Ten Super Disturbing Ways Communism Is Being Made Cool Again

PIGThe useful idiots from the Cold War are back. From Hong Kong to Havana, an ideology that has killed more than 100 million people in the 20th century is gaining new fans. To a global audience in the billions, the Putin regime depicted its communist heritage as a romantic and quaint era – you know, except for the mass starvations or gulags for political prisoners. NBC’s Bob Costas called Communism “a pivotal experiment.” MORE

Afghan Opium Poppy Cultivation Hits All-Time High

OPOpium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan grew to an all-time high in 2013 despite America spending more than $7 billion to fight it over the past decade, a U.S. report showed on Tuesday.

Federal auditors SIGAR reported that Afghan farmers grew an unprecedented 209,000 hectares of the poppy in 2013, blowing past the previous peak of 193,000 hectares in 2007. MORE

14 California Communities Now on Verge of Waterless-Ness; Mass Migration out of California Seems Imminent

watercaUnless California gets some heavy rain, and soon, the state’s roughly 38 million residents will eventually be up a creek without a paddle — or without a creek, for that matter. The latest media reports indicate that some 14 communities throughout the state are now on the verge of running completely dry, and many more could join them in the coming year if conditions remain as they are. MORE

The govt is planning to build new ‘super child prisons’ for kids as young as 12, run by private companies.

Glen Parva Young Offenders CentreThe Ministry of Justice’s bizarre plan includes a regime of physical punishment and restraint that would be a recipe for child abuse.

No one, but no one, supports this bizarre proposal, except for the companies that would profit from building the £85m complex. The government has refused to publish the rules or any details about what it is euphemistically calling a “secure college”. Next week the House of Lords will scrutinise the legislation and consider an amendment suggesting the whole idea be put on hold until more details are published. MORE

Pope Francis starts Pope Paul VI on path to sainthood

PVIPope Francis marked the end of a spirited gathering of Catholic bishops in Rome by beatifying the pope who started the Synod of Bishops, Paul VI. Pope Paul VI, elected in 1963, presided over the last part of the Vatican II council and over his 15-year reign implemented many of its momentous reforms to the Catholic Church. He is not as popular as either Pope John XXIII, who launched Vatican II, or Pope John Paul II, both of whom Francis canonized earlier this year. MORE