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 most recent news about the National Security Agency (NSA) finds that American analysts teamed up with British counterparts to crack much of the online encryption that’s supposed to shield the privacy of personal data, banking transactions and emails of hundreds of millions of Internet users. Classified documents revealed that the NSA and GCHQ have used supercomputers, “technical trickery,” court orders and other methods to undermine the privacy of everyday communications on the Web.   read more

With flavors like raspberry, peach and watermelon, e-cigarettes are proving an enticing sin for young people who may never have tried traditional cigarettes filled with tobacco. And though e-cigs may be less harmful than their predecessors, they are causing concerns among health officials who worry about the growing number of people smoking the high-tech alternatives.   read more

Civil libertarians envision RFIDs as tracking devices by the authorities to monitor the movements of law-abiding citizens. Privacy advocates worry about it contributing to a future where myriad data sources, public and surreptitious, feed into a central database that can be accessed by unknown parties, marketed everywhere and hacked at will. RFID proponents say the technology can be made safe and secure by using encryption and random number generators.   read more

After reviewing classified materials regarding the U.S. intelligence budget, The Washington Post concluded: “No other nation draws as much scrutiny across so many categories of national security concern.” The “black budget” documents also revealed that the Obama administration has critical intelligence gaps when it comes to knowing what’s going on inside Pakistan, which has received nearly $26 billion in U.S. aid over the past 12 years.   read more

During recent protests that ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi from power on July 3, 2013, many Egyptians accused Anne W. Patterson of being too close to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, and wild rumors about an impending impeachment of President Obama further soured her last months on the Nile.   read more

A “strategy guide” for how “to anticipate and defeat” drones has been distributed by senior al-Qaeda leaders to its operatives around the globe, one U.S. spy agency learned. . Some of the counter-drone schemes involve shooting down the unmanned aircraft with shoulder-launched missiles, and using jamming devices to interfere with GPS signals and the infrared tags that drone operators utilize to zero in on targets.   read more

The program is designed for those who describe their lives as spiraling out of control because of their obsession with online activities. During their 10-day stay at the hospital, participants go through a “digital detox,” in which they are cut off from all Internet access for 72 hours. This period can produce withdrawal symptoms, including depression, irritability and in some cases violence.   read more

Older Americans have increasingly turned to using illegal drugs in recent years, according to new figures out of Washington. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that a little more than 9% of Americans aged 12 and older (about 24 million people) were current consumers of illicit substances. But among aging Baby Boomers, the rate of drug use has doubled and even tripled. For individuals 50 to 54 years old, the rate leaped from 3.4% in 2002 to 7.2% last year.   read more

At one time in American politics, the recall election was rarely used, and reserved for ousting politicians who had broken the law or committed ethical violations. But these days the recall campaign has become a popular tool of parochial politics embraced by both conservatives and liberals using it to remove elected officials whose transgressions amounted to making unpopular decisions.   read more

Woodward’s attorneys have argued that the charges should be dismissed because their client was facing an “imminent” threat. They supported their motion for dismissal by citing Florida’s Stand Your Ground law and the “Bush Doctrine,” which the administration of George W. Bush used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq (and preempt Saddam Hussein’s purported plans to use weapons of mass destruction).   read more

Federal agents are expected to interview hundreds of Syrians in the coming days. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security also sent out a classified communication to federal, state and local law enforcement officials regarding potential threats created by the Syrian crisis. The moves mirror similar actions taken while the U.S. government went after Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq.   read more

Under the terms of a 2010 arms deal worth $2.5 billion, Lockheed Martin was supposed to provide 20 F-16s to the Egyptian military. So far, 14 aircraft have been delivered, with the remaining six scheduled for delivery by December 2014. Lockheed Martin also has benefited from a $46 million contract given to one of its Florida subsidiaries to supply night vision sensor systems for Apache helicopters in Egypt. The Apache helicopter is made by another U.S. arms merchant: Boeing.   read more

The preferred solution is to restrict the sales of common medications containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient used to make methamphetamine. That’s what Mississippi did three years ago, following along after Oregon put pseudoephedrine products like Sudafed, Advil Cold & Sinus, Allegra D and Claritin D back on a prescription-only basis. Officials in Mississippi claimed removing these medications from over-the-counter sales reduced meth lab incidents by 80%.   read more

Brandi Johnson, who is African-American, filed a lawsuit in New York after she was subjected to a tirade and called a “nigger” multiple times by her boss, Rob Carmona, the founder of the non-profit employment center, STRIVE International. Carmona is black and of Puerto Rican descent. The jury sided with Johnson who claimed she was subjected to a hostile work environment. The defendant was ordered to pay $250,000 in compensatory damages and $30,000 in punitive damages.   read more

The plume has polluted 13 trillion gallons of groundwater, and is advancing northwest at a rate of about 300 feet per year. It already has reached the Cedar River, which connects to Lake Michigan through a chain of lakes. There have been no human health studies conducted in Mancelona, and citizens are concerned that the decades of contamination may have caused an increase in the cancer rate.   read more

Like ten years ago, the administration is urging that the evidence against Syria is unequivocal, even though the United Nations inspectors charged with determining the facts have not yet completed their investigation. Last weekend, the Obama administration seemed to take a page from its predecessor’s playbook by demanding cancellation of the inspectors’ visit to the site of the alleged chemical attack, after first demanding that the team be given unfettered access.   read more