Author: Ring of Fire Staff

A bill proposing a bipartisan immigration reform was released today by sponsor Sen. Charles Schumer, (D-N.Y.) and his colleagues, a group of eight senators also known as the “Gang of Eight”. The 844-page bill has been in the works for months and if passed, will be the first major reform on immigration laws since 1986. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) a crucial member of the “Gang of Eight” due to his role in pitching the bill to conservative members of the Republican Party, believes that the bill presents a “tough but humane” approach in dealing with undocumented immigrants illegally living in the...

A Teacher from Texas is using her racism to avoid a guilty verdict. Esther Irene Stokes, a 61-year-old teacher at Northwest Preparatory Academy Charter School in Humble, Texas was accused of fondling a 7-year-old African American student. Her defense? She’s racist and wouldn’t touch the girl because she is black. The first grader claims that Stokes sent all of her students out of the classroom then proceeded to touch the child’s private parts from the outside of her clothing. The girl told police that when she asked Stokes to stop touching her, she was forced to stand out in...

Politicians and political groups have already begun pointing fingers, only one day after the tragic bombing in Boston, looking to blame anyone, and everyone, who fits their political agenda.  While it may still be too early to know the motives or find the culprit of this tragic event, speculation ranges from counter-terrorism, to the government, to gays and lesbians. Predictably, right wing figures are voicing their unsubstantiated claims too and it is no coincidence that circumstantial evidence on the matter, according to them, directly supports to their agenda. The former Homeland Security Committee Chair, Peter King, who has a...

NPR and the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) released a report last month documenting the dangerous working conditions and lack of oversight in U.S. grain bins. They found that nearly 180 people have been killed in grain entrapment accidents at federally regulated facilities in 34 states since 1984, and that, although the employers were issued a total of $9.2 million in fines, their overall penalties were ultimately reduced by 59 percent. NPR’s Howard Berkes and CPI’s Jim Morris teamed up for a six-month investigation, Buried in Grain, during which they poured through documents and spoke with workers, government officials, company owners, and...

3:00 pm UPDATE: Huffington Post reports that at least one of the Boston bombs was made from a 6-liter pressure cooker. It has been confirmed that one of the explosive devices contained metal shards and ball bearings. The other device contained nail shrapnel. Both bombs that detonated at the Boston Marathon yesterday are suspected to have been hidden in black duffel bags and placed on the ground before exploding. According to a joint FBI and Homeland Security intelligence report from July 2010, a pressure cooker bomb was one of the three devices that were used by the Pakistani Taliban...