Tag Archives: Tom Cotton

Trump Calls On GOP to Kill Bill Designed to Protect Journalists

“The fact that Trump is railing against the PRESS Act tells us everything we need to know: He wants no shackles when it comes to attacking, intimidating, silencing the press,” warned one legal expert.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-21-2024 by Common Dreams

*Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Glendale, AZ on August 23, 2024. Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/CC*

Journalists and press freedom advocates this week responded to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s attack on a proposed federal shield law with renewed calls for the Senate to pass the House-approved bill before he returns to office in January.

“REPUBLICANS MUST KILL THIS BILL!” Trump said on his social media platform Wednesday, responding to a new “PBS News Hour” segment in which Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), discussed the proposal’s importance.

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GOP Senators Threaten ICC: ‘Target Israel and We Will Target You’

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“You have been warned,” wrote 12 Republican lawmakers led by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

By Jake Johnson. Published 5-6-2024 by Common Dreams

*Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) . Photo: Michael Vadon/flickr/CC*

Just over a week before the International Criminal Court issued a statement condemning threats against the institution, a dozen Republicans in the U.S. Senate sent a letter to the ICC’s prosecutor warning him against pursuing charges against Israeli officials over war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.

The letter, dated April 24 and reported exclusively by Zeteo on Monday, explicitly threatens U.S. retaliation against the ICC if it issues arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top Israeli officials.

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Press Freedom Group Slams Tom Cotton for Boosting ‘Malicious Disinformation’ About Gaza Journalists

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The U.S. senator and top Israeli officials have “put journalists’ lives at risk” by seizing on a baseless report, the Freedom of the Press Foundation said.

By Jake Johnson. Published 11-11-2023 by Common Dreams

*Senator Tom Cotton. Photo: Michael Vadon/flickr/CC*

A U.S.-based press freedom group slammed Republican Sen. Tom Cotton and top Israeli officials on Friday for uncritically boosting a report that falsely suggested Gaza-based photojournalists who were on the scene during Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel last month were in some way complicit in the assault.

The report, published on November 8 by the Israeli media watchdog HonestReporting, stated that “judging from the pictures of lynching, kidnapping, and storming of an Israeli kibbutz, it seems like the border has been breached not only physically, but also journalistically.”

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US Bill to Protect Reporters From Exploitative State Spying Heads to House Floor

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“Journalists must be able to freely report on government actions without fear the government will compel them to reveal their sources,” said one campaigner.

By Julia Conley. Published 7-19-2023 by Common Dreams

Privacy and First Amendment advocates on Wednesday urged the U.S. House to pass legislation that would protect the United States’ bedrock freedoms and a core tenet of journalism: the right of reporters to guard the identities of their sources.

The House Judiciary Committee advanced the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act with bipartisan support, despite claims in recent months by Republican lawmakers such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that the legislation would “immunize journalists and leakers alike from scrutiny and consequences for their actions.”

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Tom Cotton Blocks Senate PRESS Act Designed to Protect Journalists

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“Sen. Cotton’s hostility to press freedoms demonstrates exactly why these protections are needed,” said one advocate, calling for inclusion of the bill in an end-of-year spending package.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 12-14-2022 by Common Dreams

U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas speaking at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/CC

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton on Wednesday blocked the passage of a House-approved bipartisan bill that’s been heralded by advocates as “the most important free press legislation in modern times.”

The Senate had in recent days faced mounting pressure from journalists, press freedom groups, and others to follow the House’s lead and approve the Protect Reporters From Exploitative State Spying (PRESS) Act, spearheaded by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). Continue reading →

‘Enough Is Enough’: 8 Senate Dems Slammed for Going ‘Hand-in-Hand With GOP’ to Oppose Covid Relief for Undocumented Workers

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“Let us be clear on this. Not only do undocumented community members pay taxes, they are also suffering as much as anyone else because of this pandemic.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 2-5-2021

John Hickenlooper speaking with attendees at the 2019 National Forum on Wages and Working People hosted by the Center for the American Progress Action Fund and the SEIU at the Enclave in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/CC

As the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 456,000 and U.S. senators participated in a 15-hour overnight voting session, eight Democrats elicited outrage and condemnation from rights advocates and progressives for backing a GOP amendment to explicitly exclude undocumented immigrants—including essential frontline workers—from receiving direct Covid-19 relief.”We expected this vote from Republicans, but seeing Democrats vote this way is a betrayal to the values they say they stand for.”

