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

Wu then served as vice president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, an organization that promotes health care, reproductive rights, workplace fairness and workplace policies such as paid sick days and paid family leave, until 2011, when she moved to the White House. In 2012, Wu was named special assistant to the president for Labor and Workforce Policy.   read more

Sixty-seven percent of respondents to a national survey by the Pew Research Center said the government should focus less on prosecuting people who use illegal drugs (such as cocaine and heroin) and focus more on getting them into treatment. When asked which is more harmful to a person’s health, 69% chose alcohol, while only 15% selected marijuana. In terms of impact on society, 63% said alcohol had a more detrimental effect. Only 23% said marijuana had a more negative effect.   read more

Anadarko tried to get out of paying for Kerr-McGee’s mess by claiming the subsidiary, before it was purchased, set up a spinoff company (Tronox) that was legally responsible for all of the environmental liabilities. But a judge dismissed this argument after concluding that Tronox, which subsequently went bankrupt, was nothing more than a scheme to shield Kerr-McGee (or its new owner, Anadarko) from being liable.   read more

According to Fred Hagans, the lawyer representing Buttaccio’s family, BP denied Buttaccio cell phone access to the company’s wireless network because he was not in a management position. Had he been able to access it, he could have received “texts and news updates that allowed others to stay hidden and survive the attack.” In addition, the suit claims, BP had not put a plan in place to deal with an attack.   read more

In 2002, Goodman returned to Wiley Rein, moving to the firm LeClairRyan as a partner in 2005, focusing on election law. He has also lobbied Congress on behalf of such firms as America Online and Time Warner. In 2012, he helped the Ron Paul campaign handle delegate challenges in Louisiana, Massachusetts and Oregon. He also served as general counsel of the Republican Party of Virginia from 2009 to 2013.   read more

In September 2011, President Barack Obama appointed Matt S. Erskine as deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Commerce and chief operating officer of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA). Since March 2012, Erskine has been acting assistant secretary of Commerce for economic development. The EDA’s mission is to promote capital investment in economically challenged areas of the country and to invest in infrastructure.   read more

Billionaires and multi-millionaires across the U.S. will have more opportunities to spend large sums of money on federal elections, thanks to the latest U.S. Supreme Court ruling to throw out established limits on campaign contributions. Dissenting, Justice Breyer said the ruling “undermines, perhaps devastates, what remains of campaign finance reform.” Watchdog groups are now expecting a big increase in wealthy donor spending on congressional candidates in this year’s midterm election.   read more

The streak of Americans dying in the wars-on-terror finally ended in March, after more than a decade of continuous fatalities. March 2014 witnessed zero U.S. deaths in Afghanistan, the first time without an American life lost in that conflict or the Iraq war since 2003. However, it took only one day into April for the U.S. to again record a fatality. On April 1, Army Captain James E. Chaffin died in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The 27-year-old’s death was not combat related.   read more

Another way to measure the toll of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is in the number of Americans now taking care of the wounded veterans who fought in these conflicts. More than 1 million individuals serve as caregivers in the U.S. today for post-9/11 veterans, according to the Rand Corporation. Another 4.4 million caregivers look after other ex-soldiers. “Military caregivers consistently experience worse health outcomes...than non-caregivers, and post-9/11 caregivers fare worst.”   read more

Republicans in Florida will no longer purge voter rolls just months before an election, following a decision by a federal appeals court. The administration of Republican Governor Rick Scott launched the controversial program in 2012, just ahead of the presidential contest. That action violated federal law, which prohibits states from “systematic” removals of voters less than 90 days before a federal primary or general election, the appellate justices ruled 2-1.   read more

A rabbi who frequently complained about service on his favorite airline has lost his case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which said enough-is-enough to the kvetching plaintiff. Rabbi Ginsberg brought suit against Northwest Airlines after it kicked him out of its frequent flyer program in 2008. The airline claimed he abused the program. In six months, the rabbi filed 24 complaints over travel problems, nine of which were related to his luggage arriving late at baggage pickup.   read more

Clapper’s admission goes against President Barack Obama’s assurance last year that his administration was not prying into people’s communications. “When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That’s not what this program’s about,” Obama said in June. “As was indicated, what the intelligence community is doing is looking at phone numbers and durations of calls. They are not looking at people’s names, and they’re not looking at content.”   read more

In 2013 alone, Powell found 10,885 peer-reviewed articles that discussed global warming or climate change. But only two described as peer-reviewed denied the widely-held belief that the planet is warming up because of humans, he says, and one of the two turned out not to be peer-reviewed. One of those papers was produced by a Russian scientist, S. V. Avakyan, who claims global warming is a product of solar activity.   read more

When FBI employees expressed concerns about their workload, the center’s managers allegedly retaliated against them, according to the IG probe. Specifically, the center’s director from the DEA reportedly warned staff that anything they said to the IG inspectors could be traced back to them, and that they should answer all questions from the inspectors, but not elaborate on their answers.   read more

The legislation would permit the public ridicule of gay students for being sinners, according to critics and civil libertarians. Such actions could take place in class, during school assemblies, or at other locations and times while school is in session. But the pending law could also be used by those such as Satanists, to espouse their beliefs in the classroom, opponents say.   read more

Even team mascots are paid better—much better—than cheerleaders: $23,000 a year. And the cheerleaders are required to pay for their travel and team-mandated cosmetics. The Raiderettes are also subject to fines for various infractions, such as wearing unapproved underwear or having the wrong shade of fake tan.   read more