WASHINGTON POST: …The document was crafted by a senator with two months of experience under his belt. It was signed by some members rushing off the Senate floor to catch airplanes, often with little close analysis. Many of the 47 signatories reasoned that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s endorsement was vetting enough. There was no […]
Iraqi forces tighten siege of Tikrit
ALJAZEERA AMERICA: Since the operation to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group was launched at the start of the month, thousands of troops and Shia militia have re-conquered the land around the city. On Wednesday, they moved deep into Tikrit’s sprawling northern district of Qadisiyah and closed in […]
US retail sales fall third month in a row
FINANCIAL TIMES: US retail sales fell for a third month in a row in February, suggesting American consumers remain wary of splashing out in stores despite the rapidly improving jobs market and the windfall of tumbling fuel prices… The Commerce Department said retail sales dropped 0.6 per cent, following a decline of 0.8 per cent […]
Iran’s Top Leader: GOP Letter Points to US ‘Disintegration’
NEW YORK TIMES: Iran’s supreme leader said Thursday that a letter from Republican lawmakers warning that any nuclear deal could be scrapped by the next U.S. president is a sign of “disintegration” in Washington. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the letter a sign of “the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration,” according […]
EU blocks Hungary’s €12bn nuclear deal with Russia
FINANCIAL TIMES: The EU has blocked Hungary’s €12bn nuclear deal with Russia, in a decision that is likely to inflame tensions between the Kremlin and Brussels… Russia and Hungary agreed last year to build two 1,200 megawatt nuclear reactors in the town of Paks, 75 miles south of Budapest, in a deal that would have […]
KEISLING: The moral and ethical decline of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Part 2
For many in Pennsylvania, the suicide of state Treasurer Budd Dwyer remains the day when the Philadelphia Inquirer permanently went off the rails, created a fall guy, and made state politics a senseless, inhumane blood sport, not governed by facts, fairness, or basic human decency.
Environmental Activist Released 10 Years Early Based On FBI Documents
By Chris Steele March 11th, 2015 POPULAR RESISTANCE: Entrapment: The act of government agents or officials that induces a person to commit a crime he or she is not previously disposed to commit – West’s Encyclopedia of American Law After serving nine years in prison, Eric McDavid was freed on January 8, 2015, when it […]
State’s drug laws, funding for treatment need revamp
LNP: Lancaster County commissioners this week approved shifting $296,000 to restore inpatient treatment for those suffering from drug and alcohol addictions. The money will provide treatment for about 100 people, mostly for heroin addictions, over the next two months. As of July 1, the county’s Drug and Alcohol Commission goes back to the budget that […]
Hillary Clinton has little to fear from Martin O’Malley
WASHINGTON POST COLUMN: “It’s a pleasure to be here with all of you to talk about data-driven governing, an issue that is near and dear to my heart,” [Former Maryland governor Martin] O’Malley declared Wednesday at the Brookings Institution, where he was giving one of several policy speeches as part of his still-undeclared presidential campaign […]
Deutsche and Santander banks fail US stress test
FINANCIAL TIMES: The Federal Reserve has vetoed the US capital plans of Deutsche Bank and Santander in a stinging rebuke for the European banks even as US lenders got the green light to launch their biggest payouts to shareholders since the financial crisis. US operations of Deutsche, Germany’s largest bank, and Santander, the biggest bank […]
0.00006% of State Dept. Emails Preserved
DAILY BEAST: Apparently, Hillary Clinton wasn’t the only person at the State Department who didn’t save her emails. According to a report from the Office of Inspector General, many at State did not properly preserve emails for record-keeping purposes. Of 1 billion emails sent by employees in 2011, only 61,000 were marked for “public record.” […]
Justices Grill Special Prosecutor in Kane Case
LEGAL INTELLIGENCER: During the argument session Wednesday over whether a supervising grand jury judge had the power to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged leaks of grand jury secrets by state Attorney General Kathleen Kane, several justices peppered the special prosecutor with questions on the specifics of how he’d been appointed and how his […]
Obama Said to Resist Growing Pressure From All Sides to Arm Ukraine
NEW YORK TIMES: As American intelligence agencies have detected new Russian tanks and artillery crossing the border into Ukraine in recent days, President Obama is coming under increasing pressure from both parties and more officials inside his own government to send arms to the country. But he remains unconvinced that they would help… remains reluctant […]
Irate Democrats Denounce G.O.P on Iran Letter
NEW YORK TIMES: …The recriminations from Democrats threatened to unravel the bipartisan coalition that had been building to oppose a deal, though Democrats also confronted the choice between challenging Tehran and rallying behind the president. “I think Republicans have made it harder for us to approach this in a careful and bipartisan way,” said Senator […]