Charles Bowden, Steely US/Mexico Border Journalist, Died in His Sleep at Age 69: Bowden was a history professor, then a manual laborer, then he found his way to reporting on drug-war violence from Arizona and New Mexico. When talking on a 2012 panel about how to get us to pay attention to the US-sponsored horror-show in Mexico, he famously said: "You have to kill Americans—that's the only thing we care about." And in the video interview above, he drops another lovely gem about his decision to abandon the security of the academy for the rough-and-tumble of writing: "I can't live off money. It isn't enough."

Over 1,400 Children Groomed for Sexual Exploitation in Poor English Town While Police Looked the Other Way: The NYT has a story you don't want to read but maybe should, if you can stand it—cover-up of systematic sexual exploitation of children isn't limited to churches. Some police forces do it, too.

Russian Forces Slash Through Ukraine's Industrial Heartland: "Whether it loses more than that appears to depend on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who last week boasted to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso that his Russian forces could take Kiev in two weeks if that was what he wanted, according to an EU official briefed on the discussion."

Russian Officials Warn LGBTQ Community Not to Organize Any Gatherings in Crimea: "Speaking about gay people during a Crimean government session on Tuesday, the region’s de facto leader Sergei Aksyonov said 'we in Crimea do not need such people.'"

Canadian Envoys to NATO Try a Little Twitter/Onion-style diplomacy:


More Criticism of Uber's "Robber Baron" Capitalism: "The real question we should be asking ourselves is this: What happens when a company with the DNA of Uber ends up winning it all? What happens when the local taxi companies are destroyed and Lyft is crushed? When Uber has dominant market position in every major city on the globe? 'UberEverywhere' isn’t a joke. It’s a mantra, a call to arms, a holy ideology."

Shortage of Rural Physicians in Washington State: The Seattle Times reports that a Port Angeles clinic is turning away 250 patients a week. "If you're not a kid or not pregnant," one Port Angeles doctor says, "there are pretty much no physicians taking patients."

Detroit Enters the Most Contentious Proceedings of Its Bankruptcy So Far; Financiers File Formal Objections That the City Is "Favoring Retirees": "One of the thorniest matters: the so-called Grand Bargain, a deal that raised money from foundations and the state to soften the pension cuts to current employees and retirees. It also would transfer the collection from the Detroit Institute of Arts to a public trust. Under the plan, which retirees and employees voted on and approved, non-uniformed retirees will see a 4.5% cut to their pensions and lose cost-of-living adjustments; uniformed retirees will lose their cost-of-living adjustments. On the other hand, other creditors, such as bond insurer Syncora, will lose much more than 4.5% of what they were expecting. They'll get pennies on the dollar. Syncora has been the most vocal critic of the bankruptcy proceedings, and filed an objection in August accusing the mediators who put the Grand Bargain together of colluding against financial institutions and favoring retirees."

Mass Juvie Jailbreak in Tennessee: Seventeen teenagers are still at large after crawling through a fence during a guard shift change.

Ebola Outbreak Reshaping African Food Supply: MĂ©decins Sans FrontiĂšres has been begging the world community for a "global bio-disaster response" as the disease spreads; price of cassava rises 150 percent in Liberia.

A History of Women-Led Riots: Women have incited and conducted more riots than you might think, including one third of the American Revolution's food riots.