The Colorado Independent

National Security

Udall Sends Out ‘I Warned You’ Pitch in Wake of Surveillance Revelations

By | 06.10.13 | 1:56 pm

He made impassioned speeches on the Senate floor, held press conferences and appeared on the Sunday talk shows. For years, Colorado Senator Mark Udall has been telling anyone who will listen that key provisions of the Patriot Act are being used by the the government to tread on citizens’ constitutional rights to privacy.

Colorado’s Mesa County a National Leader in Domestic Drone Use

By | 06.06.13 | 3:56 pm

A county in western Colorado has embraced domestic police drones in an era when states are increasingly limiting use of the technology.

Colorado Muslims Disgusted with Biased Clements Murder Coverage

By | 03.22.13 | 10:11 am

News surrounding the murder Tuesday of Colorado Department of Corrections Chief Tom Clements centers now on white supremacist suspect Evan Ebel, who was captured clinically dead yesterday afternoon in a hail of bullets after a 100 mile-per-hour car chase ended in a wreck near Fort Worth, Texas.

Udall Endorses Brennan for CIA Director, Underlines Need for Greater Oversight

By | 03.07.13 | 3:15 pm

In the wake of an historic Senate filibuster over the murky U.S. laws governing drone strikes, Colorado Senator Mark Udall on Thursday urged his colleagues to confirm John Brennan as the new director of the CIA.

U.S. selling tens of billions in war machinery to turbulent Middle East

By | 12.06.12 | 11:17 am

American arms deals didn’t come up in the “foreign policy debate” held during the presidential campaign just ended. Yet it’s hard not to view them as a major plank in U.S. foreign policy.

Obama Wins Second Term

By | 11.06.12 | 11:00 pm

Americans voted to reelect President Barack Obama tonight, giving him four more years to work to expand the economy and drive down stubborn unemployment numbers. Throughout the long campaign, voters told pollsters they favored his steady demeanor and, in the end, embraced his vision of a government that sought to prioritize middle class opportunity, in part through a federal tax policy that asks the top earners in the country to pay the same rates they paid in the Clinton years, when the U.S. economy boomed.

Civil liberties watchdogs concerned by FBI facial recognition program

By | 10.25.12 | 9:43 am

In July, Sen. Al Franken opened a Senate hearing on the privacy and civil liberties implications of facial recognition technology by affirming some incontrovertible facts. “You can change your password. You can get a new credit card. But you can’t change your fingerprint, and you can’t change your face,” Franken said. “Unless I guess you go to a great, you know, deal of trouble.”

In new centrist district, Coffman’s hard right views face scrutiny

By | 10.22.12 | 11:52 am

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman won 65.7 percent of the vote in his first Colorado Congressional District Six reelection campaign two years ago. It’s likely to be quite a bit closer this time.

Coloradans favor banning assault weapons, high-capacity magazines

By | 08.09.12 | 12:00 pm

Poll results released late Wednesday by Public Policy Polling reported Colorado voters favor banning assault weapons, with 58 percent supporting a ban and 35 percent opposing. Those survey results are supported by results released the same day by Quinnipiac University, The New York Times and CBS, which reported that 58 percent of likely Colorado voters also favor a national ban on high-capacity clips and magazines.

Aurora shooting elicits calls for tighter gun control

By | 08.07.12 | 7:12 am

While many politicians are playing it safe, saying it is too soon to talk about gun laws or saying they don’t want to “politicize” the Colorado and now Wisconsin shootings, Democratic U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette and Ed Perlmutter have been outspoken about their desire for more stringent regulation.

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