Paul Michel Posts

A sobering new survey from the European Agency for Human Rights highlights the incredible need to combat the scourge of violence against women in the European Union. The survey was a comprehensive and disturbing reveal of just how prevalent violence and sexual assault is on the continent.

A federal judge ruled that Oklahoma's constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution. It sets the stage for a battle in yet another very red state over marriage equality.

Four apparel companies have agreed to pay $40 million to the Bangladeshi victims and families of victims of the deadly Rana Plaza building collapse in April of this year. None of those companies, however, is US-based, though much of the clothing made there was destined for US markets.

Fruit of the Loom became the most recent in a serious of clothing companies to sign on to the Bangladesh Safety Accord. The accord voluntarily allows inspections to determine ways to better the conditions of workers in Bangladeshi apparel factories.

On October 8, another fire coursed through the Aswad Composite Mills plant, killing seven factory workers. Like this year's Rana Plaza building collapse or the larger fire at Tazreen at the end of 2012, the tragedy could have easily been prevented.

Garment workers have been voiceless for years, forced to endure long days for next-to-nothing wages without benefits or worker protection. Manufacturers like Walmart and European clothing giant Primark abuse the system to keep costs down and the price of their goods cheap. And they fear people like Kalpona Akter.

The House voted to repeal the Dodd-Frank law regulating the risky financial instruments, derivatives, that brought us to the brink of financial ruin in 2008. This cements what most of us already knew -- they are truly delusional.

Six months after a building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing over a thousand garment workers and wounding thousands more, the victims still wait for compensation. The true compensation delivered is a fraction of what it needs to be. 800 families received an average of $257 for burial costs.

Six months after a building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing over a thousand garment workers and wounding thousands more, the victims still wait for compensation. The true compensation delivered is a fraction of what it needs to be. 800 families received an average of $257 for burial costs.

Outtake footage of Senators Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell speaking exposes some of the underlying - and delusional - reasoning behind the GOP's stance on the government shutdown.

A grandfather disowned his daughter when he heard that she had disowned her son - his grandson - for being gay. The letter he wrote is incredible, and heartening.

Marissa Alexander, given 20 years for firing a shot in the air in self-defense, will receive a retrial. Her conviction, in the wake of George Zimmerman's acquittal, called Florida's Stand Your Ground laws into question and elicited cries of racism from the general population.

Eric Holder and the Department of Justice fired a new salvo in the fight to stop implementation of Texas' restrictive new voting measures. In the wake of the Supreme Court striking down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many states went forward with legislation that de facto resembles the old Jim Crow-era laws inhibiting minorities from voting. Holder picked Texas as ground zero to fight these new restrictions, and to reinstate the pre-clearance measures that once prevented states from moving forward with these backward laws.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) has put together a gripping public service announcement calling for people to 'stand your ground' against the permissive Stand Your Ground laws now found in 26 states. The video, below, contains a graphic reenactment of Trayvon Martin's gruesome murder, using actual 911 recordings. Compelling and painful, it is a must-watch call to action.

In a bid to stop the unfettered abuse of tax law, a new agreement between the United States and the Cayman Islands will force the Caribbean tax shelter to abide by rules laid out under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA). The law is designed to increase punishment for companies and individuals who use these shelters to evade paying taxes.

Senators chosen to overwrite the current tax code are trying to keep secret the loopholes they would like to see remain. Max Baucus and Orrin Hatch, of the Senate Finance Committee, are attempting to keep from the public eye the various means by which they and their corporate benefactors reap windfalls from tax evasion.