The “vote-a-rama” on a series of nonbinding Republican amendments culminated in the Senate approving along party lines a budget resolution that could eventually enable congressional Democrats to implement President Joe Biden’s $1.9 American Rescue Plan—which does not include relief checks for undocumented immigrants. Continue reading →

Staffer Outrage, Sickout Spurred by NYT Publication of Sen. Cotton ‘Send in the Troops’ Op-Ed

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“Running this puts @nytimes’ Black staff in danger.”

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 6-4-2020

The New York Times’s decision to publish Sen. Tom Cotton’s op-ed calling for U.S. military to quell the nationwide protests over the police killing of George Floyd has drawn sharp rebuke, including from the newspaper’s own writers. (Photo: Ajay Suresh/Wikimedia Commons/cc)

The New York Times‘s Wednesday publication of Sen. Tom Cotton’s op-ed calling for the U.S. military to respond to ongoing protests across the nation with an “overwhelming show of force” sparked outcry from the newspaper’s own staffers and a “sickout” protest Thursday.

Among the staff critics was 2020 Pulitzer Prizer winner Nikole Hannah-Jones. “I’ll probably get in trouble for this, but to not say something would be immoral,” she tweeted Wednesday. “As a black woman, as a journalist, as an American, I am deeply ashamed that we ran this.” Continue reading →

Virginia’s uranium mining battle flips traditional views of federal and state power

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Cale Jaffe, University of Virginia

The Supreme Court will decide in 2019 whether a Virginia law that bans uranium mining is preempted by the Atomic Energy Act, the U.S. law governing the processing and enrichment of nuclear material.

The case, Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren, will require the court to interpret laws governing nuclear fuel production. But its most significant, long-term impact might be the glimpse it provides into the court’s view of the proper balance between federal regulatory power and the rights of states in setting their own policies. Continue reading →

Serving Wall Street Predators, GOP Launches Swift Attack on New Rule Protecting Consumers

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The rule from the CFPB blocks ‘a fine-print trick that banks and predatory lenders use to evade accountability and conceal illegal behavior’

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-12-2017

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau architect Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), seen here in 2016, said the new rule from the agency “will allow working families to hold big banks accountable when they’re cheated.” (Photo: New America/flickr/cc)

A new rule by a federal watchdog—hailed as having “paramount importance” for protecting consumers from Wall Street predators and curbing corporate abuses—is under direct attack by Republicans just days after being issued.

The rule from the successful and broadly-supported Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) bans companies from using mandatory arbitration clauses, which makes consumers give up their right to file or join class-action lawsuits. In other words, it blocks “rip-off clauses” that are “a fine-print trick that banks and predatory lenders use to evade accountability and conceal illegal behavior,” as advocacy group Public Citizen put it, noting that they are also used by many corporations. Continue reading →

Industry Was Doubly Generous with 13 GOP Senators Now Drafting Trumpcare

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While baker’s dozen of Republicans’ all-male, all-white legislative team draft bill in secret, analysis reveals giving of insurance and pharmaceutical industries

By Common Dreams. Published 6-21-2017

According to Maplight, a watchdog that tracks campaign spending, those chosen by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to draft the Senate’s version of Trumpcare legislation have collected, on average, $214,000 from companies that that will be directly affected by major changes to the nation’s healthcare system. (Photos: Getty Images (5); AP (5); Reuters (3))

As a group of 13 Republican senators—all of them both white and male—continue to craft in secret their version of a major healthcare overhaul bill, a new analysis shows these lawmakers have received approximately double the amount of campaign contributions from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries than their Senate colleagues who have been so far excluded from the process. Continue reading →

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Tag Archives: Tom Cotton

Virginia’s uranium mining battle flips traditional views of federal and state power

Industry Was Doubly Generous with 13 GOP Senators Now Drafting Trumpcare

While baker’s dozen of Republicans’ all-male, all-white legislative team draft bill in secret, analysis reveals giving of insurance and pharmaceutical industries