowdown on rate increases. The profit margins for insurance companies have exploded over the last few years.  According to Bloomberg, the earning per stock share of insurance companies jumped 29 p… [more]

Habeas Corpus is such a fundamental institution in the American justice system that it can be hard for the average citizen to contemplate that it could be taken away. But it can, and for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the requirement that it be extended to an innocent man is not so obvious. Floyd Perkins was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1993 for the stabbing of… [more]

A new survey finds that a majority of doctors would approve the use of medical marijuana. The survey, conducted by The New England Journal of Medicine, determined that 76 percent of doctors, when faced with a hypothetical-patient scenario, were in favor of using marijuana for medicinal purposes despite the fact that marijuana is illegal in most countries. The proposed scenario was this: Your … [more]

Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (GPS), a 501(c)(4) social welfare group that claims to dedicate itself to pursuing political issues at hand, has recently been questioned over it’s political overspending. The group’s co-founder, Karl Rove, was left scratching his head after the accusations, wondering why his group had been singled out when other “... groups have operated for decades … [more]

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week that American Commercial Colleges Inc. has agreed to pay the United States up to $2.5 million to settle claims that it had falsified loan revenue reports in order to be eligible for federal funding. According to the release, which you can read in its entirety here, American Commercial College Inc. is a for-profit educational inst… [more]

It’s been a rough stretch for Wal-Mart recently, getting busted for illegally dumping hazardous materials will do that, and California is saying they’re over the bad practices. It’s no secret that Wal-Mart orchestrates forcing low wages on their employees so that those employees are eligible for federal aid and California is stepping up to the plate to do something about it. There is cur… [more]

As it would happen, the technology of tomorrow will come with fits and spurts, pains and progress. Nowhere is this more true than in the realm of health technology. Whether it’s a WiFi-enabled pill that sends biometric data updates to your smartphone, or your doctor’s office via the internet, your mobile app that tracks your workout stats, or improved cameras that will supplement laboratory t… [more]

The following segment originally aired on the June 2nd episode of Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV. Republicans have used the so-called IRS scandal to try to take down the Obama administration, but if you look at the facts, the Tea Party deserved to be targeted. Ring of Fire host Mike Papantonio dissects the "scandal" with Farron Cousins, executive editor of Trial Lawyer Magazine and contributing wr… [more]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sde04Fcd9bA In the midst of numerous scandals that have walloped President Obama in the last several weeks, the GOP is now comparing Obama to former president Richard Nixon.  Scandals revolving around Obama and Nixon are similar only on the most superficial of levels, it’s something to do with the IRS and journalists.  But the true nuts and bolts of which are a… [more]

The first amendment has always been a hotbed for controversy, especially in recent times.  The six Espionage Act indictments during the Obama Administration are a testimony of such controversy.  Free speech is tremendously gracious right and a beautiful cornerstone of America and it is being exploited by corporations. The New Republic published a piece called “The Right to Evade: How Corpor… [more]

A group of Dartmouth students protesting sexual violence is alleging that the college is coming down harder on them than it has on the perpetrators of the crimes. According to ThinkProgress, the students staged a public protest last month during a welcome show for prospective students to bring attention to the administration’s failure to address “sexual assault, racism, and homophobia on cam… [more]

Marketed to alleviate pain, sleeplessness, and now even anxiety, the popular over-the counter-painkiller Tylenol has been touted by its manufacturer, Johnson and Johnson, as the “safest drug on the market”, with consumers having trusted the brand for decades. However, recent studies have revealed the real dangers of Tylenol, citing increased risks for acute liver damage and failure from… [more]

NASA has documented indications of the earth’s changing climate using satellite images. The GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) Mission measured the amount of ice lost from earth’s glaciers and ice caps from 2003 to 2010 due to atmospheric warming.  GRACE is the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, providing scientists with valuable data to help them understand the ef… [more]

