Immigration bill clears early test vote; Obama calls for action
The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday, June 11, to begin debate and amendments on a historic immigration bill, burying a procedural roadblock that opponents regularly use to delay or even kill legislation.With November's election results indicating broad support for updating the country's immigration laws, even some senators who have...
Activists urge National 9/11 Museum to acknowledge historic “Little Syria” in permanent exhibition
June 14th, 20130 NEW YORK — Activists are continuing to urge the National September 11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center to acknowledge “Little Syria” in its permanent exhibition. Throughout the late 1880s, up until the 1940s, the area around the World Trade Center was known for having a vibrant and growing Arab American community....Rice replaces Donilon as Obama’s top foreign policy adviser
WASHINGTON, UNITED NATIONS — In a reshuffle of top foreign policy posts in his second term, President Barack Obama announced on June 5 that his controversial and blunt-spoken U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice, will replace Tom Donilon as his national security adviser.He also announced that another longtime aide on the National Security...Obama administration defends massive surveillance program
The Obama administration defended on Thursday June 6 its collection of the telephone records of millions of Americans as part of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, re-igniting a fierce debate over privacy even as it called the program critical to warding off an attack.The admission came after Britain's Guardian newspaper published on...Russia struggles with U.S. and France to shape Geneva II
The Russians are on the offensive; the Americans are playing the role of the listener, and sometimes the arbiter; and the French are playing the role of the Syrian opposition’s defender. Thus seemed Monday’s (May 27) meeting that grouped the foreign ministers of Russia, Sergey Lavrov; the U.S., John Kerry; and France, Laurent...McCain seen with Lebanese pilgrims’ kidnappers during visit to Syria
Aleppo - The Obama administration said on Tuesday it knew in advance of a trip to Syria by U.S. Senator John McCain, a visit that raised questions over whether the Republican senator met with the kidnappers of a group of Lebanese pilgrims held hostage for the past year.U.S. officials had little to say about the trip by McCain, an...Study: American Muslims volunteer twice as much as general public
Just over a month after the Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent arrest of one of the Muslim suspects, the spotlight has once again fallen on the American Muslim community. Yet, very little data exists about American Muslim communities. A new study, released by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), provides a...Pentagon: The Chinese stole our newest weapons
The designs for more than two dozen major weapons systems used by the United States military have fallen into the hands of the Chinese, US Department of Defense officials say.Blueprints for the Pentagon’s most advanced weaponry, including the Black Hawk helicopter and the brand new Littoral Combat Ship, used by the Navy, have all been...Experts: Immigration reform would boost Michigan, nation’s economy
Michigan United and the Center for American Progress, joined by experts from around Michigan, held a phone press conference on May 23 to highlight the positive economic impact that immigration reform would have on the state and the country.Last month, a group of bipartisan senators, known as "the Gang of Eight," introduced to the Senate...An increasingly unchecked surveillance state
The most egregious rights violations tend to happen against the voiceless; those who have neither the platform nor resources to articulate their grievances to the broader world.Last week, however, the U.S. Department of Justice was caught in a very public transgression against the freedom of an influential and empowered private...
U.S. Congress unanimously moves toward full trade embargo on Iran
May 24th, 20130 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress moved closer here Wednesday to imposing a full trade embargo against Iran and pledged its support to Israel if it felt compelled to attack Tehran’s nuclear program in self-defense.The Senate voted 99-0 to adopt a resolution that urged President Barack Obama to fully enforce existing economic...Syria as a game-changer: U.S. political impotence in the Middle East
In an article published on May 15, 2013, American historical social scientist Immanuel Wallerstein wrote, "Nothing illustrates more the limitations of Western power than the internal controversy its elites are having in public about what the United States in particular and western European states should be doing about the civil war in...Will Al-Jazeera retrieve its lost credibility in U.S.?
The pan-Arab news giant is laying the groundwork for the launch of Al-Jazeera America after its purchase of Current TV, a struggling U.S. cable channel.It will likely face an uphill battle for viewers, but could solidify its journalistic brand, analysts say."Al-Jazeera is going into extremely unfamiliar terrain," said Adel Iskandar, a...Employees who work overtime must be paid for it
In a sluggish economy, people who complain about their employer tend to hear something like “you should feel lucky to even have a job.” Perhaps there is some truth to that statement. However, most people would probably agree that it would be unacceptable to tell a woman lamenting over her abusive husband to feel fortunate...
As scandals mount, White House springs into damage control
May 17th, 20130 WASHINGTON — With no sign of an end to three mushrooming scandals, the White House acknowledged the rising political dangers on Wednesday by launching a concerted effort at damage control.In a whirlwind few hours, the administration moved forcefully to counter criticism of its handling of the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, the......
Abe Foxman rationalizes blanket spying on American Muslims
May 17th, 20130 The Anti-Defamation League turned 100 this week. Renowned for its early anti-racism efforts, the group can, and should, boast of its role in American Jewry's unabashed and unqualified rise into the nation's establishment. There's still, to be sure, remnants of American anti-Semitism; those strains of thought are worthy of a wary eye and...Tax chief forced out in IRS scandal
WASHINGTON — Washington's top tax official was fired on Wednesday, as President Barack Obama sought to stem a rising tide of criticism over the Internal Revenue Service's improper targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny.With three congressional probes of the IRS looming and Republicans' calls for firings at the agency......
Obama shies from Iran nuke deal
To maintain the illusion of some prospect for progress in nuclear diplomacy with Tehran, European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton will meet with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in Istanbul next week. Purportedly, Ashton will see if the P5+1 dialogue with Iran can be put back on track after yet another round...Immigration bill passes first early test in Senate
In the first legislative test for the U.S. Senate's bipartisan immigration bill, the Judiciary Committee rejected a Republican attempt to significantly delay the legalization process for 11 million undocumented immigrants, a central focus of the bill.Only the two Republican co-authors of the bill, Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona and...
Stephen Hawking joins academic boycott of Israel
May 10th, 20130 In a show of solidarity with the academic boycott of Israel, Professor Stephen Hawking has pulled out of a conference hosted by Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. His decision is in protest to Israel's treatment of Palestinians.Hawking, 71, the world-renowned theoretical physicist and former Lucasian Professor of...The government is “us?” Not last time I checked
In a speech last month about proposed gun control legislation, President Obama decried opponents’ attempts to encourage “suspicion about government.” “The government’s us,” he responded. “These officials are elected by you. They are constrained as I am constrained, by a system that our founders put in place.”But if......
Obama to support Internet wiretapping program
The FBI has been considering solutions to their so-called “Going Dark” problem as intricate methods of encryption and advances in technology have made it increasingly difficult for the federal government and law enforcement to gain access to online communications conducted in the shadows of the Web. Should the latest efforts of the...10 facts you need to know about immigrant women
Immigrant women are at the forefront of advocacy to fix our nation’s broken immigration system, and they also play an important role in our society and economy. All too often, however, media portrayals of immigrants feature a single Hispanic male without status. In reality, immigrant women in the United States—both documented and......
Double trouble: Democrats, Republicans failing Americans
The Republican Party is in trouble, and it knows it. But it does not have a clue what to do. The Democratic Party is in trouble, too. But its troubles run much deeper: It does not even recognize that it has a problem, as it stands on the brink of making that problem substantially worse. Just after the circus known as CPAC came...Poll: Americans more concerned about civil liberties in wake of Boston bombing
Two weeks after the Boston Marathon terror attacks, the American people are far more concerned about new government limits on civil liberties than the need for new law enforcement measures to prevent future attacks, according to a new TIME/CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday.When given a choice, 61 percent of Americans say they are more......