Government agencies like FEMA are rarely the object of public attention, but when a crisis comes, their actions and decisions have important implications for citizens’ welfare. For government agencies to deliver effectively when the bright light of the national media is shining upon them, they must conduct careful planning when not under public scrutiny. The … Continue reading
The full fury of the press corps has recently been directed towards the Obama administration and their investigations into two leaks – one looking into an AP story on a foiled terrorist plot, and the other, a Fox News story on North Korean nuclear tests. The two Department of Justice probes, while similar in scope, … Continue reading
The US’s booming energy resources are changing the landscape, and not just from the Midwest to the Intermountain West. A recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that North American oil production may affect the global market as dramatically as the recent increase in Chinese demand. IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven … Continue reading
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
This has been an eventful week in Washington…or should I say, for President Obama and his administration? On top of the recent scandals, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is being accused of soliciting private and non-private companies for donations. Her effort to raise money for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) … Continue reading
Perhaps only the Marines are able to make holding an umbrella over another person look powerful and executed with precision. As these marines stood stoic, Mother Nature reminded her critics on Thursday that she too has a flair for the poetic when rain began to fall on President Obama’s joint press conference with the Turkish … Continue reading
The Bureau of Land Management has released a new proposal for rules governing the use of hydraulic fracturing on federal land. This proposal contains revisions from last year’s proposal that better balance environmental and business interests over the controversial drilling technique. Hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking,’ has been used in conventional, vertical wells since at least … 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
Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) unveiled her first piece of legislation on the Senate floor — a proposal to allow students to borrow at the same rates as banks. While this move galvanizes the populist movement, the economics behind it does not quite add up. The interest rate on direct subsidized loans for undergrads … Continue reading
It’s been a tough May for Federal Agencies. Amid a backdrop of scrutiny over potential regulatory missteps in the Texas fertilizer plant explosion, accusations of document concealment at the Environmental Protection Agency, and lengthy congressional hearings into State Department action in the aftermath of the Benghazi terror attacks, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) finished this … Continue reading
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