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Sam Knight - page 40

Sam Knight has 859 articles published.

Head of F.C.C. Targeted By Phone Scammers, He Reveals

Phone scammers have personally irritated the guy at the head of a regulatory body tasked with stopping them. Federal Communications Chair Tom Wheeler said on Wednesday that his house has fallen prey to “spoofing”–a tactic often used by con artists to trick people into giving them money by imitating another telephone number on caller ID. Wheeler made the remarks in a discussion about cracking down on the fraudulent practice before the Senate Commerce Committee. “I may be the only member on this panel who has… Keep Reading

Dept. of Ed Made “Inaccurate” Claims About Protecting Active-Duty Soldiers From Illegally-High Interest Rates

The Department of Education made “unsupported and inaccurate” findings last year about its loan servicers’ compliance with laws designed to protect active-duty members of the US military. The May 2015 claims–which stated only 1 percent of servicemembers were incorrectly denied interest rate caps–were based on flawed surveys and illogical conclusions, the department’s inspector general said on Tuesday. The watchdog noted that an 8 percent “incorrect denial rate” would have been more accurate for the department to report, based on its own data. But it said that the… Keep Reading

Pentagon Urges Caution in Libya ISIL Fight After NYT Profiles Post-Qaddafi Mess, Hillary Clinton’s Role

Military leaders reiterated on Monday that the Obama administration’s strategy to counter the Islamic State (ISIL) in Libya depends largely on the formation of some sort of central government there. The remarks came after The New York Times published a lengthy two-part series on the deterioration of the security situation in the North African country, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in helping convince President Obama to intervene there in March 2011. “A civil war in Libya has left the country with two… Keep Reading

Number of CENTCOM Intel Analysts Alleging Manipulation at 400

Almost half of the analysts at the Pentagon structure overseeing military operations in the Middle East and South Asia have called into question the integrity of the organ’s intelligence work. In a poll taken annually by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), forty percent of respondents at US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported “problems with analytical integrity and CENTCOM processes,” according to House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, acknowledged that he… Keep Reading

Even the I.M.F. Thinks the U.S. Is Too Hard on the Poor

Further distancing itself from its history of advocating economic conservatism, the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday urged the US government to offer relief to its most vulnerable citizens. The IMF called on the United States to increase the federal minimum wage and a tax benefit aimed at boosting low and middle income workers. The supranational organization made the pro-stimulus, pro-labor commentary in a memo to world leaders ahead of a two-day G-20 summit in Shanghai, which starts Friday. Citing worries about financial instability in China, the… Keep Reading

Congressional GOP Advances Bill Citing Murderous Hafez Al-Assad Campaign as Inspiration

The House Judiciary Committee passed legislation on Wednesday inspired, in part, by authoritarian crackdowns, including a brutal campaign waged by former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. It was approved in a 17-10 vote split along party lines, with Republicans backing the measure and Democrats opposing it. The bill calls on the Secretary of State to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. “Findings” listed in an earlier version of the proposal noted that in 1980 “the Government of Syria banned the Muslim Brotherhood from the country;… Keep Reading

Kerry: War in Syria Would Continue, if U.S. Stopped Backing Rebels

Secretary of State John Kerry rejected the idea that withholding US support for rebels in Syria would advance ongoing multilateral talks aimed at stopping the civil war there. Kerry claimed that fighting in Syria would continue, even if the US once again accepted the legitimacy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “We didn’t create them out of whole cloth,” Kerry said of the rebels, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. He was asked by Rand Paul (R-Ky.) if continued militant opposition to Assad would be… Keep Reading

After Half-Year of Sliding, Discontent Index up in November

The District Sentinel Discontent Index increased in November for the first time in six months, to 100.26 from 99.58 in October. The movement was driven by increases to the Labor and Consumer Discontent subcomponents. Labor Discontent was up on an increase in the number of workers participating in major work stoppages recorded by BLS. In November, 8,100 workers were involved in industrial disputes, up from 3,400 in October. Consumer Discontent was down on a 6.5-point decrease in the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index. Housing Discontent,… Keep Reading

Pentagon Inspector General Advances Inquiry of Afghan Child Abuse, U.S. Cover-Up

The Pentagon’s Inspector General is stepping up its investigation of widespread child abuse in the Afghan Military and an alleged cover up of it by American military leaders. In a memo written late last week, Deputy IG Kenneth Moorfield said the inquiry would be deepening “in response to concerns raised by the staff of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and various Members of Congress.” Moorfield also noted that it would be looking for Pentagon violations of the Leahy Law—a statute that, in theory, forbids… Keep Reading

“What’s The Deal With Airline Travel,” Americans Increasingly Ask Federal Regulators

If you have recently felt more cheated than normal by airlines, you aren’t alone, according to the US government. Air travelers lodged more complaints with federal regulators last year than they did in 2014, the Department of Transportation said Thursday. The number of complaints filed with the department’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division was up by 29.8 percent in 2015—to 20,170, from 15,539 in 2014. The most frequently cited grievances in both years were broadly classified by the department as “flight problems”—cancellations, delays, and missed connections. It reported hearing 6,433… Keep Reading

Rules Proposed to Help For-Profit College Victims Too Weak, Say Debt Strikers

In June, a group representing fifteen students ripped off by for-profit colleges came to Washington to declare a debt payment strike and to ask the Department of Education to strengthen rules granting relief to scammed student debtors. Now, the department appears poised to propose regulations that the organization described as woefully insufficient. In a rule-making process scheduled to occur over the next few days, the Department of Education looks set to establish a two-year statute of limitations and other significant barriers on who can file so-called… Keep Reading

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