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Brennan Claims CIA Officers Were Held Accountable for Torture, But Won’t Publicly Divulge How

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CIA Director John Brennan told lawmakers on Thursday that people at the CIA have indeed been held accountable for the agency’s post-9/11 torture program. Brennan refused, however, to get into the details publicly, saying the matter is classified. He made the claims during a public hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. “Is it still the case that no one has been held accountable for the systemic failures that the agency has acknowledged?” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the CIA chief during the proceedings. Wyden referenced the…

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For First Time Since 2009 Coup, Dems File Legislation to Stop Military Aid to Honduras

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Citing the murder of Berta Caceres, six House Democrats this week proposed suspending all US security aid to Honduras. The legislation would stop the flow of security assistance from Washington to the Central American country until “human rights violations by Honduran security forces cease and their perpetrators are brought to justice.” It is the first legislative proposal to withhold aid to Honduras since 2009, when the country’s elected populist president, Mel Zelaya, was overthrown in a military coup. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) sponsored the bill…

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Days after Orlando Hate Crime, GOP Upholds LGBT Bigotry

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Republicans on Capitol Hill are going to great lengths to block the mere consideration of a proposal that would protect gay, lesbian, and transgender Americans from discrimination in the workplace and marketplace. On Tuesday night, the House Rules Committee decreed that an anti-LGBT discrimination amendment to an annual defense spending bill would not receive a vote on the floor. The amendment would prohibit federal contractors from discriminating against citizens based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Last week, the committee blocked consideration of a similar measure…

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S.E.C. Pressed On Unfinished Dodd-Frank Conflict of Interest Rule

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Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) hit out at the Securities and Exchange Commission for dawdling on a conflict of interest rule it was ordered to implement by the Dodd-Frank Act. Merkley pressed SEC Chair Mary Jo White on Tuesday, asking about the state of the regulation before a Senate Bakning Committee oversight hearing. “Here we are six years later,” he said, referring to the timing of Dodd-Frank’s passage. “We don’t even have a draft rule.” White replied, calling the proposal “enormously important,” but said the matter was…

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Net Neutrality Preserved in the Courts…For Now

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The telecoms industry’s legal assault on the Federal Communications Commission’s “Net Neutrality” rule has been momentarily halted. A ruling handed down by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Tuesday upheld the FCC’s regulations. Finalized in early 2015, they reclassified service providers, and subjected them to new rules, in a bid to ensure equal treatment of online traffic. The commission’s Open Internet Order—perhaps the most significant progressive policy achievement of last year—was the culmination of years of grassroots organizing and agitating in response…

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Amid Fresh Relief Proposals, Student Debt Strikers Still Skeptical of Education Dept.

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The Department of Education proposed a new set of rules aimed at easing the debt relief application process for students bilked by for-profit colleges. The initiative, revealed this week, would bar corporate schools from making prospective students relinquish their rights to sue—whether individually or in class action lawsuits. It would also grant the department more authority to discharge a group of students’ loan obligations, when it is determined they have been deceived by school administrators. The rules, if finalized, would also force for-profit schools to…

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Obama to Sign FOIA Reform Bill, Calls on Congress to be More Transparent

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The White House on Tuesday morning signaled that it would support legislation passed by Congress to update and modernize how agencies handle Freedom of Information Act requests. The House approved the FOIA Improvement Act on Monday night. The legislation passed the Senate in March by unanimous consent. The bill would require federal bodies to default on the side of transparency when processing records requests. It stipulates that if agencies intend to withhold documents, they have to provide specific reasons why release could lead to “foreseeable…

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SCOTUS Rules that Puerto Rico Can’t Restructure $20 Billion In Municipal Debt, Unlike State Governments

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The Supreme Court said on Monday that Puerto Rico lacks the authority to restructure its municipal debt. Justices ruled 5-2 that a law passed in 2014 by the territory is preempted by the federal bankruptcy code. The legislation had sought to modify debt held by the island’s municipal utilities—believed to be worth about $20 billion. As Clarence Thomas noted in the majority opinion, Congress in 1984 specifically excluded Puerto Rico from the federal bankruptcy code. The court said parts of the Puerto Rican law being…

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Report: Citing Election Year, White House Giving Up on Closing Gitmo

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President Obama will reportedly not act on his own to close the military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, instead submitting to the whims of a Congress committed to keeping the facility open indefinitely. A source close to the deliberations told Reuters that the administration has ruled out unilateral action on Gitmo due to a lack of popular support and the hyper-politicized season. “It was just deemed too difficult to get through all of the hurdles that they would need to get through, and the level…

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Labor Dept. Seeks to Protect Union-Busting Rule from Red State Onslaught

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The Obama administration is asking a federal judge to throw out a challenge brought by ten states against a new labor regulation that will force union busters out of the shadows. Finalized in April by the Department of Labor, the “Persuader Rule” is under assault in federal court, where several Republican-led states, are seeking an injunction against it. According to a brief filed last week, the department argued that the state interveners claims should be rejected, and the regulation preserved. “The public interest would be undermined if…

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SCOTUS: Top Pa. Judge, Also Former Prosecutor On Death Penalty Case, Violated Constitution By Ruling on Appeal

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The Supreme Court found that a judge previously involved in a capital case as a prosecutor should have recused himself during an appeal launched by the death row inmate. Justices ruled Thursday, in a 5-3 vote, that then-Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille violated the Due Process rights of Terrence Williams in 2012, when the jurist declined to withdraw from Williams’ challenge of his conviction. His death sentence was upheld by the state’s high court. “A constitutionally intolerable probability of bias exists when the…

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