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Sam Knight - page 64

Sam Knight has 859 articles published.

War Profiteers’ New Favorite Senator: Pentagon Budget Should Approach $1 Trillion

Weapons manufacturers’ new favorite son in the Senate on Monday suggested that Congress should be passing a defense budget approaching $1 trillion. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)–the architect of the letter sent by 47 Senate Republicans to the Iranian government as a means of undermining multilateral nuclear negotiations–outlined a fatalistic view informing the need for increased militarization, and railed against sequestration cuts. “Our experiment with retreat must end,” Cotton told an audience at the Senate Hart Office Building–an event organized by the far-right wing Foreign Policy… Keep Reading

I.C.E. Director Clarification Rings Hollow to Group Stonewalled in Bid for Info On New Deportation Policy

The Obama administration’s highest ranking immigration official last week attempted to walk back remarks intoning she supports a controversial enforcement policy that blurs lines between local police forces and the federal government. But her efforts to clarify her position did not impress one immigrants’ rights group working to uncover more information about an emerging Department of Homeland Security immigration program. “The fact that the President has ostensibly offered relief to some immigrants does not excuse his policies which criminalize other immigrants,” Pablo Alvarado, executive director… Keep Reading

NYT: Obama Likely Will Back Out of Afghan Withdrawal Timetable, Might Not Even Announce Plans

President Obama is expected to quietly back off plans to roughly half the size of the US military contingency in Afghanistan by 2016. A litany of problems besetting Afghan security forces are making the Commander-in-chief strongly consider an about-face. The move would be at such odds with prior statements that “there might not be a public announcement on troop numbers to avoid potential criticism,” The New York Times reported. “Many of the roughly 10,000 troops and thousands of civilian contractors in Afghanistan would be needed… Keep Reading

House Dems Accuse Top Obama Trade Negotiator of Getting High and Spouting “Bullshit” — We Swear It’s True

In an otherwise heated intra-party debate, House Democrats playfully accused the White House’s leading trade negotiator of abusing cannabis before making “bullshit” arguments about trade. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said Thursday that US Trade Representative Michael Froman, when talking to Democratic lawmakers about the administration’s agenda, is “baffling them with bullshit,” while Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) wondered aloud whether Froman was at least one toke over the line. “Perhaps he has gotten access under DC’s new legalization law to some marijuana and he’s filling in gaps… Keep Reading

U.S. Refuses to Acknowledge Criminal Probe of Wikileaks in Ecuador-Assange Multilateral Diplomatic Spat

Ecuador’s leading diplomat said Thursday that the US has refused to recognize the existence of an American criminal investigation into Wikileaks, after the South American country granted Julian Assange asylum and asked Washington about his case. Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño also said that he and his American counterparts are not continuing to discuss the matter because the State Department said “Julian Assange should be addressed bilaterally between London and Quito.” “Two years ago we requested information from the US as to whether there were any pending trials and… Keep Reading

Fed Ups Chance of Summer Interest Rate Hike

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors announced Wednesday that it has unanimously decided to increase the probability it will soon raise key interest rates. Board Chair Janet Yellen said that the the central bank has altered its forecasts, but that any raise in the federal funds rate will be “data dependent.” A Fed press release noted that its Federal Open Market Committee “anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate when it has seen further improvement in… Keep Reading

Obama Admin. Improperly Denied Nearly 1-in-3 F.O.I.A. Request Rejections

The Obama administration last year improperly denied one out of every three Freedom of Information Act requests that it rejected, according to an analysis published Wednesday by The Associated Press. The moves to deny the release of records were eventually overturned when challenged, but the initially wrong-headed censorship rate was the highest it has been in five years. The top Senate Democrat who oversees judicial issues, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) reiterated his calls to pass FOIA reform in the wake of the report. “As the data… Keep Reading

In Budget, House GOP Heavily Leans on “Pentagon Slush Fund” To Sidestep Sequestration Caps on Defense

House Republicans have joined their Senate colleagues in formulating a way to skirt sequestration limits on Pentagon spending. Republicans in the House are proposing a total of $613 billion in defense spending for next year, they revealed on Tuesday, according to The Hill. The sum is roughly $90 billion above the limits imposed by Budget Control Act of 2011. The difference would be financed by the Pentagon’s war-fighting fund, the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund. The military kitty has also been used by the Obama administration… Keep Reading

Lew Gives Insight into Obama Trade Lobbying, As White House Prepares to Push T.P.P. Behind Closed Doors

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday gave insight into how the administration intends to sell its trade agenda to the left, two days before other cabinet-level officials will hold closed-door meetings with Congressional Democrats on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Lew’s remarks show how the White House is laboring to make the passage of “fast-track” legislation–a prerequisite to TPP advancement–more palatable to Democrats by paying lip service to trade-related anxieties, on one hand, while failing to be completely forthright about the multilateral deals it seeks.… Keep Reading

Warren, Cummings Continue Ethics Crusade Against C.F.T.C. Republican–Case Highlights Stealthy Conflicts of Interest

Two prominent Democratic lawmakers said in a letter published Tuesday that a financial regulator appointed by President Obama has “failed to answer a number of key questions” about a potential conflict of interest. House Government Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday told Commodity Futures Trading Commission official J. Christopher Giancarlo that he has neglected to answer some of their pointed questions about stock transactions centering around a company Giancarlo once helped manage. The inquiry highlights the potential… Keep Reading

State Asked, Hasn’t Received Notice of Senate Probe Into Israel Election Interference

The State Department said that it has not received official word that the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is looking into allegations that it interfered with Israeli elections. Spokesperson Jen Psaki said Monday afternoon that she asked in the morning, only to receive no confirmation about the existence of a probe. “I don’t think we’ve had any official notification of this investigation,” she said. The possibility of a inquiry was first reported on Saturday by Fox News. A reporter for the right-wing news organization said… Keep Reading

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