Accountability

Drone Strike Assassinates Prime Minister Cameron’s “Transparency” Mandate

One of the tasks that we clearly have is to rebuild trust in our political system … it’s about making sure people are in control and that the politicians are always their servants and never their masters.
— David Cameron, First speech as Prime Minister, May 11, 2010

David Cameron has made “transparency” a mantra. In May 2010 he vowed to rip off the: “cloak of secrecy” around government, extending transparency and stating:

For How Long Should Volkswagen Be Barred From Doing Business In America?

When Trump mentioned that he thought grasping, greed-driven hedge-fund managers and banksters should pay their fair share of taxes, the grasping, greed-driven hedge-fund managers and banksters doubled down on sabotaging his campaign. They are getting slime-ball lobbyists, like  Grover Norquist  and the Club for Growth, to "work on" the congressmembers the banksters own or rent.

Will Democratic Constituency Groups Finally Start Holding Conservative Democrats In Congress Accountable For Their Bad Votes? Ask Kathleen Rice

I was born in NYC and my parents moved to Nassau County when I was a kid so they could raise me and my sisters in the suburbs. That's a typical story for folks who live in Nassau County today. My folks moved to Valley Stream first and then out to Roosevelt, both of which are in NY-04, the Nassau County district represented by conservative New Dem Kathleen Rice. And Rice, a former Nassau County District Attorney, has a similar story.

Are Grassroots Democrats About To Give Untrustworthy New Dem Ami Bera The Ole Heave-Ho?

Yes, Ami, you can only fool Democratic voters for so long before they turn on youCA-07, composed primarily of the suburbs west of Sacramento, from Elk Grove, Rosemont, Arden-Arcade and Rancho Cordova up to Folsom and Citrus Heights, is a classic swing district with an even PVI. In 2008 Obama beat McCain 52-46% there and in 2008 he beat Romney 51-47%.

Four former Blackwater guards in Iraq are sentenced to terms ranging from 30 years to life in shooting of 31 civilians

The four former Blackwater guards sentenced today are (l-to-r): Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten, and Paul Slough. Slatten, the only defendant convicted of murder, was sentenced to life; the others, convicted of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter, were sentenced to 30 years plus a day."You can't just shoot first and seek justification later."-- federal prosecutor T. Patrick Martinby KenOh, you can't?

Should David Petraeus Get Away With It Because "He's Suffered Enough?"

Elites rarely think other elites need to face the same kind of justice non-elites have to face when they break the law. Whether banksters on Wall Street or legislators on Capitol Hill, the worst criminals in our society-- those given the greatest amount of public trust-- are rarely held to account for their transgressions. And the lack of accountability is systemic and has become almost a tenet of our entire society.

Are Presidents Gods?

A former Governor of Virginia is expected to be sentenced to a long stay in prison. The same fate has befallen governors in states across the United States, including in nearby Maryland, Tennessee, and West Virginia. A former governor of Illinois is in prison. Governors have been convicted of corruption in Rhode Island, Louisiana, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Connecticut, and (in a trumped-up partisan scam) in Alabama. The statewide trauma suffered by the people of states that have locked up their governors has been … well, nonexistent and unimaginable.

Who Was Protected In Michael Grimm's Sweet Plea Bargain Deal?

The Michael Grimm saga has always been special for me-- not because my sister lives on Staten Island or because his congressional district includes a part of the Brooklyn neighborhood I grew up in-- but because, in 2005-06-- when I was looking into the "disappearance" of a $400,000 that GOP serial criminal Tom Kontogiannis paid Duke Cunningham to get Bush to pardon him-- a reader inf