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Sam Knight - page 22

Sam Knight has 859 articles published.

Trump’s Billionaire Education Secretary Backed P.A.C. That Never Paid $5 Million in Fines

Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education owes state regulators $5.3 million in fines for violating election laws, five left-leaning senators said Wednesday. Federal political action committees (PACs) run and financed, in part, by Betsy DeVos were hit with the penalties in 2006 by Ohio enforcement officials. The groups were found to have been in violation of exceeding legal limits on donations. “Rather than pay the fines for violating the law, the All Children Matter PACs simply ceased operation and never paid the significant sum… Keep Reading

Obama Drone Victims Suing for Apology Appear Before Appeals Court in D.C.

Lawyers for Yemeni men suing the US government, for killing two relatives in drone strikes, made their case on Tuesday before federal appellate judges. Arguing at the DC Circuit in Washington, the attorneys said that a lower court erred in March, when it concluded courts shouldn’t “second-guess the Executive’s policy determination.” District Judge Ellen Huvelle threw out the lawsuit in February. “Plaintiffs are not challenging the prudence of drone strikes or attacking Al-Qaeda,” a brief filed by lawyers in support of the case stated. “Plaintiffs… Keep Reading

Labor Secretary Perez, Handpicked by Obama Officials, Set to Challenge Ellison for DNC Chair

Labor Secretary Tom Perez plans on entering the race for Democratic National Committee chair, buoyed by support from senior Obama administration officials. Perez plans on announcing his candidacy for the DNC chair this week, according to both The New York Times and The Huffington Post. “A source close to Perez, who said he will have an announcement later this week, said he’s talking to elected officials and party leaders to gauge their support,” The Huffington Post noted on Tuesday morning. The move would pit a… Keep Reading

Trump Deepens Hostile Stance with Beijing, Questions “One China”

President-elect Donald Trump looks determined to put the United States on a collision course with China, after deepening criticism of a long-standing principle underpinning Sino-US relations. Trump said Sunday, in a Fox News interview, that he understood the “One China” policy, after breaking decades of protocol by accepting a post-election congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen. He then went on to question the utility of the policy, telling Fox News anchor Chris Wallace that it could be used as leverage. “I don’t know why we… Keep Reading

Obama “Actively” Pondering End of Dormant Muslim Surveillance Scheme, Ahead of Trump

The White House is reportedly thinking about scrapping a controversial immigration surveillance program that has been dormant since 2011, in the final weeks before Donald Trump’s inauguration. President Obama is considering fully ending the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), according to The Guardian. The program targeted foreigners in the US, from a set of almost exclusively Muslim and Arab-majority countries. The lone exception was North Korea. Democratic legislators, immigrants rights groups and civil libertarians have all expressed concerns that President-elect Trump could eventually use the… Keep Reading

Fast Food Nation: Trump Set to Name Minimum Wage-hating Burger Czar as Labor Secretary

Donald Trump is leaning toward naming a fast food CEO to a key position tasked with enforcing the country’s workplace laws. Andrew Puzder, the head of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, is expected to be named Trump’s Secretary of Labor, according to Thursday reports in both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Though Trump routinely promised to “drain the swamp,” during the presidential campaign, he would be nominating, in Puzder, a man whose industry allies stand to benefit immensely from the appointment. Puzder… Keep Reading

Keith Ellison Will Resign, If He Wins D.N.C. Vote

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) will relinquish his congressional seat, if elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman. The legislator told the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune on Wednesday morning that he would make the move, after hearing that many of his colleagues would not back another sitting lawmaker as head of the DNC. “Serving my neighbors in Congress and fighting for them has been the best job I’ve ever had,” Elllison said. “Until the DNC Chair election, I plan to continue doing just that,” he added. The vote… Keep Reading

Congress Expands Contractor Whistleblower Safeguards, But Next Snowden Still Exempt

Congress made permanent and expanded protections granted to whistleblowers who work for federal contractors, readying the legislation for President Obama’s signature. The House of Representatives approved of the bill on Monday, in a voice vote with the rules under suspension, meaning it garnered support from more than two-thirds of the body. In June, the Senate approved of the measure by unanimous consent. The bill indefinitely extends a pilot whistleblower protection program for contractors, first established in 2013. It also grants the same protections to employees… Keep Reading

GAO: Political Interference Baked into State Department’s Annual Human Trafficking Report

Those who followed the life and death of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) are well aware that the State Department’s annual assessment of human trafficking can be highly politicized. In 2015, the department upgraded Malaysia to “Tier 2” from “Tier 3,” shortly after Congress forbade the President from negotiating the TPP with countries given the latter designation, in the Trafficking in Persons report (TIP). Not long after, Reuters revealed that officials appointed by President Obama had fought with career TIP bureaucrats on tier rankings–with an… Keep Reading

Trump Deceit on Taiwan Call Masks Aggressive G.O.P. Outlook on China

Donald Trump’s transition team carefully prepared for his recent controversial phone call with Taiwan’s President, according to a report published Sunday evening in The Washington Post. The President-elect had brushed off the Friday conversation as routine, rather than a breach of decades-long protocol. “The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency,” Trump tweeted immediately afterward. “Thank you!” The Post, however, called the flippancy of that assertion into disrepute, reporting that the chat had been “planned weeks ahead by… Keep Reading

Bush SEC Official With Calamitous Record Advising Trump on Key Financial Regulators

A key financial regulator advising Donald Trump on the presidential transition could see the US roll back its rules to the freewheeling, fraud-ridden days of the Second Bush Administration. Paul Atkins, a proponent of allowing the financial sector to run rampant, if it so wishes, is advising Trump on financial framework. He met with the President-elect this week, as key banking regulatory positions remain unfilled, including top positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). “Mr Atkins, who was… Keep Reading

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