The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held a day-long briefing in Washington, D.C. on Friday that examined the progress the military has made in addressing sexual assault within its ranks. All branches of the military were asked to testify about what they are doing to address the problem, and though the briefing highlighted that the military has made major progress toward addressing issues of sexual assault, it also indicated that it still faces numerous challenges.

Mostly white college graduates did a better job of weathering the recession than their disproportionately minority peers who possessed just a high school diploma or an associate degree, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts Economic Mobility Project.

In this video, a group called "Reformed Whores," made up of actor/musicians Marie Cecile Anderson and Katie Frame, perform the song "Girls Poop Too," which is, to quote Anderson in the lyrics, intended to clear up a "common misconception/around the subject of a lady's rectum," the belief by many men that women do not actually defecate.

Veterans groups claim that delays by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in processing combat-related mental health claims has contributed to the 6,500 veteran suicides each year, and filed a federal court case in July 2007 asking the courts to invervene. Friday -- after five years of legal battle spearheaded by veterans advocates Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) and Veterans United for Truth, Inc (VUFT) -- the U.S. Supreme Court, without comment, let stand a May 2012 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on VA's behalf.

A health advocacy group released its own take on the "Demand A Plan" gun control campaign on Monday, in a video featuring a group of kids and teenagers asking for better access to counseling services instead of increasing the amount of armed personnel on school grounds.

Georgia Republican state legislator Rep. Charles Gregory (R-Kennesaw), has introduced four new bills for the 2012 legislative year, all of which loosen current restrictions on guns. The measures, according to the blog Georgia Progress, which come less than a week after the national tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, would put more guns into circulation and lower barriers currently blocking firearms sales.

A unique spider in the Amazon rainforest was recently spotted using bits of leaves and dead insects to create larger-scale decoy spider shapes in its web, which it uses to ward off predators.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on Wednesday demanding the state of Michigan grant access to driver's licenses for young undocumented immigrants enrolled in the new federal deferred-deportation program.

In addition to cancelling its popular "American Guns" reality show, The Discovery Channel confirmed to Raw Story on Tuesday that firearms enthusiast Ted Nugent will also not be returning to the channel in any form or fashion.

A Tennessee pastor on Sunday told his congregation that the number of mass shooting were escalating because of schools were government "mind-control centers" that taught "junk about evolution" and "how to be a homo."

Updated with comment from former Planned Parent President Gloria Feldt below.

The University of Iowa announced Wednesday that it would be adding an optional sexual orientation question to its admissions application, making it the first major public research university to do so.

The same sex partner of a ranking officer at North Carolina's Ft. Bragg Army Base has been barred from joining a military wives' organization, the Association of Bragg Officers' Spouses. According to the blog Queerty, Ashley Broadway and her wife, Army Lieutenant Colonel Heather Mack, have every reason to believe that the club is discriminating against them on the basis of their sexual orientation.