President Donald Trump gleefully announced that, under his direction, U.S. military troops had swooped down on the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento and kidnapped California Governor Gavin Newsom. “We’re charging Newscum with fraud.” When a reporter asked for specifics about the fraud charges, Trump pointed to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bondi, clearly taken by surprise, said, “We’re looking into it and will let you know the details as soon as we’ve created them.”   read more

Having been banned by the federal government from partnering with payday lenders, some large national banks are now directly making these kinds of high-interest loans to consumers—and avoiding restrictions that limit how much they can charge.   ...   read more

A U.S. military video released by a watchdog group raises questions about the official accounts of why an American helicopter opened fire on a group of Iraqis on July 19, 2007, killing 12, including two journalists working for Reuters.   WikiLea...   read more

News of the U.S. Postal Service’s proposal to end Saturday mail delivery could mean trouble for Netflix. The mail-based DVD rental company has been doing better than ever, posting a $115 million profit in 2009 and boasting a subscriber base of 12....   read more

U.S. Special Operations commandoes in February mistakenly killed five Afghans, including two pregnant women, and then tried to cover up their mistake. An investigation by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) determined that Americ...   read more

JPMorgan Chase has been accused of telling homeowners to not pay their mortgages in order to be considered eligible for a loan modification—only to then foreclose on the properties for non-payment. The matter was brought to light by a lawsuit file...   read more

U.S. officials are worried that Iran is trying to obtain a record-breaking speedboat to use as a weapon against American or other navies in the Persian Gulf. The boat in question is the Lorne Campbell-designed Bradstone Challenger, a Bladerunner 5...   read more

Next week will mark the end of an industry in the United States when the last remaining sardine factory closes down. Bumble Bee, owner of the sardine cannery in Prospect Harbor, Maine, has decided to shutter the operation because of government l...   read more

Adam and Amy Korst of Dallas, Oregon, have done something rarely attempted in modern American culture: go an entire year without producing any garbage. Sensitive to the volume of waste Americans discard into landfills, the Korsts have tried since ...   read more

A career union official and mine safety expert, Joseph A. (Joe) Main’s selection as Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health in the Department of Labor represents a dramatic turnaround for the leadership of the Mine Safety and Health Adminis...   read more

America’s top commander in Afghanistan, Army General Stanley McChrystal, continues to struggle with the problem of U.S. troops shooting innocent citizens at checkpoints or near passing convoys. During a virtual town hall meeting with U.S. soldiers...   read more

Discussions of Washington’s bailout of Wall Street have mostly focused on what the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) has spent: $410 billion. But the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) claims the real total of the federal rescue amounts to th...   read more

Following the news that health insurer WellPoint’s California subsidiary Anthem decided to increase rates for individual policyholders by as much as 39%, it’s now come out that WellPoint gave its top executive, Angela Braly, a 51% boost in compens...   read more

As part of its contract with the federal government, defense contractor KBR Inc. agreed to rely on the U.S. Army for security in war zones. But instead of doing this, KBR hired private security guards—and billed the government for the unauthorized...   read more

Less ice in the Arctic Ocean means more opportunities for all kinds of industries, from tourism to natural resources. A new report to Congress says global warming is likely to result in more exploration for oil and natural gas once the summer ice...   read more

The worst air polluter in the United States isn’t an oil or chemical company, but a longtime name best associated with aspirin: Bayer. According to the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Bayer Grou...   read more

The best news the government has to offer for the 15 million Americans looking for work is that unemployment has leveled off at 9.7% and is likely to remain around that level for the rest of the year. The fact that the jobless pool won’t grow more...   read more