Controversies

The Mysterious Route of the Keystone Pipeline

While the Obama administration decides whether to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project, Americans have no way to find out exactly where more than a thousand miles of pipe would be laid. That’s because neither the U.S. government nor the Canadian company pushing the pipeline will reveal the proposed route. read more

Army Blocks Soldiers’ Access to News Articles about NSA Spying Revelations

Gordon Van Vleet, a spokesman for the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, told the newspaper that it was routine for the Department of Defense to take preventative “network hygiene” measures to mitigate unauthorized disclosures of classified information. Soldiers can access the U.S. site for The Guardian, but have been blocked from seeing NSA articles on the British newspaper’s site read more

EPA Approves Rise in Glyphosate Residue for Monsanto’s Herbicide

The new EPA rule comes despite independent studies that show glyphosate can be harmful to human health as an endocrine disruptor, according to The Cornucopia Institute. The institute said a June 2013 study concluded glyphosate “exerted proliferative effects in human hormone-dependent breast cancer.” read more

For First Time, U.S. Government Admits Some Wiretaps were Foiled by Encryption

According to last week’s Wiretap Report from the U.S. Administrative Office of the Courts:"In four of these wiretaps, officials were unable to decipher the plain text of the messages. This is the first time that jurisdictions have reported that encryption prevented officials from obtaining the plain text of the communications since the AO began collecting encryption data in 2001." read more

Double-Amputee Congresswoman Blasts CEO for using Ankle Injury to Qualify for Disabled Vets Contracts

Castillo never went to war. He sustained a foot injury while training to play football at the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School (USMAPS) and didn’t even apply for veterans’ disability payments until 27 years later. In fact, after the injury he went on to play quarterback and linebacker at the University of San Diego. His injury during his one year at USMAPS qualified him as a veteran and made his company eligible for contracts set aside for disabled veterans. read more

West, Texas, Sues Nitrate Supplier and Fertilizer Plant over Deadly Explosion

West claims supplier CF Industries sold two 100-ton shipments of agricultural-grade ammonium nitrate to Adair Grain dba West Fertilizer Company prior to the explosion that killed 15 people and flattened part of the town. At the time of the explosion, the second shipment of chemicals was still in a railcar parked just outside Adair’s fertilizer mixing building. Inside that building was 30 tons of the ammonium nitrate not yet sold—which ignited after the building caught fire. read more

Black History Collection Found in Michigan Dumpster

Residents reportedly found about 1,000 pieces of material on their own, according to the Detroit Free Press. Some of them were almost a century old. Also in the dumpster were bank and tax documents with personal information. read more

Obama Anti-Whistleblower Program Requires Federal Employees to Report Suspicions of other Employees or Risk Punishment

At the Department of Defense, workers were told to “hammer this fact home…leaking is tantamount to aiding the enemies of the United States,” according to a June 2012 Pentagon document obtained by McClatchy. The zero-tolerance policy demands that employees turn themselves and others in for failing to report observed security breaches. Any person who does otherwise must be reprimanded or have his security clearance revoked by his manager. read more

Louisiana Passes Law Criminalizing Journalists Who Publish Identity of Gun Permit Holders, Applicants

Journalists in Louisiana who publish the identity of individuals who possess or have applied for concealed handgun permits can now be fined or thrown in jail. Republican Governor Bobby Jindal signed legislation last week that outlaws the publishing of “any information regarding the identity of any person who applied for or received a concealed handgun permit.” read more

FBI Reports Drop in Crime in Denver…Because Crime Statistics Were Left Out

The FBI reported that the city’s violent crime last year dropped 3.6%, while data compiled by the police revealed a 9.3% jump. Similarly, aggravated assaults reportedly declined 4%, according to the FBI, while Denver police said they went up 11% from 2011 to last year. While it’s not unusual for there to be minor differences between local police crime statistics and those held in the federal data base, observers found the Denver discrepancies to be glaring and highly unusual. read more

Curiously Omitted from IRS Audit Report: Liberal Groups Were Targeted Along with Tea Party

George’s audit stated the IRS wrongly used “Be On the Look Out” (BOLO) memos to single out tea party groups. But he failed to mention that at least seven BOLO memos included the word “progressive.” The IRS also keyed on terms like “Occupy” and “medical marijuana,” as well as advocacy of President Obama’s health care law. read more

Number of New Government Regulations Slows under Obama

In the first 52 months of Obama as president, the government issued a total of 1,229 rules. Bush’s administration produced more rules during the same period of time (1,469), as did the Clinton administration (2,136). Agencies under Obama have issued more “economically significant rules” than earlier administrations did: 259 versus 206 under Bush and 215 under Clinton. read more

Skype began Cooperating with NSA 5 Years Ago

On July 26, 2012, Skype vice president Mark Gillett assured users that, “It has been suggested that Skype made changes in its architecture at the behest of Microsoft in order to provide law enforcement with greater access to our users’ communications. False.” It would appear that Gillett chose his words with unusual care, because the greater access actually took place before the sale to Microsoft. read more

Ammonium Nitrate: Dangerous Substance not Included in EPA List of Dangerous Substances

Other countries, including China, the United Kingdom, Colombia, the Philippines and Germany, have banned the chemical compound. Even the U.S. Department of Transportation considers ammonium nitrate a “hazardous material.” But the EPA, under pressure from the fertilizer industry, has refused to list it as extremely hazardous. read more

Insurance Company Refuses to Insure Schools with Armed Employees

ECM is not only part of the market for school insurance in Kansas, it’s a leader, insuring about 90% of Kansas’s 286 school districts. That EMC fears unsustainable liability so much amounts to a non-ideological, dollars-and-cents way of saying that EMC believes concealed carry at schools will lead to tragic shootings and deaths—and that EMC does not want to pay out on them. read more

Almost 6,000 Workplace Pregnancy Discrimination Cases Filed Per Year

Passed in 1978, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act was supposed to prohibit discrimination based on “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions." Nearly two-thirds of first-time mothers work while pregnant and, of these, most work into their last month of pregnancy. read more