Introducing the ‘inhibited persons list’

We are all aware, or should be aware, of the infamous secret ‘no-fly list’ that the US government maintains that can result in people being abruptly told that they cannot board a plane without being told why or any means of getting off the list, short of going to court. It appears that the government also maintains another secret list called an ‘inhibited persons list’ that flags people for harassment.
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The state of religious freedom worldwide

The International Humanist and Ethical Union has published its 2013 Freedom of Thought report that takes a country-by-country look at the “Rights, Legal Status, and Discrimination Against Humanists, Atheists, and the Non-religious” and rates them according to five categories: 1. Free and Equal 2. Mostly Satisfactory 3. Systemic Discrimination 4. Severe Discrimination 5. Grave Violations.
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How the NSA and GCHQ targeted WikiLeaks and its supporters

The latest revelations from the Edward Snowden trove of documents says that the NSA and GCHQ kept track of the people who visited the Wikileaks site, as part of its international campaign to put pressure on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. This appeared in an article by Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher in their new news medium The Intercept.
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The 12 worst things Yahweh did

Rob Bricken has combed through the Bible and come up with a list (yes, another listicle!) with the ten worst things that the Judeo-Christian god has done, things that seem to have been driven mostly by sheer spite unbecoming of a supposedly all-powerful deity. As Bricken begins, “Before Jesus arrived and his divine father chilled out, the Old Testament God was, ironically, kind of a hellraiser. He was not a nice guy. He really liked killing people. And he may have actually been insane.”
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The Israel lobby’s rearguard actions

The Israel lobby in the US has had its hands full recently trying to get its agenda of total US support of hardline Israeli government policies implemented, and is fighting back rising criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as well as of its own role in influencing US foreign policy. In doing so it has become much more visible than it once was and has been subjected to much more criticism.
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Report sheds light on football locker room culture-and it isn’t pretty

You may recall the case of Jonathan Martin, the football player for the Miami Dolphins who walked off of the team in the middle of the season because he could not tolerate any more the hazing that he was being subjected to by his teammates, principally Richie Incognito, and some coaches. I wrote about it here, here, and here.
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