Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The White House congratulated Iranians Saturday on the election of a more moderate president and said the Obama administration "remains ready" to hold direct talks with Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons program.
When they thought nobody was looking, the Obama administration abandoned a lawsuit Monday night that would have halted over-the-counter sale of the "Plan B" abortion pill to girls of any age, no matter how young.
While not directly addressing Bill Clinton's criticism of the Obama administration's Syria policy, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday that the 42nd president has offered "valid" opinions on the deteriorating situation in the Middle Eastern country.
On the eve of the six-month anniversary of the Connecticut school shooting, the White House and congressional leaders vowed to continue pushing for new gun controls — but the aftermath of recent mass shootings suggests such an effort is easier said than done.
U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones, President Obama's choice to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told a Senate committee on Tuesday the arrest of "straw buyers" — those who falsely buy guns for others, mostly criminals — was a top Justice Department priority but the department rarely prosecutes the cases "due to limited resources."
An advocate for government whistleblowers blamed the Obama administration Tuesday for failing to provide protections for intelligence employees who want to report abuses and wrongdoing, as authorities intensified their global manhunt for national-security leaker Edward Snowden.
President Obama still harbors deep reservations about letting young girls buy the morning-after pill without a prescription, even though his administration has decided against fighting a court order that forces it to do just that, his spokesman said Tuesday.
An advocate for government whistleblowers blamed the Obama administration Tuesday for failing to provide protections for intelligence employees who want to report abuses and wrongdoing, as authorities intensified their global manhunt for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.
It was an appeals court decision last week that led the Obama administration on Monday to give up its fight to keep age restrictions on Plan B morning-after pills, according to his spokesman.
Embarrassed by national security leaks of historic proportions, the White House rebutted accusations Monday by the disillusioned former government contractor who leaked the surveillance secrets that President Obama is no different from President George W. Bush in his anti-terrorism tactics.
The White House and former law enforcement officials on Monday urged the swift confirmation of B. Todd Jones to be the permanent director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), renewing a largely dormant battle over gun control six months after December's school shootings in Connecticut.
I take exception to White House spokesman Jay Carney's statement this week that mental illness is a component of our gun-violence problem ("Obama skirts gun issue at mental health event," Web, June 3). It's not mental illness, but untreated mental illness that is the component of gun violence. Yes, guns can kill. Severely mentally ill people should not be allowed to purchase guns or have access to them. Untreated mental illness also kills. Combine the two, and you have a tragedy waiting to happen.
As congressional Republicans' chief investigator, Rep. Darrell E. Issa is following in the footsteps of his predecessors at the helm of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who often used the post to keep the pressure on presidents of the opposite party.
A White House spokesman said Tuesday there's nothing secret about the secret email accounts held by administration officials, and defended the practice as sensible time management.
Struck by another brewing scandal at the IRS, the White House said Monday that President Obama is "concerned" about new reports of wasteful spending by the agency on conferences that included high-dollar suites for government employees.
He said Mr. Nussbaum is able to "provide unique services where no other person can fulfill the contract requirements."
Biden spokesman Jay Carney said Mr. Nussbaum's hiring is permitted under the sole-source provision of federal contracting rules.
