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  • Musk and Trump Fire Members of Congress

    Wednesday, February 26, 2025
    Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sent messages to all members of Congress terminating their positions, stating “Your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment.” All Democratic and independent members of Congress, as well as two Republicans, found themselves locked out of their offices after everything inside had been confiscated.   read more
  • United States Ambassador to Niger: Who Is Eric Whitaker?

    Friday, October 27, 2017
    Whitaker’s first assignment was as a vice consul in the embassy in Seoul, South Korea, in 1990. He subsequently served in Sudan and Uganda before landing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as an economic/commercial officer. In 2007, he was sent to Baghdad as an embedded provincial reconstruction team leader. In 2008, Whitaker had his first assignment to Niger when he was made deputy chief of mission in the embassy in Niamey, also serving there as chargé d’affaires.   read more
  • Director of the United States Mint: Who Is David J. Ryder?

    Thursday, October 26, 2017
    Despite his relatively brief tenure as director of the Mint in the 1990s, Ryder continued to be active in Mint-related affairs. As spokesman for Save the Greenback, he actively opposed a GOP plan to replace one-dollar bills with coins. Ryder also took over as founding president of Secure Products, maker of anti-counterfeiting systems. The company was later sold to Honeywell, but Ryder remained as global business manager for what was now the company’s authentication technology group until 2017.   read more
  • Secret 1984 Surveillance Memo to Remain Secret

    Wednesday, October 25, 2017
    Judge Cooper backed the government on its withholding of a 1984 memo that purportedly details the constitutionality of an NSA surveillance program. In his ruling, Cooper wrote, "This is a quintessential example of the sort of document that falls within the attorney-client privilege: advice from an attorney (head of OLC) to his client (attorney general and, subsequently, NSA) concerning the legal aspects of the client’s contemplated actions and based on [client's] confidential information..."   read more
  • Chief of Protocol: Who Is Sean Lawler?

    Wednesday, October 25, 2017
    In 2000, Lawler handled flag writing duties for the commander of the Abraham Lincoln strike group, which was deployed as part of President George W. Bush’s “War on Terror”, Operation Southern Watch in Iraq, and Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq. Lawler moved on in 2002 to be executive assistant to the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. In 2005, he was transferred to the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis as leading chief petty officer in the Administrative Department.   read more
  • United States Ambassador to Lesotho: Who Is Rebecca Eliza Gonzales?

    Tuesday, October 24, 2017
    In 2004, Gonzales served as post management officer in the Bureau of Near East Affairs. In 2006, she was sent to the U.S. embassy in Botswana as a management officer. She moved to Pretoria, South Africa, in 2010 as deputy management counselor. Gonzales was back in Washington in 2013, first as deputy executive director in the Bureau of Near East Affairs, and then in 2016 as chief of staff in the Bureau of Administration, a post she held at the time of her nomination.   read more
  • Director of the Indian Health Service: Who Is Robert Weaver?

    Monday, October 23, 2017
    President Trump has nominated an insurance broker to lead the Indian Health Service, an agency usually overseen by medical professionals because it is a provider of health services. The nominee, Robert Weaver, published a 2017 paper that criticized the Affordable Care Act, while lauding its benefits for Native Americans that he urged be kept. He said that "health insurance will improve for Americans in general under the replacement plan.” Of course, no such plan had been published at that time.   read more
  • U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg: Who Is Randy Evans?

    Sunday, October 22, 2017
    A generous donor to the GOP, Evans became a senior advisor to Newt Gingrich’s unsuccessful 2012 presidential campaign. Evans used his relationship with Gingrich as a launch pad for both his political and legal career. Gingrich hired Evans as his outside counsel to represent him in several ethics investigations, which culminated in the House formally reprimanding Gingrich and ordering him to pay a $300,000 penalty, which lead to his resignation as Speaker of the House..   read more
  • Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy: Who Was Tom Marino?

    Friday, October 20, 2017
    Marino withdrew as nominee for "drug czar" right after a news report detailed his efforts to pass a 2016 law, at the behest of pharmaceutical interests, that made it harder to stop sales of addictive drugs by manufacturers and pharmacies. The report also disclosed his efforts to silence one of the law's critics. AlterNet's Philip Smith wrote: “Marino will be the sort of drug czar who is tough on Colombian peasant farmers, but not so tough on major U.S. pharmaceutical opioid manufacturers.”   read more
  • Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology: Who Is Walter Copan?

