The Pentagon has confirmed that it will go forward with plans made public last month to sail US Navy ships to the contested Spratly Islands, where China is undertaking large construction projects. The Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer U.S.S. LASSEN (DDG-82) has been deployed to the South China Sea, sending a message to Beijing that China’s recent claims to … Read more
The operator of Shell Oil Corporation’s two Arctic drilling rigs, deployed in Alaska in 2012, has pleaded guilty to eight felony charges for environmental and health and safety violations during its operation of the rigs. Noble Drilling has agreed to pay $12.2 million dollars in fines and community service payments. According to the judgement by … Read more
Between 1998 and 2012, immigration prisoners incarcerated in federal prisons increased 145 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Thirteen US Criminal Alien Requirement (CAR) prisons managed by three private prison corporations house all of America’s 25,000 prisoners convicted of living in the US without proper documentation. The three corporations, Corrections Corporation of America … Read more
Recently, a letter penned by a dying Iraq War veteran has been garnering publicity. The letter, written by Thomas Young and addressed to Former US President George W. Bush and Former US Vice President Dick Cheney, criticizes the former American leaders for their role in the 2003-2011 Iraq War. The letter was written as Young resided in hospice … Read more
The US Consul General in St Petersberg, Bruce Turner, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service who served in Russia and Afghanistan as Director of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement affairs, has published a collection of poems in anticipation of the end of his work in Russia. Turner regretfully admitted that it was hard to leave … Read more
A new bill has passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee with bipartisan support. The USICA bill, if it passes into law–it is expected to be taken up by the full House as early as this summer and the Senate is working on a similar bill–will abolish the current USIB Act, and the current bipartisan board in … Read more
Criticism by privacy advocates has caused the U.S. Homeland Security Department (DHS) to review its proposal for private companies to provide the government with a U.S.-wide database of licence plate tracking information. The concerns raised by privacy advocates include the gratuitous nature of the privacy intrusion, the lack of regulations and safeguards regarding the data … Read more
Senator Anthony Cannella of California has announced new amendments for January to the current anti-revenge-porn laws of that state, legislation currently framed under the blanket cyberbullying category. The amendments will broaden the criminalization of revenge-porn, applying it to self-shot images, so that anyone distributing revenge-porn will be liable. Cannella intends to present the amendments to … Read more
The U.S. has a special relationship with South Sudan, being responsible in large part for the creation of South Sudan in 2011. Last Friday a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing was held in Washington about South Sudan, specifically about civil unrest and ethnic cleansing in the country. The Senate engaged in dialogue with two … Read more
Two opposite court judgements have been handed down regarding the NSA surveillance program in 10 days by two US district judges in two states. On December 27, US District Judge William Pauley in New York ruled in ACLU v. James R. Clapper that the NSA’s metadata program is lawful under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The ACLU … Read more