Imagine that China’s dictator, Xi Jinping, sends one million Chinese troops to invade the United States. Fighting breaks out all over the U.S. as U.S. troops and civilians battle against the Chinese invaders. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are killed. Meanwhile, China has taken over Florida and declared it an overseas province of China, with Chinese nationals taking over control of the Florida government.   read more

The billing prompted the ACLU to sue the police department. Government accountability and transparency "will be thwarted if Hayward is allowed to impose exorbitant costs for the public disclosure of police body camera footage," said ACLU' counsel Alan Schlosser. "Such a hefty price tag will put these public records beyond the reach of most Californians, including journalists investigating possible instances of excessive force by police.”   read more

He went to school with his homemade clock to show it off to an engineering teacher. But after the clocked beeped, school officials called police thinking he actually had a bomb. He was taken to a juvenile detention center where he was fingerprinted and a mug shot was taken. He was also suspended from school for three days. Critics pointed to Mohamed’s religion as reason why he found himself in handcuffs for a while, saying had he been white, authorities would have reacted differently.   read more

The reliance on outdated machines has resulted in unresponsive touchscreens, worn-out modems for transmitting election results, and failing motherboards and memory cards. The machines are prone to crashes and screen freezes, which can cause long lines at the polls and some voters to give up. Some are easily hacked, enabling an outsider to change votes without a trace. Some wealthier areas have been able to buy new machines, leaving the decrepit ones in areas with poorer voters.   read more

Twitter’s direct-message service will “identify the hyperlink and replace it with its own custom link” to give the false impression that it is the source of the traffic. Twitter does this, Raney says, to boost its advertising rates. For instance, if a user includes a link from the Times in her message, Twitter shortens the link and makes it so the Times knows the visitor came via Twitter. This happens without users’ consent, and in the process, violates their privacy, according to the lawsuit.   read more

“From bacon cheeseburgers to chicken nuggets, most meat served by America’s chain restaurants comes from animals raised in industrial-scale facilities, where they are routinely fed antibiotics,” said Kari Hamerschlag of Friends of the Earth. Twenty of the 25 companies received “F” grades for having no disclosed policy on antibiotic use in their meat and poultry or for having policies that fail to phase out this practice.   read more

In Boston, two brothers beat and urinated on a homeless Latino man last month. They said their actions were inspired by Trump. One brother reportedly told police: “Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported.” When informed of the brothers’ actions, Trump said: “I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate. I will say that, and everybody here has reported it.”   read more

The investigation found the EPA over the past 20 years had dismissed 95% of all community claims alleging environmental discrimination. EPA officials as part of their strategic plan, will now do more targeted compliance reviews. The effort will begin next month, and within three years, EPA intends to complete six compliance reviews of state and local agencies per year. The agency intends to do more over time: 11 reviews a year by 2021, and 22 by 2024.   read more

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been criticized for years about its bureaucratic jumble of offices that are supposed to prevent weapons of mass destruction from threatening the country. DHS came up with a plan to reduce duplication and internal squabbling so officials could address WMD plots. However, the plan for divided offices is drawing criticism. “It’s nonsensical,” said former security director Rick Nelson. "It doesn’t make sense to any of us,” echoed a senior DHS employee.   read more

Their findings echoed what other scientists have said about the future effects of climate change on California—that he state’s snow levels may not return to what they once were. Warmer temperatures mean precipitation will fall not as snow, but rain, which the state is ill-equipped to store. Normally, California gets a third of its water from the snowpack. “This is probably the biggest water supply concern our state is facing,” said UCLA's Mark Gold.. “On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s 11.”   read more

McFarland has accused OPM’s information technology office of interfering with his office’s efforts to determine how well the agency had guarded security clearance and federal employee personnel files that were hacked and how well it responded to those breaches. McFarland said the Office of the Chief Information Officer had “hindered and interfered with” his office’s oversight and “has created an environment of mistrust by providing my office with incorrect and/or misleading information.”   read more

The FEC has made very few determinations on what’s legal and what’s not as far as super PACs go because of the even Democratic-Republican makeup of the commission. Seeking clarification could be a win-win for Democrats; if they get the OK, they have a new fund-raising tool. If they don’t, GOP candidates that have used the techniques could find themselves in legal trouble. How the FEC responds “could have profound ramifications for the 2016 campaign, particularly for Democrats...” said the Times.   read more

Aspen now gets its power primarily from wind and hydroelectric, joining Burlington, Vermont, and Greensburg, Kansas, as the only other cities to achieve all-renewable energy portfolios. “This means we are powered by the forces of nature, predominately water and wind with a touch of solar and landfill gas,” said Aspen environmental/utilities director David Hornbacher. The movement toward renewables could soon count California as a big example for others to follow.   read more

“The loss of civilian life in Hajja shows why most countries have made a commitment never to use cluster munitions,” said Solvang. “These weapons not only kill or injure people at the time of attack, but the unexploded submunitions go on killing long afterward.” The Obama administration is going through with a deal to sell Saudi Arabia more weapons and missiles. "Bombs have fallen so far from any military target that human rights groups say such airstrikes amount to war crimes," said the Times.   read more

Recruiters from Oklahoma City have traveled to Puerto Rico and Spain seeking teachers. Other districts are putting up billboards in neighboring states to lure teachers. California alone will need to hire 21,000 new teachers every year over the next five years, but is issuing fewer than 15,000 new teaching credentials a year. “There was a point where we were, frankly, overproducing teachers. Now, if you look at the most recent year, we are not producing enough,” said Joshua Speaks.   read more

Asked if he had any connection with al-Qaeda, Hassan said yes. But it was not the terrorist group he was admitting to being familiar with. In Yemen is a village called Al-Qa’idah. It was this place he was responding to, not al-Qaeda. But the translator didn’t realize the mistake, and the American soldier interrogating Hassan had all he needed. Hassan was shipped to Guantánamo, where he was cleared for release in 2009 but remained until June of this year, when he was released in Oman.   read more

Honeybees have been dying out in unprecedented numbers since 2006. Land use and other factors are no doubt part of the problem, but pesticides have been one of the suspects from the beginning. The ruling supported the view of many environmentalists who believe the long-term effect of insecticides on entire bee colonies should be taken into account, not merely a dose of chemical on an individual bee.   read more