Defense Distributed, the Texas-based company specializing in 3-D-printed plastic firearms, took down its downloadable files on Thursday at the request of the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Control Compliance. The company posted a blueprint for the first fully-operational printed plastic handgun, “The Liberator,” on Monday at its site, DEFCAD; the file was downloaded more…
Author: TRP
Rand Paul Wants to Loosen Laws on Offshore Tax Evasion
Late Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a bill that would repeal part of a law aimed at fighting offshore tax evasion. The law, called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, was passed in 2010 and is supposed to go into effect on January 1, 2014. It requires foreign financial institutions to report information…
St. Louis Is Burning | St. Louis Landfill Fire
The story of West Lake’s radioactive waste goes back to April 1942, when a St. Louis company called Mallinckrodt Chemical Works began purifying tens of thousands of tons of uranium for the University of Chicago as part of the Manhattan Project. Mallinckrodt’s workers did not receive adequate safety protections and had little knowledge of what…
Radical Economic Experiment Thats Quietly Keeping The Economy Afloat
Progressives need to make monetary policy something politicians have to answer for. The Fed’s policy is set by the 12 voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee FOMC, seven of whom are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. This process, and the views on monetary policy of the people who…
Solyndra Was This Much of an Outlier in the Energy Departments Portfolio
The latest data from the Department of Energy indicates that the same loan guarantee program which was roundly criticized after the failure of Solyndra has now created more than 20,000 jobs in clean energy, with several companies already paying back their obligations. The Department of Energy currently has a portfolio of 28 companies that have…
Seven things you learn driving the length of the Keystone XL pipeline
We’ve heard a lot about the Keystone pipeline these past few years — which, if approved, would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta down to refineries in the Gulf Coast. Supporters say the pipeline will improve U.S. energy security. Environmentalists say the tar sands will prove disastrous for global warming. That debate can get…
Judicial Vacancies Languish On Key Federal Appeals Court
The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., is sometimes called the second most important court in the country, regularly delivering the final word on major environmental, labor and national security cases. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has a whopping four vacancies, the most in the nation, including one…
Arkansas House votes to override veto of voter ID bill
Republican lawmakers in Arkansas voted on Monday to override a veto by the states Democratic governor and approve a bill that requires voters to show photo identification at the polls, prompting an outcry from civil libertarians who vowed to fight the law. Legislators in the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives voted 52-45 to override Democratic…
Obama Parries With House GOP on Budget, Immigration
President Barack Obama continued his push for a grand bargain, an immigration overhaul and the rest of his agenda in a meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday, but GOP leaders immediately shut the door on any compromises that would include new taxes. Obama appealed to Republicans to come to the table on a bipartisan budget…
14 GOP Congressmen Who Think Government Shouldn’t Borrow Have Big Debts Of Their Own
Government is nothing like a business and cannot be run as one — its aim is to protect its citizens, not to turn a profit. Businesses and individuals often borrow in the short term to make investments for the long term — mortgages, lines of credits, and other sorts of loans are facts of…
America’s Share of the Global Solar Market Grew Strongly in 2012
It may not compare to the German solar market. But the U.S. is definitely becoming a major force globally when it comes to new installations. According to the 2012 Solar Market Insight report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association, America installed 3,313 megawatts of solar capacity last year — accounting for 11 percent…
Report Estimates Employer Costs From States’ Refusal To Expand Medicaid
According to Bloomberg, the report by Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. estimates the cost to employers to be $1 billion. Meanwhile, other news outlets report on state-level decisions and developments related to the expansion. Bloomberg: Refusal To Expand Medicaid May Cost Employers $1 Billion Governors who refuse to expand their Medicaid programs for the poor…
Fiscal squeeze hits air controllers
The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed a hiring freeze to help blunt the sequester’s impact, but that threatens to disrupt the pipeline of new air traffic controllers needed to replace the thousands of workers eligible for retirement. That’s no small problem, considering the sheer number of controllers who are eligible to retire right now —…
Koch Brothers Mulling L.A. Times Bid
Two of the world’s richest — and most controversial — brothers are considering a bid for the Los Angeles Times. David and Charles Koch, billionaire industrialists who own Koch Industries, America’s second-largest privately held company, have expressed interest in the Tribune Co. newspapers. The Chicago-based empire emerged from a long bankruptcy Dec. 31 and has…
Paul Ryan’s budget: Social engineering with a side of deficit reduction
Here is Paul Ryan’s path to a balanced budget in three sentences: He cuts deep into spending on health care for the poor and some combination of education, infrastructure, research, public-safety, and low-income programs. The Affordable Care Act’s Medicare cuts remain, but the military is spared, as is Social Security. There’s a vague individual…
If Corporations Don’t Pay Taxes, Why Should You?
Go offshore young man and avoid paying taxes. Plunder at will in those foreign lands, and if you get in trouble, Uncle Sam will come rushing to your assistance, diplomatically, financially and militarily, even if you have managed to avoid paying for those government services. Just pretend you’re a multinational corporation. That’s the honest instruction…
Ryan in Fantasyland
Voters might not have focused on the fact that Ryan’s original plan wouldn’t have produced a balanced budget until today’s high-school students reached middle age, but the true deficit hawks in the House Republican caucus certainly noticed. They demanded a budget that reached balance much sooner. Hence Ryan’s revised plan, which claims to accomplish this…
With new group, Obama team seeks answer to Karl Rove
On Wednesday, some of President Barack Obama’s most dedicated donors will fly to Washington and pony up $50,000 to attend a fundraiser for Organizing for Action, a progressive new kid on the block trying to counter the likes of Karl Rove and the Koch brothers. Obama will give a speech to the group, an independent…
Congress Approval Stagnant at Low Level
The current 13% reading, based on interviewing conducted March 7-10, is just a few percentage points above the all-time low of 10% reached twice last year. At this low level, negative views of what Congress does, or does not do, are probably already “built into” the ratings. These low ratings could improve if Congress…
In U.S., 71% Back Raising Minimum Wage
Seven in 10 Americans say they would vote “for” raising the minimum wage to $9 per hour if given the opportunity, while 27% would vote against such a bill. The proposal, made by President Barack Obama in his 2013 State of the Union speech, is backed by over 90% of Democrats and self-described liberals, and…