Fearless, Adversarial Journalism – Spoken Edition

The celebrations over President Barack Obama’s commutation of Chelsea Manning’s 35-year prison sentence have overshadowed what might be a more-consequential development in the government’s long-running war against leakers and whistleblowers: Obama’s pardon of Marine General James Cartwright. Late last year, Cartwright pled guilty to lying to the FBI about disclosing classified information on the Stuxnet computer virus to reporters from The New York Times and Newsweek.

Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin kicked off his confirmation hearing Thursday with a defiant opening statement, mostly defending his record as CEO of OneWest Bank. He cast himself as a savior for homeowners after scooping up failed lender IndyMac, working tirelessly to help people save their homes. “It has been said that I ran a ‘foreclosure machine’,” he said. “I ran a loan modification machine.

John F. Kelly, the retired Marine Corps general nominated by Donald Trump to be secretary of Homeland Security, did not disclose his position as a vice chairman at a lobbyingfirm called the Spectrum Group on his federal ethics forms made public this week. The failure to disclose the position may run afoul of federal lawrequiring Senate-confirmed nominees to reveal potential conflicts of interest to the lawmakers and the public.

Customs and Border Protection agents have beeninvasively questioning Muslim-Americans at U.S. border crossings abouttheir political and religious beliefs, asking for their social media information, and demanding passwords to openmobile phones, according to a set of complaints filed by the Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

AFTER NEARLY SIX YEARS, the Syrian civil war is heading towards a possible conclusion. High-profile talks organized by the Russian government are set to commence later this month, seeking to bring a negotiated end to the brutal conflict. The U.S. has been encouraging these talks as astep towards a broader political settlement that will require American participation.

At his Wednesday morning press conference — his first since winning the election more than two months ago — Donald Trump, the president-elect, stood beside a pile of paperwork and attempted to explain how he would separate himself from Donald Trump, the brand.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.is celebrated annually on a federal holiday on the third Monday of January. Politicians across the political spectrum put out statements praising his life’s work, and children in classrooms across America are told the tale of a manwho stood up defiantly against racism and helped changed civil rights law. But what they don’t mention is that King was not just a fighter for racial justice, he also fought for economic justice and against war.

On Mondays, Magda and Amilcar Galindo take their daughter Eva to self-defense class. Eva is 12 but her trusting smile and arching pigtails make her look younger. Diagnosed with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, Eva doesn’t learn or behave like the typical 12-year-old. She struggles to make change, and she needs help with reading and social situations.

The U.S. Senatewill soon decide whether Rex Tillerson, the longtime leader of the world’slargestoil and gas company, Exxon Mobil, is qualified to serve as the U.S. secretary of state.

Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as president of the United States next week, to the delight of 37 percent of the nation, held his first news conference since July on Wednesday. The raucous event in New York was supposed to have been devoted to Trump’s explanation of how he intends to dodge the many and varied conflicts of interest he will face as president, without selling off his businesses and putting his assets in a blind trust.

Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, whose confirmation hearing to become the next attorney general begins today, is no fan of federal consent decrees, one of the practices that have become the hallmarkof the Justice Department’s civil rights work over the last eight years.

“With respect to Guantánamo,” President Obama told reporters in November, “it is true that I have not been able to close the darn thing.” Wednesday marks the 15th anniversary of Guantánamo’s use as a detention facility for terrorism suspects. On Inauguration Day, the prison will pass to its third president, almost eight years afterObamaorderedit closed within12 months.

The first thing you see when you walk into the home of Arthur Stephen Hurd is a row of oversized photographs of his wife, Cynthia. They are displayed along the wall on the right, placed on chairs and propped against the fireplace. In one corner is a portrait taken around the time they met. She’s in her early thirties, radiant in a colorful high-neck sweater and gold earrings.

On July 2, 2015, Jasmine Quattlebaum took the bus to Rikers Island to visit her fiancé, who was being held at the jail’s Anna M. Kross Center. Her cousin accompanied her, and as the two women waited to be processed at the Visit Control Building, they were pulled out of line to be searched. Quattlebaum was asked to sign a consent form agreeing to a “pat frisk.

Why has Donald Trump picked so many generals for his cabinet? A few popular theories: Trump has patterned himself on the movie “Patton”; he spent his boyhood years at New York Military Academy; he likes the martial machismo of gold-braided uniforms; he needs to balance the ruthless image he cultivated on the “Apprentice” with a nod to sacrifice and service.