" But as we grind through the Republican primary process, it seems like the debate over morality in America has less to do with moral outcomes and more to do with a vision of how society should look based on idealistic remembrances of how things were. So people like Mr Munro and the Republican candidates believe America is in a moral slump. The odd thing is, people on the left might actually agree, though for very different reasons. They are upset by the perceived greed of the 1%, and the broad acceptance of torture and war as foreign-policy tools. In the end, the debate over morality more closely resembles two distinct monologues. "

" Scott Kravet, the instructor—a graduate student in philosophy—offered a dose of epistemology, and in so doing captured the essence of news literacy. "Life isn't just having things handed to you," he said. "You have to be active. There's no proof in life, there's no certainty. But knowing these questions is better than not knowing them." "

" The artifact vanished just three weeks after a $2,400 Apple MacBook vanished from Brashear’s office. He told the occupiers that even when the 100-year-old Upper West Side church extended help to addicts during the 1980s drug scourge, no visitors touched its $12,500 sacramental instrument.

" “Not even crackheads messed with that,” he said.

" The pastor and a worshipper finally found the missing basin tossed into a small room connected to the church. The lid is still missing. The pastor has given protesters two weeks to vacate the church. "

by way of Russia Today, but... " Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that emerged from the Department of Homeland Security in November, Washington has written permission to collect and retain personal information from journalists, news anchors, reporters or anyone who uses “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.” "

" When all citizens are potential reporters, they risk being treated as journalists. "

" If Congress is complaining that they don't know about something that you care about, the right answer isn't to tell them to go get educated. The right answer is to educate them. Congress mentioned the word "biologics" 75 times in a month because a lobbyist spent a long time doing their job: educating members of Congress on the needs of its industry. "

" In a press release uploaded onto its blog on January 2, SpyPeople explain that members are leaving Anonymous in order to form an organization with “disciplined leadership” and members.

" “This is a departure from the Anonymous mentality, where everyone does as they see fit without efficient leadership,” the release states. "

" Social scientists need to communicate the value and importance of their research to policy makers in Washington, DC, and throughout America if they want to receive more financial support in the future, a Congressman told Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) members. "

Joe Nocera:
" “So this is how the Big Lie works.

"You begin with a hypothesis that has a certain surface plausibility. You find an ally whose background suggests that he’s an “expert”; out of thin air, he devises “data.” You write articles in sympathetic publications, repeating the data endlessly; in time, some of these publications make your cause their own. Like-minded congressmen pick up your mantra and invite you to testify at hearings.

" You’re chosen for an investigative panel related to your topic. When other panel members, after inspecting your evidence, reject your thesis, you claim that they did so for ideological reasons. This, too, is repeated by your allies. Soon, the echo chamber you created drowns out dissenting views; even presidential candidates begin repeating the Big Lie.

" Thus has Peter Wallison, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a former member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, almost single-handedly created the myth that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac caused the financial crisis. His partner in crime is another A.E.I. scholar, Edward Pinto, who a very long time ago was Fannie’s chief credit officer.” "

" Due to slim pickings, OakFoSho assembles only a 12-person crew. Undeterred, he exhorts them to "go ahead and make something happen right now." Pointing to his left, OakFoSho advises: "We can get out of sight by just walking that way for about 50 yards." One of Oak's recruits interrupts their deliberations to shout at a passing police cruiser driven by a female officer. "Go home, you fascist bitch!" To pad his crew to a baker's dozen, OakFoSho rousts a homeless guy sleeping under a blanket against a light pole. No sale. Homeless Guy prefers to sleep in peace, thanks all the same. "

" For decades, established anti-abortion leaders like National Right to Life and Catholic bishops have pushed for gradually chipping away at the edges of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, with state laws to impose limits on late-term abortions, to require women to view sonograms or to prohibit insurance coverage for the procedure.

" But now many activists and evangelical Christian groups are pressing for an all-out legal assault on Roe. v. Wade in the hope — others call it a reckless dream — that the Supreme Court is ready to consider a radical change in the ruling. "

" In one poll of Americans, 62% said they believed that medical research involving stem cells obtained from human embryos was morally acceptable; 30% said it was not. In another poll, 55% said the government should fund research that would use newly created embryonic stem cells.

" But, the researchers added, when party affiliation was included in the analysis, Republicans were always less supportive of the research than Democrats. People who are religious were also much more likely to oppose embryonic stem cell studies. Republicans were more likely to attend religious services at least weekly than Democrats. Similarly, Americans who attend religous services at least weekly were more likely to vote for Republicans. "

" One male protester, in an army helmet and no shirt, cried out as shoving matches erupted between several groups of men. The young man who was leading the informal group yelled: "This is the People’s Forum! There are no committees, there are no rules, everyone gets to speak. Get in a circle! GET IN A CIRCLE!" A majority of the crowd abided, although they were openly chastised when the circle took on non-circle shapes.

" A facilitator from the General Assembly tried one last time to get the group's attention through a call-and-response tactic. He was shouted down by two men, one of whom was shouting directly in his ear. Then it was announced that there would be two minutes of drumming. The loud thumping gave way to spastic dancing and eventually some primal bellowing. "