Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Texas sued over exemption zone for drone use
A Texas man sued Friday to stop a new state law giving drones "unfettered" rights to snap photos or video along the southwest border, saying it appears to be a racially tinged effort to target Mexicans for intrusive scrutiny. Published April 17, 2016
Donald Trump embraces ‘New York values’; Ted Cruz stands by attack
Donald Trump returned to Manhattan on Thursday to woo Republicans ahead of next week's party primary, saying he had faith and invested in New York when others were giving up on it, and touting it as a model for how to rescue the country. Published April 14, 2016
Federal judge calls IRS untrustworthy in tea party case
A federal judge said the IRS isn't to be trusted as he and his colleagues tried Thursday to figure out whether the tax agency is still targeting tea party groups for intrusive and illegal scrutiny. Published April 14, 2016
Apple, FBI encryption battle heats up in Congress
The battle between Apple and the FBI has shifted to the halls of Congress, where the House and Senate are taking dramatically divergent approaches as they weigh Americans' privacy rights against what the government says is a pressing need to get a peek at its citizens' secrets. Published April 13, 2016
GAO urges feds to crack down on bad spending, increase efficiency
From the unemployed double-dipping on benefits to federal agencies leasing cars they don't need, the federal government is still awash in waste and duplication, the comptroller general said in a new report Wednesday that urged all sides to get serious about cracking down on bad spending and making the government more efficient. Published April 13, 2016
Ted Cruz ‘natural born citizen’ eligibility challenge rejected by New Jersey secretary of state
New Jersey's secretary of state rejected a challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz's eligibility to run for president, issuing a brief ruling Wednesday that said she accepted the reasoning of one of her judges that because of his birth to an American mother, he meets the criterion. Published April 13, 2016
IRS must publicize sensitive tea party data obtained in targeting, Obama administration says
The IRS says it has stopped targeting the tea party -- but three years later, the tax agency is still holding on to the sensitive information it pried from the conservative groups through invasive questions, and officials are even vowing to make the answers public. Published April 12, 2016
Paul Ryan to GOP: I don’t want presidential nomination
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan flatly ruled out becoming the Republican presidential nominee this year, insisting Tuesday that he would refuse all entreaties to accept the role -- though he would try to shape the agenda that the party carries into November. Published April 12, 2016
!["[The payments] should have been suspended until they were proved disabled," said former Sen. Tom Coburn, who led a congressional investigation that first exposed the scam in 2013. (Associated Press)](https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/media/image/2016/04/11/TomCoburn_c0-194-3734-2370_s652x380.jpg?84f0452c47d2524d2690ee0cabd4defeeb72343c)
Social Security still paying potentially bogus disability claims 3 years after fraud exposed
Investigators identified nearly 2,000 cases of potentially phony disability claims stemming from a massive Social Security fraud scheme, but three years after the scam was first exposed, the government says it's still struggling to stop the payments. Published April 11, 2016
Hearing to prove Ted Cruz’s eligibility for New Jersey ballot
The New Jersey secretary of state has scheduled a hearing Monday to make Sen. Ted Cruz prove he is eligible to run for president under the Constitution, after a Washington-area law professor filed a challenge arguing his Canadian birth makes him ineligible. Published April 10, 2016
Border Patrol ordered to release illegals ‘still soaking wet’ from Rio Grande, union says
Border Patrol agents have been ordered to release dripping-wet illegal immigrants at the Rio Grande unless they actually see them climbing out of the river, creating what amounts to "an open border with Mexico," the chief of the agents' labor union told Congress in new testimony last week. Published April 10, 2016
Republicans in Congress win 2 fights for Obama transparency
Congressional Republicans had a benchmark day for transparency last week, winning battles in two long-simmering fights with President Obama, who had been shielding documents sought by Capitol Hill investigators in two big cases. Published April 10, 2016
Obama relents on Fast & Furious executive privilege, turns records over to Congress
The Obama administration caved to a judge's order Friday and sent documents from the botched Fast & Furious gun-running operation to Congress, complying with a subpoena the House Oversight Committee issued years ago. Published April 8, 2016
H-1B visas quickly snatched up as critics decry lost American jobs, wages
All the country's visas for high-skilled workers were snatched up in the first week yet again this year, the government reported Thursday, signaling that companies' voracious appetites for cheap foreign workers remains unabated despite intense criticism on the presidential campaign trail. Published April 7, 2016
Republicans sour on free trade, see drag on U.S. economy, job losses
Amid all the other ideological fights between Democrats and Republicans, a consensus has emerged in exit polling that voters see free trade as an economic drag on the U.S., costing American jobs. Published April 6, 2016
Donald Trump campaign accuses Ted Cruz of crime after Wisconsin loss
Donald Trump's campaign accused Sen. Ted Cruz of breaking federal law by coordinating with an anti-Trump political action committee after Mr. Trump lost the Wisconsin GOP presidential primary to the Texan on Tuesday. Published April 5, 2016
Social Security fraud ring busted by federal agents
Federal agents this week rounded up key figures from one of the biggest frauds in Social Security history, beginning to close out a scandal that forced the government to confront the extent of problems in its generous disability benefit programs. Published April 5, 2016
Obama says Donald Trump border-wall plan is ‘half-baked’
Donald Trump said he might try to withhold the payments illegal immigrants send back to Mexico to force that nation to pay for his border wall, sparking a vehement denunciation Tuesday from President Obama, who called the Republican presidential front-runner's plans "half-baked" and damaging to foreign relations. Published April 5, 2016
Voting Rights Act rulings’ negative effects manifested in Arizona
Ever since the Supreme Court poked a hole in the Voting Rights Act, activists have been warning of devastating effects on average voters showing up at the polls. Published April 4, 2016
Chuck Grassley to meet with Merrick Garland
Sen. Charles E. Grassley will meet with Judge Merrick Garland, but only to tell him why he won't get a full hearing before the Judiciary Committee nor have his Supreme Court nomination considered by the Senate this year, Mr. Grassley's office said Monday. Published April 4, 2016
