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

After his departure from the Energy Ministry, Hassane was a consultant for a year, and then in 2007 was named a senior advisor to Deby. The following year, Hassane was once again named minister of oil and energy. Deby fired him from that post again in 2010, reportedly because Hassane pestered the oil consortium, led by ExxonMobil, about falling production.   read more

A self-appointed border militia from Colorado has been criticized by law enforcement in Arizona, where the group tried to detain scientists studying bats in the desert. Sheriff Tony Estrada expressed serious concern about the actions of the militiamen driving around the desert in ATVs with firearms and wearing camouflage. “These people . . . are completely out of their environment. They really don’t know the area. They don’t know the terrain."   read more

In some towns, such as Dellwood, Missouri, and Stone Park, Illinois, the difference is greater than 70%. The gap in Ferguson is 55%. Other communities with a 50% or greater racial disparity include 11 in New Jersey alone, eight in Illinois, and six in California. Hispanics are also underrepresented in many police forces. For example, in Montclair, California, 70% of the population is Hispanic, but Hispanics make up only 15% of the police force.   read more

In the 15 months since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal law banning same-sex marriage, federal courts across the land have nullified similar bans adopted at the state level. But one federal judge has decided to buck this trend, ruling Louisiana’s statute legalizing only heterosexual unions is constitutional despite what the highest court has said.   read more

Of the estimated 400,000 political ads that have aired so far in the battle over control of the U.S. Senate, nearly 10% have been generated by the “secretive political network of conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch,” according to the Center for Public Integrity. The number of Koch-funded commercials is pegged at more than 43,900.   read more

No health care professional was on duty that day at Bryant because the school’s only nurse had her days reduced to just two per week due to $1 billion in state budget cuts. More than 100 nursing positions at Philadelphia schools were slashed during the summer of 2013 as a result of that cutback. The girl “was kept at school, despite her having told defendants that she could not breathe,” the lawsuit states.   read more

Authorities in Montana have charged a woman with felony child endangerment for taking illegal drugs even though she was only 12 weeks pregnant when she did so. Activists noted “Dating a pregnancy is very specific, so Allen either told them, the state dated the pregnancy for her, or her doctor reported her to the department of health and human services.”   read more

Three times in nine days commercial flights have been forced to land after passengers got into arguments over seating quarters. A New York-to-Palm Beach Delta flight wound up stopping in Jacksonville, Florida, after a woman reclined her seat and bumped into the head of Amy Fine of Boca Raton, who was using her tray table as a pillow.   read more

Receiving tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service means a group avoids paying income taxes, but they still must pay payroll taxes. This fact of the federal tax code has been lost on more than 64,000 organizations that collectively owed the government $875 million in back taxes as of 2012.   read more

After refusing to supply a DNA sample through a mouth swab, Raynor inadvertently did so anyway, providing officers with the opportunity to collect his DNA samples when he continually rubbed his arms on the chair he sat in while being interrogated.   read more

Mom and Dad can expect to spend 20% more than last year on school supplies, uniforms and other expenses for children in middle school. The increase is 5% for high school students and 11% for elementary students. The average costs this year come out to $642 for K-6, $918 for middle school and $1,284 for high school.   read more

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is going on year four of its examination into why nearly three-quarters of adult lesbians are overweight or obesen. The project has so far consumed $2.87 million in taxpayer dollars. According to the research, lesbians reportedly have lower “athletic self-esteem” that may contribute to obesity development. Surveys also show that lesbians are more likely to see themselves at a healthy weight when they’re not.   read more

Allison Orr Larsen found the court had cited facts contained in amicus briefs 124 times from 2008 to 2013. In 61% of the cases, the justices did not bother to cite the original source of a “fact” included in an amicus brief. “This practice indicates that the Justices treat amici as experts, not as research tools,” wrote Larsen. Some of these “factual assertions in recent amicus briefs would not pass muster in a high school research paper,” Adam Liptak wrote.   read more

The Sunshine State has 150 communities totaling 2.7 million individuals that “could be significantly affected by sea-level rise,” Justine Brown wrote at Government Technology. In Louisiana, the numbers are 1.2 million people in 114 towns. In addition, there are hundreds of thousands more Americans in California, New Jersey, North Carolina and other states facing a wet future.   read more

Overall, Republicans have benefited more from the McCutcheon than Democrats, having raked in $33.3 million from the 310 top donors versus $15.6 million, respectively. The Koch brothers, plus extended family, have contributed $736,500 (Charles Koch $164,800, David Koch $258,500, Chase Koch [Charles’ son] $158,800, Julia Koch [David’s wife] $154,400).   read more

Overall, Citizens United has meant a 6% increase in the probability of GOP victories in statehouse contests across the country. In Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee, the bump has amounted to 10%. In Colorado, Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming, Republicans have had a 7% boost in their chances of winning.   read more