Controversies

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Sides with Challenge to Secrecy of Obama Surveillance Details

The secretive intelligence court that normally acts as a rubber stamp for whatever spying the U.S. Government wants to do last week surprised many observers by ordering the Justice Department (DOJ) to respond to a lawsuit seeking details of unlawful Obama administration surveillance. read more

Bipartisan U.S. Education Overhaul Fires up Emboldened Tea Party

The standards were written by education officials from various states, including those with Republican governors. Supporters include individuals and organizations on the right, such as Rupert Murdoch, Jeb Bush and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which promotes conservative policies. And yet, Tea Party groups have protested the standards. They claim the multi-billion-dollar program would result in federal control of education across the country. read more

Judge Orders Lesbian Couple to Stop Living Together

A local judge in Dallas has ordered a lesbian couple to stop living together, citing a “morality clause” from one of the women’s divorce papers. The clause states that someone who has a “dating or intimate relationship” with the person or is not related “by blood or marriage” is not allowed in the home after 9 p.m. when the children are present. read more

Robots Help Perform 300,000 Surgeries per Year in U.S., with Varying Results

Regulators at the Food and Drug Administration have expressed safety concerns regarding the da Vinci surgical system. Its maker, Intuitive Surgical, is currently being sued in dozens of cases because the robotic arm was responsible for sepsis, surgical burns, excessive bleeding, severe bowel injuries, and punctured blood vessels, organs or arteries. read more

Government’s Hunt for Leakers in New York Times’ Stuxnet Story Put Chill on News Sources

As a result of a New York Times story on the Stuxnet computer worm by David Sanger, hundreds of U.S. government officials have been questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine who communicated with him. The probe has dampened contact between Washington insiders and news media. read more

FBI Operated Child Porn Service for Two Weeks during Investigation

FBI agents in Nebraska raided a large child pornography service, which shared thousands of images showing children being raped, displayed and abused. Realizing the illicit operation had more than 5,000 customers, the bureau continued operating it for two weeks to determine their identities. read more

Political Intelligence Firms: Wall Street’s Pipeline to Washington Draws Scrutiny

One example of political intelligence firms’ work involved the arrangement of meetings between Elizabeth Fowler, a one-time top health-policy adviser to President Barack Obama, and executives from at least six investment firms during the last two years. Another instance involved a conference call between an official from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and managers of hedge funds, pension plans and mutual funds. read more

35% of Americans Find Obama Health Care Law Too Liberal, 16% Say It Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Of the 54% who responded to a CNN/ORC International poll (pdf) saying they oppose the Affordable Care Act (pdf), 16% explained that their beef stems from the law not going far enough, the highest percentage since polling began. Another 35% of critics feel the law is too liberal. Other polls have shown widespread confusion about what the law actually includes, even among those who would benefit from it. read more

Is the Charter School Movement Shutting out the Poorest American Children?

Rawls writes that “charter schools may be discriminating,” citing a 2012 report from the Government Accountability Office that found charter schools enrolled fewer students with disabilities, compared to those at public schools. There is also evidence that charter schools may not be achieving racial equality or helping low-income students. read more

No Federal Prosecution if Wind Turbine Kills Condor

On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced for the first time that it wouldn’t prosecute a wind farm developer if a condor dies in the blades of one its turbines. But it only gets to kill one condor over the project’s expected 30-year life. In giving one free pass to Alta Windpower Development, a subsidiary of Terra-Gen Power, it set a standard for what constitutes reasonable measures to protect the birds that has alarmed their protectors. read more

Chemical Safety Board Accuses ATF of Interfering with Probe of Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion

Moure-Eraso also wrote that the “incident site was massively and irreversibly altered under the direction of ATF personnel, who used cranes, bulldozers and other excavation apparatus in an ultimately unsuccessful quest to find a single ignition source for the original fire.” ATF has said it was the fire marshal’s decision to bar CSB from the site. read more

Texas Bill Allows Police to Seize Guns from People in “Mental Crisis”

Senate Bill 1189, introduced by Republican state Senator Joan Huffman, authorizes law enforcement to seize firearms if a Texan is found to be a danger to themselves or others. Suggested by Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit advocacy organization, the new law was recommended in a 2012 report calling for changes to the state’s mental health code, which hasn’t been updated since 1985. read more

4 States Pass Laws Hiding Names of Suppliers of Death Penalty Drugs

Georgia adopted a new law in March that deems any information about a “person or entity that manufactures, supplies, compounds, or prescribes the drugs, medical supplies or medical equipment” used in executions to be a “confidential state secret.” In addition, three other states — Arkansas, South Dakota and Tennessee — have amended their public records laws to exempt the names of suppliers from disclosure. read more

Widely Used Polygraph Test Proves Faulty

The U.S. Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations detected a problem with the machine in 2002, the year after it came on the market. They notified the manufacturer, Lafayette Instrument Co. Inc., who advised them how to work around the glitch—by using a manual mode of testing rather than the less effective but easier-to-use automatic mode. However, they apparently did not correct the problem or notify other users of the equipment. read more

Study Demonstrates Election Official Bias against Latinos

Of the responses to the emails written with Latino aliases, 31.3% were either non-informative, inaccurate or ambiguous, whereas 24.9% of the responses to Greg Walsh and ”Jake Mueller” fell into these categories. However, the report did conclude “that states with stricter voter ID laws did not exhibit greater differences in response to Latinos versus non-Latinos.” read more

85,000 Vets Treated for Sexual Abuse Injuries and Trauma in 2012

The VA reported that men made up nearly 40% of the patients treated in 2012 for conditions linked to “military sexual trauma.” VA statistics revealed that 20% of women and 1% of men screen positive for military sexual trauma, which the agency defines as “any sexual activity where you are involved against your will.” read more