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SECRECY & THE SECURITY STATE - page 28

Paul Ryan Scrambles To Keep Members In Line After Trump Turns Fascist

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After the leading GOP presidential candidate proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States, the Speaker of the House urged Republican members to not follow “The Donald” down the road of extremism. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) briefed reporters Tuesday, minutes after he appealed to his fellow Republicans’ better angels amid the uproar caused by Donald Trump’s discriminatory proposal. “I told our members this morning to always strive to live up to our highest ideals to uphold those principles in the constitution on which we swear every two years that we…

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Clinton Defends No-Fly-List, Dismisses Concerns Over its Reliability

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Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on Sunday morning spoke approvingly of a government program that stops some American citizens never accused of any wrongdoing from traveling freely within the country. “I’m a lot happier having a list that keeps people off planes that there’s any question about their intent or their potential behavior,” Clinton said on ABC News, referring to the so-called no-fly list. The database includes tens of thousands of people, including roughly 800 Americans. In the wake of the Dec. 2 San Bernardino attack, Clinton…

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Attorney General Laments “Criminalization of Poverty” and a Modern “Debtors’ Prison” System

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During remarks on criminal justice reform delivered Thursday, the nation’s chief prosecutor Loretta Lynch spoke out against law enforcement’s dogged pursuit of enforcing fines, saying such strategies have resulted in a system of punishment previously declared illegal by the Supreme Court–most recently in 1983. Lynch criticized the fines, court fees, and administrative costs that have been increasingly levied by local officials on defendants accused of minor infractions like traffic violations–penalties brought to the nation’s attention last year by the Black Lives Matter movement and demonstrations against systemic police abuses…

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Wyden Promises Senate Fight Over Intel Policy Bill Rider

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A routine intelligence authorization bill passed by the House Tuesday could get jammed up in the Senate if it retains provisions that hamper the oversight of US spies. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said he would oppose any unanimous consent request to pass the 2016 Intelligence Authorization Act if it includes language restricting the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) from investigating covert activity. In a statement first posted by investigative reporter Marcy Wheeler Tuesday, Sen. Wyden (D-Ore.) said that Section 305 of the House-passed bill would…

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Attorney General Called On To Investigate Chicago Police Killing Cover-up

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The Attorney General of Illinois asked the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the Chicago Police Department, stating that public trust has been broken following the killing of teenager Laquan McDonald by a CPD officer. In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch Tuesday, Illinois AG Lisa Madigan asked the DOJ Civil Rights Division to probe Chicago law enforcement for systemic legal and Constitutional violations. She wanted the inquiry focused on the police department’s use of deadly force guidelines, the reliability of its internal investigations, and…

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White House Rejects Gitmo Closure Plan, Sends Pentagon Back to Drawing Board

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A $600 million plan by the Pentagon to close the military prison at Guantanamo and relocate detainees to a new facility in the United States was rejected by the White House because the price tag was too high. Relaying information from administration officials, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday evening that President Obama sent the closure strategy back to the Defense Department during a meeting with Secretary Ashton Carter last month. Obama asked officials to find a way to lower the cost of the plan,…

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Pentagon Denies Guardian Report, Peshmerga Claims on U.S. Firefights Against ISIL

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The US military denied a report published Monday that alleged US special forces joined Iraqi Kurdish militants in firefights and regular on-the-ground combat in the war against the Islamic State (ISIL). Based on the testimony of twelve Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and officers, The Guardian had said that American special forces were in combat in various parts of Iraqi Kurdistan, between April and September. “No US or coalition SOF [special operations forces] were engaged in any of these events you listed,” The Pentagon claimed in response.…

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Paris-Inspired Cruz Attempts, Fails to Ram Citizenship-Stripping Bill Through Senate

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) ignored the pleas of his Senate Judiciary Committee colleagues and attempted, in the wake of the Islamic State (ISIL) Paris massacre, to rush through the chamber citizenship-stripping legislation. The Republican presidential candidate attempted on Thursday morning to advance the Expatriate Terrorists Act on the Senate floor by unanimous consent. He was stopped by Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) The judiciary committee had held a hearing earlier in the morning to advance the legislation through normal procedure, but that motion was “heldover”–a…

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“Leniency Industrial Complex” Strikes Back, House Panel Approves Criminal Justice Reform

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A measure to alleviate overcrowded jails and lower sentences for certain non-violent drug offenders was approved Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee. In a voice vote, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers on the panel endorsed the Sentencing Reform Act of 2015, which would lower certain mandatory minimums for drug offenses. The law would reduce the penalty for so-called “third strike” drug offenders from life in prison to 25 years. The punishment for second-strike offenders would be lessened, from 20 years to 15 years. “The Sentencing Reform Act makes…

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Obama Admin Knocked By Congress For Unwillingness To Lighten Up On Pot

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In consecutive days both the acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Attorney General have come under fire from lawmakers for their retrograde positions on marijuana. In a floor speech on Wednesday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Or.) blazed interim DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg saying that he was “clearly not the right fit” to head the agency. Blumenauer was reacting to a statement made earlier this month by Rosenberg, claiming that marijuana was “bad and dangerous,” and that studying the medicinal benefits of the plant…

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Attorney General Lynch Undermines Guantanamo Executive Action

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President Obama’s chief prosecutor may have just ruined his Plan B when it comes to closing Guantanamo Bay. Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch signaled that the Department of Justice would oppose a maneuver by the administration to shut down the military prison camp through executive order. “It’s the position of the Department of Justice that we would follow the law in regard to that issue,” Lynch told the committee, referring to defense policies signed into law that prevent detainees from…

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