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Sam Sacks - page 44

Sam Sacks has 859 articles published.

Congressman Bemoans Danger Posed By Wayward Drones; Actually, They Could Be UFOs, Says Colleague

Rarely do Republican lawmakers decry the federal government’s lack of rule-making, but when it comes to the commercial drone industry, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) broke the mold Wednesday. Rep. Mica criticized the Federal Administration for its failure to finalize rules for small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and said the delay will likely lead to a midair collision. “What will probably propel this,” the Congressman said, “is going to be a very serious accident. I can almost predict there will be one.” The remarks came during… Keep Reading

“Your Decision Is Dangerous”–Sen. Boxer Attacks Nuclear Watchdogs’ Handling Of San Onofre Plant

A decision by the Nuclear Regulator Commission (NRC) to exempt a problematic, shuttered California nuclear plant from safety requirements has evoked the ire of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who accused regulators of putting peoples’ lives at risk. The ranking member of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee took NRC Chairman Stephen Burns to task during an oversight hearing Wednesday, saying she was “perplexed” by the commission’s June decision to let operators of the San Onofre nuclear plant scale back their emergency planning operations. Burns… Keep Reading

White House Knocks E.U. Data Sharing Decision, Commits To Updating Privacy Protections Anyway

A transatlantic agreement that allows thousands of US companies to transfer personal data of European Union citizens to servers stateside became the latest casualty of the National Security Agency’s spying scandals. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the highest legal body on the continent, ruled Tuesday that the fifteen-year-old Safe Harbour Act is not up to snuff when it comes to assuring that EU member state citizens’ data is indeed secure while stored at US facilities. The high court concurred with the… Keep Reading

Sen. Cotton Attempts To Whitewash U.S. Responsibility For Kunduz Hospital Strike

Actually, the Taliban was responsible for the US Air Force’s leveling of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan, according to one Republican Senator. Although the internationally-renowned non-profit said no militants were present in the Kunduz hospital, reported calling the US military with an urgent request to cease fire mid-bombardment, and has described the incident as an American war crime—one that killed 22 civilians, including patients and staff—Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has other ideas. “The Taliban like our enemies in Iraq, like Hezbollah in Lebanon,… Keep Reading

War Crime Evidence: U.S, Leader in Afghanistan Calls M.S.F. Attack Both “Accident,” Intentional

Monday morning commentary by a high-ranking military officer on a weekend US airstrike on a hospital in Afghanistan lends credence to its victims’ claims that the act was almost certainly intentional and, therefore, a war crime. Gen. John Campbell, the commander of the US/NATO-led effort in Afghanistan noted that the strike on the Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres-MSF) facility in Kunduz was called in by Afghan partners on the ground. “We have now learned that on October 3, Afghan forces advised that they were… Keep Reading

District Sentinel Radio Episode 10: Here Come The Refugee Truthers

Russia starts bombing Syria, likely sinking the US strategy in the war torn nation. A classified report reveals troubling security flaws at our nation’s airports. Also, a bid to give contracted spies whistleblower protections. Reproductive Rights activist Katie Klabusich joins us to talk about the right-wing assault on Planned Parenthood. And, we take one Senator to task for engaging in “trutherism” when it comes to helping refugees. Keep Reading

Pelosi Calls For Investigation Into Benghazi Investigation

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi jumped on anti-Hillary Clinton comments made earlier this week by the House Majority Leader, and said that Republicans’ investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attacks should itself be subject to an ethics probe. Speaking to reporters during a weekly press briefing on Thursday, Leader Pelosi referenced claims made by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday that Congress’ Select Committee on Benghazi succeeded in lowering former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers in her bid for the presidency—a claim that belied… Keep Reading

Technology Groups Press Administration To Defend Encryption, NSA Chief Admits Problems

Major civil liberties advocates are asking President Obama to “publicly affirm” his support for online data encryption, even as the administration’s law enforcement organs work to cripple the information security technology. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Demand Progress, the American Civil Liberties Union, Access, and others, including Twitter, have made the request in the form of a WhiteHouse.gov petition. If it garners 100,000 supporters, it will trigger an official response from the administration. “The government should not erode the security of our devices or applications, pressure… Keep Reading

Tea Partier Puts Leadership Candidates On Watch Ahead Of Government Shutdown Vote

The far-right flank of the Republican Party is keeping a close eye on House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the front-runner in the upcoming House Speaker election, warning him that his upcoming vote to keep the government funded could be his undoing. Appearing on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Wednesday, Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, called for a complete overhaul in party leadership—a sign that Rep. McCarthy has a lot of work to do to win support from a Tea Party… Keep Reading

Classified Homeland Security Report Reveals “Disappointing and Troubling” Airport Security Gaps

A government watchdog discovered several shortcomings in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) screening operations at airports around the country, and has informed Congress about them in a classified report. Testifying before a Senate appropriations committee on Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General John Roth publicly revealed a few details about his office’s classified TSA security audit—primarily that it yielded “disappointing and troubling” results. “The failures included failures in the technology, in TSA procedures, and in human error,” Roth told Senators in prepared remarks. “We… Keep Reading

Pentagon, Spy Community Agree—Contractors Need Whistleblower Protections

There was unanimous agreement among the nation’s top security and intelligence managers on Tuesday over the need for Congress to extend whistleblower protections to spies-for-hire. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) used her time during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on cybersecurity to pitch legislation she introduced earlier his year that would shield contractors in the intelligence community from prosecution or retaliation for revealing waste, fraud, and abuse. An intelligence authorization bill last year afforded these protections exclusively to government employees working in spy agencies. “One… Keep Reading

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