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Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Stephen Dinan

In this citizen journalism image provided by the United media office of Arbeen that has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, U.N. investigation team with blue helmets, walk with Syrian rebels in Damascus countryside of Zamalka, Syria, on Aug. 28, 2013. U.N. chemical weapons experts headed to a Damascus suburb on Wednesday for a new tour of areas struck by a purported poison gas attack, activists said, as Western powers laid the groundwork for a possible punitive strike and the U.N. chief pleaded for more time for diplomacy. (Associated Press/United media office of Arbeen)

Congress presses Obama to aid Syrian rebels

There's a growing sense in Congress that the U.S. should take more steps to arm Syrian rebels in their battle against the regime of President Bashar Assad, regardless of what decision President Obama reaches on whether to conduct military strikes against Damascus. Published August 28, 2013

Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano is leaving her post, and another large hole in administration leadership. (Associated Press)

Napolitano reveals key to Homeland Security job: Advil

As she prepares to leave office, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had some advice Tuesday for her successor, whom President Obama has not named yet: "You will need a large bottle of Advil." Published August 27, 2013

Border Buster: Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, Illinois Democrat, took his immigration reform message to the districts of two Virginia Republicans: Rep. Frank R. Wolf and Rep. Bob Goodlatte. (Associated Press)

Immigration reformists gain American support, try to turn opponents

Earlier this summer, there were predictions that the outcry from conservatives would sink the chances for immigration reform. Instead, advocates have out-organized opponents, rallying in cities across the country as they try to convince House Republicans that the politics of the issue have changed. Published August 26, 2013

**FILE** House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, takes questions from reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference on Aug. 1, 2013, as Congress prepares to leave Washington for a five-week recess. (Associated Press)

Tea party: Obamacare is now ‘BoehnerCare’

Tea party activists are planning to rally outside of House Speaker John A. Boehner's Ohio office on Tuesday, telling the Republican speaker that if he doesn't use this year's spending fight to defund the health care law, it will hence be known to them as "BoehnerCare." Published August 26, 2013

Obama asserts it’s OK for government to start spending again

In the budget showdown looming next month between Republicans and the White House, the fiscal hawks have their position — Barack Obama is bankrupting the country — and the president has his: There is no crisis, and, actually, it's time to ramp up spending. Published August 25, 2013

**FILE** President Obama speaks at a disabled veterans event in Orlando, Fla., on Aug. 10, 2013. (Associated Press)

Obama meets with security team to mull Syria options

President Obama held a meeting with his national security team Saturday to review the deteriorating situation in Syria, which saw rebels accuse the regime of President Bashar al-Assad this week of using chemical weapons in an artillery attack on suburban Damascus. Published August 24, 2013

**FILE** President Obama answers questions during a conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on April 30, 2013. (Associated Press)

Obama adds to list of illegal immigrants not to deport: Parents

The Obama administration issued a policy late last week telling immigration agents to try not to arrest and deport illegal immigrant parents of minor children — a move that adds to the categories of people the administration is trying not to deport. Published August 23, 2013

**FILE** President Obama pauses while speaking about college financial aid at Henninger High School in Syracuse, N.Y., on Aug. 22, 2013, the first day of a two-day bus tour. (Associated Press)

Obama: Law schools should offer two-year degree

President Obama, a former law student himself, said Friday that he thinks law schools should look at offering a degree after just two years of study, rather than the standard three years. Published August 23, 2013

** FILE ** The Golden Dome on the campus of the University of Notre Dame outside South Bend, Ind., is pictured on Dec. 26, 2012. (Associated Press)

Notre Dame to begin accepting illegal immigrants

The University of Notre Dame announced Thursday it will begin admitting illegal immigrants to the school and will provide them with financial aid, saying the move will "strengthen" the student body. Published August 23, 2013

Illegal immigrants arrested in Phoenix deportation protest

Illegal immigrants chained themselves to a gate and blocked a bus in Phoenix on Wednesday in an effort to stop the Obama administration from deporting other illegal immigrants, according to activists who said the move marks an escalation in civil disobedience. Published August 22, 2013

**FILE** Voters wait in line on Nov. 6, 2012, at a polling place located inside a shopping mall in Austin, Texas, on Election Day. Attorney General Eric Holder says Texas is the first place that he will intervene to defend against what he calls attacks on the voting rights of minorities, but it is also the only state where the federal government has a clear opportunity to get involved, experts say. (Associated Press)

Holder sues Texas to stop voter ID law, congressional maps

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. sued Texas on Thursday, escalating the battle over voting rights and saying the Legislature was intentionally trying to discriminate against Hispanics when it redrew its congressional district maps and passed a voter-ID law. Published August 22, 2013

** FILE ** President Obama speaks Aug. 22, 2013, at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York. (Associated Press)

Obama pitches federal plan to name and shame colleges over costs

Saying the rising costs of college are punishing students who have played by the rules, President Obama on Thursday announced that the federal government will take a broader role in pushing schools to lower costs by rating schools based on their educational value, and in trying to tie taxpayer money to school performance. Published August 22, 2013

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat, said the IRS scandal shows an agency that doesn't have good rules for keeping political organizations from operating as tax-exempt social welfare organizations. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Suit says IRS behind the times

A top Democratic congressman and several campaign finance groups sued Wednesday to try to force the Internal Revenue Service to crack down on political groups, saying the reason the agency has encountered so many problems with tea party groups is that it is using 20th century rules to govern 21st century politics. Published August 21, 2013

This image provided by Shaam News Network on Aug. 22, 2013, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, purports to show several bodies being buried in a suburb of Damascus, Syria, during a funeral on Aug. 21, 2013. Syrian government forces pressed their offensive in eastern Damascus on Thursday, bombing rebel-held suburbs where the opposition said the regime had killed more than 100 people the day before in a chemical weapons attack. The government has denied allegations it used chemical weapons in artillery barrages on the area known as eastern Ghouta on Wednesday as "absolutely baseless." (Associated Press/Shaam News Network)

Syria again challenges Obama’s ‘red line’ on chemical weapons

President Obama's "red line" for Syria is once again being tested after rebel forces said Wednesday that the regime of President Bashar Assad used poison gas to attack civilians near Damascus, killing potentially hundreds in what could turn out to be the deadliest deployment of chemical weapons yet. Published August 21, 2013

Obama school tour focus: Doing something about high cost of college

President Obama will call for a major rethinking of how Americans and the government pay for the costs of a college education as he takes a bus tour of the Northeast later this week, the White House said Tuesday, as he tries to revive his second-term agenda. Published August 20, 2013