During the 2008 campaign, then-candidate Obama promised that his administration would be the most open and transparent in American history – in history! Jefferson be damned. He’s repeated that sound bite multiple times, stating that they have instituted rules that, for example, disallow registered lobbyists from working at the White House and make White House … Continue reading »
As if US-Russian relations weren’t already complicated enough, a breaking spy scandal has resulted in the expulsion of Ryan Christopher Fogle, a junior diplomat at the US Embassy in Moscow, who allegedly attempted to recruit a Russian intelligence officer to spy for the CIA. Reading the American and Russian press in the wake of the … Continue reading »
On Wednesday, Sally Jewell was officially appointed as the new head of the Department of the Interior. Jewell has spent her professional life outside of the political realm, which made her a desirable candidate for many people. She began her career as an engineer for Mobil Oil where she worked for several years. She later … Continue reading »
Today marks the final time the nameplate on the desk of America’s highest ranking diplomat will read Hillary Clinton. At close of business, the former first lady turned Senator, will leave her post as Secretary of State after 4 years of traveling nearly 1 million miles to nearly 100 countries, a record-breaking feat. She has … Continue reading »
Yesterday, Former Senator Chuck Hagel testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Republicans did not pull any punches in their questioning of Hagel. The main concerns of Senate Republicans in the confirmation hearing centered on these issues: 1. In August 2006, Hagel was 1 of only 12 Senators who refused to write to … Continue reading »
By William Lewis On January 7th President Obama announced that he was nominating Former Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska to be the next Secretary of Defense. Hagel served two terms in the U.S. Senate and was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His nomination immediately caused a firestorm of criticism from Democrats and … Continue reading »
By Mike Gruccio Late last week a seldom heard voice echoed throughout the regulatory reform debate forum when the U.S. Department of State openly stood behind the controversial Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ‘Resource Extraction Rule.’ This rule, developed as part of the continuing cavalcade of Dodd-Frank initiatives, went into effect last August with the … Continue reading »
The Magnitsky Act, a bill that recently passed in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, seeks to punish corrupt Russian officials. The bill, named after Sergei Magnitsky who discovered that Russian officials stole $230 million from the Russian treasury and alerted officials, and was later imprisoned and allegedly beaten and denied medical … Continue reading »
Last week, Congress overwhelmingly voted to increase sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although nuclear nonproliferation has become my life work’s purpose, I can’t, in my right mind, agree with our government’s decision to add increased sanctions. On the other Before you stop reading, hear me out. First, let’s examine the general reasons for … Continue reading »
What does 6 billion dollars buy you? Apparently in politics, it buys you an almost unchanged House, Senate, and President. In fairness, out of the 6 billion dollars spent, only – and I say only because in perspective it can be qualified as such – around 680 million was spent by super PACs on independent … Continue reading »
