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

The Justice Department is not yet done with SAC, whose deal shields certain SAC corporate entities from further prosecution for insider trading between 1999 and December 2012. But the agreement provided no immunity to firm employees who could still face charges. So far criminal charges haven’t been filed against SAC founder Steven Cohen, although he is currently fighting civil charges that he failed to supervise employees accused of insider trading.   read more

"The Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations, which binds both military and CIA interrogators, permits methods of interrogation that are recognized under international law as forms of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Such methods include sleep deprivation, isolation, and exploitation of fear.”   read more

The United States spent $7 billion to wean Afghanistan off growing poppies in order to stem the heroin trade coming out of the war-torn country. But that money has little to show for itself. U.S. drug enforcement agents have been surprised to find a high level of collaboration within Afghan drug groups, unlike the usual violent rivalries found between cartels in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.   read more

The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Trevor Timm wrote that “the bill codifies some of the NSA’s worst practices, would be a huge setback for everyone’s privacy, and it would permanently entrench the NSA’s collection of every phone record held by U.S. telecoms. We urge members of Congress to oppose it.” Critics of Feinstein’s plan prefer legislation introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), which would put a stop to the NSA’s domestic phone-records collection.   read more

• The U.S. government doesn’t exercise the kinds of cost controls that other countries do. As an example, the U.S. paid an average of $947 per person for prescription drugs in 2009, nearly double the $487 per person paid in the OECD as a whole. Yet “we don’t take twice as many pills,” said Holland. “We just let big pharma charge whatever it can get away with.”   read more

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found 8,400 individuals with security clearances between 2006 and 2012 who owed $85 million to the IRS. About half of the 8,400 had not arranged a repayment plan with the IRS). The average amount owed was $3,800. Some owed as much as $2 million. About half of them (4,700) were federal employees, while the rest were contractors.   read more

The echinacea included Parthenium hysterophorus, a plant that can cause rashes, nausea and flatulence. St. John’s Wort contained, in one instance, only rice, and in another instance Alexandrian Senna, an Egyptian shrub that acts as a powerful laxative and can cause liver damage.   read more

China subsidizes the programs, and in return, the Chinese government dictates what can—and cannot—be taught at the CIs. At the University of Chicago’s CI, school officials don’t even dare hang a photo of the Dalai Lama, whom the Chinese government considers a threat because of his Tibetan independence views. “CIs are managed by a foreign government, and accordingly are responsive to its politics,” Marshall Sahlins wrote at The Nation.   read more

Tort reform bills limit liability for negligence or personal-injury lawsuits. Tort reform, corporate front groups realized, is not a politically popular issue—not nearly as powerful as getting tough on crime. Judges who are supportive of a “tough” approach to criminal justice tend to be conservative overall, and thus more likely to support pro-business tort reform efforts. It could even be called a case of “bait and switch.”   read more

Overtime has become a form of entitlement at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with some employees padding their paychecks by 25% with extra pay for work they don’t necessarily perform. Workers refer to overtime pay as a “candy bowl,” according to seven whistleblowers who talked to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC).   read more

Back in 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) got wind of allegations that several Silicon Valley tech companies had been colluding among themselves since at least 2006 to drive down salaries by agreeing not to recruit each other’s employees. The plan was evidently hatched by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. DOJ filed a civil suit alleging violations of the federal antitrust laws.   read more

The lawsuit claims that Pfizer pursued a two-prong approach, publishing only data that supported Zoloft’s efficacy and engaging in a “ghostwriting program to misleadingly enhance Zoloft’s credibility.” Defining ghostwriting as “a process where someone with a vested interest in an article, like Pfizer, that does not want their association with the article to be known, provides a written draft to an author who then publishes the article under that author’s name.”   read more

Cecilia Abadie, a Google Glass test participant, was pulled over for speeding, but the officer added driving distracted to the ticket, which Abadie posted online. The ticket reads in part: “Driving with Monitor visible to Driver (Google Glass).” Google Glass is a wearable computer device that allows hands-free access to information that is displayed on a lens strapped to the user’s head.   read more

The 27-page document even includes the recommended statement (found under the subheading “Sound Bites That Resonate”): “I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent.” Other talking points insist the NSA’s work is “lawful” and compliant with all federal oversight, and that “allies benefit too” from its intelligence gathering (unless they’re targets of NSA snooping, presumably.)   read more

Coal ash, a euphemism for the solid waste produced by coal-burning power plants, contains arsenic, barium, boron, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium and thallium, which have been linked to cancer, birth defects, digestive illnesses, reproductive conditions, and other health problems. About 600 U.S. power plants generate 136 million tons of it every year, which they dump in about 1,160 ponds, landfills and mine shafts.   read more

A large coalition of media and consumer organizations have asked a federal appeals court to unseal a mysterious lawsuit involving an unidentified company accused of product safety violations. The unidentified business, known only as Company Doe in court records, is supported by business groups, such as the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Coatings Association and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.   read more