Tag Archives: Dianne Feinstein

Challenging EPA’s New FOIA Rule, Suit Seeks to Stop Trump’s “Shameful Attempt to Keep Americans in the Dark”

“We have a right to know what EPA is trying to hide and which Trump appointee is trying to hide it.”

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-24-2019

EPA headquarters in Washington. EPA/Flickr

A new lawsuit seeks to kill a recent Trump administration rule that critics say deals a blow to transparency by giving the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority to shoot down public information requests.

The new rule—put in place without public input—was published on the Federal Register June 26 and goes into effect July 26. Continue reading

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Mitch ‘Nuclear Option’ McConnell Poised to Turn Steady Stream of Trump’s Right-Wing Judges Into a Flood

Critics warn that even if Democrats regain control of White House and Senate, the flood of judges could mean there will be no more vacancies to fill post-2020

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 3-6-2019

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is reportedly planning to change the chamber’s rules to make it easier to confirm right-wing judicial nominees to lifetime appointments. (Photo: Gage Skidmore/cc/flickr)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is reportedly pursuing a “nuclear option” rule change to make it easier to push through a flood of President Donald Trump’s right-wing judges.

Under the new rules, nominees for lifetime appointments on lower courts would only require a simple majority of votes rather than the current 67. Critics condemned the move as “hijacking” the federal judiciary and pointed out that even if Democrats regain control of the Senate and White House in the next election, they may not have any more spots to fill post-2020. Continue reading

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“It’s What Happens in a Totalitarian Regime”: Capitol Police Slammed for “Disturbing” Physical Attacks on Reporters

“It was insane, people were getting shoved into walls. It was unsustainable. It was violent.”

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 2-16-2019

Capitol Police became physically aggressive toward journalists who were trying to speak with senators at the Russell Senate Office Building on Thursday afternoon, according to a Roll Call report. (Photo: @pkcapitol/Twitter)

Press freedom advocates and journalists described a Friday report of Capitol Police manhandling and shoving reporters in the Russell Senate Office Building as “bizarre” and “disturbing,” with some calling the altercation an incident far more likely to take place in a totalitarian regime than in a democracy.

As Roll Call reported Friday, Capitol Police pushed and “slammed into” reporters on Thursday afternoon around the time that senators were voting on the spending bill. The police attempted to prevent reporters from speaking to lawmakers—a practice that is common in the Senate Capitol basement, where the incident took place. Continue reading

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Sexual Assault Survivors Share #WhyIDidntReport in Response to Trump’s Ignorant Attack on Ford

“Two out of three sexual assaults are never reported. Might have something to do with the fact that for every 1,000 rapes, 994 perpetrators walk free.”

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 9-21-2018

Women and men shared their reasons for not reporting their sexual assaults after President Donald Trump attacked Christine Blasey Ford on Friday. (Photo: NARAL)

Immediately following President Donald Trump’s tweet attacking Dr. Christine Blasey Ford for not reporting her alleged sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when it happened more than three decades ago, women and men alike expressed outrage and shared the facts about why rape and sexual abuse are some of the world’s most under-reported crimes.

The hashtag #WhyIDidntReport took off almost instantly, with survivors documenting their experiences of having their allegations dismissed or ignored, facing systems in which they would have to prove the wrong-doing of their far more powerful assailants, and being shamed by their communities after confiding in others about their attacks. Continue reading

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Demanding End to ‘Unprecedented’ Secrecy, Senators Say Kavanaugh May Have Perjured Himself About Role in Post-9/11 Torture Program

“Release documents from Judge Kavanaugh’s time in the White House in the same manner as was done for all previous Supreme Court nominees. The truth should not be hidden from the Senate or the American people.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 8-17-2018

Then-President George W. Bush looks on as Justice Anthony Kennedy swears in Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on June 1, 2006. (Photo: Eric Draper/White House)

Three Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee claimed Thursday that documents suggest “wildly unpopular” U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh lied to lawmakers about his role in the George W. Bush administration’s torture program during his 2006 confirmation hearing to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Ben Wikler, Washington director of MoveOn.org—one of the groups leading the #StopKavanaugh effort that has grown out of concerns about Kavanaugh’s record on reproductive rights, the environmenthuman rightslabor, healthcare, and net neutrality—tweeted: Continue reading

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CIA Operative Gina Haspel Who Tortured, Ordered CIA Torture Tapes Destroyed, and Now Wants To Lead CIA Did Nothing Wrong, Says CIA

“Torture was illegal and immoral after 9/11, and it still is now,” warn critics. And Gina Haspel “should never be allowed to work for the American people again.”

By Jon Queally, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 4-21-2018

Gina Haspel, who was in charge of a black site in Thailand where torture occurred and ordered the destruction of CIA tapes of the human rights violations, has been nominated to become director of the spy agency. (Photo: CIA / with overlay)

In what critics are calling a bald attempt to help Trump’s controversial pick to lead the CIA get through a very difficult confirmation process, the CIA on Friday released a previously classifed memo in which Gina Haspel was “cleared” of any wrongdoing when she destroyed more than 90 videotapes of agency operatives torturing human beings.

According to the Associated Press, which first reported the story, the CIA on Friday “gave lawmakers a declassified memo Friday showing [Haspel] was cleared years ago of wrongdoing in the destruction of videotapes showing terror suspects being waterboarded after 9/11.” Continue reading

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‘Missing-Persons Crisis’: US Border Patrol Reportedly Uses Desert as Killing Tool

New report finds agents chase border crossers into Southwest desert, where they often become lost, are left to die, or disappear altogether

By Nadia Prupis, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 12-7-2016

In 1994, Border Patrol adopted a strategy known as Prevention Through Deterrence, which sought to control the region by increasing the risk of coming into the country without documents. (Photo: Texas Military Department/flickr/cc)

In 1994, Border Patrol adopted a strategy known as Prevention Through Deterrence, which sought to control the region by increasing the risk of coming into the country without documents. (Photo: Texas Military Department/flickr/cc)

The U.S. Border Patrol has used the south-western desert to set up the death and disappearances of tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, according to a new report by the Arizona-based advocacy groups No More Deaths/No Más Muertes and La Coalición de Derechos Humanos.

The report, entitled Disappeared: How U.S. Border-Enforcement Agencies are Fueling a Missing-Persons Crisis, finds that Border Patrol agents routinely chase border crossers into “remote terrain,” causing them to scatter, which often causes them to become lost, leading to death, injury, or disappearance. Continue reading

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