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Sam Knight - page 26

Sam Knight has 859 articles published.

sign advertising low gas prices

White House Boasting After Income Report Downplays Falling Oil Prices

President Obama has touted this week’s Census report on poverty and income as evidence that his economic policies are working. “We lifted 3.5 million people out of poverty–the largest one-year drop in the poverty rate since 1968,” he said Tuesday. But the claims obscure an actor who inadvertently helped boost American incomes last year: the Government of Saudi Arabia. The data released by the Census Bureau showed that inflation-adjusted median incomes had increased for the first time since 2007, by an impressive 5.2 percent. This… Keep Reading

Sign at the National Labor Relations Board

NLRB Asks Supreme Court to Rule on Class Action Waivers, After Appellate Circuit Split

The Supreme Court was asked to settle disputes over the legality of contract terms that bar employees from filing class action lawsuits, in petitions filed by opposing parties. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accounting conglomerate Ernst & Young, and medical software company Epic Systems have all asked Justices to rule on the issue, according to a Politico article published on Monday. Appellate courts have recently issued decisions both in favor and against the NLRB, which is seeking to have class action waivers declared illegal… Keep Reading

Trump Alleges Yellen Conspiring With Obama to Keep Interest Rates Low

Donald Trump hit out at Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, questioning her independence from President Obama and the wisdom of low interest rates. “She’s keeping them [interest rates] artificially low to get Obama retired,” he said on CNBC. “It’s a very serious problem.” “I think she’s very political, and to a certain extent I think she should be ashamed of herself,” he added. “Any increase at all will be a very, very small increase because they want to keep the market up so Obama goes… Keep Reading

President Obama asked about Dakota Access Pipeline in Laos

Obama Claims Ignorance of Details on Dakota Access, When Pressed at Laos Townhall

President Obama declined to assess the impact of the Dakota Access Pipeline on Native Americans, when asked, on Wednesday, at a town hall meeting in Laos. The President lauded the young Malaysian woman who brought up the issue, saying she raised “a great question,” but claimed to be unaware of the specifics. “Some of these issues are caught up with laws and treaties, and so I can’t give you details on this particular case,” Obama said. “I’d have to go back to my staff and… Keep Reading

U.S. Department of Justice building in Washington, DC

Justice Department Asking Congress for Power to Investigate Possible FARA-Violators

Amid a presidential campaign rife with stories about undue foreign influence, the Justice Department is asking Congress to enhance its legal authority to investigate those violating foreign lobbying disclosure laws. The department’s National Security Division “is currently pursuing civil investigative demand (CID) authority from Congress,” according to an inspector general report published Wednesday, specifically to subpoena those believed to be violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). “With regard to potential legislative improvements, NSD officials stated that a major difficulty is a lack of authority to… Keep Reading

a nuclear ballistic missile

Obama to Stick With “First Strike” Nuclear War Doctrine, Claiming Deterrence Value

President Obama will not rule out the possibility of the United States conducting a first nuclear strike, keeping intact a policy that has been in place since the Cold War. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Obama won’t attempt to revise the so-called “First Strike” doctrine before leaving office in January 2017. The paper noted he had faced criticism, including some from “former senior aides,” over unfulfilled campaign and first-term promises, to work towards “a world without nuclear weapons.” “For months, arms control advocates have… Keep Reading

Medicinal Marijuana Users Don’t Have Second Amendment Rights, Appeals Court Rules

The owner of a prescription card granting legal access to medicinal marijuana in Nevada was constitutionally deprived of her right to purchase guns, a federal appellate court affirmed on Wednesday. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected the claims of S. Rowan Wilson. The would-be purchaser had alleged that her rights to freedom of expression and gun ownership were violated by the federal government, alongside her due process protections. Wilson had sought to purchase a firearm in October 2011, but the gun… Keep Reading

Patent Examiners Claimed To Have Worked Almost 300,000 “Unsupported Hours,” Adding to Backlog

Patent examiners played hooky for hundreds of thousands of hours over a fifteen month period, according to a Commerce Department inspector general report released on Wednesday. The investigation found that about 8,400 examiners at the US Patent and Trademark Office billed the agency for 288,479 “unsupported hours” between Aug. 2014 and Nov. 2015. “This effort involved comparing the hours that patent examiners claimed to work…on the one hand, with multiple datasets that provided evidence of actual work, on the other,” the inspector general noted. The… Keep Reading

D.E.A. to Consider Opioid Substitute More Dangerous Than Drugs That Kill 14,000 Annually

The Drug Enforcement Administration said that it is going to ban the use of a substance that has been shown to be a safer alternative to opioids–one that can be used to help recovering addicts. Kratom will be listed under Schedule I by the DEA, the agency announced on Monday. The move, which is set to take effect on Sept. 30., means the plant-derivative will be considered by the federal government to have zero medicinal value. The rule change comes just weeks after the DEA… Keep Reading

Days After T.P.P. Setback for Obama, U.S.-E.U. Trade Deal Looks Doomed

France’s trade minister said on Tuesday that Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations should not continue. Matthias Fekl said that his government will seek to bring talks to a halt. The deal is currently being hammered out by European Union and US officials. “France is asking for an end to TTIP negotiations,” he said on Twitter. Fekl later explained in a radio interview that “there is no political support from France” for the talks. “The Americans give nothing, or just crumbs,” he said, according… Keep Reading

ITT Tech Shuts Enrollment After For-Profit College Disqualified from Federal Aid

A troubled for-profit college has stopped accepting new applicants, after the Department of Education ruled last week that its students would be ineligible for federally-funded aid. ITT Tech notes simply on its website that it is “not enrolling new students.” Those currently taking courses at ITT can transfer or finish their education, Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell said Thursday, in a blog post. If enrollees fail to do that before the school shuts down, Mitchell noted, students “will likely be eligible to discharge” their federal… Keep Reading

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