Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hopes to return to the president's office in Russia, but he never really gave up any of the power that went with the office. Putin rules Russia with an authoritarian hand and has never been shy about raising it against his enemies, or those he perceives as enemies. William F. Browder knows that perhaps better than anyone.

Last month The Takeaway discussed "All-American Muslim," TLC's latest reality show. In the month that the show has been on air, the Florida Family Association mounted a campaign against the program. Last week, one of the show's advertisers, Lowe's, announced that they would no longer run their ads on "All-American Muslim." "Lowe's has received a significant amount of communication on this program, from every perspective possible," the company's statement said. "Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views."

In 1973, Art Spiegelman published a three-page comic strip in a small underground publication called "Funny Animals." It was the first installment of what he called "Maus," the biography of Spiegelman's father, Vladek — a Holocaust survivor — with anthropomorphic mice standing in for Spiegelman, Vladek, and his fellow Jews. The complete graphic narrative was eventually published in two volumes. In 1992, nearly twenty years after he began work on the project, "Maus" was given a special award from the Pulitzer Prize Committee — to date, the only graphic novel honored by the Committee.

The impact of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations around the country is difficult to see in raw numbers. But the way in which the national discourse has been moved, and how individual lives have been changed tells another compelling story of the movement's potential. The families in millions of households across the nation who are fighting to hold onto their homes against banks, authority, and the much reviled "1 percent" may have a powerful new ally. Occupy Our Homes, the latest incarnation of the OWS, is seizing foreclosed homes and claiming them for families in need.

Seventy years ago today, Japan attacked a naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing and wounding thousands of Americans. The enemy might have been Japan, but in the American melting pot there were many Japanese faces. The Pearl Harbor inspired solidarity in America soon gave way to distrust and a staggering suspension of the U.S. Constitution. "War Relocation Camps" for 100,000 Japanese-Americans were set up, and entire families of American citizens were forced to halt their lives and move. Some of those relocated Japanese-Americans petitioned the U.S. to serve in combat as a way of demonstrating their loyalty. The petitions were accepted, and soon Japanese-Americans were fighting as both volunteers and drafted servicemen.

NASA’s Kepler mission has confirmed the discovery of a planet in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. A NASA researcher says the Earth-like planet would have a surface temperature around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes it a so-called "Goldilocks planet" — not too hot, not too cold, just right to support life. Researchers have also measured the largest black holes yet. A team of UC Berkeley scientists have confirmed the discovery of the two biggest black holes yet to be documented. Each black hole is 10 billion times larger than our sun.

Each year, millions of dollars of Mexican drug money pass through the hands of American Drug Enforcement Administration officials. Undercover American narcotics agents launched the money laundering operation in order to trace the drug cartels. This is not the first instance of a U.S. governmental agency using illegal means to fight the war against drugs in Mexico. While the effectiveness of either program stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S. remains unclear, their impact on Mexican citizens is less ambiguous.

Fifty years ago, four young men named Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Pete Best stepped into a studio for the first time to record a few songs. They called themselves the Beat Brothers, and they were more or less a backup band for a singer named Tony Sheridan. The Beat Brothers did not remain a backup band for long. Pete Best would be replaced by Ringo Star, and the Beat Brothers became the Beatles, one of the most enduring and popular bands in history.

Since 2006, when President Felipe Calderón declared war on Mexico's drug cartels, 45,000 Mexicans across the republic have been disappeared, murdered, or mass-executed. Victims of this violence include journalists, over two thousand public officials, and bystanders. While drug-related activity was previously relegated to only a few Mexican states, the dramatic spread of violence — and its severity — is attributable to governmental policy north and south of the border.

For more than two months The Takeaway has been looking at news from various, loosely connected protests known as Occupy Wall Street. In that time the movement grew from a group of non-violent sit-ins at New York’s Zuccotti Park; to the violent images of downtown Oakland California on November 2, when protesters shut down the Port of Oakland; to the now-infamous pepper spray events of last week at UC Davis. But, what about the origins and the future of this movement?

Among the many shocking images to emerge from the clashes between police and Occupy Wall Street protesters across the country, perhaps none is as striking as the photograph of an elderly woman after being hit with pepper spray in Seattle. Eighty-four-year old activist Dorli Rainey has since become something of an icon to the Occupy movement. The incident preceded another controversial use of pepper spray by police, this time at the University of California Davis, where student protesters, sitting with their arms locked together, were sprayed by campus cops.

One of the most difficult conversations we can have in our society has to do with race. In some ways the conversation is complicated by recent milestone events in racial equality like the election of President Barack Obama. But, Jay Smooth says that milestones like that are exactly the reason why we need to think and communicate more effectively about race as such milestones can obfuscate the real inequalities that still remain in our society.

In 1991, Anita Hill went from being an obscure law school professor to the subject of a national controversy. As Clarence Thomas was nominated to be a justice on the Supreme Court, Hill came forward with accusations that Thomas sexually harassed her when she worked with him at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Hill's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee vaulted sexual harassment into the national dialogue, forever changing the way Americans talk about the topic.

Two days after Occupy Wall Street protesters were forcibly evicted from their symbolic home in Lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, the demonstrators have called for an international day of action. In what could be the largest mass protests yet, Occupy protesters plan to "shut down Wall Street," "occupy the subway" to spread their message to the five boroughs, and take over Foley Square, across the street from New York City Hall. Thursday is the two-month anniversary of the movement. You can watch a live stream of the protest here.

The damage in the Penn State sex abuse scandal continues to grow. At least 10 more alleged victims have reportedly come forward. Many of the alleged victims came from former assistant Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky's Second Mile foundation, a program he started for at-risk youth. Thomas Day attended the Second Mile foundation when he was younger, and later volunteered with the group.

Occupy Wall Street protesters have vowed to carry on after being evicted from Zuccotti Park overnight Tuesday. After being thrown out of the park after two months, protesters regrouped after dawn on Tuesday in nearby Foley Square and marched toward City Hall. Ben Brock Johnson, digital editor for The Takeaway, saw protesters being removed from Zuccotti Park early Tuesday and spoke with protesters in Foley Square.

On April 5, freelance journalist Clare Morgana Gillis was violently captured by loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi while reporting from the front lines of the Libyan conflict. She was captured alive, along with two other journalists, when gun-wielding loyalists surrounded the group near the eastern Libyan oil town of Brega. A South African photojournalist who was with the group at the time of the capture was shot and killed in the melee.

In a small town in Texas, two young men knock on the door of a woman’s house as she's making cookies. They ask to use her phone. But as her back is turned, they kill her and then two other innocent bystanders all so they can enjoy a brief joyride in her car. In the end, one murderer is sentenced to life in prison. The other is given the death penalty.

It was a decade ago today that Apple's first iPod digital music player was released, forever changing the world's relationship to music. No longer would people on the move have to choose their favorite handful of CDs for their commute to work or trip to the gym. Entire record collections could suddenly be jammed into one's back pocket. The iPod would go on to be recognized as one of the crowning achievements of Apple founder Steve Jobs.

"Sesame Street" has introduced the children of the world to a number of neighbors over the years, from Oscar the Grouch to Linda, the deaf librarian, to Maria and Louis, who spoke English and Spanish with equal proficiency. But what viewers may not realize is that "Sesame Street" also introduced them to an undocumented immigrant. His name was Carlo, on both the show, and in real life. Carlo the character was a teenager who worked in Mr. Hooper's store for five seasons.