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A hat tip to The State in South Carolina

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Columbia Journalism Review - May. 21 (Opinion) - COLUMBIA, SC -- The State newspaper, South Carolina's capital city daily in Columbia, gave uncharacteristically prominent play Sunday to the influence that ex-lawmakers and other public officials have as they lobby their former colleagues at the State House. "At least 66 former lawmakers, legislative staffers and state regulators have registered to lobby the Legislature in the past two years, according...

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Apple's Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel Finds

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - May. 20 (News) - New York TimesApple's Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel FindsNew York TimesWASHINGTON — Even as Apple became the nation's most profitable technology company, it avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and went beyond anything most ...Apple skirts US taxes, panel findsLos Angeles TimesSenators to query Apple on tax sheltersSan Francisco ChronicleApple Avoided Taxes on Overseas Billions, Senate Panel FindsWall Street JournalNew York Daily News -The Atlantic Wire -PC Magazineall 158 news articles »

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Is the Government Spying on Reporters More Often Than We Think?

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Julian Sanchez - May. 18 (Opinion) - The Justice Department's seizure of call logs related to phone lines used by dozens of Associated Press reporters has provoked a flurry of bipartisan criticism, most of which has cast the decision as a disturbing departure from the norm. AP head Gary Pruitt condemned the decision, part of an investigation into leaks of classified information, as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion." Yet there's plenty of circumstantial evidence suggesting the seizure may not be unprecedented—just rarely disclosed. The Justice Department is supposed to follow special rules when it seeks the phone records of reporters, in recognition that such snooping conflicts with First Amendment values. As Pruitt complained in an angry letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, those logs provided the government a "road map" of the stories his reporters were investigating, and there is evidence that such seizures deter anonymous sources from speaking to the press—whether they"re discussing classified programs ...

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Some in Congress want changes in military law as a result of sex scandals

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Craig Whitlock - May. 16 (News Report) - Members of Congress said they are so angry about the crescendo of sex-crime scandals in the armed forces that they are considering fundamental changes to military law and other measures that the Pentagon has resisted for years. ...

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5 Things You Need to Know in the Inspector General's IRS Tea Party Scandal Report

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Andy Kroll - May. 16 (News Analysis) - On Tuesday evening, the Treasury Department released a long-awaited investigative report on why IRS staffers gave special scrutiny to the applications of thousands of right-leaning groups seeking tax-exempt nonprofit status. Treasury's Inspector General for Tax Administration conducted the probe from June 2012 to February 2013 in response to pressure from Congress, and the 54-page report sheds light on the whole debacle. Here are five key takeaways from the report. Continue Reading ...

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The Real I.R.S. Scandal

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By By SHEILA KRUMHOLZ, ROBERT WEINBERGER - May. 16 (Opinion) - NEWS that employees at the Internal Revenue Service targeted groups with “Tea Party” or “patriot” in their name for special scrutiny has raised pious alarms among some lawmakers and editorial writers. Yes, the I.R.S. may have been worse than clumsy in co

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Nawaz Sharif poised to return as Pakistan PM

Sun, 12 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

aljazeera.com - May. 12 (Breaking News) - Nawaz Sharif, winner of the Pakistani elections, is holding talks to form a new government, with fixing the economy and tackling the armed insurgency likely to be his two biggest challenges. Partial, unofficial results from Saturday's elections represented a comeback for Sharif, 63, who was deposed as prime minister in a 1999 military coup and spent years in jail and exile.

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Cops Beat Woman For Filming Another Beating

Sat, 11 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Ryan Abbott - May. 11 (News Report) - Baltimore police beat up a woman and smashed her camera for filming them beating up a man, telling her: "You want to film something bitch? Film this!" the woman claims in court. Makia Smith sued the Baltimore Police Department, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and police Officers Nathan Church, William Pilkerton, Jr., Nathan Ulmer and Kenneth Campbell in Federal Court.

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Patent filing claims solar energy 'Breakthrough'

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

McClatchy - By Greg Gordon - May. 10 (News Report) - WASHINGTON — In a U.S. patent application, a little-known Maryland inventor claims a stunning solar energy breakthrough that promises to end the planet’s reliance on fossil fuels at a fraction of the current cost – a transformation that also could blunt global warming.

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Pakistani Women Still Struggle For A Voice In Politics

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

All Things Considered - May. 10 (News Analysis) - Women account for only 36 of the more than 4,000 candidates on the ballot in Saturday's parlimentary election. On of them, Naz Baloch, is following her father into politics, but acknowledges it's a rough-and-tumble game in a country where opportunities for women are limited.

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"Over the Line": U.S. Agents Shooting Dead Innocent Mexicans Across the Border With Impunity

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 07 (Special Report) - A joint investigation by The Washington Monthly and The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute has found over the past five years U.S. border agents have shot across the border at least 10 times, killing a total of six Mexicans on Mexican soil. The killings have gone unpunished after a court ruled the Mexican victims have no standing to sue in U.S. courts since they died on their own soil. Investigative reporter John Carlos Frey writes: "The picture that emerges from this investigation is of an agency operating with thousands of poorly trained rookies and failing to provide the kind of transparency, accountability, and clear rules of engagement that Americans routinely expect of law enforcement agencies." Frey joins us to discuss the shootings, and why he fears that the current immigration consensus in Washington on "border security" could increase Mexico's civilian toll.

