According to aides who were present when Trump discussed the issue, but who choose to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, Trump said he was sick of Vance and wanted to fire him. “I wanted him to be my attack dog,” said Trump, “but he appears foolish on television. He dropped the college football trophy. He met with Pope Francis and the next day the pope died. Vance is toxic, and I don’t want him to come near me. He just doesn’t look as good on television as I thought he would.”   read more

They put the cost of the post-9/11 fighting at $4.4 trillion. In addition to the costs of bullets and bandages, they included the interest on the money borrowed to fight the war (remember—Bush sought no tax increases to fund the fighting); the money it took out of the economy and cost Americans in increased interest; the future cost of treating and healing wounded veterans (expected to peak in 30 or 40 years at more than $1 trillion); and increased homeland security spending.   read more

The FBI has contended since 2010 that the IG’s office lacks the legal authority to see documents related to certain matters, including grand juries, Title III electronic surveillances and Fair Credit Reporting Act information. FBI officials also claim they don’t have to share documents related to two investigations of alleged whistleblower retaliation, or those pertaining to an IG review of the FBI’s use of telephonic metadata.   read more

Glyphosate, which is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, will finally undergo analysis for its effects on endangered species by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA’s agreement is only the beginning of a long, slow process. The agency has agreed to complete its assessments by 2020.   read more

A bill now moving through both houses of Congress at the behest of ROV firms would mandate a study by the National Academy of Sciences—at a cost to the CPSC of $800,000 to $1 million—to investigate whether those standards are necessary. The study is beside the point, of course. Manufacturers are hoping that by the end of two years, there will be a Republican administration in the White House that will appoint a corporative majority to the CPSC and the rule changes will just go away.   read more

E.J.J.’s attorney, Lila J. Silverstein, said her client was only trying to protect his sister. One of the justices agreed he was right to be concerned. In a concurring opinion, Supreme Court Justice Steven Gonzalez, wrote that E.J.J. had reason to be concerned for the safety of his relatives because he “is a young black man in a city where the police have been found by the United States Department of Justice to use excessive force against nonviolent black youth.”   read more

As the economy, which cratered at the end of the George W. Bush administration, has improved since 2009, the average CEO of the 350 largest corporations has gotten a 54% raise and is making $16.3 million a year. His employees, on the other hand, haven’t done as well, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute. The average pay in those companies in 2009 was $53,200. Five years later, it’s still $53,200.   read more

There are now 83.1 million millennials in the United States, according to the Census Bureau. That compares to 75.4 million baby boomers. A study by Gallup showed that 30% of adult millennials identify as liberal, with 28% saying they’re conservative and 40% claiming to be moderate. That compares to only 21% of baby boomers who say they’re liberal, compared to 44% conservative and 33% moderate.   read more

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is legally prohibited from doing business with companies that owe a significant amount of back taxes or a felony conviction, but an audit found the agency paid $18.8 million to such companies over a two-year period.   read more

Since the mid-19th century, the Republican Party has nominated a westerner 17 times to pursue the presidency or vice presidency. In contrast to Republicans, Democrats have yet to choose a single westerner for the presidential ticket or as a running mate. None of the current Democrats running or thinking of running are from the West.   read more

The smoking gun was a report from a Wisconsin State Trooper about a fatal accident involving a Cobalt in which the ignition switch had turned off, preventing airbags from being deployed after the driver lost control of the car. GM was finally forced to recall 2.6 million vehicles to remedy the problem, which is responsible for at least 114 deaths.   read more

Opponents of new voting laws pushed by Republicans say the Texas case could help challenge voter ID laws. The laws’ effect is to curb voting by minorities and those most likely to vote Democratic. Attorney Culliton-Gonzalez said the ruling is “very helpful” with lawsuits against those laws. “It’s...hard to prove intent,” she said. “We have a lot of implicit bias and symbols of racism...but we don’t always find state legislators saying, ‘We’re going to suppress the African American vote...’"   read more

The study looked at the median income of neighborhoods. For instance, the typical black family with an income of $50,000 lives in a neighborhood in which the median income is less than $43,000. But a typical white family with the same income lives in a neighborhood with a median income of almost $53,000. “When you look at the evidence of how important neighborhoods are, you really worry about the long-term consequences of these patterns of racial and economic segregation,” said Sean Reardon.   read more

The research arm of Congress spends $100 million a year informing lawmakers on key policy issues through reports that are mostly hidden from the public. Now some groups are trying to make these reports available to those who paid for them—U.S. taxpayers. The reports by the Congressional Research Service are not classified. But nor are they put up online. Third-party sources offer them for sale, but it’s unreasonable to expect Americans to pay again for something they already financed.   read more

The documents note that al-Alwi has made threats to kill U.S. personnel during his detention at Guantánamo and that he promised to do so following his release. However, there have been no efforts on the part of the U.S. government to prove any of those charges in a court of law. His petition to be tried in a civilian court has been denied, with federal judges determining that “it is more probable than not that petitioner was supporting the Taliban and al Qaeda.”   read more

In January 2012, Connery took the newly-created position of director of nuclear energy policy in the NSC’s office of international economics. She has a reputation as a proponent of replacing coal fired power plants with small nuclear reactors and of exporting such reactors to other countries.   read more

The Charleston shooting was “only the latest in a string of lethal attacks by people espousing racial hatred [and] hostility to government,” said the Times. “The assaults have taken the lives of police officers, members of racial or religious minorities and random civilians.” There has been a misperception among Americans that jihadists have posed a greater danger. But scholars and now law enforcement agencies are acknowledging that right-wing extremists are in fact the greater threat.   read more