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    Here's How Much You Need To Make To Rent A 2-Bedroom Across America

    Most financial experts will tell you not to spend more than 30 percent of your income on rent. And while that’s the ideal ratio to live comfortably and still save for retirement, that goal is nearly impossible for many Americans. According to data released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, depending on where you live in the United States, you’d need to make anywhere from $13.72 to $35.00 an hour at a full-time job to afford a two-bedroom apartment. As the report’s title “Out of Reach 2017” suggests, most Americans don’t make nearly that much. Which, honestly, isn’t all that surprising considering the current federal minimum wage is $7.25…

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    Salisbury attack: establishing responsibilities – war paradigm vs. crime paradigm

    Prime Minister Theresa May holds a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the start of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, 2016.Theresa May described the Salisbury attack as ‘an unlawful use of force against the UK’. This is the language of military force. It is less strong than ‘armed attack’, a descriptive that would have triggered a NATO Article V response, but nevertheless it is couched in the language of war and thereby implies that proportionate counter measures can be taken. Yet we could also describe what happened in Salisbury as a heinous crime and, if we are assuming that Russia was responsible, a crime committed against its…

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    Kyle Kulinski Of The Young Turks Says Democrats Need To Change Before They Can Defeat Trump

    America and the world may be stuck with President Trump for now, but that doesn’t mean progress is entirely on hold. For many, the obvious approach is to fight Trump and his Republican allies each step of the way. But one of the progressive left’s most outspoken voices says that even in the age of #Resist, there are still opportunities to pass meaningful legislation — even if that means handing symbolic legislative victories to Trump. At least that’s the view of Secular Talk host Kyle Kulinski, a popular figure in progressive politics, who says voters shouldn’t completely abandon the Trump presidency, even as they plan to support their own slate of…

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    9 Other Men And Assorted Objects Who Would Make A Better ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ Than Blake Shelton 

    Click:slot milling Blake Shelton was named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” and the people are pissed. The problem? A lot of folks, apparently, don’t find Shelton terribly attractive. That’s both OK and a little unfair to the good people at People. Some people like a gravelly voice, a little bit of stubble, and some hair gel. Others prefer that their Sexiest Man Alive not look like the love child of James Lipton and a muddy tire. Human attraction is a deep, metaphysical mystery, and to each his own. If the artist responsible for “Hillbilly Bone” is the peak living male physical specimen in People’s book, more power to them.  But sexiness? That’s the totality of a person.…

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    Libya: damned if we do and damned if we don’t

    Soldiers of the Libyan UN-backed government forces gather on a street in Aziziya, Warshaffana, Libya, on Nov. 10, 2017 hours after taking control of the largest military camp in the area. Picture by Hamza Turkia/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images. All rights reserved.Frustrated by the lack of media time given to local Libyan reactions to international actions, I have just finished a project funded by the Remote Control Project to interview a wide range of local stakeholders (including civil society activists, businessmen, officials, Islamist leaders, former ministers and former fighters) to elicit views on the less-well known but ongoing international military intervention in the Libyan conflict since the NATO campaign to topple…

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    Chrissy Teigen Found A Clever Way Around Instagram's Nudity Policy

    THE GOOD NEWS: Supermodel and social media mainstay Chrissy Teigen found a brilliant way around Instagram’s decency policies with a post featuring the healthiness of “salads.”    Chrissy Teigen is known as much for her social media rabble-rousing as she is for her work as a supermodel, mom, and chef. Whether it’s questioning President Donald Trump until he blocks her, or going after the anonymous trolls on social media, she’s not one to shy away from a progressive battle.  Most recently, she posted a hilariously random photo featuring herself making a salad in her kitchen. Nothing too divisive, right? Well, Teigen found a way to offer a subversive spin on what…

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    The possible devastating outcome of a Kurdish referendum

    Kurdish soldiers stand at the gate of an oil pumping station in western Kirkuk province in Iraq, on March 2, 2017. The outflow of oil from Iraq's Kirkuk oil field stopped Thursday after Kurdish forces entered a Baghdad government-owned pumping station near the city of Kirkuk and prevented workers from pumping oil, an Iraqi oil official told Xinhua. Xinhua/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved.The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is planning for a referendum to separate from Iraq later this year. This could easily lead to further ruin for ordinary people. As both sides to the dispute push forward with increasing amounts of hubris, policy makers and observers should reflect on…

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    3 Mental Health Experts Dissect Facebook's Tech-Heavy Plan To Prevent Suicides

    Earlier this week, Facebook announced plans to expand its artificial intelligence-based suicide prevention campaign. The company shared how the program has been working so far, essentially using “proactive detection” technology to scan posts for signs that the user might be suicidal and flagging them to Facebook moderators for next steps, which range from offering links to online resources all the way up to contacting first responders on the user’s behalf. The goal is to shorten the amount of time between a concerning post and Facebook being brought into the conversation. Previously, Facebook wouldn’t get involved unless a friend manually flagged someone’s post as seeming suicidal. “When someone is expressing thoughts of suicide,…

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    Adding insult to injury: when Israel and Britain celebrate the historical trauma of Palestinians

    Pro-Palestine protesters gather during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Australia outside the Town Hall in Sydney, Feb. 23, 2017. DAVID MOIR/AAP/PA Images. All rights reserved.After one hundred years, Britain seems to be at the same moral stage it was at when UK Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote to the leader of the British Jewish community, Baron Rothschild, promising the establishment of a "national home" for the Jewish people in Palestine. Instead of making redress, creating historical transformations, social developments and repairs to the Palestinians, the British prime minister has invited the Israeli prime minister to a celebration to mark the centile anniversary of the Balfour…

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    Move Over, Wonder Woman — This Afro-Puerto Rican Superhero Is The Ultimate Feminist Icon

    Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, a self-described artsy nerd from the South Bronx, never imagined that the Afro-Puerto Rican pacifist character he first self-published only a little more than a year ago would emerge as one of the comic book world’s most realistic feminist super-heroes. La Borinqueña officially debuted at New York City’s Puerto Rican Day Parade in June 2016. Since then, both the character and the comic book have become something bigger and more meaningful than their creator could have dreamed, especially as Puerto Rico weathers two onslaughts from Hurricanes Irma and Maria, school closings, and an economic crisis. “The mainstream publishing and comic book industry, after decades, is finally recognizing the power of people…

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