Abortion

• Vermont introduces a bill affirming a right to an abortion.

Animals

• Dogs can sense magnetic variations of the earth.

Economics

• The Pope recently made comments critiquing capitalism.  The Atlantic has a response by saying the Pope is ignorant about world economics.  Toward the end, the article says: “Pope Francis has a big heart, but his credibility as a voice of justice and morality would be immeasurably improved if he based his statements on facts.”

Epistemology

• Why do you care if people are experiencing something “incorrectly?”

Food

• A restaurant in Colorado is introducing a weed and food pairing menu.

Gender

• Louis C.K. is a complex feminist who helps explains domestic work and parenting.
• First female law first opens in Saudi Arabia in which she hopes to use the firm to fight for women’s rights.

Music

• Musical hip-hop group Insane Clown Posse has sued the FBI because they claim that the fans, known as “Juggalos,” have been wrongly targeted as a gang.

Philosophy

• Connecting biology and Buddhism.
• An interesting analysis of the film Her with philosophy of mind.  The point of the film isn’t asking whether a man can find a perfect woman.  Rather, it’s asking what humanity, relationships, and the nature of love are:

Because in the end, we are all run by chemistry and biology and electricity, even when we are in love, even when we are in grief, even when we are watching a film and analyzing it. Grow something in your head that shouldn’t be there, change the chemistry, sever something, modify something, treat something, and you will get a person who acts differently, whose personality perhaps shifts. Jonze is asking, really: if we are the sum of processes that can be understood as based in science, why could science not recreate them?

Politics

• For the first time ever, the majority of Congress has millionaires.  Interestingly, there are more Democrat millionaires than Republican millionaires in Congress.

Science

• The future of the earth.

Sexuality

• Compulsory monogamy in The Hunger Games.
• A California bill is introduced to change the reporting requirements for college sexual assault.  Basically, instead of going through the proper channels within the university, you can go directly to the police.