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Republican Group Pushes to Limit Citizenship to Babies of Illegal Immigrants Born in U.S.

Sat, 04 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Moderate Voice - By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief - May. 04 (Opinion) - If the Republican Party is serious about trying to win over more of Hispanic voters then it will face a major rebranding problem in coming months: a GOP group is seeking to stop giving U.S. citizenship to babies of illegal immigrants born in the U.S. One author of the proposed new law: a key author [...]

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Best of the Web Today: 'Hate Crime' Hoaxes

Fri, 03 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - May. 03 (Opinion) - Why are they so common, especially on campus?

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America's Fertilizer Keeps Blowing Up. It Doesn't Have To

Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Tim Murphy - May. 02 (Comment) - It didn't take long in the aftermath of April's explosion in West, Texas, for the problems with the fertilizer industry to come into focus. Inspections are virtually non-existent; regulatory agencies don't talk to each other; and there's no such thing as a buffer zone when it comes to constructing plants and storage facilities in populated areas. Lost in the fallout, though, is a damning fact: fertilizer doesn't have to be explosive. Pure ammonium nitrate like the kind that caused the West disaster is already banned in the United Kingdom, Germany, Colombia, the Philippines, and China, due to its explosive risk; Australia's largest fertilizer manufacturer discontinued the use of the compound after it was used in the 2002 Bali hotel bombing. And the Department of Defense has pressured fertilizer manufacturers overseas to neutralize their own products, warning that anything less constitutes a threat to American personnel. But in the United States, with the backing of the chemical industry, ...

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Government Seeks to Fine Companies for Not Complying With Wiretap Orders

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Wired - By Kim Zetter - Apr. 30 (News) - It isn’t often that communications companies push back against government requests to monitor customers and hand over information about them, but a government task force is seeking to make it even harder for companies to say no. The task force is pushing for legislation that would penalize companies like Google, Facebook and Skype that fail to comply with court orders for wiretapping, according to the Washington Post. The cost of non-complying would be an escalating series of fines, starting at tens of thousands of dollars. Fines that remained unpaid after 90 days would double daily.

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FBI looking into relationship between McDonnells, donor

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Rosalind S. Helderman, Jerry Markon - Apr. 30 (News Report) - FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid for the food at the wedding of the governor’s daughter, according to four people familiar with the questioning. ...

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Exempting Congress From ObamaCare

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - Apr. 29 (Opinion) - The Members try to protect themselves from 'Medicaid plus.'

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Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: Maybe Bush v. Gore Wasn't the Best Decision

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Ian Millhiser - Apr. 29 (News) - Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the conservative retired justice who provided the fifth vote to install George W. Bush as president, is now having second thoughts about that decision: Looking back, O’Connor said, she isn’t sure the high court should have taken [Bush v. Gore].

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The Changing Facts in the Boston Investigation

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Alex Seitz Wald - Apr. 27 (News Analysis) - n the aftermath of massive, complicated crimes it's not uncommon for a bit of crucial information to be immediately put forward by police, only to be contradicted later on. While it's understandable that initial leads and assertions might end up being wrong in a dynamic situation like the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, wholesale contradictions can encourage skepticism of the motives of those releasing inaccuracies

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Climate change inspires a new literary genre: cli-fi

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Christian Science Monitor - Apr. 27 (Opinion) - Cli-fi, or 'climate fiction,' describes a dystopian present, as opposed to a dystopian future. And don't call it 'science fiction.' Cli-fi is literary fiction. ...

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Could Gosnell trial testimony end today?

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - Apr. 24 (News Analysis) - After five weeks of prosecution evidence, the defense in the murder trial of West Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell could be over this afternoon.

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Into the Fire - The Hidden Victims of Austerity in Greece

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

ReelNews - Apr. 24 (Special Report) - Video

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The Persecution of Lynne Stewart

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Chris Hedges - Apr. 22 (Special Report) - Lynne Stewart, in the vindictive and hysterical world of the war on terror, is one of its martyrs. A 73-year-old lawyer who spent her life defending the poor, the marginalized and the despised, including blind cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, she fell afoul of the state apparatus because she dared to demand justice rather than acquiesce to state sponsored witch hunts. And now, with stage 4 cancer that has metastasized, spreading to her lymph nodes, shoulder, bones and lungs, creating a grave threat to her life, she sits in a prison cell at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is serving a 10-year sentence.

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Will the "Koch Brothers Bill" Make Industrial Accidents More Likely?

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Tim Murphy - Apr. 22 (Investigative Report) - Last Wednesday"s explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant, which left at least 15 people dead and more than a hundred injured, was made possible by an ultra-lax state- and federal oversight climate that make inspections of such facilities all but a rubber-stamp process—when they even happen. If the chemical lobby and its allies in Congress get their way, a regulatory process dismissed by environmental activists and labor unions as extremely weak would be watered down even more.

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A red state/blue state chasm

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Fred Hiatt - Apr. 22 (Opinion) - In the week since modest gun control died in the Senate , those of us who don’t think guns make the country safer have been inclined to blame a few cowardly senators whose votes could have shifted the outcome. ...

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