Here’s what the IRS has been looking for. The biggest political farce on earth is the extraordinarily naïve perception that a Tea Party 501 (c) (3), the right-wing entity that sprung up nationwide, fully nurtured and politicized in a matter of weeks, hasn’t been in daily violation of the letter and spirit of what…
Category: News & Opinion
The IRS Scandal Disintegrates into Wild and Unproven Republican Accusations
The press is reporting both that IRS chief the Bush appointee who was running the IRS in May of 2012 knew about what the IRS was doing in their Ohio office and that the now acting commissioner also knew in May. This narrative presumes that the IRS was guilty of targeting conservatives, which has actually…
Alex Wagner: IRS, AP, and Benghazi
Here’s a good segment from NOW with Alex Wagner about the latest so-called scandals with a nice summary at the beginning.
USDA Sticks It to Monsanto and Dow—at Least Temporarily
Back in early 2012, the US Department of Agriculture seemed on the verge of approving new genetically modified crops from agrichemical giants Monsanto and Dow. The two companies were pushing new corn and soy varieties that would respond to the ever-expanding problem of herbicide-tolerant superweeds by bringing more-toxic herbicides into the mix—and likely ramping…
A New Progressive Voice From New Mexico Joins the Senate
When Martin Heinrich was in seventh grade, he learned a lesson about labor relations. His mother worked in a non-union auto-supply factory; when management informed the workers that their hours were going to shift from five days a week to six, there wasn’t much they could do. When they then moved to seven days…
Medicaid Opinions: Several State Leaders Come In For Heat For Not Moving Toward Expansion
Editorials and columnists in several papers around the country pressed officials toward accepting a Medicaid expansion and offered suggestions about implementation. Also, comments continued about a recent study on Medicaid. Los Angeles Times: A Public Health Compromise For California The Legislature is poised to offer health insurance to millions of additional low-income Californians, with…
State Department Forces Texas Law Student to Take Down Instructions for 3-D-Printed Guns
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…
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…