Siun

In his latest novel, Existence, David Brin takes on the Fermi Paradox – the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilization and humanity’s lack of contact with, or evidence for, such civilizations. Set in the 2050s, Existence is at once familiar and oh so alien even before the initial contact with an alien artifact occurs.

If you follow foreign policy discussions at all you will have noticed the recent commotion around the potential (and now they say planned) nomination of Republican former Senator and current Chevron board member Chuck Hagel to become Obama’s Secretary of Defense.

Last week, in an attempt to damp down protests against the United States in Pakistan, the US State Department ran advertisements on Pakistani TV.

Doug Saunders is a journalist of the rare kind these days. He actually researches, explores, investigates and only then reports on the major trends of our global community. His earlier book, Arrival City, explored “the final shift of human populations from agricultural life to cities… —from Maryland to Shenzhen, from the favelas of Rio to the shanty towns of Mumbai, from Los Angeles to Nairobi. “ His new book The Myth of the Muslim Tide addresses the fearful response of so many Americans and Europeans to one key constituency of that shift, Muslim immigrants.

In 2312, Robinson has taken us 300 years into the future, shifting beyond the near times of most of his works to a time when the consequences of our actions now play out in a devastated yet still home planet Earth. And Robinson reminds us, when 2312’s lead character Swan heads from her home Mercury to Earth of the wonder of our own planet, a wonder we forget and destroy with our current actions

Citizens of Anaheim gathered Wednesday night to demand change from their City Council. One of those citizens was Genevieve Huizar, the mother of Manuel Diaz who was shot and killed by Anaheim Police just over two weeks ago.

Last Sunday Kevin Gosztola wrote about the police shootings in Anaheim, CA and pointed to the reports from local network news reporters that the Anaheim police were trying to buy up cell phone videos residents might have of events. Now a video has surfaced which shows us why the Anaheim PD is so afraid of witness videos.

Romney is saying it’s ok for Israel to go ahead with an attack while Obama’s team is briefing Bibi on how we’ll do it. Can someone explain what the choice is here since I certainly can’t.

On June 27, Zeinab AlKhawaja (@AngryArabiya) and Said Yousif Almuhafda, head of monitoring & evaluation for the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BHCR), were attacked by Bahrain police.

Ah, the romance of counterinsurgency surprisingly still alive and well … the old mujahadin sharing tea with me …. and then we kill his kids since it’s precisely these free of red tape SOF units that have been responsible for so many civilian casualties.”