"I’m a US Army Veteran of OIF & OEF. There was a kid in my unit, got blown up once, “minor concussion” is what the docs said.

Now he is on more anti-seizure medications I can count, and he has a special service seizure response dog. He can’t drive a car because if he has a seizure he could lose control of the vehicle. His life and the lives of everyone in his circle were forever altered by that one fateful IED strike, and a “mild concussion.” "

-Austin in Colorado

The UN has called for international help to fight huge swarms of desert locusts sweeping through east Africa.

@ BBC News, 1 hr. ago

A spokesman for the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), called for aid to "avert any threats to food security, livelihoods, malnutrition".

Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are all struggling with "unprecedented" and "devastating" swarms of the food-devouring insects, the FAO has said. The agency fears locust numbers could grow 500 times by June.

A new book argues that many seemingly isolated rebellions are better understood as a single protracted struggle.

By Casey Cep @ NewYorker.com, Book Review section, Jan. 20

[....] abolitionists and slavers alike read the papers anxiously for news of slave revolts, taking stock of where the rebels came from, how adroitly they planned their attacks, how quickly revolts were suppressed, and how soon they broke out again.

The plan is guaranteed to enrage critics and invite attacks from Democrats in an election year.

By Charisse Jones @ USAToday.com, Jan. 23

New York became the latest city to tell businesses they must accept cash.  The bill, which prevents most retailers from refusing to accept cash or charging customers more if they use it, was approved by the city council Thursday.

“No longer in New York City will brick-and-mortar businesses have the right to refuse cash and effectively discriminate against customers who lack access to credit and debit,'' Ritchie Torres, the bill's chief sponsor said in an emailed statement. "The marketplace of the future must accommodate the needs of vulnerable New Yorkers."