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Stillbirth and the American justice system

What tales would Charles Dickens have fashioned about the enduring miseries in the 21st Century? What might he have made of documented cases of hundreds of American women detained, arrested or convicted for things authorities viewed as harmful to their unborn children? They include: An Indiana woman who attempted suicide while pregnant spent a year in jail before murder charges were dropped. An Iowa woman was arrested and jailed after falling down the stairs and suffering a miscarriage. A New Jersey woman who refused to sign a preauthorization for a cesarean section didn’t end up needing the operation, yet was

Canada’s health care takes a hit

Canadians tend to smugness about the country’s health care, but new research suggests private insurers rake in billions more than they pay in benefits. And a study published today, which examined 20 years of records, revealed that Canadians pay far more for less benefits from private insurance than do Americans. The Canadian public model stars often in battles over so-called “Obamacare” health care in America’s right-left culture war. Canada’s system is lauded at home and cited constantly in the United States as a better model — although World Health Organization research shows that neither system ranks among the world’s least-costly

Findings, a video: Something New

For a Monday-morning break from the weight of the world, check out a photo-music feature by English singer-songwriter Tom Fletcher, who serenades his wife Giovanna Falcone through her pregnancy to the birth of their baby, Buzz Michelangelo Fletcher.  The song is called “Something New.”

Facts and Opinions this Week

Independent, non-partisan and employee-owned, F&O is funded by readers. We do not carry advertising or solicit donations from foundations or causes. Our original work is available for a $1 site day pass or at a modest subscription price. St. Patrick’s day kicked off the past week, and F&O’s resident Irishman, Brian Brennan, explained in The Pluck of the Irish: How a proud native cuts through the kitsch why he tossed the green beer for James Joyce, Dublin pianist John O’Conor, and Irish composer John Field — and remembering why he and fellow emigrants “fear what Edna O’Brien calls the “psychological

South Africa’s solidarity unravelling

South Africa’s unlikely alliance, of forces drawn together by opposition to apartheid, was always expected to unravel, notes international affairs analyst Jonathan Manthorpe. That is now happening because, with public disgust at corruption and incompetence within the African National Congress (ANC) government — and not least a scorching new report by the nation’s Public Protector, the balance has shifted. Excerpt of Manthorpe’s new column: … while Mandela remained alive it seemed almost sacrilegious to seriously argue that the ANC has betrayed its cause. Even the rise to the leadership of the ANC and South Africa’s presidency of Jacob Zuma, a

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