Domestic Glance
A former federal judge who served on a secret court overseeing the National Security Agency's secret surveillance programs denied Tuesday that the judges act as "rubber stamps." But James Robertson said the system is flawed because of its failure to allow legal adversaries to question the government's actions.
"Anyone who has been a judge will tell you a judge needs to hear both sides of a case," Robertson, a former federal district judge based in Washington who served on the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, said during a hearing of the federal oversight board directed by President Barack Obama to scrutinize government spying.
Former judge admits flaws in secret court
Somali American caught up in a shadowy Pentagon counterpropaganda campaign
Two days after he became a U.S. citizen, Abdiwali Warsame embraced the First Amendment by creating a raucous Web site about his native Somalia. Packed with news and controversial opinions, it rapidly became a magnet for Somalis dispersed around the world, including tens of thousands in Minnesota.
The popularity of the site, Somalimidnimo.com, or United Somalia, also attracted the attention of the Defense Department. A military contractor, working for U.S. Special Operations forces to “counter nefarious influences” in Africa, began monitoring the Web site and compiled a confidential research dossier about its founder and its content.
The 10 most dangerous places to be a woman in America
Lately, the preferred strategy for reproductive rights opponents in the United States seems to be: If you can’t beat Roe v. Wade, then simply regulate around it.
Whether it’s the newly imposed 72-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions in South Dakota, or Virginia’s Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider (TRAP) law that shuttered a clinic after 40 years in operation because the ventilation and temperature control systems required by the new regulations were simply too expensive, when it comes to undermining women’s autonomy and banning abortion in 2013, it’s all about petty bureaucracy.
States with the most dangerous bridges
From rural covered passes to modern engineering marvels, bridges overcome natural obstacles and expedite transportation. Yet many of the bridges that people drive on every day are in rough shape. According to one transportation group, more than one in 10 of the country's bridges are in need of serious repair or replacement.
In many states, the situation is more dire. Nearly a quarter of the bridges in Pennsylvania are structurally deficient, the highest of all states, according to Transportation for America, a grassroots organization advocating updated transportation infrastructure.
The Biggest Liberal Protest Of 2013 In 35 Photos & Video
To little national fanfare, the largest liberal protest of 2013 took place on Monday this week in North Carolina, with thousands in attendance and hundreds getting arrested.
For weeks, faith leaders in the Tar Heel State have gathered every Monday to give voice to women, the poor, and other groups under attack by the Republican-held legislature. (To learn more about how Republicans won back the North Carolina statehouse for the first time since the Civil War, read Ian Millhiser’s recent piece “How One Millionaire Is Turning North Carolina Into A Tea Party Utopia”.)
Saying times have changed, Supreme Court guts Voting Rights Act core
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote Tuesday, struck down a core provision of the Voting Rights Act that singles out part of the country for special treatment.
The outlawed provision, Section 4, identifies all or parts of 16 states, mainly in the South. A separate provision, Section 5, not struck down by the Supreme Court, forces them to get permission -- or "preclearance" -- from the U.S. Justice Department or a three-judge federal panel in Washington to make any changes in how people vote in their jurisdictions, no matter how innocuous.
The real supreme court stunner: sometimes workplace harassment is OK
Every June a few US supreme court cases get a reputation for being blockbusters, and this year has been no different. We're still awaiting decisions on cases concerning gay marriage and the Voting Rights Act. But the blockbusters can obscure smaller cases with profound effects. On Monday, the court quietly delivered a destructive, toxic decision on workplace harassment that is as significant as anything else this year.
Vance v Ball State University, which concerned the interpretation of a section of the Civil Rights Act, shouldn't have even reached America's highest court – but it did, and the court's right wing grabbed ahold and used it to further gut workplace protections.
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