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

Unlike American cops, most British police patrol their streets armed with no more than batons and pepper spray. The elite police who do carry guns almost never use them. In Britain, police view themselves as working for the public, not the state. “There’s a huge emphasis on human rights...on proportionality...on considering every other option," said police chief Fahy. British police "fear getting it wrong...cops in the U.S. fear getting shot." Those are different worlds, said Sir O'Connor.   read more

Some of the drugs have been “linked to abuse and an increased risk of falls and fractures among the elderly,” said ProPublica. Anti-anxiety meds can be addictive, cause disorientation, and have a longer-lasting effect on older people. Consequently, the American Geriatrics Society advises against their use by seniors suffering from insomnia or agitation. ProPublica said the startling Medicare statistics that its investigation uncovered reflect “a failed policy initiative by Congress.”   read more

Plaintiffs claim that the company has known that their drinks breached the safety level. When Proposition 65 was passed in California, Pepsi gave the public the impression it had complied with the new chemical requirement when, in fact, it had not. The soft drink maker intentionally misled the public, said the complaint. The lawsuit also argues that many consumers drink more than one 12-ounce serving of Pepsi a day, putting them at an even greater risk from unhealthy exposure to the chemical.   read more

Navy officials Tofalo and Richardson reportedly told associates to pressure lawmakers into paying $90 billion for Ohio class sub replacements. Creating a separate, off-budget fund to finance Navy projects has been rejected in the past and, in the form of the Sea-Based Deterrence Fund, was turned down again this year by the House Appropriations Committee. The Navy is reviewing the two officials’ statements, but POGO is calling for an independent review by the Government Accountability Office.   read more

The dependence on Facebook for news is highest (61%) among Millennials, who were born between 1982 and 2004. Only 37% of them turn to local television for stories. Among Gen Xers, 51% said they use Facebook more than any other source, while 46% rely on local TV. This group was born between 1961 and 1981. Baby Boomers are just the opposite from their younger cohorts. Sixty percent of them (born between 1946 and 1960) turn on their televisions for news, while 39% check on Facebook.   read more

It’s the oldest trick in the book—when Dad tells you no, ask Mom if you can do it. Now President Barack Obama is playing that game with the surveillance of Americans’ phone records. The Obama administration, on the same day the USA Freedom Act became law on June 2, went to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court) with a request (pdf) to continue sweeping up phone records during a six-month “transition” period before the Freedom Act provisions take effect.   read more

Chevalier collected more than $122,000 from 1,246 backers ostensibly to fund “The Doom That Came to Atlantic City.” But instead of producing a game, he spent the money on rent and other things. For that, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created a game of its own—“Prosecute Kickstarter Fraud” and Chevalier was the first player.   read more

One of Pfizer’s antibiotics suppliers in China, NCPC, discharges pharmaceutical waste into the environment. Generic drug company McKesson contracts with an Indian company, Aurobindo, which in turn gets drug supplies from four polluting Chinese factories. And Teva, based in Israel, deals with three Chinese companies that “have been in the Chinese media spotlight for various offenses including improper waste management and the release of noxious chemicals.”   read more

Inmates in private prisons spent 4% to 7% longer incarcerated after accounting for type of crime and length of original sentence. That amounted to 60 to 90 days longer for the average inmate. Private prisons are paid by states on a per-diem basis, meaning a set amount for each day a prisoner is incarcerated. That means the corporations running the prisons are incentivized to keep prisoners longer. This is accomplished by increasing the number of infractions per inmate.   read more

Doherty returned to Washington in 2010 as director of the State Department’s Office of European Union and Regional Affairs and in September 2011 was made deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. She went back to Rome in August 2013 as deputy chief of mission, remaining in that post until her nomination as ambassador.   read more

The Walmart manuals require that drivers must not drive within 10 hours of a previous stint. The compensation for that mandatory layover is $42, or $4.20 an hour. That’s considerably less than minimum wage. Walmart argued that the workers weren’t working during those 10 hours, but the judge cited California code that defined hours worked as “the time during which an employee is subject to the control of an employer.   read more

South Dakotans for Responsible Lending is gathering signatures to put a question on the November 2016 South Dakota ballot that would limit the interest charged by payday loan outfits to 36% per year. Payday lenders are crying foul, saying rates that low would force them out of business. The average interest rate on a South Dakota payday loan now hovers around 574%.   read more

The report listed examples of systems for which the development costs wildly exceeded the original estimates. The AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder air-to-air missile, an update of the mainstay of the Air Force and Navy for a half century, came in at 114% over estimate. The MQ-9 Reaper drone was 104% over its estimate.   read more

the war produced 149,000 fatalities in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2001 to April 2014. Included in the figures are U.S. military personnel, non-U.S. Allied troops, contractors, Taliban, al Qaeda and other opposition fighters—as well as more than 47,000 civilians from both countries. There have been 26,270 Afghan civilians killed and 21,500 Pakistanis.   read more

On February 10, 2013, Louis W. Uccellini was made director of the National Weather Service (NWS). The appointment of Uccellini, an expert on blizzards, came shortly after Superstorm Sandy raked the Northeast. Uccellini has written extensively on weather, including co-authoring a two-volume publication, Northeast Snowstorms.   read more

CBP officer Jose Rafael Ducos Bello reported fraud and waste at his agency. He told the committee that he was subjected to so much retaliation that it affected his son, who tried to commit suicide. Michael Keegan, a former Social Security associate commissioner, said he was isolated from other workers and “confined to an empty office” after saying agency officials misled Congress about a building project. Whistleblower is “a term that has become radioactive and derogatory,” said Col. Amerine.   read more