A Reuters examination, based on interviews with more than a dozen sources in Washington and foreign capitals, shows that the government office set up to independently grade global efforts to fight human trafficking was repeatedly overruled by senior American diplomats and pressured into inflating assessments of 14 strategically important countries in this year’s Trafficking in Persons report. [...]Other nations whose eventual grades were set higher than analysts' internal assessments recommended: China, Cuba, India, and Mexico.The number of rejected recommendations suggests a degree of intervention not previously known by diplomats in a report that can lead to sanctions and is the basis for many countries’ anti-trafficking policies. This year, local embassies and other constituencies within the department were able to block some of the toughest grades.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2006—Stevens Stymied, for Now:
Stevens's effort to garner 60 votes to push his telco give-away bill, the Communications, Consumers' Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 (S. 2686) before the August recess has failed. That failure can in large part be attributed to the large volume of calls and e-mails Senators have been receiving in support of net neutrality over the last few months. The response from constituents, and the cash flow to campaigns from both sides of the debate, have made a number of challenged Senators unwilling to vote now.However, it doesn't mean the death knell of the telcos' efforts to become the gatekeepers of the Internet. There are a few options open to Frist and Stevens: finding another legislative vehicle to tack the measure onto, or waiting until after the elections and holdling the vote in the lame duck session. Either option is extremely likely. The telcos aren't going to give up on this effort.
.@Delta Air Lines bans shipment of big-game trophies: http://t.co/...#CecilTheLionpic.twitter.com/1EXuufkHAE
— The Hill (@thehill) August 3, 2015On today's Kagro in the Morning show, Today’s episode is top notch, tremendous, really just first rate, and very rich, even though Skype is a loser. Trump trolls the GOP field headed into the first debate. Greg Dworkin tells us the McClatchy-Marist Poll is rising above the fray as misconceptions on the polls and in the polls multiply and the Republican war rages. The rise of the oligarchy. How low information voters see the Iran Deal. Guns become a priority for Schumer, Amy. Moops now, Moops forever. Ted's greatest hits. Chris Christie, who really doesn't matter anymore, is not awfully nice or good. Guns, and Militia, not really useful. David spots a big gasbag hovering near Washington.
