Top Stories
Bush Illegal Wiretapping Program Almost Prompted FBI and Justice Resignations
President George W. Bush’s insistence on continuing the warrantless wiretapping program in 2004 almost forced the resignations of some of top law enforcement officials in the administration, according to federal inspectors of the government’s top ... read more
Fighting Gang Violence with Night Lights and Mass Arrests
For the second year in a row the city of Los Angeles is funding a special program to remove the urban shadows that have allowed street gangs to rule the night across South Central. “Summer Night Lights” keeps 16 parks across crime-ridden neighborh... read more
Both Parties in House Slam Obama Signing Statement
Normally, if a U.S. president objects to a law passed by Congress, he vetoes it. But there is another mechanism that presidents claim allows them to ignore a certain section of a law if the president says he considers it unconstitutional or that i... read more
NASA Satellite Reveals Dramatic Thinning of Arctic Ice
Imagine if Alaska, the largest state in the union, completely disappeared from the earth. That’s roughly what happened to an enormous amount of ice in the Arctic over just four years, NASA scientists concluded, after conducting the first comprehen... read more
Obama Threatens Veto over Sharing Covert Actions Details with Congress
Amid accusations that the CIA has repeatedly lied to Congress since 2001, President Barack Obama is threatening to veto legislation that would force the White House to disclose to Congress internal documents pertaining to covert operations. The bi... read more
Investigators Built Bombs Inside Federal Buildings without Detection
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Obama administration intends to shake up the Federal Protective Service (FPS), the agency in charge of providing security for all federal government buildings, after learning how easy it is to carry bomb-ma... read more
Military Children’s Mental Health Problems on the Rise
Among the most overlooked victims of the nation’s dual wars have been the children of military personnel, who it turns out are more than ever in need of mental health services. Statistics compiled by the Defense Department reveal that the number o... read more
Mortgage Holders Doom Obama Foreclosure Plan to Failure
President Barack Obama’s $75 billion plan to keep millions of Americans from losing their homes to foreclosure may be doomed to fail because banks simply don’t want to refinance mortgages. That is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Federal... read more
Despite City Pullout, U.S. Presence in Iraq Remains Strong
While the Obama administration would like Americans to think the fanfare over American soldiers pulling out of Iraqi cities demonstrates the United States is on the way out of Iraq, the reality is that U.S. forces are still maintaining a strong pr... read more
Mississippi Burning Town Swears In First Black Mayor
The Mississippi town of Philadelphia has long been branded as a place synonymous with the Ku Klux Klan and racist attitudes, ever since three Freedom Riders were murdered there,in1964. But Friday marked a new day for the town, which now has its fi... read more
Cost of Congressional Foreign Travel Triples Since 2001
While Congress oversaw ballooning federal deficits this decade, lawmakers also ramped up their expenses on overseas travel, the Wall Street Journal found. A review of congressional records revealed spending on foreign junkets by members of the Hou... read more
A Smooth Transition: Obama Backs Keeping Cheney FBI Interview Secret
If public officials are to be expected to cooperate with federal investigations, their testimony to government lawyers must be kept confidential, says the Obama administration. This argument is the basis for the Justice Department’s opposition to ... read more
Five Cases of Murder and Attempted Murder by White Racists This Year
Federal law enforcement officials warned earlier this year that the election of the nation’s first African-American president might result in a rise of violent behavior by white supremacists. Accounts compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center in... read more
When to Recuse—The Sotomayor Standard vs. The Scalia Standard
Critics of Sonia Sotomayor can knock her for her liberal views or rulings regarding affirmative action, but if there’s one thing the U.S. Supreme Court nominee can’t be criticized for it is her willingness to recuse herself. Based on her long reco... read more
Scalia Sides with Liberals on State Bank Regulation
Hell has not frozen over. For many on the left, though, such a precursor was expected before witnessing what took place on Monday when conservative Justice Antonin Scalia joined forces with the U.S. Supreme Court’s liberal wing in a key ruling on ... read more
Reversing Bush, EPA Approves California’s Strict Emissions Standards
After four years of battling unsuccessfully against the Bush administration, California officials finally won a significant victory on Tuesday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama that has huge ramifications f... read more