    Thursday, October 19, 2017
    Copan is a leading expert in the commercialization of technology who says his top priority is to implement the Cybersecurity Framework, an effort led by NIST to improve network security across federal agencies as well as industry. He will have to defend NIST’s budget ($962 million for FY2017), which Trump has proposed to cut by 24%, including a 13% cut to its seven research labs and an 86% cut to its industrial technology services program.   read more
  • Director of the Office of Public and Indian Housing: Who Is Hunter Kurtz?

    Wednesday, October 18, 2017
    In 2006, Kurtz took his first job related to housing, serving as special assistant to Assistant HUD Secretary for Community Planning and Development Pamela Patenaude. He then served as special assistant to the deputy chief of staff at HUD and as policy advisor in HUD’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations. Kurtz later left federal service to work for the City of Detroit, which had been taken over by state government due to the city’s financial problems.   read more
  • In 9 Months, Trump has Bombed to Death more Civilians than Obama Did in 8 Years

    Tuesday, October 17, 2017
    At Trump's campaign rallies he pledged to “bomb the hell” out of the Islamic State. He openly mused about killing the families of terrorists, a blatant violation of the Geneva Conventions. Ten months into his presidency, alarming trends have emerged. An intense focus on destroying ISIS elements may be overriding the competing priority of protecting civilians. Because Trump has scaled back civilian oversight and delegated authority to colonels, the likely result is higher casualties.   read more
  • Assistant Transportation Secretary for Research and Technology: Who Is Diana Furchtgott-Roth?

    Tuesday, October 17, 2017
    Furchtgott-Roth’s economic theories are rooted in right-wing ideologies. She’s anti-union, having proposed the longshoremen’s union be regulated to make it harder for them to strike. She criticized the Family and Medical Leave Act, claiming without evidence that it would be abused by workers improperly taking sick leave. She also criticized the Affordable Care Act, claiming, again without evidence, that it would increase bankruptcies caused by medical bills because of lower-quality healthcare.   read more
  • U.S. Ambassador to Denmark: Who Is Carla Sands?

    Monday, October 16, 2017
    Sands gave big to Trump’s presidential campaign and inaugural, and hosted a Trump fundraiser at her Bel Air mansion, where donors paid up to $449,000 per plate to dine with Trump. A former star of the movie "Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell," Sands is the widow of real estate tycoon Fred Sands, who once called Trump “a joke," adding that "he likes the publicity because that’s how he lives. He’s not really a real-estate guy. He licenses his name and surrounds himself with publicity.”   read more
  • Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein: Who Is Suzi LeVine?

    Sunday, October 15, 2017
    LeVine was co-founder and board chair for the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, and worked at Microsoft as director of strategic partnerships, working with students, school leaders, and educators to promote the advantages of teaching tech skills using Microsoft products. As ambassador, LeVine became interested in the Swiss dual education system, which emphasizes vocational apprenticeships for many students, and began advocating its adaptation to the U.S.   read more
  • Republican Plan to Eliminate Estate Tax for Super-Wealthy Could Hurt Charities

    Friday, October 13, 2017
    Just one out of 500 estates left by people with at least $5.5 million to their name – or couples with more than $11 million – get taxed today. Still, if Congress were to end the estate tax, as the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers propose, the government might miss those funds. What’s more, nonprofits could see their budgets pinched by a decline in giving. The question is, do fewer multimillionaires write charities into their wills when this incentive goes away?   read more
  • United States Ambassador to Angola: Who Is Nina Maria Fite?

    Thursday, October 12, 2017
    Fite joined the Foreign Service in 1990. Early career stops included Portugal and Jamaica. She worked on regional and bilateral environment, science and health issues while based in Budapest, Hungary. Fite was then assigned to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. This won’t be Fite’s first posting in Angola, having served as the political/economic section chief in the embassy in Luanda. Fite also was deputy economic counselor in Afghanistan and consul general in Pakistan.   read more
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