A NEWS CO-OP IN DC SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE

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September 2016 - page 2

Legislation Introduced to Designate Voting Machines as “Critical Infrastructure”

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Reacting to concerns about the integrity of elections in the US, one Democratic lawmaker has put forward a measure to provide federal cybersecurity protections to all voting machines. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) introduced the Election Infrastructure and Security Promotion Act on Wednesday. The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security to classify election systems around the country as “critical infrastructure.” The department identifies 16 critical infrastructure sectors in the US that receive enhanced cybersecurity assistance from the federal government. They include water treatment facilities, energy…

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Seventy Percent of Worldwide Farm Tech To Be Controlled By Two Firms, If Mega-Mergers Approved

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The proposed mergers between Monsanto and Bayer and Dow Chemical and Dupont would create a duopoly that controls 70 percent of the entire world’s agricultural technology market, according to testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The claim was made Tuesday by the president of a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting cartel behavior, at a hearing alongside executives from the four companies. Diana Moss, head of the American Antitrust Institute, noted that the plans to merge are already occurring amid “increasingly high prices paid by farmers…

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Democrats Having Second Thoughts on JASTA

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Lawmakers who unanimously backed a bill that would allow terrorism lawsuits against foreign governments that aren’t officially considered sponsors of terror are starting to rethink their support, in response to fierce White House opposition to the legislation. President Obama is expected to veto the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) this week. In response, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has promised votes next week to override the presidential veto. JASTA was passed by unanimous consent in both chambers, though some lawmakers are now beginning to…

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“Too Big to Manage…Too Big to Regulate” — Senators Say Wells Fargo Shows Need to Break Up Banks

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Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday to assuage lawmakers’ concerns about the massive bank’s management practices. Instead, some questioned if the firm should even legally exist. Stumpf apologized for recent revelations about the bank, which was found to have opened more than 2 million accounts in their customers names, without proper authorization, to boost sales numbers. But he stressed that the wrongdoing was carried out by “only one percent” of the bank’s total workforce of 100,000 employees. Senators…

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Watchdog Demands Probe of U.S. Forest Service’s Trail of Tears Desecration

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A Washington, DC-based oversight group is demanding a federal probe into how a nearly a mile long section of the Trail of Tears was ripped up during an unauthorized construction project at the sacred site. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed a complaint with the Department of Agriculture’s Secretary and Inspector General, calling for an investigation into the US Forest Service, which oversaw the damage to the historic trail. “This is one the most blatant official desecrations of a sacred site in modern American…

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Trump Sticking With Christie As Transition Team Head, Despite Bridgegate Revelations

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Donald Trump said that he would stick with Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) as the leader of his transition team, the day after federal prosecutors said that Christie was aware of a 2013 bridge closure, which had been ordered in retaliation for the lack of a political endorsement. In a statement made to The New York Times, the Republican Presidential nominee lauded Christie, giving no indication he would drop the embattled governor. “I have known and liked Chris for 15 years,” Trump said. “After his recent…

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E.P.A. Paper Affirms Widely-Used Monsanto Chemical is Non-Carcinogenic

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The Environmental Protection Agency published a paper late Friday, which concluded that a key ingredient in a Monsanto-manufactured herbicide doesn’t cause cancer. Glyphosate, which is an integral part of Round-Up—a heavily-used chemical in the cultivation of genetically-modified crops–was declared “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” The declaration comes ahead of a final agency assessment on glyphosate. EPA officials told Politico last week that the ruling is expected early next year. It is already two years late, the newspaper noted. The EPA decision doesn’t mark…

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Congressional Report Details A Starving Judiciary

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With four months left in office, President Obama is staring down mounting judicial vacancies around the country. As a result of Senate obstruction, he will likely be the first executive in nearly two decades to leave office with federal district courts less staffed than when he was sworn in. There are 673 district judgeships around the nation, and 75 of them are currently vacant. That’s an 83 percent increase from when President Obama took office, when there were only 41 vacancies, according to data from the…

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Watchdog Clears FBI of Wrongdoing for Posing As News Media in Sting Operation

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An FBI scheme that involved an agent posing as a reporter for the Associated Press to track down a 15-year-old suspected of making bomb threats at his school was deemed permissible by the Department of Justice Inspector General. The watchdog concluded in a report published Thursday that the bureau’s tactics “did not violate the undercover policies in place at the time,” primarily because there was no explicit ban on impersonating members of the news media. It went on to add, however, that under new policies implemented…

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Former Clinton Treasury Sec. Had Been Recommended for 2008 Mortgage Meltdown Criminal Probe

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Former Treasury Secretary and Citibank Chair Bob Rubin was cited by a special congressional panel as someone who should have been the subject of a criminal investigation for activities related to the 2008 subprime mortgage meltdown. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) had told the Justice Department that it should open an investigation of Rubin, Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, for alleged securities fraud perpetrated as a member of Citibank’s board. Rubin was among nine executives recommended for a criminal probe by the FCIC that…

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Dem Congressman: GOP Knows “Only Alternative is Single-Payer

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A Democratic congressman said that Republicans aren’t offering a unique alternative to Obamacare because they know that the only working substitute would be Medicare-for-all. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) made the accusations on Wednesday, at a House committee hearing set up by Republicans to criticize the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “The reason they have not proposed a viable alternative to the ACA, other than going back to pre-ACA situation, I’m convinced, is because the only other alternative is single-payer,” Yarmuth said. The law has come under…

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