| Why Keystone XL pipeline won't buy US steel, despite Trump's order Posted: 04 Mar 2017 12:26 PM PST ![Why Keystone XL pipeline won't buy US steel, despite Trump's order]( "Why Keystone XL pipeline won't buy US steel, despite Trump's order") From the start of President Trump's election campaign, two aspects of his political identity – the businessman and the populist – have dueled for dominance. At least in the case of the Keystone XL pipeline, the businessman appears to be winning out. Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on Friday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the pipeline, which has been in the works for a decade, will be exempt from an executive order Mr. Trump signed in January requiring new pipelines, repairs, or retrofits to use US steel "to the maximum extent possible." The justification for that decision: The pipeline is already under construction, and so is not covered by the executive order.
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| To catch a terrorist: Why extreme vetting may be an outdated solution Posted: 04 Mar 2017 09:02 AM PST ![To catch a terrorist: Why extreme vetting may be an outdated solution]( "To catch a terrorist: Why extreme vetting may be an outdated solution") Extreme vetting may be a solution in search of a problem, according to an internal Homeland Security intelligence report. This result suggests a shift in the nature of the threat from Al Qaeda like "terrorism-directed" activity to the ISIS "terrorism-inspired" activity.
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| Undocumented immigrants: Will Trump administration separate parents from children? Posted: 04 Mar 2017 08:31 AM PST ![Undocumented immigrants: Will Trump administration separate parents from children?]( "Undocumented immigrants: Will Trump administration separate parents from children?") As the Department of Homeland Security steps up immigration law enforcement and announces its plans to solicit bids for constructing a border wall, it is also revisiting another suggestion intended to discourage migrants from making the journey: Separating parents and children when they are apprehended at the border. Children, meanwhile, would be allowed into the US and either sent to stay with relatives or placed in state custody. The approach is designed to eliminate what some Republican legislators have termed a "free pass" under the current system, whereby adults accompanied by children can be quickly released into the US while they wait for an asylum decision.
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| Rex Tillerson's human-rights report no-show: A sign of indifference? Posted: 04 Mar 2017 05:59 AM PST ![Rex Tillerson's human-rights report no-show: A sign of indifference?]( "Rex Tillerson's human-rights report no-show: A sign of indifference?") Sen. Marco Rubio (R) of Florida tweeted his disapproval of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's decision not to attend the rolling-out of the State Department's annual human rights report, considered the department's crown-jewel analysis of conditions in most of the world's countries. "For 1st time in a long time @StateDept #humanrights report will not be presented by Secretary of State. The senator's remarks reflected some State Department employees and human rights activists' concerns after hearing, ahead of time, of Mr. Tillerson's absence.
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| What does Tillerson's low profile mean for US leadership on human rights? Posted: 04 Mar 2017 05:46 AM PST ![What does Tillerson's low profile mean for US leadership on human rights?]( "What does Tillerson's low profile mean for US leadership on human rights?") It has come to be called the incredible shrinking State Department in the month since Rex Tillerson took the reins as secretary of state. Traditionally the secretary of State has publicly unveiled the document – which issues a kind of report card of countries' human rights performance and assessment of global rights trends – as a means of providing heft to the findings and to underscore the promotion of values in US foreign policy.
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| Why Europe should boost defense spending, South Sudan’s instability a threat beyond borders, Press freedom vital to democracy, ‘Grexit’ will not get the green light, Iraq’s enemy after Islamic State: corruption Posted: 04 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PST ![Why Europe should boost defense spending, South Sudan's instability a threat beyond borders, Press freedom vital to democracy, 'Grexit' will not get the green light, Iraq's enemy after Islamic State: corruption]( "Why Europe should boost defense spending, South Sudan's instability a threat beyond borders, Press freedom vital to democracy, 'Grexit' will not get the green light, Iraq's enemy after Islamic State: corruption") "[US] Vice President Mike Pence assured [Europeans at the recent Munich Security Conference] that Washington's commitment to Nato is strong...," states an editorial. "He also made a very good point about expenditure: if Europe wants a collective defence then it must pay for it.... Several European countries spend less on defence than the budget of the New York police department.... The stakes are high. In Munich, the Russian foreign minister spoke of a post-West order.
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| Readers write: Standards for hearings, humanity and nature Posted: 04 Mar 2017 03:00 AM PST ![Readers write: Standards for hearings, humanity and nature]( "Readers write: Standards for hearings, humanity and nature") Now confirmation hearings are being held without background checks and financial disclosure because the candidates' interests are too complicated because of their level of wealth. Recommended: Could you pass a US citizenship test?
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| Trump recasts immigration by taking the 'shackles off' border agents Posted: 03 Mar 2017 12:02 PM PST ![Trump recasts immigration by taking the 'shackles off' border agents]( "Trump recasts immigration by taking the 'shackles off' border agents") Minutes after Daniela Vargas spoke to the press in Jackson, Miss., on Wednedsay, the car in which she was riding slowed down and pulled over. Ms. Vargas, a 20-something who came to the United States from Argentina as a 7-year-old, had the day before seen immigration agents detain the rest of her family. As it turns out, she had been late in sending in a $495 renewal fee for the Obama-era program that allows some young undocumented immigrants like her to stay in the country – prompting her detention Wednesday.
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