Controversies
Detroit Closes Police Precincts to Public for Crime Reporting 16 Hours a Day
If victimized by a crime from the hours of 4 pm to 8 am, residents of the Northeastern District of Detroit, starting today, should not go to their nearest police precinct—because it will be closed to them for crime reporting. The new hours will pr... read more
ATF Guns-to-Drug Cartels Scheme Mirrored Similar Bush Administration Program
Republicans in Congress have been going after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ever since its “Fast and Furious” gun operation became exposed. The GOP critics have been beside themselves, asking how the ATF could have ... read more
Most States Find Joining National Sex Offender Database Not Cost-Effective
Less than a third of all U.S. states are complying with the federal law intended to protect children from sex offenders, with most states choosing not to invest in sharing their information with Washington.
Congress adopted the so-called Adam ... read more
Missouri Library Blocks Access to Websites about Wicca, Native American Religion
The city of Salem, Missouri, is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for blocking access at its library to websites about minority religions.
Using the Netsweeper filtering program, library officials had classified informati... read more
Is Heroism of 9/11 Police Cadet being Slighted because of His Muslim Name?
The legacy of Mohammad Salman Hamdani is filled with both acknowledgments and overt slights, demonstrating how an individual’s religious and cultural identity can obscure their heroism in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
... read more
TSA Spreads to Trains, Subways, Bus Terminals and Ferries
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) wants it to be clear that it is not the “Airport Security Administration.”
These days, special teams of TSA officials can be seen appearing randomly at the country’s train stations, bus depots a... read more
SEC Tricks Judge to Help Citigroup
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is fast making itself an enemy of Judge Jed Rakoff.
The SEC previously filed a settlement with Rakoff to resolve a billion-dollar securities fraud case involving Citigroup—which the judge rejected b... read more
Montana Reaffirms Ban on Corporate Election Spending; Sets up Clash with Citizens United Ruling
Montana’s century-old ban on corporate spending in elections has been restored by a 5-2 vote of the state Supreme Court, bucking the Citizens United ruling from two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Since 1912, Montana had prohibited corpor... read more
Federal Court Gives Go-Ahead to NSA Illegal Surveillance Case
The civil case against the George W. Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program by the National Security Agency (NSA) has been resurrected by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle because the federal government may have conducte... read more
NYC Mayor Bloomberg Claims Felony Crime Down…Thanks to Redefining Strangulation (and Just not Reporting)
Major felony crimes went up slightly this year in New York City. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg begs to differ.
At a news conference this week, Bloomberg claimed violent felonies have gone down 21 years in a row, including 2011. The mayor believe... read more
FCC Bends to Telecoms on Broadband Internet Development
As telecom analyst Bruce Kushnick sees it, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is catering to the demands of companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.
“There has been a series of recent events in telecom, broadband, Internet–cable, wir... read more
Arizona Judge Rules that Mexican-American Studies Program is Illegal
Tucson, Arizona’s 13-year-old Mexican-American studies program has been deemed illegal by an administrative law judge who ruled that it violated a new state law designed to eliminate ethnic studies in public schools.
In issuing his decision, J... read more
Obama Signing Statement Says He isn’t Bound by 20 Provisions of General Spending Bill
Regardless of what Congress says, President Barack Obama intends to do otherwise, according to the latest signing statement released by the White House on the Friday before Christmas.
Obama responded to the 2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act... read more
Federal Courts Still Struggling with Whether White Bosses can Call Black Employees “Boy”
A federal appellate court based in the South has gone back and forth over the expression “boy” as it pertains to African-Americans.
In September 2010 the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Alabama, Florida and Georgia, overturned a lo... read more
Drug-Related Deaths Reach Level of Motor Vehicle Deaths
After three decades of soaring numbers, drug-related fatalities have become nearly as common as deaths resulting from car crashes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that poisoning deaths in 2008 exceeded the tot... read more
Scientists Trying to Study Extreme Weather Events Hampered by Funding and Politics
For two years in a row, the United States has been subjected to an abnormal amount of extreme weather events, raising the question of global warming’s impact on the earth. But government scientists have struggled to gain approval from Congress for... read more