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  • Bashar al-Assad—The Fall of a Rabid AntiSemite

    Sunday, December 08, 2024
    When Pope John Paul II visited Damascus in May 2001, Bashar used his welcoming speech to denounce the Jews, saying, “They tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad.”   read more
  • House of Representatives Votes to Overrule a D.C. Law for First Time in 24 Years (Hint: It’s about Contraception and Abortion)

    Tuesday, May 05, 2015
    The House of Representatives approved a resolution 228-192 to undo a D.C. law prohibiting employers from discriminating against workers, their spouses or dependents for using family planning services or birth control. It also keeps employers from firing an employee for having an abortion.   read more
  • Congress’ NSA Bulk Surveillance Reform Bill: Much Ado about Little

    Monday, May 04, 2015
    The bill doesn’t address data collection under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, which allows the collection of the actual content of some communications, including that of Americans, and the collection of information from overseas calls. “If this bill passes, the NSA will continue unaddressed surveillance programs and will secretly torture the English language to devise novel justifications for spying on Americans,” said David Segal, executive director of Demand Progress.   read more
  • Legal Justification for Bush Torture Program Relied on Secret Support of American Psychological Association

    Monday, May 04, 2015
    The American Psychological Association (APA), the leading professional group for psychologists in the U.S., met secretly with members of the George W. Bush administration to help officials justify the use of torture against detainees. The Bush administration went to the APA for help because the national organization for psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric Association, wasn’t willing to help the CIA rationalize its methods for extracting information during interrogations of detainees.   read more
  • Why is Budweiser Allowed to Partner with National Park Service despite Anti-Alcohol Advertising Policy?

    Monday, May 04, 2015
    The National Park Service (NPS) has gotten a waiver allowing it to enter into a marketing agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer and maker of Budweiser. It’s a two-year, $2.5 million campaign to engage in “co-branding with a goal of attracting a younger population to the NPS and the corporate brand,” according to the memo. Part of the justification for the waiver was a previous Park Service partnership with a small winery.   read more
  • U.S. Cuts back its Watchdogs after Billions Lost and Billions More to be spent on Escalating Afghanistan War

    Monday, May 04, 2015
    Sopko was told by the State Department that he must remove 40% of his staff from Afghanistan within the year. The reduction will mean the number of SIGAR staff members will fall from 42 to 25. “Any assertion that the Embassy Kabul unilaterally ordered SIGAR to make staffing cuts in 2016 is false,” a State Department official said.   read more
  • Algeria’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Madjid Bouguerra?

    Monday, May 04, 2015
    Madjid Bouguerra presented his credentials as Algeria’s ambassador to the United States to President Barack Obama on February 13, 2015. It’s the fifth ambassadorial posting for Bouguerra, a long-time member of his country’s foreign service. Bouguerra went to Berlin as Algeria’s ambassador to Germany in 2010. He came home in 2013 to serve as minister delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs, his last post before assuming his post in Washington.   read more
  • Alarming Conditions at U.S. Air Base in Djibouti

    Sunday, May 03, 2015
    Air traffic controllers, civilians who work for the Djibouti government, regularly nap, listen to music, play video games and text on their mobile phones while directing military traffic from several nations, as well as civilian traffic from major world airlines. Many of the controllers are also resentful of the foreign presence in their country.   read more
  • Ohio Supreme Court Rules NFL Players Were Overtaxed When They Played Cleveland Browns

    Sunday, May 03, 2015
    Cleveland was taking a cut of visiting NFL players’ salaries in proportion to their team’s schedules. If the team played 20 games, including exhibitions, Cleveland would count 5% of a visiting player’s salary as subject to that city’s income tax. Former Indianapolis Colt Jeff Saturday also sued Cleveland, saying he shouldn’t have had to pay the city any tax for the game his team played in 2008 because he was back in Indiana rehabilitating an injury.   read more
  • Good News from the U.S.-Mexican Border

    Sunday, May 03, 2015
    Thanks to an agreement, Minute 319, between the U.S. and Mexican governments, a surge of Colorado River water was released from its floodgates down into Baja California en route to the Sea of Cortez last year. The efforts are paying off. Birds not seen in 50 years, such as the yellow-billed cuckoo, are returning to the area.   read more
  • Peru’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Luis Miguel Castilla?

    Sunday, May 03, 2015
    Castilla joined Peru’s government as assistant finance minister under centrist President Alan Garcia in January 2010. When Ollanta Humala, a president with leftist leanings assumed office in July 2011, he surprised many by adding Castilla to his cabinet as minister of rconomics and finance. Humala thought that the presence of Castilla, an economic moderate, would calm the fears of Peru’s business community about the ascension of a leftist to the presidency.   read more
  • Niger’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Hassana Alidou?

    Sunday, May 03, 2015
    Alidou's focus is on promoting the early education of African students in their indigenous language, rather than the colonial language such as French or English as is the case now. As part of that work, Alidou consults on bi/multilingual and mother tongue education in Africa for the UNESCO Institute for Education. She was the regional director of UNESCO in Abuja, Nigeria.   read more
  • Do States’ “Police Bill of Rights” Undermine Law Enforcement Accountability?

    Saturday, May 02, 2015
    The death of Freddie Gray last month while in police custody in Baltimore has put a spotlight on a Maryland state law that critics say allows police officers avoid being held accountable for abuse and other violations. Known as the “police officers’ bill of rights,” the laws in 14 states grant law enforcement special treatment not afforded to non-police accused of crimes. The statute allows officers to wait 10 days before talking to investigators and limits the time officers can be questioned.   read more
  • NSA Used German Intelligence to Spy on Offices of French President and other EU Allies

    Saturday, May 02, 2015
    The American-German cooperation went on for at least a decade. The news is embarrassing for Merkel, who was vocal about the NSA tapping her phone calls. “You don’t spy on your friends,” she said at the time. But Germany’s intelligence agency did just that by sharing intelligence gathered from its “eavesdropping facility in Bavaria to monitor email and telephone traffic at the Élysée Palace, the offices of the French president, and of key EU institutions,” said The Guardian.   read more
  • Species Extinction and Extreme Weather Predicted in New Climate Change Studies

    Saturday, May 02, 2015
    One study warns that rising global temperatures could kill off one out of every six plant and animal species worldwide. If the temperature increase is 7.7 degrees, the loss of species could jump to 16%. Another study warned that a temperature increase of five degrees Fahrenheit could produce a 62-fold increase in heat extremes. "What used to be a one-in-1,000-days event or a one-in-three-years event becomes, for instance, a four-in-three-year or five-in-three-year event,” said Erich Fischer.   read more
  • South Sudan’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Garang Diing Akuong?

    Saturday, May 02, 2015
    Since taking over as ambassador, Akuong has had to contend with the U.S.-initiated threat to impose sanctions, through the United Nations Security Council, against South Sudan unless President Kiir and Machar can come to terms to end a civil war which began in December 2013 and has killed ten thousand and displaced an estimated 1.5 million citizens.   read more
  • Serbia’s Ambassador to the United States: Who Is Djerdj Matković?

    Saturday, May 02, 2015
    Djerdj Matković assumed the position of Serbia’s ambassador to the United States on February 21, 2015, after the post had been vacant for 18 months. In August 2012, Matković began advising Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić on foreign policy issues and continued to do so when Vucic was elevated to prime minister in 2014. Matković was Vučić’s main advisor during the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, keeping Serbia on a narrow path between Russia and the United States.   read more
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