‘Bath salts’ ban may do little to curb new drugs

Legal chemicals mixed to mimic the dangerous effects of cocaine and amphetamines

The most common bath salt drugs, like MDPV and mephedrone, were first developed in pharmaceutical research laboratories, though they were never approved for medical use. During the last decade they became popular as party drugs at European raves and dance clubs. As law enforcement began cracking down on the problem there, the drugs spread across the Atlantic Ocean.

Poison control centers in the U.S. began tracking use of the drugs in 2010. The majority of the early reports of drug use were clustered in Southern states like Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky. But the problem soon spread across the country.

The financial lure for small-time drugmakers is enticing. READ MORE

Michael Irvin: ‘We got to get to the bottom of’ Dez Bryant’s issues

“You guys want to talk about football, I want to tell you about the man,” said Irvin, who works as an analyst for the league’s network. “I don’t care what the Dallas Cowboys think on this situation. I only want somebody to talk to Dez about figuring out how you get to the place where your mom is begging you to go home and not hit her. I don’t care about anything else. That’s serious stuff that we got to get to the bottom of.”

Dez Bryant on Monday was arrested on domestic violence charges and is free on bond after the incident that took place in DeSoto, Texas. READ MORE + VIDEO

Convicted felons disenfranchised by voting laws

Melissa Harris-Perry and her panelists (including Glenn E. Martin) talk about where politics and the prison system converge in deciding who gets to vote, and the outcomes of the decisions. READ MORE + VIDEO

President’s second major ‘Supreme’ victory is picturesque

Obama’s ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ Moment

The big mistake was to characterize a Constitutional law professor as a ‘community organizer’. And from said action a critical error in judgement was set into motion, leading to the gross underestimating a formidable adversary. Championing the causes of the American people is a responsibility he doesn’t take lightly. Thus, two recent Supreme Court victories in sweet succession, adding serious points to the score, artfully demonstrates the power, depth and majesty to what is commonly referred to in learned circles as ‘the long game’. Word to the wise: ‘You can choose to demonize. You can  choose to minimize. But either way, you and you alone are responsible for your own delusions.’ Reality check, please!

$25 million awarded steelworker in racial suit

Elijah Turley still remembers the stuffed monkey with a noose around its neck found hanging from his driver’s side mirror.

He also remembers the “KKK” and “King Kong” graffiti on the walls of the Lackawanna steel plant where he worked for 14 years.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, there were the racial slurs from co-workers.

A federal court jury awarded Turley $25 million in damages Tuesday after finding his former employers and their executives liable for a culture of racial discrimination that one of his lawyers said was reminiscent of the 1950s. READ MORE