5/8/2015 The new locus for discussing the balance between labor and trade in the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is literally on the feet of millions. President Barack Obama is in Beaverton, Oregon today at the Nike headquarters to deliver a speech promoting the value of the proposed trade deal, especially with regards to imports.
5/8/2015 Contrary to yesterday’s post regarding the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that warrantless access to phone records is not an invasion of privacy; a 3-judge panel from the 2nd Circuit ruled unanimously on Thursday, May 07th that the National Security Agency (NSA) spying program is illegal. Although both programs base their justification on
5/7/2015 Just a quick rule of thumb that I tend to go by; when representatives for FIRE industries (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate), try to tell me that something they are doing is for my benefit, I assume they mean it in the same manner that punching them in the face to keep their sinful
5/7/2015 A panel of judges ruled 9-2 in the 11th District U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta that cell phone customers do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy concerning searches of phone records. The Tuesday, May 5th ruling concerns the case of Miami resident, Quartavious Davis, who was convicted of several felonies, including robbery
5/6/2015 The for-profit college system, Corinthian Colleges, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in Delaware Federal District Court on Monday, May 4th, amid a year-long financial crisis. Corinthian’s system, including Everest Institute and WyoTech, consisted of over 100 campuses nationwide and about 74,000 students and over 10,000 faculty and staff. The system is facing the
5/6/2015 On Monday, May 4th, Judge Susie Morgan of the Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of millions of American account-holders whose personal information was compromised during the 2014 EBay data breach. The breach, which occurred in late February or early March of last year, exposed passwords, names, mailing addresses,
Despite recent news that the Justice Department is pursuing criminal charges against Lumber Liquidators, the world’s largest hardwood flooring retailer, over its importation of illegally-sourced Chinese laminate flooring containing extreme levels of formaldehyde, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is facing massive pressure to roll-back its proposed regulation of the substance. Formaldehyde is a common chemical,
5/4/2015 Last week, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill that incentivizes whistleblower complaints within the automotive industry. The bill, modeled off of similar measures for the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), allows the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to award up to 30 percent of revenue collected in excess of
5/4/2015 In a surprising and pragmatic break from his usual stance regarding campaign financing, Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the 4 Supreme Court liberals, ruling in favor of campaign limits for judicial candidates. Roberts, along with Justice Anthony Kennedy, cast the deciding precedent-setting votes in the 2010 Citizens United ruling that essentially blew the
5/1/2015 Among the controversies surrounding the anticipated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement between the U.S. and 11 other Asian-Pacific countries, the most hotly debated component is the inclusion of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system. Under ISDS procedures, in case of a disagreement, a multinational corporation and a nation in which that corporation does business can