CHART: How The U.S. Troop Levels In Afghanistan Have Changed Under Obama

President Obama came into office pledging to end the U.S. military role in Afghanistan's war. But on Wednesday, the president announced there will still be around 8,400 American troops there when he leaves office in January, more than 15 years after America launched what's become the longest war in its history.

Fox News Host Sues Roger Ailes Over Sexual Harassment

Gretchen Carlson, a longtime Fox News host, has filed a lawsuit against Fox Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes alleging that he made unwanted sexual advances and then sabotaged her career when she refused. The lawsuit claims she was "a conscientious, hard-working, and successful" journalist over her 11 years at the network and that her recent solo show ranked number one for cable news programs in her time slot.

Trump’s Top Foreign Policy Adviser Says Muslim Ban Is Just An Effort To Provoke ‘Debate’

In this July 1, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump points to supporters during the opening session of the Western Conservative Summit in Denver. Donald Trump does not specifically pick out communities to demonize, his lead foreign policy adviser said in an exclusive interview published Monday by the right-wing news outlet the Daily Caller.

Garrison Keillor’s Prophecy and Apostasy

On what was billed as his last show , Garrison Keillor, host of "A Prairie Home Companion" got a call from President Barack Obama and they traded extensive compliments, with Keillor telling Obama he was "the coolest president." Keillor's signing off on July 4 weekend was likely calculated to extenuate his presumed ties to all things Americana, but for me it actually highlighted his hypocrisies and contradictions.

Israel Calls Facebook A ‘Monster’ For Supposedly Fueling Palestinian Attacks

Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Facebook was responsible for a spate of Palestinian attacks on the country's citizens. "Facebook today sabotages, it should be known, sabotages the work of the Israeli police, because when the Israeli police approach them, and it is regarding a resident of Judea and Samaria, Facebook does not cooperate" with the West Bank, Erdan said in a television interview Saturday, Reuters reported .

Global Trade: What’s A Good Progressive To Do?

Progressives who have long criticized trade deals that favor multinational corporations, suppress wages, accelerate outsourcing, and replace local democracy with unelected tribunals, shrink from keeping company with the racist, isolationist right. This is equally true in Trump's America and in Britain, newly divorced from the rest of Europe.

C&L’s Sat Nite Chiller Theater: Masters Of Horror ‘Homecoming’

I was trying to find a cool July 4th horror movie for this weekend and I was lucky enough to come across Joe Dante's entry into Showtime's 'Masters of Horror' series called "Homecoming" Showtime's Masters Of Horror series, is a zombie movie that does away with metaphors altogether and just gives it to the audience straight. The zombies don't "represent" anything: They're American soldiers killed during the current war, and they've come back from the dead to vote out the liars who put them in harm's way.

Why do conspiracy theories abound nowadays?

Conspiracies abound, and I like mine juicy, With grammar atrocious and middling spoofy, Here a fact turned and there a vid squibbed, Making you wonder if you're not getting ribbed, With "blatant," "obvious," "clear," "unimpeachable": Sales reps of truth, that phantom unreachable. . I wonder why now they bloom so full rife, In an age when the networks toot so-loud fife, Covering the sex jollies of every famed clown, Scrying odd cancers lest our health is cut down, Speculative waxing on the Donald's blond hair, And wondering wisely on the CO2 scare.

GOP tries to trick Democrats into abandoning Florida Senate race. Good luck with that.

Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, which is frightening.We must make sure his hateful rhetoric does not even... Sign if you agree: Presidents do not stop working in the final year of their term. Neither should the Senate.

We All Need Hobbies

I suppose we should be grateful that there's something quaintly retro about God bothering people about sex. It's only somewhat quaint, as they've been pretty good about eroding access to necessary reproductive health, but despite this sad fact, the rhetoric seems to come from another place and time.