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Pentagon Unable to Properly Oversee Revolving Door Ethics Guidance

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A database used by the Pentagon to keep tabs on the revolving door has been declared “unreliable” by the Department of Defense Inspector General (OIG). The depository holds records on post-government employment counseling that are only about 80 percent accurate, according to an OIG investigation. Guidance for most Pentagon officials and former officials seeking defense contracting work was required by Congress in 2008. In Aug. 2011, the Pentagon mandated “DOD-wide use” of the “After Government Employment Advice Repository” (AGEAR) by the new year. But on…

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GAO to Bernie: Generosity of Social Security, Plight of the Poor Obscured by Average Life Expectancy

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Proponents of cuts to Social Security have argued that longer lifespans in the US make the program unsustainable over the long-run. President Obama, for example, argued in 2010 that Social Security “has to be tweaked because the population is getting older.” In 2013, he proposed cuts to retirement benefits through a payment calculation called “chained CPI” (he dropped the push in 2014). But a study published on Monday shows that the good health isn’t trickling down. The amount of Social Security benefits actually received by…

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Two Losses for Bosses–SCOTUS Rules Against Walmart, Wells Fargo in Class Action Suits

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The Supreme Court made more decisions unfavorable to corporate executives in the wake of Antonin Scalia’s death. Justices declined on Monday to hear appeals by Walmart and Wells Fargo in moves that upheld two nine-figure class action judgments that went against the multinational giants. Walmart had been ordered to pay $150 million to 187,000 Pennsylvania workers for wage theft that occurred between 1998-2006. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had sided with the employees in 2014, ruling that they were forced to work off-the-clock and denied breaks.…

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Wall Street Execs May Have Broken Law In Dishonest Comment Letters, Warren Says

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As has been made abundantly clear by the ongoing Republican presidential primary, lying about policy is not against the law. But it could be illegal to spin a tale in ongoing national debates, if those fibs mislead people with capital to spend. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is now asking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch an investigation along those lines, after four corporate executives protested a draft Department of Labor (DOL) rule on conflicts of interest for investment advisers. Warren wrote SEC Chair Mary…

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Bush-Appointed Judge Throws Out Key Dodd-Frank Ruling for Insurance Giant MetLife

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The US government’s labeling of a major insurance corporation as “too big to fail” was ruled invalid by a federal court in Washington. District Judge Rosemary Collyer said Wednesday that MetLife, the largest insurer in the US, should not be considered a “systemically important financial institution” (SIFI). The designation–given to the insurance giant in December 2014 by a cross-agency body called the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC)–meant MetLife was subject to additional supervision and reserve requirements by federal regulators. It isn’t clear if the US government…

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Kabul Bank Collapse Probe to Turn up Heat in U.S.

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The largest corruption probe in Afghanistan’s history is going to turn its focus on the United States. More than six years after the collapse of Kabul Bank, looted to the tune of nearly a billion dollars by its owners and a cadre of political elites, Afghanistan’s President has enlisted the help of a US government watchdog to track down stolen funds. In a speech to the University of Pittsburgh on Wednesday, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko revealed he has been…

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E.P.A. Busted for Laissez-faire Oversight of Fracking Poison Wells

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A federal watchdog reported that regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) aren’t bothering to collect enough information necessary to ensure that fracked wastewater isn’t poisoning people. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the EPA has shirked its responsibilities under the Safe Drinking Water Act to keep tabs on Underground Injection Control (UIC) programs, which work to ensure that wastewater associated with oil and gas production is properly injected into underground wells to prevent contamination of nearby areas. “EPA has not collected inspection and enforcement information,…

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D.E.A., Pentagon Team Up to Waste almost $90 million on “Un-Flyable” Plane for Failed Afghan Drug War

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The Drug Enforcement Agency and Department of Defense spent $86 million on a spy plane to use in Afghanistan, but haven’t and will never fly it on a single mission there. Part of a program called “Global Discovery,” the aircraft cost the agencies four times what they initially projected. It was described by the Justice Department inspector general (OIG) as being “currently in an un-flyable state.” “The aircraft has never flown in Afghanistan as originally intended and, because the DEA removed all aviation operations from…

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Labor Unions Dodge Supreme Court Bullet–Probably for a Generation

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A short-handed Supreme Court threw the labor movement a lifeline, dismissing a challenge to rules on public sector collective bargaining fees. “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court,” the Justices announced in a one sentence ruling. The move upheld a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss the case, Friedrichs v. California’s Teachers Association. Just months ago, such an outcome seemed impossible, as this and other publications noted. That changed on Feb. 13, when Justice Antonin Scalia suddenly died. “When the…

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“Crisis Levels” of Medical Staff at More than 1 in 10 Federal Prisons, According to DOJ Watchdog

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The Department of Justice inspector general (OIG) warned on Monday that medical staffing is at “crisis levels” at more than ten percent of federal prisons. The comptroller cited an assessment made by a former Bureau of Prison (BOP) executive, noting that 12 out of 97 of the bureau’s correctional facilities have been “medically staffed at only 71 percent or below,” since September 2014. It also reported that in the same time frame, seventy-three BOP jails were understaffed against department policy, which dictates “the vacancy rate shall…

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Obama Pays Tribute, But Doesn’t Say “Sorry” to Argentine Victims of Kissinger’s Allies

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President Obama on Thursday recognized the role of the US government in Argentina’s Dirty War, a campaign of violence waged for seven years against tens of thousands of Argentine leftists after a 1976 coup d’etat. During a visit to Buenos Aires, Obama paid tribute victims killed and disappeared by the junta alongside Argentine President Mauricio Macri, at a monument alongside the River Plata. “Democracies have to have the courage to acknowledge when we don’t live up to the ideals that we stand for,” he said.…

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