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

If the FBI maintains its pace for the remainder of 2013, the bureau’s total will be down nearly 7% from the previous year, TRAC concluded. More importantly, the rate that the FBI pursues white-collar crimes could be down as much as 45% compared to totals from 2003—and nearly 59% from 1993.   read more

Butcher refused to subject himself to the scans, insisting the technology clashed with the New Testament’s Book of Revelation, which says to beware of marks on the forehead or right hand that symbolize allegiance to the antichrist. the vendor noted Chapter 13, Verse 16 of the Book of Revelation, and suggested it was okay to scan a person’s left hand, palm facing up, to avoid any religious conflict. But Butcher rejected this compromise.   read more

But was it more than just opening doors? The report criticizes the Navy for evading competition in awarding the contract to Eid Passport. For example, the RAPIDGate kiosks that visitors use were priced at $2,499 each—exactly $1.00 less than the amount that Navy rules required “open market” competition. In response to complaints, the subscriptions were renewed and expanded at a cost of millions of dollars, under unusual subcontracts that also circumvented federal rules.   read more

By several measures the decisions, which has been cited in more than 1,200 federal and state cases, has reshaped the legal landscape to favor employers over employees. Judges have overturned jury verdicts, tossed out settlements, and rejected or decertified class actions to the benefit of corporations like Family Dollar, Lockheed Martin, Cintas, and Hearst. The size of worker discrimination settlements has fallen as well.   read more

Byrne also found that 20% of the portfolio was sold to business partners or clients of CBRE, while it took up to a 6% commission in 34 of the 52 transactions. CBRE appeared to act as an agent for both the Postal Service and buyers in many of the transactions, contrary to customary property sales, according to Byrne.   read more

The bank countered that the case should be dismissed because the three-year statute of limitations in the False Claim Act began ticking when the HUD inspector general learned about the alleged fraud in 2004. Justice Department attorneys retorted that the clock started when the attorney general discovered the misconduct in 2011, and that the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act (WSLA) extended the clock to 10 years anyway.   read more

A lifelong Democrat, Sherman has donated more than $80,000 to Democratic candidates and organizations, including $27,000 to the Democratic National Committee. He was a member of Obama for America and served on its national finance committee, raising at least $500,000 for Obama. In January 2013, President Obama appointed Sherman to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.   read more

In the case filed in federal court in San Jose, a group of named plaintiffs have sued Google for violating the federal Wiretap Act by scanning emails sent or received via its Gmail service for words and content, and intentionally intercepting messages between non-Gmail subscribers and subscribers. “The ruling means federal and state wiretap laws apply to the internet. It’s a tremendous victory for online privacy."   read more

SEC Chair Mary Jo White had to recuse herself from the case because she had previously worked for Debevoise & Plimpton LLC, which had performed services for JPMorgan. Likewise, Republican Commissioner Daniel Gallagher had to beg off from being involved in the settlement because his former employer, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, had done work for the bank.   read more

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began using unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in 2006. the agency didn’t bother to develop privacy guidelines before utilizing the unmanned aircraft. The FBI told the IG’s office that it didn’t see the need to create drone-specific policies because officials felt UAS’s weren’t really different from manned aircraft, for which policies already exist.   read more

Forcing soldiers to remove offensive tattoos is a definite escalation from current regulations, which allow the Army to urge removal but not require it. The definition of “offensive” tattoos includes those that are racist, sexist, or indecent, i.e., “grossly offensive to modesty, decency, or propriety.” Although such vague definitions would be unconstitutional if applied to civilian life, those in the military have greatly circumscribed rights to self-expression.   read more

A United Nations-sponsored panel of international scientists that convened in Stockholm says it is 95% certain that humans are the “dominant cause” of global warming over the last six decades. That leaves about a 5% chance for the naysayers to clutch onto. But really, experts insist, more than half of the planet’s temperature increases have been caused by humans during the past six decades.   read more

The Democratic lawmaker is willing to broaden the agency’s power to wiretap without court approval a foreigner’s cellphone for at least one week when that person travels to the United States. Critics of the NSA’s domestic surveillance have called for ending the phone-records program altogether. These advocates include two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrats Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, who have introduced a tougher reform bill.   read more

“These revelations raise the obvious question: If the NSA was targeting people like Sen. Frank Church, who were in a position to oversee the NSA—is that happening now? That is, are people like intelligence committee chairs Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and other congressional leaders—who are supposed to be providing oversight themselves—compromised in some way by the NSA?   read more

Wagar has been active in Democratic politics since the 1990s, and has donated more than $220,000 to numerous Democratic candidates and causes, including more than $110,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He raised money for Janet Reno’s failed 2002 gubernatorial run, and he was the DNC’s Florida finance chair during John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. He was Obama’s Florida finance chairman in 2008 and 2012, hauling in more than $1 million for the president in each election.   read more

The Farmers Assurance Provision, which critics labeled the “Monsanto Protection Act,” would have allowed biotechnology companies like Monsanto to sell GMO seeds to farmers even after a court blocked their sale. But members of the Senate prevented the plan from being included in a House continuing resolution used to keep the government funded.   read more