Salon.com > Sam Knight

Andrew W.K.: The State Department owes me an explanation

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Andrew W.K. wants an explanation from the State Department.

After a week in which he revealed a long-planned "cultural ambassadorship" to Bahrain -- only to have the invitation revoked days later when the State Department determined he did not meet its standards -- the musician tells Salon that he has a right to know why his trip was canceled.

“I really feel like we deserve some type of understanding as to why this choice was made, especially at the last minute,” the musician told Salon over the phone from London. He would have been on his way to the Middle East this week, had the trip gone off as planned.

The 33-year-old, known for his love of partying and the “party tips” he dispenses on Twitter, expressed total bewilderment at the 11th-hour cancellation because the initial interest in his trip came from the U.S. Embassy in Manama via Bahrainis themselves. But while embassies often extend invites to well-known figures and artists, they also have to be reviewed in Washington.

Party king Andrew W.K.’s un-invitation

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:25:00 +0000

Rock star and self-styled party king Andrew W.K. set the Internet alight with chatter last week when he revealed that he was invited to the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain to participate in a cultural exchange. But Noel Clay, a spokesperson from the State Department, said via phone that the invitation has been rescinded.

Calling it "a mistake and not appropriate," Clay said the program has been canceled.

The initial invitation sparked an outcry among human rights observers. The Bahraini monarchy has been roundly criticized for a sustained violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations that began in 2011.

The government, led by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, is supported by Saudi Arabia, which is connected to the diminutive oil-rich island nation via causeway, and the United States, whose fifth fleet is stationed there.

WikiLeaks’ Paul Ryan exposure

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:28:00 +0000

Both the left and the right seem to agree that Paul Ryan's veep nomination gives the presidential campaign new ideological significance.

The Congressman from Wisconsin, who is most known for his laissez-faire budget proposals, is also celebrated or reviled in more nerdish circles for his supposedly unwavering support of a laissez-faire approach to monetary policy – “my first love,” as he once described it.

In 2008, he sponsored legislation designed to strip the Federal Reserve of its full employment mandate. He has also characterized expansionary monetary policy as “insidious” and favored by those with “a narrow view of interest.”And in response to quantitative easing in November 2010, Ryan blasted the Federal Reserve, saying “[it's] going to give us a big inflation problem down the road.”

Lieberman, Cantor defend Capitol Hill’s inside traders

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:20:00 +0000

"Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress," President Obama told the assembled members of the House and Senate in his State of the Union address last week, "and I will sign it tomorrow."

If only it were that simple.

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, a bill that prohibits legislators and federal officials from knowingly profiting off of nonpublic information related to impending legislation and regulatory decisions, looks certain to pass the Senate this week. On Monday, senators overwhelmingly approved a motion to cloture on S.2038 preventing the bill from being filibustered. But on Wednesday in the House of Representatives Reps. Tim Walz, D-Minn., and Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., demanded a straight up or down vote on a different bill, HR 1148, also known as the STOCK Act. The House bill already has 271 sponsors.

And therein lies a tale of Washington. No one in Washington favors allowing Capitol Hill insiders using non-public information to reap profits -- at least not publicly. But privately, well, that's a different story.