The Biden administration says Temporary Protection Status is necessary due to extraordinary conditions that make it unsafe to return to the South American country. The decision will affect some 320k people, said the government. TPS will allow a work permit, and a residence for at least 18 months. By Milan Sime Martinic Read more
At a Senate intelligence hearing for an unrelated matter this week, senators ended up asking NSA and other intelligence brass about the president and the Russia investigation. The officials told senators they would not discuss the specifics of conversations with the president. They said they thought it was confidential information that should be protected from … Read more
Although there haven’t been any big breaks in the story, the relationship between Trump, Trump staff, Flynn, and Comey continues to dominate U.S. news headlines this week. Read more
New Orleans has been removing monuments to its Confederate history, led by Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Sunday afternoon protesters met at Lee Square, as did people who support monument removal. The protesters included some considered to be white supremacists, but the peaceful protesters of all beliefs were aligned, as, in the words of one man who attended … Read more
The message delivered from the White House through Stuart Jones, acting assistant secretary for Near East affairs, was: “The regime is responsible for killing as many as 50 detainees per day at Saydnaya. Credible sources have believed that many of the bodies have been disposed in mass graves. We now believe that the Syrian regime … Read more
The new bill has been approved, and it includes an extra $20 billion for defense. Immigration and border patrol get an 8% increase, but there is nothing for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The defense amount includes a 2.1% pay raise for military personnel. There was also nothing in the bill about … Read more
New Orleans removed a monument to the Battle of Liberty Place, part of what is seen as a wider movement to remove symbols of Confederacy and Jim Crow. In the 1874 battle, a mostly Confederate veteran army which was part of the Democratic Party, fought New Orleans metro police and state militia, and held official … Read more
140,000 Americans are now employed by 3,200 Chinese companies operating in the U.S., according to Chinese state media organization Xinhua. The 140k is 9 times the 2009 number. And the dollar figure for investment, $46b, is three times what it was a year earlier. Read more
Q1 for 2017 GDP was weak: 0.7% annualized. Of that, one of the weaker components was consumer spending, which rose only 0.3%, the weakest level for spending since Q4 2009. Read more
In the wake of Trump’s firing of the former FBI director for what Trump called “not doing a good job,” conflicting public messages have come out in favor of and against James Comey. Testimony by acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe (who was until 3 days ago deputy director) in front of Senate Intelligence Committee members … Read more