Conservatives maneuver to block funding for Obama immigration moves ADVERTISING Conservatives maneuver to block funding for Obama immigration moves WASHINGTON — Conservatives circulated draft legislation Monday aimed at blocking President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration from taking effect, as
Conservatives maneuver to block funding for Obama immigration moves
WASHINGTON — Conservatives circulated draft legislation Monday aimed at blocking President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration from taking effect, as Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson prepared to offer GOP critics a full-throated defense of the new policies.
Obama’s move to shield some 4 million immigrants here illegally from deportation amounts to “simple common sense,” Johnson was to tell the Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee today in the administration’s first testimony on the issue since Obama announced the changes two weeks ago.
Republicans have vowed to stop Obama’s moves from taking effect, but how they will do so remained unclear until Monday. GOP leadership in the House planned to discuss options in a closed-door meeting with the rank-and-file today.
The issue is tied in with the need to pass a government funding bill by Dec. 11, or risk a shutdown.
FBI looking into hack of Sony Pictures’ computer systems
SAN FRANCISCO — The FBI has confirmed it is investigating a recent hacking attack at Sony Pictures Entertainment, which reportedly caused major internal computer problems at the film studio last week.
Sony’s corporate email and other internal systems were knocked offline, according to reports by Variety and other trade publications. Sony workers reportedly saw a message appear on their computer screens that said “Hacked by #GOP,” which may be the initials of a group calling itself Guardians of Peace. Copies of some unreleased Sony films such as “Still Alice,” ”Annie,” ”Mr. Turner,” and “To Write Love on Her Arms” are now being distributed on unauthorized file-sharing websites, although a direct connection to the hacking hasn’t been confirmed.
The FBI said in a statement that “the targeting of public and private sector computer networks remains a significant threat.” Sony Pictures, based in California, wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Syria and Ebola failures show shortcomings of UN
UNITED NATIONS — The Ebola epidemic and the war in Syria have cast a spotlight on the inadequacies of the United Nations as it tries to operate in a globalized world with a power structure that hasn’t changed since 1945.
To many who know the U.N. well, the organization has grown bloated with age, is underfunded and shows few signs of righting itself. That was evident when an internal report by the U.N. health agency revealed that cronyism and incompetence in its leadership may have contributed to the spread of Ebola.
Since the U.N. was born after World War II, it has grown from 51 members to 193. It is hobbled by bureaucracy, politics and an inability among its five most powerful members to agree on many things — including how to bring peace to Syria.
“If you can imagine any big multinational corporation keeping its structures the same as in 1945, it would have been destroyed by now in the marketplace,” said Patricia Lewis, a nuclear physicist who led the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.
The paralysis shows in the debate over what the U.N. itself should be. Most nations agree that the 15-member Security Council — the U.N.’s most powerful body — must adapt to address threats to international security. Yet all reform proposals are repeatedly rejected.
By wire sources