This week’s Ring of Fire, hosted by Mike Papantonio: Sundays at 12pm Eastern, 9am Pacific.  Full schedule of rebroadcasts can be found at FreeSpeech.org. This week on Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV:  Ring of Fire co-host Sam Seder will tell us why the recent White House scandals are nowhere near as bad as the ones we’ve seen from Republicans. Citizens United opened the doors for unlimi… [more]

Below are Ring of Fire’s top stories from the past week. Wal-Mart Stores Caught Dumping Hazardous Waste into California Drains, Company Pleads Guilty Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges on Tuesday for dumping hazardous waste from Wal-Mart stores into sanitation drains across California. As part of the plea deal, the company has been ordered to pay $81 million in fi… [more]

At a meeting in Dallas on Wednesday, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson told shareholders that protecting the environment doesn’t matter. “What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?” he asked. This dumbfoundingly ignorant question can only be attributed to corporate greed. Overlooking the faults with an anthropocentric viewpoint that places no value on anything unless it benefits… [more]

In what the U.S. Department of Justice is calling the “largest international money-laundering prosecution in history,” Liberty Reserve was allegedly laundered over $6 billion in “criminal cash,” reports the BBC. After an investigation that spanned 17 countries, Liberty Reserve was indicted for allegedly laundering money for heinous criminal enterprises like identity theft, investment fr… [more]

For years, the GOP has been insisting that austerity is the only road out of the over-spending ways of America. Because of this, conservatives around the country are convinced that austerity to rapidly reduce the deficit is what this country needs. The GOP was elated when a study came out in 2010 by economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff that focused on debt-to-GDP (Gross Domestic Produc… [more]

This week’s Ring of Fire Radio, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder: Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern This week on Ring of Fire Radio: Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Mark Mazzetti will be here to discuss the evolution of the CIA from an intelligence-gathering agency, to an unstoppable killing department. A… [more]

A society is measured by how it treats the least among it and the conditions of inmates are often met with callous oversight. Unfortunately, incidences are not often discussed, and some estimates place nearly 1 out of every 10 inmates experiencing some form of abuse. The tragic situation is made even more disappointing when the abused suffer from a mental or psychiatric condition. The American… [more]

DePuy Orthopaedics, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, has taken a hit once again after a judge denied the company's request to an appeal of a previous verdict in the Kransky v. Depuy case, in which the company was ordered to pay $8.3 million to the plaintiff. The initial lawsuit was brought against the medical device giant for injuries the plaintiff suffered from the company’s recalled ASR XL … [more]

On Tuesday, Facebook announced via an open letter on the site, that it will begin working more directly with groups that feel they have been or are the victims of controversial, hurtful or hateful speech through the website to remove and limit the exposure of hateful content. The announcement came as a response to recent complaints from political and activist groups that the social-mecca has been… [more]

In March, Chicago revealed a plan to close 54 elementary schools, mainly in low-income and African American communities. The city, under leadership of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, claims that the closings are needed to close a $1 billion city deficit, according to The Contributor. This month, the city announced that it will dedicate as much as $100 million in public funds to facilitate the construction of… [more]

Minnesota Republican pleb Michele Bachmann announced that her current term in the House of Representatives shall be her last.  Since her election to the House in 2007, Bachmann has spewed one ridiculous idea and action after another.  In regards to her decision and its coverage by the media, Bachmann has been quoted as saying “I fully anticipate the . . . liberal media to put a detrimental sp… [more]

Advances in hydraulic fracturing and drilling technology over the past decade have made it easier for the oil and gas industry to extract large quantities of oil and natural gas from shale and rock formations across the US. But the process of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is far from “natural.” The natural gas industry is using extensive amounts of fresh water for its extraction pr… [more]

The Wall Street banks have been pumping millions into lobbying Congress for more financial free rein.  Now, along with contributing to members of the House Financial Services Committee, the banks are extending their reach by having their lobbyists help draft financial legislation. Ever since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was approved by Congress and signed by Pr… [more]

For years, big corporations have been sneakily writing themselves out of the court system, adding clauses into contracts that limit consumers to private, individual arbitration in the event of a dispute against a company. The newest movement in “mandatory arbitration clauses” being used in consumer contracts by big corporations, such as cellular companies, auto dealers, and even health care p… [more]

It’s a scary government that justifies its means by the ends produced. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized a website last November that displayed violent and graphic images of children being assaulted, and abused. The department continued to host and run the site for two weeks while it attempted to identify the sites over 5,000 users. Th… [more]

In response to the online availability of the first functional 3D-printable gun, the Department of Defense, as part of its trade controls, seized the intellectual property of DEFCAD and restricted the distribution. The organization’s website notified users of the change by placing a red banner at the top of the site with the following: “DEFCAD files have been removed from public access at … [more]

A new bill passed last week requiring Illinois public schools to include medically accurate information about birth control in their sex education classes, according to ThinkProgress. The legislation, HB 2675, was spearheaded by State Senator Linda Holmes (D), and it is expected that Governor Pat Quinn (D) will sign the bill into law, prohibiting schools from teaching abstinence-only curricula.… [more]

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges on Tuesday for dumping hazardous waste from Wal-Mart stores into sanitation drains across California. As part of the plea deal, the company has been ordered to pay $81 million in fines, which will also cover charges to the company in Missouri. They also pleaded guilty in the Western District of Missouri for violating the Federal Insectic… [more]

The infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his officers of Maricopa County in Arizona had to finally answer to their troubled past as a federal judge ruled on Friday that the sheriff and his officers have been profiling Hispanics during their patrols. The document by United States District Court Judge G. Murray Snow details the violations by the sheriff and his officers. Sheriff Joe Arpaio has had a l… [more]

In a recent article on Forbes entitled The Supreme Court Must Stop The Trial Lawyers’ War on Innovation, Theodore H. Frank argues that trial attorneys are stifling company innovation.  Frank misses the mark in his corporately-funded argument in that these litigations are actually, and should be, fueling innovation, rather than stifling it. There is a case soon to be reviewed by the U.S. Supr… [more]

The state of Texas has turned away billions of dollars that could have provided health care to 1.5 million of its poor residents. Texas has refused to participate in Medicaid expansion because it is part of President Obama's Affordable Care Act. While the state has the highest percentage of uninsured residents in the country, and the state’s share of the cost would have been only 7 percent of … [more]

The piece originally appeared at DeSmogBlog.com The townspeople in Fort Collins were greeted with some unfortunate news earlier this week, as their city council decided to overturn a ban on hydraulic fracturing that had been in place for only a few short months.  The decision to overturn the ban was based solely on the threat of a lawsuit from the oil and gas industry. The mere threat of la… [more]

This week’s Ring of Fire, hosted by Mike Papantonio: Sundays at 12pm Eastern, 9am Pacific.  Full schedule of rebroadcasts can be found at FreeSpeech.org. This week on Ring of Fire on Free Speech TV:  We’ll be talking with author and Ring of Fire co-host Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. about the climate criminals who are pumping unprecedented amounts of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. We’l… [more]

Below are the most popular stories from Ring of Fire from the past week. Private Money is Enough to Silence Public Television America’s Public Broadcasting System, or PBS, is surrendering to private influence of the Billionaire industrialists, the Koch Brothers. “Citizen Koch,” a documentary that exposes the money driven politics that influenced the Wisconsin uprising, was rejected by… [more]

The violent outrage from indignant Republicans is to be expected. But when it comes from their talking heads over at Fox news, it’s time for someone to change seats. Apparently Andreas Tantros cannot hold her tongue and keep from threatening to incite the already hate-filled fringe. Raw Story has reported that the Fox News host had a meltdown during her show Thursday, urging listeners to indu… [more]